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| 08-02-22 02:18pm - 873 days | #251 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The end of an era: Dongle Trump will stand up like a man and testify under oath. Now Dongle Trump will be able to tell lawyers how stupid are the questions they ask. He will be able to tell the judge and jury that people don't understand his brilliant mind and how it works. They have accused Dongle Trump of sacrificing the truth in the name of glory: but Dongle Trump knows, better than anyone, that his Master, the Evil Prince of Darkness, Darth Sidious, a.k.a the Emperor Palpatine, has guided Dongle Trump in making America great again. Down with people of color. Down with immigrants. Free the White People! Donate $1 to Dongle Trump, and you will get a handwritten email from the Great Man Himself. Donate $5 to Dongle Trump, and you can attend the next rally for America in Dongle Trump's honor. Donate $100 million, and Dongle Trump will shake your hand. And give you a personalized zirconi diamond wrist watch. ----- ----- The New York Times Trump Faces Questions About His Net Worth in Interview He Tried to Avoid Ben Protess, Jonah E. Bromwich and William K. Rashbaum Tue, August 2, 2022 at 11:23 AM For decades, Donald Trump has boasted with impunity about a subject close to his heart and ego: his net worth. “I look better if I’m worth $10 billion than if I’m worth $4 billion,” he once said when disputing his ranking on the Forbes billionaires list. In a court case, he acknowledged that when it came to describing the value of his brand, “I’m as accurate as I think I can be.” And when he described his self-aggrandizing style in his book, “The Art of the Deal,” he chose a phrase that has followed him ever since: “truthful hyperbole.”’ But now, Trump will face questions under oath about that pattern of embellishment in an investigation that may shape the future of his family real estate business. The former president and his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, are expected to be questioned later this month by the New York state attorney general’s office, which has been conducting a civil investigation into whether he and his company fraudulently inflated the value of his assets. His son, Donald Trump Jr., was interviewed last week, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The attorney general, Letitia James, has argued in court papers that “fraudulent or misleading” business practices reigned at the Trump Organization for years, and she has said her investigators must question the Trumps to determine who was responsible. Trump fought hard to avoid an interview, but a judge ordered him to face questioning, and investigators will seek to elicit answers that might reveal whether he approved any bogus valuations of his hotels, golf clubs and other assets. Even a single misstep in the deposition could be costly for Trump, who is also the focus of a separate criminal investigation into the same issues. Although that investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office lost momentum early this year, prosecutors are planning to review Trump’s answers and any incriminating statements or clumsy comments could breathe new life into it. The former president, who is no stranger to being deposed, will present unusual challenges and opportunities for James’ lawyers, according to accounts from people who have questioned him under oath in the past and a review of nearly a dozen depositions. He is quick to spar with his inquisitors and often struggles to restrain himself, once telling a lawyer that her questions were “very stupid.” The interviews will mark the final stage of James’ three-year civil inquiry, teeing up one of the most consequential decisions of her tenure: whether to sue Trump and his company. James, facing the likelihood that a lawsuit would bring several more years of legal wrangling without victory assured, could first pursue settlement negotiations with the former president’s lawyers to extract a swifter financial payout. If James does bring a lawsuit, and Trump loses at trial, a judge could impose steeper financial penalties on the former president and even restrict his business operations in New York, all in the midst of a 2024 presidential campaign that he has long hinted he will join. James, a Democrat running for reelection, has assumed the role of Trump’s chief antagonist in New York. And in recent months, she has adopted an unusually aggressive legal strategy — including persuading a judge, Arthur F. Engoron, to hold the former president in contempt of court — as she battled to obtain his documents and testimony. The depositions, while a victory for James, might not deliver a smoking gun. Trump could assert that he delegated the valuation of his assets to employees, and that he was not deeply involved, or he could invoke his constitutional right against self-incrimination, declining to answer at least some questions. But people familiar with Trump’s approach to legal battles expressed doubt that he would keep quiet. Unlike in criminal cases, a jury in civil cases like the one James might bring can draw a negative inference from a defendant’s refusal to answer questions. And if Trump relies on his Fifth Amendment privilege — as his son Eric Trump did hundreds of times in an interview with James’ office two years ago — that could raise questions about what he might be seeking to hide and provide fresh fodder for his political opponents. Trump himself has ridiculed witnesses for invoking their Fifth Amendment rights, once remarking that “You see the Mob takes the Fifth,” and that, “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” James’ inquiry centers on whether Trump’s annual financial statements were a work of fiction — a vehicle for exaggerating the value of his real estate so that he could secure favorable loans and other financial benefits. James, who has said that Trump “got caught” using “funny numbers in his financial documents,” is examining whether Trump and his company used inflated valuations to mislead banks and the IRS. In challenging James, Trump’s legal team would be likely to argue that he was entitled to some leeway in valuing his real estate, a process that is widely viewed as more art than science. Trump’s financial statements contained disclaimers that the value of his properties had not been audited or authenticated. Trump’s lawyers might also argue that the banks that received his financial statements were hardly victims; these lenders made millions of dollars from their dealings with Trump, who recently paid off some of his largest loans. Any lawsuit James might bring could have some holes as well: Trump famously does not use email, so any directions he might have given his employees about drafting the financial statements were probably not in writing. Trump is no novice when it comes to facing questions under oath, having navigated numerous depositions in private lawsuits throughout his half-century in the public spotlight. When asked in 2012 how many depositions he had participated in, Trump, perhaps hyperbolically, put the number at “over 100.” Yet the stakes are higher this time, with Trump facing scrutiny not from private lawyers but government investigators, a relatively rare occurrence for the former president. While Trump responded to questions from the special counsel, Robert Mueller, he did so only in writing. And unlike Mueller, who did not examine Trump’s personal finances, James’ lawyers have spent three years investigating the minutiae of his company’s operations. If past depositions are any guide, Trump will be likely to strike a combative tone with James’ lawyers while portraying himself as the unwitting victim of a vindictive legal opponent. He might also lob the occasional insult at his interviewers. (In a 2011 deposition, he called a female lawyer “disgusting” after she requested a break to pump breast milk for her daughter and displayed the pump to illustrate her point.) That apparent lack of discipline could work to James’ advantage, lawyers who have deposed him said. Trump thinks of himself as his own best advocate and might ignore advice from his attorneys to avoid directly answering questions. “He’s completely fearless in a deposition,” said Jason A. Forge, who represented the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Trump’s for-profit education venture, Trump University, and questioned him under oath. “He’s way more engaged than a normal witness, and you can tell he enjoys the challenge and revels in the verbal sparring,” said Forge, who predicted that there was “no way” he’ll refuse to answer questions. In short, he added, Trump was “the dream deponent.” The lawsuit ended in a settlement. Trump’s willingness to talk arguably hurt him in a 2007 deposition for a lawsuit that also centered on the value of his assets. In that case, Trump had sued journalist Timothy L. O’Brien for writing a book that cast doubt on the size of his net worth, but in the deposition, O’Brien’s lawyer coaxed out a series of admissions from Trump, who acknowledged: “Even my own feelings affects my value to myself,” and said that his net worth “can vary actually from day to day,” and that he determined it by gauging “my general attitude at the time.” He then added, “And as I say, it varies.” “Have you ever exaggerated in statements about your properties?” O’Brien’s lawyer asked him. “I think everyone does,” Trump replied. A judge ultimately dismissed Trump’s lawsuit. | |
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| 08-03-22 12:42am - 872 days | #252 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Although it's true some people lost their lives in Kentucky floods, they only got what they deserve for voting for people like Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul. McConnell and Paul, as true GOP members, voted against climate change. So if God punished Kentucky with floods, it's only natural that people would die. Good for Kentucky. And the funky Democrats from Hell will probably vote to give the poor in Kentucky money to help them out. Republicans are smart. They know how to make America great again. Give tax breaks to billionaires, the people who know how to make money wisely. Only by studying politics will you learn God's will. And understand why men like Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul sleep peacefully at night. ----- ----- Some suggest flood victims ‘got what they voted for.’ Kentuckians aren’t having any of that. Silas Walker Austin Horn Tue, August 2, 2022 at 3:00 AM In the wake of disastrous flooding that claimed the lives of more than 30 Kentuckians, those in the state are not only dealing with cleanup efforts but also vitriolic comments that suggest the victims deserved their fate because of the political makeup of Eastern Kentucky. Many Kentuckians of all political stripes have, in one voice, called out these criticisms as lacking a basic level of empathy and humanity. One anonymous user tweeted that, while heartbreaking, “this is what they (Kentuckians) voted for.” “This is heartbreaking, but at the same time, this is what they voted for... The sad thing, is I think they will continue to vote for the same people over and over.” Another tweeted that “now blue states will be be bailing them out -- yet they elect (Senators) Mitch (McConnell) and Rand (Paul).” It is true that many Kentucky politicians at the federal level, particularly those in the GOP, have voted against legislation aimed at combating climate change. But Kentuckians far and wide have starkly criticized justifying the devastation wrought upon the victims, many of whom are poor and represent a sliver of Kentucky’s 4.5 million people, by blaming them for the state’s voting behavior. Reacting to a tragedy by saying that the government should adopt different policies is one thing – several climate scientists have lain blame at the feet of a worldwide increase in CO2 emissions – but it’s another altogether to suggest that anybody ‘had it coming’ because of their perceived political leanings, they pointed out. Writing for the United Kingdom-based publication The Independent, East Tennessee native Skylar Baker-Jordan said that in an article titled “Liberals saying Kentucky deserves these floods need to take a hard look at themselves.” “Blame the people in power, by all means,” Baker-Jordan wrote. “But don’t blame some of the poorest, most neglected, most mocked and marginalized people in our nation.” The five counties that are confirmed to have lost lives in the floods – Knott, Perry, Breathitt, Letcher and Clay – average a median household income of $32,464. 22 to 37 percent of their residents live in poverty. Kentucky’s median household income is $52,238 and 15% of residents live at or below the poverty line. America’s median household income is more than $67,500. Baker-Jordan, a political leftist, said that “an Appalachian Democrat, I can barely believe what I’m seeing from people who should be on the same side as me.” And many Democrats have, just as resoundingly, called out the blame game. Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Colmon Elridge put it bluntly: “If your take on the devastation in Eastern Kentucky is to say folks ‘deserve it’ for how they vote, you’re an ***hole.” Eastern Kentucky author Silas House framed the reaction of a cynical few as part and parcel with negative attitudes toward the region that fail to reckon with its once-central role in the American economy. “So many on here (Twitter) lecturing me about how my people live off them. No. Appalachia has fueled this country since the beginning. With timber, coal, gas, our children, our lives. We keep getting pushed down and we keep getting back up,” House wrote. Another nuance often lost on outsiders commenting about the tragedy: Eastern Kentucky is not a political monolith, and was until recently under control of the opposite party. For a long time, Appalachian Kentucky in the Eastern part of the state was solidly under Democratic control. Only in the 21st century has a majority of Eastern Kentuckians voted for Republicans at the federal level reliably. The shift took place more slowly on the state level, and much of the local politics of Eastern Kentucky counties is still dominated by Democrats. The Herald-Leader published a report on the shifting political sands of the region in June. Richard Young, executive director of CivicLex, wrote in a Herald-Leader op-ed that some vitriolic responses to the floods are in part due to the “rot of partisanship” that has infected American politics. But the best counterexample, he said, is the behavior of Eastern Kentuckians themselves. “In our own home, we can find hope,” Young wrote. “Despite these trends, the past few days have shown that Kentuckians know the path forward and out. As soon as it became clear that our Eastern Kentucky neighbors needed care, people across the state began organizing supply drop-offs, fundraisers, and mutual aid.” | |
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| 08-04-22 10:08am - 871 days | #253 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Mainland China fires missiles into waters off Taiwan. Says the people of Taiwan are ready to suicide if they can't re-unite with mainland China. As an act of mercy and faith, Mainland China will invade Taiwan and take the Chinese people into their loving arms. And people who object can jump into the waters off Taiwan. Also, Mainland China has brokered a deal with Russia, where Mainland China and Russia will celebrate the birthday of Mao Zedong and Joseph Stalin and Vlad Putin simultaneously. Showing the true solidarity of free world Communists. Ex-President-For-Life Dongle Trump has promised to attend the celebrations. ---- ---- China fires missiles into waters off Taiwan in largest ever drills Reuters Yimou Lee and Sarah Wu August 4, 2022, 4:54 AM By Yimou Lee and Sarah Wu TAIPEI (Reuters) -China fired multiple missiles around Taiwan on Thursday, launching unprecedented military drills a day after a visit by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the self-ruled island that Beijing regards as its sovereign territory. The exercises, China's largest ever in the Taiwan Strait, began as scheduled at midday and included live-firing in the waters to the north, south and east of Taiwan, bringing tensions in the area to their highest in a quarter century. China's Eastern Theatre Command said at around 3:30 p.m. (0730 GMT) it had completed multiple firings of conventional missiles in waters off the eastern coast of Taiwan as part of planned exercises in six different zones that Beijing has said will run until noon on Sunday. Taiwan's defence ministry said 11 Chinese Dongfeng ballistic missiles had been fired in waters around the island. The last time China fired missiles into waters around Taiwan was in 1996. Taiwan officials condemned the drills, saying they violate United Nations rules, invade its territorial space and are a direct challenge to free air and sea navigation. Tensions had been building ahead of Pelosi's unannounced but closely watched visit to Taiwan, made in defiance of heated warnings from China. Before Thursday's drills officially began, Chinese navy ships and military aircraft briefly crossed the Taiwan Strait median line several times in the morning, a Taiwanese source briefed on the matter told Reuters. By midday, warships from both sides remained in the area and in close proximity, and Taiwan scrambled jets and deployed missile systems to track multiple Chinese aircraft crossing the line. "They flew in and then flew out, again and again. They continue to harass us," the Taiwanese source said. China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory and reserves the right to take it by force, said on Thursday its differences with the self-ruled island are an internal affair. "Our punishment of pro-Taiwan independence diehards, external forces is reasonable, lawful," China's Beijing-based Taiwan Affairs Office said. In Taiwan, life was largely as normal, despite worries that Beijing could take the unprecedented step of firing a missile over the main island, similar to a launch by North Korea over Japan's northern island of Hokkaido in 2017. Taiwan residents are long accustomed to Beijing's threats. "When China says it wants to annex Taiwan by force, they have actually said that for quite a while," said Chen Ming-cheng, a 38-year-old realtor. "From my personal understanding, they are trying to deflect public anger, the anger of their own people, and turn it onto Taiwan." However, Taiwan said that the websites of its defence ministry, foreign ministry and the presidential office were attacked by hackers, and warned of the likelihood of stepped up "psychological warfare" in coming days. 'COMRADE PELOSI' Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Pelosi's visit to Taiwan a "manic, irresponsible and highly irrational" act by the United States, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Wang, speaking at a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, said China had made the utmost diplomatic effort to avert crisis, but would never allow its core interests to be hurt. Unusually, the drills in six areas around Taiwan were announced with a locator map circulated by China's official Xinhua news agency earlier this week - a factor that for some analysts and scholars shows the need to play to both domestic and foreign audiences. On Thursday, the top eight trending items on China's Twitter-like Weibo service were related to Taiwan, with most expressing support for the drills or fury at Pelosi. "Let's reunite the motherland," several users wrote. In Beijing, security in the area around the U.S. Embassy remained unusually tight as it has been throughout the week. There were no signs of significant protests or calls to boycott U.S. products. "I think this (Pelosi's visit) is a good thing," said a man surnamed Zhao . "It gives us an opportunity to surround Taiwan, then to use this opportunity to take Taiwan by force. I think we should thank Comrade Pelosi." U.S. SOLIDARITY Pelosi, the highest-level U.S. visitor to Taiwan in 25 years, praised its democracy and pledged American solidarity during her brief stopover, adding that Chinese anger could not stop world leaders from travelling there. China summoned the U.S. ambassador in Beijing in protest against her visit and halted several agricultural imports from Taiwan. "Our delegation came to Taiwan to make unequivocally clear that we will not abandon Taiwan," Pelosi told Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, who Beijing suspects of pushing for formal independence - a red line for China. "Now, more than ever, America's solidarity with Taiwan is crucial, and that's the message we are bringing here today." The United States and the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven nations warned China against using Pelosi's visit as a pretext for military action against Taiwan. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said earlier in the week that Pelosi was within her rights to visit Taiwan, while stressing that the trip did not constitute a violation of Chinese sovereignty or America's longstanding "one-China" policy. The United States has no official diplomatic relations with Taiwan but is bound by American law to provide it with the means to defend itself. China views visits by U.S. officials to Taiwan as sending an encouraging signal to the pro-independence camp on the island. Taiwan rejects China's sovereignty claims, saying only the Taiwanese people can decide the island's future. (Reporting by Yimou Lee and Sarah Wu; Additional reporting by Tony Munroe, Ryan Woo and Martin Quin Pollard in Beijing and Fabian Hamacher in Taipei; Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) | |
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| 08-05-22 08:01am - 870 days | #254 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Indiana Rep. Jackie Walorski died in a car crash. She was a member of the GOP who supported Dongle Trump. Was she assassinated by Democrats from Hell for supporting Dongle, the fightenest President-For-Life of the Untied States of Trumperland? Inquiring minds want to know: will President Dongle Trump send teams of wet-work specialists against Dems to cleanse the swamp in Washington? Only by shining the bright light of truth on these issues can we finally learn how corrupt Washington has become under Sleepy Joe. Or, maybe, it was Dongle himself who ordered the hit: Jackie might have been backsliding in her support of Dongle. ---- ---- LA Times Police change account of car crash that killed Indiana Rep. Jackie Walorski TOM DAVIES Thu, August 4, 2022 at 2:28 PM FILE - In this July 19, 2018, photo, Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Walorski's office says that she was killed Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022, in a car accident. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) shown outside the Capitol in Washington on July 19, 2018. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Police have changed their description of the crash that killed U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.), saying Thursday that it was the SUV in which she was a passenger that crossed a state highway’s centerline and caused the head-on collision. Walorski and two members of her congressional staff died in the Wednesday afternoon crash in northern Indiana, along with the woman driving the other vehicle, the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office said. The department’s initial account was that the car driven by Edith Schmucker, 56, Nappanee, Ind., crossed into the SUV’s path, but the office released a statement Thursday saying investigators had talked with witnesses and viewed video evidence that their preliminary determination of which direction the vehicles were traveling was incorrect. Investigators determined that the SUV driven by Zachery Potts, 27, of Mishawaka, Ind., crossed the centerline for unknown reasons in a rural area near the town of Wakarusa. Potts was Walorski’s district director and the Republican Party chairman for northern Indiana’s St. Joseph County. Also killed was Emma Thomson, 28, of Washington, D.C., who was Walorski’s communications director. Walorski, 58, was first elected to represent northern Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District in 2012 and was seeking reelection this year to a sixth term in the solidly Republican district. Walorski was a reliable Republican vote in Congress, including against accepting the Arizona and Pennsylvania electoral votes for President Biden following the Capitol insurrection. Under Indiana law, it will be up to local Republican officials to pick a candidate to replace Walorski on the election ballot. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb has the authority to schedule a special election to fill the remainder of Walorski’s current term, which ends this year. The governor’s office and the state Republican Party both said Thursday it was too soon to say when those decisions would be made, as tributes to Walorski’s public service continued. The U.S. Senate chaplain included her, Thomson and Potts in the chamber’s opening prayer, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) praised all three in his opening remarks. He acknowledged “how great a hole Jackie and her team are leaving behind” at the Capitol. In Indianapolis, members of the Indiana House, where Walorski served for six years before running for Congress, bowed their heads Thursday while Republican Rep. Timothy Wesco said a prayer for Walorski. Wesco, who took over Walorski’s legislative seat, called Walorski a “mentor” who was “passionate in everything that she did.” “Her faith was central to her as a person, and her faith is what gives us hope today,” Wesco said. “None of us are guaranteed tomorrow.” This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. | |
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| 08-05-22 01:30pm - 870 days | #255 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump in desperate need of cash. Can you donate a few million or more so Dondle can make more runs to McDonald's, his favorite dining spot? For a donation of $5 million, you will get a signed photo of the Dongle, and maybe get to shake our bestest leader's hand. --- --- Trump PAC formed to push debunked voter fraud claims paid $60K to Melania Trump's fashion designer USA TODAY Erin Mansfield August 5, 2022, 7:26 AM Scroll back up to restore default view. The fund affiliated with former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election paid $60,000 to a fashion designer known for styling Melania Trump’s wardrobewhen the couple was in the White House. The Save America political action committee distributed the money to Hervé Pierre Braillard in four payments starting April 7 and going through June 24, according to records filed with the Federal Elections Commission. The committee reported that these payments were all for “strategy consulting.” It’s not clear what the money specifically paid for. “Mr. Pierre serves as a senior adviser to Save America, involved in event management and special projects,” said Taylor Budowich, a senior official with Save America. The payments offer a window into one of the many ways Trump, who is not a candidate for any federal office, is allowed to use money in the PAC, which has raised more than $100 million since it was registered in November 2020 to fight debunked voter fraud allegations in the 2020 election. Save America: Millions raised to fight election fraud. Here's how that money was spent. Here's one Trump the French like: (Hint: not Donald) Then-first lady Melania Trump tours the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C, in a hat designed especially for her by her personal stylist, the Franco-American Herve Pierre. Then-first lady Melania Trump tours the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C, in a hat designed especially for her by her personal stylist, the Franco-American Herve Pierre. The Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol riot has scrutinized the advertising and spending of Save America. Fundraising emails advertised an “Official Election Defense Fund” that an investigative counsel for the committee said never existed. The PAC also spent millions paying the company that put on the Trump rally on Jan. 6, 2021, and keeps former White House aides on the payroll. The Federal Election Commission does not allow candidate committees, which are formed to raise money for a specific candidate, to spend money on personal items, including clothing. But Save America is not a candidate committee, it's a leadership PAC, originally designed for politicians to raise and give money to other candidates. They carry fewer restrictions and have been criticized as slush funds. Experts who spoke with USA TODAY said the use of leadership PACs to spend money with fewer rules is a loophole that should be closed. “If you are going to a political function and trying to buy a new dress or a new tuxedo, that’s typically something that the FEC would say campaign funds should not be used for,” said Michael Beckel, research director for Issue One, a bipartisan political reform organization. First lady Melania Trump stands alongside the gown she wore to the 2017 inaugural balls, and the gown's designer, Herve Pierre, as she donates the dress to the Smithsonian's First Ladies Collection at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C, on Oct. 20, 2017 First lady Melania Trump stands alongside the gown she wore to the 2017 inaugural balls, and the gown's designer, Herve Pierre, as she donates the dress to the Smithsonian's First Ladies Collection at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C, on Oct. 20, 2017 “So it really raises questions if leadership funds are being used to pay for something like a new dress or new clothing that campaign funds could not be used for legally,” he said. Braillard, who goes by Hervé Pierre, is a French-American fashion designer based in New York who has worked with other first ladies, including Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush while they were in the White House. While Trump was in office, Braillard was featured in Vogue and The New York Times for his work dressing Melania Trump. “I do a bit of styling with (Melania Trump) but it’s not really my forte,” Braillard told The New York Times in 2017. “What interests me in this relationship is not just finding pretty clothes – a lot of people can do that. It’s more about the legacy of this woman. Everybody has a different reaction to what she’s wearing.” Efforts to reach Braillard and Melania Trump were unsuccessful. Eiffel Tower dinner: Melania Trump continues fashion tour de force Bastille Day in Paris: Melania Trump goes chic in Valentino Melania Trump wears a red Dior skirt suit after arriving with President Donald Trump on Air Force One at Orly Airport, south of Paris, on July 13, 2017. Melania Trump wears a red Dior skirt suit after arriving with President Donald Trump on Air Force One at Orly Airport, south of Paris, on July 13, 2017. The vast majority of members of Congress have leadership PACs. Save America has given the maximum $5,000 donation to dozens of candidates for Congress who repeat Trump’s unfounded claims about a stolen election. Because there is a federal cap on those contributions, tens of millions of dollars in donor money is left over. “For so long the whole point of leadership PACs, even when they were set up, was to kind of ingratiate yourself and help your other Congress-people or other political candidates, but that’s apparently pretty much gone by the wayside,” said Ann Ravel, a former member of the Federal Election Commission. “It’s in desperate need of regulation.” Beckel said the federal government banned campaign money from being used on personal expenditures before formally defining a leadership PAC. The result is a legal disagreement on whether leadership PACs can cover personal expenditures. With the Federal Election Commission deadlocked, making personal expenditures from a leadership PAC ends up being allowed. In 2018, the Campaign Legal Center and Issue One, two nonprofit organizations that advocate on money in politics, published an analysis of more than 200,000 records from leadership PACs and found that “often under the guise of fundraising activity, officeholders and candidates overwhelmingly use leadership PAC money to pay for, among other things, five-star luxury resort stays, expensive dinners, trips to theme parks, golf outings, tickets to Broadway shows and sporting events, and international travel.” In a follow-up study published in September, the groups wrote: “When leadership PACs are essentially underwriting lavish lifestyles for politicians, it raises serious questions about whether leadership PAC funds are being spent in ways that amount to personal use." FEC records show Save America has also spent $212,200 at the Trump Hotel Collection. Adav Noti, the legal director at the Campaign Legal Center, said the bigger question about Save America is what is going to happen to all of the money once Trump declares a run for the presidency. It’s not legal for Trump to use it for his campaign, Noti said. “Even if you’ve made it to like a whole bunch of candidates for Congress, it’d barely make a dent in all the money that they have,” he said. “So where is the rest of it going to go?” While Melania Trump has maintained a lower profile since leaving the White House, she continues to make some public appearances in clothing that fans post about on social media. Neither fans nor Melania Trump’s official accounts have indicated the clothing was designed by Braillard. She wore a tan trench coat dress for her Fox News interview on May 15, 2021. This past May, she donned a red dress for a public appearance at a foster care organization in West Palm Beach, Florida. On July 20, she wore to Ivana Trump’s funeral a short-sleeve A-line dress to the mid-calf. "Very classy and elegant like always,” fan account @elegant_melania called the tan outfit she wore on Fox News. White House Easter Egg Roll: Melania Trump dons ice-blue coat Melania Trump breaks the rules: She wore white pumps before Memorial Day Contributing: Katherine Swartz This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's Save America PAC paid $60K to Melania Trump's fashion designer | |
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| 08-05-22 02:33pm - 870 days | #256 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump, the fiercest President-For-Life of the Untied States of Trumperland, wants more time to sue Hilary Clinton. Yes, there might be a statute of limitations for mere mortals. But Dongle is a God from Heaven. If he wants to go after scummy Democrats from Hell like Hilary (The lock-her-up girl) Clinton, then the Untied States of Trumperland should give him the right to sue. While blocking all suits against Dongle, since he is so busy making America great again. Vote for Dongle: he needs a few billions to make him happy again. And if he gets his Whitest House back again, boy, will he go after all his enemies with the full faith and force of the Untied States. ---- ---- Bloomberg Trump Tells Judge He Was Too Busy as President to Sue Clinton Sooner Erik Larson Fri, August 5, 2022 at 11:50 AM (Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump’s lawyers argued the statute of limitations shouldn’t apply to the lawsuit he filed against political rival Hillary Clinton because the “immense and unrelenting demands” of the job prevented him from doing so sooner. The former president was simply too busy during his single term in office to discover the details of the alleged plot, which he claims involved a vast effort to falsely accuse him and his 2016 campaign of colluding with Russia and swamp him with costly investigations, his lawyers wrote in a filing Thursday night in federal court in Florida. Trump “was preoccupied with carrying out his eminently important presidential duties and was therefore impeded from effectively asserting his rights,” his lawyers said. The suit was filed in March under the civil version of a racketeering law normally used against organized crime. But Clinton argues Trump missed the four-year statute of limitations because all of the alleged conduct was known to him no later than Oct. 29, 2017, when he publicly accused several of the defendants of cooking up a Russia “witch hunt.” US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, is weighing a joint motion to dismiss the case by Clinton, her 2016 campaign chairman John Podesta and former Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, among others. They raised the statute of limitations as one of the reasons the suit should be thrown out. The case is scheduled for trial in May. David Kendall, Clinton’s lawyer with Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment. The case is Trump v. Clinton, 22-cv-14102, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida. | |
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| 08-06-22 05:28pm - 869 days | #257 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The truth revealed. Dongle Trump has secrets he wants to hide. He hid his school records while he was in high school. And he hid his college records. Then he demanded that his political opponents expose their records. Why does Dongle want his secrets and lies to remain hidden? Is he guilty of ordering the deaths of people he does not like? Is Dongle the secret father of hundreds, maybe even millions of illegitimate children he refuses to recognize or support? Can state or federal authorities go after Dongle Trump for refusing child support? Enquiring minds want to know: how often has Dongle Trump cheated on his current wife? How often has he been prescribed Viagra so he can carry on hidden affairs with married women? These are matters that must be cleared up, before Dongle Trump can run for President of the Untied States of Trumperland. | |
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| 08-06-22 05:39pm - 869 days | #258 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The great cover-up. The Secret Service is hiding evidence from Congress about Dongle Trump. Will Sleepy Joe let this slide, letting the Secret Service off the hook for trying to destroy evidence that, according to the law, must be kept? Why is the Secret Service allowed to break the law to protect Dongle Trump, the sworn enemy of Sleepy Joe? Did the Secret Service swear allegiance to Dongle Trump, even though he is no longer the President? Trump's allies destroyed public documents. Which was illegal. Why aren't they in jail? The Secret Service has broken the law? Why aren't members of the Secret Service in jail? Why weren't they charged with crimes, and fired? And then prosecuted? What the fuck is going on when law officers are breaking the laws? ---- ---- Yahoo News Jan. 6 texts, data deleted from Secret Service, Pentagon phones lead to accusations of cover-up Tom LoBianco·Reporter Sat, August 6, 2022 at 10:00 AM Evidence of all the information erased, wiped, deleted and otherwise obscured by members of former President Donald Trump’s administration in the days, weeks and months after the riot that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is now apparently under scrutiny by the House select committee hearings investigating the failed insurrection. Text messages and other data were wiped from the phones of Secret Service agents, despite Congressional and government watchdog requests to keep evidence from that day. Senior Pentagon officials involved in responding to the attack had their government-issued phones “wiped” as part of what the Pentagon called a standard process for departing employees. Top aides, including former acting secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf and former acting deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli, had their electronic devices wiped in the same process. “The same mindset that would seek sweeping pardons is likely the same that would engage in a cover-up,” said Ryan Goodman, a former Defense Department lawyer who chronicled multiple deletions surrounding the Jan. 6 attack. “All of the data points currently align with a cover-up as the most likely explanation.” The House committee is continuing to probe for more evidence related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, including seeking deleted texts, to add to the hours of witness testimony, reams of documents and immersive graphic displays already presented at the hearings. Staff for the panel declined to comment for this story. Trump aides and advisers have denied any wrongdoing. But the apparent attempt at obfuscating the evidence has been impossible to ignore. When the Jan. 6 committee hosted its “season finale” last month, it focused on the “187 minutes” — the more than three hours that elapsed after Trump finished his speech to supporters on the Ellipse near the White House and then finally called off the rioters. Security footage shows rioters in winter clothes milling about on the tiled floors of the Capitol in a haze of smoke. In the background, a line of Capitol Police hold hands in an attempt to bar entry to a closed door. This exhibit from video released by the House select committee shows security video with Secret Service radio traffic audio in the background discussing the evacuation of Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021. (House select committee via AP) White House call logs and the president’s daily diary for much of that stretch of time were empty, and Trump’s photographer at the White House was told “no photographs” during that period as he sat glued to Fox News watching the riot unfold. But, as the committee detailed, Trump was on the phone extensively with Rudy Giuliani, one of his lawyers at the time, and was even lobbying senators, as they were being evacuated, to try to overturn his election loss. Investigators have been able to use documents from various court cases and even public interviews to fill in gaps in the timeline of that day. But breakthroughs sometimes seem to have been almost accidental. On-screen text on video shown at a hearing last month says: January 6th Committee Interview, The President wanted to lead tens of thousands of people to the Capitol. Voice of: White House Security Official. Anonymous testimony as seen on video during the House select committee hearing on July 21. (House TV via Reuters video) One of the greatest caches of information came from former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows before he stopped cooperating with investigators. And that doesn’t account for the papers he burned in the White House after meeting with one of the top lawmakers who helped coordinate the insurrection, Rep. Scott Perry, R-Penn. This week, a unexpected trove of information came to light during the defamation trial of longtime conspiracy theorist and Jan. 6 coordinator Alex Jones, when it was revealed that Jones’s lawyers accidentally sent two years of text messages from his cellphone to Mark Bankston, a lawyer representing the parents of a boy killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Bankston said the Jan. 6 committee had requested the messages and related documents. | |
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| 08-06-22 06:06pm - 869 days | #259 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
John Leguizamo slams James Franco's casting as Fidel Castro: 'He ain't Latino' But if you put Franco in blackface, he could probably pass for Latino. After all, James is an actor. And actors lie. Just like Dongle Trump. Was Dongle Trump best buddies with Fidel Castro? Dongle is still currently best buddies with Vlad Putin and the dictators of mainland China and North Korea. Dongle admires strong men ruling with despotic powers. He wishes he had despotic powers, so he could put Hilary Clinton and Sleepy Joe Biden in prison. ---- ---- John Leguizamo slams James Franco's casting as Fidel Castro: 'He ain't Latino' Yahoo Movies Taryn Ryder August 5, 2022, 2:41 PM News that James Franco is set to play former Cuban president Fidel Castro in an upcoming film has some in Hollywood riled up. (No, not because of his sexual misconduct allegations.) Veteran actor John Leguizamo posted Deadline's casting news on Instagram, writing, "How is this still going on? How is Hollywood excluding us but stealing our narratives as well? No more appropriation Hollywood and streamers! Boycott!" Leguizamo, who was born in Bogotá, Colombia, called the situation "[f*****] up." John Leguizamo calls out Hollywood for excluding Latinos as James Franco is reportedly cast as Fidel Castro in upcoming movie. (Photos: Getty Images) "Plus seriously difficult story to tell without aggrandizement which would b wrong! I don't got a prob with Franco but he ain't Latino," the Moulin Rouge! star added. Newly appointed The View co-host Ana Navarro commented that she plans to boycott — for many reasons. "I'd like to think no Latino actor worth their salt would sign up to play and aggrandize a murderous dictator who terrorized the people of Cuba for six decades. For both reasons you articulated, I join you in the boycott," she wrote. Miguel Bardem's film Alina of Cuba stars Ana Villafañe as Castro's daughter, Alina Fernandez, and follows the true-life story of her Cuban exile. The screenplay is by Oscar-nominated writer Jose Rivera and Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz. This is one of Franco's first major casting announcements since he was swept up in the #MeToo movement in 2018. In a rare interview in December, Franco admitted he used "fame like a lure," but said not all allegations were true. | |
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| 08-07-22 11:50am - 868 days | #260 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Passage of a bill by the Dems would raise prices and hurt America. Listen to the GOP: only spend money on Republican bills, not on Dem bills. Make America great again: Vote for Dongle Trump, the bestest president of the Untied States of Trumperland. Poor people making less than $400,000 might also have to pay more taxes. Become a Republican, and you too can think of all the poor people making less than $400,000 as the great unwashed. -------- -------- Impending passage of Democrats' climate and tax bill is a 'boondoggle': Mike Rounds ABC News MEGHAN MACPHERSON August 7, 2022, 10:10 AM Republican South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds on Sunday labeled the impending passage of a Democratic tax, climate and health bill as a "boondoggle" for the country. Rounds was responding to ABC "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos, who asked him in an exclusive interview immediately after Delaware Democrat Chris Coons appeared: "We just heard Sen. Coons say that this bill is going to be a boon to consumers, a boon for the economy. Your response?" Rounds pushed back on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a proposal Democrats said would reduce the deficit, support clean energy and lower drug costs, in part by increasing corporate taxes. "It's not going to do much to help inflation, we're still gonna have a problem there," Rounds told Stephanopoulos. MORE: Democrats advance the Inflation Reduction Act, setting up Senate 'vote-a-rama' He also disagreed with a congressional Joint Committee on Taxation analysis showing that the bill would not raise taxes, increase spending over the long term or put an additional tax burden on families making less than $400,000. He contended that Americans would be impacted as broader costs are levied on the economy and corporations raise prices. "We will see those tax increases coming down the line and Americans are gonna feel it," Rounds said. "The bottom line on this is that what they're really trying to do is to take dollars in and then redistribute it back out to the places that they think it should be done … This is not the time to be experimenting in that area." PHOTO: Sen. Mike Rounds speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget in Washington, April 26, 2022. (Al Drago/AP, FILE) PHOTO: Sen. Mike Rounds speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget in Washington, April 26, 2022. (Al Drago/AP, FILE) One key provision of the IRA would allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices on some prescription drugs, with a proposition to cap out-of-pocket spending at $2,000. Rounds cast Medicare's potential negotiating power another way. "First of all, it doesn't start for four years. And second of all, once it does start, what do you think the drug companies are going to be doing when they start being dictated to?" he told Stephanopoulos. "This is not healthy, it's not good and it will cause problems in the marketplace." Stephanopoulos followed up on Rounds' concerns of a recession, pointing to the latest report from the Labor Department that U.S. employers added an unexpectedly robust 528,000 jobs in July as the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5%. That is the lowest in the last 50 years. But Rounds insisted he and other Republicans had reservations. MORE: What's in the Senate Democrats' landmark 'Inflation Reduction Act'? "What you're actually seeing, we believe, might be a precursor to what's to come. You're going to find out the larger companies such as Walmart are talking about starting to reduce the number of people that they're going to be employing," he said. "So while it's good and we want to see job growth, I don't think we can necessarily say that that is not a precursor yet to probably some more serious economic issues coming very shortly," he said. With the midterm elections only months away, Rounds said his focus was on 2022 -- not on 2024, as Stephanopoulos raised the possibility of former President Donald Trump running again for the White House. Nonetheless, Rounds said he expected a "wide open field" in the next Republican presidential primary. "Let's see who else is coming up," he said. PHOTO: A general view of the U.S. Capitol Dome, in Washington, D.C., July 6, 2022. (Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via AP, FILE) PHOTO: A general view of the U.S. Capitol Dome, in Washington, D.C., July 6, 2022. (Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via AP, FILE) "You want [Trump] to wait until after the midterms to announce?" Stephanopoulos asked. "Most certainly. I think that would be good, because I think Democrats would like to have him draw attention away from the 2022," Rounds said. "We have to have a good strong showing in the 2022 … and then we'll have divided government, but at least we'll be able to slow down some of these rather radical ideas that they're putting out right now." MORE: Biden touts unexpectedly strong jobs report and movement on Senate spending bill Stephanopoulos also asked Rounds for his view on a proposed pro-abortion access amendment in his home state in light of last week's resounding defeat of an anti-abortion amendment in Kansas, another Republican stronghold. "[Abortion access] is back where it should be and that is back to the states, and then we'll let the people and the legislative body decide exactly what they think is the long-term approach. Me personally, I am pro-life. I believe that abortion is wrong," Rounds said. Impending passage of Democrats' climate and tax bill is a 'boondoggle': Mike Rounds originally appeared on abcnews.go.com | |
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| 08-08-22 06:58pm - 867 days | #261 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump fights for the rights of citizens everywhere. Dongle is close friends with the FBI. After all, Dongle is close to Vlad Putin, the Russian dictator. And Kim Jong-un, the dictator of North Korea. And Xi Jinping, the dictator of Mainland China. Also, Dongle Trump was leader of the Untied States of Trumperland, until Sleepy Joe Biden stole the Whitest House away from Dongle, who was taking a nap. Now, the FBI has stormed into Mar-a-Lago, the Florida home that Dongle occupies since he decided that New York had too many slimy Dems that wanted to prosecute him for alleged crimes. Dongle has Secret Service protection. Did the Secret Service fire handguns or other weapons of mass destruction at the FBI during this raid? Enquiring minds want to know: How many FBI agents were wounded and/or killed in this raid? Will the American taxpayer have to pay for burials and medical care for the FBI and the Secret Service? Sleepy Joe Biden says he knows nothing of Dongle Trump's problems. But wishes the former president well. Sleepy Joe Biden will issue a statement telling all good Americans to have a happy and peaceful New Year. ----- ----- FBI raids Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home amid reported investigation into classified documents Yahoo News Christopher Wilson August 8, 2022, 5:27 PM Former President Donald Trump said Monday evening that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had conducted a raid of his Florida home. “These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida is currently under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” Trump said in a statement posted to Truth Social, his social media website, calling the move “prosecutorial misconduct” and an attempt by Democrats to hurt a possible 2024 presidential bid. A great egret stands near former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. Former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) The Justice Department is investigating Trump’s actions in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The then president’s efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election have also been the focus of the House Jan. 6 select committee’s investigation. In May, a federal grand jury also began investigating whether Trump had mishandled classified documents, including taking 15 boxes of materials to the Florida resort. Former U.S. Attorney and NBC legal analyst Barb McQuade was among those who noted that the FBI would have needed a judge to agree that there was "probable cause to believe that evidence of a specific crime will be found on the premises" in order for a search warrant to have been approved. The New York Times reported Monday evening that two people familiar with the investigation said it appeared to be centered on material Trump took with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after he left office. Earlier this year, the Washington Post reported that some of the records were "so sensitive they may not be able to be described in forthcoming inventory reports in an unclassified way." Trump’s handling of records that are subject to protection under the Presidential Records Act was under scrutiny throughout the day Monday after New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman released photos that appeared to show that Trump tried to dispose of documents by ripping them up and placing them in toilets. Regarding the FBI search warrant executed Monday at Mar-a-Lago, the White House issued a statement to NBC News saying, “We did not have notice of the reported action and would refer you to the Justice Department for any additional information.” Monday’s raid was first reported by Florida Politics — which said the FBI had executed a search warrant and left the premises — minutes before Trump posted his statement about it. The current FBI director, Chris Wray, was appointed to the position by Trump in 2017. “They even broke into my safe!” Trump said in the statement, comparing the latest events to the Watergate break-in. Trump also lamented that his opponent in the 2016 presidential race, Hillary Clinton, “was allowed to delete and acid wash 33,000 E-mails AFTER they were subpoenaed by Congress.” An FBI investigation into Clinton’s handling of the emails recommended that the former secretary of state not be charged with a crime, and an internal State Department investigation cleared her of wrongdoing. Trump concluded by writing, “I will continue to fight for the Great American People!” | |
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| 08-08-22 07:01pm - 867 days | #262 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Trump asked why his generals couldn't be more like Hitler's, book says Yahoo News Dylan Stableford August 8, 2022, 10:24 AM Former President Donald Trump once asked his White House chief of staff Gen. John Kelly why his generals couldn’t be more like Adolf Hitler’s, who were, in Trump’s view, “totally loyal.” The previously unreported conversation was published by the New Yorker on Monday in an excerpt from “The Divider: Trump in the White House,” a book by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser that will be published on Sept. 20 by Doubleday. Baker is the chief White House correspondent for the New York Times and Glasser is a staff writer for the New Yorker. “You f***ing generals, why can’t you be like the German generals?” Trump asked Kelly, according to the book. “Which generals?” Kelly asked. “The German generals in World War II,” Trump responded. “You do know that they tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off?” Kelly said. According to the book’s authors, the 45th president was apparently unaware of that part of Nazi history. “No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him,” Trump replied. In another conversation recounted in the excerpt, Trump told Kelly about his idea for an Independence Day parade in Washington, D.C., like the one he saw on a visit to Paris on Bastille Day. As in France, Trump wanted the U.S. military to take part in the parade — with one exception. “Look, I don’t want any wounded guys in the parade,” he told Kelly. “This doesn’t look good for me.” Trump explained that there had been several formations of injured veterans — including wheelchair-bound soldiers who had lost limbs in battle — at the Bastille Day parade, and that he did not like their inclusion. John Kelly is seen looking at President Trump as he speaks during a briefing with senior military leaders at the White House. Trump and Kelly in 2017. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images) “Those are the heroes,” Kelly told Trump. “In our society, there’s only one group of people who are more heroic than they are — and they are buried over in Arlington,” he added, referring to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Va., where many soldiers who died in wars are buried. According to the book, Kelly did not mention that his own son Robert, a Marine who was killed while serving in Afghanistan, was buried among them. “I don’t want them,” Trump repeated. “It doesn’t look good for me.” | |
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| 08-09-22 11:45am - 866 days | #263 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Lara Trump claims President Dongle Trump has every authority to take documents from the Whitest House. After all, the Whitest House belongs to Dongle. Who has graciously let that scummy Dem Sleepy Joe occupy it while Dongle is busy with other matters. So if Dongle wants to take papers from the Whitest House, Sleepy Joe needs to back away. Or else Sleepy Joe could be shot for trespassing on private property. Also, the rumors that Dongle trashed secret documents and flushed them down the Whitest House toilets is completely un-true. The toilets worked fine, the last time Dongle used them. So he is offended that anyone would think he could dump those papers down the toilet. Dongle respects papers. He loves to collect them. That's why he took so many of them to his new house, in spite of the Federal Government asking for them back. ---- ---- Lara Trump incorrectly claims that Donald Trump had 'every authority' to take documents from White House Yahoo TV Stephen Proctor August 9, 2022, 12:51 AM Former President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Monday, with guest host Will Cain, where she spoke about the FBI raid on her father-in-law’s Florida home at his Mar-a-Lago resort, reportedly searching for highly classified documents the former president took with him when he left the White House. “Have you spoken to the former president?” Cain asked. “How is he doing? What is the attitude of the family?” “I have spoken to my father-in-law,” Trump answered, “and I gotta tell you, you know, he’s as shocked as anybody.” The National Archives retrieved 15 boxes of materials from Mar-a-Lago in February, but that wasn’t everything the former president had taken, despite Mrs. Trump’s claim of cooperation. Investigators have been to Mar-a-Lago in the months since those 15 boxes were retrieved, in an attempt to get the rest of the materials. “The bottom line here is that these documents that have been in question have been — everybody’s been cooperating,” Trump said. “Everybody from my father-in-law’s team has been cooperating with the FBI, with any authority that asks for anything up until now.” Mrs. Trump went on to incorrectly state that the former president had the authority to take the classified documents to his home. In doing so, he may have violated the Presidential Records Act, passed in response to the Nixon Watergate scandal. “My father-in-law, as anybody knows who’s been around him a lot, loves to save things like newspaper clippings, magazine clippings, photographs, documents that he had every authority, Will, to take from the White House, ”Trump said. “And again, he’s been cooperating every single step of the way.” Tucker Carlson Tonight airs weeknights at 8 p.m. on Fox News Channel. | |
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| 08-09-22 11:57am - 866 days | #264 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Republicans are crying foul after the FBI searches Trump's Florida home. The office of the president is sacred. Never before has the nation seen such shameful behavior on the part of the FBI. The FBI must hang its head in shame. Didn't the FBI do a wonderful job investigating Brett Kavanaugh before he was put on the US Supreme Court? Didn't they ignore hundreds, maybe even more, tips that showed Brett Kavanaugh was probably a liar and lying to Congress under oath? But the FBI was following orders from the Whitest House, to show that Brett Kavanaugh is a good old boy who loves his beer. And ignoring any tips that showed Brett might have been naughty. Sleepy Joe Biden needs to wake up, and start the Justice Department investigations into GOP rivals who might have committed crimes. People like Brett Kavanaugh, who almost certainly lied under oath to Congress. Drain the swamp in Washington. Remove the GOP from Washington, and lock them up. ---- ---- Republicans lash out at Justice Department after FBI searches Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home NBC Universal Zoë Richards and Vaughn Hillyard August 8, 2022, 8:21 PM Republican lawmakers and officials accused the Biden administration on Monday night of weaponizing the Justice Department for political ends after former President Donald Trump revealed that the FBI had searched his Florida home. Allies were quick to back Trump's claim that the unprecedented search of a former president's home was politically motivated, with some vowing to take action on Capitol Hill. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif, said the Justice Department had reached “an intolerable state of weaponized politicization” and vowed that Republicans would conduct oversight of the department if they win back the chamber in the November midterm elections. “Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar,” McCarthy said in a statement. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who leads the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, tweeted that the search was part of a history of the Biden administration's "going after" its political opponents, without providing any supporting details. Scott also demanded answers about the FBI's actions, insisting that the bureau "must explain what they were doing today & why." A source familiar with the matter said the search was tied to classified documents Trump is alleged to have taken with him from the White House to his Palm Beach resort in January 2021. A separate source said it is the Trump team’s understanding that the investigation is related to the transfer of documents from the White House to Mar-a-Lago and that agents seized several boxes of documents. The Republican National Committee's chair, Ronna McDaniel, suggested the FBI activity was a partisan attack. “Countless times we have examples of Democrats flouting the law and abusing power with no recourse," McDaniel said in a statement, suggesting the only way to stop Democrats "is to elect Republicans in November.” Armed Secret Service agents stand outside an entrance to former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, late Monday, Aug. 8, 2022, in Palm Beach, Fla. Trump said in a lengthy statement that the FBI was conducting a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate and asserted that agents had broken open a safe. (AP Photo/Terry Renna) Armed Secret Service agents stand outside an entrance to former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, late Monday, Aug. 8, 2022, in Palm Beach, Fla. Trump said in a lengthy statement that the FBI was conducting a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate and asserted that agents had broken open a safe. (AP Photo/Terry Renna) Other Republicans raised concerns about the potential electoral implications, both in November and in 2024. "We’re 100 days away from midterm elections. President Trump is likely going to run again in 2024. No one is above the law. The law must be above politics,” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina tweeted. “However, launching such an investigation of a former President this close to an election is beyond problematic.” Republicans who are considered potential White House contenders in 2024 also weighed in. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested the search was "another escalation" in an effort to wield political power against the administration's adversaries, "while people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves." South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem also referred to the search as an example of the "unprecedented political weaponization" of the Justice Department, adding that investigations into Trump by the agency over the years were "un-American." A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment on the FBI search, and the White House said it was not given a heads up. “We did not have notice of the reported action and would refer you to the Justice Department for any additional information,” a White House official said. | |
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| 08-09-22 01:29pm - 866 days | #265 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Mike Pence says if Dongle Trump wants to steal secret documents from the Whitiest House, the GOP stands firmly with Dongle. After all, the laws don't apply to the GOP. They can shit on the public, and get away with it. They are politicians, remember. Dongle says it's time to arm yourselves with 357 and 44 Magnums. And shoot to kill anyone standing in your way. And maybe even people lying in your way. But not good old GOP members. They are the heart of America. ---- ---- Pence expresses 'deep concern' over Mar-a-Lago search, asks for 'full accounting' from Garland USA TODAY August 9, 2022, 1:36 PM WASHINGTON - Many Republicans are rallying around former President Donald Trump after the FBI search on his Mar-a-Lago estate – some more aggressively than others. While House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans vowed to investigate the Department of Justice over the search, Vice President Mike Pence issued a tweet expressing his "concern" over the incident. "I share the deep concern of millions of Americans over the unprecedented search of the personal residence of President Trump," Pence tweeted. Pence, who like Trump is considering a 2024 presidential run, also tweeted that some FBI agents "were found to be acting on political motivation" during the Trump administration. In what looked a carefully worded series of tweets, Pence tweeted that Attorney General Merrick Garland "must give a full accounting to the American people as to why this action was taken and he must do so immediately." The latest:Ex-Bush AG Gonzales says Mar-a-Lago search likely had approval from ‘highest level’- live updates The background:What's happening at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home? Was the FBI there? Answers to your questions Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the Young Americas Foundation's National Conservative Student Conference on July 26. Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the Young Americas Foundation's National Conservative Student Conference on July 26. What did McConnell, McCarthy say? Other Republicans, including Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, had not commented at all as of Tuesday midday. In pledging to investigate should Republicans win the House, McCarthy issued a starker message to Attorney General Garland: "Preserve your documents and clear your calendar." Declaring that "I've had enough," McCarthy said the Justice Department has reached "an intolerable state of weaponized politicization." Democrats, for the most part, said the search was totally justified, given Trump's troubling history of handling classified information, the subject of the Justice Department's inquiry. "No person is above the law," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said on NBC's "Today" show. A breakdown of the Trump investigations: Trump in midst of gathering storm of investigations. Mar-a-Lago document inquiry is one of many. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pence expresses 'concern' over Trump search, asks Garland to explain | |
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| 08-09-22 07:25pm - 866 days | #266 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump rallies the GOP around him while wearing red, white and blue. Tells his supporters to arm themselves with 356 and 44 Magnum handguns. And to bring along some weapons of mass destruction. He will bring down Sleepy Joe and re-take the Whitest House. But Sleepy Joe is taking a laxative to prepare to resist Dongle. He's alerted the FBI, the Secret Service, and the US Armed Forces that Civil War is imminent. "We must take a stand for liberty and equality", declares Sleepy Joe. And some Dems rally behind Sleepy Joe. But not all. Some Dems think it's all a big hoo-haw over nothing. However, some legal experts think that Dongle Trump could be charged with the Espionage Act. Can Dongle Trump be put in jail, for stealing documents that don't belong to him? Alan Dershowitz, the famous radical lawyer who wanted to defend Adolf Hitler, now wants to defend Dongle Trump from espionage charges. Alan says Dongle is too stupid to be a spy. Will the jury believe Alan? Or put Dongle in jail, where he will be forced to learn a real trade. ---- ---- Trump could be charged with violating the Espionage Act, former DOJ national security chief says Yahoo News Michael Isikoff August 9, 2022, 4:19 PM The former chief of the Justice Department’s national security division said Tuesday that the search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Fla., suggests that the former president could be charged with violating the World War I-era Espionage Act. That law has traditionally been used to target government leakers, such as former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. But it also “actually has provisions that apply to essentially the mishandling [of classified material] through gross negligence, permitting documents to be removed from their proper place, or to be lost, stolen or destroyed,” Mary McCord, a veteran federal prosecutor who headed DOJ’s national security division in the closing years of the Obama administration, told the Yahoo News “Skullduggery” podcast. McCord said that the Espionage Act is one of two federal crimes that appear to apply to Trump’s reported conduct. He could also be charged, she said, with violating another federal statute that targets anyone who “willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies or destroys public records.” McCord noted that the decision to search Trump’s home could only have been conducted with the approval of a federal judge based on an affidavit from the FBI that there was evidence of a crime at Mar-a-Lago at the time of the search. “So it couldn’t be, ‘We thought the stuff was there a year ago, but not now.’ It would have to be probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime exists in that location at that time,” McCord said. “And that means that the Department of Justice, probably at the highest levels, probably all the way up to the attorney general, agreed that this was a step that was not only legally supportable, but also important to take.” Donald Trump wears an expression of deep skepticism. Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Hilton Anatole on Aug. 6 in Dallas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images) One factor that McCord suggested would be on the minds of DOJ national security lawyers is what Trump might have done with the highly classified material that was still believed to be at Mar-a-Lago. “Are we worried that some of this information would actually be shared outside of Mar-a-Lago, potentially with foreign adversaries? I’d be really concerned about that,” she said. What follows is an edited conversation of the interview with McCord conducted by “Skullduggery” co-hosts Michael Isikoff, Daniel Klaidman and Victoria Bassetti. Isikoff: So rather striking news last night that the FBI has raided the home of the former president of the United States. And according to Trump, broke into his safe. What do you make of this? McCord: First, I would quarrel with two terms you just used. "Raid" and "broke into his safe." Isikoff: I said, "according to Trump." McCord: OK, fair enough. Because this was of course a court-authorized search warrant that would've had to have included the safe within the terms of the search warrant. It's a very overt step for the FBI to actually execute a search warrant that signals to the whole world that they had probable cause — that a federal judge agreed with — to believe that the evidence of a crime would be located in the premises to be searched at the time it was searched. So it couldn't be, "We thought the stuff was there a year ago, but not now." It would have to be probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime exists in that location at that time. And that means that the Department of Justice, probably at the highest levels, probably all the way up to the attorney general, agreed that this was a step that was not only legally supportable, but also important to take. Two vehicles, a golf cart and a van, leave through the gates of Mar-a-Lago, which are flanked by two men in dark glasses. U.S. Secret Service and Mar-A-Lago security staff at the entrance of former President Donald Trump's house at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Tuesday. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images) Isikoff: What are the potential crimes here? McCord: There's a variety of different possible crimes, but I think the two that are probably worth focusing the most on are 18 USC 2071. This really applies to any federal government employee who, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies or destroys public records, right? Records that are public records. Another potential crime is actually under the Espionage Act, which is 18 USC 793. And that actually has provisions that apply to essentially the mishandling through gross negligence, permitting documents to be removed from their proper place, or to be lost, stolen, or destroyed. There's also conspiracy provisions within that 18 USC 793. But certainly gross negligence could be proved by willfulness, because that would be even beyond gross negligence. Klaidman: Does that suggest possibly that they had information that there was some kind of obstruction going on? McCord: I think one of the things that is significant here to me is the fact that after it was revealed, however many months ago, that documents had been taken, presidential records had been taken to Mar-a-Lago, 15 boxes were returned [to the National Archives], right? This is a result of consultations with the archivist. Because even if [the removal of the documents] was all an accident, it's been called to the president's attention. It’s been called to the president's lawyers' attention. There was an actual collaborative effort to round up the documents, the presidential records that had been mistakenly taken, and then return them. But this idea that, "Oh, it was a mistake." He [Trump] doesn't really have that anymore. I think that's significant because it shows, "OK. You had your chance. You argue mistake. The department obviously has probable cause to believe you still have documents." And so, the question is why. Right? Bassetti: The New York Times is reporting that in June, multiple officials from the Department of Justice, including the chief of counter-intelligence and export control [Jay Bratt] visited Mar-a-Lago to check the documents, and see where some of them were being stored. What does it tell you that someone at that rank, and in that position, went to Mar-a-Lago? Mary McCord poses outside the Department of Justice. Then Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., in 2017. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images) McCord: So I do think it's significant. I mean, that's the litigating division within Department of Justice that investigates mishandling of classified information. And the fact that we have a national security division lawyer such as Jay Bratt, the head of counterintelligence and export control, does mean that we're talking about national security implications, not simply presidential records that aren't classified. Bassetti: When you were the head of the national security division, what sort of evidence would you have wanted to see before you would have signed off on a search warrant of a potential suspect? | |
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| 08-09-22 07:26pm - 866 days | #267 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
McCord: So I think what you're really asking is what prudential concerns would go into it, particularly in a sensitive case like this, where we're talking about a former president. And there's also prudential concerns about danger to national security. I would also be thinking down the line, am I going to be able to make a case in court? Because is the national defense information so sensitive that the equity holder, the national security agency whose information it is, is never going to let me put it in court, is never going to say to me, "It's OK, prosecutor, to prove up that this is national defense information." The very nature of which means it would cause substantial damage to U.S. national security, if it were disclosed. Admitting that is actually admitting to things that sometimes our national security agencies don't want to admit to. So there's all kinds of prudential things you'd be looking at in terms of the former president. That's what's unprecedented here. And so it would be more than just you have probable cause. It would be, "Where are we going from here? If we find the things we're going to find, are we going to be seeking an indictment from this? What are the different things to weigh?" To me, that would depend on how significant are the documents, right? How sensitive is the national security information? Are we worried that some of this information would actually be shared outside of Mar-a-Lago, potentially with foreign adversaries? I'd be really concerned about that. A view of the buildings of Mar-a-Lago from the road, amid palm trees. Former President Donald Trump's residence Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Fla. (Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images) Isikoff: I asked you before about Justice Department precedents for cases such as this, and the one that leaps to mind is Sandy Berger, who was Bill Clinton's national security adviser, and then after he leaves office, he goes into the National Archives while he was preparing for his testimony before the 9/11 commission, and outright helps himself to classified documents, stuffs them in his socks and his pants, and gets caught red-handed. He gets prosecuted. He doesn't get prison time, he gets fined and community service, gives up his law license. And there's some other cases of just outright theft by people who just take bucketloads of old Civil War documents from the archives, and try to use them for financial purposes. Those are cases that clearly meet the willfulness standard that you're talking about. But it's hard for me to see a set of circumstances involving Trump that meets that kind of standard here. McCord: This is where I pointed out the whole background history here, right? Of being put on notice that there were documents missing from the archives. His own attorneys, and his own consultants, packaging up 15 boxes, in coordination with the archivist about the missing records, and sending them back. I'm sure his own attorneys advised him of what the laws are, and it was widely reported — many, many lawyers and others talking about what the laws are that prohibit the taking of presidential records, and certainly prohibit them as handling of classified information. So you know, I can tell a tale here that wouldn't sound that much different than stuffing [classified documents] into your pockets. You're put on notice that you may have classified information that needs to be returned, and then you make some decisions about what to keep and not return. I don't know that that's so much different than going into the archives and walking out with [documents]. You have now taken what you've been told is not yours to take. | |
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| 08-09-22 07:46pm - 866 days | #268 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Brett Kavanaugh and the US Supreme Court Justices are dancing with glee. A Nebraska woman and her daughter were charged for having an abortion. Brett Kavanaugh offers his services to prosecute the woman and daughter for murder. Hail Brett, the beer guzzling boy from next door. --- --- Nebraska woman charged with helping daughter have abortion Associated Press JOSH FUNK August 9, 2022, 6:17 PM OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) — A Nebraska woman has been charged with helping her teenage daughter end her pregnancy at about 24 weeks after investigators uncovered Facebook messages in which the two discussed using medication to induce an abortion and plans to burn the fetus afterward. The prosecutor handling the case said it's the first time he has charged anyone for illegally performing an abortion after 20 weeks, a restriction that was passed in 2010. Before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, states weren’t allowed to enforce abortion bans until the point at which a fetus is considered viable outside the womb, at roughly 24 weeks. In one of the Facebook messages, Jessica Burgess, 41, tells her then 17-year-old daughter that she has obtained abortion pills for her and gives her instructions on how to take them to end the pregnancy. The daughter, meanwhile, “talks about how she can’t wait to get the ‘thing’ out of her body," a detective wrote in court documents. “I will finally be able to wear jeans,” she says in one of the messages. Law enforcement authorities obtained the messages with a search warrant, and detailed some of them in court documents. In early June, the mother and daughter were only charged with a single felony for removing, concealing or abandoning a body, and two misdemeanors: concealing the death of another person and false reporting. It wasn't until about a month later, after investigators reviewed the private Facebook messages, that they added the felony abortion-related charges against the mother. The daughter, who is now 18, is being charged as an adult at prosecutors' request. Burgess' attorney didn’t immediately respond to a message Tuesday, and the public defender representing the daughter declined to comment. When first interviewed, the two told investigators that the teen had unexpectedly given birth to a stillborn baby in the shower in the early morning hours of April 22. They said they put the fetus in a bag, placed it in a box in the back of their van, and later drove several miles north of town, where they buried the body with the help of a 22-year-old man. The man, whom The Associated Press is not identifying because he has only been charged with a misdemeanor, has pleaded no contest to helping bury the fetus on rural land his parents own north of Norfolk in northeast Nebraska. He's set to be sentenced later this month. In court documents, the detective said the fetus showed signs of “thermal wounds” and that the man told investigators the mother and daughter did burn it. He also wrote that the daughter confirmed in the Facebook exchange with her mother that the two would “burn the evidence afterward." Based on medical records, the fetus was more than 23 weeks old, the detective wrote. Burgess later admitted to investigators to buying the abortion pills “for the purpose of instigating a miscarriage.” At first, both mother and daughter said they didn’t remember the date when the stillbirth happened, but according to the detective, the daughter later confirmed the date by consulting her Facebook messages. After that he sought the warrant, he said. Madison County Attorney Joseph Smith told the Lincoln Journal Star that he’s never filed charges like this related to performing an abortion illegally in his 32 years as the county prosecutor. He didn't immediately respond to a message from the AP on Tuesday. The group National Advocates for Pregnant Women, which supports abortion rights, found 1,331 arrests or detentions of women for crimes related to their pregnancy from 2006 to 2020. In addition to its current 20-week abortion ban, Nebraska tried — but failed — earlier this year to pass a so-called trigger law that would have banned all abortions when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. A Facebook spokesman declined to talk about the details of this case, but the company has said that officials at the social media giant “always scrutinize every government request we receive to make sure it is legally valid.” Facebook says it will fight back against requests that it thinks are invalid or too broad, but the company said it gave investigators information in about 88% of the 59,996 times when the government requested data in the second half of last year. | |
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| 08-09-22 07:52pm - 866 days | #269 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Hillary Clinton is selling "But Her Emails" merchandise after the FBI raided Dongle Trump's home for documents. ------ ------ Hillary Clinton promotes 'But Her Emails' merch after FBI search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago Yahoo News Dylan Stableford August 9, 2022, 1:37 PM A day after the FBI conducted a search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, Hillary Clinton responded on Tuesday with a tweet promoting merchandise emblazoned with the phrase “But Her Emails” — which has become the sardonic response among her supporters to Trump’s many scandals. Clinton wrote that every hat or T-shirt sold benefits Onward Together, the political action committee she founded following her loss to Trump in the 2016 presidential election. In a follow-up tweet, the former secretary of state said that the $30 hats quickly sold out but could be preordered for when they are back in stock. On Monday night, Trump revealed that the FBI executed a search warrant at his private club and residence in south Florida. According to multiple reports, Monday’s FBI search at Mar-a-Lago was related to an investigation into Trump’s potential mishandling of classified documents. Trump made Clinton’s allegedly lax security in her email practices a centerpiece of his 2016 campaign, leading chants at his rallies to “lock her up” for the possible crime. But Trump’s own handling of government documents and intelligence has long been scrutinized. On Monday, Maggie Haberman of the New York Times shared photos of notes thrown in a toilet, which Haberman said were Trump’s and taken at the White House and on an overseas trip. (Flushing those records would violate the Presidential Records Act.) The Times has previously reported that Trump ordered his chief of staff to grant his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a top-secret security clearance, overruling concerns of intelligence officials. The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection is looking into a possible cover-up of White House records from that day. Documents from the National Archives showed a gap in Trump’s phone calls spanning the period when his supporters stormed the Capitol. Police crouch behind a vehicle with Police Palm Beach painted on the side by a gated entrance flanked by a Trump flag beneath palm trees faintly illuminated by the night sky. Police stand outside an entrance to former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Monday. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) “These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida is currently under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” Trump said in a statement posted to Truth Social, his social media website on Monday. The agents, he said, “even broke into my safe!” In his 340-word statement, Trump bemoaned the “weaponization” of the Justice Department and likened the lawfully executed search warrant to the Watergate break-in. Trump also referenced Clinton’s controversial use of a private email server as secretary of state. “Hillary Clinton was allowed to delete and acid wash 33,000 E-mails AFTER they were subpoenaed by Congress,” Trump wrote. “Absolutely nothing has happened to hold her accountable.” Split screen image with smirking Hillary Clinton wearing a black baseball cap with But Her Emails emblazoned across the front and an image of a somber-faced Donald Trump. A promotional illustration for Hillary Clinton's "But Her Emails" hat from her Onward Together website, and former President Donald Trump. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: via Twitter, AP) There was, however, a federal investigation into Clinton’s use of a private server during the 2016 campaign. That July, then-FBI Director James Comey concluded that Clinton was “extremely careless” in her handling of classified information on a private email server but concluded that “no reasonable prosecutor” would bring criminal charges against her. Comey’s decision to inform Congress less than two weeks before Election Day that he had reopened the probe — only to reaffirm his conclusion on the eve of the election that she should not face prosecution — was viewed by some as one of the key reasons she lost to Trump. Three months ago, a federal grand jury began investigating whether Trump had mishandled top-secret documents. That came after the National Archives confirmed that it had retrieved 15 boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago — including records marked as “classified” and even “top secret” — and asked the Justice Department to investigate. | |
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| 08-09-22 08:00pm - 866 days | #270 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Sleepy Joe Biden needs to wake up and smell the coffee. Biden claims he was not aware of the FBI raid of Dongle Trump's home. Trump, if he was still Prez, would have been watching the raid on closed-circuit TV, directing the FBI to search every nook and cranny to find evidence of crimes. We need Dongle back in the Whitest House, to lead the FBI to greatness once again. ---- ---- White House: Biden was ‘not aware’ of FBI raid at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Yahoo News Alexander Nazaryan August 9, 2022, 1:56 PM WASHINGTON—The White House refused on Tuesday to say much about Monday's Federal Bureau of Investigation search at Mar-a-Lago, the lavish South Florida resort where former President Donald Trump lives. “No one at the White House was given a heads-up,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing, adding that Biden was “not aware” of the dramatic move. “The president and the White House learned about this FBI search from public reports. We learned just like the American public did yesterday, and we did not have advance notice of this activity,” Jean-Pierre said. At an event at the White House earlier in the afternoon, a reporter shouted a question about the FBI search in Biden’s direction. The president did not respond. Karine Jean-Pierre answers questions at the podium. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at the daily press briefing at the White House on Tuesday. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein) The contents of the warrant used to execute the search remain unknown, but the target appears to be a trove of documents removed by Trump from the White House, according to multiple reports. Throughout much of the summer, a House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, which was carried out by Trump’s supporters, has meticulously made the case that the former president was intimately involved in planning an attempt to stop certification of the previous November’s presidential election. Donald Trump speaks. Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Aug. 6 in Dallas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images) Trump and his supporters in the Republican Party and conservative media outlets have painted Monday’s development as a political ploy intended to frustrate Trump’s expected launch of a 2024 presidential campaign. Outlets like Fox News, which had been downplaying Trump’s role in the future of the Republican Party, quickly and furiously rose to his defense. Democrats had been pushing Attorney General Merrick Garland to pursue a criminal investigation into Trump’s role on Jan. 6 more actively. The attorney general has not commented on what took place at Mar-a-Lago on Monday. | |
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| 08-10-22 09:12am - 865 days | #271 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump says he took the Fifth Amendment in NY investigation. Says he's proud to stand with his Mafia buddies in proving that he is innocent of any crimes. "I'm innocent until proven guilty", Dongle screams. "Try to pin something on me. I'm the teflon politician, and I have the GOP standing with me!!!" Melania Trump gave her husband a big kiss, for standing tall, in spite of his bone spurs. "Dongle and I will stand firm, and accept donations to prove our innocence", Melania screams. ----- ----- Trump says he took the Fifth Amendment in NY investigation Associated Press MICHAEL BALSAMO and MICHAEL R. SISAK August 10, 2022, 10:33 AM WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump says he invoked the Fifth Amendment and wouldn't answer questions under oath in the long-running New York civil investigation into his business dealings. Trump arrived at New York Attorney General Letitia James' offices Wednesday morning, but sent out a statement more than an hour later saying he declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.” Anything he said during the deposition could have been used against him in a criminal case. While James' investigation is civil in nature, the Manhattan district attorney is running a parallel criminal probe. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump was being questioned under oath Wednesday in the New York attorney general’s long-running civil investigation into his business dealings as a flurry of legal activity surrounds the former president. Trump’s testimony comes just days after FBI agents searched his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida as part of an unrelated federal probe into whether he took classified records when he left the White House. He arrived at the New York attorney general's office shortly before 9 a.m. in a multivehicle motorcade. As he left Trump Tower in New York City for the short ride downtown, he waved to reporters assembled outside but did not comment. The civil investigation, led by state Attorney General Letitia James, involves allegations that Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, misstated the value of prized assets like golf courses and skyscrapers, misleading lenders and tax authorities. “My great company, and myself, are being attacked from all sides," Trump wrote beforehand on Truth Social, the social media platform he founded. "Banana Republic!” Messages seeking comment were left with James’ office and with Trump’s lawyer. Trump’s testimony is happening at a critical point in James’ investigation: In May, James' office said that it was nearing the end of its probe and that investigators had amassed substantial evidence that could support legal action against Trump, his company or both. The Republican's deposition — a legal term for sworn testimony that’s not given in court — is one of the few remaining missing pieces, the attorney general’s office said. Two of Trump’s adult children, Donald Jr. and Ivanka, testified in recent days, two people familiar with the matter said. The people were not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity. The three Trumps’ testimony had initially been planned for last month but was delayed after the July 14 death of the former president’s ex-wife, Ivana Trump, the mother of Ivanka, Donald Jr. and another son, Eric Trump, who sat for a deposition in James’ investigation in 2020. On Friday, the Trump Organization and its longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, will be in court seeking dismissal of tax fraud charges brought against them last year in the Manhattan district attorney’s parallel criminal probe — spurred by evidence uncovered by James' office. Weisselberg and the company have pleaded not guilty. James, a Democrat, has said in court filings that her office has uncovered “significant” evidence that Trump’s company “used fraudulent or misleading asset valuations to obtain a host of economic benefits, including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions.” James alleges the Trump Organization exaggerated the value of its holdings to impress lenders or misstated what land was worth to slash its tax burden, pointing to annual financial statements given to banks to secure favorable loan terms and to financial magazines to justify Trump’s place among the world’s billionaires. The company even exaggerated the size of Trump’s Manhattan penthouse, saying it was nearly three times its actual size — a difference in value of about $200 million, James’ office said. Trump has denied the allegations, explaining that seeking the best valuations is a common practice in the real estate industry. He says James’ investigation is part of a politically motivated “witch hunt” and that her office is “doing everything within their corrupt discretion to interfere with my business relationships, and with the political process.” He's also accused James, who is Black, of racism in pursuing the investigation. “THERE IS NO CASE!” Trump said in a February statement, after Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that James’ office had “the clear right” to question Trump and other principals in his company. Once her investigation wraps up, James could decide to bring a lawsuit and seek financial penalties against Trump or his company, or even a ban on them being involved in certain types of businesses. Meanwhile, the Manhattan district attorney’s office has long pursued a parallel criminal investigation. No former president has even been charged with a crime. That probe had appeared to be progressing toward a possible criminal indictment of Trump himself, but slowed after a new district attorney, Alvin Bragg, took office in January: A grand jury that had been hearing evidence disbanded. The top prosecutor who had been handling the probe resigned after Bragg raised questions internally about the viability of the case. Bragg has said his investigation is continuing, which means that Trump could invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and decline to answer questions from James’ investigators during the deposition in a Manhattan office tower that has doubled as the headquarters of the fictional conglomerate Waystar Royco — run by a character inspired partly by Trump — on HBO’s “Succession.” As vociferous as Trump has been in defending himself in written statements and on the rally stage, legal experts say the same strategy could backfire in a deposition setting because anything he says could potentially be used in the criminal investigation. In fighting to block the subpoenas, lawyers for the Trumps argued New York authorities were using the civil investigation to get information for the criminal probe and that the depositions were a ploy to avoid calling them before a criminal grand jury, where state law requires they be given immunity. Weisselberg and Eric Trump each invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 500 times when questioned by James’ lawyers during separate depositions in 2020, according to court papers. The former president could choose to do the same, but it’s likely “he’ll claim lack of knowledge on many questions,” New York University law professor Stephen Gillers said. That could be a successful strategy, since Trump is known as more of a “big-picture guy” Gillers said. “So he’ll answer the big-picture questions and those answers will be general enough to keep him out of trouble, or so his lawyers will hope.” But, the professor added, “his impetuosity makes him a lawyer’s nightmare and his overconfidence may lead him astray. Whoever questions him will encourage that." Whatever he does say, it will be behind closed doors and there's no certainty what he says will ever be made public — often, only excerpts of the testimony are ever made public in court filings, weeks and months later. ___ Associated Press journalists Michelle L. Price and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report. | |
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| 08-10-22 09:19am - 865 days | #272 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump scrambling for more donations. His ex-wife died, and he holds out his hands for donations because she died. His home was raided by the FBI, and he holds out his hands for donations because he wants more money from suckers. Dongle has over $100 million in a PAC, that he will have trouble spending legally. But there's never enough money to fill Dongle's greed. ----- ----- Trump team sent MSNBC's Lawrence O’Donnell an email fundraising off Mar-a-Lago raid Yahoo TV Stephen Proctor August 9, 2022, 11:57 PM Lawrence O’Donnell kicked off Tuesday’s The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell by showing an email he’d received from former President Donald Trump’s fundraising team. On Monday, the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Fla., reportedly searching for classified material that the former president took with him when he left office in violation of the Presidential Records Act. O’Donnell showed the email on the screen as he read it aloud. “Mar-a-Lago was raided,” the email began. “The radical Left is corrupt. We must return the power to the people. Please rush in a donation immediately to publicly stand with me against this never-ending witch hunt.” While it may seem inappropriate to fundraise after the FBI executed a lawful search warrant on your property, this sort of thing is not out of the ordinary for the former president. In a statement Trump posted last month announcing the death of his ex-wife Ivana, there was a donation link included at the bottom. This latest fundraising attempt came with a suggested donation and a deadline. “He thinks I’m good for $45. That’s what his email list managers tell him,” O’Donnell said. “And there's a deadline. Deadline for my contribution of $45 is immediately. Immediately. I gotta drop everything and contribute.” O'Donnell noted that Trump’s presidency made history in myriad ways. For example, he was the first U.S. president to visit North Korea, he was the first to be impeached twice, the first former president to have his home raided by the FBI, and as O’Donnell pointed out, the first to raise money off of that. “Once again, Donald Trump makes American political history, presidential history, with that email,” O’Donnell said. “An email about, ‘My house got raided by the FBI, so please give me a political contribution.’ No one’s ever done that before. That is pure Donald Trump.” The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell airs weeknights at 10 p.m. on MSNBC. | |
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| 08-10-22 04:29pm - 865 days | #273 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
GOP is accusing Sleepy Joe Biden of being a secret Nazi who is going after Dongle Trump. Dongle Trump admits, with a teary eye, that he is probably the most corrupt president of the Untied States of Trumperland we've ever had. But Dongle says he is not to blame: my family forced me into the Mafia, where, to make my bones, I seduced and killed innocent women who were thinking of cooperating with the FBI. My manhood and good looks were the key to my success as an enforcer and assassin for the Mafia. And that is why I need billions of dollars for legal fees against the Untied States criminal division: support me in my fight to make America Free, White, and Sexist. ------ ------ Yahoo News Absent details, Republicans flock to Trump's side after FBI search at Mar-a-Lago Tom LoBianco Tom LoBianco·Reporter Wed, August 10, 2022 at 6:53 AM For 24 hours after the FBI executed a search warrant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and residence in South Florida — the first time FBI agents have raided the home of a former U.S. president — Republicans of almost every stripe flocked to Trump’s defense, all using variations of the long-standing trope that a dark cabal was out to get him. Trump’s family members and current and former top advisers accused the Biden administration of using Nazi-style tactics in executing a criminal search warrant. Hardly a mention was made of the apparent reason for the search in the first place — Trump’s allegedly illegal removal of highly sensitive government documents from the White House and a series of reports about his habit of destroying documents. At the core of the latest twist in the GOP’s awkward dance with Trump since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol is a belief that Republican voters — in this moment, at least — have been re-energized by the view that the “deep state” is out to get Trump while giving a pass to President Biden’s son Hunter and to Hillary Clinton. An external view of the Mar-a-Lago resort and residence. Former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. (Marco Bello/Reuters) “It seems a really extreme reaction [from the FBI] when they were negotiating, and it’s about presidential records, when contrasting with how Hillary was treated and how Hunter was treated,” a former Trump adviser said Tuesday. “Republican voters are now reactivated and re-angered that there are two systems of justice in this country.” (Asked what they thought would have happened if former President Barack Obama had removed classified documents the same way Trump had, the former adviser said the Justice Department probably would have phoned politely and asked for their return.) “This is to show that they’re doing something, since the clock is running out ahead of the midterms,” said one Trump adviser. “It will backfire.” Donald Trump. Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas on Aug. 6. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images) Behind the scenes, the stunning search fueled concern around the escalating legal problems for Trump — stemming from his reported destruction of records, his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and other matters. Rolling Stone reported Tuesday that Trump was building another in a string of criminal defense teams to work on his behalf. “A f****ing mess,” said one veteran Republican operative. Another coined it “chaos.” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that Biden had no advance knowledge of the search and batted away questions about what the agents were seeking. But absent further details on the nature of the search — Eric Trump said on Fox News that the FBI sought papers related to the Presidential Records Act — the latest stunning event around Trump played out almost entirely in the political sphere, with a keen focus on the 2024 shadow primary for the Republican nomination. Donald Trump and family members, and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Trump acknowledges the crowd while standing with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, second from right, his son Eric, right, and Eric's wife Lara at the Bedminster Invitational LIV Golf tournament in Bedminster, N.J., in July. (Seth Wenig/AP) On Fox News Monday night, the former president's daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who at one point was considered a possible Senate candidate, said that the raid likely means Trump will announce his third bid for the White House in a few days. (Some aides previously promised he would announce before July 4 of this year. Other Trump advisers have tamped down talk of his announcing his third run before the 2022 midterms are done.) Trump’s campaign-in-waiting blasted appeals to his fundraising lists almost immediately after the search on Monday — saying in one fundraising request that his “beautiful home” had been “raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents” and writing in a text blast to his supporters that “Dems broke into the home of Pres Trump.” Meanwhile, the wide-open field of possible 2024 contenders, who were long reluctant to weigh in on revelations from the Jan. 6 hearings over the last two months, blasted Biden and the Justice Department. A stop sign in front of a gated entrance to Mar-a-Lago. A stop sign outside Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday. (Marco Bello/Reuters) Even Republicans who long ago broke with Trump, including former Vice President Mike Pence, who was almost attacked by the pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, decried the search on Trump’s property — though both said the public needs to know more about what agents are seeking, a request that could potentially damage Trump. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., a rising star in the party who is often floated as a possible 2024 contender, told CBS News, “We need to let this play out and see exactly what happens.” The lone big-name Republican who sided with the Justice Department on Tuesday was former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former federal prosecutor, who told Sirius XM’s Julie Mason that the search of Trump’s safe at his Mar-a-Lago residence was “fair game.” | |
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| 08-11-22 12:45am - 864 days | #274 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The head of the FBI comes out swinging. Says the FBI will attack all GOP lawbreakers who threaten the FBI. This includes slimy Baby-Face Lindsey Graham, the man who hides behind the US Constitution while breaking the law. Never before in the history of the Untied States of Trumperland has there been so much vile and bigoted behavior on the part of the GOP. The FBI will be cleaning house and putting leaders of the GOP, including Dongle Trump, in jail, as soon as Sleepy Joe Biden finishes his coffee break and noontime nap. Until Sleepy Joe finishes his nap time, the FBI is arming itself with 357 and 44 Magnums, the weapon of choice of our beloved hero, Dirty Harry Callahan. Although Dirty Harry has retired, Sleepy Joe is considering making Dirty Harry the head of an enforcement team that will crack down on white supremacists and antisemites gathering to mount an armed revolution. And if Dongle Trump, the real leader of this revolt, is caught with a smoking gun, he will be sent straight to prison. ----- ----- FBI's Wray denounces threats following search of Trump home Associated Press MARGERY A. BECK August 10, 2022, 11:21 PM OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The director of the FBI had strong words Wednesday for supporters of former President Donald Trump who have been using violent rhetoric in the wake of his agency's search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. Christopher Wray, who was appointed as the agency’s director in 2017 by Trump, called threats circulating online against federal agents and the Justice Department “deplorable and dangerous.” “I’m always concerned about threats to law enforcement,” Wray said. “Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you’re upset with.” Wray made the remarks following a news conference during a long-planned visit to the agency’s field office in Omaha, Nebraska, where he discussed the FBI's focus on cybersecurity. He declined to answer questions about the hours-long search Monday by FBI agents of Trump's Palm Beach, Florida resort. It has been easy to find the threats and a call to arms in those corners of the internet favored by right-wing extremists since Trump himself announced the search of his Florida home. Reactions included the ubiquitous “Lock and load” and calls for federal agents and even U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to be assassinated. On Gab — a social media site popular with white supremacists and antisemites — one poster going by the name of Stephen said he was awaiting “the call” to mount an armed revolution. “All it takes is one call. And millions will arm up and take back this country. It will be over in less than 2 weeks,” the post said. Another Gab poster implored others: “Lets get this started! This unelected, illegitimate regime crossed the line with their GESTAPO raid! It is long past time the lib socialist filth were cleansed from American society!" The search of Trump's residence Monday is part of an investigation into whether Trump took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence, according to people familiar with the matter. The Justice Department has been investigating the potential mishandling of classified information since the National Archives and Records Administration said it had received from Mar-a-Lago 15 boxes of White House records, including documents containing classified information, earlier this year. | |
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| 08-11-22 02:06pm - 864 days | #275 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The Attorney General of the Untied States of Trumperland stands tall. He refuses to back down in the face of threats to the FBI. Says that Dongle Trump was given the chance to re-buff the armed FBI agents, if Dongle had used the incident to show that Dongle's Secret Service agents had opened fire on the FBI agents to protect the dignity and honor of Dongle Trump. But Dongle Trump, the loudmouth braggart, did not lead the Secret Service to attack the FBI. So both sides are claiming victory. God save the King. Err, Sleepy Joe Biden, I mean. Who will now ponder the GOP's requests to dismantle the FBI. The FBI can be useful: remember when Dongle Trump used the FBI to whitewash Brett Kavanaugh? ----- ----- Merrick Garland: DOJ asks judge to unseal Mar-a-Lago search warrant Yahoo News Caitlin Dickson August 11, 2022, 12:36 PM Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that the Justice Department had filed a motion to unseal a search warrant and property receipt from the FBI’s recent search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Garland announced the motion at a press conference, marking his first public statement about the matter since Trump publicly confirmed the search at his Florida residence on Monday evening. Although he declined to answer questions or provide any further details about the search, Garland said that he “personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter,” adding, “The department does not take such a decision lightly.” Garland said that the search warrant “was authorized by a federal court upon the required finding of probable cause," and that copies of both the warrant and the FBI property receipt “were provided on the day of the search to the former president's counsel, who was on site during the search.” According to multiple reports, the raid was related to an investigation into Trump's potential mishandling of classified documents. In May, a federal grand jury began investigating whether he had mishandled top-secret documents, including taking 15 boxes of material to the Florida resort. Monday’s raid was first reported by Florida Politics — which said the FBI had executed a search warrant and left the premises — minutes before Trump posted his statement about it to his social media site, Truth Social. “These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida is currently under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” Trump said in his statement. Without evidence, he decried the search as “prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by the Radical Left Democrats who desperately don't want me to run for President in 2024." Garland said Thursday that the search warrant “was authorized by a federal court upon the required finding of probable cause." Nevertheless, Trump’s outrage quickly reverberated across the right, as Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators jumped to the former president’s defense, echoing his claims of persecution and calling for the FBI to be dismantled. It didn’t take long for some of the rhetoric around the Mar-a-Lago raid to turn violent. Within hours of Trump’s statement announcing the raid, social media users from Twitter to more fringe platforms like Gab and Telegram were issuing calls for civil war and vowing to take up arms. At Thursday’s press conference, Garland sought to address what he called “recent unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors.” “I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked,” Garland said. "The men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated, patriotic public servants. Every day they protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism and other threats to their safety, while safeguarding our civil rights. They do so at great personal sacrifice and risk to themselves. “I am honored to work alongside them,” he added. | |
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| 08-11-22 02:10pm - 864 days | #276 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
HuffPost Eric Trump's Accidental Confession About His Father Has Twitter Users Howling Ed Mazza Wed, August 10, 2022 at 1:57 AM Eric Trump may have revealed just a little too much about how the White House operated under his father. One day after the FBI executed a search warrant on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, the son of the former president claimed that President Joe Biden must have approved the action. His reasoning: That’s how it worked when Trump was in office. Most modern presidents have taken pains to distance themselves from Justice Department operations with political implications. In this case, the White House said Biden found out about the search warrant the same way as everyone else: from the news. But as Twitter users were quick to point out, Eric Trump’s comments appeared to admit that wasn’t the case in the Trump White House: This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. | |
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| 08-11-22 02:26pm - 864 days | #277 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump stands for law and order. That's why he made it a felony to mishandle classified documents. This was done in 2018. But it's now 2022, and Dongle believes that the law does not apply to him. Dongle Trump enjoys unlimited immunity from persecution, due to his teflon halo, that he polishes daily. ---- ---- HuffPost Trump Made It A Felony To Mishandle Classified Documents In 2018 Sara Boboltz Wed, August 10, 2022 at 10:21 AM Few details have been made public as to why, exactly, the FBI and Department of Justice felt the urgent need to raid former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Monday. Reports indicate Trump had been holding onto materials that were supposed to have been turned over to the National Archives. But officials have not commented on what was contained in those records ― and whether there are implications for U.S. national security. The lack of information leaves only speculation about what sort of potential criminal activity the Department of Justice is looking into. Oddly enough, one of the multiple laws covering the mishandling of government information is one that Trump himself amended during his tenure in the Oval Office, as pointed out by Tennessee state Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D) on Twitter. Tucked into a bill Trump signed into law in January 2018 was a provision increasing the punishment for knowingly removing classified materials with the intent to retain them at an “unauthorized location.” Previously, someone found guilty of this crime could face up to one year in prison. When former CIA Director David Petraeus was charged in 2015 with mishandling classified data, he pleaded guilty under this statute to avoid a felony charge, as Politico pointed out. A similar situation unfolded a decade earlier, when former national security adviser Samuel Berger pleaded guilty to removing terrorism-related materials from the National Archives in 2005. Now, a person convicted of violating this law can face up to five years in prison ― making it a felony-level offense to mishandle classified documents under 18 U.S.C. 1924. Could 2018 Trump have unknowingly put 2022 Trump in a tough spot? We don’t yet know. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. | |
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| 08-11-22 05:50pm - 864 days | #278 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Garland gets down on his knees to beg forgiveness. Dongle Trump is innocent until proven otherwise. Please, let us honor the man who made America great again. But Dongle Trump has revealed the truth: the FBI had safecrackers enter Dongle Trump's home. A man's home is sacred. Dongle had the right to shoot the FBI agents who were breaking the law. And he could have ordered the Secret Service agents who protect all former presidents to open fire. But Dongle was patient. Dongle Trump deserves the Medal of Honor for not allowing the Secret Service to fire on the reckless and unlawful FBI agents who invaded his home. ---- ---- Garland says he moved to unseal Trump search warrant, defends DOJ from attacks NBC Universal Jonathan Allen and Vaughn Hillyard and Peter Nicholas and Carol E. Lee and Dareh Gregorian and Daniel Barnes and Kelly O'Donnell and Ken Dilanian August 11, 2022, 3:53 PM WASHINGTON — Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that he "personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant" for former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort and that the Justice Department filed a motion earlier in the day to make the warrant public. Speaking about his decision at a brief news conference, Garland said the department "does not take such actions lightly" and first pursues "less intrusive" means to retrieve material. Garland noted that it was Trump's "right" to reveal Monday's FBI search of his property and that all Americans are entitled to a presumption of innocence. Garland added that the Justice Department has asked to make public the property receipt detailing what agents found inside the Trump property. Trump received a federal grand jury subpoena this spring for sensitive documents the government believed he retained after his departure from the White House, a source familiar with the matter confirmed. Garland's nod to "less intrusive" avenues for recovery of documents appeared to be a reference to the subpoena and suggested that Trump had not turned over all of the material sought by the Justice Department. Trump defended himself in a statement posted to his Truth Social media platform after Garland's remarks, claiming that his lawyers were "cooperating fully" and had developed "very good relationships" with Justice Department officials. "The government could have had whatever they wanted, if we had it," he wrote. "Out of nowhere, and with no warning, Mar-a-Lago was raided" by "VERY large numbers of agents, and even 'safecrackers.' They got way ahead of themselves. Crazy!" Conservative journalist John Solomon first reported Thursday afternoon that Trump was sent the subpoena months before the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida on Monday. The source familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the subpoena was related to documents that Trump’s legal team discussed with Justice Department officials at a previously reported meeting on June 3. The federal officials who went to Mar-a-Lago for the June meeting were "coming down to retrieve the documents that were being requested" in the subpoena, the source familiar with the matter said, adding that the meeting was arranged with the Trump team's understanding that turning over relevant documents that day would fulfill the subpoena. Citing "two sources briefed on the classified documents" sought in the subpoena, The New York Times reported Thursday that federal officials were prompted to search Mar-a-Lago because uncollected material was particularly sensitive to national security. The source familiar with the matter told NBC News that Trump's lawyers last heard from the Justice Department before the FBI search shortly after the June meeting, when federal officials asked for additional security in the storage facility where documents were held. Trump's team added a second lock to the basement storage area, the source said. During Thursday's remarks, Garland also defended the Justice Department against “unfounded” attacks made by Trump and his allies. “I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked,” he said. “Every day they protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism and other threats to their safety while safeguarding our civil rights.” FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump, echoed those sentiments in a statement Thursday night. “Unfounded attacks on the integrity of the FBI erode respect for the rule of law and are a grave disservice to the men and women who sacrifice so much to protect others. Violence and threats against law enforcement, including the FBI, are dangerous and should be deeply concerning to all Americans," he said. "Every day I see the men and women of the FBI doing their jobs professionally and with rigor, objectivity, and a fierce commitment to our mission of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution. I am proud to serve alongside them,” Wray added. Earlier this week, Trump attacked the FBI in a Truth Social post, with similar remarks from his allies. “Everyone was asked to leave the premises, they wanted to be alone, without any witnesses to see what they were doing, taking or, hopefully not, ‘planting,’” he wrote. “Why did they STRONGLY insist on having nobody watching them, everybody out?” Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, a friend of the former president, said that while the two men had not discussed the investigation, “my guess is he’s pretty shocked.” Ruddy echoed Trump’s attacks on the FBI, calling the search a “publicity stunt” and depicting the Justice Department as politicized. “Unfounded attacks on the integrity of the FBI erode respect for the rule of law and are a grave disservice to the men and women who sacrifice so much to protect others. Violence and threats against law enforcement, including the FBI, are dangerous and should be deeply concerning to all Americans. Every day I see the men and women of the FBI doing their jobs professionally and with rigor, objectivity, and a fierce commitment to our mission of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution. I am proud to serve alongside them.” Garland’s appearance Thursday followed an outpouring of criticism from Justice Department officials and alumni who faulted him both for his reticence amid the unprecedented search of an ex-president’s home and for failing to defend federal agents from unfounded claims that they had planted evidence. A former Justice Department official told NBC News: “In a normal investigation, secrecy is important and justified. But when you’re talking about sending dozens of FBI agents into the bedroom of the former president of the United States to go through his drawers, you need to explain what’s going on.” If not, this person added, “everyone will assume the worst.” “This is a completely unprecedented move by U.S. law enforcement, and I’m frankly astonished that no one has bothered to explain or justify it in any way.” The White House was not given advance notice of Garland’s remarks, a senior White House official said. Garland on Thursday put the onus on Trump to reveal more about the search, deflecting criticism that the Justice Department has been overly secretive. Under the motion filed by prosecutors, Trump now has two choices: He can allow the warrant to be made public, or he can keep it secret and risk appearing as if he has something to hide. “I thought it was both completely appropriate and absolutely brilliant to ask the president’s lawyers to weigh in on a decision to unseal,” said Chuck Rosenberg, a former U.S. attorney and FBI official who has worked in Democratic and Republican administrations. “If there’s no there there, you would expect the president agrees.” Representatives and attorneys for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment about whether he planned to fight Garland’s motion to unseal the search warrant. The Justice Department's motion does not seek to make public the affidavit of probable cause, which includes the FBI's justification for searching Mar-a-Lago. According to the court filing, a federal judge signed off on the search warrant last Friday. The filing notes that Trump and his lawyers have copies of both the warrant and a "redacted Property Receipt listing items seized pursuant to the search" — and that they can object to the public release of those documents. “Given the intense public interest presented by a search of a residence of a former President, the government believes these factors favor unsealing the search warrant" and related materials, the filing says. “That said, the former President should have an opportunity to respond to this Motion and lodge objections, including with regards to any ‘legitimate privacy interests’ or the potential for other ‘injury’ if these materials are made public.” The next step is for Justice Department officials to meet with Trump’s lawyers and determine whether he intends to fight disclosure of the warrant and the property receipt, according to an order Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart issued Thursday. The Justice Department must file a notice by 3 p.m. ET Friday to inform the judge of the Trump team’s intentions. An irony of the investigation is that it centers on paper records. As president, Trump had an aversion to reading briefing material that staff members would hand him, former administration officials said. David Shulkin, the former veterans affairs secretary, said that when he would meet with Trump in the Oval Office or an adjacent private dining room where the ex-president often worked with the TV tuned to Fox News, he was struck by the absence of paperwork. | |
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| 08-11-22 10:34pm - 864 days | #279 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump says when he returns to the Whitest House, he will put all his enemies in jail. With a sad heart, because Dongle is the most loyal, loving man, he will put his enemies in jail and prison, because it's the right thing to do. "We have to clean the swamp in Washington", screams Dongle. "And if that means putting Sleepy Joe Biden down, so be it!!!" "And if the FBI planted incriminating evidence at my Florida house, I will fight the corrupt FBI with all my strength", Dongle screamed. ----- ----- Trump says he won't fight move to unseal Mar-a-Lago search warrant NBC Universal Jonathan Allen and Vaughn Hillyard and Peter Nicholas and Carol E. Lee and Dareh Gregorian and Daniel Barnes and Kelly O'Donnell and Ken Dilanian and Kristen Welker and Phil Helsel August 11, 2022, 9:08 PM WASHINGTON — Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that he "personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant" for former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort and that the Justice Department filed a motion earlier in the day to make the warrant public. Trump said late Thursday that he would not oppose the move. Speaking about his decision at a brief news conference, Garland said the department "does not take such actions lightly" and first pursues "less intrusive" means to retrieve material. Garland noted that it was Trump's "right" to reveal Monday's FBI search of his property and that all Americans are entitled to a presumption of innocence. Garland added that the Justice Department has asked to make public the property receipt detailing what agents found inside the Trump property. Trump’s attorneys had until 3 p.m. Friday to oppose the government’s motion to unseal the warrant. But Just before midnight, Trump said on his social media platform that he would not oppose the government's motion. “Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the unAmerican, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents,” Trump said in part. Trump received a federal grand jury subpoena this spring for sensitive documents the government believed he retained after his departure from the White House, a source familiar with the matter confirmed. Garland's nod to "less intrusive" avenues for recovery of documents appeared to be a reference to the subpoena and suggested that Trump had not turned over all of the material sought by the Justice Department. Trump defended himself in a statement posted to his Truth Social media platform after Garland's remarks, claiming that his lawyers were "cooperating fully" and had developed "very good relationships" with Justice Department officials. "The government could have had whatever they wanted, if we had it," he wrote. "Out of nowhere, and with no warning, Mar-a-Lago was raided" by "VERY large numbers of agents, and even 'safecrackers.' They got way ahead of themselves. Crazy!" Conservative journalist John Solomon first reported Thursday afternoon that Trump was sent the subpoena months before the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida on Monday. The source familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the subpoena was related to documents that Trump’s legal team discussed with Justice Department officials at a previously reported meeting on June 3. The federal officials who went to Mar-a-Lago for the June meeting were "coming down to retrieve the documents that were being requested" in the subpoena, the source said, adding that the meeting was arranged with the Trump team's understanding that turning over relevant documents that day would fulfill the subpoena. Citing "two sources briefed on the classified documents" sought in the subpoena, The New York Times reported Thursday that federal officials were prompted to search Mar-a-Lago because uncollected material was particularly sensitive to national security. The source familiar with the matter told NBC News that Trump's lawyers last heard from the Justice Department before the FBI search shortly after the June meeting, when federal officials asked for additional security in the storage facility where documents were held. Trump's team added a second lock to the basement storage area, the source said. Trump this year had to return 15 boxes of documents that the National Archives and Records Administration said were improperly taken from the White House. A separate source confirmed an earlier Wall Street Journal report by telling NBC News that “someone familiar” with documents inside Mar-a-Lago told investigators there may have been more classified documents at the club than were initially turned over, leading in part to the search on Monday. During Thursday's remarks, Garland also defended the Justice Department against “unfounded” attacks made by Trump and his allies. “I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked,” he said. “Every day they protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism and other threats to their safety while safeguarding our civil rights.” FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was appointed by Trump, echoed those sentiments in a statement Thursday night. “Unfounded attacks on the integrity of the FBI erode respect for the rule of law and are a grave disservice to the men and women who sacrifice so much to protect others. Violence and threats against law enforcement, including the FBI, are dangerous and should be deeply concerning to all Americans," he said. "Every day I see the men and women of the FBI doing their jobs professionally and with rigor, objectivity, and a fierce commitment to our mission of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution. I am proud to serve alongside them,” Wray added. Earlier this week, Trump attacked the FBI in a Truth Social post, with similar remarks from his allies. “Everyone was asked to leave the premises, they wanted to be alone, without any witnesses to see what they were doing, taking or, hopefully not, ‘planting,’” he wrote. “Why did they STRONGLY insist on having nobody watching them, everybody out?” Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, a friend of the former president, said that while the two men had not discussed the investigation, “my guess is he’s pretty shocked.” Ruddy echoed Trump’s attacks on the FBI, calling the search a “publicity stunt” and depicting the Justice Department as politicized. Garland’s appearance Thursday followed an outpouring of criticism from Justice Department officials and alumni who faulted him both for his reticence amid the unprecedented search of an ex-president’s home and for failing to defend federal agents from unfounded claims that they had planted evidence. A former Justice Department official told NBC News: “In a normal investigation, secrecy is important and justified. But when you’re talking about sending dozens of FBI agents into the bedroom of the former president of the United States to go through his drawers, you need to explain what’s going on.” If not, this person added, “everyone will assume the worst.” “This is a completely unprecedented move by U.S. law enforcement, and I’m frankly astonished that no one has bothered to explain or justify it in any way.” The White House was not given advance notice of Garland’s remarks, a senior White House official said. Garland on Thursday put the onus on Trump to reveal more about the search, deflecting criticism that the Justice Department has been overly secretive. Under the motion filed by prosecutors, Trump now has two choices: He can allow the warrant to be made public, or he can keep it secret and risk appearing as if he has something to hide. “I thought it was both completely appropriate and absolutely brilliant to ask the president’s lawyers to weigh in on a decision to unseal,” said Chuck Rosenberg, a former U.S. attorney and FBI official who has worked in Democratic and Republican administrations. “If there’s no there there, you would expect the president agrees.” The Justice Department's motion filed Thursday does not seek to make public the affidavit of probable cause, which includes the FBI's justification for searching Mar-a-Lago. According to the court filing, a federal judge signed off on the search warrant last Friday. The filing notes that Trump and his lawyers have copies of both the warrant and a "redacted Property Receipt listing items seized pursuant to the search" — and that they can object to the public release of those documents. “Given the intense public interest presented by a search of a residence of a former President, the government believes these factors favor unsealing the search warrant" and related materials, the filing says. “That said, the former President should have an opportunity to respond to this Motion and lodge objections, including with regards to any ‘legitimate privacy interests’ or the potential for other ‘injury’ if these materials are made public.” The next step is for Justice Department officials to meet with Trump’s lawyers and determine whether he intends to fight disclosure of the warrant and the property receipt, according to an order Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart issued Thursday. The Justice Department must file a notice by 3 p.m. ET Friday to inform the judge of the Trump team’s intentions. | |
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| 08-11-22 11:00pm - 864 days | #280 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
North Korea declares victory over COVID. Says they used a brilliant scheme devised by Dongle Trump: gargle with bleach, and drink 16 fluid ounces of bleach every 2 hours. Dongle says he will visit North Korea as soon as he's elected President of the Untied States of Trumperland. And there will be a big party in celebration. Vlad Putin has promised to attend. ---- ---- North Korea declares victory over COVID, suggests leader Kim had it Reuters Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith August 11, 2022, 5:31 AM SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared victory over COVID-19 and his sister indicated that he too caught the virus, while vowing "deadly retaliation" against South Korea, which the North blames for causing the outbreak. Kim ordered the lifting of maximum anti-epidemic measures imposed in May though adding that North Korea must maintain a "steel-strong anti-epidemic barrier and intensifying the anti-epidemic work until the end of the global health crisis", North Korea's KCNA news agency reported on Thursday. North Korea has never confirmed how many people caught COVID, apparently because it lacks the means to conduct widespread testing. Instead, it has reported daily numbers of patients with fever, a tally that rose to some 4.77 million. But it has registered no new such cases since July 29. Kim made his declaration in a speech on Wednesday at a meeting on COVID policy with thousands of unmasked officials sitting indoors, according to footage from state broadcasters. Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, also addressed the gathering and said the young leader himself had suffered from fever symptoms, according to KCNA, indicating for the first time that he was likely infected with the virus. "Even though he was seriously ill with a high fever, he could not lie down for a moment thinking about the people he had to take care of until the end in the face of the anti-epidemic war," she said in remarks broadcast on North Korean state television. Some of the officials at the meeting were shown wiping away tears as she spoke about her brother's illness. She did not elaborate on Kim's health but blamed propaganda leaflets from South Korea found near the border for causing the coronavirus outbreak. North Korean defectors and activists in the South have for decades floated balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets into the North, at times along with food, medicine, money and other items. Kim Yo Jong criticised South Korea's new government of President Yoon Suk-yeol for seeking to lift a 2020 ban on the leaflet campaigns, calling the South an "invariable principal enemy". "We can no longer overlook the uninterrupted influx of rubbish from South Korea," she said, threatening to "wipe out" South Korea's authorities. "Our countermeasure must be a deadly retaliatory one." South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles cross-border relations, expressed regret about North Korea's repeated "groundless claims" regarding the origin of its COVID outbreak and its "rude and threatening remarks". Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup told reporters North Korea's accusation was "more likely making an excuse for provocations". 'FOSTERING UNITY' Analysts said although the authoritarian North has used the pandemic to tighten social controls, its victory declaration could be a prelude to restoring trade hampered by border lockdowns. "The meeting seems primarily aimed at fostering unity among the people but could also be to send a message to China that they're COVID-free and ready to restart trade," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. Analysts have also said the easing of restrictions may clear the way for the North to test a nuclear weapon for the first time since 2017. North Korea's official COVID death rate of 0.0016%, or 74 out of some 4.77 million, is an "unprecedented miracle", its anti-virus chief Ri Chung Gil told the meeting. The World Health Organization has cast doubts on North Korea's assertions. "Whatever the truth behind the numbers, this is the story being told to the North Korean citizens. And right now the numbers are telling them that the epidemic is over," said Martyn Williams, a researcher with the U.S.-based 38 North Project. Like other countries, North Korea was likely balancing the need for control with public frustration with restrictions, he said. North Korea's declaration on COVID comes despite no known vaccine programme. Instead, it says it relied on lockdowns, domestically produced medicines, and what Kim called the "advantageous Korean-style socialist system". (Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Josh Smith; Editing by Stephen Coates and Lincoln Feast, Robert Birsel) | |
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| 08-12-22 07:06am - 863 days | #281 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The FBI is toughening up. They called the police on a man who fired a nail gun. Pretty soon, they say, they will be able to stand up to people with real guns. Of course, it helps that the FBI has not only thousands of hand guns, but also big rifles that fire real bullets. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green and Dongle Trump will lead a memorial for the fallen nail gun hero. ----- ----- Man who fired nail gun at FBI building called for violence on Truth Social in days after Mar-a-Lago search NBC Universal Ben Collins and Ryan J. Reilly and Jason Abbruzzese and Jonathan Dienst August 11, 2022, 4:44 PM A man identified by two law enforcement sources as Ricky Shiffer, who died in a confrontation with police after he fired a nail gun at a Cincinnati FBI building, appeared to post online in recent days about his desire to kill FBI agents shortly after former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence was searched. Two law enforcement officials confirmed Shiffer’s name. Shiffer was at the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, according to three people aiding law enforcement who saw him in photos taken from the day of the attack; however, it’s unclear whether he went inside the building. Shiffer frequently posted about his attendance at the Capitol on social media. On Truth Social, a social media platform founded by Trump’s media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, Shiffer appeared to have posted a message detailing his failed attempt to gain entry to the FBI building. “Well, I thought I had a way through bullet proof glass, and I didn’t. If you don’t hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I., and it’ll mean either I was taken off the internet, the F.B.I. got me, or they sent the regular cops while,” the account @RickyWShifferJr wrote at 9:29 a.m. ET, shortly after police allege the shooting occurred. Shiffer posted to Truth Social multiple times in the days after the FBI searched Trump’s residence in Palm Beach, Florida, about wanting to engage in violence. One post called for people to arm themselves and be ready for “combat.” “We must not tolerate this one,” he wrote. Shiffer's Truth Social account, which was seen by NBC News on Thursday evening, has since become unavailable. After another user responded that his photo and information had been forwarded to the FBI, Shiffer’s account responded: “Bring them on.” A general view of the FBI Cincinnati Field Office after police closed Interstate 71 North after reports of a suspect attempting to attack on August 11, 2022. (Jeffrey Dean/Reuters) A general view of the FBI Cincinnati Field Office after police closed Interstate 71 North after reports of a suspect attempting to attack on August 11, 2022. (Jeffrey Dean/Reuters) In response to another user who asked whether Shiffer was advocating for terrorism, Shiffer’s account responded that users should kill FBI agents “on sight” and also target a vague list of enemies who try to stop the slayings. In reply to another user Tuesday, the account responded, “You’re a fool if you think there’s a nonviolent solution.” On May 7, Shiffer’s account replied to a post by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., on Twitter, in which she wrote, “I know they are trying 1984, but I’m feeling 2016 vibes.” “Congresswoman Greene, they got away with fixing elections in plain sight,” Shiffer’s account wrote. “It’s over. The next step is the one we used in 1775.” On the same day, responding to a post by Donald Trump Jr. on Twitter imploring users to “Get ready” because “the midterm variant (of COVID-19) is coming and it’s going to be really scary,” referring to conspiracy theories that Covid-19 is manufactured or not dangerous, the account responded, “Do not comply.” Pro-Trump internet forums erupted with violent threats and calls for civil war in the hours and days after the Mar-a-Lago search, at least one of them from a person who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Many Republican lawmakers have criticized the Biden administration over the search. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday called Trump allies’ criticism of the Justice Department “unfounded,” as did FBI Director Christopher Wray, who said Thursday that threats against the FBI “should be deeply concerning to all Americans.” Trump repeatedly posted to Truth Social after the search, including to insinuate that the FBI had planted evidence. | |
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| 08-12-22 11:00am - 863 days | #282 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump rewrites history. Says he was the real winner of the 2020 presidential election. Says he is the real, secret son of Adolf Hitler, the man who wanted to make Germany leader of the world. Since Hitler did not succeed, Dongle Trump has vowed that Dongle will be the future leader of the world. And all will bow down to Dongle in his glory. Also, the FBI will be dismantled, and a new, more powerful sect will be formed: the Acolytes of Dongle Trump. They will be card-carrying members of the New World Religion based on the tweets of Dongle Trump. “Trump declassified whole sets of materials in anticipation of leaving government that he thought the American public should have the right to read themselves.” Of course, the "public" only includes Trump's favorites, not the great unwashed masses. ---- ---- NBC News Trump allies say he declassified Mar-a-Lago documents. Experts say it's unclear whether that will hold up. Dareh Gregorian and Marc Caputo and Courtney Kube Fri, August 12, 2022 at 8:02 AM Allies of former President Donald Trump say that any sensitive White House documents he brought with him to his Mar-a-Lago estate had been declassified, but some legal and presidential record experts are skeptical of that claim — and say that Trump could be in criminal jeopardy regardless. While the Justice Department has a long history of prosecuting cases involving the mishandling of classified information, no such case has ever been brought against a former president — the one government official who can declassify information at will. "As the facts stand now, his defense would be, ‘I declassified those documents. I am not therefore in possession of classified documents now,'” said Charles Stimson, a senior fellow with the conservative Heritage Foundation and a former federal prosecutor. Others take a different view — including, it seems, the FBI, which executed a search warrant at Trump's Florida resort on Monday tied to classified information Trump allegedly took with him from the White House in January 2021. Trump lawyer Christina Bobb said Tuesday that the warrant left by agents indicated they were investigating possible violations of laws dealing with the handling of classified material and the Presidential Records Act. The 1978 Presidential Records Act, which requires presidents to turn over documents to the National Archives at the end of their administration, lacks an enforcement mechanism, but there are multiple federal laws regarding the handling of classified documents. Trump signed one such law in 2018, increasing the penalty for "unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material" from one year to five years in prison. But those in Trump’s orbit say that no president is personally bound by the removal and retention rules governing classified documents, which can be declassified if the president simply says they are, according to Ric Grenell, who was Trump’s acting director of national intelligence and who handled highly classified information. “There is no approval process for the president of the United States to declassify intelligence. There is this phony idea that he must provide notification for declassification but that’s just silly. Who is he supposed to notify? I think it’s the height of swampism to think the president should seek bureaucrats’ approval,” Grenell told NBC News, emphasizing that he wasn’t personally speaking for the president. Richard Immerman, a historian and an assistant deputy director of national intelligence in the Obama administration, disagreed and said that, while the president has the authority to declassify documents, there’s a formal process for doing so, and there's no indication Trump used it. “He can’t just wave a wand and say it’s declassified,” Immerman said. “There has to be a formal process. That’s the only way the system can work,” because otherwise there would be no way of knowing who could handle or see the documents. “I’ve seen thousands of declassified documents. They’re all marked ‘declassified’ with the date they were declassified,” Immerman said. That does not appear to have been the case with some of the documents that were returned to the National Archives from Mar-a-Lago this year. Archivist David S. Ferriero, an Obama appointee, said in a letter to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in February that his agency had "identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes” from Mar-a-Lago. Kash Patel, a Pentagon chief of staff during the Trump administration, told Breitbart News in May that the documents previously recovered from Mar-a-Lago had been declassified by Trump, but their markings were not updated. “Trump declassified whole sets of materials in anticipation of leaving government that he thought the American public should have the right to read themselves,” Patel said then. “It’s information that Trump felt spoke to matters regarding everything from Russiagate to the Ukraine impeachment fiasco to major national security matters of great public importance — anything the president felt the American people had a right to know is in there and more,” Patel said then, adding that he was with Trump when the then-president said, “We are declassifying this information.” Patel, who declined comment on the documents this week, told Breitbart that the “White House counsel failed to generate the paperwork to change the classification markings, but that doesn’t mean the information wasn’t declassified.” A source who had discussed the matter with Trump but was not authorized to reveal those conversations said the former president wasn't concerned with formal protocol. "We’ve told him there’s a process and not following it could be a problem but he didn’t care because he thinks this stuff is dumb,” the source said. “His attitude is that he is the president. He is in charge of the country and therefore national security. So he decides.” Bradley Moss, a lawyer who specializes in national security issues, said, "That's not how it works." "Trump could say we're declassifying this until he's blue in the face, but no one is allowed to touch those records until the markings are addressed," said Moss, a frequent Trump critic on Twitter. An aerial view of Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. (mpi34/MediaPunch /IPX via AP file) An aerial view of Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. (mpi34/MediaPunch /IPX via AP file) He noted that Trump and White House officials should have been aware that more would be needed to declassify documents given their own experience on the issue. In October 2020, Trump tweeted, “I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!” When news organizations sought to obtain the supposedly declassified documents, they were told they were still under wraps. Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows said in a sworn court filing in the case, “The president indicated to me that his statements on Twitter were not self-executing declassification orders and do not require the declassification or release of any particular documents.” In the current dispute, the apparent lack of a paper trail showing that Trump declassified the documents before he left office could be a problem for the former president, said Stephen Vladeck, a University of Texas School of Law professor who specializes in national security. “President Trump had the power to declassify whichever documents he wanted to while he was president, but not any longer. So I’m not sure it’s at all obvious that he could now claim that he declassified documents while he was still in office if there’s no evidence to support it,” Vladeck said. The Heritage Foundation's Stimson has a different view, given that Trump was once "the ultimate declassification authority." “If any president decides to declassify a document and doesn’t tell anybody — but he has made the decision to declassify something — then the document is declassified,” Stimson said. He added that “there’s a rich debate about whether or not a document is declassified if a president has decided but not communicated it outside of his own head,” but Stimson said he would rather be the defense than the prosecution if the dispute ever went to trial. Vladeck said Trump could still face legal ramifications regardless, because "some of the criminal statutes that are being discussed apply whether or not the underlying information is classified." "The Presidential Records Act and other similar statutes constrain President Trump’s ability to do what he wishes with at least some of the official documents from his tenure, regardless of whether those documents include sensitive national security information," Vladeck said. Moss said one of the laws that prosecutors could theoretically bring to bear against Trump is 18 U.S. Code § 793 — "Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information." The law penalizes "Whoever, lawfully having possession of, access to, control over, or being entrusted with any document, writing, code book ... or note relating to the national defense" who "through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed." It also penalizes someone who "willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it on demand to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it." | |
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| 08-12-22 11:08am - 863 days | #283 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
GOP says it stands above the law. Says it will use violence to destroy the FBI and any people who stand in Dongle Trump's path. Is that legal? Is that moral? Fuck legal, fuck moral, says the GOP. GOP rallies behind police who shoot black people. But the GOP is now saying, the FBI are not police, they are corrupt assassins who must be destroyed. "Let us stand firm with law and order", screams Dongle Trump, waving an AK47 in the air. ----- ----- Republican response to Trump FBI search raises specter of political violence against law enforcement Yahoo News Tom LoBianco August 12, 2022, 9:53 AM Death threats and calls for violence against federal law enforcement have surged following the FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s South Florida resort and home, punctuated by an incident Thursday when an armed suspect tried to enter an FBI field office in Ohio. But Republicans have largely been quiet about the spike of violent threats against law enforcement, despite making support for police a hallmark of their campaigns in response to Black Lives Matter protests against repeated local police shootings of unarmed Black people. In the immediate aftermath of the search, Trump supporters online, including one extreme-right activist who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, talked about being ready to use weapons (“lock and load”) and alleged the country was already in a state of “civil war” — repeating language long used by top cable pundit Tucker Carlson. In an interview Thursday morning on “Fox & Friends,” longtime anchor Steve Doocy pressed Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., on why Republicans were not doing more to tamp down threats — some from within their own ranks – against law enforcement. “A lot of agents are receiving specific death threats because there are a lot of people, online and elsewhere, who are demonizing the FBI,” Doocy said, citing attacks from Reps. Paul Gosar, of Arizona, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia, extremist members of the House Republican conference. “Whatever happened to the Republicans backing the blue?” “We’re very strong supporters of law enforcement, and it concerns everybody if you see some agents go rogue,” said Scalise, the second-ranking Republican in the House, who himself was the target of political violence when a gunman aligned with the left shot lawmakers in 2018. Pressed on who specifically went “rogue,” Scalise said, “We want to find that out.” And during a press conference Friday of the top House Republicans overseeing the intelligence agencies and national security agencies, Rep. Elise Stefanik, one of Trump’s top allies, blasted federal law enforcement rather than decry the threats against the FBI. “House Republicans are committed to immediate oversight, accountability and a fulsome investigation ... regarding Joe Biden and his administration’s weaponization of the Department of Justice and FBI against Joe Biden’s political opponent,” the New York Republican said. Republicans are spurring further violence against law enforcement by toying with conspiracy theories and baseless allegations, said Trygve Olson, an expert on authoritarian tactics and an adviser to the Lincoln Project, a group of current and former Republicans who oppose Trump. “They are playing with fire in radicalizing people towards the FBI and the rule of law,” Olson said. “It is a very, very dangerous game. The kind of game that if it were happening in any other country would be setting off five-alarm fire bells at the State Department to speak out.” In a brief press conference on Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that he approved the search warrant and filed to have limited amounts of the search warrant and the findings included in its return released to the public. He then decried the threats of violence sent to himself and others in the wake of Monday’s search. Attorney General Merrick Garland Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday. (Susan Walsh/AP) “The men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated, patriotic public servants every day,” Garland said. “They protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism and other threats to their safety while safeguarding our civil rights. They do so at personal sacrifice and risk to themselves.” Trump himself has pushed unfounded accusations about the unprecedented search of a former president’s home, and apparently decided not to fight the release of the search details, hours after Garland filed for its release. Not long after that, Trump rebutted a stunning Washington Post report that the materials he had taken included highly sensitive intelligence about nuclear programs by claiming, without evidence, that the FBI planted the evidence — the same unsubstantiated claim he made at the beginning of the week in fundraising appeals. | |
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| 08-12-22 11:17am - 863 days | #284 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump says Fake News and Fake FBI agents raided his home and planted Fake documents. Fox News reports that Florida is considering separating from the Untied States of Trumperland to protect their most honored son, Dongle J. Trump. Also, if Dongle took a few records as souvenirs of his stay in the Whitest House, he was only trying to keep his memories alive. And if he was considering selling some papers to his friends in Russia and North Korea, it was only in the spirit of capitalism. Selling papers to Russia and North Korea would be a good thing. ------ ------ Trump denies report that FBI sought nuclear documents during Mar-a-Lago search NBC Universal Zoë Richards August 12, 2022, 4:38 AM Former President Donald Trump on Friday denied a report from The Washington Post that said FBI agents were looking for classified documents related to nuclear weapons, among other items, when they searched his Mar-a-Lago home this week. On his Truth Social platform, Trump said that "Nuclear weapons is a hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was a hoax," referring to then-special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia. Trump attacked the officials involved with the search of his home, calling them "sleazy." NBC News has not independently verified the Post's report, published Thursday. Details of documents sought by the FBI, such as whether the nuclear weapons in question were tied to the United States or another country, were not immediately clear. Nor was it known if the agency found the documents it was seeking. The explosive report came just hours after Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that he "personally approved" the warrant to search Trump’s Florida home Monday and that the Department of Justice had filed a motion to make the warrant public. The agency has also asked to make public the property receipt detailing what agents found inside the Trump property, Garland said. The Justice Department’s motion does not seek to make public the affidavit of probable cause, which includes the FBI’s justification for searching Mar-a-Lago. Trump this year had to return 15 boxes of documents that the National Archives and Records Administration said were improperly taken from the White House. But months later, and before the FBI conducted its search, Trump received a federal grand jury subpoena for sensitive documents the government believed he retained after his departure from the White House, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News. A separate source confirmed an earlier Wall Street Journal report by telling NBC News that “someone familiar” with documents inside Mar-a-Lago told investigators there may have been more classified documents at the club than were initially turned over, leading in part to the search Monday. Garland on Thursday suggested that Trump had not turned over all of the material sought by the Justice Department. Citing “two sources briefed on the classified documents” sought in the subpoena, The New York Times reported Thursday that federal officials were prompted to search Mar-a-Lago because uncollected material was particularly sensitive to national security. According to an order U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart issued Thursday, Justice Department officials will meet with Trump’s lawyers and determine whether he intends to fight the disclosure of the warrant and the property receipt, but he said Thursday night that he would be "encouraging" their release. “Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the unAmerican, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents,” Trump said. The Justice Department must file a notice by 3 p.m. ET Friday to formally inform the judge of the Trump team’s intentions. | |
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| 08-12-22 05:55pm - 863 days | #285 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
FBI claims it took top secret documents from Dongle Trump's home. Dongle refutes these claims. Says he was using the documents as toilet paper, to wipe his ass. Dongle demands the Supreme Court investigate the FBI for taking paper products from his home. Dongle screams that he will release photocopies of all the documents in his home, on the internet. To show his innocence. And if the FBI wants to, they can kiss his ass. ------- ------- FBI removed top secret documents from Trump's home, Justice Department says Reuters Sarah N. Lynch August 12, 2022, 1:06 PM (Reuters) -FBI agents who searched former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida this week removed 11 sets of classified documents including some marked as top secret, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday while also disclosing it has probable cause to believe he violated the Espionage Act. The bombshell disclosures were made in legal documents released four days after FBI agents carried out the search of Trump's residence based on a warrant approved by a federal magistrate judge. The Justice Department told U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart in its warrant application that it had probable cause to believe that Trump violated the Espionage Act, a federal law that prohibits the possession or transmission of national defense information. The list of documents is contained in a seven-page document that also includes the warrant to search the premises that was granted to the FBI by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, the newspaper said. The list did not provide any more details about the substance of the documents, it said. The reported revelations that Trump had documents labeled "top secret" could create major legal jeopardy for him. "Top secret" is the highest level of classification, reserved for the country's most closely held national security information. It is usually kept in special government facilities because its disclosure could cause grave damage to national security. Numerous federal laws prohibit the mishandling of classified material, including the Espionage Act as well as another statute that prohibits the unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material. Trump increased the penalties for this while he was in office, making it a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Earlier on Friday, Trump denied a Washington Post report that the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago home was for possible classified materials related to nuclear weapons, writing on his social media account that the "nuclear weapons issue is a hoax." Reuters could not immediately confirm the Washington Post report. Attorney General Merrick Garland has declined to publicly detail the nature of the investigation. Monday's search of Trump's home marked a significant escalation in one of the many federal and state investigations he is facing from his time in office and in private business, including a separate one by the Justice Department into a failed bid by Trump's allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election by submitting phony slates of electors. Garland on Thursday announced that the department had asked Reinhart to unseal the warrant that authorized the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. This followed a claim by Trump that the search was political retribution and a suggestion by him, without evidence, that the FBI may have planted evidence against him. Trump's attorneys on Friday afternoon signaled they will not object to having the search warrant for his Florida residence unsealed to the public, the Justice Department said in a court filing, indicating the unsealing could come shortly. Reinhart had imposed a 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) deadline for prosecutors to let him know if Trump's legal team will oppose the unsealing of the warrant. 'RELEASE THE DOCUMENTS' Late on Thursday, Trump released a statement on social media saying he did not intend to oppose its release. "Release the Documents Now!" Trump wrote. The investigation into Trump's removal of records started this year, after the National Archives and Records Administration, an agency charged with safeguarding presidential records that belong to the public, made a referral to the department. On Friday, Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee called on Garland and FBI Director Chris Wray to release the affidavit underpinning the warrant, saying the public needs to know. "Because many other options were available to them, we're very concerned of the method that was used in raiding Mar-a-Lago," Representative Michael Turner, the committee's top Republican, told reporters. If the affidavit remains sealed, "it will still leave many unanswered questions," Turner added. In February, Archivist of the United States David Ferriero told House lawmakers that his agency had been in communication with Trump throughout 2021 about the return of 15 boxes of records. He eventually returned them in January 2022. At the time, the National Archives was still conducting an inventory, but noted some of the boxes contained items "marked as classified national security information." Trump previously confirmed that he had agreed to return certain records to the Archives, calling it "an ordinary and routine process." He also claimed the Archives "did not 'find' anything." Since Monday's search, the Justice Department has faced fierce criticism and online threats, which Garland have condemned. Trump supporters and some of his fellow Republicans in Washington have accused Democrats of weaponizing the federal bureaucracy to target him even as he mulls another run for the presidency in 2024. In another matter, Trump on Wednesday declined to answer questions during an appearance before New York state's attorney general in a civil investigation into his family's business practices, citing his constitutional right against self-incrimination. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; additional reporting by David Morgan in Washington and Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Editing by Will Dunham, Ross Colvin, Jonathan Oatis and Howard Goller) | |
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| 08-12-22 05:59pm - 863 days | #286 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Judge rules criminal case against Trump Organization can proceed. Finally, Dongle Trump will have his day in court. He's been fighting for years, to explain his innocence. But the Fifth Amendment is his bible, and he will use it heavily. ---- ---- Judge rules criminal case against Trump Organization and former CFO can proceed CBS News Graham Kates August 12, 2022, 8:21 AM A New York State judge ruled Friday that a criminal fraud and tax evasion prosecution against the Trump Organization and its former CFO, Allen Weisselberg, can proceed. Weisselberg and the company asked a judge in February to dismiss all 15 counts charged against them. Judge Juan Merchan dismissed one of several tax fraud counts against the Trump Organization, but allowed all others to remain. Attorneys for Weisselberg and the company did not immediately comment on Friday's decisions. The Trump Organization and Weisselberg accused prosecutors working for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of targeting them "based on political animus" toward former President Donald Trump. Weisselberg also argued he had received immunity against certain federal charges when he testified to a federal grand jury investigating former Trump attorney Michael Cohen. Jury selection will take place on Oct. 24. Prosecutors said in a May 23 filing that the Weisselberg investigation was spurred by a Nov. 2, 2020 Bloomberg article about perks Weisselberg allegedly received. "The article outlined many of the key facts relevant to the crimes charged," Manhattan prosecutor Solomon Shinerock wrote in May. The Trump Organization was accused in July 2021 of providing executives with lavish untaxed perks, which prosecutors called "indirect employee compensation." Weisselberg, a 74-year-old who had been at Trump's side at the company for decades, was accused of receiving $1.7 million in perks — including an apartment and car. Weisselberg and the company have entered not guilty pleas. Merchan said that in September, he will hear arguments on a request by Weisselberg's team to suppress evidence from two Manhattan district attorney investigators who he said "struck up small talk" while Weisselberg was in custody. A statement attributed to Weisselberg from the conversation — in which he described the lengthy commute from his Long Island home — was included in court documents. Attorneys for Weisselberg, who is accused of moving into a New York City corporate apartment without paying taxes on the alleged perk, have argued he was essentially tricked into divulging information he might otherwise not have with a lawyer present. In the motion to dismiss charges, they claimed the company and Weisselberg were "improperly targeted" due to politics. They highlighted statements made by New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who has been critical of Trump, a Republican. Two attorneys from James' office are assigned to the Manhattan district attorney's investigation. Trump sat for a court-ordered deposition on Wednesday in James' case, invoking the Fifth Amendment and then replying "same answer" hundreds of times during about four hours of questioning. Trump's attorneys have said previously they were concerned that Trump's deposition could be turned over to Bragg. Attorneys for James' office, and a judge overseeing her probe, have said that her investigators are allowed to do that. Weisselberg's lawyers also wrote in January that the charges against Weisselberg should be tossed because he received immunity against certain federal charges when he testified to a federal grand jury investigating former Trump attorney Michael Cohen. Shinerock replied that no one on his team "has ever seen or been briefed on the contents of Weisselberg's testimony" against Cohen, but claimed the federal immunity does not apply to the state charges filed against Weisselberg. | |
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| 08-12-22 06:28pm - 863 days | #287 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
FBI search warrant shows Trump under investigation for potential obstruction of justice, Espionage Act violations Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo Betsy Woodruff Swan, Kyle Cheney and Nicholas Wu Fri, August 12, 2022 at 12:03 PM A search warrant newly unsealed on Friday reveals that the FBI is investigating Donald Trump for a potential violation of the Espionage Act and removed classified documents from the former president’s Florida estate earlier this week. A receipt accompanying the search warrant, viewed by POLITICO in advance of its unsealing, shows that Trump possessed documents including a handwritten note; documents marked with “TS/SCI,” which indicates one of the highest levels of government classification; and another item labeled “Info re: President of France.” Also among the items taken from Mar-a-Lago this week: An item labeled “Executive grant of clemency re: Roger Jason Stone, Jr.,” a reference to one of Trump’s closest confidants who received a pardon in late 2020. The warrant shows federal law enforcement was investigating Trump for removal or destruction of records, obstruction of justice and violating the Espionage Act — which can encompass crimes beyond spying, such as the refusal to return national security documents upon request. Conviction under the statutes can result in imprisonment or fines. The documents, unsealed after the Justice Department sought their public disclosure amid relentless attacks by Trump and his GOP allies, underscore the extraordinary national security threat that federal investigators believed the missing documents presented. The concern grew so acute that Attorney General Merrick Garland approved the unprecedented search of Trump’s estate last week. The disclosure of the documents comes four days after Trump publicly confirmed the court-authorized search of his Mar-a-Lago home by the FBI, marshaling his political allies to unleash fierce criticism of federal investigators. But the details in the warrant underscore the gravity of the probe — an unprecedented investigation of a former president for mishandling some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets. Trump has claimed since Monday that he has cooperated with investigators from the National Archives and FBI for months and that the unannounced search was an unnecessary escalation. But after several rounds of negotiations in which materials were recovered by the Archives, federal investigators came to believe Trump hadn’t returned everything in his possession. The search warrant, signed on Aug. 5 by federal magistrate judge Bruce Reinhart, revealed that dozens of items were seized, most of them described in vague terms like “leatherbound box of documents,” “binder of photos” and “handwritten note.” Other items on the list indicate the presence of classified material, describing them as “miscellaneous top secret documents” and “miscellaneous confidential documents.” Stone's attorney Grant Smith said that the longtime Trump ally "has no knowledge as to the facts surrounding his clemency documents appearing on the inventory of items seized from former President Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago." Shortly after 3 p.m., the Justice Department confirmed that Trump’s lawyers would not oppose the public release of the search warrant and underlying receipt of materials, which had already begun to circulate widely. | |
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| 08-12-22 06:50pm - 863 days | #288 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The truth exposed: the FBI is investigating Dongle Trump. But the GOP says what about Barack Obama? Didn't he take sensitive documents from the Whitest House? Arrest Obama, torture him and his wife and children, and force confessions that they were illegal aliens from outer space who stole the Whitest House from the American public. ----- ----- Fact Check: Did Barack Obama Illegally Take 30 Million Pages of Documents to Chicago? Aaron Parsley Fri, August 12, 2022 at 3:28 PM President Barack Obama is the subject of a new line of whataboutism that's emerged from conservatives hoping to change focus of the FBI's search for sensitive documents at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home to pretty much anything else. It didn't take long for Trump and his supporters to begin sowing doubt about the reasons behind the search of the property in Palm Beach, Fla., on Monday, which was reportedly part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the alleged mishandling of White House records. Trump called the search for documents — some of which were categorized as highly sensitive and potentially signify an obstruction of justice or violation of the Espionage Act — a "weaponization of the Justice System, and a coordinated attack by Radical Left Democrats." His son, Eric Trump, claimed President Joe Biden "absolutely signed off" on the search, calling it part of an "absolute coordinated attack," despite assurances that the White House had no prior knowledge of it. Republican Sen. Rand Paul even suggested the FBI might have planted evidence by asking during a Fox News segment, "How do we know that they're going to be honest with us about what's actually in the boxes? How do we know that was in the box before it left the residence?" And then there's the whataboutism, a tactic Trump deployed immediately. "Hillary Clinton was allowed to delete and acid wash 33,000 E-mails AFTER they were subpoenaed by Congress," he said in an initial statement about the search. Clinton may be an easy target for the MAGA crowd, but she's not the only one. Obama's now getting quite a few mentions as well. RELATED: Unpacking the Far-Right Terminology Aiming to Discredit the Federal Investigation into Donald Trump After The New York Post published an opinion piece, which claimed Obama sent 30 million pages of his administration's records to Chicago when he left office, Trump and his allies are running with the claim while ignoring key differences between how White House records were handled by the two former presidents. "At the end of his presidency, Barack Obama trucked 30 million pages of his administration's records to Chicago ... More than five years after Obama's presidency ended, the National Archives webpage reveals that zero pages have been digitized & disclosed," Donald Trump Jr. tweeted Wednesday. Fox News host Sean Hannity also made a declaration about Obama's alleged actions on his show: "They shipped 30 million pages of sensitive and possibly classified materials to Chicago, and, by the way, he has yet to return any of it to the National Archives. Not one page. So is his house about to get raided?" RELATED: 'Donald Is Furious Yet Scared': Movement in FBI Investigation Complicates Trump's Plans Trump himself asked on his social media site Truth Social, "What about the 30 million pages of documents taken from the White House to Chicago by Barack Hussein Obama? He refused to give them back? What's going on?" After Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Department of Justice filed a motion in a Florida court to unseal the search warrant obtained by the FBI and a property receipt from the search, Trump repeated the claim about Obama's "33 million pages of documents." The whole thing is a distraction when facts — rather than soundbites about 30 million missing pages — are considered. It's true that Obama White House records made their way to Chicago at the end of his second term. But the process of transferring the documents was done in cooperation with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which legally owns those records under the Presidential Records Act. The 1978 law declares presidential and vice-presidential records property of the federal government, with the NARA responsible for the "custody, control and preservation" of the materials once a presidential administration ends. Rather than store the Obama records in a physical presidential library owned by the NARA as many of his predecessors have done, the Obama Foundation worked with the agency to digitize unclassified records. Touted as a "new partnership for the digital age," the digitization process was outlined in an agreement between the National Archives and the Obama Foundation. "The Parties agree that the Digitization Project will at all times be performed in accordance with the requirements of the Presidential Records Act (PRA) and other applicable federal law, and for the purpose of making the records more accessible to historians and the public pursuant to that Act," reads the agreement, which also explicitly states that the National Archives owns the Obama records and that they're held at a Chicago-area facility controlled by the agency. There is no evidence that Obama or his foundation did anything illegal in handling his presidential records, as NARA clarified in a statement released to PEOPLE Friday. "The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) assumed exclusive legal and physical custody of Obama Presidential records when President Barack Obama left office in 2017, in accordance with the Presidential Records Act (PRA)," the statement says. "NARA moved approximately 30 million pages of unclassified records to a NARA facility in the Chicago area, where they are maintained exclusively by NARA. Additionally, NARA maintains the classified Obama Presidential records in a NARA facility in the Washington, DC, area. As required by the PRA, former President Obama has no control over where and how NARA stores the Presidential records of his Administration." RELATED: Violent Rhetoric, Talk of Civil War Intensify in Extremist Circles Following FBI's Lawful Search of Mar-a-Lago In February, NARA said federal government officials had gone to Florida to retrieve 15 boxes of documents and other items that should have been handed over at the end of Trump's term in accordance with the law. Some of the retrieved documents were clearly labeled classified and included some documents designated "top secret." Trump denied any wrongdoing at the time. "It was a great honor to work with NARA to help formally preserve the Trump Legacy," he said in a statement. "The papers were given easily and without conflict and on a very friendly basis, which is different from the accounts being drawn up by the Fake News Media." Were Trump and his aides truthful during the process of returning the boxes? Did they hand over everything or were potentially sensitive materials still missing? Those are the questions federal investigators were looking to answer with Monday's search at Mar-a-Lago, and the property receipt unsealed Friday shows that multiple sets of secret documents were just recovered, suggesting he didn't hand it all over the previous time. RELATED: Trump Suspected of Violating Espionage Act, According to Mar-a-Lago Search Warrant To obtain a warrant to search for and retrieve Trump's White House records from Mar-a-Lago, the FBI needed approval from a "neutral and detached" federal judge. To get the judge's signature, investigators had to demonstrate probable cause by showing there was reasonable information to support the possibility that evidence of illegality will be found during the search. The execution of a search warrant does not mean that Trump committed or is accused of a crime. But there is an ongoing criminal investigation into whether Trump properly handled White House records after his presidency, which makes his case very different from Obama's. | |
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| 08-13-22 08:01am - 862 days | #289 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Low water levels at Lake Mead reveal human remains. Did Dongle Trump use the lake as a dumping ground for Mafia enemies? Did Dongle Trump order many hits we have yet to discover? Enquiring minds want to know: how many people were on Dongle Trump's hit list? ----- ----- Low water levels at Lake Mead reveal more than just human remains CBS News August 12, 2022, 9:32 AM Lake Mead National Recreation Area is showing the dramatic effects of falling water levels from the ongoing drought. The nation's largest reservoir is now giving up many of its secrets, including a fourth set of human remains discovered since May. Among those found were the remains of Daniel Kolod, who went missing in 1958. At the time, he was on a speedboat with one of his best friends, his son Todd Kolod told CBS News' partner, The Weather Channel. "My dad was 22. His buddy Mike was 23. And I think it was more boat than they could handle," Kolod said. Daniel Kolod's remains were found on May 7. Not even a week before, a woman had found a body in a barrel. The discoveries have prompted speculation that the lake was used as a burial ground by organized crime and gangs from the early days of Las Vegas, which is just a 30-minute drive from the lake. Former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman was a lawyer and represented powerful people in Old Vegas. Despite the shock of a body being found in a barrel at the bottom of a lake, he said that he doesn't believe the death was mob-related. A sign marks the water line from 2002 near Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Saturday, July 9, 2022, near Boulder City, Nev. The largest U.S. reservoir has shrunken to a record low amid a punishing drought. / Credit: John Locher / AP A sign marks the water line from 2002 near Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Saturday, July 9, 2022, near Boulder City, Nev. The largest U.S. reservoir has shrunken to a record low amid a punishing drought. / Credit: John Locher / AP "Well, we would have heard if it was mob related. Why drive all the way out and put somebody in a barrel? They would want people to know it. It was to teach a lesson," Goodman said. Police are shocked at how low the water level at Lake Mead is and how it continues to recede — revealing bodies of the past. "We believe that that barrel was at one time under approximately 150 feet of water. I never dreamed I would see the lake this low," Las Vegas Metro Homicide Lt. Jason Johansson said. As more remains are uncovered, Kolod said the impacts of climate change tell a much darker picture. "If I could wave, a magic wand and erase the impacts of climate change and drought and agricultural consumption and make all that go away, I would gladly take having my dad's remains be lost forever. It's just not worth it," said Kolod. | |
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| 08-13-22 08:15am - 862 days | #290 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Pipeline break spills 45,000 gallons of diesel in Wyoming. Dongle Trump says accidents happen. Was the spill deliberate, by the company, to make the land in Wyoming available for purchase at a low price because of the spilled diesel? And will the company make the US government responsible for cleaning up the spill, so the company can later sell off parts of the land for a huge profit? Dongle Trump is an undisclosed shareholder in the company. He is also getting paid for advising the company on legal and political issues. Has Dongle Trump registered as a lobbyist for the company? Public searches show no records of Dongle Trump as a registered lobbyist. But a close source says the company, Bridger Pipeline, has paid millions of dollars to Dongle Trump under the table. Because they think Dongle Trump is such a great leader. Note: the company is thinking of building pipelines in Florida, where Dongle Trump has a home. But Dongle says not to worry: the company has an excellent record. ---- ---- Pipeline break spills 45,000 gallons of diesel in Wyoming Associated Press MATTHEW BROWN August 13, 2022, 6:51 AM BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A diesel pipeline in Wyoming owned by a company that's being sued by federal prosecutors over previous spills in two other states cracked open and released more than 45,000 gallons (205,000 liters) of fuel, state regulators and a company representative disclosed Friday. Cleanup work is ongoing from the spill that was discovered by the pipeline's operator on July 27, said Joe Hunter, Emergency Response Coordinator with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. The fuel spilled into sandy soil on private ranchland near the small community of Sussex in eastern Wyoming and did not spread very far, he said. Contaminated soil was being excavated and placed into a temporary staging area, and it will be spread onto a nearby dirt road where the fuel is expected to largely evaporate, Hunter said. The line is operated by Bridger Pipeline, a subsidiary of Casper-based True companies, according to an accident report submitted to the U.S. Coast Guard's National Response Center. The company initially reported only 420 gallons (1,590 liters) had spilled, but later revised its estimate to 45,150 gallons (205,250 liters), according to a National Response Center database. Bridger Pipeline spokesperson Bill Salvin said the initial figure was based on what company personnel saw on the ground and reported immediately. The volume estimate increased as the site was excavated, he said. True and its subsidiaries have a long history of spills. In May, federal prosecutors in Montana alleged that representatives of Bridger Pipeline had concealed from regulators problems with a pipeline that broke beneath the Yellowstone River near the city of Glendive in 2015. The break spewed more than 50,000 gallons (240,000 liters) of crude into the river and fouled Glendive's drinking water supply. In North Dakota, federal prosecutors and the state Attorney General's Office are pursuing parallel claims of environmental violations against a second True companies subsidiary responsible for a 2016 spill that released more than 600,000 gallons (2.7 million liters) of crude, contaminating the Little Missouri River and a tributary. Representatives of the companies have denied violating pollution laws and rejected claims that problems with the Montana line were concealed from federal regulators. The Wyoming spill was caused by a crack at a weld in the line, said Hunter, who did not know how long it was leaking before being discovered. The spilled fuel did not appear to reach any waterways and no enforcement actions for environmental violations were planned, he said. “I'm not saying there wouldn't be any down the road but for right now there won't be" any enforcement actions by the state, Hunter said. “It's an older pipeline and it's one of those things that happen.” The 6-inch (15 centimeter) diameter steel line was installed in 1968 by the original owner and later acquired by Bridger Pipeline, Salvin said. It was last inspected in 2019, using a device that travels inside the pipe looking for flaws, and no problems were detected, he said. “We're focused on minimizing the environmental impact and we're going to replace the soil and restore the land as close as possible to its original condition,” Salvin said. Kenneth Clarkson with the Pipeline Safety Trust, a Bellingham, Washington-based group that advocates for safer pipelines, said a thorough investigation into the spill's cause needs to conducted. “It’s frustrating to hear of another spill by Bridger Pipeline LLC," Clarkson said. "This spill of 45,000-plus gallons of diesel into rural Wyoming negatively impacts the environment, wildlife, and surrounding communities.” Violations of pipeline safety regulations would be handled separately and fall under jurisdiction of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Salvin said the agency has been notified about the spill, but officials did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press. Bridger last year reached a $2 million settlement with the federal government and Montana over damages from the Yellowstone River spill. The company was previously fined $1 million in the case by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. ___ | |
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| 08-13-22 08:28am - 862 days | #291 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Trump says he declassified Mar-a-Lago documents. Experts say it's unclear whether that will hold up. If Dongle Trump gets away with his claim that he can wave a wand and make all classfied documents unclassified, then Sleepy Joe Biden will have lots of work ahead of him, trying to get the papers classified again. Does Dongle Trump really have the power to rewrite the laws? ---- ---- Trump says he declassified Mar-a-Lago documents. Experts say it's unclear whether that will hold up. NBC Universal Dareh Gregorian and Marc Caputo and Courtney Kube August 12, 2022, 12:34 PM Former President Donald Trump and his allies say that any sensitive White House documents he brought with him to his Mar-a-Lago estate had been declassified, but some legal and presidential record experts are skeptical of that claim — and say that Trump could be in criminal jeopardy regardless. While the Justice Department has a long history of prosecuting cases involving the mishandling of classified information, no such case has ever been brought against a former president — the one government official who can declassify information at will. "As the facts stand now, his defense would be, ‘I declassified those documents. I am not therefore in possession of classified documents now,'” said Charles Stimson, a senior fellow with the conservative Heritage Foundation and a former federal prosecutor. Others take a different view — including, it seems, the FBI, which executed a search warrant at Trump's Florida resort on Monday tied to classified information Trump allegedly took with him from the White House in January 2021. Trump lawyer Christina Bobb said Tuesday that the warrant left by agents indicated they were investigating possible violations of laws dealing with the handling of classified material and the Presidential Records Act. The 1978 Presidential Records Act, which requires presidents to turn over documents to the National Archives at the end of their administration, lacks an enforcement mechanism, but there are multiple federal laws regarding the handling of classified documents. Trump signed one such law in 2018, increasing the penalty for "unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material" from one year to five years in prison. But those in Trump’s orbit say that no president is personally bound by the removal and retention rules governing classified documents, which can be declassified if the president simply says they are, according to Ric Grenell, who was Trump’s acting director of national intelligence and who handled highly classified information. “There is no approval process for the president of the United States to declassify intelligence. There is this phony idea that he must provide notification for declassification but that’s just silly. Who is he supposed to notify? I think it’s the height of swampism to think the president should seek bureaucrats’ approval,” Grenell told NBC News, emphasizing that he wasn’t personally speaking for the president. Trump himself said on his Truth Social platform Friday, "It was all declassified." Richard Immerman, a historian and an assistant deputy director of national intelligence in the Obama administration, said that, while the president has the authority to declassify documents, there’s a formal process for doing so, and there's no indication Trump used it. “He can’t just wave a wand and say it’s declassified,” Immerman said. “There has to be a formal process. That’s the only way the system can work,” because otherwise there would be no way of knowing who could handle or see the documents. “I’ve seen thousands of declassified documents. They’re all marked ‘declassified’ with the date they were declassified,” Immerman said. That does not appear to have been the case with some of the documents that were returned to the National Archives from Mar-a-Lago this year. Archivist David S. Ferriero, an Obama appointee, said in a letter to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in February that his agency had "identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes” from Mar-a-Lago. Kash Patel, a Pentagon chief of staff during the Trump administration, told Breitbart News in May that the documents previously recovered from Mar-a-Lago had been declassified by Trump, but their markings were not updated. “Trump declassified whole sets of materials in anticipation of leaving government that he thought the American public should have the right to read themselves,” Patel said then. “It’s information that Trump felt spoke to matters regarding everything from Russiagate to the Ukraine impeachment fiasco to major national security matters of great public importance — anything the president felt the American people had a right to know is in there and more,” Patel said then, adding that he was with Trump when the then-president said, “We are declassifying this information.” Patel, who declined comment on the documents this week, told Breitbart that the “White House counsel failed to generate the paperwork to change the classification markings, but that doesn’t mean the information wasn’t declassified.” A source who had discussed the matter with Trump but was not authorized to reveal those conversations said the former president wasn't concerned with formal protocol. "We’ve told him there’s a process and not following it could be a problem but he didn’t care because he thinks this stuff is dumb,” the source said. “His attitude is that he is the president. He is in charge of the country and therefore national security. So he decides.” Bradley Moss, a lawyer who specializes in national security issues, said, "That's not how it works." "Trump could say we're declassifying this until he's blue in the face, but no one is allowed to touch those records until the markings are addressed," said Moss, a frequent Trump critic on Twitter. He noted that Trump and White House officials should have been aware that more would be needed to declassify documents given their own experience on the issue. In October 2020, Trump tweeted, “I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!” When news organizations sought to obtain the supposedly declassified documents, they were told they were still under wraps. Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows said in a sworn court filing in the case, “The president indicated to me that his statements on Twitter were not self-executing declassification orders and do not require the declassification or release of any particular documents.” In the current dispute, the apparent lack of a paper trail showing that Trump declassified the documents before he left office could be a problem for the former president, said Stephen Vladeck, a University of Texas School of Law professor who specializes in national security. “President Trump had the power to declassify whichever documents he wanted to while he was president, but not any longer. So I’m not sure it’s at all obvious that he could now claim that he declassified documents while he was still in office if there’s no evidence to support it,” Vladeck said. The Heritage Foundation's Stimson has a different view, given that Trump was once "the ultimate declassification authority." “If any president decides to declassify a document and doesn’t tell anybody — but he has made the decision to declassify something — then the document is declassified,” Stimson said. He added that “there’s a rich debate about whether or not a document is declassified if a president has decided but not communicated it outside of his own head,” but Stimson said he would rather be the defense than the prosecution if the dispute ever went to trial. Vladeck said Trump could still face legal ramifications regardless, because "some of the criminal statutes that are being discussed apply whether or not the underlying information is classified." "The Presidential Records Act and other similar statutes constrain President Trump’s ability to do what he wishes with at least some of the official documents from his tenure, regardless of whether those documents include sensitive national security information," Vladeck said. Moss said one of the laws that prosecutors could theoretically bring to bear against Trump is 18 U.S. Code § 793 — "Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information." The law penalizes "Whoever, lawfully having possession of, access to, control over, or being entrusted with any document, writing, code book ... or note relating to the national defense" who "through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed." It also penalizes someone who "willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it on demand to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it." In this instance, the National Archives said it had been negotiating with Trump's team for the return of documents since last year, and Moss noted that Trump's lawyer acknowledged they met with Justice Department as recently as early June about records that were still missing. On Thursday, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News that Trump also received a federal grand jury subpoena demanding the return of sensitive documents the government believed he'd held onto. What is still unclear, however, is what exactly investigators were looking for at Mar-a-Lago, and whether they found it. "We don't know what we don't know," Moss said. | |
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| 08-13-22 08:30am - 862 days | #292 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
CONTINUED: Immerman said given the information that’s already emerged from the National Archives, it’s likely any classified information that went to Mar-a-Lago was mishandled en route. “When they’re moved you can’t just put them in a briefcase — they’re put in pouches that are double locked,” he said. “When I worked in national intelligence I could not carry documents by myself — I had to be accompanied by someone,” Immerman added. Noah Bookbinder, president of the left-leaning government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and a former federal corruption prosecutor, said, “If there were people who knew they were removing records they were not supposed to remove, they could have some legal exposure as well.” Trump has decried the search as part of an ongoing Democratic "witch hunt" against him. “After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,” he said in a statement Monday. Stephen Miller, a former senior White House adviser to Trump who still speaks regularly to the former president, said while he was not addressing any specifics regarding the filing or declassification of documents, suggestions that the former president broke the law represent a “completely backwards upside-down nonsensical understanding of our Constitution” because it essentially makes a president subservient to unelected “preening insufferable bureaucrats” in the branch of government the president controls. “The president can choose to use the declassification process or he can choose not to,” Miller said, “or you can merely by his actions move something from the classified to the declassified bucket list.” Bookbinder, whose organization filed lawsuits against the Trump administration for flouting record retention policies, said Trump and his aides also should have been well aware that the records they took didn’t belong to them. “These were all presidential records that should have been turned over to the National Archives,” Bookbinder said. “The White House counsel informed Donald Trump and others about their requirements under the Presidential Records Act. It would be hard for them to say they didn’t understand what their obligations are under the law here,” Bookbinder said. Immerman said he was distressed at the possibility of missing records, especially given reports of Trump destroying government documents during his time in office. "We don't know what was destroyed," Immerman said. "Speaking as a historian, it is extremely disconcerting and upsetting. At this point, I find it highly doubtful that we will be able to write a thorough and accurate history of the Trump administration. There will be holes in it." | |
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| 08-13-22 09:35pm - 862 days | #293 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump reaveals the truth: President Sleepy Joe Biden will declare martial law and incite a civil war. That was the reason the FBI invaded the home of Dongle Trump, the most honored hero of America. Never before, in our history, has a white man be persecuted so heinously. Dongle has committed his life to spreading warmth and cheer to the peoples of America. And now the scummy Dems are trying to bring Dongle down. If people rise up in revolt and punish Sleepy Joe, it won't be Dongle's fault: he is for peace and brotherhood and forgiving his fellow men. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz. are calling for the FBI to be dismantled. Florida Sen. Rick Scott is comparing the FBI to the Gestapo. Dongle Trump says we must cleanse America of traitors and commies and evil doers who will try to bring us down. But not to worry: Dongle Trump will re-take the Whitest House and put Sleepy Joe and that evil bitch Hillary Clinton in jail, and make America great again. ----- ----- Extremism experts warn of echoes of Jan. 6 in rightist response to FBI Mar-a-Lago raid Yahoo News Caitlin Dickson August 13, 2022, 11:58 AM Days before he was killed by police after allegedly firing a nail gun into an FBI field office in Cincinnati, the man whom officials have identified as Ricky Walter Shiffer appears to have posted online about wanting to kill FBI agents after the search at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Screenshots taken from Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, show that an account using Shiffer’s name, which appears to have been removed, posted a “call to arms” on Tuesday morning, hours after Trump confirmed the raid had taken place at his Florida residence a day earlier. “We must not tolerate this one,” read one of the posts, which urged others to “be ready for combat” and to “respond with force. “Kill the F.B.I. on sight,” the post said. The same account appears to have posted its final “Truth” on Thursday morning, shortly after the attempted breach of the FBI’s Cincinnati office. Authorities said that Shiffer, who was wearing body armor and is believed to have been armed with an AR-15 as well as a nail gun, fled the scene after activating an alarm and led law enforcement officers on a chase that ended in a cornfield, where after a lengthy standoff, authorities say he was fatally shot by police. The New York Times reported Friday that, for months before he attempted to attack the FBI office in Ohio, federal authorities had been looking into whether Shiffer, 42, of Columbus, had been involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Whether the Truth Social account with Shiffer’s name belonged to him has not yet been confirmed. But extremism experts and some federal law enforcement officials said the Cincinnati incident demonstrates the potential harm that can come from the kind of violent rhetoric that has been circulating online in the wake of the FBI’s search at Mar-a-Lago. “The online trail left by the individual who engaged in that attack illustrates vividly how this type [of] rhetoric can motivate individuals toward real-world violence,” said Jared Holt, a senior research manager at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Holt told Yahoo News that he’s "observed high levels of apocalyptic, violent and conspiratorial rhetoric present in online pro-Trump communities following the search, contributing to a general environment of rage that is not dissimilar to the lead-up to the Capitol riot. “Similarly to that period,” Holt said, “these expressions of anger are happening in plain sight online and being regurgitated by powerful Trump supporters in government and media.” Supporters wearing MAGA caps carry U.S. flags and flags saying Trump Is My President. Supporters of former President Donald Trump gather near his residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 9. (Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images) Minutes after Florida Politics first reported Monday evening that the FBI had executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, Trump, who was in New York City at the time, took to Truth Social to announce that his “beautiful home” and private club in Palm Beach, Fla., was “currently under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents.” In a lengthy statement, the former president went on to decry the search and declare, without evidence, that he was the victim of “prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by the Radical Left Democrats who desperately don't want me to run for President in 2024." News outlets soon reported that the raid had been related to an investigation into Trump's potential mishandling of classified documents. In May, a federal grand jury began investigating whether he had mishandled top-secret documents, including taking 15 boxes of material to the Florida resort. Nonetheless, Trump’s outrage quickly reverberated across the right, with Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators echoing his claims of persecution. It didn’t take long for some of the rhetoric around the Mar-a-Lago raid to turn violent. Within hours of Trump’s statement announcing the raid, social media users from Twitter to fringe platforms like Gab, Telegram and Truth Social were issuing calls for civil war and vowing to take up arms. Much of the vitriol was targeted at the FBI, prompting the head of the the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association to issue a statement Wednesday denouncing “the extreme threats of violence levied against agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation this week.” The federal magistrate judge who signed off on the warrant authorizing the search of Trump’s home also quickly became a target after his name was revealed in news reports. Ben Popp, an investigative researcher with the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, said that he conducted an analysis of various platforms popular with extremists, such as image boards like 4chan and 8kun, Telegram groups and TheDonald, and found that use of the term “civil war” spiked on Aug. 9 — the day after the FBI’s search. “The last time it spiked like that was, interestingly enough, in November 2020,” Popp said, after the contentious presidential election in which the incumbent, Trump, ultimately lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Popp said the recent resurgence in civil war discourse suggests that the search of Trump’s residence is serving as a similar rallying cry for his supporters. In both scenarios, Popp said, the violent rhetoric spreading across fringe spaces could be traced directly to the baseless conspiracy theories and apocalyptic narratives promoted by Trump and his allies in mainstream forums, from Fox News to Twitter, which seek to paint Republicans as victims, whether of the biased media, vote-rigging Democrats or a politically motivated FBI. Popp noted a tweet by Charlie Kirk, the founder of conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA, which described the search of Mar-a-Lago as “a military operation against a political dissident.” He described it as just one example of the kind of “apocalyptic narrative” apparently inspiring more explicit calls for violence. While such “rhetoric is not violent in nature, it’s certainly fueling the violent comments we’re seeing in different spaces online,” Popp said. Kirk’s tweet was in line with calls to dismantle the FBI from far-right Republican lawmakers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., or Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s comments comparing the FBI to the Gestapo in an interview with Fox Business. Moderate Republicans who have previously acknowledged how Trump’s words can inspire harm in the real world were also willing to jump to the former president’s defense. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who said immediately after Jan. 6 that Trump “bears responsibility” for the Capitol riot, issued a statement Monday declaring that the Justice Department had “reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization,” and threatening to launch an investigation if Republicans win back control of the House in the upcoming midterm elections. Even former Vice President Mike Pence, who was personally targeted by the violent mob on Jan. 6, expressed “deep concern” at what he called the “appearance of continued partisanship by the Justice Department.” This persecution narrative has formed the basis for a variety of violent posts that have popped up on many of the websites where Trump supporters discussed plans for Jan. 6, such as the pro-Trump message board TheDonald. It also seems to be drawing in some of the same people. In addition to Shiffer, who had not been charged in connection to Jan. 6, NBC News revealed that at least one user who posted about “civil war” on TheDonald following Monday’s raid is currently awaiting sentencing for his participation in the Capitol riot. “I think these insurrectionist attitudes haven’t gone away since Jan. 6, it just takes events like this for that to bubble back to the surface,” said Popp. Popp and Holt, however, noted that there are some key differences between the violent rhetoric stemming from the FBI search and that seen in the lead-up to Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump called his supporters to come to Washington for a “wild” protest to oppose the congressional certification of Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. Most notably, in contrast to Jan. 6, the violent discourse in recent days has not focused on a singular event or call to action. Popp and Holt predict that any action inspired by the raid is likely to be smaller and less concentrated than the insurrection that drew hundreds to the Capitol last year. | |
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| 08-13-22 09:37pm - 862 days | #294 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
CONTINUED: “My leading concern at this time is that the hyperbolic rhetoric could motivate individuals to act violently while believing they are doing so for a broader cause, as we have already witnessed in the attempted breach of an FBI facility in Cincinnati on Thursday,” Holt said. Merrick Garland at the microphone, in front of the seal of the Justice Department. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland delivers a statement at the Department of Justice on Aug. 11. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Federal law enforcement officials are equally concerned. “[The] bureau is on edge,” said an FBI source, who spoke to Yahoo News on background after the attempted attack on the FBI office in Ohio. “We are all on edge.” Another official with the Department of Homeland Security said the incident in Cincinnati was “just further evidence that false narratives can lead to real threats and violence.” FBI Director Christopher Wray issued a statement Thursday condemning the “unfounded attacks on the integrity of the FBI,” which he said “erode respect for the rule of law and are a grave disservice to the men and women who sacrifice so much to protect others.” Attorney General Merrick Garland echoed Wray’s statement at a press conference Thursday, where he announced that the Justice Department had submitted a motion to unseal a search warrant and property receipt from the FBI’s search of Trump’s Florida home. “I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked,” said Garland, who noted that he “personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter.” Ari Lightman, professor of digital media and marketing at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College, said the violent rhetoric stemming from the Mar-a-Lago raid is just the latest escalation of an extreme polarization on the right that has been on the rise since at least 2008, with the election of former President Barack Obama. Lightman told Yahoo News that while talk of a new civil war is “really troubling,” perhaps more troubling is the rhetoric from lawmakers and right-wing media figures eroding public trust in all government institutions, whether the FBI or the public school system. This lack of trust, he said, fuels extremism and perpetuates the notion that “the only way through this is not through discussion or debate, it's through violence.” Even after a man was killed after attempting to break into the FBI office in Cincinnati, the current campaign to condemn the FBI showed no signs of slowing down. At a press conference on Capitol Hill on Friday morning, members of the House Intelligence Committee’s Republican minority struggled to strike a balance between condemning violence and expressing support for rank-and-file FBI agents, while simultaneously accusing the agency’s leadership of “brazen politicization.” Meanwhile, rather than release the search warrant himself, Trump spent Friday suggesting that the FBI planted evidence on his property and demanding the release of the documents related to the search of Mar-a-Lago, while pre-emptively attempting to discredit any damning information they may reveal. By the time the judge ordered the release of documents related to the raid on Friday afternoon, the discussion on platforms like Truth Social and others that hosted some of the most violent rhetoric in the immediate aftermath of the search had turned to a new conspiracy theory positing that such threats, and the attempted attack on the FBI office in Ohio, had been part of a “false flag” orchestrated by the FBI itself. The goal of such an operation, according to users, was to create a pretext for President Biden to declare martial law and, ultimately, incite a civil war. Jana Winter contributed reporting. | |
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| 08-14-22 01:01am - 861 days | #295 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The GOP screams: dismantle the FBI. Stop attacking Dongle Trump, the man who saved America and made it great again. Cops are evil. They planted Fake Evidence that Dongle is a criminal. Take all weapons away from cops, and let the US Military patrol our streets. Until Dongle can organize a sect of hard-core rabid defenders of the Great White Way. Order your "Defund the FBI” hat today, and wear it with pride with Dongle Trump and other patriots. ---- ---- The New York Times As Search Shows Trump Had Secret Files, GOP Splits Over Assailing FBI Luke Broadwater and Michael C. Bender Sat, August 13, 2022 at 7:40 AM WASHINGTON — Republicans struggled to come together on how to respond to the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago as it emerged Friday that federal law enforcement officers had recovered top secret files from former President Donald Trump’s Florida home. They were divided over whether to attack the nation’s top law enforcement agencies and how aggressive to be in those attacks. Publicly, Trump’s allies continued an aggressive push to portray the former president as a political target while sending urgent-sounding fundraising appeals to supporters. But privately, some advisers around Trump, unsure about what the FBI might have recovered, began quietly cautioning fellow Republicans to dial down their statements. On Capitol Hill, a group of conservative Republicans known as the House Freedom Caucus — many of whom dined with Trump at his Bedminster, New Jersey, club Tuesday and denounced the FBI search as a sign that the Biden administration was turning the country into a “banana republic” — canceled a news conference scheduled for Friday morning. They had planned to further attack the Department of Justice. That decision, publicly attributed to a scheduling conflict, came after a gunman’s attack on an FBI office in Cincinnati on Thursday afternoon and as more details emerged about Trump’s possession of classified documents. Instead, the Republican lawmakers addressing the media Friday were members of the House Intelligence Committee, who delivered a more nuanced message, saying they remained supportive of law enforcement and underscored their desire to maintain the FBI. Still, they said that tough questions remained for Attorney General Merrick Garland about his decision to take the bold step of ordering a search of the former president’s home, and they promised to hold the Justice Department accountable. Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, the ranking Republican on the committee, denounced comments from fellow Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who have called on Congress to “defund the FBI” before having a full understanding of what officers were seeking. (Greene has begun wearing a “Defund the FBI” hat.) Another House Republican, Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, went so far in the immediate aftermath of the search as to write on Twitter, “We must destroy the FBI.” (Gosar avoided the FBI search Friday, devoting his Twitter account to other subjects.) By contrast, Turner said pointedly Friday: “We support our men and women in uniform. And we request that anybody who’s made outrageous statements like that, that you question them and not us.” After a federal judge unsealed the warrant authorizing the search of Mar-a-Lago and an inventory of items removed from the property by federal agents, Republicans followed different strategies in responding. The documents showed the FBI had retrieved 11 sets of classified documents, including four sets of top secret documents, as part of an inquiry into potential violations of the Espionage Act and two other laws. While the Republicans said they all stood by Trump, some embraced a toned-down response. “I’m not for anything that’s critical of law enforcement,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. “On the other hand, this is a very unusual situation, and the DOJ and the FBI ought to come up here and answer questions. It just seems to me this was excessive and over the top.” Cole said he was “willing to listen” to what the Justice Department had to say. Not so for Greene. On the Capitol steps, Greene told a flock of reporters she planned to march into the building to introduce articles of impeachment against Garland, whom she accused of “political persecution” of Trump. “The whole purpose of this is to prevent President Trump from ever being able to hold office,” she said. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a staunch ally of Trump, similarly brushed off questions about Trump’s handling of top secret documents, citing the former president’s claim that he had declassified the documents retrieved by the FBI. “Come on, he’s the ultimate classifier and decider,” Jordan said. “Everyone knows this is ridiculous. Everyone knows it.” Those comments were a far cry from Turner’s message hours earlier, when he told reporters: “The issue of the handling of classified information is an issue that, of course, our committee deals with and that we’re very concerned with.” For their part, Democrats — whose intraparty tug of war over whether and how to reform police departments has been used against them by Republicans to portray the party writ large as wanting to “defund the police” — seemed to welcome the opportunity to turn the tables. “While the other side wants to defund the FBI, we want to fund our kids’ future,” Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Ohio, said on the House floor while debating a spending measure Friday.  2022 The New York Times Company | |
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| 08-14-22 07:35am - 861 days | #296 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump's Florida home has been posted as off-limits to the FBI and all Feds. "You can't trust any of the fuckers", Dongle Trump complains. "They work for Sleepy Joe, one of the biggest Mafia crime bosses in the Untied States of Trumperland." Note: Sleepy Joe is a rival to crime boss Dongle Trump, experts say. Sleepy Joe doesn't understand the way Dongle Trump operates. As soon as Dongle Trump says or tweets or sees a secure document, he immediately processes that information and de-classifies it, thereby making it available to use for toilet paper or other cleaning tasks. Dongle is a marvel at sanitizing. -------- -------- Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort posed rare security challenges, experts say Reuters Steve Holland and Karen Freifeld August 14, 2022, 6:29 AM By Steve Holland and Karen Freifeld WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The seizure of classified U.S. government documents from Donald Trump's sprawling Mar-a-Lago retreat spotlights the ongoing national security concerns presented by the former president, and the home he dubbed the Winter White House, some security experts say. Trump is under federal investigation for possible violations of the Espionage Act, which makes it unlawful to spy for another country or mishandle U.S. defense information, including sharing it with people not authorized to receive it, a search warrant shows. As president, Trump sometimes shared information, regardless of its sensitivity. Early in his presidency, he spontaneously gave highly classified information to Russia’s foreign minister about a planned Islamic State operation while he was in the Oval Office, U.S. officials said at the time. But it was at Mar-a-Lago, where well-heeled members and guests attended weddings and fundraising dinners and frolicked on a breezy ocean patio, that U.S. intelligence seemed especially at risk. The Secret Service said when Trump was president that it does not determine who is granted access to the club, but does do physical screenings to make sure no one brings in prohibited items, and further screening for guests in proximity to the president and other protectees. The Justice Department’s search warrant raises concerns about national security, said former DOJ official Mary McCord. "Clearly they thought it was very serious to get these materials back into secured space," McCord said. "Even just retention of highly classified documents in improper storage - particularly given Mar-a-Lago, the foreign visitors there and others who might have connections with foreign governments and foreign agents - creates a significant national security threat." Trump, in a statement on his social media platform, said the records were "all declassified" and placed in "secure storage." McCord said, however, she saw no "plausible argument that he had made a conscious decision about each one of these to declassify them before he left." After leaving office, she said, he did not have the power to declassify information. Monday's seizure by FBI agents of multiple sets of documents and dozens of boxes, including information about U.S. defense and a reference to the "French President," poses a frightening scenario for intelligence professionals. "It's a nightmarish environment for a careful handling of highly classified information," said a former U.S. intelligence officer. "It's just a nightmare." The DOJ hasn't provided specific information about how or where the documents and photos had been stored, but the club's general vulnerabilities have been well documented. In a high profile example, Trump huddled in 2017 with Japan's then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at an outdoor dinner table while guests hovered nearby, listening and taking photos that they later posted on Twitter. The dinner was disrupted by a North Korean missile test, and guests listened as Trump and Abe figured out what to say in response. After issuing a statement, Trump dropped by a wedding party at the club. "What we saw was Trump be so lax in security that he was having a sensitive meeting regarding a potential war topic where non-U.S. government personnel could observe and photograph," said Mark Zaid, a lawyer who specializes in national security cases. "It would have been easy for someone to also have had a device that heard and recorded what Trump was saying as well." The White House press secretary at the time of the Abe visit, Sean Spicer, told reporters afterward that Trump had been briefed about the North Korean launch in a secure room at Mar-a-Lago. He played down the scene on the patio. "At that time, apparently there was a photo taken, which everyone jumped to nefarious conclusions about what may or may not be discussed. There was simply a discussion about press logistics, where to host the event," he said. It was in the secure room at Mar-a-Lago where Trump decided to launch airstrikes against Syria for the use of chemical weapons in April 2017. The decision made, Trump repaired to dinner with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping. Over a dessert of chocolate cake, Trump informed Xi about the airstrikes. In 2019, a Chinese woman who passed security checkpoints at the club carrying a thumb drive coded with “malicious” software was arrested for entering a restricted property and making false statements to officials, authorities said at the time. Then-White House chief of staff John Kelly launched an effort to try to limit who had access to Trump at Mar-a-Lago, but the effort fizzled when Trump refused to cooperate, aides said at the time. (The story adds dropped word "been" in paragraph 16.) (Reporting By Steve Holland and Karen Freifeld; Editing by Heather Timmons, William Mallard and Daniel Wallis) | |
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| 08-14-22 07:46am - 861 days | #297 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Russian ex-president warns that if the fighting in Ukraine continues, the nuclear power station could explode and spew radioactive material into the air, contaminating Europe and possibly the Untied States of Trumperland if tourists start to visit Ukraine before the damage is fully contained. So, the Untied States of Trumperland must lay down their arms, and Ukraine must stop fighting and let Russia molest and rape the Ukrainians at will. Only then will Russia feel safe from the evil people who want to hurt Russia. Also, possibley, the Russian ex-president is warning that evil people could cause nuclear accidents in Europe. Enquiring minds want to know: why do the Russians sound like relatives of Dongle Trump, blaming everyone around them but excluding themselves from blame? ------ ------ 'Accidents can happen at European nuclear plants too,' Russian ex-president says Reuters August 12, 2022, 2:49 PM Scroll back up to restore default view. LONDON (Reuters) - Russian ex-president Dmitry Medvedev issued a veiled threat on Friday to Ukraine's Western allies who have accused Russia of creating the risk of a nuclear catastrophe by stationing forces around the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia power station. Ukraine has accused Russia of firing at Ukrainian towns from the site in the knowledge that Ukrainian forces could not risk returning fire. It says Moscow has shelled the area itself while blaming Ukraine. Russia says it is Ukraine that has shelled the plant. "They [Kyiv and its allies] say it's Russia. That's obviously 100% nonsense, even for the stupid Russophobic public," Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, wrote on his Telegram channel. "They say it happens purely by chance, like 'We didn't mean to'," he added. "What can I say? Let's not forget that the European Union also has nuclear power plants. And accidents can happen there, too." The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency has said the shelling of Zaporizhzhia, Europe's biggest nuclear power station, could cause a nuclear disaster, but has been unable to arrange the conditions for an inspection. Kyiv and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have called for the area to be demilitarised, and the Group of Seven major economies have urged Russia to return it to Ukraine. But senior Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, chair of the lower house's foreign affairs committee, said the idea of returning the plant to the control of Ukrainians was "a "mockery from the point of view of ensuring safety". "And all the statements of the G7 foreign ministers in support of their demands are nothing but 'sponsorship of nuclear terrorism'," he added on his Telegram channel. Russia seized the Zaporizhzhia plant in March after invading Ukraine on Feb. 24, but the site is still being operated by its Ukrainian staff. Kyiv said the complex had been struck five times on Thursday, including near where radioactive materials are stored. Russian-appointed officials said Ukraine had shelled the plant twice, disrupting a shift change, Russia's state-owned TASS news agency said. | |
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| 08-14-22 10:43am - 861 days | #298 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Rep. Adam Schiff, one of Dongle Trump's most ardent supporters, says there is no evidence that Trump declassified seized docs. He says this with tears in his eyes, because he knows Dongle Trump as one of the most truthful presidents Schiff has ever known. However, Dongle Trump himself claims that all the seized docs were de-classified by Dongle, while still in office. Dongle can't de-classify docs after he leaves office, so he is being guided by expert counsel on what to say. Except that only Dongle's supporters say that Dongle could wave a wand and make the classified docs "unclassified". Other experts say that to de-classify a document, you have to follow procedure. Dongle disputes that: "If I de-classify something in my mind, it's de-classified", explains Dongle. ------- ------- Schiff: 'No evidence' that Trump declassified seized docs CBS News Melissa Quinn August 14, 2022, 8:02 AM Scroll back up to restore default view. Washington — Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, head of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that he has not seen evidence that former President Donald Trump declassified documents that were found by the FBI during a search of his South Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, last week. "We should determine, you know, whether there was any effort during the presidency to go through the process of declassification," Schiff said in an interview on "Face the Nation." "I've seen no evidence of that, nor have they presented any evidence of that." After the FBI executed a search warrant at Trump's residence, prompting outrage from the former president and his Republican allies, a federal magistrate judge in Florida unsealed Friday the warrant and list of items it seized in the search. According to the records made public, the FBI took 11 sets of classified documents, some of which were designated top secret, secret and confidential, as well as TS/SCI, or top secret/sensitive compartmented information. The former president's attorneys did not object to the release of the search warrant and related documents, and he claimed all the records seized during the search had been declassified while he was still in office. While a sitting president has broad declassification authority, Schiff noted that does not extend to a former president and called it "absurd" for Trump to claim he retroactively declassified the documents he took to Mar-a-Lago. He also noted the statutes the Justice Department said in the warrant it is investigating Trump for possibly violating do not require information to be classified. "If they would be damaging to national security, it's a problem. It's a major problem," the California Democrat said. Schiff also said it's a "serious problem" if Trump's attorneys certified to the Justice Department that all classified information was retrieved when the National Archives and Records Administration obtained 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago in mid-January, but did not turn over all classified or national security information. Some of the boxes the National Archives retrieved contained classified material and the agency requested the Justice Department investigate Trump's handling of White House records. "I can tell you anyone in the intelligence community that had documents like that marked top secret/SCI, in their residence after authorities went to them, you know, they would be under serious investigation," he said. Schiff and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, head of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, requested Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines conduct a briefing and damage assessment, which he said is routine when there has been a disclosure of classified information. "What is, to me, most disturbing here is the degree to which at least from the public reporting, it appears to be willful, on the president's part, the keeping of these documents after the government was requesting them back," he said. "And that adds another layer of concern." | |
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| 08-15-22 06:35am - 860 days | #299 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
President Dongle Trump pledges full support to keeping documents safe and secure. Says not to worry: everything is good. There are a bunch of worry-worts in Washington, but Dongle will keep them calm. "I declassified all papers I took with me. And I have the right to show them to anyone I want", screams Dongle Trump. "If I must return to Washington to teach you people who is in charge of our great nation, I will do so. But be afraid." Dongle is planning his return to the Whitest House. ------ ------ FBI search of Mar-a-Lago raises critical national security questions: Sources ABC News PIERRE THOMAS August 15, 2022, 6:02 AM Administration sources familiar with the investigation tell ABC News the amount and the sensitivity of confidential, secret and top-secret documents allegedly discovered in the Mar-a-Lago search raise critical national security questions that must be urgently addressed. Those officials say law enforcement and security officials must now try to track the chain of custody of the material and try to determine if any of the material was compromised. Officials acknowledged these critical questions need to be addressed because the material, in theory, would be of great value to foreign adversaries and even allies. Interviews with Trump administration officials are anticipated and authorities may even check for fingerprints to see if that provides insight into who had access. FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort is seen in Palm Beach, Florida, Feb. 8, 2021. (Marco Bello/Reuters, File) FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort is seen in Palm Beach, Florida, Feb. 8, 2021. (Marco Bello/Reuters, File) MORE: Authorities monitoring online threats following FBI's Mar-a-Lago raid The FBI warrant and inventory allege that 11 sets of sensitive information were recovered during the Mar-a-Lago search — including confidential, secret and top-secret documents. There was even top-secret, sensitive compartmented information (SCI) material. This classification of materials sometimes involves nuclear secrets and terrorism operations based on a Director of National Intelligence (DNI) overview of security protocols, which ABC News has reviewed. The top-secret SCI documents are classified as national intelligence and involve intel "concerning or derived from intelligence sources," according to a (DNI) document reviewed for this reporting. This material may come from allies, spying, eavesdropping or informants. Top-secret SCI should only be handled under the strictest of conditions in secure-designated locations. Such locations are supposed to be impervious to eavesdropping and no electronic devices are allowed. Only a select few are ever allowed to view SCI — for example, a "need to know appropriately cleared recipient." MORE: After Mar-a-Lago search, authorities warn of threats to the judge and others involved Why the concern? U.S. officials know such sensitive documents are targeted by enemy nations and other adversaries who are constantly attempting espionage and eavesdropping activities here in the U.S. PHOTO: Former President Donald Trump attends the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Aug. 6, 2022. (Bloomberg via Getty Images) PHOTO: Former President Donald Trump attends the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Aug. 6, 2022. (Bloomberg via Getty Images) Loss of information classified as confidential would "damage" national security — loss of secret documents would cause "serious damage" to national security and the compromise of top-secret material creates the potential for "exceptionally grave damage to the national security," according to Executive Order No. 13526 signed by then-President Barack Obama in 2009. MORE: National Archives confirms some documents retrieved from Mar-a-Lago were classified Among the critical questions in the wake of the Mar-a-Lago raid are how were critical documents stored at the White House, and how was it that so many boxes of such highly classified material could be removed in the first place; who exactly was involved in the authorization to remove the material and who removed the material; how was the material transported to Mar-a-Lago — by plane, by truck — and who had access to it during transport. Top-secret material must have specifically authorized transport, may not be sent via U.S. mail and may only be transmitted by authorized government courier service. Other critical questions include: was the material stored in Mar-a-Lago, who had access to it and was it under constant security camera surveillance; and what were the security measures and protocols. The Presidential Records Act establishes that presidential records automatically transfer into the legal custody of the archivist as soon as the president leaves office. FBI search of Mar-a-Lago raises critical national security questions: Sources originally appeared on abcnews.go.com | |
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| 08-15-22 06:42am - 860 days | #300 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Stephen King is not a fan of Dongle Trump. Says Dongle is a horrible person, and was a horrible president. -------- -------- Stephen King: 'Trump was a horrible president and is a horrible person' Yahoo Celebrity Megan Johnson August 14, 2022, 1:28 PM He may be the master of horror, but in his latest interview, Stephen King devotes much of his time to talking politics. The famed author of thrillers such as Carrie and The Shining spoke out in a revealing new interview with the Sunday Times, in which he called former President Donald Trump "a horrible president" and a "horrible person." "I think he actually engaged in criminal behavior and, certainly, I felt that he was a sociopath who tried to overturn the American democracy not out of any political wish of his own but because he could not admit that he had lost," said King, 74. The author previously called out Trump publicly back in 2020, when he criticized the president and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for their initial response to the coronavirus pandemic. King, who is himself active on Twitter, also spoke to the Sunday Times about the role social media has played amid the current political and cultural climate. “It’s a poison pill. I mean, I think it’s wonderful, for instance, that in the wake of George Floyd’s death, his murder by police, that you could muster via social media protests in cities across America and around the world," he noted. "But on the other hand, it’s social media that has magnified the idea that the election was stolen from Donald Trump. And there’s millions of people who believe that, and there are millions of people who believe that the COVID vaccinations are terrible things. Some of the things are good, some are not so good, and some are downright evil.” 'They’re not fascists but they’re hard right-wingers' But the writer argued that fears of fascism in the United States have been overblown. "There is a strong right wing, a political right wing in America, and they have a megaphone in some of the media," he said. "They’re not fascists but they’re hard right-wingers. They’re certainly climate change deniers, so that is a real problem. But, again, it’s the stuff that’s crazy like QAnon that gets the press. You have to remember that Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by three million votes [in the popular vote] and that Biden beat Trump by seven million votes.” Though King admitted he struggles to relate to Trump's supporters, he refuses to strip them of their humanity based on their politics. "I do understand that a guy driving a pickup truck covered with Trump and NRA stickers — you know, take my rifle when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers — would stop and pick up a stranger if he was in a rainstorm and say: ‘Where you going, buddy?’" he explained. "That guy might go out of his way to take him there because people as individuals are good. I think sometimes when they get to be a political group that can be a problem.” For someone who is well-acquainted with horror, King has suffered significantly himself. He was gravely injured in 1999 when he was hit by a van while out for a walk near his home in Maine, where he lives with his wife of 51 years, Tabitha. Though his injuries included a collapsed lung and a leg broken in nine places, the writer managed to recover. These days, he's just grateful to be able to do what he loves for a living. “When I’m writing, I’m all about myself and about the reader, so that’s a great thing to have. I won’t say that I never in my wildest dreams dreamt of huge amounts of success, but what I really wanted was to be able to do it for a living. The rest has just been what us Americans call gravy," said King. "It’s all gravy now.” | |
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