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| 08-15-22 08:13am - 766 days | #301 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
US Senator Lindsey Graham must testify before a special grand jury in Atlanta. Graham cries he is too important to testify. That his duties in the Senate mean he can't waste time testifying under oath. Says that he is willing to lie and make fake claims verbally, but testifying under oath can be fatal to a politician. "Don't crucify me in a court of law", screams our Trumpified politician, who is wrapping himself in the flag of Old Glory. If need be, Graham will hide in the offices of the US Supreme Court, where he knows that Brett Kavanaugh will support him in this time of peril. ---- ---- Judge: Sen. Graham must testify in Georgia election probe Associated Press KATE BRUMBACK August 15, 2022, 8:46 AM ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge on Monday said U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham must testify before a special grand jury in Atlanta that is investigating whether former President Donald Trump and his allies broke any laws while trying to overturn his narrow 2020 general election loss in the state. Attorneys for Graham, R-S.C., had argued that his position as a U.S. senator provided him immunity from having to appear before the investigative panel and asked the judge to quash his subpoena. But U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May wrote in an order Monday that immunities related to his role as a senator do not protect him in this case, and he must appear before the special grand jury on Aug. 23. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opened the investigation last year, and a special grand jury with subpoena power was seated in May at her request. Last month she filed petitions seeking to compel testimony from seven Trump advisers and associates. Prosecutors have indicated they want to ask Graham about phone calls they say he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff in the weeks following the election. Graham had argued that a provision of the Constitution provides absolute protection against a senator being questioned about legislative acts. But the judge found there are “considerable areas of potential grand jury inquiry” that fall outside that provision’s scope. The judge also rejected Graham’s argument that the principle of “sovereign immunity” protects a senator from being summoned by a state prosecutor. Graham also argued that Willis, a Democrat, had not demonstrated extraordinary circumstances necessary to compel testimony from a high-ranking official. But the judge disagreed, finding that Willis has shown “extraordinary circumstances and a special need” for Graham’s testimony on issues related to alleged attempt to influence or disrupt the election in Georgia. Kevin Bishop, a Graham spokesman, said Monday the senator had no comment but referred to what Graham said when asked about the probe last week. During a news conference in Columbia, S.C., Graham said, “We will take this as far as we need to take it” when asked about his efforts to fight appearing to testify. “I was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and had to vote on certifying an election,” Graham told reporters. “This is ridiculous. This weaponization of the law needs to stop. So I will use the courts. We will go as far as we need to go and do whatever needs to be done to make sure that people like me can do their jobs without fear of some county prosecutor coming after you.” During the calls cited by Willis, Graham “questioned Secretary Raffensperger and his staff about reexamining certain absentee ballots cast in Georgia in order to explore the possibility of a more favorable outcome for former President Donald Trump,” Willis wrote in a petition. Graham also “made reference to allegations of widespread voter fraud in the November 2020 election in Georgia, consistent with public statements made by known affiliates of the Trump Campaign,” she wrote. Republican and Democratic state election officials, courts and even Trump's attorney general found there was no evidence of any voter fraud sufficient to affect the outcome of his 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. | |
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| 08-15-22 09:32am - 766 days | #302 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump is forced into revealing the truth: The FBI is corrupt. It's agents planted incriminating material at Mar-a-Lago during the search, and Dongle is now demanding they return documents that he said were protected by executive privilege. Who you gonna believe: Dongle Trump, the man who made America great again? Or agents of Sleepy Joe Biden, who are taking federal monies to commit corrupt actions? Vote for Dongle, and we will survive the Biden plot to force civil war upon America. ----- ----- The New York Times Trump's Shifting Explanations Follow a Familiar Playbook Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Maggie Haberman Mon, August 15, 2022 at 4:29 AM WASHINGTON — First, he said he was “working and cooperating with” government agents who he claimed had inappropriately entered his home. Then, when the government revealed that the FBI, during its search, had recovered nearly a dozen sets of documents that were marked classified, he suggested the agents had planted evidence. Finally, his aides claimed that he had a “standing order” to declassify documents that left the Oval Office for his residence and that some of the material was protected by attorney-client and executive privilege. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times Those are the ever shifting explanations that former President Donald Trump and his aides have given regarding what FBI agents found last week in a search of his residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump and his allies have cast the search as a partisan assault while amplifying conflicting arguments about the handling of sensitive documents and failing to answer a question at the center of the federal investigation: Why was he keeping documents, some still marked classified, at an unsecured Florida resort when officials had sought for a year to retrieve them? The often contradictory and unsupported defenses perpetuated by Trump and his team since the FBI search follow a familiar playbook of the former president’s. He has used it over decades but most visibly when he was faced with the investigation into whether his campaign in 2016 conspired with Russians and during his first impeachment trial. In both instances, he claimed victimization and mixed some facts with a blizzard of misleading statements or falsehoods. His lawyers denied he had tied his administration’s withholding of vital military aid to Ukraine to Trump’s desire for investigations into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. When information contradicting that defense emerged in a forthcoming book by Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, Trump’s lawyers switched to insisting that he hadn’t connected the aid to the investigations, but that if he had, it wouldn’t have been an impeachable offense. Of the multiple investigations Trump currently faces — including a state inquiry in Georgia and two federal grand jury investigations, all related to his efforts to cling to power at the end of his presidency, as well as civil and criminal inquiries in New York related to his company — the federal investigation into his handling of sensitive documents taken from the White House has emerged as one of the most potentially damaging. A search warrant made public Friday revealed federal agents had recovered top secret documents when they searched Trump’s Florida residence earlier in the week as part of an investigation into possible violations of the Espionage Act and other laws. Among the 11 sets of documents taken were some marked as “classified/TS/SCI” — shorthand for “top secret/sensitive compartmented information,” according to an inventory of the materials seized in the search. Those types of documents are meant to be viewed only in secure facilities. The inventory of documents included other material, some described as “confidential.” The stunning revelation made clear the gravity of the Justice Department’s inquiry months after the National Archives and Records Administration said it had discovered classified information in documents that Trump had held onto after leaving office. “What he doesn’t have the right to do is possess the documents; they are not his,” said Jason Baron, a former director of litigation at the National Archives for more than a decade. “There should be no presidential records at Mar-a-Lago, whether they are classified or unclassified or subject to executive privilege or subject to attorney-client privilege.” Documents covered by executive privilege are meant to be kept within the government. A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to a message seeking comment. Trump used Hillary Rodham Clinton’s mishandling of classified material, as seen in a Justice Department investigation into her email practices in 2015 and 2016, as political fodder during his first campaign. He is considering another national campaign for 2024, and questions about whether he mishandled the nation’s secrets could be problematic for him, even absent an investigation. After officials with the National Archives tried for several months to retrieve material from Trump, he turned over 15 boxes of documents in January. The next month, the National Archives confirmed the discovery of the classified information and referred the matter to the Justice Department. Over the following months, officials came to learn that Trump still had additional material at Mar-a-Lago that some of his advisers urged him to hand over. Trump described the handover of the 15 boxes as “an ordinary and routine process.” But administrations have been required to turn over documents to the National Archives before leaving office for more than 40 years, as part of the Presidential Records Act that was created in response to President Richard Nixon’s attempt to take his documents and recordings with him after resigning in disgrace. Kash Patel, a former Trump administration official, subsequently justified the handling of the documents by saying Trump had declassified them before leaving office — a claim echoed by Trump last week. In an appearance on Fox News on Friday night, right-wing writer John Solomon, one of Trump’s representatives for interacting with the National Archives, read a statement from the former president’s office asserting Trump had a “standing order” during his presidency that “documents removed from the Oval Office and taken to the residence were deemed to be declassified the moment he removed them.” That claim would not resolve the investigation. Two of the laws referred to in the search warrant executed last week criminalize the taking or concealment of government records, regardless of whether they had anything to do with national security. And laws against taking material with restricted national security information are not dependent on whether the material is technically classified. Bolton, who served as Trump’s third national security adviser over 17 months, said he had never heard of the standing order that Trump’s office claimed to have in place. It is, he said, “almost certainly a lie.” “I was never briefed on any such order, procedure, policy when I came in,” Bolton said, adding he had never been told of it while he was working there and had never heard of such a thing after. “If he were to say something like that, you would have to memorialize that, so that people would know it existed,” he said. What’s more, he pointed out, secure facilities for viewing sensitive material were constructed at Trump’s clubs in Florida and New Jersey, where he often spent weekends as president, meaning that the documents wouldn’t need to be declassified. And if they were declassified, Bolton said, they would be considered subject to public-record requests. He added: “When somebody begins to concoct lies like this, it shows a real level of desperation.” The claim that the documents held in the Florida residence were declassified also undercut an assertion one of Trump’s lawyers made in June. In a written declaration, the lawyer’s team said all material marked as classified and stored at Mar-a-Lago had been returned to the government. Last week, Trump again accused the Justice Department of acting as a tool for his political opponents, a familiar tactic for a former president who had tried repeatedly to politicize the department during his four years in office. Describing the FBI as corrupt, Trump suggested that its agents had planted incriminating material at Mar-a-Lago during the search, and he demanded they return documents that he said were protected by executive privilege. Such accusations of political motivation prompted Attorney General Merrick Garland to defend the bureau’s agents during brief remarks last week. Trump’s unverified accusations also came as the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security last week issued an intelligence bulletin that warned of an increase in threats against federal law enforcement after the search of Mar-a-Lago, including general calls for a “civil war” or “armed rebellion.”  2022 The New York Times Company | |
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| 08-16-22 12:09am - 766 days | #303 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Is Rudy Giuliani connected to the Mafia? Rudy Giuliani rose to fame for prosecuting Mob figures. Maybe he learned too much about criminal activity by associating with Mob figures. The state of Georgia has determined Giuliani is now a target in the Georgia election interference. From hero to villain, after falling under the sway of Dongle Trump, one of the biggest heads of the Mafia crime families. ---- ---- Rudy Giuliani now a 'target' in Georgia election interference investigation USA TODAY Kevin Johnson August 15, 2022, 11:14 AM Georgia prosecutors have notified lawyers representing Rudy Giuliani that the personal attorney to former President Donald Trump is now a target of the widening election interference investigation led by the Fulton County district attorney. Giuliani attorney Robert Costello told USA TODAY that prosecutors made the notification Monday to local defense attorneys in Atlanta. The former New York mayor, who is scheduled to testify before a special grand jury in Atlanta later this week, had made wide-ranging claims that voting systems altered Georgia ballots, while ignoring a hand-count audit that confirmed President Joe Biden's victory in the state. Giuliani also asserted that about 65,000 underage voters, more than 2,500 felons and 800 dead people voted in the state. All of those claims have been debunked by the Georgia secretary of state, which found no underage voters, only 74 potential felony voters and only two votes that may have been improperly cast in the name of dead voters. According to court documents seeking Giuliani's grand jury appearance, Fulton County authorities are highlighting the Trump lawyer's Dec. 3, 2020, appearance before the Georgia State Senate in which he offered a video recording of election workers at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, purporting to show “suitcases” of unlawful ballots from unknown sources, outside the view of election poll watchers. Within 24 hours of the state Senate hearing, the video had been discredited by the secretary of state's office, concluding "no voter fraud of any kind had taken place." Fulton County prosecutors did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Costello said the action "raises questions" about the prosecutors' recent efforts to secure Giuliani's grand jury appearance set for Wednesday. Attorneys for Giuliani, initially characterized as a "material witness" in the investigation, said they had not been informed that their client's status had changed when they sought to delay his appearance last week because of health reasons. Giuliani's lawyers said doctors had not cleared him for air travel following a a recent heart procedure. And a local judge re-set Giuliani's appearance for Wednesday. "We plan on being there," Costello said Monday. The prosecutors' action, first reported earlier Monday by the New York Times, marks a dramatic escalation in the Georgia inquiry, which was set in motion by Trump's 2021 telephone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger seeking additional votes to overturn Biden's victory in Georgia. Giuliani now joins more than a dozen other figures in the Georgia inquiry to be designated as targets. Willis had previously informed 16 others allegedly involved in the state scheme to install fake slates of electors to overturn the 2020 election. An attorney for 11 of the electors called the district attorney's action a publicity stunt. "This public mis-branding of the nominee electors is an improper abuse of the investigatory process," attorney Holly Pierson argued in court documents. Giuliani also is one of several high-profile Trump associates to be swept into the Georgia investigation. Earlier Monday, a federal judge rejected Sen. Lindsey Graham's effort to nullify a grand jury subpoena for his testimony in the case. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rudy Giuliani a 'target' of Georgia election interference probe | |
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| 08-16-22 12:20am - 766 days | #304 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump says we must be calm. But first we have to attack the FBI and bring down all corrupt cops. Only then can we re-gain our faith in Democracy and Good Government. Vote for Dongle Trump, the most corrupt President of the century. ------ ------ Trump says temperature ‘has to be brought down’ after FBI search, then repeats attacks The Hill Zach Schonfeld August 15, 2022, 7:20 AM Former President Trump on Monday said his aides have reached out to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to offer “whatever we can do to help,” saying the “temperature has to be brought down” after a spike in threats against law enforcement following the FBI’s search of his Mar-a-Lago estate. “Whatever we can do to help — because the temperature has to be brought down in the country,” Trump told Fox News. “If it isn’t, terrible things are going to happen.” At the same time that he talked about taking the temperature down, however, Trump repeated attacks on the FBI over the search for classified documents that took place at his Florida estate last week. Trump defended his supporters’ attacks in the interview, saying they are “not going to stand for another scam” and describing the FBI’s past investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election as a “witch hunt.” “People are so angry at what is taking place,” he said. The FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago one week ago in connection with its investigation into whether Trump violated the Espionage Act and other federal statutes. Agents seized 11 sets of classified documents from the estate, although Trump has claimed he declassified the material. The search has set off waves of criticisms of the FBI and DOJ from Trump and his allies, who argue the investigation is politically motivated. Some have called to defund the agency. A new intelligence bulletin reportedly warned of a spike in threats against federal law enforcement following the Mar-a-Lago search, referencing an incident on Thursday at the FBI’s Cincinnati field office in which an armed man tried to breach the building and later died in a standoff with law enforcement. The Hill has requested comment from the DOJ. The New York Times reported over the weekend that a person close to Trump reached out to a DOJ official to convey a message from the former president on Thursday. “The country is on fire. What can I do to reduce the heat?” stated the message Trump wanted conveyed to the attorney general, the Times reported. More from The Hill: Bolton says Trump explanations show ‘real level of desperation’ Trump told Fox News he has not yet heard back from the department on his offer for help but added he thinks “they would want the same thing.” Yet the former president himself has been one of the most vocal critics of the FBI and DOJ since the search, repeatedly denouncing the investigation as being politically motivated and at times suggesting an unproven conspiracy that the FBI was planting evidence to hurt him. Trump as recently as Sunday evening called the search “abuse in law enforcement” and a “sneak attack on democracy” on TruthSocial. “There has never been a time like this where law enforcement has been used to break into the house of a former president of the United States, and there is tremendous anger in the country — at a level that has never been seen before, other than during very perilous times,” Trump told Fox News. His allies have echoed that sentiment, but Trump’s offer to DOJ comes after Democrats and some Republicans called for Trump to tamp down his rhetoric amid the increased threat level. Rep. Michael McCaul (Texas), the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called Trump’s rhetoric “inflammatory” during an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “I don’t want to put any law enforcement in the bull’s-eye of a potential threat,” McCaul said. “And that’s someone who’s worked with law enforcement most of my career.” Despite declining to comment on the investigation itself, the White House has pushed back on notions that DOJ is making decisions for political gain. “This is not about politicizing anything,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on ABC “This Week” on Sunday. “That is not true at all,” she continued. “And I would remind our folks on the other side that the FBI director was appointed by the president’s predecessor.” Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday delivered remarks announcing he personally approved the search while similarly condemning attacks against DOJ and the FBI. “I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked,” Garland said. Updated: 11:35 a.m. | |
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| 08-16-22 12:29am - 766 days | #305 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul wants Espionage Act repealed. Says he believes Dongle Trump has the right to use Top Secret Documents as toilet paper. Says that there was a crisis in the Covid epidemic, where people where fighting over toilet paper. And that is why Dongle Trump, the most loyal patriot we've seen in our lifetimes, was using Top Secret Documents as toilet paper, and flushing them down toilets while he was president. And once you get into a habit, it's hard to break. ---- ---- Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul wants Espionage Act repealed USA TODAY Merdie Nzanga, USA TODAY August 15, 2022, 11:59 AM WASHINGTON - Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Saturday called for the end of the Espionage Act, less than a week after the FBI's search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. "The espionage act was abused from the beginning to jail dissenters of WWI. It is long pastime to repeal this egregious affront to the 1st Amendment," he wrote on Twitter. On Aug. 8, FBI agents took 11 sets of classified documents, according to the search warrant and a property receipt, both of which were released Friday. Some documents were labeled as "secret" or "top secret." The warrant showed the investigation was examining possible violations of the Espionage Act. What is the Espionage Act: What is the Espionage Act? What to know, from the Sedition Act amendment to declassified documents. Going to affect after the start of World War I, the Espionage Act of 1917 illegalized obtaining information, taking photos, or copying details of all information relevant to national defense with the intent for that information to be used against the U.S. or for the interest of other countries. Many important parts of the Espionage Act are still in effect and can be used in the court of law. In its modern iteration, the act has been used to prosecute spies and leakers of classified information. The investigation does not necessarily mean the former president is a spy, in Trump's particular case, the Espionage Act relates to "gathering, transmitting or losing defense information." Contributing: Josh Meyer, Anna Kaufman | |
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| 08-16-22 03:05am - 766 days | #306 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Rudy Giuliani was born in 1944 in the East Flatbush section during the time it was an Italian-American enclave, in New York City's borough of Brooklyn, the only child of working-class parents Helen (née D'Avanzo; 1909–2002) and Harold Angelo Giuliani (1908–1981), both children of Italian immigrants. So it's no wonder that Rudy fell under the sway of Dongle Trump, whose family had long-time ties to the Mafia. Although Dongle Trump is currently one of the biggest names in Mafia circles, Sleepy Joe Biden is trying to bring down the Dongle. And Rudy might be taken down as well. Sad ending for Rudy, who was once a shining star in New York. | |
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| 08-16-22 03:13am - 766 days | #307 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Rumors are swirling around Allen Weisselberg. Some are saying Weisselberg might plead guilty, even though just last week he was trying to have the charges dismissed. If Dongle takes back the Whitest House, he might pardon Weisselberg, as long as Weisselberg doesn't implicate Dongle in any crimes. Why is the country so hesitant to charge Dongle Trump with criminal activity? Is the country afraid there will be civil war, if Dongle is charged? Does Sleepy Joe have the balls to indict Dongle Trump? ---- ---- Ex-Trump Org. official Allen Weisselberg expected to plead guilty in tax case NBC Universal Tom Winter and Jonathan Dienst and Adam Reiss and Ryan J. Reilly August 15, 2022, 3:18 PM Scroll back up to restore default view. Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg is expected to plead guilty to criminal charges tied to his indictment by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in an investigation of former President Donald Trump's businesses, according to two people familiar with the matter and a public court filing. Weisselberg's plea could come as soon as 9 a.m. Thursday. Terms of the expected deal were not immediately disclosed. Weisselberg and the Trump Organization were charged as part of what prosecutors described as an “off the books” scheme over 15 years to help top officials in the Trump Organization avoid paying taxes. Weisselberg, 74, was accused of avoiding paying taxes on $1.7 million of his income. Weisselberg, who surrendered in June 2021 after his indictment, had been set for trial in October. Law enforcement personnel escort the Trump Organization's former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, center, as he departs court, Friday, Aug. 12, 2022, in New York. (AP) Law enforcement personnel escort the Trump Organization's former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, center, as he departs court, Friday, Aug. 12, 2022, in New York. (AP) Last week, the judge, Juan Merchan, denied Weisselberg's attempt to dismiss the charges, saying the evidence presented to a grand jury was "legally sufficient." A spokesperson for Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg declined to comment. The Trump Organization faces separate charges, but there is no allegation of criminal wrongdoing against Trump, who has faced long-simmering criminal investigations on multiple fronts that have captured national attention since the FBI's search of his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, last Monday. Law enforcement officials have faced a number of threats in the wake of the search, with some Trump supporters calling for "civil war" and one attacking an FBI field office. A man in Pennsylvania was arrested Monday and charged with making threats on the right-wing social media website Gab. | |
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| 08-16-22 03:17am - 766 days | #308 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Trump’s passports returned after Mar-a-Lago search, DOJ official says. Did the DOJ make a deal with Dongle Trump: leave the country, and we'll probably forget to prosecute you? Did Sleepy Joe Biden sign off on the deal? Enquiring minds want to know: Will Dongle pick China, North Korea, or Russia as his new base? ---- ---- Trump’s passports returned after Mar-a-Lago search, DOJ official says NBC Universal Kelly O'Donnell and Dareh Gregorian and Kristen Welker and Zoë Richards August 15, 2022, 8:04 PM Scroll back up to restore default view. Passports belonging to Donald Trump have been returned to the former president after last week's FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago home, a Justice Department official told NBC News on Monday. The FBI acknowledged it had had the passports the same day Trump said on his social media platform that FBI agents who conducted the search on Aug. 8 took them. In a statement on Truth Social, Trump said agents "stole my three Passports (one expired), along with everything else." He did not provide further details or specify whether the travel documents were personal or government passports. (Presidents receive diplomatic passports when they take office.) A Justice Department official said Trump's passports have been returned. A representative for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump attorney Christina Bobb blasted federal law enforcement on Monday night, telling Fox News host Laura Ingraham: "I think this goes to show the level of audacity that they have. "I think it goes to show how aggressive they were, how overreaching they were, that they were willing to go past the four corners of the warrant and take whatever they felt was appropriate or they felt that they could take." 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. (AP) 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. (AP) An FBI spokesperson defended how the search warrant was carried out. “In executing search warrants, the FBI follows search and seizure procedures ordered by courts, then returns items that do not need to be retained for law enforcement purposes," the spokesperson said in a statement Monday evening that did not mention the passports. A property receipt from the FBI search of Trump's estate in Palm Beach, Florida, showed that federal investigators recovered a trove of top secret and other heavily classified documents but did not mention any passports. In court documents made public with the property receipt, investigators said they were searching for evidence of crimes that included withholding “any government and/or Presidential Records” from Trump’s time in office. | |
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| 08-16-22 04:41pm - 765 days | #309 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump says he want to make peace with the FBI, while also stating that the FBI is corrupt and can't be trusted: "the FBI has planted FAKE EVIDENCE in the documents seized from my home", cries Dongle Trump. "The FBI is corrupt, and is being used to persecute me!!!!!" Also, Dongle Trump says the judge who approved a search warrant on Dongle's home is corrupt: "I tried to drain the swamp in Washington, and now the swamp is destroying my freedom!" cries Dongle Trump. --- --- Federal judge sets hearing on motion to unseal Trump search warrant affidavit Yahoo News Dylan Stableford August 16, 2022, 11:55 AM The federal judge in Florida who approved the warrant for the FBI to search former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate has scheduled a Thursday hearing on a motion to unseal the affidavit that prosecutors used to secure it. U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart set the 1 p.m. hearing for both sides to present arguments over whether to publicly release the search warrant affidavit, court records showed on Tuesday. The Justice Department opposes the disclosure of the affidavit because prosecutors say it would compromise the ongoing investigation into Trump’s handling of classified materials. “If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps,” prosecutors wrote in a filing on Monday. The Justice Department also argued that the affidavit’s publication would harm prosecutors’ ability to interview additional witnesses. “Disclosure of the government’s affidavit at this stage would also likely chill future cooperation by witnesses whose assistance may be sought as this investigation progresses,” it wrote. Multiple news organizations have asked Reinhart to unseal the affidavit despite objections by the Justice Department. Trump is calling for the release of the affidavit — and for Reinhart to recuse himself from overseeing the case. “In the interest of TRANSPARENCY, I call for the immediate release of the completely Unredacted Affidavit pertaining to this horrible and shocking BREAK-IN,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform. “Also, the Judge on this case should recuse!” Since approving the search of Mar-a-Lago, Reinhart — who is Jewish — has been the target of threats and antisemitic comments online. Last week Politico reported that Reinhart, a board member at Temple Beth David in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., has “seen sustained antisemitic attacks on right wing message boards and other social media platforms like 4Chan” since signing off on the FBI’s warrant to search Mar-a-Lago. An itemized receipt for property seized at Mar-a-Lago reads, in part: 15A - Miscellaneous Secret Documents. On Friday, Reinhart unsealed a search warrant and property receipt from the FBI’s search, which both the government and Trump’s lawyers agreed should be public. The documents showed that agents seized nearly two dozen boxes from Trump’s home, including 11 sets of classified records and some that were labeled “top secret,” the highest level of classification reserved for the most closely held U.S. national security information. According to the inventory of the materials seized in the search, there were some marked “classified/TS/SCI,” shorthand for “top secret/sensitive compartmented information,” or documents deemed so secret that they require a secure facility in which to view them. The warrant indicated that the former president is under investigation for several potential crimes, including possible violations of the Espionage Act and potential obstruction of justice charges. Trump has claimed without evidence that the investigation is a politically motivated “weaponization” of the Justice Department; suggested that the FBI “planted” evidence; and insisted that he had a “standing order” to declassify documents that left the Oval Office for his residence. The attacks by the former president and his allies on the FBI over its search have led to threats against federal agents, and prompted the DOJ to issue a bulletin to warn law enforcement of such threats. Last week a man who appears to have posted on Truth Social about wanting to kill federal agents was killed by police after allegedly firing a nail gun into an FBI field office in Cincinnati. A DOJ bulletin released Friday said that the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have seen an increase in “violent threats” against law enforcement since the search of Trump’s property. In an interview Monday, Trump said he would be willing to do whatever he can to bring the “temperature” down — while continuing to attack the FBI. “They could take anything they want, and put anything they want in,” he said. | |
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| 08-17-22 12:58am - 765 days | #310 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a GOP leader, has been cracking down on police who are lawless and corrupt. "No longer will we tolerate illegal and corrupt behavior from the men in blue", blares the GOP governor. "If they do the crime, do the time (in jail)", chant his supporters. The GOP is no longer the party of the Red, White and Blue. It's now the party of White men everwhere, except for White men in blue. Dongle Trump has turned the corner: he's jumping on the tattered reputation of the FBI. The FBI arrested a Pennsylvania man Friday after he allegedly stated he wanted to kill FBI agents and “water the trees of liberty with (their) blood.” The GOP is calling for the blood of corrupt cops, screaming "Give me Dongle or give me death", with relish and glory. ----- ----- Maryland Gov. Hogan leans into GOP law enforcement split with digital ad on crime Yahoo News Tom LoBianco August 16, 2022, 11:41 AM WASHINGTON — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who has been toying with a possible White House bid, is jumping into the Republican divide on law enforcement with a new digital ad touting his proposal to crack down on crime and “lawlessness." The spot opens with a hard-edged stance on crime and law enforcement, showing clips of progressive Democratic “Squad” members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and promising to “reverse the tide of rising crime and disrespect to our law enforcement.” Hogan's appeal is akin to calls made by Trump and other Republicans in the wake of George Floyd's murder and the ensuing racial justice protests two years ago. Since the FBI search last week of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump and many of his far-right supporters have now been lambasting the FBI and federal law enforcement, in response to revelations that he had held onto highly sensitive intelligence, possibly even involving nuclear weapons, and that he is being investigated by the Justice Department for potential violations of the Espionage Act and other possible crimes. Experts on online extremism have noted a steady uptick in violent threats against law enforcement since Trump and his supporters targeted them. An armed Ohio man who was reportedly at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 tried to breach an FBI field office in Cincinnati last week and was later shot dead after a standoff. The FBI arrested a Pennsylvania man Friday after he allegedly stated he wanted to kill FBI agents and “water the trees of liberty with (their) blood.” Hogan doesn’t address federal law enforcement threats in the spot, nor does he go to bat explicitly for federal law enforcement, but in an interview over the weekend on ABC’s “This Week,” he called the threats “absurd.” “First, we had the left talking about defunding the police and attacking police officers, and now we have the right saying: Defund these federal law enforcement officers. It’s absurd. It’s dangerous, because we saw the one incident already, but there are threats all over the place,” Hogan said. Hogan spent last week in Iowa at the state fair, meeting with Republicans including Gov. Kim Reynolds. He took a trip to New England last month, with stops in New Hampshire, and he also met with former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine. Hogan has not yet announced whether he will run for president in 2024. He also dismissed suggestions that he should run as an independent rather than seeking the Republican nomination. | |
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| 08-17-22 02:40pm - 764 days | #311 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The GOP reveals the truth: the Democrats are bringing down America. Do not apply for a new job: you will lose any new job you get hired for, because there will be no money to pay you. Vote for Dongle Trump, the most corrupt president of the Untied States of Trumperland we've seen in the 21st Century. He will cut taxes for billionaires. And increase taxes on the poor and uneducated, who don't deserve money from the federal government. Hail Dongle Trump, the secret son of Adolf Hitler, who will make America safe for White men everywhere. ------ ------ Republicans escalate IRS rhetoric as senator warns Americans not to apply for new jobs NBC Universal Sahil Kapur August 17, 2022, 12:04 PM WASHINGTON — It is unusual for a U.S. senator to publicly warn Americans not to apply for a job and threaten to eliminate it. But that's what Senate Republican campaign chair Rick Scott, R-Fla., did this week, publishing an open letter encouraging job seekers not to pursue new IRS positions, vowing that Republicans, who hope to take control of Congress next year, will quickly "defund" those jobs. Scott claimed the Biden administration will use the Democrats' newly enacted Inflation Reduction Act to create "an IRS super-police force" to "audit and investigate" ordinary Americans. "The IRS is making it very clear that you not only need to be ready to audit and investigate your fellow hardworking Americans, your neighbors and friends, you need to be ready and, to use the IRS’s words, willing, to kill them," he wrote, referencing a job posting for the agency's Criminal Investigation division, which has been mischaracterized. Scott's depiction of a new force of IRS agents targeting average Americans lacks basis in the text of the new law and has been dismissed by Democrats as a fabrication. It was debunked — indirectly — by formal guidance Wednesday by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to the IRS. In a memo to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, obtained by NBC News, Yellen told the agency to use the law's $80 billion cash infusion to "enforce the tax laws against high net-worth individuals, large corporations, and complex partnerships who today pay far less than they owe." "As I wrote last week, these investments will not result in households earning $400,000 per year or less or small businesses seeing an increase in the chances that they are audited relative to historical levels," Yellen wrote, emphasizing that the funds would help "improve taxpayer service, modernize technology, and increase equity in our system of tax administration by pursuing tax evasion by those at the top who today do not pay their tax bill." Scott's threat to eliminate the new IRS jobs is, for the time being at least, an empty one. It's unclear if Republicans will win full control of Congress — and if they did, President Joe Biden would still have veto power to prevent them from undoing his signature legislation. But the missive represents a dramatic escalation in Republican attacks on a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act bolstering the IRS — part of a strategy to stir up anti-government voters with deep misgivings about the agency ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. 'A ridiculous caricature' The Inflation Reduction Act, which passed with unanimous Democratic support and no Republican votes, is a collection of policies that are mostly popular with voters — from allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices to a 15% minimum tax on corporations. And Democrats are eager to campaign on the legislation in a tough election for the party in power. Despite its size, the bill hasn't generated the backlash that the Affordable Care Act did in 2010, which has led Republicans to zero in on the IRS funding to try and motivate voter opposition. GOP leaders, candidates for office and strategists have begun claiming the IRS plans to hire tens of thousands of new employees to audit middle-class Americans, citing a Treasury analysis from May 2021. Treasury estimated that the IRS could hire 86,852 people over a decade — and not all in auditing or tax enforcement. Some would replace retiring employees. It's unclear how many will actually be hired, nor is there evidence of the administration considering greater scrutiny of middle-income Americans. "It’s a ridiculous caricature," said Kimberly Clausing, a former deputy assistant secretary for tax analysis at the Biden Treasury Department. "It’s deliberate fear-mongering that paints a picture that compliant taxpayers should be scared." She said much of the new staffing would go toward returning phone calls and processing tax refunds, with additional funds designed to modernize outdated technology so the agency can “target more sophisticated tax evaders” as opposed to lower-income taxpayers. "The story for ordinary Americans who are compliant with their taxes is that this is great for them. They’re more likely to have their returns processed quickly, they’re more likely to have their phone calls returned," Clausing said. "It’s less likely they’ll be audited because the IRS will have the skill and technology to target the audits to those who really should be targeted." Scott's allusions to agents' alleged license to kill, meanwhile, can be traced back to a job posting for a special agent at the IRS's Criminal Investigation division, which has been falsely depicted as a listing for other positions in the agency. The distortions have proliferated among conservatives on social media and have been incorporated into Republican campaign messages ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm election. Arizona Senate Republican nominee Blake Masters tweeted that the law means "87,000 new IRS agents to intimidate and drive [small] businesses into the ground." House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Democrats "plan to hire an army of 87,000 IRS agents so they can audit more Americans like you." And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said that “Senate Democrats treated themselves to 87,000 new IRS agents” after passing the bill. A Democratic aide familiar with the process noted the original version of the Inflation Reduction Act included explicit language providing for "no tax increases" on taxpayers earning under $400,000 — but Republicans challenged the provision under the rules of the Senate budget process and successfully forced its removal. The White House dismissed the Republican rhetoric and called attention to Scott's proposal to automatically phase out laws like Social Security after five years unless Congress reauthorizes them. “Nothing shows the extremity of congressional Republicans’ agenda or their prioritization of wealthy special interests over the American people like wanting to repeal Medicare’s new ability to lower drug prices and wanting to raise energy costs because rich tax cheats will have to stop breaking the law," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement. "President Biden and congressional Democrats are lowering costs for middle class families, while Rick Scott tells debunked lies and keeps pushing to put Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block." | |
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| 08-17-22 02:49pm - 764 days | #312 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Rudy Giuliani admits he is part of a criminal organization. Says he was forced into crime against his will, because Dongle Trump, the Greatest Mafia Chieftan still active in US politics, had incriminating evidence on the Giuliani family. "He made me do it against my will", screams Rudy Giuliani. Rudy says he never believed the Fake Lies that Dongle Trump spoke, but was forced to work for Dongle against his will. Therefore, Rudy says, he is innocent of any crimes he might have committed, because he was forced. ----- ----- Giuliani faces grand jury in Georgia 2020 election probe Associated Press KATE BRUMBACK August 17, 2022, 12:44 PM ATLANTA (AP) — Rudy Giuliani faced several hours of questioning Wednesday before a special grand jury in Atlanta as a target of an investigation into attempts by former President Donald Trump and others to overturn his 2020 election defeat in Georgia. The former New York mayor and Trump attorney left the Fulton County courthouse without commenting to reporters roughly six hours after the special grand jury convened Wednesday as part of a rapidly escalating investigation that has ensnared several Trump allies. Giuliani's questioning took place behind closed doors, as grand jury proceedings are secret. Swarmed by news cameras Wednesday morning as he stepped out of a limousine at the courthouse steps, Giuliani said he didn't plan to talk about his testimony. “Grand juries, as I recall, are secret,” said Giuliani, who came to court with his attorney, Robert Costello. “They ask the questions and we’ll see.” Though grand jury secrecy rules prohibit people present during grand jury testimony from discussing it, that prohibition does not apply to witnesses, including Giuliani. As a former federal prosecutor, he is likely familiar with those rules. It's unclear how much the former New York mayor and attorney for Trump was willing to say after his lawyers were informed Monday that he's a target of the investigation. The investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has brought heightened scrutiny to the desperate and ultimately failed efforts to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election win. It’s one of several investigations into Trump’s actions in office as he lays the groundwork for another run at the White House in 2024. Willis opened her investigation after the disclosure of a remarkable Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. On the call, Trump suggested that Raffensperger could “find” the exact number of votes that would be needed to flip the election results in Georgia. Trump has denied any wrongdoing. He has described the call as “perfect.” Willis last month filed petitions to compel testimony from seven Trump associates and advisers. She has also said she’s considering calling Trump himself to testify, and the former president has hired a legal team in Atlanta that includes a prominent criminal defense attorney. Other Trump allies swept up in the probe include U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham. His attorneys filed a legal motion Wednesday asking a federal judge to put Graham’s special grand jury appearance set for Aug. 23 on hold while the South Carolina Republican appeals an order compelling him to testify. Fulton County prosecutors want to ask Graham about phone calls they say he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff in the weeks following the vote. Graham’s attorneys, including former Trump White House counsel Don McGahn, are fighting the subpoena in federal court. They argue Graham’s position in Congress protects him from having to appear before the grand jury. A federal judge rejected that notion and ordered the senator to testify. Graham has appealed that ruling. In seeking Giuliani’s testimony, Willis noted that he was both a personal attorney for Trump and a lead attorney for his 2020 campaign. She recalled in a petition how Giuliani and others appeared at a state Senate committee meeting in late 2020 and presented a video that Giuliani said showed election workers producing “suitcases” of unlawful ballots from unknown sources, outside the view of election poll watchers. The claims of fraud were debunked by Georgia election officials within 24 hours. Yet Giuliani continued to make statements to the public and in subsequent legislative hearings claiming widespread election fraud using the debunked video, Willis noted in her filing. Two of the election workers seen in the video, Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, said they faced relentless harassment online and in person after it was shown at the Dec. 3 Georgia legislative hearing in which Giuliani appeared. At another hearing a week later, Giuliani said the footage showed the women “surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they are vials of heroin or cocaine.” They actually were passing a piece of candy. Willis wrote in the court filing that Giuliani’s hearing appearance and testimony were “part of a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.” Willis also wrote in a petition seeking the testimony of attorney Kenneth Chesebro that he worked with Giuliani to coordinate and carry out a plan to have Georgia Republicans serve as fake electors. Those 16 people signed a certificate declaring falsely that Trump had won the 2020 presidential election and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors even though Biden had won the state and a slate of Democratic electors was certified. Giuliani’s attorneys tried to delay his appearance before the special grand jury, saying he was unable to fly due to heart stent surgery in early July. But Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury, said during a hearing last week that Giuliani needed to be in Atlanta on Wednesday and could travel by bus, car or train if necessary. Asked how he made the trip, Giuliani told reporters, “I’ll give you one answer: I didn’t walk.” ___ Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report. | |
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| 08-18-22 11:00am - 763 days | #313 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The week that began Monday, August 8, provided such a neat encapsulation of the Trump Scandal Defense Cycle that we should not allow it to drift into summer-dog-day oblivion without comment. Each day brought a new development almost divinely crafted to expose the knee-jerk nihilist sycophancy of Trump's defenders, as they repeatedly threw themselves in front of the Reality Bus only to be shocked—SHOCKED!—to find themselves under the wheels by the following lunchtime. The only difference from the good ol' days of the reality-show presidency was that the protagonist's efforts to throw out new outrage bait to drag the watching world away from the previous outrage did not succeed. He was stuck on one issue, continually spouting new excuses but unable to upend the game board. Let's review. Monday Late in the day, we learned that the FBI had executed a search warrant approved by a federal magistrate judge to search Trump's club and residence at Mar-a-Lago. The immediate question for many creatures who've been sentient for the last half-decade was, Which investigation was the raid in relation to? Soon enough, we learned it had to do with classified documents Trump took down to Florida from the White House. The immediate reaction from Trump was to suggest, without evidence, that President Joe Biden was behind the raid. The reaction from many of his fans, who all seemed to get a memo that was copypasta'd across a wide variety of MAGA bootlicker accounts, was some version of: If they can do this to a former president, imagine what they can do to you. Well, if I was under investigation for federal crimes, I might expect a visit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. That a former president could also face investigation on suspicion he broke the law is not some profound disturbance in the Force, it's an indication that, per our lofty credo, no one is above the law. By that evening, though, the same people who rail against defunding the police were calling for the FBI to be defunded and/or abolished. The major takeaway in MAGAland was that there was nothing there and no legitimate reason for the search. Tuesday January 6 pep rally MC-slash-Olympic sprinter Josh Hawley called for Attorney General Merrick Garland to resign or be impeached. He insisted the FBI Director, Christopher Wray—appointed by a certain D. Trump—must be removed from office. This was because the FBI serving a search warrant constituted "an unprecedented assault on democratic norms and the rule of law." And Hawley would know. His Senate colleague, Ted Cruz, helped to kick off the calls to "RELEASE THE WARRANT," though he did grant that the search would only constitute political persecution if the Feds failed to produce evidence Trump was hoarding documents with serious national security implications. (For what it's worth, I also was saying they better produce the goods at the time, and that's still the case.) Also for what it's worth, Trump could have immediately released his copy of the warrant—and the inventory of items taken, of which he also had a copy—at any point after the search. There was also the debut of "the president can declassify anything," which isn't strictly true and also does not speak to whether Trump actually declassified these documents. We were also treated to the line that the FBI had mostly recovered boxes of knick-knacks like cocktail napkins and golf balls. Wednesday We arrived, fitfully, at the new talking point: The evidence was planted. Trump started saying that he and his lawyers had not been permitted to watch the search "to see what they were doing, taking or, hopefully not, 'planting.'" But then his lawyer, Christina Bobb, said on Real America's Voice that the Family Trump watched the raid remotely. At this point, you'll note the documents were not important, were magically declassified if they were important, and also were planted by the FBI. Rand Paul also floated this latter idea on the television, while another Trump lawyer, Alina Habba, also went on Fox News to say, "I'm concerned that they may have planted something." Again, zero evidence to support this. Totally normal lawyer stuff. Elsewhere, Trump started yelling that Barack HUSSEIN Obama took 30 million documents—then it was 33 million—to Chicago after his presidency, and surely some were bad like Trump's? "How many of them pertained to nuclear?" he asked. "Word is, lots!" The National Archives and Records Administration swiftly issued a statement that (twist!) this was fabulously false, and those documents are in NARA's possession. Fox News luminary Brian Kilmeade, filling in for Tucker Carlson, put a doctored photo on-screen that purported to show the judge who signed off on the warrant, Bruce Reinhardt, with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Kilmeade would later say this was "in jest"—you know, a joke where you insinuate a federal judge is a pedophile when he's already subject to a barrage of anti-Semitic threats that have forced his synagogue to cancel the weekend's services. Thursday The news was not good for Trump. New revelations indicated the documents in question were quite serious. The New York Times reported they included "special access programs," a kind of super top secret, while the Washington Post shared that some had to do with nuclear weapons. Trump responded with a new line, asking why-oh-why the FBI didn't just ask for the documents. The flying monkeys descended to whine about why Mar-a-Lago was raided—INVADED!—when the federales could simply have submitted a nice request to get the documents back. "My attorneys and representatives were cooperating fully, and very good relationships had been established," Trump truthed on Truth Social. "The government could have had whatever they wanted, if we had it." But later that day, the Times reported that Trump had been served a subpoena months earlier, as the Feds sought to recover the documents without a raid. (Back in January 2022, the National Archives separately went and retrieved 15 boxes of material.) Justice Department officials also met with Trump's lawyers at Mar-a-Lago in June and reviewed some of the materials and the security setup. A glance at the latter prompted them to ask Trump's people to put a padlock on the storage room. One of Trump's lawyers signed a written declaration then that all the classified material had been returned to the Feds. But then Attorney General Merrick Garland addressed the situation and agreed to release the warrant, and the accompanying inventory of items seized was soon public as well. It included 11 sets of classified documents. Sounds like maybe they were not "cooperating fully"? We also learned the search was related to an investigation into three specific crimes: violation of the Espionage Act, obstruction, and theft or destruction of government records. Intriguingly, none of these potential charges reportedly hinge on the documents in question being classified. Friday At this point, we've heard there was nothing important in the boxes (until there was); the rule of law was under threat because a former president was being investigated (for possibly breaking the law); and the documents were planted by the FBI. Also, Obama. But wait, what about that whole notion that they'd been magically declassified by the president? It was on the back-burner all week, but Trump turned to it in his time of need as the weekend approached and every other excuse had fallen through. The previously "planted" documents were suddenly legit, and he'd declassified them. In fact, Trump announced—incredibly—that he'd had a standing order in place to declassify all documents he brought to the White House residence. The very fact that these documents were present at Mar-a-Lago means they couldn’t have been classified. As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time. American presidents are no different. President Trump, in order to prepare the work for the next day, often took documents, including classified documents, to the residence. He had a standing order that documents removed from the Oval Office taken to the residence were deemed to be declassified the moment he removed them. Yes, the president who made 285 visits to a golf club during his tenure was hard at work. Mr. Trump also has a bridge to sell you. By the way, if all this is true, why didn't he just sort all this out by giving the documents back when the Feds asked for them? Why does he need (in this formulation, "formerly") classified documents in his basement? At this point, yet another excuse started to roll in: Trump didn’t pack the boxes himself! (Granted, virtually no one thinks that he was in there with packing tape.) He didn’t know what was in there! So again, why did he refuse to give them back when repeatedly asked? But that was a prelude to the ultimate excuse, a shameless special: Trump was so caught up in the “chaotic time” of January 2021 that he didn’t have time for this stuff. Fox News kicked it off on Friday: NBC News came in with a report the following day that seemed to extend this reasoning: When it finally dawned on Donald Trump in the twilight of his presidency that he wouldn’t be living at the White House for another four years, he had a problem: He had barely packed and had to move out quickly…In the run-up to Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump acted as if he had won the election — he hadn’t — and did little to ensure a smooth transition, according to the source familiar with Trump’s move who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the records investigation.The source said that it was only after Jan. 6 — two weeks before Biden’s swearing-in — that he began to make serious preparations to vacate the White House. And the process was a mess. | |
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| 08-18-22 11:01am - 763 days | #314 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
CONTINUED: If you’re following along at home, the idea is that Trump was so caught up with his autogolpe that he didn’t have time to worry about all this classified stuff. He didn’t think about leaving until after his coup failed! You can’t blame him for then heading down to Florida with some top-secret intel and stashing it in his basement! But wait, there was still time for one more lickspittle to jump all the way out on yet another limb: Alright, man. Jump out in front of that bus. I'm sure Captain Trump will swerve to avoid you. | |
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| 08-18-22 11:17pm - 763 days | #315 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump raises his battle cry: Rally around me, you White Supremacists. I am the begotten son of Adolf Hitler, the Great German Killer of lower humans. Dongle Trump has been attacking the Police and FBI and other law enforcement agencies. He wants to set up his own cadre of Sturmabteilung. Instead of Spanish or other lower class languages, US schools will now teach German, in honor of Adolf Hitler. ---- ---- Trump supporters' threats to judge spur democracy concerns Associated Press GARY FIELDS and NICHOLAS RICCARDI August 18, 2022, 2:27 PM WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of federal judges face the same task every day: review an affidavit submitted by federal agents and approve requests for a search warrant. But for U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, the fallout from his decision to approve a search warrant has been far from routine. He has faced a storm of death threats since his signature earlier this month cleared the way for the FBI to search former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate as part of a probe into whether he inappropriately removed sensitive materials from the White House. Reinhart's home address was posted on right-wing sites, along with antisemitic slurs. The South Florida synagogue he attends canceled its Friday night Shabbat services in the wake of the uproar. Trump has done little to lower the temperature among his supporters, decrying the search as political persecution and calling on Reinhart to recuse himself in the case because he has previously made political donations to Democrats. Reinhart has also, however, contributed to Republicans. The threats against Reinhart are part of a broader attack on law enforcement, particularly the FBI, by Trump and his allies in the aftermath of the search. But experts warn that the focus on a judge, coming amid an uptick in threats to the judiciary in general, is dangerous for the rule of law in the U.S. and the country’s viability as a democracy. “Threats against judges fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities strike at the very core of our democracy,” U.S. Second Circuit Judge Richard J. Sullivan, chair of the Judicial Conference Committee on Judicial Security, said in a statement issued recently in the aftermath of the search. “Judges should not have to fear retaliation for doing their jobs.” A phone message left in Reinhart's chambers was not immediately returned. He will preside over a hearing Thursday on a request by media organizations, including The Associated Press, seeking to unseal the underlying affidavit the Justice Department submitted when it asked for the Mar-a-Lago search warrant. Asked to comment about measures it has taken to protect Reinhart and his family the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement "while we do not discuss our specific security measures, we continuously review the measures in place and take appropriate steps to provide protection as necessary to ensure the integrity of the federal judicial process.” The vitriol directed at the magistrate, while striking, is becoming increasingly common. In 2014, the U.S. Marshals Service handled 768 incidents that it classified as “inappropriate communications” aimed at judges and court employees. Last year, it reported more than 4,500. At one point “virtually everyone recognized how inappropriate it was to threaten the life or security of a judge because of a disagreement with the judge’s decision,” said Barbara Lynn, chief judge for the northern district of Texas. “Now I think there are a lot of people that don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.” Lynn is one of many judicial officials pushing Congress to approve the Daniel Anderl bill, named for the 20-year-old son of District Judge Esther Salas. He was killed in 2020 when a gunman came to their New Jersey home. His father was wounded. The bill, which has the support of groups ranging from the American Bar Association to the National Association of Attorneys General, would keep more of judges’ personal information private. In June, a retired Wisconsin county circuit judge, John Roemer was killed in his home in what authorities said was a targeted killing by a gunman, who fatally wounded himself as well. Later that month, protesters converged on the homes of conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices after they overturned a 49-year-old ruling that women have a constitutional right to obtain an abortion. Police arrested a man with knives, zip ties and a gun near the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and he said he planned to kill the conservative justice. Congress rapidly approved money to bolster security at the justices' homes and provide 24-hour protection to their families. The increased targeting of judges comes as trust in public institutions plummets and partisan rhetoric escalates. It's part of a pattern that Steven Levitsky has seen before. “This is a classic precursor of a democratic breakdown,” said Levitsky, a Harvard political scientist and co-author of How Democracies Die. “To call this a warning sign is an understatement.” Trump’s initial presidential campaign — during which he personally condemned a judge who ruled against him in a lawsuit over his now-defunct Trump University — changed the ground rules governing threats and explosive rhetoric, said Matthew Weil, executive director of the Democracy Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, DC. “There are threats everywhere now, it’s become more normalized because he changed what was allowed in public discourse,” Weil said, who said both the right and the left have turned to threatening the judicial branch. Nathan Hall, a principal consultant with the National Center for State Courts, noted that the combination of lagging public trust, coupled with access to judges’ addresses and personal information impacts everyone from nationally-known Supreme Court justices to otherwise anonymous state judges. “This gets to the core issue of having equal access to justice, a core foundational principle of our ability to function as a third and independent branch of government. It’s really shaken to the core,” Hall said. “Judges are just people at the end of the day. They put on a robe, but they still go home to their families.” The most recent warning sign came after last week's search of Mar-A-Lago, Trump's Florida resort and political and personal headquarters. FBI agents seized 11 sets of classified information as part of an investigation of three different federal laws, including one that governs gathering, transmitting or losing defense information under the Espionage Act, according to court records. Trump accused the government of abuse of power in targeting him, and his supporters railed against the search online, targeting the FBI and Department of Justice. An armed man who posted threats against the FBI on Trump's Truth Social network was killed by authorities after trying to storm the agency's Cincinnati office. Still, Trump and his supporters have waged rhetorical war against the FBI for years since the investigation into whether his initial campaign was aided by Russia in 2016. The intense focus on an individual judge like Reinhart is relatively new. Gretchen Helmke, a political scientist at the University of Rochester, said Trump's action mirrors what demagogues have done in other countries where democracy has collapsed. “A popularly elected leader targeting a judiciary is often one early indicator of democratic erosion,” Helmke said in an email. Helmke cited Venezuela, Bolivia and Peru as places where an incoming administration vowed to clean up the judiciary, then stocked it with its followers. “The public never develops any real trust or confidence in the judiciary, and it is essentially costless for each incoming administration to use the previous government’s manipulation of the judiciary as a pretext to create the court it wants, Helmke said. ”The end result is no judicial independence and no rule of law." Hall said people can look at other countries and see what happens when public servants fear reprisals, places where “the rule of law has suffered. I guess you probably get a lot of differences of opinions on how far down that road we’re already hitting, but it raises the important question.” ___ Riccardi reported from Denver. | |
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| 08-18-22 11:46pm - 763 days | #316 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) announces FL has “charged and is in the process of arresting 20 individuals … for voter fraud.” This is proof the 2020 election was fraudulent. And that Dongle Trump was the real victor. Put Dongle Trump back in the Whitest House, and put Sleepy Joe Biden in jail, where he belongs. Go, Dongle, you continue to lead us to greatness. Your shit smells so sweet, it can be sold as perfume. Also, Gov. Ron DeSantis might be have elected by voter fraud. Lock him up until we can investigate him for criminal behavior. Thank God there are honest people to investigate these criminals. ----- ----- Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) announces FL has “charged and is in the process of arresting 20 individuals … for voter fraud.” Thu, August 18, 2022 at 12:54 PM Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a presser in a courthouse to announce that the state’s new Office of Election Crimes and Security, which began on July 1, has discovered 20 instance of voter fraud. DeSantis says the 20 individuals will be charged and arrested for their crimes. The state of Florida will continue to monitor voter fraud in the upcoming election as well as review the 2020 election results. DESANTIS: The State of Florida has charged and is in the process of arresting 20 individuals across the state for voter fraud. Now, the majority of these people illegally voted in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade. Although there are others and other parts of the state. These folks voted illegally in this case and there's going to be other other grounds for other prosecution's in the future. They are disqualified from voting because they've been convicted of either murder or sexual assault and they do not have the right to vote. | |
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| 08-19-22 06:20am - 762 days | #317 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The GOP wraps itself in the flag. Says if they call for an opponent to be executed, they are just joking. And can't be held responsible for their words. Say their words are protected by free speech. The GOP is the party of Washington, Lincoln, and Dongle Trump. Three of the greatest presidents we've ever had. Except Dongle is also the most corrupt president we've ever had. He specialized in corruption and ignoring the law and weaponizing the government against people he didn't like. Firing them, cutting off their pensions, having the IRS investigate their tax returns. Good clean fun, that he denied, while saying "Trust me". ----- ----- GOP candidate says call for Garland's death was ‘facetious’ Associated Press August 18, 2022, 9:53 PM BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A Republican candidate for Congress in western New York said in a radio interview that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland “should be executed” for authorizing a search former President Donald Trump's home, before clarifying later in the show that he wasn't being serious. Buffalo-area businessman Carl Paladino made the comment in an interview with Breitbart News Saturday on Aug. 13. During the interview, Paladino was criticizing President Joe Biden for what he said was a lack of leadership and disengagement from government. “So we have a couple of unelected people who are running our government, in an administration of people like Garland, who should be not only impeached, he probably should be executed,” Paladino said. “The guy is just lost. He’s a lost soul. He’s trying to get an image, and his image, his methodology is just terrible. To raid the home of a former president is just — people are scratching their heads and they’re saying, ‘What is wrong with this guy?’” A short time later in the interview, host Matthew Boyle pressed Paladino about what he meant when he said that Garland should be executed. “I’m just being facetious. The man should be removed from office,” Paladino said. “He shows his incompetence. He wants to get his face in front of the people and show he’s got some mettle to him, but his choice of issues and choice of methodology is very sad.” Paladino, a millionaire real estate developer who was the party’s candidate for governor of New York in 2010, is in a close primary fight with New York Republican State Committee Chairman Nick Langworthy. Paladino has been endorsed by U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik. Election Day is Aug. 23. A Justice Department spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FBI is generally responsible for investigating threats made against the attorney general. Paladino's campaign responded to a request for comment Thursday by reiterating that the remark wasn't serious. A Paladino spokesperson, Vish Burra, also told The Buffalo News on Wednesday that Paladino wasn't actually calling for Garland's death. “The comment is clear: Carl does not think Garland should be executed and when you listen to the interview, when asked what he meant, he stated he was being facetious,” Burra said. The FBI and Justice Department have faced a barrage of violent threats in the days since agents searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago home as part of an investigation into the discovery of classified White House records. A man, who had said on social media that federal agents should be killed “on sight,” died in a shootout with law enforcement officers in Ohio after trying to get inside the FBI's Cincinnati field office with a semiautomatic rifle. Paladino has a long history of outrageous comments. In June, he shared a Facebook post suggesting that a racist mass shooting in Buffalo was part of a conspiracy to take away people’s guns. The same month, he apologized for a comment he'd made in an interview in which he said Adolf Hitler was “the kind of leader we need today” because of his ability to rally crowds. In 2016, Paladino joked to a newspaper that he hoped then-President Barack Obama would die from mad cow disease and said Michelle Obama should “return to being a male" and be sent to live with a gorilla in a cave. The following year, he was removed from Buffalo’s school board for improperly discussing teacher contract negotiations, although he contended the comments about the Obamas were the real reason for his removal. During his run for governor, he was criticized for forwarding emails to friends containing racist jokes and pornography. | |
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| 08-19-22 06:34am - 762 days | #318 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump says he knew nothing about any illegal behavior on the part of people working for him. However, Dongle takes full responsibility for all things done in his name. And he will apologize soon, in tweets, as he calls for the people who did these crimes to confess. Innocent until proven guilty, Dongle screams to his supporters. Waving the flag above his head with pride. ----- ----- Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg pleads guilty to tax fraud Yahoo Finance Alexis Keenan August 18, 2022, 8:44 AM Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg pleaded guilty on Thursday to 15 criminal tax fraud charges alleging that he and the Trump Organization participated in a scheme to evade federal, state, and local taxes. Weisselberg, 75, who started working for the Trump family nearly 50 years ago and served as its long-time chief financial officer, admitted to omitting $1.7 million in personal income from his tax filings between 2005 and 2021 and agreed to full repayment of taxes due, plus interest, totaling $1,994,321. "Yes, your honor," Weisselberg said in response to the judge's separate questions asking whether he agreed to plead guilty to each of the 15 criminal charges during a hearing Thursday morning in New York state's Supreme Court. The plea agreement requires that Weisselberg testify truthfully, if called to take the stand in the criminal fraud trial scheduled to proceed against the Trump Organization. Jury selection in that case is scheduled for October 24. Weisselberg's official sentencing, tentatively agreed to as a split sentence including 5 months incarceration and 5 years probation, is postponed until after that trial — though the judge mentioned a sentencing date of November 17 during Thursday's proceedings. Prosecutors recommended a split sentence of 6 months imprisonment and 5 years probation. Weisselberg's attorneys told the judge Weisselberg agreed to five-months incarceration. However, prosecutors said sentencing would happen at the conclusion of the Trump Organization trial because the agreement is contingent upon Weisselberg's follow through with testimony in the case. Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg looks on as then-U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, U.S., May 31, 2016. Picture taken May 31, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg looks on as then-U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, U.S., May 31, 2016. Picture taken May 31, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri The Manhattan District Attorney’s office alleged in their indictment that Weisselberg and the Trump Organization participated together in a scheme to disguise employment compensation that then went unreported to tax authorities. Weisselberg illegally failed to report “indirect” payments by the Trump Organization that should have been reported as income. According to the indictment, payments flowed from the Trump Organization to support Weisselberg's Upper West Side New York City apartment, tuition payments for his grandchildren, and Mercedes cars for himself and his wife. As for the Trump Organization, prosecutors allege that the company failed to pay payroll taxes for the compensation in question and to withhold income taxes on wages, salaries, and bonuses paid to Weisselberg and other employees. Weisselberg started working for the Trump family in 1973 and worked his way up through the Trump Organization | |
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| 08-19-22 02:02pm - 762 days | #319 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump has his hands out for more of your money. He already has over $100 million in PACs. Now he is grabbing for even more money. Dongle's goal is to reach $100 billion in taxpayer funds, that he will try to spend on himself first, then on him family, then on building a monument to his glory. Dongle Trump, the most corrupt president of the Untied States of Trumperland the world has known. ---- ---- 'Can I count on you?' Trump revs up fundraising pitches after FBI's Mar-a-Lago search USA TODAY Erin Mansfield August 19, 2022, 6:56 AM Former President Donald Trump is aggressively fundraising off the FBI’s seizure of confidential documents at his Mar-a-Lago home, sending a blitz of emails that urge supporters to donate to an “Official Trump Defense Fund.” The money is being solicited through a fundraising vehicle that can dump money into Donald Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America, and to another fund, Make America Great Again PAC, which evolved out of his first presidential campaign. Trump is using the criminal investigation as an opportunity to motivate his supporters to stock war chests that already have more than $100 million. He will be able to use the money in a variety of ways, including opposing his political enemies, and preserving and extending his already-firm grip on the Republican Party. Some examples of what the former president sent to his followers in the days after the law enforcement actions include: “What recently took place at my Mar-a-Lago home was an unprecedented infringement of the rights of every American citizen,” the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee wrote on Aug. 12, which included the “Official Trump Defense Fund” logo at the bottom. “Scam after Scam, year after year. This POLITICAL PROSECUTION is merely a continuation of Russia, Russia, Russia, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax # 2, the no collusion Mueller Report, and more,” he said. A fundraising email sent Aug. 9 had the subject line, “The Democrats broke into the home of President Donald J. Trump.” The search was approved by a federal judge after the Department of Justice made a case that there was probable cause to believe a crime was committed. Answers to your questions: What's happening at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home? Was the FBI there? What is Save America?: Trump's 'Save America' PAC raised millions after the election. Here's what you need to know about it. In the first 10 days since the Mar-a-Lago search, Trump and his allies sent out more than 120 emails explicitly fundraising off the raid. There were at least dozens more referring more generally to things like a “witch hunt” or the left being out to get Trump. 'Cocktail napkins, raincoats and golf balls' The vast majority were sent by the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee. Fifteen of the emails reference an “Official Trump Defense Fund,” language that is strikingly similar to the “Official Election Defense Fund” that the House committee probing Trump's role in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack said likely never existed. The Save America Joint Fundraising Committee did not immediately reply to a question about whether there was a segregated fund for money that comes in for the “Official Trump Defense Fund” or where that money goes. Information on fundraising and spending this month will not be available until they report to the Federal Election Commission in September. Save America: Trump PAC formed to push debunked voter fraud claims paid $60K to Melania Trump's fashion designer Other fundraising emails came from the campaign arms of House Republicans and Senate Republicans, as well as funds affiliated with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. "Every single dollar raised will go directly to FIGHTING OFF the corrupt Left and their LIES,” an email sent Tuesday said. On Wednesday, an email promised a 1300% match in donation amounts for one day only, with text that claimed the FBI went on "a wild goose chase looking for cocktail napkins, raincoats and golf balls from the White House." The entrance to former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate is shown 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. The entrance to former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate is shown Monday, Aug. 8, 2022. Not all emails explicitly say what the money will be used for, and the amount raised this month will not be disclosed with the FEC until September. “There’s nothing inherently wrong with profiteering off of galvanizing news — and this is obviously very galvanizing for his base — as long as it’s going to the stated purpose,” said Danya Perry, a defense attorney and former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. Perry said the “Official Election Defense Fund” was a “cut and dried” case because the Jan. 6 committee determined that the money largely did not go to election litigation. “Time and maybe FEC records will tell,” she said. She said Trump could also run into trouble if he’s fundraising not off of hyperbole, but off of false statements. A fundraising email sent Aug. 9 had subject line, “The Democrats broke into the home of President Donald J. Trump.” The search was approved by a federal judge after the Department of Justice made a case that there was probable cause that a crime was committed. Bruce Udolf, a defense attorney and former prosecutor in the Southern District of Florida, said the new Official Trump Defense Fund is “entirely predictable” and raises concerns. "If Trump's doing it, it's questionable," he said. Daniel Weiner, a director at New York University’s Brennan Center, said it's common for people across the political spectrum to use the concept that a candidate is being unfairly persecuted when asking for donations. And others have used the concept of a “fund” before. “This is a particular fundraising tactic that the Trump campaign has perfected,” he said. Fundraising emails promising matches are also common, and in Trump’s case, Weiner said there’s no indication the donations in the past have been being matched. “It’s just a fundraising tactic,” Weiner said. Ann Ravel, a Democrat who served on the Federal Election Commission, said fundraising off of Mar-a-Lago is “really unseemly.” “He is turning it into a fundraising (mechanism) and also using it probably for his purposes of politicizing it and therefore advancing his own career,” Ravel said. “Which is why I think it has to be related to deciding to run again in 2024 and to rile up the base.” Trump has not filed to run for election in 2024, but allies have called for him to take another stab at the White House, and his fundraising emails regularly ask supporters if they would vote for him a third time. Money that ends up with Save America can be spent for personal use, from clothing to defense attorneys, but cannot be turned back over to a potential campaign, Ravel said. The Make America Great Again PAC is not a leadership fund. Erin Chlopak, a senior director for campaign finance at the nonprofit watchdog group Campaign Legal Center, said the influx of fundraising emails could be “misleading at best” and “fraudulent at worst” if the donations do not in fact go to Trump’s legal defense. “There’s not necessarily a specific campaign finance law that prohibits general misleading fundraising,” she said, “but it’s certainly a problem that we have seen for many years.” This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump PACs use Mar-a-Lago raid to unveil 'Official Trump Defense Fund' | |
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| 08-19-22 05:00pm - 762 days | #320 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump is accused of twisting the truth. Many of Dongle's top officials say Dongle is fibbing when he claims he had a standing order to de-classify secret documents. ---- ---- 'Fiction': Top Trump officials tell CNN his 'standing order' claim is rubbish HuffPost Josephine Harvey August 18, 2022, 7:13 PM More than a dozen former top Trump administration officials have refuted former President Donald Trump’s claim that he had a “standing order” stipulating that classified documents automatically became declassified when he took them from the Oval Office to his White House residence, CNN reported Thursday. Since the FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for top-secret materials that may have been improperly taken there, Trump and his allies have claimed, among other excuses, that the former president had a “standing order” in place that declassified them. But, according to 18 officials from his administration who spoke to CNN, no such order was ever issued. Several officials reportedly laughed or scoffed at the notion. One called it “bullshit.” Many of them even went on the record. John Kelly, who was Trump’s chief of staff from 2017 to 2019, told CNN that “nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given” during his tenure. “And I can’t imagine anyone that worked at the White House after me that would have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed that order to go forward without dying in the ditch trying to stop it,” he added. Mick Mulvaney, Kelly’s successor, also said he was not aware of any such order. Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton called Trump’s claim “a complete fiction.” Olivia Troye, who was a homeland security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, called the idea of a blanket declassification “ludicrous.” A president does have the authority to declassify documents, but there is a formal process involved. It’s not clear if Trump followed that process. The documents the FBI sought from Mar-a-Lago were reportedly very sensitive in nature and included materials related to nuclear weapons. The “standing order” excuse is among a rotation of other explanations that Trump and his team have offered. Trump has also claimed baselessly that any damaging materials found by the FBI must have been planted on his property. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. | |
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| 08-20-22 12:41am - 762 days | #321 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Sen. Lindsey Graham loses bid to delay testifying in Georgia Trump probe. This is not right. Lindsey should be happy to testify. Everyone wants to hear his golden voice and the lies he will tell under oath. Or maybe not. Telling lies under oath can get you into trouble. Maybe Lindsey will take the Fifth, just like Dongle Trump did recently. ----- ----- Sen. Lindsey Graham loses bid to delay testifying in Georgia Trump probe NBC Universal Dareh Gregorian August 19, 2022, 2:07 PM A federal judge in Georgia on Friday denied Sen. Lindsey Graham's latest attempt to escape a subpoena to testify before a grand jury investigating alleged election interference in the state. Lawyers for Graham, R-S.C., had asked Judge Leigh Martin May to temporarily block an order she issued earlier this week denying his bid to quash the grand jury subpoena. They appealed the decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and asked May to put her ruling on hold during the appeals process. The Fulton County district attorney's office urged the judge to deny the request in a court filing Friday, arguing that Graham's legal maneuverings have already cost the special grand jury precious time. The DA's office noted it first sought Graham's appearance in early July. "Six weeks later, after litigation in three separate jurisdictions, the District Attorney is still attempting to provide the [Special Purpose Grand Jury] with the Senator’s crucial testimony," the DA's office wrote, noting that a stay of May's ruling could lead to months of additional litigation. “Given the possibility that Senator Graham’s testimony could reveal additional routes of inquiry, staying remand and enjoining his appearance at this stage could ultimately delay the resolution of the SPGJ’s entire investigation,” their filing said. The judge sided with the DA's office later Friday. "Senator Graham raises a number of arguments as to why he is likely to succeed on the merits, but they are all unpersuasive," she wrote in the ruling. The grand jury was impaneled this year to assist District Attorney Fani Willis’ criminal investigation into possible 2020 election interference by former President Donald Trump and others. Among the incidents Willis has said she's investigating is a pair of post-election phone calls Graham made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, and his staff. Raffensperger said Graham pressed him about whether he had the power to reject certain absentee ballots, which Raffensperger interpreted as a suggestion to toss out legally cast votes. Graham “also made reference to allegations of widespread voter fraud in the November 2020 election in Georgia, consistent with public statements made by known affiliates of the Trump Campaign," according to a subpoena demanding his testimony. Graham and his lawyers have said he made the calls in his then-role as a chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, adding in a statement last month that he "was well within his rights to discuss with state officials the processes and procedures around administering elections." In court filings, Graham's lawyers also argued that because he was acting in a legislative role, the speech and debate clause of the Constitution shields him from testifying. The judge found that Graham's interpretation was too broad, and said investigators could ask him about the circumstances of the calls, including whether there was "any coordination either before or after the calls with the Trump campaign’s post-election efforts in Georgia." Graham's attorneys did not respond to a request for comment. Barring a stay from the higher court, Graham is scheduled to testify Aug. 23. | |
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| 08-20-22 07:59am - 761 days | #322 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
A GOP candidate had his Twitter account suspended after he tweeted that federal agents could be shot on sight. This is not right. The GOP has the right of free speech, protected by the US Constitution. Not only that, but the GOP is now trying the drain the swamp of corrupt cops. So the man should have been given a medal for being honest and brave, and trying to make America great again, following in the steps of Dongle Trump. However, the GOP candidate said he was not endorsing violence. Instead, he said, this is the humane way to treat corrupt cops. ---- ---- A Republican candidate seeking a House seat in the Florida Legislature had his Twitter account yanked this week after a post about violence against federal agents. Luis Miguel, who's running in Florida's House District 20, said on Twitter that under his plan, federal agents could be shot on sight in the state. He told the website Florida Politics that Twitter had notified him that his account had been permanently suspended, which he later confirmed to NBC News on Friday. A Twitter spokesperson said the account is permanently suspended for violating the company's hateful conduct policy. Miguel confirmed to NBC News that his tweet on Thursday said: “Under my plan, all Floridians will have permission to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF and all other feds on sight! Let freedom ring!” The post comes amid increased threats to the FBI after agents executed a search warrant at former President Donald Trump’s estate in Florida. Last week, an armed man attacked an FBI field office in Cincinnati and was fatally shot by law enforcement. On Friday, two top congressional Democrats on the House Oversight Committee sent letters to social media companies about “a flood of violent threats on social media” that pose a danger to law enforcement. “We urge you to take immediate action to address any threats of violence against law enforcement that appear on your company’s platforms,” wrote committee chair Carolyn Maloney of New York and Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, who leads the subcommittee on national security. The letters — sent to Meta, Twitter, TikTok, Truth Social, Rumble, Gettr, Telegram and Gab — also requested information about how social media companies are responding to the threats. In speaking to NBC News, Miguel insisted he was not endorsing violence. “I am in no way advocating any kind of vigilante, extra-judicial, illegal or other form of violence against federal officers,” he said. Miguel argued that his tweet was referring to planned legislation that would require federal agencies to have permission from Florida to operate in the state, and that people could protect themselves against threats to their lives or property. He said he found out about the Twitter suspension Friday morning when he checked his account, and that he has filed an appeal with the social media company. Earlier Friday, Miguel defended the tweet in an interview with Florida Politics, saying what he wrote was justified because the IRS has been “weaponized by dissident forces” — an apparent reference to misleading characterizations by some Republicans that the tax agency is assembling an armed force of 80,000 agents to target average Americans. Miguel also said that Instagram deleted a similar post Friday. By Friday night it appeared as though the account was removed. A representative of Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, said Friday that both his Instagram and Facebook accounts had been removed. The spokesperson did not detail why. Miguel is on the ballot in Tuesday's primary along with state Rep. Bobby Payne, another Republican. They are the only two candidates, according to the Florida Department of State. | |
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| 08-20-22 03:18pm - 761 days | #323 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump reveals the presidency was hell. But says he is determined to take back the office. For the good of America. And to punish his enemies. And to re-write the laws that accuse him of crimes. Dongle is a God-fearing man who only wants to do good. And he vows to smash his enemies to little bits, to clean the corruption in Washington. Also, he vows to only golf on days when his desk is clear of Top-Secret Papers. He's learned his lesson: Top-Secret Papers should be de-classifed immediately, with the Advise and Consent of the Supreme Court. ---- ---- Trump calls the presidency 'hell.' As legal woes mount, allies say he’s more determined than ever to win it back. NBC Universal Marc Caputo and Carol E. Lee and Peter Nicholas and Courtney Kube August 19, 2022, 3:30 PM Scroll back up to restore default view. The day after federal agents searched Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump told a group of conservative lawmakers that “being president was hell,” according to three people at the meeting. But to some he sounded ready to have the job again. “He was not to be deterred,” said Rep. Randy Weber of Texas, one of a dozen Republican House members who met with Trump on Aug. 9. He described Trump’s state of mind in the immediate aftermath of the search as “pretty miffed, but measured.” Everything that’s occurred since that Bedminster, New Jersey, meeting — and since federal agents seized a trove of top secret and other highly classified documents from his resort — has put Trump exactly where he and his supporters want him to be, according to people close to him. He’s in a fight, squaring off with Washington institutions and a political establishment he says are out to get him, issues he brought up in the meeting with the lawmakers and in conversations with others. Taken together, it’s reoriented Trump’s thinking about whether he should announce a presidential campaign before or after the midterm elections, according to those who have spoken with him over the past two weeks. They said Trump feels less pressure to announce early because viable challengers who might otherwise force his hand have faded into the background. But there are other reasons to wait. Rep. Randy Weber (Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images) Rep. Randy Weber (Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images) Trump is now inclined to launch his candidacy after the November elections, in part to avoid blame should an early announcement undermine the GOP’s effort to win control of Congress, said one person close to him, speaking on condition of anonymity to talk more freely. A post-midterm announcement would suit Republican leaders who’ve been urging Trump to hold off so that he doesn’t overshadow the party’s candidates.Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign and administration official, described Trump’s attitude in recent days after speaking with him, as “business as usual.” “He’s already moved on. It’s business as usual for him,” he said. Still, there are many in his orbit who believe Trump is shrugging off the legal issues too quickly, and that he’s front and center for the wrong reasons. Two days after the Mar-a-Lago search, Trump invoked his right to avoid self-incrimination 440 times in a New York civil case targeting his business practices. On Monday, his longtime friend and onetime attorney Rudy Giuliani officially became a target of an unrelated criminal investigation into alleged attempts to interfere with the 2020 election results in Georgia. On Thursday, the Trump Organization’s former CFO pleaded guilty to tax fraud charges and is expected to testify against the former president’s eponymous business in a New York case. On the same day, federal prosecutors in open court raised the possibility of witness intimidation and obstruction of justice in its investigation into the sensitive documents stored at Mar-a-Lago to argue against unsealing the affidavit used to search his club. The cascading revelations would typically crush any politician’s presidential hopes. But for Trump they have, at least for now, increased his resolve to run for president, while also giving him a paradoxical aura of calm, according to six people close to him who have spoken recently with him but requested anonymity to speak candidly because of the multiple investigations surrounding him. They said Trump sounds buoyed by an uptick in fundraising when his political committee last week took in $1 million a day on two separate days, according to a Washington Post report confirmed by NBC News. Trump, sources said, also revels in surveys showing him widening a lead over Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida in a potential Republican primary. Trump has also been encouraged by focus groups that show his popularity surging among Republican voters offended by the FBI search of his home, one of the sources said. Another described him as “over the moon” on Tuesday night when his high-profile nemesis, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, lost her primary by a wide margin. “Yes, we have problems. He’s aware of that,” a different Trump ally said. “But the fact is that he needs a fight to give him focus. He has that now. He has that sense he’s in the arena.” Still, even some of Trump’s most ardent allies question how long his streak of fending off grievous threats can last. While Trump insists the investigations are “hoaxes,” polls show voters don’t think so, and some in his orbit are not nearly so sanguine. One close Trump ally who hopes he’ll run in 2024 said the former president doesn’t seem to be aware of the perilous position he’s in, saying, “He may get closer to the prize but in reality, he’s slipping.” “It seems like the net is surrounding him more and more, and his ability to dance around these things is going to get more challenging,” this ally said. “It’s a double-edged sword.” Another person close to Trump voiced concern that the former president wasn’t taking the investigations seriously enough. “Look, when I spoke to him it was kind of weird. It was like he didn’t really care about all of this going on or didn’t take it seriously,” this person said. “He thinks it’s all bulls—. I do, too. But bulls— can still cause you problems.” Those problems aren’t likely to soon go away. At the court hearing over unsealing the affidavit, a Justice Department official said the probe into the Mar-a-Lago records is still in the “early stages.” The investigation could end up shadowing Trump throughout the 2024 campaign, forcing him to fend off a federal inquiry backed by the U.S. government’s virtually unlimited resources. Of all the potential legal threats Trump faces, though, some people close to him consider the most immediate to be the criminal investigation unfolding in Georgia, where local prosecutors are examining his alleged effort to overturn the state’s 2020 result. Giuliani spent six hours before a grand jury in Atlanta this week after being told he’s a “target” of the probe, something his lawyer confirmed to NBC News. Giuliani and his attorneys did not comment on his testimony, with his attorneys previously saying he would not answer questions that would violate attorney-client privilege. One attorney said the former New York City mayor “showed up” as required. “Georgia is a much more serious investigation,” said the first person close to Trump who is familiar with his inclination to announce his 2024 plans after the midterms. “I don’t care who you are,” the source added, “this takes a toll on you.” For now, though, Trump seems to be consolidating Republican support since the unprecedented search at his home. In retrieving the records, the FBI tapped into deep-seated grievances among many Republicans that government institutions aren’t trustworthy and are persecuting their lone defender, multiple GOP operatives interviewed by NBC News said. “I don’t think him being behind bars would stop him from winning the Republican nomination,” said Brendan Buck, a Republican consultant. Sarah Longwell, a GOP strategist who conducts focus groups among swing voters, said for much of the summer they seemed to be drifting away from the former president. A common concern among voters was that he carried too much baggage and was destined to lose a general election, Longwell said, but that changed on Aug. 8 when the FBI arrived at Trump’s doorstep. “The rally-around-Trump effect is real,” she said, while adding that “whether or not it sticks” is uncertain. Elizabeth Preate Havey, chair of the Montgomery County Republican Committee in Pennsylvania, said the past two weeks “so far have energized the party” and that “even Republicans who don’t like Trump and don’t want him to be our nominee have taken this news with alarm.” Trump is pointing to these same trend lines. He has mentioned to allies a Politico/Morning Consult poll that showed him with a 10-point bounce over DeSantis. (The poll was conducted in a single day after the Mar-a-Lago search, Aug. 10.) One source said Trump has also seen other survey data that shows he went from virtually tied against DeSantis in a multi-candidate 2024 field before the FBI search, to leading DeSantis 52% to 20% afterward. Yet as Trump savors polling that shows his support among Republicans growing, he’s having trouble with independent voters, according to a new national online YouGov poll conducted for The Economist after the Mar-a-Lago search and released Wednesday. | |
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| 08-20-22 03:19pm - 761 days | #324 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
CONTINUED: Whenever Trump does announce his 2024 plans, one of his properties could wind up being the backdrop. Some venues that have been under discussion include Mar-a-Lago and the Trump National Doral golf club near Miami, according to people familiar with the matter. An advantage of both is that they would send DeSantis a message: that Trump is unafraid to challenge the sitting Florida governor on his own turf. Staging the announcement at Mar-a-Lago would be “a direct shot at Ron DeSantis,” the first person close to Trump said. Caputo, the former Trump administration official and campaign adviser, said he’s not sure if Trump will want Mar-a-Lago as an announcement spot, but he’s positive that Trump is now entirely unconcerned about a serious primary opponent if he runs in 2024. “I know now he can raise as much money as he damn well pleases,” Caputo said. “There is no challenger.” | |
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| 08-21-22 08:08am - 760 days | #325 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump scream: "I admit. I ordered the hit on the Russian woman because she got between me and my best buddy Putin. But I can't be arrested, because this happened outside of the Untied States of Trumperland." This is another expose about Dongle Trump, the man who made conspiracy theories popular in the Untied States. ---- ---- Associated Press Car blast kills daughter of Russian known as 'Putin's brain' In this handout photo taken from video released by Investigative Committee of Russia on Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022, investigators work on the site of explosion of a car driven by Daria Dugina outside Moscow. Daria Dugina, the daughter of Alexander Dugin, the Russian nationalist ideologist often called "Putin's brain", was killed when her car exploded on the outskirts of Moscow, officials said Sunday. The Investigate Committee branch for the Moscow region said the Saturday night blast was caused by a bomb planted in the SUV driven by Daria Dugina.(Investigative Committee of Russia via AP) JIM HEINTZ Sun, August 21, 2022 at 12:42 AM MOSCOW (AP) — The daughter of an influential Russian political theorist often referred to as “Putin’s brain” was killed in a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow, authorities said Sunday. The Moscow branch of the Russian Investigative Committee said preliminary information indicated 29-year-old TV commentator Daria Dugina was killed by an explosive planted in the SUV she was driving Saturday night. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But the bloodshed gave rise to suspicions that the intended target was her father, Alexander Dugin, a nationalist philosopher and writer. Dugin is a prominent proponent of the “Russian world” concept, a spiritual and political ideology that emphasizes traditional values, restoration of Russia’s power and the unity of all ethnic Russians throughout the world. He is also a vehement supporter of Russia's sending of troops into Ukraine. The explosion took place as his daughter was returning from a cultural festival she had attended with him. Some Russian media reports cited witnesses as saying that the SUV belonged to Dugin and that he had decided at the last minute to travel in another vehicle. The vivid act of violence, unusual for Moscow, is likely to aggravate tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Denis Pushilin, president of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, the pro-Moscow region that is a focus of Russia’s fighting in Ukraine, blamed it on “terrorists of the Ukrainian regime, trying to kill Alexander Dugin.” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, denied Ukrainian involvement, saying, "We are not a criminal state, unlike Russia, and definitely not a terrorist state.” Analyst Sergei Markov, a former Putin adviser, told the Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti that Dugin, not his daughter, was probably the intended target and said, “It’s completely obvious that the most probable suspects are Ukrainian military intelligence and the Ukrainian Security Service.” While Dugin's exact ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin are unclear, the Kremlin frequently echoes rhetoric from his writings and appearances on Russian state TV. He helped popularize the “Novorossiya," or New Russia, concept that Russia used to justify the 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea and its support of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. He promotes Russia as a country of piety, traditional values and authoritarian leadership, and disdains Western liberal values. His daughter expressed similar views and had appeared as a commentator on the nationalist TV channel Tsargrad, where Dugin had served as chief editor. Dugina herself was sanctioned by the United States in March for her work as chief editor of United World International, a website that the U.S. described as a disinformation source. The sanctions announcement cited a United World article this year that contended Ukraine would “perish” if it were admitted to NATO. Dugina, "like her father, has always been at the forefront of confrontation with the West,” Tsargrad said on Sunday. | |
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| 08-22-22 08:42pm - 759 days | #326 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump wants to prevent the FBI from reading the Secret Documents they stole from his Florida home. Says the FBI is not cleared to read Secret Documents. Besides which, the FBI planted Fake Documents to incriminate Dongle. Dongle is a man of the people. He would never do anything to harm the Untied States of Trumperland, the land that his secret fathers, Adolf Hitler und Man of Steel Josef Stalin, helped make great. Will you donate your money to Dongle Trump, while he fights to make Trumperland uber alles? ---- ---- Trump seeks special master to review Mar-a-Lago documents Associated Press ERIC TUCKER August 22, 2022, 3:26 PM WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump asked a federal judge Monday to prevent the FBI from continuing to review documents recovered from his Florida estate earlier this month until a neutral special master can be appointed to inspect the records. The request was included in a court filing, the first by Trump's legal team in the two weeks since the search, that takes broad aim at the FBI investigation into the discovery of classified records at Mar-a-Lago and that foreshadows arguments his lawyers are expected to make as the probe proceeds. The filing casts the Aug. 8 search, in which the FBI said it recovered 11 sets of classified documents, as a “shockingly aggressive move” and describes Trump and his representatives as having cooperated for months as federal agents scrutinized the presence of presidential records and classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. It also attacks the warrant as overly broad. "Law enforcement is a shield that protects America. It cannot be used as a weapon for political purposes," the lawyers wrote Monday. “Therefore, we seek judicial assistance in the aftermath of an unprecedented and unnecessary raid” at Mar-a-Lago. The filing specifically requests the appointment of a special master not connected the case who would be tasked with inspecting the records recovered from Mar-a-Lago and setting aside those that are covered by executive privilege — a principle that permits presidents to withhold certain communications from public disclosure. In other cases, that role has sometimes been filled by a retired judge. “This matter has captured the attention of the American public. Merely ‘adequate’ safeguards are not acceptable when the matter at hand involves not only the constitutional rights of President Trump, but also the presumption of executive privilege,” the attorneys wrote. Separately Monday, a federal judge acknowledged that redactions to an FBI affidavit spelling out the basis for the search might be so extensive as to make the document “meaningless” if released to the public. But he said he continued to believe it should not remain sealed in its entirety because of the “intense” public interest in the investigation. A written order from U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart largely restates what he said in court last week, when he directed the Justice Department to propose redactions about the information in the affidavit that it wants to remain secret. That submission is due Thursday at noon. Justice Department officials have sought to keep the entire document sealed, saying disclosing any portion of it risks compromising an ongoing criminal investigation, revealing information about witnesses and divulging investigative techniques. They have advised the judge that the necessary redactions to the affidavit would be so numerous that they would strip the document of any substantive information and make it effectively meaningless for the public. Reinhart acknowledged that possibility in his Monday order, writing, “I cannot say at this point that partial redactions will be so extensive that they will result in a meaningless disclosure, but I may ultimately reach that conclusion after hearing further from the Government.” Several news organizations, including The Associated Press, have urged the judge to unseal additional records tied to this month's search of Mar-A-Lago, when FBI officials said they recovered 11 sets of classified documents, including top secret records, from the Florida estate. Of particular interest is the affidavit supporting the search, which presumably contains key details about the Justice Department's investigation examining whether Trump retained and mishandled classified and sensitive government records. Trump and some of his supporters have also called for the document to be released, hoping it will expose what they contend was government overreach. In his written ruling, Reinhart said the Justice Department had a compelling interest in preventing the affidavit from being released in its entirety. But he said he did not believe it should remain fully sealed, and said he was not persuaded by the department's arguments that the redaction process “imposes an undue burden on its resources." “Particularly given the intense public and historical interest in an unprecedented search of a former President’s residence, the Government has not yet shown that these administrative concerns are sufficient to justify sealing,” he wrote. | |
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| 08-22-22 09:08pm - 759 days | #327 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Congress wants to know what the Secret Documents were that the FBI seized at Dongle Trump's home. Why are they hiding the facts from Congress? Why can't Congress and the FBI and the Justice Department work together? Why can't Sleepy Joe Biden light a fire under the Justice Department and tell them to work with Congress and show them the papers that Dongle Trump stole from the Whitest House? Why is Sleepy Joe Biden asleep at his job, when he should be helping move the investigation of Dongle Trump along? ------ ------ Congressional leaders responsible for examining top-secret intel ask Biden for access to Trump Mar-a-Lago docs Raw Story - 10h ago The so-called "Gang of Eight" congressional leaders who have access to some of America's top intelligence secrets are asking the Biden administration to show them what documents former President Donald Trump brought with him to Mar-a-Lago. Politico reports that the bipartisan group of lawmakers -- which includes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), as well as the top Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees -- wants more insight into what documents were seized from Trump's property earlier this month. "Privately, Capitol Hill aides have expressed frustration about the fact that Congress has learned little about the investigation into the former president, especially since it reportedly involves matters of national security," reports Politico. "The executive branch has historically resisted congressional inquiries about ongoing law-enforcement actions, arguing that it could compromise the investigation." A search warrant and inventory from the Mar-a-Lago search revealed that the United States Department of Justice found probable cause to believe that evidence of crime existed at Mar-a-Lago, including potential violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice. IN OTHER NEWS: Colorado GOP lawmaker switches parties — and cites Trump's election lies as a primary reason Additionally, the inventory revealed that FBI agents found multiple sets of classified information at the former president's home, including some information that was granted the designation of top secret. | |
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| 08-22-22 11:06pm - 759 days | #328 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Trump legal team slams 'shockingly aggressive move' Dongle Trump can't believe Sleepy Joe Biden will allow the Feds to move aggressively. "i'm the only one who can be decisive or aggressive. I can call women whores, and get away with it, because I'm protected by Free Speech and the right of politicians to say whatever the hell they want". But Sleepy Joe Biden needs to take a nap. He is not decisive. Or aggressive. "Lock him up!" screams Dongle Trump. "If I did the crime, I'll do the time!" screams Dongle. But I've got AK47s and 357 Magnums and 44 Magnums in my paws before I let you take me!!!!" "Give me liberty or give me death", screams Dongle Trump. | |
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| 08-23-22 07:40am - 758 days | #329 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump claims the FBI violated me. I was almost a virgin when the FBI spread my legs and rammed a legal prod up my ass. Never before has a president been treated so horribly. And they took my Secret Documents, where they were perfectly safe. Donate $5,000 and I will write you a signed Thank You letter, certified authentic by my lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. ---------- ---------- Trump had 300 classified documents at Mar-A-Lago, called boxes 'Mine': Report HuffPost Nick Visser August 22, 2022, 6:32 PM Former President Donald Trump had more than 300 classified documents at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, that have since been recovered by the federal government, The New York Times reported Monday. The figures represent three batches of documents that federal officials have recovered in recent months amid growing concern Trump had absconded with the files after he left the White House. About 150 documents marked classified were handed over to the National Archives in January, a large number that prompted concern from officials there that Trump may have had additional sensitive material in the bowels of the resort. Trump reportedly went through those boxes himself late last year before they were turned over. Officials at the Justice Department later went to the Florida estate in June with a subpoena for any additional classified material. But reviews of security footage and information from interviews with Trump’s aides led them to believe there were even more documents that hadn’t been turned over. The Times added that former White House officials were tasked with trying to return the documents to the federal government, but Trump resisted, calling the boxes “Mine.” The FBI, armed with a search warrant, went to Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8 and recovered about 20 boxes, including 11 sets of classified material. A federal judge unsealed the warrant shortly afterward, which shows Trump was under investigation for possible violations of the Espionage Act. Documents related to the search warrant for former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., are photographed Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. (Jon Elswick/AP) Documents related to the search warrant for former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., are photographed Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. (Jon Elswick/AP) The Times, the first to report on the sensitive material found during the searches, added it’s unclear what type of classified information officials found. But the paper, citing a person briefed on the investigation, said they included material from the CIA, the National Security Agency and the FBI on topics related to national security. It’s unclear if Trump could face any charges related to the documents. The Presidential Records Act requires all official government material be turned over to the National Archives at the end of a presidential term. The archives knew, in part, that it was missing documents that had been widely reported in the media, including Trump’s “love letters” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The Times’ report comes amid a firestorm after FBI agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Trump has castigated those involved in carrying out the search, declaring the FBI’s actions a politicization of the Justice Department that has never happened to a former president. His aides quickly moved to say he had a “standing order” to automatically declassify documents that left the Oval Office for his residence, although there is no evidence so far to back up that claim. The DOJ’s investigation into the documents is ongoing, as are several other government inquiries into Trump’s behavior leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and his efforts to remain in power. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. | |
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| 08-23-22 07:56pm - 758 days | #330 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump screams: "The FBI told me to bend over, and when I complied, they fucking raped me!!!! They seized my precious Secret Documents that I used to read to put me to sleep. When will I be able to forgive them? Never!!!!!" ----- ----- Agency identified 700-plus pages of classified records at Trump's home Reuters Sarah N. Lynch August 23, 2022, 11:11 AM By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. National Archives discovered more than 700 pages of classified documents at Donald Trump's Florida home in addition to material seized this month by FBI agents, according to a newly disclosed May letter that the records agency sent to the Republican former president's attorney. The large quantity of classified material in 15 boxes recovered in January by the National Archives and Records Administration, some marked as "top secret," provides more insight into what led to the FBI's court-authorized Aug. 8 search of Trump's residence at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. The agency is responsible for preserving government records. The May 10 letter was sent by Acting U.S. Archivist Debra Steidel Wall to Trump attorney Evan Corcoran. It was released late on Monday by John Solomon, a conservative journalist who Trump authorized in June to access his presidential records. The National Archives then confirmed its authenticity and posted a copy on its website. "Among the materials in the boxes are over 100 documents with classification markings, comprising more than 700 pages. Some include the highest levels of classification, including Special Access Program (SAP) materials," Wall's letter said, referring to security protocols reserved for some of the country's most closely held secrets. The letter contains additional information about Trump's handling of classified materials and his efforts to delay federal officials from being able to review the documents. The letter shows that Trump's legal team repeatedly tried to stall the Archives from letting the FBI and intelligence officials review the materials, saying that he needed more time to determine if any of the records were covered by a doctrine called executive privilege that enables a president to shield some records. President Joe Biden's administration - specifically the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel - has determined that the materials were not covered by executive privilege. It found that "there is no precedent" for a former president to shield records from a sitting president using executive privilege when the materials in question legally belong to the federal government, according to the letter. Even after Trump returned the 15 boxes to the Archives, the Justice Department still suspected he had more classified material at Mar-a-Lago. The Aug. 8 search was part of a federal investigation into whether Trump illegally removed documents from the White House when he left office in January 2021 after his failed 2020 re-election bid and whether he tried to obstruct the government's investigation into the removal of the records. In a lawsuit Trump filed late on Monday against the Justice Department over the search, he said he was served a grand jury subpoena on May 11 seeking additional classified records. On June 3, the department's head of counterintelligence and three FBI agents visited Mar-a-Lago to inspect a storage room and collect additional records. Trump received a second subpoena later that month seeking surveillance footage from security cameras, which he also provided. During the Aug. 8 search, FBI agents recovered more than 20 additional boxes containing about 11 sets of records marked as classified. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Will Dunham, Scott Malone) | |
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| 08-24-22 03:59am - 758 days | #331 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
GOP is the party of sex perverts and pedophiles. The GOP represents America. The best and worst. If you're a sex pervert or a pedophile, that won't stop you from running as a GOP candidate. And you might even win. Hurray, for America, the land of sexual freedom and persecution. Be like Dongle Trump: stick em where it hurts, then deny like crazy. And reach out to supporters to grab millions of dollars for your slush funds. ---- ---- Gaetz wins GOP primary in Florida after fending off attacks over sex trafficking investigation NBC Universal Marc Caputo August 23, 2022, 7:22 PM MIAMI — Rep. Matt Gaetz defeated his Republican primary opponent Tuesday in one of Florida’s most conservative congressional districts, NBC News projects, as voters declined to hold a federal sex crimes investigation against him. Gaetz, the self-styled firebrand endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who also managed Gov. Ron DeSantis’s transition team in 2019, spent $1.1 million on local TV ads to drive home his MAGA bona fides. Challenger Mark Lombardo spent at least $500,000 calling Gaetz’s character into question in three ads. But ultimately, Trump’s endorsement — and Gaetz’s deep roots and relentless campaigning in the district — carried the day for Gaetz, who was a state representative from the Panhandle area before he won his congressional seat in 2016. Trump is dominant in the district, which he carried by more than 33 percentage points in 2020. In one commercial, Lombardo insinuated, without evidence, that Gaetz was an informant who ultimately gave the FBI evidence to execute a search warrant Aug. 8 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. The ad also mentioned the allegations of sex trafficking of a minor that have been dogging Gaetz since last year and falsely insinuated that Gaetz wasn’t endorsed by Trump. Federal officials are looking into whether Gaetz and an associate used the internet to find women they could pay for sex and whether Gaetz had a sexual relationship with a minor he paid to travel with him, NBC News has reported. Gaetz has not been charged with a crime, and he has denied all accusations. Another Lombardo ad played up reports of a sex-filled Bahamas trip that is part of the federal investigation into Gaetz. The Trump-endorsement attack annoyed Gaetz so much that he hounded a Business Insider reporter on Twitter for publishing it in a story. He later tweeted the text of a new endorsement from Trump, who had verbally issued an endorsement before that. Gaetz couldn’t be reached for comment. A Justice Department spokesperson couldn’t be reached for comment about the sex trafficking case. The agency typically doesn’t indict 90 days before an election. In January, Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend testified before a grand jury investigating him, but there has been no major movement in the case since then. Gaetz's opponent is former state Health Department worker Rebekah Jones, who won the Democratic primary in the 1st Congressional District on Tuesday night, NBC News projects. Jones was temporarily removed from the ballot over questions about her party qualifications, but an appeals court reinstated her the day before the election. Jones, who helped design the state's Covid dashboard, accused DeSantis and his administration of manipulating Covid data in 2020. A report from the state Health Department’s Office of Inspector General released in May said it had found “insufficient evidence” to support her claims and, in another instance, “exonerated” health workers she accused of wrongdoing. Jones also faces a felony charge of accessing and downloading confidential Health Department data after she was fired in May 2020 for what officials said was insubordination. Jones says she was fired for refusing to manipulate data, and her attorney said in May that she still intends to pursue a wrongful termination claim. “It’s simple: She was fired for refusing to manipulate Covid data,” her attorney said then, noting that his client had issued a lengthy rebuttal to the Health Department this year when it released initial findings, which were confidential. | |
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| 08-24-22 07:58am - 757 days | #332 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump is aiming at Sleepy Joe Biden. "When I am president of the Untied States of Trumperland again, I will not falter. I will put Sleepy Joe Biden in jail, where he belongs. And I will have his son executed in front of a firing squad. That's the way to deal with enemies." Dongle knows that Sleepy Joe Biden is cackling with glee as the federal government hounds our hero, Dongle Trump, for fabricated lies and untruths. ------ ------ The New York Times Trump, Without the Presidency's Protections, Struggles for a Strategy Maggie Haberman Wed, August 24, 2022 at 4:43 AM On Tuesday, a Florida judge informed two lawyers representing former President Donald Trump, neither of them licensed in the state, that they had bungled routine paperwork to take part in a suit filed after the FBI’s search this month of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and private club. “A sample motion can be found on the Court’s website,” the judge instructed them in her order. Trump has projected his usual bravado, and raised millions of dollars online from outraged supporters, since federal agents descended on the property more than two weeks ago and carted off box loads of material including highly classified documents. But something is different this time — and the errant court filing offered a glimpse into the confusion and uncertainty the investigation has exposed inside Trump’s camp. The documents investigation represents the greatest legal threat Trump has faced in years, and he is going into the battle shorn of the protective infrastructure and constitutional armor of the presidency. After years of burning through lawyers, he has struggled to hire new ones, and has a small group of lawyers of varying experience. He is facing a Justice Department he no longer controls, run by a by-the-book attorney general, Merrick Garland, who has pursued various investigations into Trump methodically and quietly. Trump is serving as his own communications director and strategic adviser, seeking tactical political and in-the-moment public relations victories, sometimes at the risk of stumbling into substantive legal missteps. One example came late Monday, when a conservative writer allied with Trump made public a letter that the National Archives had sent to Trump’s legal team in May. Spun by Trump and his allies as evidence that President Joe Biden had played a role in the case after saying he was not involved, the letter confirmed information damaging to the former president’s case, including that Trump had retained more than 700 pages of documents with classification markings, including some at the most restricted level. On Tuesday, the judge handling the Trump legal team’s request for the appointment of a special master to review the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago came back with some pointed questions. Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, asked the lawyers to respond by Friday about whether she even had jurisdiction to hear Trump’s request, and what precisely his motion was asking her to do. This came hours after Cannon informed the lawyers about their basic paperwork mistake. A Trump spokesperson later showed stamped filings showing their paperwork had been accepted. But as has become standard operating practice in Trump’s world, the primary focus there is not about legal claims, or even political ones, but the state of mind of the man at the center of the crisis. He feels other people’s actions toward him haven’t gotten enough attention, some of his advisers say privately, regardless of whether the facts actually bear out his grievances. “The Democrats have spent seven years fabricating hoaxes and witch hunts against President Trump, and the recent unprecedented and unnecessary raid is just another example of exactly that,” said Taylor Budowich, a spokesperson for Trump. For years, Trump operated from a playbook taught to him in the 1970s by Roy Cohn, the ruthless former federal prosecutor and aide to Sen. Joseph McCarthy who represented Trump early in Trump’s career. That approach — demonize investigators, intimidate allies to keep them from straying, paint himself as persecuted and depict every criticism as a political witch hunt — was Trump’s go-to strategy to discredit the investigation into his 2016 campaign’s possible ties to Russia, and in his first impeachment trial. Yet at the time, he had the lawyers in the White House Counsel’s Office helping to guide him, and a team of experienced legal hands familiar with Washington. Now, as in the days after he lost the 2020 election, Trump is relying on an ad hoc team of advisers with varying levels of experience and judgment, and trying to use his political support as both a shield and a weapon to be aimed at the people investigating him. But even as he fuels outrage in sympathetic media outlets and tries to turn attention to Biden and the so-called deep state, Trump is to some extent walking on the phantom limbs of his expired presidency, claiming executive privilege still applies to him even though he is out of office and maintaining he had a sweeping, standing order to declassify some documents, which his aides have declined to produce. If the investigation into Trump’s possible connection with Russia was convoluted or hard for Americans to grasp, this one is not. The documents inquiry is about boxes of papers, storerooms, souvenirs and “top secret” stamps — the kind of identifiable items that Trump has weaponized to bludgeon opponents, akin to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private email server or Hunter Biden’s laptop. The documents investigation is also about whether Trump or his associates may have obstructed the inquiry, according to court papers filed with the search warrant. And despite the bravura, Trump has betrayed anxiety in private conversations about where this is all leading, people who have spoken to him say. “He was never subjected to an investigation of this heft and potency prior to his presidency,” said Tim O’Brien, a biographer of Trump and the executive editor of Bloomberg Opinion. O’Brien noted that when Trump was president he learned how to use his powers to protect himself. “Right now he is in the most vulnerable position he has been in, in his life, legally.” Trump’s court filing Monday requesting the special master to review the seized documents was styled as a legal motion, but it sounded more like a news release drafted by Trump himself. It was filled with bombastic complaints that the government had long treated Trump unfairly. The document cited purported examples like “two years of noisy ‘Russian collusion’ investigations.” It also contained Trumpian boasts about the former president being “the clear front-runner” for the 2024 election. Justice Department officials, who have maintained an open channel with Trump’s representatives, have said they operate under the assumption that none of his attorneys can speak with authority for the former president, knowing he is liable to change his mind in a moment, or withhold information from his own representatives. In one respect, Trump and his current roster of lawyers are fundamentally in lock step. They maintain, without any apparent evidence, that the Justice Department and FBI used the document search at Mar-a-Lago to uncover new information for the widening investigation into his actions leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol during certification of the 2020 election. And they maintain, without proof, that Biden has been ordering up all the investigations to destroy his political opponent, according to three people close to Trump. Justice Department officials have repeatedly denied any connection between the Mar-a-Lago search and their other work, and White House officials have told reporters that neither the president nor senior West Wing officials had prior knowledge of the search. The letter in May from the archives to the Trump legal team said that the Justice Department had sent a request to the archives through the Biden White House for access to the initial 15 boxes of government material that Trump had turned over to the archives in January. The letter also said that Biden had deferred to the archivist’s decision, based on consultations with the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, to reject Trump’s assertion that the material in the boxes was protected by executive privilege. Two of Trump’s most ferocious defenders on the matter are not even on his legal team. Kash Patel, a former Trump White House and Pentagon aide, and John Solomon, who runs a conservative news site and is close to the Trump team, are both representatives for Trump with the National Archives. Both argued that Trump had a standing order to declassify documents that went to the president’s residence. Trump’s aides have provided no evidence that this was the case. The result, according to people who have worked for him over the years, is that the only real continuity in the defense is Trump himself, and his demands that his lawyers do what he wants, which is why so many of his legal filings sound as if they were dictated by him. It is possible that Trump is the only one who knows what material he took with him from the White House. His concentric circles of political advisers, several layers deep when he held power, are also shrinking. Trump is thinly staffed as he sits at his private club at Bedminster, New Jersey, or at Trump Tower in New York City for the summer, and sometimes makes decisions without keeping his close advisers in the know. To that point, few of Trump’s advisers appeared to have been aware that Solomon was publicizing the letter that the archives had sent to Evan Corcoran, one of Trump’s lawyers. Many of them acknowledged that they had learned of it when reporters began reaching out after Solomon made it public. | |
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| 08-24-22 07:59am - 757 days | #333 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
CONTINUED: “He’s so impulsive that he does this on his own,” said Alan Marcus, a New Jersey-based consultant who worked for Trump’s company in the 1990s. Marcus described Trump’s approach to much of his life as “ready, fire, aim,” as opposed to something more strategic. “So much of the ‘ready, fire, aim’ comes when he’s sitting alone,” he said. 2022 The New York Times Company | |
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| 08-25-22 08:27am - 756 days | #334 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Lindsey Graham is a traitor to Dongle Trump. Dongle can't depend on Lindsey, who trembles every time a Democrat smells Lindsey's stink. But not to worry: Lindsey will wrap himself in the American flag, and bray that he is protected by the US Constitution. But will that lie hold up against the light of reason? Lindsey asked if Georgia votes could be thrown away. To allow Dongle, the loser, to claim victory in Georgia. Overturning the legal results of an election. But Lindsey claims he was only wondering. Not acting. But the question remains: does a bear shit in the woods? Is the GOP corrupt? Is Lindsey guilty of criminal behavior? Lindsey did the crime. Now make him do the time. Strip him of office, and put the bastard in prison, where he can learn to be a man again. ----- ----- For Lindsey Graham, a Showdown in Georgia Danny Hakim and Richard Fausset Thu, August 25, 2022 at 5:02 AM ATLANTA — Six days after major news organizations declared Donald Trump the loser of the 2020 presidential election, his allies were applying a desperate full-court press in an effort to turn his defeat around, particularly in Georgia. Pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell went on television claiming there was abundant evidence of foreign election meddling that never ultimately materialized. Another lawyer, Lin Wood, filed a lawsuit seeking to block the certification of Georgia’s election results. That same day, Nov. 13, 2020, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of Trump’s most ardent supporters, made a phone call that left Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, immediately alarmed. Graham, he said, had asked if there was a legal way, using the state courts, to toss out all mail-in votes from counties with high rates of questionable signatures. The call would eventually trigger an ethics complaint, demands from the left for Graham’s resignation and a legal drama that is only culminating now, nearly two years later, as the veteran lawmaker fights to avoid testifying before an Atlanta special grand jury that is investigating election interference by Trump and his supporters. Graham has put together a high-powered legal team, which includes Don McGahn, a White House counsel under Trump. While Graham’s lawyers say they have been told that he is only a witness — not a target of the investigation — that could change as new evidence arises in the case, which is being led by Fani Willis, district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia. Her efforts to compel Graham to testify have been aided by legal filings from a number of high-profile, outside attorneys, including William Weld, a Trump critic and former Republican governor of Massachusetts. Underscoring the risks for Graham, lawyers for 11 people who have been designated as targets who could face charges in the case have said they were previously told their clients were only “witnesses, not subjects or targets,” according to court filings. On Sunday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked Graham from testifying and directed a lower court to determine whether he was entitled to a modification of the subpoena based on constitutional protections afforded to members of Congress. After that, the appeals court said, it will take up the issue “for further consideration.” The matter is now back before Leigh Martin May, a U.S. District Court judge who already rejected Graham’s attempt to entirely avoid testifying; she asked the sides to wrap up their latest round of legal filings by next Wednesday. It seems increasingly likely that Graham will testify next month. Willis has said that she is weighing a broad array of criminal charges in her investigation, including racketeering and conspiracy. She has already informed at least 18 people that they are targets, including Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former personal lawyer. Giuliani fought to avoid testifying in person but was forced to appear before the grand jury last week. Regarding Graham, Willis’ office is seeking to learn more about his role in Trump’s post-election strategy, and who he spoke to on the Trump campaign team before or after he called Raffensperger. While Trump assailed Raffensperger on Twitter as a “so-called Republican” on the same day as that call, Graham told CNN that the former president did not encourage him to place the call. Graham has insisted that he did nothing improper, and his lawyers have argued that a sitting senator should not have to answer questions about his conduct in a state court. “We will go as far as we need to go and do whatever needs to be done to make sure that people like me can do their jobs without fear of some county prosecutor coming after you,” Graham said recently. That Graham finds himself sparring with the district attorney because of his involvement with Trump might have seemed unlikely before the 2016 election, when he called Trump “unfit for office” and “a race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot.” But he swiftly became a key ally of Trump and spent the days after the 2020 election railing against its legitimacy. “If Republicans don’t challenge and change the U.S. election system, there will never be another Republican president elected again,” he told Fox News on Nov. 9, 2020. Democrats win, he said, “because they cheat.” (A spokesperson for Graham, Kevin Bishop, noted that the senator ultimately voted to certify the election of Joe Biden.) At the time he made the call to Raffensperger, Graham was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and he has said that he was acting in his official capacity. His legal team did not respond to requests from The New York Times to provide evidence to suggest that the committee was conducting an official inquiry. May has rejected arguments that Graham was acting solely in his Senate capacity, and said that by Graham’s account of the Raffensperger call, he was trying to influence state election rules rather than solely explore federal remedies. Indeed, in a television interview a few days after the call, Graham said he suggested to Raffensperger new state procedures for verifying signatures on mail-in ballots and creating an appeal process. (He also said at the time that he made similar calls to Doug Ducey, the Republican governor of Arizona, another state Trump narrowly lost.) Raffensperger’s account of his conversation with Graham — and his inference that Graham wanted to explore tossing mail-in votes from counties with high rates of questionable signatures — has been backed up by one of the secretary of state’s aides who was also on the call. Even so, Graham made no overt request to discard ballots, according to another Raffensperger aide, Gabriel Sterling. Graham has said that it is “ridiculous” to suggest he was asking for votes to be thrown out. During a hearing in federal court this month, Brian C. Lea, one of Graham’s lawyers, said: “We have one phone call, and that phone call has been described by everybody. Everybody acknowledges that it is about electoral process and about verification of absentee ballots, how you ensure security.” He said the “only dispute” was brought about by Raffensperger’s account that it was implied that legal ballots should be thrown out. “Strip away the implication that Secretary of State Raffensperger claims to have picked up, all you have is a conversation about electoral process.” Legal precedent, he argued, meant that “motive is irrelevant.” But May told Graham’s lawyers that it was critical to understand why the call was made. “You keep saying that it’s improper for the court to look at motive, but how can I classify an act as political or legislative without knowing why the act was done?” Knowing what happened around the call could prove critical to Willis, the Fulton County district attorney. “The judge in her decision, and the DA in her filing, have outlined several different topics beyond the content of the call that could influence the DA’s charging decision,” said Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming, a former district attorney of neighboring DeKalb County. “This includes whether there is sufficient evidence of a connection between anything Sen. Graham did or said and the former president’s allies — or even the former president himself — to establish some of the elements of a possible conspiracy or RICO charge.” Fleming is a co-author on a 114-page Brookings Institution report on the case that found that Trump was “at substantial risk of possible state charges predicated on multiple crimes.” The report called the suggestion that all mail-in ballots from certain counties be disqualified “extreme and bizarre.” Soon after the call, three legal experts, including Walter Shaub, former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, wrote to the chair and vice chair of the Senate ethics committee, decrying Graham’s contact with Raffensperger, which took place as Georgia elections officials were conducting a hand recount. “Any call by a sitting chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to a state election official during an ongoing count of votes is inherently coercive and points to an attempt to influence the outcome,” they wrote. “The allegation that Sen. Graham placed a behind-the-scenes call to a member of his own political party, without having launched a formal investigation, suggests that he hoped to act out of public view.” The two other signatories of the complaint, law professors Claire O. Finkelstein of the University of Pennsylvania and Richard W. Painter of the University of Minnesota said Wednesday that the ethics committee had not been in touch with them or Shaub about the complaint, other than to acknowledge that they had received it. The ethics committee staff did not return calls for comment. Michael J. Moore, a former U.S. attorney in Georgia, said Graham “should be afraid of being wrapped up in any conspiracy indictment.” | |
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| 08-26-22 02:29pm - 755 days | #335 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
President Dongle Trump, probably the most expert witness on national security the world has ever known, has stated that he de-classified all documents he took to his home in Florida from the Whitest House. Sleepy Joe Biden has argued that Dongle is not the best expert on national security. But Dongle served as President of the Untied States of Trumperland, and has the credentials to back his claim of expert in national security. ----- ----- Yahoo News 5 key takeaways from release of affidavit in FBI search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate Dylan Stableford, Caitlin Dickson and Christopher Wilson Fri, August 26, 2022 at 10:50 AM The Justice Department on Friday unsealed a redacted version of the affidavit used to secure the warrant for the FBI to search former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. The release of the 38-page document comes a day after a federal judge ordered the DOJ to unseal the affidavit — which details the probable cause on which the search warrant was based — without revealing the identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents, grand jury information or anything else that would compromise the ongoing investigation into Trump’s handling of classified materials. Multiple news organizations had filed motions asking for its release, citing intense public interest in the case. Here are some of the key takeaways from the unsealed affidavit: FBI found more than 100 classified documents in its initial review. It was reported earlier this year that the National Archives and Records Administration retrieved 15 boxes of documents and other items from Mar-a-Lago in January. According to the affidavit, the FBI reviewed those boxes in mid-May and found that 14 of the 15 contained classified information of some sort. The boxes allegedly included 184 unique documents with classification markings, including 67 marked as confidential, 92 marked as secret and 25 marked as top secret. Trump has denied reports that some of the documents were tied to nuclear weapons. The FBI said some of the documents were marked "HCS," referring to clandestine human sources, or intelligence personnel, and “SI,” which is information derived from monitoring foreign communication channels. The affidavit alleges “several of the documents also contained what appears to be [Trump’s] handwritten notes.” Heavy redactions needed to protect a ‘significant number of civilian witnesses’ In addition to the affidavit, a Justice Department court filing was released explaining the need for heavy redactions. (That memo was itself heavily redacted.) According to U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez, “the materials the government marked for redaction in the attached document must remain sealed to protect the safety and privacy of a significant number of civilian witnesses, in addition to law enforcement personnel.” “If witnesses’ identities are exposed, they could be subjected to harms including retaliation, intimidation, or harassment, and even threats to their physical safety,” read the memo. “As the Court has already noted, ‘these concerns are not hypothetical in this case.’” Gonzalez added that “the government has well-founded concerns that steps may be taken to frustrate or otherwise interfere with this investigation if facts in the affidavit were prematurely disclosed.” The FBI did not consider Mar-a-Lago a secure place to store classified documents, even with the extra lock Trump has repeatedly insisted that the FBI raid was unnecessary because, he claims, he and his legal representatives had previously been cooperating with the Justice Department in its investigation of the documents at Mar-a-Lago. In particular, he has noted that in searching the Palm Beach estate, agents broke a lock that had been added at the DOJ’s request to a storage area that housed some of the documents, after a department official visited the property in June. The affidavit unsealed Friday includes part of a letter a Justice Department official sent to Trump's council after that June visit, requesting that the storage room be secured. The letter, part of which is redacted, explains that because “Mar-a-Lago does not include a secure location authorized for the storage of classified information,” the classified documents that have been held there since Trump left the White House in January 2021 “have not been handled in an appropriate manner or stored in an appropriate location.” “Accordingly,” the letter continues, “we ask that the room at Mar-a-Lago where the documents had been stored be secured and that all of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago (along with any other items in that room) be preserved in that room in their current condition until further notice.” [Read the FBI's affidavit to search Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate] The affidavit goes on to note that Trump’s counsel sent an email the following day acknowledging receipt of the DOJ letter, but that doesn’t seem to have satisfied the department’s concerns about the security of the documents at Mar-a-Lago. Toward the end of the heavily redacted court filing, the FBI seems to conclude that, even with the additional lock, the storage area is still not an appropriate setting for the kinds of documents that had been transported to Mar-a-Lago. It also appears to suggest that all of the boxes that had been relocated from the White House may not have been moved to that reinforced storage space as the DOJ requested. “Based upon this investigation, I believe that the STORAGE ROOM, FPOTUS’s residential suite, Pine Hall, the ’45 Office,’ and other spaces within the PREMISES are not currently authorized locations for the storage of classified information or [National Defense Information],” the affidavit states. “Similarly, based upon this investigation, I do not believe that any spaces within the PREMISES have been authorized for the storage of classified information at least since the end of FPOTUS’s Presidential Administration on January 20, 2021.” There was probable cause to believe evidence of obstruction would be found Local law enforcement officer A local law enforcement officer at Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 9. (Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images) A search warrant and property receipt unsealed days after the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of Trump’s Palm Beach, Fla., home indicated that the former president is under investigation for several potential crimes, including possible violations of the Espionage Act and potential obstruction of justice charges. In the affidavit, prosecutors said there was probable cause to believe that additional classified documents or presidential records “subject to record retention requirements” would be found at Mar-a-Lago, and that there was also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction would be found on the premises. “There is Probable Cause to Believe That Documents Containing Classified NDI and Presidential Records Remain at the Premises,” the affidavit states. Trump complains about redactions — and attacks the judge In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump complained that the affidavit was “heavily redacted!!!” and lamented turning over the documents he did before the FBI search. “WE GAVE THEM MUCH,” Trump wrote before attacking the federal judge who approved the warrant. “Judge Bruce Reinhart should NEVER have allowed the Break-In of my home,” Trump added. “He recused himself two months ago from one of my cases based on his animosity and hatred of your favorite President, me. What changed? Why hasn’t he recused himself on this case? Obama must be very proud of him right now!” The former president and his lawyers never formally requested Reinhart recuse himself from the case, and Trump and his team did not participate in legal arguments over the affidavit’s release. Trump has claimed without evidence that the investigation is a politically motivated “weaponization” of the Justice Department. He’s also suggested that the FBI planted evidence and insisted that he had a “standing order” to declassify documents that were brought to his residence from the Oval Office. President Biden has denied that he had any advance notice of the search. At the White House Friday, Biden was asked whether he believes national security was threatened by documents at Mar-a-Lago. “We’ll let the Justice Department determine that,” Biden responded. | |
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| 08-30-22 05:33am - 751 days | #336 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) claims there will be riots if his master, Dongle Trump, is indicted. Sleepy Joe Biden is considering having Lindsey arrested for treason. Can a US Senator be arrested and tried for treason for inciting people to violence? Enquiring minds want to know: why are so many Republican senators full of shit and treason, and able to get away with it? ------- ------- The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell kicked off Monday with O’Donnell railing against Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who predicted on Fox News over the weekend that there would be riots in the streets if former President Donald Trump were to be indicted. The FBI seized hundreds of highly classified documents the former president took to his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, when he left office. “Well, Lindsey Graham has hit rock bottom,” O’Donnell said. “Rock bottom is the sad term that AA uses for the spot where people who drink too much have to find themselves before they can help themselves or be helped. But there is no cure for what has sunk Lindsey Graham to his own very dangerous rock bottom.” O’Donnell claimed that no sitting senator has ever made such a threat against the country. “No senator in history has ever predicted or threatened riots in the streets if a friend of that senator was prosecuted,” O’Donnell said. “The so-called friend in this case is Donald Trump, who is an actual friend to no one, as Lindsey Graham so tragically knows.” O’Donnell also recalled Graham’s previous condemnation of the man he now goes to great lengths to defend. In 2016, Graham said that if Trump were to be the GOP nominee, they would be destroyed in the election, and that they would deserve it. Graham also went so far to say that he wouldn’t vote for Trump. “To understand how low Lindsey Graham’s rock bottom is tonight, remember where Lindsey Graham stood when he was running against Donald Trump for president in 2016,” O’Donnell said before showing a clip of Graham on CNN saying of Trump, “He’s a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot. He doesn’t represent my party.” O’Donnell also pushed back against Graham’s assertion that Trump supporters would be willing to take to the streets to commit political violence, pointing out that very few, relative to the number of people who voted for Trump, showed up to the Capitol on January 6 in an attempted insurrection. Less than 1,000 people have been arrested for their activities on that day, out of the more than 74 million who voted for the former president. “Lindsey Graham is also lying about Trump supporters, and he is insulting them,” O’Donnell said. “If Donald Trump is indicted, 74 million Trump supporters will do exactly what they did when Donald Trump lost the election: nothing.” The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell airs weeknights at 10 p.m. on MSNBC. | |
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| 08-30-22 05:41am - 751 days | #337 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Ederly woman dead after drinking diswashing liquid instead of juice. However, the caretakers have a strong defense: they claim they were only following the guidelines of medical expert Dongle Trump, who advised drinking bleach to cleanse the body. Will the prosecutor and a jury believe in Dongle Trump's unorthodox treatment regimen, or decide the staff responsible can be held accountable? ----- ----- California assisted living resident dead after ingesting toxic chemicals NBC Universal Phil Helsel August 29, 2022, 9:52 PM Atria Park of San Mateo. (Google Maps) Atria Park of San Mateo. (Google Maps) A 93-year-old resident of a California care facility is dead and two others were sickened after “ingesting toxic chemicals,” San Mateo police said Monday. Police were dispatched on a report of a woman poisoned at Atria Hillsdale around 8:10 p.m. Sunday, the department said. “Three home care residents were hospitalized after ingesting toxic chemicals,” and one of those people, 93, died, police said in a statement. Atria Park of San Mateo told NBC Bay Area that the residents had been given dishwashing liquid instead of juice and that it was fully cooperating with investigators. 'Employees involved have been suspended' "Our sincerest condolences are with the family. When this occurred, our staff immediately contacted authorities, and the residents were transported to the hospital for evaluation and treatment. We are conducting our own internal investigation, and the employees involved have been suspended until this investigation concludes," Atria Park San Mateo said in the statement to NBC Bay Area. Alison Gilmore, the public information officer for the police department, said that the investigation continues and that the department will release more information as it is available. "We are unable to specify what exactly occurred at this time," she said. "However we are investigating every avenue just to ensure that if there is any culpable party, the individual will be brought to justice." Atria Park said that it was also conducting an investigation, and the employees involved have been suspended until that concludes. Atria did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News on Monday night. The California Department of Social Services is also investigating, police said. | |
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| 08-31-22 02:03am - 751 days | #338 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump is finally revealing the truth: Sleepy Joe Biden is a greater enemy than Russia. Dongle Trump, the true messiah, has the power of God on his side. Dongle will lead the revolt against the armies of Hell, with his good buddy Vlad Putin at his side. And Dongle will personally put Sleepy Joe Biden 6 feet under, while saving America from the Unholy Democrats. Praise be to God, and to God's holy son, Dongle Trump. ----- ----- With legal peril rising, Trump turns to QAnon and 4chan memes for support Yahoo News David Knowles August 30, 2022, 11:48 AM With the Justice Department investigation of his handling of classified documents pressing forward, former President Donald Trump spent Tuesday morning posting dozens of messages to Truth Social, his financially troubled social media platform, and sharing content from QAnon-linked conspiracy theory accounts and 4chan message boards. Trump posted or reposted more than 60 messages early Tuesday, hours after he demanded on Truth Social that he be declared “the rightful winner” of the 2020 election, amplifying several memes that portrayed him as a political messiah, attacking President Biden and moderate Republicans and portraying Democrats as greater enemies of the state than Russia. Among the conspiracy theories Trump reposted Tuesday was one that suggested that it was the FBI and members of antifa who had stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, rather than his own supporters, anti-vaccine messaging and assertions that U.S. intelligence agencies do not have the legal authority to conduct an ongoing review of the classified documents Trump stored at his Mar-a-Lago resort in apparent violation of the Presidential Records Act. Many of the posts Trump has shared have contained QAnon messages and iconography. The conspiracy memes Trump has promoted are the stock and trade of QAnon and 4chan message boards, a toxic blend of misinformation and calls for violent insurrection against the so-called deep state that Trump and his followers see as the entrenched enemy of democracy in the U.S. In 2020, Facebook and Twitter banned QAnon accounts on their platforms, citing threats of violence. But those bans have not been easy to enforce. On Monday, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, said it had banned around 480 accounts linked to the extremist group the Proud Boys more than four years after Facebook had attempted to rid its platform of such accounts. Trump launched Truth Social after being suspended from Facebook for two days prior to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, and banned from Twitter on Jan. 8, 2021, following prior suspensions due to terms of service violations. But the platform, which has billed itself as a “free speech haven,” has faced multiple problems since debuting in February. On Tuesday, Google announced that it would continue to ban Truth Social from appearing in its app store due to its lax content moderation standards that failed to police threats of violence by users. “On Aug. 19, we notified Truth Social of several violations of standard policies in their current app submission and reiterated that having effective systems for moderating user-generated content is a condition of our terms of service for any app to go live on Google Play,” Google said in a statement. After peaking in March, Truth Social’s stock price has fallen nearly 75%, the Washington Post reported, in part due to Trump's legal jeopardy stemming from his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House. The conservative internet-hosting company RightForge, meanwhile, is also reportedly claiming that Trump’s social media outlet owes them more than $1 million in unpaid bills, Fox Business reported last week. And in a further blow, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused an application by the former president’s company last week because the name Truth Social was too similar to those already in use by other businesses. While the former president and his supporters have often blamed Trump’s precipitous social media decline in followers — from more than 88 million on Twitter prior to his permanent suspension to just 4 million on Truth Social — on a premeditated effort to silence him and curtail free speech, his critics argue that his social media presence helped incite the Jan. 6 riot and remains a threat to public safety. On Aug. 12, Ricky Shiffer, an armed man clad in body armor who regularly posted to Truth Social, attempted to breach an FBI field office in Cincinnati before being killed in a shootout with agents. In one of his conspiracy-laden posts Tuesday morning, however, Trump included a message that both sides in that debate might agree upon: “Nobody said that to ‘MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN’ was going to be easy!” | |
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| 08-31-22 07:26am - 750 days | #339 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump reveals new truths: Sleepy Joe Biden, a Russian agent, has weaponized the US government to persecute Dongle Trump. This is not only immoral, but unethical and dangerous. Dongle Trump is the anointed Son of God. Sleepy Joe Biden is Satan's love child who loves to torment Dongle Trump. Dongle is trying to make America great again. But Sleepy Joe Biden is standing in the way. When will Dongle be able to take down Sleepy Joe, and put that *&^^^### bastard in jail? Followers of Dongle are chanting, "Lock him up", to the tune of America the Beautiful. ------- ------- Justice Department says Trump's request for special master would impede investigation USA TODAY Kevin Johnson August 31, 2022, 6:45 AM Justice Department officials told a federal judge late Tuesday that the appointment of a special master to oversee a review of documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate earlier this month would impede the government's investigation which has already uncovered evidence of obstruction in the handling of classified records. In a biting response to Trump’s request for an independent screener, prosecutors also refuted claims that the former president had cooperated with authorities in the months leading to the unprecedented Aug. 8 search. Justice officials asserted that efforts were made to conceal records eventually recovered by investigators and that Trump's lawyers prohibited agents from viewing the contents of boxes inside a storage room in June "to confirm that no documents with classification markings remained." Two months later, FBI agents descended on the property where they discovered 11 sets of classified documents among the more than 30 boxes removed from the property, according to the new government filing. Christina Bobb: How Trump lawyer Christina Bobb, an ex-OAN host, took spotlight in Mar-a-Lago case "The legal issues presented, and the relief requested in the filings, are narrow, notwithstanding the wide-ranging meritless accusations leveled against the government in the motion," Justice officials argued, referring to the Trump request. "Not only does Plaintiff lack standing to raise these claims at this juncture, but even if his claims were properly raised, Plaintiff would not be entitled to the relief he seeks." Included in the Justice filing was a photograph, showing how investigators found top secret records, some of them designated at the highest classifications in government, strewn about a carpeted room, next to a box of magazines. While Trump’s lawyers have claimed that they had been engaged in “months of cooperation" prior to the FBI’s August search, Justice officials Tuesday offered a detailed and potentially damning counterpoint. After serving a May subpoena at Trump’s property, Justice officials said Trump’s lawyers had certified in June that they had turned over the last of all documents sought by the government. Among them: 38 documents bearing classification markings, including five marked as confidential; 16 documents marked as secret; and 17 documents marked as top secret. "Counsel for the former President offered no explanation as to why boxes of government records… remained at the premises nearly five months after the production of (15 boxes of documents) and nearly one-and-a-half years after the end of the Administration," according to the court filing, which referred to an initial tranche of materials transferred from Mar-a-Lago to the National Archives in January. HERE'S WHAT WAS TAKEN OUT: Redacted affidavit justifying Trump Mar-a-Lago search released. In short order, Justice officials argued they soon found evidence that even more documents remained at the property and, equally troubling, that efforts had been made to possibly "obstruct" the federal inquiry. “The government also developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed from the (Mar-a-Lago) Storage Room and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation,” the Justice filing stated. During the Aug. 8 search, Justice officials said they recovered more than 100 documents with classified markings, more than twice the number turned over in June in response to the government subpoena. "The search cast serious doubt on the claim... that there had been 'a diligent search' for records responsive to the grand jury subpoena," Justice officials argued. "In the storage room alone, FBI agents found 76 documents bearing classification markings. "That the FBI, in a matter of hours, recovered twice as many documents with classification markings as the 'diligent search' that the former President’s counsel and other representatives had weeks to perform calls into serious question the representations made" in June when Trump's attorneys certified that all of the records had been turned over to investigators. The Justice filing comes a day after prosecutors notified a federal judge that a "limited set of materials" which may be protected by attorney-client privilege were identified among the documents seized in this month's search of former President DonaldTrump's Florida estate. TRUMP RECORDS INVESTIGATION: From early red flags to the search at Mar-a-Lago Justice officials said they had completed the review of information recovered in the search and are addressing any privilege "disputes." While Trump's lawyers have called for the appointment of a special master or third party to screen the documents for any privileged information, federal authorities said a so-called "privilege review team" already had been assigned to do the same thing. As a result, prosecutors said Tuesday that an appointment of a master at this time was "unnecessary." Trump's lawyers had called for a halt to the document review until a special master was appointed, but U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon did not grant that request. Cannon, who last week signaled her intent to appoint a document master, has set a hearing on the matter for 1 p.m. Thursday. The legal dispute is playing out as a separate federal court in Florida authorized the release of the heavily redacted affidavit used to support the unprecedented search, indicating that possible "evidence of obstruction" could be found at Trump's property. Federal investigators also revealed in the affidavit that an initial tranche of 15 boxes of documents transferred from Mar-a-Lago to the National Archives and Records Administration in January included 184 classified documents, including some marked as "HSC" relating to clandestine human sources. SCRIBBLED NOTES, GOLF CARTS: Here's how the millions of White House documents and artifacts should be archived The disclosure has prompted a separate assessment of whether the unsecured documents pose any new threat to national security. Justice acknowledged this week that U.S. intelligence officials are in the process of conducting the risk assessment. Trump lawyers, in their initial call for a special master, cast the search in stark political terms and described the government's search warrant as overly broad because it authorized FBI agents to seize "boxes of documents merely because they are physically found together with other items purportedly within the scope of the warrant." The former president's attorneys also accused Attorney General Merrick Garland of using the criminal justice system to alter the political landscape. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump request for special master would impede document probe, DOJ says | |
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| 08-31-22 11:42am - 750 days | #340 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump supporter says he did nothing wrong. "I was following the orders of the President of the Untied States. Therefore, if he had ordered me to start shooting members of Congress, that would have been my duty and honor. I'm only saddened that I didn't get to kill a few of those Commie-loving Democrats from Hell." ------ ------ Trump supporter L. Lin Wood says will testify before Georgia grand jury -NYT Tue, August 30, 2022 at 5:35 PM (Reuters) - Conservative attorney L. Lin Wood said on Tuesday that he would testify before a grand jury investigating former U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the New York Times reported. Wood, who has previously said that he had been subpoenaed by the grand jury, told the New York Times that he had been asked to take the witness stand by Fulton County District Attorney's office. "I didn't do anything wrong," Wood told the Times. "I've got nothing to hide, so I'll go down and talk to them." Wood joins a growing number of Republicans who have been asked to appear before the grand jury to answer questions about Trump's attempts to reverse his loss in Georgia, a battleground state that helped propel Democrat Joe Biden to the presidency. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Christopher Cushing) | |
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| 09-01-22 06:22am - 749 days | #341 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump screams: "The FBI is corrupt. That's why I tried to clean the scum from the Justice Department: I fired or forced out Andrew McCabe, FBI deputy director, Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, FBI Director James Comey, and too many other incompetent people to name specifically. And now the federal government is coming after me, after all I've done to help our great nation. There will be blood in the streets when people rise up to protect me, the Chosen Son of God. Allah be praised!!!!" ----- ----- Trump's seized passports could be a problem for him, legal experts say NBC Universal Dareh Gregorian and Tom Winter September 1, 2022, 4:00 AM Donald Trump has complained that FBI agents' seizure of his passports showed that investigators ran amok as they searched his Florida resort, but new information about how and where the documents were found could spell major trouble for the former president, legal experts told NBC News. In a footnote in Tuesday's court filing pushing back against Trump's demand for a special master to sort through the evidence that was seized at his Mar-a-Lago property, Justice Department officials countered his contention that it was an overreach to take three passports that were later returned. Consistent with the terms of the search warrant, the Justice Department said in the filing that "the government seized the contents of a desk drawer that contained classified documents and governmental records commingled with other documents." "The other documents included two official passports, one of which was expired, and one personal passport, which was expired," it said. "The location of the passports is relevant evidence in an investigation of unauthorized retention and mishandling of national defense information." NBC News legal analyst Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney, said the reason the passports are "relevant evidence" is clear — they point directly to Trump. “In most searches you look for identity documents to tie a suspect to the evidence you’re looking for — photographs, IDs, utility bills. If you find the contraband in the same room as the identity documents, there’s a fair inference that person had dominion and control over the documents,” said McQuade, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School. According to the Justice Department, the drawer with the classified documents and the passports was in Trump's "45 office" in Mar-a-Lago. "Finding the passports side by side with the classified documents suggests he himself was the one who handled" them, McQuade said. It also makes it difficult for Trump to argue that movers or aides mishandled the documents or that he was unaware of their presence, McQuade said, arguing, "That's pretty damning evidence." NBC News legal analyst Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor, agreed. "The two things we always take when we're executing search warrants is evidence of crime and evidence of ownership or possessory information," Kirschner said. "If there are utility bills at the scene, you seize the bills, not because they're evidence of a crime but because they're evidence of possession and ownership." Trump complained a week after the Aug. 8 search that FBI agents “stole my three passports” — just after a Justice Department official emailed Trump’s lawyers to say the Justice Department had the passports and was returning them. In his filing calling for a special master, Trump’s attorneys argued that in returning the passports, investigators acknowledged they "were not validly seized." His legal team responded to the Justice Department's filing Wednesday night, with arguments over the special master request set for Thursday. Trump lawyer Christina Bobb told Fox News last month that the agents' seizure of the passports “goes to show the level of audacity that they have.” “I think it goes to show how aggressive they were, how overreaching they were, that they were willing to go past the four corners of the warrant and take whatever they felt was appropriate or they felt that they could take,” Bobb said. The government's filing Tuesday noted that the search warrant expressly allowed agents to take items that were mixed in with "documents with classification markings," and McQuade and Kirschner agreed that there was most likely no reason for the government to hang on to the passports, which they said would have been photographed and copied before they were returned to Trump's lawyers. "You just need to be able to document that the passport was found next to the contraband," Kirschner said. McQuade said investigators returned the passports "because they got what they needed out of them." | |
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| 09-01-22 06:31am - 749 days | #342 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump says "We're trying to make America Free and White again. That's why Black men are getting killed." -------- -------- Ohio police release video of officer fatally shooting Black man in bed Reuters September 1, 2022, 2:08 AM (Reuters) - The police department in Columbus, Ohio, released body-worn camera videos on Wednesday showing an officer fatally shooting a Black man in his bed during an attempt to serve an arrest warrant. Donovan Lewis, 20, was unarmed when he was shot in the early hours of Tuesday by Ricky Anderson, a 30-year veteran of the Columbus Division of Police, the Columbus Dispatch reported, citing a news conference by city police. Less than a second passed between Anderson pushing open the bedroom door as a police dog barked before the officer fired a single shot into Lewis' abdomen, Police Chief Elaine Bryant told reporters. It appeared that Lewis had a vaping device in his hand, and no weapons were found in the apartment, Bryant said. Police had a warrant to arrest Lewis on charges of domestic violence, assault and the improper handling of a firearm, Bryant told reporters. The Ohio Bureau of Investigation is investigating the killing, the latest in a long string of unarmed Black Americans being killed by police in the United States. Bryant said officers knocked on the apartment door for nearly ten minutes and identified themselves as Columbus police before anyone answered. The videos from police body-worn cameras show two men, neither of them Lewis, opening the door and being handcuffed. Officers ask the two men who else is inside the apartment. "He's gonna get bit by a dog," one officer tells them before the canine unit enters the apartment with drawn handguns. The dog barks to indicate someone in the bedroom behind the closed door. Officers yell out, saying the dog is coming in. Anderson then leashes the dog and throws open the door, the video shows. Lewis can be seen in the beam of an officer's flashlight propping himself upward on his left hand on his mattress as Anderson shoots. Lewis falls to the bed. An officer repeatedly tells Lewis to "crawl" out of the room. Lewis writhes and moans on his bed as officers come in to cuff his hands behind his back and tell him to stop resisting. Officers then carry the bleeding Lewis down the stairs of the apartment building and perform medical aid on him while waiting for a medic. Lewis was pronounced dead at 3:19 a.m. at a nearby hospital, the Dispatch reported. "These incidents leave behind grieving family members, unanswered questions from the community and a further divide between the citizens and the police department," the Columbus chapter of the civil rights group the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said in a statement. | |
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| 09-01-22 09:21am - 749 days | #343 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump praises Vlad Putin for cleaning house. Dongle wishes he had the power to clean house like Putin. For example, a Russian oil executive who criticized Russia's invasion of Ukraine died after falling out of a hospital window. Did the dead Russian die of shame? Because he did not agree with Putin? ----- ----- Russian oil executive dies after falling from Moscow window: Reports Yahoo News Alexander Nazaryan September 1, 2022, 6:32 AM WASHINGTON — A prominent Russian oil executive died Thursday morning after reportedly falling out of a hospital window in Moscow, stoking suspicions of foul play, given how frequently vocal critics of the Kremlin have been shot, poisoned or defenestrated. Ravil Maganov, 67, was chairman of the board at Lukoil, the Russian energy giant. His death was reported by Russian news agency Interfax and confirmed by Western outlets. In March, Lukoil criticized the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine launched at President Vladimir Putin’s insistence in late February. “We fully support its resolution through negotiations, by diplomatic means,” that statement said. It was a remarkable show of dissent in a nation where, even in peacetime, corporations and their leaders are expected to never contradict the Kremlin. The company’s chairman, Vagit Alekperov, resigned the following month. Maganov became chairman of Lukoil’s board in 2020, after three decades of ascending through its ranks. His death took place at Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow, where the country’s power elite routinely receive treatment. Putin visited the hospital on the day of Maganov’s death to pay his respects to the late Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died earlier this week. People who knew Maganov said it was “highly unlikely he had committed suicide,” according to a Reuters report. “Observers of such matters know that faulty windows are extremely common in the vicinity of Putin critics,” Nazir Afzal, a leading top British prosecutor, noted acidly on Twitter. In April, oligarch Sergey Protosenya died in Spain under what some say are suspicious circumstances, as did banker Vladislav Avayev. The following month, former Lukoil executive Alexander Subbotin died after reportedly trying to treat his hangover with toad venom. Last month, Putin critic Dan Rapoport died in Washington, D.C., in what law enforcement authorities said was a suicide. Some, however, are skeptical of that explanation. “I think the circumstances of his death are extremely suspicious,” Putin nemesis Bill Browder told Politico. “Whenever someone who is in a negative view of the Putin regime dies suspiciously, one should rule out foul play, not rule it in.” | |
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| 09-01-22 10:43am - 749 days | #344 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump is using novel ways to reduce the Black population. He has helped to destroy drinking water in Jackson, Mississippi. Jackson, Mississippi is mainly Black. So it's fine with Dongle if the residents there suffer from dangerous drinking water. "Make America Great Again", Dongle screams loudly. "I want the Whitest Folk to be Proud and Free". -------- -------- The city of Jackson was already struggling with a deteriorating water system long before the latest rains cut off access to safe drinking water for more than 150,000 people in Mississippi's capital. For years, residents of the majority-Black city have endured everything from service disruptions and recurring boil-water advisories to concerns over contaminants like lead and E. coli bacteria, thanks to failures to upgrade Jackson's aging infrastructure. With the city now under a state of emergency, officials are scrambling to distribute bottled water to tens of thousands of people in a city where roughly 1 in 4 people live in poverty. Amid the fledgling response, officials have sent mixed signals about how long it may take to restore service. City officials have said it could be "days," but Gov. Tate Reeves has said it is unclear exactly how long it will take. Hinds County Emergency Management Operations Deputy Director Tracy Funches (right) and Operations Coordinator Luke Chennault wade through floodwaters in Jackson, Miss., on Monday. Rogelio V. Solis/AP National Jackson, Miss., is in a water emergency and residents don't have clean drinking water The current crisis began last week, when days of torrential rain caused the Pearl River, which runs through Jackson, to swell and then crest around 35 feet high, according to the National Weather Service. In an emergency order issued Monday, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said the flooding "created problems with treating water" at the city's primary water-treatment facility, the O.B. Curtis Water Plant. Yet even before last week's rains, concerns over Jackson's water system were well-documented, and the city was already under a state-issued boil water notice in the month leading up to the flooding. "It was a near certainty that Jackson would begin to fail to produce running water sometime in the next several weeks or months if something didn't materially improve," Reeves told reporters this week. "Until it is fixed, it means we do not have reliable running water at scale," Reeves said. "It means the city cannot produce enough water to fight fires, to reliably flush toilets, and to meet other critical needs." A similar crisis played out last year Recent flooding in Jackson, Miss., has caused mass disruptions at the city's O.B. Curtis Water Plant. More than 150,000 people were without clean drinking water on Tuesday. Mark Felix/AFP /AFP via Getty Images Across Jackson, the situation is an unwelcome replay of the winter of 2021, when bruising storms blanketed the state in ice and nearly decimated the city's water system. Pipes and water mains burst throughout the city, leaving tens of thousands without water — some for as long as three weeks. The crisis came at a moment when the city was continuing to confront widespread worries about the safety of its drinking water. In 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency issued an emergency order warning that the water system in Jackson posed "an imminent and substantial endangerment" to residents and could contain dangerous contaminants such as E. coli. Four years earlier, state health officials alerted the city about elevated levels of lead in its drinking water. At the root of the challenges in Jackson are decades of underinvestment in a sprawling water system made up of roughly 1,500 miles of water mains, some of which are over 100 years old. In 2013, the city sought to overhaul the system through a $90 million contract with Siemens to upgrade sewer lines, water-treatment plants and to install a new water-sewer billing system for residents. But the deal brought myriad new issues for the city, including the installation of faulty water meters that measured water use in gallons instead of cubic feet. In the years following the installation, some residents received exorbitant bills for months of water use at a time, while others weren't billed at all. At one point, city officials advised residents to simply pay what they thought they owed, but unpaid bills would eventually strain Jackson's ability to address the system. The city ultimately sued Siemens and several local subcontractors for $450 billion in damages, reaching an $89.8 million settlement in 2020. Fixing the system could cost billions The city has also been unable to fully chip away at its service backlog, in part because a shrinking population has left it with a tax base that is roughly 20% smaller today than it was in 1980. At the same time, it has struggled to secure state infrastructure funding. Last year, at least two bills aimed at helping raise money for water-system repairs died in the legislature. And in June 2020, Reeves, a Republican, vetoed bipartisan legislation designed to help residents with overdue water bills which, in turn, would have enabled the city to collect sorely needed water revenue. In vetoing the bill, the governor acknowledged that residents "got overcharged in the past," but said the legislation would allow "politicians to say that individuals are not responsible for paying their water bill." Reeves also said there were "no safeguards in place" to ensure aid would go only to "the impoverished or needy." Mayor Lumumba has estimated that modernizing the city's infrastructure could cost as much as $2 billion. Mississippi received $75 million from the federal infrastructure bill signed by President Biden last year for water and sewage needs, but that money is for the entire state, not Jackson alone. | |
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| 09-01-22 11:23pm - 749 days | #345 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
If a Republican loses an election, they cry scam or fake results or say the election was rigged. But if Dongle Trump is running, then hold your horses: he wins all elections, even the ones that are stolen away from him. That's why the GOP is the party of the whiners and losers: they scream foul a lot. ----- ----- After Sarah Palin's election loss, Sen. Tom Cotton calls ranked-choice voting 'a scam' Tom Brenner Rebecca Shabad Thu, September 1, 2022 at 7:24 AM WASHINGTON — After Democrat Mary Peltola defeated Sarah Palin in Alaska's special election Wednesday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., discredited the voting system Alaskans chose to implement in their state. Cotton tweeted that Alaska's new ranked-choice voting system "is a scam to rig elections," casting doubt on the outcome of the process to fill the seat of late GOP Rep. Don Young. "60% of Alaska voters voted for a Republican, but thanks to a convoluted process and ballot exhaustion — which disenfranchises voters — a Democrat 'won,'" Cotton said in a separate tweet. This is the first time Alaskans used the ranked-choice system after voting to adopt it in 2020. Voters pick their member of Congress by ranking the candidates, and a write-in candidate if they choose to do so, in order of preference. If a candidate wins a majority of votes on the first round, that person wins the race. But if no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the person with the lowest number of votes is eliminated, and the second-choice votes of that candidate's supporters will go to the remaining candidates. The rounds continue until two candidates are left, and the person with the most votes wins. As of Thursday morning, with 93% of votes counted in the ranked-choice results, Peltola defeated Palin 51.5% to 48.5%. Related video: How ranked choice voting could affect Alaska's senate race this fall Palin also criticized the system after losing, saying in a statement that it was a "mistake" that was originally "sold as the way to make elections better reflect the will of the people." But now, she said, Alaska and the rest of America see "the exact opposite is true." "The people of Alaska do not want the destructive democrat agenda to rule our land and our lives, but that’s what resulted from someone’s experiment with this new crazy, convoluted, confusing ranked-choice voting system," she said. "It’s effectively disenfranchised 60% of Alaska voters." In response to Cotton, retiring Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., tweeted, "Ranked choice voting gives all Americans a voice and not the extremes of a party. So youd be outta luck. No wonder you don’t like it." Former Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, who left the Republican Party to become a Libertarian in 2020 before retiring from Congress, tweeted, "The problem for the Republican Party in Alaska wasn’t ranked-choice voting; it was their candidates. Requiring a candidate to get more than 50% to be elected isn’t a scam; it’s sensible. Let’s get ranked-choice voting everywhere." Michael Steele, who served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2009 to 2011, tweeted, "Wrong. Again, Tom. Would love to see your tweet if Palin had won. And exactly how does #RCV “rig elections”, again? Typical BS claptrap and no facts. Defeat. It’s a real thing, Tom." According to the Alaska Division of Elections, the system benefits voters. "By ranking multiple candidates, you can still have a voice in who gets elected even if your top choice does not win," its website says. "Ranking multiple candidates ensures your vote will go toward your second, third, fourth, or fifth choice if your top choice is eliminated, giving you more voice in who wins." Palin, the GOP's vice presidential nominee in 2008, will have another chance at a political comeback. She will run against Peltola and Republican Nick Begich again in November, which will determine who will serve a full two-year term in the House. For her part, Peltola served in the state Legislature for 10 years and will be the first Alaska Native in Congress. Until her election, she had been working as the executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. CORRECTION (Sept. 1, 2022, 2:59 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated who is on the ballot in Alaska’s general election. Republican Tara Sweeney suspended her campaign last week after advancing to the election in last month’s primary. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com | |
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| 09-01-22 11:44pm - 749 days | #346 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Some people think Dongle Trump might be indicted over classified documents. But Sleepy Joe Biden has looked into Dongle Trump's heart, and Biden said he was awed by the warmth and love in Dongle's heart. So, according to Sleepy Joe, the federal government will not pursue any charges against Dongle, the Man Responsible for Making America Great Again. Hail, Dongle Trump, the annointed Son of God. Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., made headlines when he predicted what would happen if Trump were to be indicted. "There will riots in the streets", Graham said. And Graham vowed that he would lead the rioters in storming the Whitest House to take down Sleepy Joe Biden. ----- ----- Will Trump be indicted over classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago? Yahoo News David Knowles September 1, 2022, 1:11 PM The Justice Department's recent response to a request by Donald Trump’s legal team for the appointment of a “special master” to review classified documents discovered during a search of the former president’s Florida resort and residence set off a flurry of speculation about whether an indictment would be forthcoming. Since America's founding, no U.S. president has faced a criminal indictment, but the details revealed in Tuesday's DOJ court filing — including a photo of top-secret documents arrayed on the floor of Trump's office — showed he continued to possess such documents at Mar-a-Lago despite months of negotiations with the National Archives and a signed assurance from his lawyers that all the sensitive documents had been returned. While Trump and his lawyers initially stated that he had declassified all the documents he brought with him from the White House, their court response to the DOJ’s filing gave no mention of that claim. Based on the filing, some conservative observers said an indictment appeared likely. “Even a cursory review of the redacted version of the affidavit submitted in support of the government’s application for a search warrant at the home of former President reveals that he will soon be indicted by a federal grand jury for three crimes: Removing and concealing national defense information (NDI), giving NDI to those not legally entitled to possess it, and obstruction of justice by failing to return NDI to those who are legally entitled to retrieve it,” Andrew Napolitano, Fox News legal analyst and former Superior Court judge, wrote in an opinion piece for the Washington Times. Writing at National Review, conservative author Andrew McCarthy agreed that the filing made clear that a Trump indictment is a strong possibility. “Former president Donald Trump is facing the very serious prospect of being indicted for obstruction of justice and causing false statements to be made to the government,” McCarthy wrote. “That is the upshot of a court submission filed by the Justice Department on Tuesday night, in response to the Trump camp’s belated motion for the appointment of a special master to review materials seized three weeks ago from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate.” On Sunday, days before the DOJ laid out its case against appointing a special master, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., made headlines when he predicted what would happen if Trump were to be indicted. “If they try to prosecute President Trump for mishandling classified information after Hillary Clinton set up a server in her basement, there literally will be riots in the street. I worry about our country,” he said. Former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz picked up on what Trump and his supporters see as a potential double standard regarding former Secretary of State Clinton’s handling of classified material, and, prior to the DOJ filing on Tuesday, confidently predicted that Trump would not face indictment over the documents. “There is enough evidence here to indict Trump, but Trump will not be indicted, in my view, because the evidence doesn’t pass what I call the Nixon-Clinton standards. The Nixon standard is, a case has to be so overwhelmingly strong that even Republicans support it, and the [Hillary] Clinton standard is, why is this case more serious than Clinton’s case where there wasn’t the criminal prosecution?” Dershowitz said Friday on Fox News. “So I think the three points are: There was probable cause, they shouldn’t have sought a warrant, there is enough for an indictment but there will not be an indictment and should not be an indictment based on what we've seen to now. Maybe once we see it unredacted, we’ll have to change our minds.” Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Attorney General Merrick Garland’s decision on whether to indict Trump will likely wait until after the midterm elections due to a department policy that prohibits prosecutors from “taking investigative steps or filing charges for the purpose of affecting an election or helping a candidate or party, traditionally 60 days before an election,” Bloomberg journalist Chris Strohm wrote. Donald Trump Trump at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. (Jonathan Jones/USA Today Sports) Of course, that policy did not prevent former FBI Director James Comey from reopening an investigation into Clinton’s use of a private computer server only days prior to the 2016 election. Given the historical significance of a possible criminal indictment of the former president, the Justice Department will not make its decision lightly, most legal analysts agree. That’s especially true given that the DOJ will seek to keep the highly classified material at the heart of the case from public view. As Politico's senior legal affairs reporter Josh Gerstein put it, charging Trump would result in likely “the highest-profile criminal case in American history,” and one in which a not-guilty verdict would have long-lasting implications for the DOJ while a conviction might result in the unrest Graham predicted. A Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday found that 50% of Americans believe Trump should face criminal charges over his handling of the classified documents, while 41% do not. While Trump and his supporters see a plot by the Biden administration to damage his political prospects in 2024, others say his public statements are not helping his case. On Wednesday, for instance, Trump posted a message to Truth Social, his struggling social media platform, that appeared to confirm that he knew he had been in possession of the classified documents in question. "There seems to be confusion as to the ‘picture’ where documents were sloppily thrown on the floor and then released photographically for the world to see, as if that’s what the FBI found when they broke into my home,” Trump wrote. “Wrong! They took them out of cartons and spread them around on the carpet, making it look like a big ‘find’ for them. They dropped them, not me — Very deceiving ... And remember, we could have NO representative, including lawyers, present during the Raid. They were told to wait outside.” CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen said that message involved “really the last key issue that will determine whether or not Donald Trump is charged ... his personal knowledge that these classified documents were where they were." "Well, guess what," Eisen continued, "by admitting that he knew they were in the cartons, he just provided the government with more proof that, yes, he was involved in this.” The last piece of the puzzle re: whether to charge Trump is proving his personal knowledge & intent Well his ramblings on Truth Social just provided evidence that he knew where the classified docs from DOJ's photo were located I joined @CNN@NewDay w/ @JohnBerman to discuss pic.twitter.com/oWprtepUho — Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) September 1, 2022 The appearance that the Justice Department may be preparing to indict Trump is not the same, however, as the announcement of an actual indictment. “It seems to me that it’s moving in the direction of warranting criminal charges,” David Laufman, former chief of the counterespionage section at the Justice Department’s National Security Division, told Politico. “I think [Trump] has significant criminal exposure. Whether they ultimately decide to exercise prosecutorial discretion in favor of prosecuting him is another question.” | |
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| 09-01-22 11:55pm - 749 days | #347 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Sleepy Joe Biden is getting woke up. Sleepy Joe says MAGA Republicans are trying to hide their crimes. Says that MAGA Republicans are violent, and need to be put down, just like rabid dogs. Carry an AK47 and a Magnum 44 and shoot on sight. Shoot to kill. That's the way cops are trained. That's what Democrats need to do when they see a Republican. ----- ----- White House defends attacks on 'MAGA Republicans': 'They're trying to hide' Yahoo News Alexander Nazaryan September 1, 2022, 2:09 PM WASHINGTON — The White House defended its increasingly combative depictions of the Republican Party as remaining largely in the grip of former President Donald Trump and dangerously comfortable with extremism and violence. “We understand that we hit a nerve. We get that. We understand they’re trying to hide,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Thursday, just hours before Biden was slated to deliver a speech in Philadelphia on the state of American democracy. The president’s primetime address will directly target “MAGA Republicans,” according to White House officials, yet Jean-Pierre maintained that Biden’s remarks would nevertheless be “optimistic.” It is unclear just how he will reconcile his oft-stated belief in the American system of government with warnings about right-wing extremism. "It’s not a speech about the former president or about a single politician or about a political party. It’s about the American democracy, ” Jean-Pierre said. “This is so much broader, so much bigger, than any one party and any one person.” Conservatives have complained that the president’s bellicose new tone is only deepening existing fractures. “Biden has pitted neighbors against each other, labeled half of Americans as fascist and tarnished any idea of his promise of ‘unity,’” a Republican National Committee official told the New York Times. Republican opposition to the Biden presidency has only hardened since the days when “Let’s go, Brandon” became a battle cry. Candidates who deny the roundly certified 2020 presidential election continue to gain sway in the Republican Party. And last month’s dramatic seizure of sensitive documents from Trump’s resort and residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., further stoked political passions, with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., predicting “riots in the streets” should the former president, a close ally of his, face federal prosecution. A senior administration official told Politico that the speech — which has been billed as an official presidential event, not a campaign stop — would serve as “a moment for him to speak to the people of this country about what’s at stake, what the threats are and what the possibilities are for the country to move together as a democratic nation.” Biden has used Republican positions on guns and abortion to depict the GOP as thoroughly out of step with the American public. He has argued that conservatives would use the Supreme Court’s contentious decision in Dobbs, the abortion case that originated in Mississippi, to do away with other so-called unenumerated rights, such as same-sex marriage and access to contraception. Democrats have also assailed Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s economic proposals, which they say would raise taxes and slash popular social programs. Republican leaders have distanced themselves from Scott’s plan, but because he heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the White House has argued that his ideas amount to a party platform. | |
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| 09-02-22 12:59am - 749 days | #348 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Dongle Trump rages: My life was ruined by Sleepy Joe Biden, the Democrat from Hell who stole the Whitest House from my loving arms. Not only did Sleepy Joe steal my house, but he tried to rape my wife and daughters. "Lock him up for sex crimes against my family", screams Dongle Trump. "But first, I want my time in the ring against Sleepy Joe. I will pound him to a pulp, before I let him out of the ring in total defeat!!!!" Dongle screams. ---- ---- Trump Freaks Out On Truth Social After More Mar-A-Lago Raid Details Are Made Public Sara Boboltz Wed, August 31, 2022 at 9:57 AM Former President Donald Trump continued raging on his social media platform Wednesday, the morning after a Department of Justice court filing offered the most detailed look yet at the timeline leading up to the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago. His latest rants follow a day of “re-truthing” posts largely criticizing President Joe Biden and federal law enforcement ― Trump shared more than 60 such posts on Tuesday, according to a count by Rolling Stone. In the 36 pages of its latest filing, the Department of Justice meticulously dismantled Trump’s legal arguments while providing new details about how the former president kept top-secret government documents at the South Florida golf resort he now calls home. The last page of an attachment included a photograph showing some of the documents’ cover sheets spread out on the carpet alongside a measuring tape. They sat next to a box containing an unflattering Time magazine cover, featuring an illustration of Trump, that was framed. “Terrible the way the FBI, during the Raid of Mar-a-Lago, threw documents haphazardly all over the floor (perhaps pretending it was me that did it!), and then started taking pictures of them for the public to see. Thought they wanted them kept Secret? Lucky I Declassified!” Trump wrote Wednesday morning. The photograph, of course, revealed no government secrets. It merely showed how the documents had been brightly labeled with markings indicating they were highly classified; the information contained within the documents had been blocked out. Trump’s dubious claim to having declassified the documents is also refuted in the latest court filing. Trump then shifted focus: “Whatever happened to NUCLEAR, a word that was leaked early on by the FBI/DOJ to the Fake News Media!” The Washington Post reported shortly after the raid that some of the government documents seized had related to America’s nuclear arsenal ― a claim the Department of Justice has not commented on. Rather, prosecutors have repeatedly argued that revealing what sort of information was contained in the Mar-a-Lago documents would negatively impact its ongoing investigation. After plugging Jared Kushner’s new book, Trump also took time Wednesday to trash the FBI, or specifically a top-level agent who departed the agency amid criticism over his handling of an investigation into Biden’s son Hunter. Trump has claimed without evidence that the agent was somehow behind a nonexistent election-rigging scheme and masterminded the Mar-a-Lago raid. Following Trump’s election loss in 2020, the National Archives and Records Administration spent the bulk of 2021 trying to obtain missing records from Trump’s time in the White House. Under federal law, all presidential records are supposed to be transferred to the National Archives when a president leaves office. The National Archives eventually referred the matter to the Justice Department in early 2022, after Trump’s team handed over more than a dozen boxes of documents, because some contained classified information in potential violation of federal law. The Justice Department found evidence that Trump was holding on to additional classified documents. According to the latest filing, they also found evidence that he had torn some records apart. So, authorities obtained a grand jury subpoena in an attempt to collect the rest of the Mar-a-Lago documents, and in response, Trump’s lawyers handed over another batch of files on June 3. Authorities were also allowed to view the room where the documents had been kept, but were prohibited from looking inside the remaining boxes ― arousing suspicion. After taking a look at the new batch, prosecutors determined that still more documents likely were being kept at Trump’s golf resort, and they had reason to believe “efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation,” the filing said. That’s what precipitated the Aug. 8 raid, the Justice Department said. Authorities seized 33 boxes or items of evidence that day containing “over a Hundred classified records.” In some cases, the information was so secretive that “FBI counterintelligence personnel and DOJ attorneys conducting the review required additional clearances before they were permitted to review certain documents,” per Tuesday’s filing. The FBI’s findings therefore “cast doubt on the extent of cooperation in this matter” on the part of Trump’s team, the filing said, pushing back on Trump’s prior claim to being open to working with federal investigators. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. | |
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| 09-02-22 01:59am - 749 days | #349 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Oath Keepers' lawyer arrested. The Oath Keepers are a private militia group accused of plotting to stop the transfer of power and keep former President Donald Trump in office, purchasing weapons, organizing military-style trainings and setting up battle plans. But if they did this, they were only trying to obey the law and keep Dongle Trump, the Annointed Son of God, in power, to Make America Great Again. So it would have been okay and legal if they shot and killed anyone who stood in Dongle Trump's way. God save Dongle Trump, the most corrupt president of the Untied States of Trumperland. ---- ---- Oath Keepers' lawyer arrested in connection with Jan. 6 Associated Press ALANNA DURKIN RICHER September 1, 2022, 1:06 PM A lawyer for the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group has been charged with conspiracy in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol, authorities said Thursday. Kellye SoRelle — general counsel for the antigovernment group — was arrested in Texas on charges including conspiracy to obstruct the certification of President Joe Biden's electoral college victory, the Justice Department said. SoRelle, 43, is a close associate of Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers' leader who is heading to trial later this month alongside other extremists on seditious conspiracy charges. After Rhodes' arrest in January, SoRelle told media outlets she was acting as the president of the Oath Keepers while he's behind bars. Prosecutors have accused Rhodes and his militia group of plotting for weeks to stop the transfer of power and keep former President Donald Trump in office, purchasing weapons, organizing military-style trainings and setting up battle plans. SoRelle told The Associated Press last year — when FBI agents seized her phone as part of the Jan 6. investigation — that she had no knowledge of or involvement in the Capitol breach. She called the seizure of her phone “unethical” and the investigation “a witch hunt.” She is expected to make an initial appearance in federal court in Austin, Texas, later Thursday and it wasn't immediately clear if she has an attorney to speak on her behalf. SoRelle was photographed with Rhodes outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 and was present at an underground garage meeting the night before the riot that's been a focus for investigators. The meeting included Rhodes and and Enrique Tarrio, the former chairman of the Proud Boys, who is charged separately with seditious conspiracy alongside other members of the extremist group that describes themselves as a politically incorrect men’s club for “Western chauvinists.” Publicly released video of the meeting doesn’t reveal much about their discussion and prosecutors have said only that one of the meeting’s participants “referenced the Capitol.” SoRelle was also on a call with Rhodes and other Oath Keepers days after the 2020 election during which Rhodes rallied his followers to prepare for violence, according to a transcript made public in court. SoRelle is also charged with obstruction of an official proceeding, obstruction of justice for tampering with documents and a misdemeanor charge for entering Capitol grounds. The indictment says she persuaded others to destroy and conceal records sought by investigators. SoRelle told the AP last September that agents seized her phone and provided her a search warrant that said it was related to an investigation into seditious conspiracy, among other crimes. The indictment against SoRelle made public Thursday does not include a charge of seditious conspiracy. Rhodes and four co-defendants scheduled to go on trial starting Sept. 26 have said there was no plot to attack the Capitol and that their communications in the run up to Jan. 6 were about providing security for right-wing figures such as Roger Stone or preparing for attacks from left-wing antifa activists. Rhodes, a former U.S. Army paratrooper, founded the Oath Keepers in 2009. The group recruits current and former military, police and first responders and pledges to “fulfill the oath all military and police take to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic." A slew of its members have been charged in connection with Jan. 6. Three Oath Keepers have already pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, a rare Civil War-era charge that's historically been hard to prove. They are also cooperating with the Justice Department. ___ Associated Press reporter Mike Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report. | |
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| 09-02-22 07:22am - 748 days | #350 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Ginni Thomas, wife of US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pressured two Wisconsin lawmakers to overturn Joe Biden's presidential election. So if you're a Republican, and you don't like how an election turned out, you can throw out the results and make your own decision on how the election should be reported. Power to the people. Until someone with better knowledge steps in. Dangle Trump, AKA Dongle Trump, the most corrupt President of the Untied States of Trumperland. ----- ----- USA TODAY Ginni Thomas pressured Wisconsin lawmakers to change 2020 election result, emails show Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Fri, September 2, 2022 at 3:18 AM MADISON, Wis. - In the days following former President Donald Trump's loss in 2020, at least two Wisconsin lawmakers received an email from longtime conservative activist and wife to a U.S. Supreme Court justice Ginni Thomas urging the legislators to change the outcome of Wisconsin's presidential election, according to a new report. Thomas, using an email program that allowed her to communicate with lawmakers on a mass scale, sent messages to Senate Elections Committee chairwoman Kathy Bernier and state Rep. Gary Tauchen, R-Bonduel, on Nov. 9, 2020, asking both to "take action to ensure that a clean slate of Electors is chosen for our state," according to The Washington Post and emails obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel under the state's public records law. FILE - Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and a special correspondent for The Daily Caller, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Md., Feb. 23, 2017. Reports that Ginni Thomas implored Donald Trump† s White House chief of staff to act to overturn the 2020 election results has put a spotlight on how justices decide whether to step aside from a case. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)The Washington Post, which first reported the emails to Wisconsin lawmakers, also obtained messages from Thomas to lawmakers in Arizona, another battleground state, urging similar actions. Bernier told the Journal Sentinel it's possible Thomas sent emails to all Wisconsin lawmakers but she and Tauchen were the only ones to keep them. State law allows legislators to delete any email that has not yet been requested by the public. "It’s not like she sat down and typed out an email to me and Gary Tauchen," Bernier said in an interview. The Journal Sentinel in June requested any email correspondence from Thomas to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos since July 2020. Vos' aides said the office had no records responsive to the request. On the same day Thomas emailed Bernier and Tauchen, Thomas sent similar messages to Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers and 26 other Republican lawmakers, according to the Post. More: Conservative group finds no signs of widespread voter fraud in Wisconsin but urges changes to election processes Who is Ginni Thomas: What to know about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' wife Bernier, a Republican from Chippewa Falls and a former Chippewa County Clerk, has long criticized her Republican colleagues for embracing Trump's false claims of voter fraud but she said Thomas' email came at a time when Trump's claims were first ramping up and it was more difficult to ascertain whether problems occurred. "You have to look at the timeframe when that email went out," she said. "Would it be logical and possible for the Legislature to say 'hold the phone,' we are going to decertify the election, we are going to have a recount, or a do-over, or whatever — that was probably potentially realistic, so I don’t think it’s outlandish in any way shape or form," Bernier said about the timeframe of the email. "But after, approaching Jan. 6 (2021), now it becomes outlandish." The emails to Wisconsin lawmakers came at a time when Trump and his supporters were filing lawsuits over the outcome of the election and launching recounts in the Democratic counties of Dane and Milwaukee, during which Trump sought to throw out hundreds of thousands of ballots. More: Ginni Thomas, wife of Clarence Thomas, acknowledges she attended Trump rally that preceded Capitol riot More: Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, urged White House chief Mark Meadows to overturn election, reports show Thomas' decision to send messages to lawmakers in battleground states to overturn President Joe Biden's victories has raised questions about whether her husband, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, should recuse himself from cases involving the 2020 presidential election. Bernier said Ginni Thomas' actions should not reflect on her husband. "No matter what your spouse does, your kids, your family members, whatever they're involved in, you still have your First Amendment rights. I'm sure if she felt it would adversely impact Justice Thomas, she may not have decided to do it but the fact of the matter is it was probably her own opinion." "I do feel sorry for the poor lady," Bernier said. More: Former Supreme Court Justice Gableman, head of Republican review of Wisconsin election, says he does not understand how elections work Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ginni Thomas pressured Wisconsin lawmakers to change 2020 election | |
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