81 million votes my ass! The guy can't even fill a high school gym for a pep rally and now most of the Dems running in the midterms don't even want him around to campaign with. A stellar President
Or....
It was 81 million votes against Trump.
Why can't Trump supporters figure that out?
I have no doubt that many people voted against Trump from all the slandering, spying, lying and smearing the media, Dems, DOJ, FBI, CIA did to Trump for 4 years. Just not 81 million. Even the Chinese had to get into the game to get Trump out by conveniently unleashing Covid. No way Trump doesn't get reelected without Covid. Just like the left is finding out now, it's all about economy, economy economy! Not abortion.
trump fucked up covid so bad, you are right, he does probably get reelected without it. he killed off hundreds of thousdands of his supporters with his stupidity.
tRump was on some podcast talking about the Pelosi attack....spewing all kinds of bullshit.
ALL of that right wing bullshit has been disproven (a simple reading of the fucking SFPD report) yet they continue on like the report doesn't even exist.
This morning it came out that there is actually security footage of the guy breaking the window (FROM THE OUTSIDE) but there was no security person actually paying attention so no alerts were made until Pelosi's call to 911.
Yeah I heard that part of podcast! What a total douche bag him and all his supporters are, he talks like he has all the inside info and they totally bite hook line & sinker. It’s utterly repulsive
That's the problem with the right wing news. Their "sources" bring up the bullshit and then never go back and correct anything. They just continue forward with the bullshit like the facts don't exist.
This country is totally fucked. We are too stupid to survive this.
Well that's the pot calling the kettle black! The left wing news is famous for cherry picking their facts but leaving out important details that provide actual context to the story. Gotta control the narrative!
The Jan 6th hearings are proving my point. After the FBI told congress that there was no there there they still decided to hold a partisan (Yes Kinszinger and Cheney are actually Dems) one sided showcase all so they could once again control the narrative.
Fox didn't air it because they knew their audience wouldn't stand for it. If their audience wanted to see it they could go to any of the many state run news channels.
81 million votes my ass! The guy can't even fill a high school gym for a pep rally and now most of the Dems running in the midterms don't even want him around to campaign with. A stellar President
Or....
It was 81 million votes against Trump.
Why can't Trump supporters figure that out?
I have no doubt that many people voted against Trump from all the slandering, spying, lying and smearing the media, Dems, DOJ, FBI, CIA did to Trump for 4 years. Just not 81 million. Even the Chinese had to get into the game to get Trump out by conveniently unleashing Covid. No way Trump doesn't get reelected without Covid. Just like the left is finding out now, it's all about economy, economy economy! Not abortion.
trump fucked up covid so bad, you are right, he does probably get reelected without it. he killed off hundreds of thousdands of his supporters with his stupidity.
It's not unreasonable to suggest that had he handled covid somewhat responsibly, he also could have been reelected; but that was never his style. He only knew divide and conquer.
81 million votes my ass! The guy can't even fill a high school gym for a pep rally and now most of the Dems running in the midterms don't even want him around to campaign with. A stellar President
Or....
It was 81 million votes against Trump.
Why can't Trump supporters figure that out?
I have no doubt that many people voted against Trump from all the slandering, spying, lying and smearing the media, Dems, DOJ, FBI, CIA did to Trump for 4 years. Just not 81 million. Even the Chinese had to get into the game to get Trump out by conveniently unleashing Covid. No way Trump doesn't get reelected without Covid. Just like the left is finding out now, it's all about economy, economy economy! Not abortion.
trump fucked up covid so bad, you are right, he does probably get reelected without it. he killed off hundreds of thousdands of his supporters with his stupidity.
It's not unreasonable to suggest that had he handled covid somewhat responsibly, he also could have been reelected; but that was never his style. He only knew divide and conquer.
100%. he knew who his supporters were, and he'd have lost their support had he agreed with the libs.
I guess you guys didn't find it strange that on election night 5 swing states that Trump had comfortable leads in suddenly shut down their counts and low and behold we woke up the next day and he was behind on all of them. One even said they had a water main break and had to shut down. You can't make this shit up.
You've said some stupid things around here, but this may be the dumbest. Mail in ballots were being counted last. Cities come in late. How do you not understand these things? Fox didn't call these states for Trump because their Decision Desk understood the order in which the votes would flow and where pockets of support existed. JFC, you are completely uninformed.
If Fox News had it to do over again, do you think they'd call those states? Could that be a strategy as early as next week. "Call PA for OZ...then if the mail-ins change it, it'll look fishier."
Well the guy who ran the decision desk, who nailed AZ.. was fired.
81 million votes my ass! The guy can't even fill a high school gym for a pep rally and now most of the Dems running in the midterms don't even want him around to campaign with. A stellar President
Or....
It was 81 million votes against Trump.
Why can't Trump supporters figure that out?
I have no doubt that many people voted against Trump from all the slandering, spying, lying and smearing the media, Dems, DOJ, FBI, CIA did to Trump for 4 years. Just not 81 million. Even the Chinese had to get into the game to get Trump out by conveniently unleashing Covid. No way Trump doesn't get reelected without Covid. Just like the left is finding out now, it's all about economy, economy economy! Not abortion.
trump fucked up covid so bad, you are right, he does probably get reelected without it. he killed off hundreds of thousdands of his supporters with his stupidity.
It's not unreasonable to suggest that had he handled covid somewhat responsibly, he also could have been reelected; but that was never his style. He only knew divide and conquer.
100%. he knew who his supporters were, and he'd have lost their support had he agreed with the libs.
Exactly, and doing something responsibly is so unlike trump…
81 million votes my ass! The guy can't even fill a high school gym for a pep rally and now most of the Dems running in the midterms don't even want him around to campaign with. A stellar President
Or....
It was 81 million votes against Trump.
Why can't Trump supporters figure that out?
I have no doubt that many people voted against Trump from all the slandering, spying, lying and smearing the media, Dems, DOJ, FBI, CIA did to Trump for 4 years. Just not 81 million. Even the Chinese had to get into the game to get Trump out by conveniently unleashing Covid. No way Trump doesn't get reelected without Covid. Just like the left is finding out now, it's all about economy, economy economy! Not abortion.
agreed....he failed so badly the country rejected him. All he had to do was be an average leader on that issue and he fucked it up.
Now we know that he intentionally downplayed it while knowing it was going to be severe. He thought that was his angle to win and it backfired on him.
Hahaha! Now that is funny! He downplayed it like everybody is doing now after seeing what an overreaction it was. What an asshole that Trump was for not wanting to shut down the country and destroy the lives and livelyhood of millions of Americans and stomping on the civil rights of us all with forced vaccinations etc. that we all now know was bullshit.
You may be right though in the fact that the media and Washington played it up so bad and got it so wrong that it did make Trump look bad and took some votes away from him.
That won't be the case in 2024. Get ready!
The president doesn’t have the power to shut down the country, which is why nearly all mandates were done at the state and local level. Trump himself said he wanted to be a “cheerleader” during Covid. That’s because he has no fumctional leadership ability
tRump was on some podcast talking about the Pelosi attack....spewing all kinds of bullshit.
ALL of that right wing bullshit has been disproven (a simple reading of the fucking SFPD report) yet they continue on like the report doesn't even exist.
This morning it came out that there is actually security footage of the guy breaking the window (FROM THE OUTSIDE) but there was no security person actually paying attention so no alerts were made until Pelosi's call to 911.
Yeah I heard that part of podcast! What a total douche bag him and all his supporters are, he talks like he has all the inside info and they totally bite hook line & sinker. It’s utterly repulsive
That's the problem with the right wing news. Their "sources" bring up the bullshit and then never go back and correct anything. They just continue forward with the bullshit like the facts don't exist.
This country is totally fucked. We are too stupid to survive this.
Well that's the pot calling the kettle black! The left wing news is famous for cherry picking their facts but leaving out important details that provide actual context to the story. Gotta control the narrative!
The Jan 6th hearings are proving my point. After the FBI told congress that there was no there there they still decided to hold a partisan (Yes Kinszinger and Cheney are actually Dems) one sided showcase all so they could once again control the narrative.
Fox didn't air it because they knew their audience wouldn't stand for it. If their audience wanted to see it they could go to any of the many state run news channels.
In response to Marjorie Greene’s absurd comparison of fighting Russian aggression to illegal immigration at the southern border caused by Republican gun and drug policies…
81 million votes my ass! The guy can't even fill a high school gym for a pep rally and now most of the Dems running in the midterms don't even want him around to campaign with. A stellar President
Or....
It was 81 million votes against Trump.
Why can't Trump supporters figure that out?
I have no doubt that many people voted against Trump from all the slandering, spying, lying and smearing the media, Dems, DOJ, FBI, CIA did to Trump for 4 years. Just not 81 million. Even the Chinese had to get into the game to get Trump out by conveniently unleashing Covid. No way Trump doesn't get reelected without Covid. Just like the left is finding out now, it's all about economy, economy economy! Not abortion.
trump fucked up covid so bad, you are right, he does probably get reelected without it. he killed off hundreds of thousdands of his supporters with his stupidity.
It's not unreasonable to suggest that had he handled covid somewhat responsibly, he also could have been reelected; but that was never his style. He only knew divide and conquer.
did he conquer though? he lost two popular votes by nearly 10 million votes combined.
"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry." - Lincoln
Trump ally Tom Barrack acquitted of foreign agent charges
By TOM HAYS
Today
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's inaugural committee chair, Tom Barrack, was acquitted of all counts Friday at a federal trial in which he was accused of using his personal access to the former president to secretly promote the interests of the United Arab Emirates.
The jury in Brooklyn deliberated three days before finding Barrack not guilty of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, obstruction of justice and making false statements. Barrack had vehemently denied the charges.
Barrack, a 75-year-old California billionaire, is an old friend of Trump and chaired the Republican's inaugural committee. He was among a long line of Trump associates to face various criminal charges.
The verdict touched off a tearful celebration among Barrack and his supporters, who took group photos in the courtroom. Outside court, Barrack proclaimed, “God bless America,” and said that he intended to get a drink and go see the Statue of Liberty.
He told reporters that he was thankful that the jury understood “such complex and believable facts in front of them. … I’m proud to be an American.”
One of Barrack's assistants, Matthew Grimes, was also acquitted.
Trump responded to the acquittal in a statement, calling it “Great news for our Country, Freedom, and Democracy.” He said Barrack “should have never been charged or tried” and praised the jury “for their courage and understanding in coming to an absolutely correct decision.”
In closing arguments this week, defense attorney Randall Jackson said Barrack made no attempt to conceal his relationships with Rashid al Malik, a businessperson from the UAE who acted as a conduit to the rulers of the oil-rich Persian Gulf state.
Al Malik was someone in a network of business connections he had cultivated throughout the Middle East, Jackson said. He also said it “makes no sense” that his client would try to infiltrate the Trump campaign on the behalf of the UAE at a time when Trump’s chances of winning the presidency were considered a longshot.
“He was involved in the campaign because he’s loyal to his friends — maybe to a fault,” the lawyer said.
Testifying on his own behalf, Barrack revealed that “dozens” of people asked him for help in getting pardons from the former president. He also said he never sought a pardon for himself, even after he learned he was under investigation.
Asked why, he responded, “I never did anything wrong.”
Barrack, an Arabic speaker of Lebanese descent, also described efforts to arrange for Trump to meet with UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other officials from more moderate governments in a selfless effort to persuade Trump to tone down his his anti-Muslim rhetoric.
“I was trying to get common ground, to try to get him to step back from what he didn’t believe,” he said.
Barrack’s acquittal was the latest setback for the Justice Department, which in recent years has stepped up enforcement of laws governing foreign lobbying.
Last month, a judge dismissed a lawsuit that sought to force casino magnate Steve Wynn to register as a foreign agent because of his alleged lobbying at the behest of the Chinese government during the Trump administration.
In 2019, lawyer Greg Craig, a Democrat, was acquitted of making a false statement to the Justice Department about work for Ukraine’s government.
Trump also pardoned two allies who had been convicted of secretly lobbying the U.S. for foreign interests: former campaign manager Paul Manafort and a top fundraiser, Elliott Broidy.
Federal prosecutor Ryan Harris told jurors that Barrack schemed to become the “eyes, ears and the voice” for the Emirates as part of a criminal conspiracy to manipulate Trump’s foreign policy. He leveraged his back-channel connections to get the UAE to funnel tens of millions of dollars into an office building he was developing and into one of his investment funds, Harris said.
Harris, an assistant U.S. attorney, pointed to what he characterized as a stream of shady texts and other communications that showed that Barrack was under the direction and control of Al Malik.
Barrack “marketed himself as politically connected. Someone who could open doors for the UAE. Someone who could offer access to Donald Trump. ... He was going to be their man on the inside,” Harris said.
Al Malik asked Barrack “to do things for the UAE again and again,” he said.
The defense called former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to testify there was nothing suspicious about his interactions with Barrack over Trump's stance on UAE relations. Mnuchin described Barrack as a friend who was among hundreds of businesspeople offering him “thoughts and advice” while he served in the Cabinet. In those discussions, “I would never share anything … that I thought was confidential,” he testified.
Before being indicted, Barrack drew attention by raising $107 million for the former president’s inaugural celebration following the 2016 election. The event was scrutinized both for its lavish spending and for attracting foreign officials and businesspeople looking to lobby the new administration.
Leaving the courthouse Friday, Barrack repeated assertations that he is nonpartisan.
“It’s the toughest job in the world being president of the United States," he said. "No matter what party it is, whether it’s Republicans or Democrats. President Biden is doing the best job he can. President Trump did the best job he could.”
___
Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
AP source: Trump ally appears before Mar-a-Lago grand jury
By ERIC TUCKER
54 mins ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — A close ally of former President Donald Trump who has said he was present as Trump declassified broad categories of materials has appeared before a federal grand jury after being given immunity for his testimony, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Kash Patel testified Thursday after the Justice Department granted him immunity from prosecution and after a federal judge in Washington entered a sealed order to that effect.
He had invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during an earlier appearance before the grand jury, but the Justice Department — in an apparent acknowledgment of his importance as a witness — later granted him a limited form of immunity that protects him from having his testimony used against him.
In a statement Friday issued through a spokesperson, Patel made clear that his appearance was not voluntary and denied that he had reached any sort of immunity “deal” with the Justice Department.
“Rather, his testimony was compelled over his objection through the only legal means available to the government — a grant of limited immunity,” the statement said.
The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into the discovery of top-secret records seized in an FBI search of Trump's Florida property, Mar-a-Lago, on Aug. 8. The FBI removed more than 100 documents with classification markings during that search.
That's in addition to 15 boxes of records recovered in January by the National Archives and Records Administration, as well as more than three dozen documents with classification markings that were turned over to investigators in June.
A former Justice Department prosecutor himself, Patel is a close Trump ally and held multiple roles in his administration, including as senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council and later as chief of staff to the acting defense secretary, Chris Miller.
In recent months, he has repeatedly and publicly lambasted the Justice Department's Mar-a-Lago investigation. In an appearance this week on one conservative podcast, he described himself as “all in with the boss” when asked if he'd accept the position of FBI director if Trump won in 2024.
Patel is presumably of interest to investigators because of his claims, including in a May interview with Breitbart News, that he was present as Trump declassified material even though no changes had been made to classification markings on the documents.
In that interview, Patel said, Trump “declassified whole sets of materials in anticipation of leaving government that he thought the American public should have the right to read themselves.”
Trump has previously claimed that a president can declassify information “just by thinking about it" but has provided no evidence that he did so. His lawyers, notably, have stopped short of asserting that he had taken steps to declassify the material that was found at Mar-a-Lago, though they have repeatedly argued that presidents have broad authority to declassify as they please.
Patel's testimony, first reported by The Washington Post, was confirmed by a person familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.
Justice Department policy empowers prosecutors to seek a court order to compel testimony from a witness by granting immunity when that witness invokes their right against self-incrimination. Among the factors to be weighed in that decision, according to Justice Department policy, is the value of the person's expected testimony to the investigation or potential prosecution.
Separately, FBI agents interviewed a former deputy White House counsel in the Trump administration in May and June about Trump's handling of classified information as president, a person familiar with the matter told AP on Friday.
That lawyer, John Eisenberg, told investigators that he did not help pack the boxes that were taken to Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House and had no knowledge of what documents they contained. He also said he had no recollection of Trump, as Patel has asserted, broadly or unilaterally declassifying whole categories of information or doing so on the spot, the person said.
Eisenberg told agents that though he believed a president had wide declassification authority, the scope of that power also depended in some instances on the context, statutory analysis and specific nature of the information involved, the person said.
He also recounted for investigators an episode in which Trump wanted to post on Twitter sensitive information related to an image of a rocket blowing up on a launch pad.
Eisenberg, who served as top lawyer on the NSC, then reached out to a stakeholder agency to see if that would be a problem. Certain markings were then removed before the image could be posted, according to a person familiar with Eisenberg's account.
The Post earlier reported details of Eisenberg's interviews.
FBI officials have spoken with an array of other witnesses, including a Trump aide who was seen on video moving boxes at Mar-a-Lago.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
I guess you guys didn't find it strange that on election night 5 swing states that Trump had comfortable leads in suddenly shut down their counts and low and behold we woke up the next day and he was behind on all of them. One even said they had a water main break and had to shut down. You can't make this shit up.
did you go to the Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl 51 parade?
I guess you guys didn't find it strange that on election night 5 swing states that Trump had comfortable leads in suddenly shut down their counts and low and behold we woke up the next day and he was behind on all of them. One even said they had a water main break and had to shut down. You can't make this shit up.
did you go to the Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl 51 parade?
No, but maybe a POOTWH invite to the White House to speak in tongues, which by the way, his/her posts remind me of. Just more word salads. But in the White House? AYFKM? In the fucking White House. Barry Goldwater is rolling over, hard, in his grave. Good night ‘Murica, it was nice knowing ya.
Gift article and I highly suggest you read it. There is no “lord.”
Homeland Security Admits It Tried to Manufacture Fake Terrorists for Trump
The Department of Homeland Security launched a failed operation that ensnared hundreds, if not thousands, of U.S. protesters in what new documents show was as a sweeping, power-hungry effort before the 2020 election to bolster President Donald Trump’s spurious claims about a “terrorist organization” he accused his Democratic rivals of supporting.
An internal investigative report, made public this month by Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon, details the findings of DHS lawyers concerning a previously undisclosed effort by Trump’s acting secretary of homeland security, Chad Wolf, to amass secret dossiers on Americans in Portland attending anti-racism protests in summer 2020 sparked by the police murder of Minneapolis father George Floyd.
Homeland Security Admits It Tried to Manufacture Fake Terrorists for Trump
The Department of Homeland Security launched a failed operation that ensnared hundreds, if not thousands, of U.S. protesters in what new documents show was as a sweeping, power-hungry effort before the 2020 election to bolster President Donald Trump’s spurious claims about a “terrorist organization” he accused his Democratic rivals of supporting.
An internal investigative report, made public this month by Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon, details the findings of DHS lawyers concerning a previously undisclosed effort by Trump’s acting secretary of homeland security, Chad Wolf, to amass secret dossiers on Americans in Portland attending anti-racism protests in summer 2020 sparked by the police murder of Minneapolis father George Floyd.
Sounds about right. For a winner. So much winning.
Trump once reconsidered sticking with Truth Social. Now he’s stuck.
The former president has told his allies that he can’t leave his Twitter clone because he’s propping it up, and he doesn’t want a site so closely associated with his brand to collapse.
Sounds about right. For a winner. So much winning.
Trump once reconsidered sticking with Truth Social. Now he’s stuck.
The former president has told his allies that he can’t leave his Twitter clone because he’s propping it up, and he doesn’t want a site so closely associated with his brand to collapse.
Lol.. all of his companies collapse. He will go back to twitter eventually.
When Trump Announces Candidacy, Watchdog Will File Insurrection Disqualification Challenge
When Donald Trump announces he’s running for the presidency, as he’s expected to do, a watchdog group plans to file a challenge under the 14th Amendment, which bars reelection of officials who engaged in or supported an insurrection.
“The evidence that Trump engaged in insurrection is overwhelming,” Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in a statement last week. “We are ready, willing and able to take action to make sure the Constitution is upheld and Trump is prevented from holding office.”
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, passed after the Civil War, bars any officials who have taken an oath of office to defend the government from reelection if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the government — or have “given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
CREW sent a letter to Trump on Thursday alerting him to the planned challenge if he announces his candidacy for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
“CREW believes you are barred from holding office Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment because you engaged in insurrection against the government you swore to defend,” states the letter. “By summoning a violent mob to disrupt the transition of presidential power mandated by the Constitution after having sworn to defend the same, you made yourself ineligible to hold public office again.”
The “evidence that you engaged in insurrection as contemplated in the Fourteenth Amendment — including by mobilizing, inciting and aiding those attacking the Capitol — is overwhelming,” the letter adds.
“If you seek elected or appointed office despite being constitutionally disqualified ... we and others loyal to the Constitution will defend it,” the message warns.
81 million votes my ass! The guy can't even fill a high school gym for a pep rally and now most of the Dems running in the midterms don't even want him around to campaign with. A stellar President
Or....
It was 81 million votes against Trump.
Why can't Trump supporters figure that out?
I have no doubt that many people voted against Trump from all the slandering, spying, lying and smearing the media, Dems, DOJ, FBI, CIA did to Trump for 4 years. Just not 81 million. Even the Chinese had to get into the game to get Trump out by conveniently unleashing Covid. No way Trump doesn't get reelected without Covid. Just like the left is finding out now, it's all about economy, economy economy! Not abortion.
You've lost it, man.
People voted against Trump because of things the Dems did to him? Are you high? Republicans don't even watch the networks that Dems broadcast on (let alone listen to the words they say), and Trump had unwavering support from Fox News and OAN amongst other high-profile Republican sources. Let's also leave aside the fact that the 'slandering, spying, lying and smearing the media did' to Trump is at the least equivalent to what's been done to Democrats by Republicans. I guess a big difference is that Democrats don't hint towards violence.
Next impossible scenario: 'the Chinese conveniently unleashed Covid'. [Violation of Posting Guidelines removed by Admin here] Until anything is proven, this is a thought borne of racism. Also, given that Trump touted his fantastic relationship with Xi Jinping, astounding that the country would have the audacity to betray it all but assuring a Biden win.
Next topic: 'no way Trump doesn't get reelected without Covid'. Let's remove the double-negatives: if not for Covid, Trump would have been re-elected. In other words, a hypothetical, with no god damn bearing on what actually happened.
Finally, 'it's all about the economy, not abortion': Even people of quite low intellect have the ability to make complex decisions based on more than one factor. [Violation of Posting Guidelines removed by Admin here]
Anyways, you're only here to troll, so I'm going to stop wasting energy on a person for whom the fight itself is the purpose.
Post edited by Kat on
'05 - TO, '06 - TO 1, '08 - NYC 1 & 2, '09 - TO, Chi 1 & 2, '10 - Buffalo, NYC 1 & 2, '11 - TO 1 & 2, Hamilton, '13 - Buffalo, Brooklyn 1 & 2, '15 - Global Citizen, '16 - TO 1 & 2, Chi 2
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Toronto Film Festival 9/11/2007, '08 - Toronto 1 & 2, '09 - Albany 1, '11 - Chicago 1
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http://twitter.com/liz_cheney/status/1588323589513793537?s=61&t=BBvdKnkphGWupHuLo-MsnA
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's inaugural committee chair, Tom Barrack, was acquitted of all counts Friday at a federal trial in which he was accused of using his personal access to the former president to secretly promote the interests of the United Arab Emirates.
The jury in Brooklyn deliberated three days before finding Barrack not guilty of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, obstruction of justice and making false statements. Barrack had vehemently denied the charges.
Barrack, a 75-year-old California billionaire, is an old friend of Trump and chaired the Republican's inaugural committee. He was among a long line of Trump associates to face various criminal charges.
The verdict touched off a tearful celebration among Barrack and his supporters, who took group photos in the courtroom. Outside court, Barrack proclaimed, “God bless America,” and said that he intended to get a drink and go see the Statue of Liberty.
He told reporters that he was thankful that the jury understood “such complex and believable facts in front of them. … I’m proud to be an American.”
One of Barrack's assistants, Matthew Grimes, was also acquitted.
Trump responded to the acquittal in a statement, calling it “Great news for our Country, Freedom, and Democracy.” He said Barrack “should have never been charged or tried” and praised the jury “for their courage and understanding in coming to an absolutely correct decision.”
MIDDLE EAST
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Iran marks 1979 US Embassy takeover amid nationwide protests
Leading figure in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood dies at 85
Netanyahu set to return to power in Israel after PM concedes
In closing arguments this week, defense attorney Randall Jackson said Barrack made no attempt to conceal his relationships with Rashid al Malik, a businessperson from the UAE who acted as a conduit to the rulers of the oil-rich Persian Gulf state.
Al Malik was someone in a network of business connections he had cultivated throughout the Middle East, Jackson said. He also said it “makes no sense” that his client would try to infiltrate the Trump campaign on the behalf of the UAE at a time when Trump’s chances of winning the presidency were considered a longshot.
“He was involved in the campaign because he’s loyal to his friends — maybe to a fault,” the lawyer said.
Testifying on his own behalf, Barrack revealed that “dozens” of people asked him for help in getting pardons from the former president. He also said he never sought a pardon for himself, even after he learned he was under investigation.
Asked why, he responded, “I never did anything wrong.”
Barrack, an Arabic speaker of Lebanese descent, also described efforts to arrange for Trump to meet with UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other officials from more moderate governments in a selfless effort to persuade Trump to tone down his his anti-Muslim rhetoric.
“I was trying to get common ground, to try to get him to step back from what he didn’t believe,” he said.
Barrack’s acquittal was the latest setback for the Justice Department, which in recent years has stepped up enforcement of laws governing foreign lobbying.
Last month, a judge dismissed a lawsuit that sought to force casino magnate Steve Wynn to register as a foreign agent because of his alleged lobbying at the behest of the Chinese government during the Trump administration.
In 2019, lawyer Greg Craig, a Democrat, was acquitted of making a false statement to the Justice Department about work for Ukraine’s government.
Trump also pardoned two allies who had been convicted of secretly lobbying the U.S. for foreign interests: former campaign manager Paul Manafort and a top fundraiser, Elliott Broidy.
Federal prosecutor Ryan Harris told jurors that Barrack schemed to become the “eyes, ears and the voice” for the Emirates as part of a criminal conspiracy to manipulate Trump’s foreign policy. He leveraged his back-channel connections to get the UAE to funnel tens of millions of dollars into an office building he was developing and into one of his investment funds, Harris said.
Harris, an assistant U.S. attorney, pointed to what he characterized as a stream of shady texts and other communications that showed that Barrack was under the direction and control of Al Malik.
Barrack “marketed himself as politically connected. Someone who could open doors for the UAE. Someone who could offer access to Donald Trump. ... He was going to be their man on the inside,” Harris said.
Al Malik asked Barrack “to do things for the UAE again and again,” he said.
The defense called former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to testify there was nothing suspicious about his interactions with Barrack over Trump's stance on UAE relations. Mnuchin described Barrack as a friend who was among hundreds of businesspeople offering him “thoughts and advice” while he served in the Cabinet. In those discussions, “I would never share anything … that I thought was confidential,” he testified.
Before being indicted, Barrack drew attention by raising $107 million for the former president’s inaugural celebration following the 2016 election. The event was scrutinized both for its lavish spending and for attracting foreign officials and businesspeople looking to lobby the new administration.
Leaving the courthouse Friday, Barrack repeated assertations that he is nonpartisan.
“It’s the toughest job in the world being president of the United States," he said. "No matter what party it is, whether it’s Republicans or Democrats. President Biden is doing the best job he can. President Trump did the best job he could.”
___
Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — A close ally of former President Donald Trump who has said he was present as Trump declassified broad categories of materials has appeared before a federal grand jury after being given immunity for his testimony, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Kash Patel testified Thursday after the Justice Department granted him immunity from prosecution and after a federal judge in Washington entered a sealed order to that effect.
He had invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during an earlier appearance before the grand jury, but the Justice Department — in an apparent acknowledgment of his importance as a witness — later granted him a limited form of immunity that protects him from having his testimony used against him.
In a statement Friday issued through a spokesperson, Patel made clear that his appearance was not voluntary and denied that he had reached any sort of immunity “deal” with the Justice Department.
“Rather, his testimony was compelled over his objection through the only legal means available to the government — a grant of limited immunity,” the statement said.
The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into the discovery of top-secret records seized in an FBI search of Trump's Florida property, Mar-a-Lago, on Aug. 8. The FBI removed more than 100 documents with classification markings during that search.
DONALD TRUMP
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That's in addition to 15 boxes of records recovered in January by the National Archives and Records Administration, as well as more than three dozen documents with classification markings that were turned over to investigators in June.
A former Justice Department prosecutor himself, Patel is a close Trump ally and held multiple roles in his administration, including as senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council and later as chief of staff to the acting defense secretary, Chris Miller.
In recent months, he has repeatedly and publicly lambasted the Justice Department's Mar-a-Lago investigation. In an appearance this week on one conservative podcast, he described himself as “all in with the boss” when asked if he'd accept the position of FBI director if Trump won in 2024.
Patel is presumably of interest to investigators because of his claims, including in a May interview with Breitbart News, that he was present as Trump declassified material even though no changes had been made to classification markings on the documents.
In that interview, Patel said, Trump “declassified whole sets of materials in anticipation of leaving government that he thought the American public should have the right to read themselves.”
Trump has previously claimed that a president can declassify information “just by thinking about it" but has provided no evidence that he did so. His lawyers, notably, have stopped short of asserting that he had taken steps to declassify the material that was found at Mar-a-Lago, though they have repeatedly argued that presidents have broad authority to declassify as they please.
Patel's testimony, first reported by The Washington Post, was confirmed by a person familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.
Justice Department policy empowers prosecutors to seek a court order to compel testimony from a witness by granting immunity when that witness invokes their right against self-incrimination. Among the factors to be weighed in that decision, according to Justice Department policy, is the value of the person's expected testimony to the investigation or potential prosecution.
Separately, FBI agents interviewed a former deputy White House counsel in the Trump administration in May and June about Trump's handling of classified information as president, a person familiar with the matter told AP on Friday.
That lawyer, John Eisenberg, told investigators that he did not help pack the boxes that were taken to Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House and had no knowledge of what documents they contained. He also said he had no recollection of Trump, as Patel has asserted, broadly or unilaterally declassifying whole categories of information or doing so on the spot, the person said.
Eisenberg told agents that though he believed a president had wide declassification authority, the scope of that power also depended in some instances on the context, statutory analysis and specific nature of the information involved, the person said.
He also recounted for investigators an episode in which Trump wanted to post on Twitter sensitive information related to an image of a rocket blowing up on a launch pad.
Eisenberg, who served as top lawyer on the NSC, then reached out to a stakeholder agency to see if that would be a problem. Certain markings were then removed before the image could be posted, according to a person familiar with Eisenberg's account.
The Post earlier reported details of Eisenberg's interviews.
FBI officials have spoken with an array of other witnesses, including a Trump aide who was seen on video moving boxes at Mar-a-Lago.
___
More on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump
___
Follow Eric Tucker at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
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memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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Homeland Security Admits It Tried to Manufacture Fake Terrorists for Trump
The Department of Homeland Security launched a failed operation that ensnared hundreds, if not thousands, of U.S. protesters in what new documents show was as a sweeping, power-hungry effort before the 2020 election to bolster President Donald Trump’s spurious claims about a “terrorist organization” he accused his Democratic rivals of supporting.
An internal investigative report, made public this month by Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon, details the findings of DHS lawyers concerning a previously undisclosed effort by Trump’s acting secretary of homeland security, Chad Wolf, to amass secret dossiers on Americans in Portland attending anti-racism protests in summer 2020 sparked by the police murder of Minneapolis father George Floyd.
https://gizmodo.com/donald-trump-homeland-security-report-antifa-portland-1849718673
Terrorists for Trump
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Gift article
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Trump once reconsidered sticking with Truth Social. Now he’s stuck.
The former president has told his allies that he can’t leave his Twitter clone because he’s propping it up, and he doesn’t want a site so closely associated with his brand to collapse.
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When Trump Announces Candidacy, Watchdog Will File Insurrection Disqualification Challenge
When Donald Trump announces he’s running for the presidency, as he’s expected to do, a watchdog group plans to file a challenge under the 14th Amendment, which bars reelection of officials who engaged in or supported an insurrection.
“The evidence that Trump engaged in insurrection is overwhelming,” Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said in a statement last week. “We are ready, willing and able to take action to make sure the Constitution is upheld and Trump is prevented from holding office.”
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, passed after the Civil War, bars any officials who have taken an oath of office to defend the government from reelection if they “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the government — or have “given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
CREW sent a letter to Trump on Thursday alerting him to the planned challenge if he announces his candidacy for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
“CREW believes you are barred from holding office Under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment because you engaged in insurrection against the government you swore to defend,” states the letter. “By summoning a violent mob to disrupt the transition of presidential power mandated by the Constitution after having sworn to defend the same, you made yourself ineligible to hold public office again.”
The “evidence that you engaged in insurrection as contemplated in the Fourteenth Amendment — including by mobilizing, inciting and aiding those attacking the Capitol — is overwhelming,” the letter adds.
“If you seek elected or appointed office despite being constitutionally disqualified ... we and others loyal to the Constitution will defend it,” the message warns.
Trump has not responded.
VOTE
People voted against Trump because of things the Dems did to him? Are you high? Republicans don't even watch the networks that Dems broadcast on (let alone listen to the words they say), and Trump had unwavering support from Fox News and OAN amongst other high-profile Republican sources. Let's also leave aside the fact that the 'slandering, spying, lying and smearing the media did' to Trump is at the least equivalent to what's been done to Democrats by Republicans. I guess a big difference is that Democrats don't hint towards violence.
Next impossible scenario: 'the Chinese conveniently unleashed Covid'. [Violation of Posting Guidelines removed by Admin here] Until anything is proven, this is a thought borne of racism. Also, given that Trump touted his fantastic relationship with Xi Jinping, astounding that the country would have the audacity to betray it all but assuring a Biden win.
Next topic: 'no way Trump doesn't get reelected without Covid'. Let's remove the double-negatives: if not for Covid, Trump would have been re-elected. In other words, a hypothetical, with no god damn bearing on what actually happened.
Finally, 'it's all about the economy, not abortion': Even people of quite low intellect have the ability to make complex decisions based on more than one factor. [Violation of Posting Guidelines removed by Admin here]
Anyways, you're only here to troll, so I'm going to stop wasting energy on a person for whom the fight itself is the purpose.
EV
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Where is that biased feline? Fans can now tells fans to F right off?
If allowed, there are some I would like to share my thoughts with.
FJB. Looking forward to results. And if you do not know how to date your ballot, maybe your not smart enough to vote.
Reopening now. Be very careful to follow the Posting Guidelines. Removing parts of posts is not our preferred method of keeping the peace.
Have a great one.