Trump calls for Jan. 6 committee members to be indicted
Former President Trump on Thursday fumed over a federal judge ordering his longtime ally Steve Bannon to report to prison, calling for members of the House panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot to be indicted.
Trump called it a “Total and Complete American Tragedy” that Bannon and Peter Navarro, another former aide, have been ordered to prison for separately refusing to comply with the congressional investigation led by the now-disbanded House Jan. 6 committee.
The former president claimed in a Truth Social post that members of the House panel had committed crimes, asserting they “deleted and destroyed all material evidence.”
“The unAmerican Weaponization of our Law Enforcement has reached levels of Illegality never thought possible before,” Trump posted. “INDICT THE UNSELECT J6 COMMITTEE FOR ILLEGALLY DELETING AND DESTROYING ALL OF THEIR ‘FINDINGS!'”
The panel’s former chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), has previously pushed back against GOP claims that the committee withheld information.
Trump’s post follows several interviews he gave this week in which he suggested it would be fair game for his political opponents to be prosecuted if he wins the White House in November. Trump made the comments on the heels of his own conviction on 34 felony counts in New York for falsifying business records.
The former president has claimed that the Biden White House played a role in his legal battles, though there is no evidence that was the case.
“It has to stop, because, otherwise, we’re not going to have a country,” Trump said Wednesday on Fox News of prosecutions of political opponents. “Look, when this election is over, based on what they have done, I would have every right to go after them.”
The House select committee comprised seven Democrats and two Republicans: former GOP Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), both vocal Trump critics. The panel spent months investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack and held public hearings detailing its findings about the riot and Trump’s actions on that day and the weeks leading up to it.
The committee ultimately unveiled criminal referrals targeting Trump, and the former president has since been criminally charged in Washington, D.C., over his efforts to subvert the 2020 election, among other cases.
A federal judge Thursday ordered Bannon, who served as a top Trump adviser on the 2016 campaign and briefly in the White House, to begin his four-month prison sentence in July as he appeals his contempt of Congress conviction.
Navarro, a former Trump trade adviser, is currently serving his four-month sentence on contempt charges. He had similarly mounted last-ditch efforts to avoid prison, including unsuccessfully seeking emergency relief from the Supreme Court.
Former President Trump said Thursday revenge “can be justified,” the latest instance of the presumptive GOP nominee leaving the door open to going after his opponents, even as he argued the country is worse off after his criminal trial in New York.
Trump sat for an interview with Dr. Phil McGraw, who suggested to the former president he didn’t have time to “get even” with his critics.
“Well, revenge does take time, I will say that. And sometimes revenge can be justified, Phil, I have to be honest. Sometimes it can,” Trump responded.
“I think the country is really worse for what they’ve done, and I think you see that when you look at the poll numbers,” Trump continued. “When you see that almost $400 million has poured in since this horrible decision was made. That was a few days ago. Numbers that nobody’s ever heard of in politics before. It’s a great honor. The people of our country get it.”
Trump was found guilty last week by a jury on all 34 of falsifying business records to conceal alleged affairs during his 2016 campaign. It makes him the first U.S. president to be convicted of a felony.
The former president has railed against his legal woes, calling it “election interference” and claiming it is being orchestrated by the Biden White House. There is no evidence President Biden or his aides have had any involvement in Trump’s legal cases.
In the days since the verdict, Trump has repeatedly suggested it would be fair game and he would be justified in targeting his opponents if he is reelected in November.
Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday he would have “every right to go after them” after his own prosecution.
The former president told Newsmax on Tuesday it was “very possible” Democrats could face prosecution down the road.
There will be no playoffs. Can’t play with who we have out there and compounding it with garbage playcalling and worse execution. We don’t have good skill players on offense period. Browns 20 - Bears 17.
I wonder how many people from the right will be here to shout about criminals getting light sentences, aka... sweetheart deals being the reason crime is so high? But then again it didn't happen somewhere democrats are in charge so we will probably hear nothing but crickets about it as per usual.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Amen, and we got Trumpites like Steve Bannon and MTG spouting off = defund NY, Steve needs to go to JAIL, and MTG should wake up---she uses the WE and US pronouns very poorly= there are MORE Democrats than Republicans in USA.....and she needs get her brain checked- maybe the lasers from space lit her up and she doesn't want to confess about it. Two of my favorite Trump loving losers.
"You've never lived till you've almost died, life has a flavor the protected will never know" A vet or cop
Trump interview with Dr Phil was great. Didn't know about it til I read this thread, I urge everyone to watch it.
Of course the left picks like 20 words from it and runs with the newest hoax: "Trump says 'sometimes revenge can be justified’!!"
He did. At the very end of the interview, after numerous times saying he would not seek revenge, Trump responded to Dr Phil's insistence that Trump really doesn't have time for revenge.
Here's what proceeded that statement. I urge you to watch for yourself, and the video is accompanied by a (rudimentary/ AI) transcript...
1:00:23
Dr. Phil: There are headlines out there that say when you win your second term that you are going to make the people that have come after you pay, retribution and revenge, and let me ask you this before you even respond to that. I want to play "what if" with you for a minute.
What if when you win this election you said "enough is enough, too much is too much, this is a race to the bottom and and it stops here, it stops now". They've made a half a dozen or more major attempts to take you off the playing board and you just said "It stops now. I am going to rise above this cycle of ugly. I'm not going to play this gotcha retribution game, it stops now. I'll forgive I'll not ever forget, but I am not going to play this retribution game. I am going to put the American people first not getting my pound of flesh first. You've got to do what you've got to do, but I'm going to put this country as The Shining City on the hill. I am moving forward, I'm not playing the retribution game, it stops with me and it stops here". What if you took that approach?
Trump: I'm okay with that, I am. I'm okay with that. Sometimes uh I'm sure in certain moments I wouldn't be, you know when you go through what I've been through. They spied on my campaign you know they spied in my campaign remember? I announced it they did things that people don't even talk about and I got rid of Comey and I got rid of a lot of people.
I got rid of a lot of people. Thousands of people. At the VA I got, I cleaned it, 9,000 people. They were sadists I got rid of. But what they've done is bad. With all of that being said we have to unite the country Phil, the country has to be united. This country is a mess.
Dr. Phil: Every situation needs a hero, what a great opportunity for you to stop this cycle this vicious cycle of got you, got you back, got yo,u got you back. Every situation needs a hero, what what a great opportunity to step up and say you know what it stops here it stops with me.
Trump: I think you'll be impressed. We have to unite the country we have to save the country that's, not really saving the country. There are people that did some bad things I know who they are and all of that. As an example with Hillary Clinton I'd say I'd mention her name everyone's screaming, thousands and thousands. We just had 107,000 people show up in in New Jersey you saw that 25,000 people showed up in the South Bronx, in the South Bronx. We had Wildwood New Jersey 107,000 people was a record they've never had that... When I mentioned the name Hillary in the previous to the last election they said "lock her up, lock her up, lock her up!" But I would be there, and I'd try to almost quiet them down, they were going crazy. How would it be I win and I lock Hillary Clinton up? The president's wife, the former president's wife, I locked her up? And how would it be if I took the Secretary of State, the former secretary of state and we threw her into a prison someplace. I think it was terrible and yet now they're trying to do that with me, think of it.
I didn't want to do that I could have done that pretty easily she busted up her phones and she busted up her her laptops and what they did and they put uh bleach bit you know what bleach bit is it's so expensive nobody uses it because it's an acid and it wipes everything out could have done it real easy. Don't forget she disobeyed a subpoena from the United States Congress. And she broke up all this machinery, all this technology after she got the subpoena. Think of it, how would it look if I took the a president of the United States wife and threw her into a prison? I hated it because I wanted to bring the country together and I largely did and I brought it together through success because it was the most successful economy in the history of our country, okay?
Now the difference is they're trying to do it to me and maybe you could feel differently about it but I don't feel differently. Retribution is going to be through success and we're going to make it very successful. We have to bring the country together.
There's what he's saying then there's the reality of what he's done. Anyone who believes what a pathological liar says during an interview didn't pay attention the first time he was president...........
Politicization of the Justice Department
President Trump has repeatedly and publicly called for the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate his perceived enemies — and in doing so, he's crossed a longstanding line against politicizing our nation's law enforcement agencies.
Since taking office President Trump has regularly called upon the Justice Department to investigate individuals he perceives as political opponents, especially his 2016 general election opponent Hillary Clinton, senior officials within the FBI, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Since his acquittal by the Senate in the impeachment trial, the president has exerted further political pressure on the department, including having expressed his displeasure at sentencing recommendations from prosecutors in the case against his associate Roger Stone — complaints that were apparently answered by Justice Department leadership’s intervention in the case, which was in turn praised by the president.
Former FBI Director James Comey also testified that Trump asked him for a pledge of loyalty and then requested that Comey drop the investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn — and after Comey refused both requests, he was fired.
Troublingly, it appears that the Justice Department is allowing itself to be pressured by Trump’s demands. In November 2017, then–Attorney General Jeff Sessions informed members of Congress that he was considering appointing a second special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton’s alleged role in approving the sale of a uranium company to a Russian state company. In January 2018, after yet another round of tweets from Trump, the Daily Beast reported that Justice Department officials had agreed to take a “fresh look” at Clinton’s use of a private email server. Two years later, in January 2020, the department ended the investigation, conceding nothing of consequence was found.
There also appears to be consequences for officials who do not follow Trump’s bidding. In February 2020, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jessie Liu resigned from the Treasury Department after Trump withdrew her nomination to serve as undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes. News reports suggest that Liu’s resignation and revoked nomination were related to Trump’s dissatisfaction with her work as U.S. attorney — specifically, Liu’s perceived lack of involvement in politically sensitive investigations, including the cases of Trump ally Roger Stone and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Liu’s resignation occurred following the surprise reversal of Justice Department sentencing recommendations in the Stone case, a reversal that prompted the withdrawal from the case of multiple career prosecutors. In May, another stunning reversal occurred, with the Justice Department said it would be dropping its case against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. The motion to dismiss the charges was signed by interim U.S. Attorney for the District Timothy Shea, and raised serious questions about political interference at the Justice Department as well as about the involvement of Attorney General Barr.
As the president attempts to use his power to use his power to have his enemies investigated, we’re seeking answers from the Department of Justice.
For anyone who believes his empty words in an interview, he's already shown us who he is. And it's certainly not a man who has tried to unite our nation.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Right-wing media reckoning: Some outlets pay a price after spreading 2020 election misinformation Ahead of another contentious presidential election, media companies that promoted false claims four years ago are filing for bankruptcy, issuing apologies or settling lawsuits. Photo illustration of Dinesh D'Souza and Alex Jones A handful of high-profile fringe media operations have been hit with courtroom losses in recent months after spreading 2020 election misinformation.Leila Register / NBC News; Getty Images
SAVE Create your free profile or log in to save this article June 8, 2024, 7:00 AM EDT By Erik Ortiz Right-wing media that became purveyors of misinformation and amplified false claims as Donald Trump undermined the results of the 2020 election are finding themselves on the losing end of legal challenges — or facing new ones.
In just a few months, a handful of high-profile fringe media operations have been hit with courtroom losses.
The Gateway Pundit, an influential far-right news site, filed for bankruptcy in April in the wake of defamation lawsuits that said the company suggested election workers committed fraud during the previous presidential election. That same month, voting machine company Smartmatic reached a confidential settlement in its defamation suit against One America News Network, which allowed false election fraud claims on air, while its pending defamation litigation based on similar vote-rigging allegations continues against Newsmax as well as Fox News, which is being sued for $2.7 billion. Both Newsmax and Fox News deny Smartmatic’s allegations.
Fox News last year paid another company, Dominion Voting Systems, $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit. The network did not admit to any specific claims.
In May, “2000 Mules,” a book and film by right-wing political commentator Dinesh D’Souza, was pulled by the publisher, Salem Media Group, and the company issued a public apology to a Georgia man who is suing the author and publisher on defamation claims after he was accused of ballot stuffing. That case is still ongoing.
Other conservative media outlets that had promoted right-wing misinformation in the 2020 election are facing financial troubles unrelated to those events. This week, conspiracy theorist and Infowars host Alex Jones agreed to sell off his assets to satisfy $1.5 billion in defamation judgments related to the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. Jones earlier warned his company could shut down.
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors allege a top executive of The Epoch Times laundered millions of dollars.
The Justice Department said the charges against Weidong “Bill” Guan, the company’s chief financial officer, are unrelated to its newsgathering activities, and an Epoch Times spokesperson said it plans to “fully cooperate with any investigation dealing with the allegations.” Still, the indictment brings scrutiny to one of the most popular pro-Trump outlets. Guan has pleaded not guilty, and a request for comment to a public defender appointed to his case was not immediately returned.
“Right-wing media has finally faced the consequences of running disinformation campaigns,” said Yunkang Yang, an assistant professor of communication at Texas A&M University. “Some of them are finally being held accountable for the lies they spread.”
Smartmatic alleges Newsmax destroyed evidence in false election claims lawsuit 02:18 Yotam Ophir, an associate professor of communication at the University at Buffalo who studies misinformation and extremism, said he’s encouraged by repercussions when “misinformation contaminates our information environment, leads to real harms to people, and erodes trust in institutions and the government.”
“The recent lawsuits against those who made a career out of spreading lies and falsehoods will hopefully help limit the spread and amplification of some of the misinformation we can expect in 2024,” he said.
But whether that translates to a change in coverage of the November election and post-Election Day results remains to be seen, researchers say.
Trump in recent interviews and at rallies has aired his grievances about the 2020 election, saying it’s necessary to challenge election results when the process isn’t fair. At a Michigan campaign rally last month, the former president falsely said, “Democrats rigged the presidential election in 2020,” adding that “we’re not going to allow them to rig the presidential election” in 2024.
But as for companies that would want to avoid further litigation, Yang said, “If Trump loses again, and denies the election again, if that might happen, I think they’ll be more careful.”
However, “right-wing media doesn’t have to say the election was stolen,” Yang added, “but they can let the readers say the quiet part out loud.”
He said that’s already happening on certain right-wing sites, writing in a 2023 report that they “rely on a small group of highly active commenters to instigate online discussion, draw attention to conspiratorial comments, reinforce conspiratorial beliefs, and drive the sharing of propaganda content on social media.”
Amid their legal issues, some sites are hitting back, suggesting to their audiences they’re being unfairly targeted because of their ideologies.
Jim Hoft, the founder of The Gateway Pundit, blamed “progressive liberal lawfare attacks” for leading the outlet to file for bankruptcy, and said doing so did not indicate “an admission of fault or culpability” in the lawsuits.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AI chatbots got questions about the 2024 election wrong 27% of the time, study finds One of the suits involves two former Georgia election workers who were the subject of vote-rigging conspiracy theories that were debunked; the suit is headed toward trial. Another suit, filed in Colorado by a former Dominion Voting Systems executive against Gateway Pundit and other prominent defendants, remains ongoing.
A request for comment from Gateway Pundit about its financial situation prior to filing for bankruptcy was not immediately returned, although Hoft has vowed to continue to publish.
“Despite the radical left’s efforts to silence The Gateway Pundit through censorship, de-platforming, de-banking, cut-off from advertisers, and other financial strategies, we will not be deterred from our mission of remaining fearless and being one of the most trusted independent media outlets in America today,” Hoft said in a statement.
Such rhetoric is in line with how Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has gone after his political foes as he awaits sentencing on 34 felony counts in his historic hush money trial, said A.J. Bauer, an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Alabama who focuses on right-wing media.
Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the prosecution led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was part of an effort by President Joe Biden’s administration to interfere with his election prospects.
The coverage of Trump’s trial and the unprecedented verdict notched Fox News a ratings coup over its competitors.
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday forcefully pushed back before a House panel led by Trump’s congressional allies, noting how some Republicans are echoing unfounded conspiracy theories.
To claim that a New York jury’s verdict was “somehow controlled by the Justice Department” is “an attack on the judicial process itself,” Garland said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had called Trump’s trial a “sham” and proclaimed a “weaponization” of the justice system against Trump.
With Republican leadership continuing to prop up Trump ahead of the election, Bauer said, the former president doesn’t necessarily need those media outlets that can be “loose with the facts” to boost his beliefs.
Bauer said social media users on platforms like X and internet livestreamers who cover Trump’s events — one prominent YouTube channel, Right Side Broadcasting Network, has more than 1.65 million subscribers — represent another form of broadcasting that’s developed further since the last presidential election. Trump also started his own social media platform, Truth Social, after he was banned by Facebook and Twitter, now known as X, following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Truth Social reported an accumulated loss of tens of millions of dollars last fall.
In the meantime, conservative and right-wing news sites have reportedly struggled with traffic amid larger financial struggles across the entire legacy and digital news media industry, as once-reliable traffic sources like Facebook and Instagram limit “political content” to users’ feeds.
On the flip side, the progressive advocacy website Media Matters for America laid off dozens of staffers last month, with its president blaming a “legal assault on multiple fronts,” including a lawsuit filed last fall by X owner Elon Musk over an investigative report about advertising on the social media platform.
“The terrain on which this election is being run is fundamentally, materially different than four years ago,” Bauer said.
Ophir, the University at Buffalo researcher, said that while the public’s right to free speech and the media’s ability to remain independent must be considered, social media companies can also remove “harmful content” and media outlets spreading false propaganda can be held responsible, at least through the courts.
But “without a systematic change,” he added, the public “will continue to suffer from the havoc of misinformation in the years to come.”
It is rather odd that a man that has undermined our elections, the DOJ, our judicial system, the FBI and specific prosecutors, judges and anyone who disagrees with him is now being a purported as a unifier based on an interview with Dr. Phil. I guess they think his words can somehow erase all of his deeds.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Former officers who defended US Capitol on January 6 visited the Pennsylvania House. Some GOP members jeered
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (AP) — A visit to the Pennsylvania House floor by two former police officers who helped protect the US Capitol during the January 6 riot of 2021 drew boos and walkouts by some Republican legislators this week.
Witnesses said the appearance Wednesday by former US Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and his ex-boss, former Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, triggered a distinctly negative response from some Republicans, with someone even shouting that they were cowards.
House Speaker Joanna McClinton, a Philadelphia Democrat, who welcomed Gonell and Dunn to the floor, called the GOP reaction to the former officers disrespectful. She said in a statement that many Republican members walked off the floor, turned their backs and booed.
“The GOP members’ shameful behavior was unbecoming of our institution for any guest, let alone two of the men responsible for defending our democracy during a dark day in our nation’s history,” McClinton said. ”The Republicans’ disrespect, lack of patriotism and even common decency, epitomizes the poor behavior that so many in the MAGA movement have adopted.”
In a text on Thursday, Dunn said he heard a commotion but could not make out what was being said. He thanked Republican Minority Leader Bryan Cutler of Lancaster County for taking a photo with them.
Dunn said he was “honored to be there being recognized.” The two had made an appearance a few hours earlier Wednesday on the steps of the Pennsylvania Capitol at an event coordinated by the campaign of President Joe Biden.
Video from the scene in the chamber as business was wrapping up for the week showed several Republican members and staff, including Cutler, applauding the officers. Cutler later noted House Democrats sent out a fundraising email immediately afterward.
“The truth is, I support law enforcement. I spoke to the gentlemen about the job they performed,” Cutler told reporters Wednesday afternoon. “And I think that when you look at it, I’m tired of the House speaker using the guest list and the legislative calendar for political purposes.”
The House Democratic Campaign Committee solicitation said “House Republicans couldn’t leave the floor fast enough in protest” and asked for contributions “to help us defend our democracy” and keep their House majority.
At the Biden campaign event earlier on the state Capitol steps, Dunn and Gonell were flanked by more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers. The two warned at the appearance that they see former president and current GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump as a danger to democracy.
“Donald Trump is the greatest threat to our democracy and the safety of communities across the country today,” Dunn told reporters. “He has encouraged and continues to encourage political violence. … His deranged, self-centered, obsessive quest for power is the reason violent insurrectionists assaulted me and my brave colleagues.”
Hundreds of law enforcement officers were beaten and bloodied in the attack by Trump supporters, who descended after a rally and smashed into the Capitol while Trump remained silent for hours.
Gonell said the attackers assaulted him repeatedly. He recounted how he was beaten, punched, kicked and hit with his own baton in the head. Someone tried to drag him into the mob and beat him with an American flag still attached to a flagpole, he said. Gonell said his injuries required two surgeries.
“Donald Trump called the people who injured me and attacked our Capitol hostages, patriots and political prisoners. If those people are those things, who are we?” Gonnell said, adding that the officers on January 6 were defending elected officials from both parties “regardless of their political ideology,”
Dunn, who is Black, has previously described how the crowd in the Capitol yelled racial slurs at him, something that never happened while he was on duty during more than a dozen years on the force.
Rep. Mike Schlossberg, Democrat of Lehigh, said he witnessed his Republican colleagues’ response on Wednesday and heard one member refer to Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by police inside the Capitol during the rioting.
He said he saw two Republican members walking out and that other Democrats reported that as many as 10 GOP House members did so. It was a notable contrast to the solemn respect that normally greets soldiers and police officers when they are recognized on the House floor, he said.
The cheering that can be heard on a video of the House activity was a Democratic attempt to loudly cheer over the booing, Schlossberg said.
“It was despicable and it was an embarrassment,” he said. “This is the party that supposedly cherishes law and order.”
Old school, remember the OLD SAYING-- truth, justice, and the American way.....corny- now we have Trump who lies constantly, laughs at justice- judges should be honored...and the American way- today's American way- no ethics, make as much money as you can, and make sure you screw your opponents. Sad days.
"You've never lived till you've almost died, life has a flavor the protected will never know" A vet or cop
Here he goes again. Some call telling the truth an attack. Sadly that's not the reality......
Trump calls Jan. 6 defendants ‘warriors’
Former President Trump defended his supporters who rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and called them “warriors” at a Nevada rally on Sunday.
“Those J6 warriors – they were warriors – but they were really, more than anything else, they’re victims of what happened,” Trump said at the rally, speaking to a crowd of supporters.
“All they were doing is protesting a rigged election. That’s what they were doing,” Trump continued, repeating his false claims that the 2024 presidential election was rigged against him.
Trump also falsely claimed police welcomed rioters into the Capitol and, Trump said, told the rioters, “Go in, go in, go in, go in.”
“What a set up that was,” Trump added. “What a horrible, horrible thing, and you know, that blows two ways, that blows two ways, believe me.”
But he did a great interview with Dr. Phil!
Trump and his supporters have at times sought to recharacterize the Jan. 6 riots as peaceful. In reality, however, about 140 officers were injured, and five died in the days after the attack. One Capitol Police officer likened the scene to a “war zone” and recounted, before a congressional committee, slipping in other people’s blood as she engaged in “hand-to-hand combat” for hours.
Trump, in the past, has used similar words to describe those jailed over their actions during the Jan. 6 attack. In November 2023, Trump referred to them as “hostages.”
He also said in March that, if reelected in November, one of his first tasks will be to “Free the January 6 Hostages being wrongfully imprisoned!” As of Jan. 6, 2024, more than 1,200 defendants had been charged in connection to the attack on the Capitol. More than 450 have been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers or employees, according to the Justice Department.
More than 700 individuals have pleaded guilty to various federal charges, the Justice Department said.
At several points in the rally, he addressed the heat, quipping to supporters that his campaign told attendees: “do not come,” which he then bragged resulted in “only 20,000” showing up.
But it was one moment wherein Trump remarked in jest that he only cared about his fans’ votes, not his supporters as people.
“I don't want anybody going on me. We need every voter,” he said. “I don't care about you. I just want your vote.”
As his supporters laughed, Trump then went on to say that reporters attending the rally would take his words out of context and tell viewers that the ex-president had said a “horrible” thing onstage.
Despite his humor, the ex-presiden’t couldn’t resist complaining about the heat as his rally went on.
“It's 110, but it doesn't feel it to me,” Trump said. “I'm up here sweating like a dog. They don’t think about me. This is hard work.”
Come to find out it wasn't a political rally at all. It was a poorly done stand up comedy routine. Which is the standard line given every time he says something stupid like that.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
At several points in the rally, he addressed the heat, quipping to supporters that his campaign told attendees: “do not come,” which he then bragged resulted in “only 20,000” showing up.
But it was one moment wherein Trump remarked in jest that he only cared about his fans’ votes, not his supporters as people.
“I don't want anybody going on me. We need every voter,” he said. “I don't care about you. I just want your vote.”
As his supporters laughed, Trump then went on to say that reporters attending the rally would take his words out of context and tell viewers that the ex-president had said a “horrible” thing onstage.
Despite his humor, the ex-presiden’t couldn’t resist complaining about the heat as his rally went on.
“It's 110, but it doesn't feel it to me,” Trump said. “I'm up here sweating like a dog. They don’t think about me. This is hard work.”
Come to find out it wasn't a political rally at all. It was a poorly done stand up comedy routine. Which is the standard line given every time he says something stupid like that.
Here is what trump said about a candidate for president who is under federal investigation and or indictment.....
In November 2016, Donald Trump stated that a candidate under federal investigation "has no right to be running" and that it would be "virtually impossible" for a president under indictment to govern.
Republicans are constantly having to figure out which one of trump's versions of the truth they need to believe. Usually it's the one that is more convenient at the moment.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
When Republicans sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Trump Weighs in on Milwaukee Flub and Somehow Makes It Even Worse Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling Thu, June 13, 2024 at 4:38 PM EDT·2 min read
Republicans were quick to spin Donald Trump’s decision to call Milwaukee a “horrible city” after his private meeting with House GOP lawmakers Thursday, offering a confused array of cover-up possibilities. And Trump’s own explanation seemed to make the least sense out of the bunch.
GOP representatives rushed to provide justifications that included whining about the city’s delay in answering the former president’s request to expand the security perimeter around the Republican National Convention to keep protesters further at bay. Several loyal allies even claimed that Trump never made the comments at all. Trump took a different route altogether.
“It was very clear what I meant,” Trump told Fox News’s Aishah Hasnie. “I said, we’re very concerned with crime. I love Milwaukee, I have great friends in Milwaukee, but it’s, as you know, the crime numbers are terrible. We have to be very careful.”
But that wasn’t all. Instead, Trump seems to feel it was obvious that he meant multiple things by the short insult.
“I was referring to, also, the election, the ballots, the way it went down, it was very bad in Milwaukee. Very, very bad,” Trump continued. “And the people understand that and they agree with me. Everybody agrees. No, that was a fake story that came out.”
“Yeah. Milwaukee has a problem with crime, as do most Democrat-run cities,” he said. “Most Democrat-run cities, almost all of them have problems. But they also have a problem with votes. And election integrity. And that’s what we want to make sure we get straight.”
Trump may still be reeling after a trio of his allies were hit with felony charges by Wisconsin prosecutors last week for their involvement in the 2020 fake elector scheme, including Kenneth Chesebro, who allegedly designed the national plot that aimed to frame Trump as the winner of the presidential election.
And, as for Trump’s claim that the city’s crime numbers “are terrible”—in reality, they’re way down, with homicides in the city decreasing by 42 percent when compared to 2022, according to data from the Milwaukee Police Department. Crimes such as rape, aggravated assault, theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson have also dropped off drastically in the Brew City.
Baselessly insulting the city where you’ll be nominated for U.S. president in a handful of weeks is certainly a choice, but here’s hoping that Milwaulkee still knows how to give Trump a warm welcome when he arrives.
And, as for Trump’s claim that the city’s crime numbers “are terrible”—in reality, they’re way down, with homicides in the city decreasing by 42 percent when compared to 2022, according to data from the Milwaukee Police Department. Crimes such as rape, aggravated assault, theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson have also dropped off drastically in the Brew City.
That would require processing statistics and factual information. Why would he start doing that now?
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Turns out IRS audits of wealthy offer terrific return on investment for taxpayers
New research shows reviews, which have become partisan football, yield some immediate payback, bigger long-term gains due to deterrence
Audits by the Internal Revenue Service have long helped claw back funds needed for the functioning of government. But those in-depth assessments of taxpayers — especially the in-person ones — come at a significant cost to the IRS.
“There are a lot of open questions about how best to raise government revenue,” noted Nathaniel Hendren, a former Harvard economics professor who just started working at MIT. “Audits have been recently at the forefront of this debate,” he added, with congressional Republicans moving repeatedly this year to slash IRS funding, arguing it would both save costs and eliminate some red tape for consumers.
It turns out auditing is one government investment that pays off. A new working paper, co-authored by Hendren and published last month by the National Bureau of Economic Research, shows that audits, particularly of higher-income taxpayers, raise significantly more money than they cost.
Specifically, the paper concludes that audits cost more than previously estimated, owing to everything from training to computers and the office space needed for in-person meetings. But the revenue raised more than makes up for these expenses, mostly because audits act as a powerful deterrent to tax evasion for years to come.
“When you audit somebody, you get some amount of money at the time of the audit,” said Hendren. “But we estimate that you get three times more than from the initial audit in the subsequent 14 years.”
Co-author Ben Sprung-Keyser ’23, an incoming postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard’s nonpartisan research and policy institute Opportunity Insights, explained how it works. “If the IRS audits someone today and that person learns that they are not able to claim certain deductions or are required to report additional income, it might impact the taxes that they pay in the future,” he said.
That proved to be especially true for audits of higher-income earners, even though those audits cost more. “Audits become more complicated and more expensive at the top of the income distribution,” explained Sprung-Keyser, who is also co-director of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Policy Impacts. “They take more hours. They’re conducted by employees who are of a higher pay grade and therefore more expensive. But it turns out the revenue raised from those audits is even greater.”
By mapping audit costs and returns across the income spectrum, he continued, “We saw very clear evidence that the return from audits at the top of the income distribution really exceeded by quite a bit the returns at the bottom of the income distribution.” With the top 10 percent of earners, they found, audits have the potential to return more than $12 for each $1 spent.
The research team, which also included the University of Sydney’s Ellen Stuart (a former Harvard postdoc) and the Treasury’s William C. Boning, was able to come up with these more detailed numbers due to access to data collected by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. “We were grateful that folks at the U.S. Treasury Department were willing to work with us,” said Hendren.
Their paper has clear policy implications. “The Congressional Budget Office, for example, scores estimates of IRS spending based on a series of assumptions: about the nature of deterrence effects, about the nature of diminishing marginal returns with more audit investment, and about the relative return to focusing on higher-income individuals as compared to the population as a whole,” said Sprung-Keyser.
He hopes the paper, recently highlighted in a Washington Post opinion piece, will provide policymakers with useful data as they weigh funding for audits and the IRS as a whole.
We’ll hunt you’: Texas man arrested for allegedly threatening FBI agent on Hunter Biden case The case is the latest involving charges of threats against law enforcement tied to politically sensitive investigations around Trump.
An FBI seal is seen on a wall in Omaha, Nebraska. A Texas man is facing felony charges after allegedly threatening an FBI agent who worked on an investigation relating to Hunter Biden. | AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall
By JOSH GERSTEIN and KYLE CHENEY
06/13/2024 08:45 PM EDT
A Texas man was arrested Thursday after he allegedly threatened to murder FBI agents, including those who worked on the investigation that led to Hunter Biden’s felony gun conviction Tuesday by a federal jury in Delaware.
Timothy Muller, 43, of Fort Worth, was taken into custody outside his home Thursday morning and charged in a criminal complaint with making threats and with influencing, impeding or retaliating against a federal official, the Justice Department said in a news release.
A supervisory special agent from Baltimore who worked on the Biden case received a threatening voicemail and text messages on his FBI cell phone just hours after the guilty verdicts against the president’s son Tuesday morning, according to court documents describing the fast-moving investigation.
Muller allegedly told the agent that should Trump win the 2024 election, FBI officials would be thrown in jail and that if he appeared to lose the consequences would be even worse.
“You can steal another election and the guns will come out and we’ll hunt you c---suckers down and slaughter you like the traitorous dogs you are,” he said in the minute-long voicemail, according to the complaint. “The last thing you’ll ever hear are the horrified shrieks of your widow and orphans.”
“You’re going to jail-if you’re lucky. But I suspect you won’t be,” said one of the text messages, which were laced with additional expletives and homophobic slurs.
Muller appeared briefly in federal court in Fort Worth Thursday afternoon and a federal magistrate judge ordered him detained temporarily, pending a bail hearing scheduled for next Tuesday, according to court records.
Biden says he won’t pardon Hunter after conviction
SharePlay Video The case is the latest involving charges of threats against law enforcement tied to politically sensitive investigations around Trump. Attorney General Merrick Garland has argued that political misinformation about the cases has stoked calls for violence against the FBI, including recent false claims by Trump and his allies that the bureau authorized an assassination attempt when they searched his Mar-a-Lago home.
Prosecutors from special counsel Jack Smith’s team have asked a federal judge in Florida to impose a gag order barring Trump from publicly leveling the assassination claims. Trump was not home when his Florida residence was searched.
“It is absurd and dangerous that public servants, many of whom risk their lives every day, are being threatened for simply doing their jobs and adhering to the principles that have long guided the Justice Department’s work,” Garland said in a Washington Post op-ed published Tuesday.
Trump’s campaign and his allies have argued without evidence that Hunter Biden’s criminal conviction — for possessing a firearm while addicted to drugs — was an effort to distract from other misconduct by the Biden family.
The court filings refer to the agent only as J.W., but note that he “was previously named in open source reports” about the handling of Hunter Biden’s controversial laptop computer.
In a story published prior to the 2020 presidential election, the New York Post reported that Supervisory Special Agent Joshua Wilson’s name appeared on a federal subpoena related to the laptop. Jurors at Hunter Biden’s trial were shown the laptop in question and heard testimony from a different FBI agent about its contents, but Wilson did not testify.
The foundation of American Democracy is the peaceful transfer of power.
Trump failed his "Oath of Office."
The House of Representatives of the 117th U.S. Congress adopted one article of impeachment against Trump of "incitement of insurrection", stating that he had incited the January 6 attack of the U.S. Capitol. His second impeachment.
What former president owes millions of dollars for defamation and sexual assault? trump
A jury awarded $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll on Friday in a stinging and expensive rebuke to former President Donald Trump for his continued social media attacks against the longtime advice columnist over her claims that he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store.
The award, coupled with a $5 million sexual assault and defamation verdict last year from another jury in a case brought by Carroll, raised to $88.3 million what Trump must pay her.
What former president was found liable for fraud?
Judge orders Donald Trump and his companies to pay $355 million. The judge found they engaged in a years-long scheme to dupe banks and others with financial statements that inflated his wealth.
On May 30, history was made as a New York jury found former President Donald J. Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. This marked the first time a former U.S. president has been criminally convicted.
The foundation of American Democracy is the peaceful transfer of power.
Trump failed his "Oath of Office."
The House of Representatives of the 117th U.S. Congress adopted one article of impeachment against Trump of "incitement of insurrection", stating that he had incited the January 6 attack of the U.S. Capitol. His second impeachment.
What former president owes millions of dollars for defamation and sexual assault? trump
A jury awarded $83.3 million to E. Jean Carroll on Friday in a stinging and expensive rebuke to former President Donald Trump for his continued social media attacks against the longtime advice columnist over her claims that he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store.
The award, coupled with a $5 million sexual assault and defamation verdict last year from another jury in a case brought by Carroll, raised to $88.3 million what Trump must pay her.
What former president was found liable for fraud?
Judge orders Donald Trump and his companies to pay $355 million. The judge found they engaged in a years-long scheme to dupe banks and others with financial statements that inflated his wealth.
On May 30, history was made as a New York jury found former President Donald J. Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. This marked the first time a former U.S. president has been criminally convicted.
And what are you so thrilled about?
"trump interview with Dr Phil was great."
All lies, I'm sure.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
Here is a statement made by Steve Bannon in a speech he made on the stage trump spoke on shortly afterwords concerning the outcome of the upcoming 2024 election. This was at a gathering for Turning Point U.S.A. an American nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college, and university campuses. Yeah, this is the message they need to spread to our youth.....
"Are you prepared to give it all? Are you prepared to leave it all on the battlefield? ... Ladies and gentlemen, it's very simple: victory or death!"
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week
A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out.
Video edited to make it appear Biden tried to sit down when there wasn’t a chair
CLAIM: A video shows President Joe Biden trying to sit in a chair that wasn’t there during a ceremony in Normandy, France, commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
THE FACTS: The video, in which Biden’s chair is for the most part clearly visible, is cut before the president sits down. Full footage of the ceremony shows the president looking over his shoulder for his chair and pausing before taking a seat.
As World War II veterans and world leaders gathered to honor the famed Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France, social media users shared the short clip to further an ongoing narrative that Biden is infirm.
In the video, Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron shake hands while standing between their wives, first ladies Jill Biden and Brigitte Macron. The president then briefly looks over his left shoulder, bends over and hovers in that position as U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is announced as the event’s next speaker.
“This is disturbing,” reads one X post. “Pres. Biden is literally trying to find the invisible chair to sit in. It’s just all so sad, and disgraceful to those in attendance who desire to honor the brave men who died to protect our nation from tyrannical governments.”
Another X post states: “Biden is trying to sit in a chair that doesn’t exist. The problem is that he intends to continue running for the presidential elections.”
But the video spreading online cuts off right before Biden takes a seat. In footage of the ceremony in its entirety, the president glances at his chair, bends over, pauses as Austin’s introduction begins and then sits down at the same time as Macron, their wives and the people sitting behind them. Biden’s chair is visible throughout the video although it is obscured in some sections.
Biden spoke later in the event, pledging “we will not walk away” from Ukraine, drawing a direct line from the fight to liberate Europe from Nazi domination to today’s war against Russian aggression. He called D-Day a “powerful illustration of how alliances, real alliances make us stronger.” The June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion was unprecedented in its scale and audacity, using the largest-ever armada of ships, troops, planes and vehicles to punch a hole in Adolf Hitler’s defenses in western Europe and change the course of World War II.
Nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy that day, most from the U.S., Britain and Canada. They faced around 50,000 German troops.
Anti-abortion activist convicted for blockading a reproductive health clinic, not for praying there
CLAIM: A 75-year-old woman named Paulette Harlow was sentenced to two years in prison for praying outside an abortion clinic in Washington.
THE FACTS: Harlow was convicted in August 2023 of federal civil rights offenses for her role in the October 2020 invasion and blockade of the Washington Surgi-Clinic. Along with other anti-abortion activists, Harlow used force and physical obstruction to execute the blockade, according to the Department of Justice. She was sentenced to 24 months in prison on Friday. Social media users are misrepresenting Harlow’s crimes, alleging that she is being put behind bars because she chose to pray beside the clinic.
“A DC judge just sentenced 75-year-old Paulette Harlow, who is in poor health, to 2 years in prison for praying outside an abortion clinic,” reads one X post that had received approximately 15,000 likes and 9,800 shares as of Wednesday. “Her husband fears she might die there.”
An Instagram post that shared a screenshot of the X post states: “The justice system has been broken for a long time and needs a f---ing overhaul. It’s not going to happen overnight but it NEEDS to happen.”
The post, which received more than 4,200 likes, also referenced former President Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts last week. “Stop saying ‘if’ they can do it to Trump, they can do it to you,” it reads. “They already ARE doing it to you.”
But Harlow, who is named in court documents as Paula “Paulette” Harlow, isn’t getting prison time for praying outside the clinic.
The 75-year-old was sentenced to two years behind bars after being convicted on two charges for taking part in the blockade of the Washington Surgi-Clinic: felony conspiracy against civil rights and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, more commonly known as the FACE Act.
Enacted in 1994, the federal FACE Act prohibits physically obstructing or using the threat of force to intimidate or interfere with a person seeking reproductive health services. The law also prohibits damaging property at abortion clinics and other reproductive health centers.
Harlow was charged alongside nine co-conspirators, including the blockade’s leaders, Lauren Handy and Jonathan Darnel. She was the last to be sentenced. All but one of the defendants were found guilty on the same charges as Harlow. The other pleaded guilty to violating the FACE Act. Handy and Darnel were sentenced to the most prison time, 57 months and 34 months, respectively. The rest received sentences ranging from 10 to 27 months.
“These 10 defendants have been held accountable for using force, threatening to use force and physically obstructing access to reproductive health care in the District of Columbia,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.
Martin Cannon, one of the defendants’ attorneys, said in a statement responding to Handy’s sentencing on May 14 that she and her co-defendants were united in non-violence and that “they conspired to be peaceful.”
Posts spread image of satirical ‘Gayo’ condiment as real
CLAIM: An image shows a bottle of rainbow-colored mayonnaise called “Gayo” that was released by Kraft to celebrate Pride Month.
THE FACTS: The image was fabricated. It was first posted in 2022 by a social media user who goes by the name “Doctor Photograph” and frequently shares satirical images of fake products based on the real thing. Kraft Heinz, the company that owns the Kraft brand, confirmed to The Associated Press that “Gayo” is not real.
As this year’s Pride Month kicked off on Saturday, the image spread out of context on social media, implying that “Gayo” is an actual product.
It shows someone’s hand holding a bottle of what is supposedly rainbow-colored mayonnaise in front of a grocery store shelf. “Real Gayo,” the label reads, along with taglines such as “Smooth & Sassy” and “Add Pride to your next BLT.” The Kraft logo also appears on the bottle.
Many posts shared the image with an added caption that reads, “what the hell is this.” One on Instagram had received more than 29,000 likes as of Monday.
But no such condiment exists.
The image, which has been misrepresented online during previous Pride Months, was created by the social media user Doctor Photograph, whose real name is George. He declined to give his last name due to concerns that his family could be harassed if it is made public.
Doctor Photograph’s X profile reads, “I create photoshopped labels, bootleg toys & doctored images.” He first shared the “Gayo” image in 2022 with the hashtags “#photoshopped” and “#thatlooksdoctored.” The user confirmed to the AP in an email that the image, which he made in Photoshop, “was definitely created as a joke for my followers.”
“My photoshops have been stolen/repurposed in the past but in those instances, I felt like my work was being recycled for likes, whereas in this case I felt like somebody used my work to stoke hate, which I really struggled with,” he added.
Kraft Heinz confirmed to the AP in an emailed statement that “this is not a real product.”
Doctor Photograph shared a similar image in 2021, with minor differences. For example, the supposed rainbow of mayonnaise is horizontal rather than vertical and the label uses the tagline, “Take Pride in your next sandwich.” Although the added caption in the image spreading on social media hides it, both fake labels include the text “(DoctorPhotograph).”
A post pinned to the top of Doctor Photograph’s X profile shows the original photo of Kraft mayonnaise that he edited, along with both versions of the satirical “Gayo.” Doctor Photograph posts many other images of fake satirical products, such as “Cannibal’s Condensed Human Soup” and “I Fell Off the Cliff Bar.”
So much for the trump roundtable at a black church in Michigan.
More: The pastor of the church who agreed to host Trump, Lorenzo Sewell, told MSNBC that people laughed in his face when he attempted to pitch them into attending the event. "I remember walking down Grand River, a place that is desolate on the west side of Detroit, and walking down the street and just inviting people, saying, The former president is here if you want to come,'" Sewell told MSNBC. "They were laughing like I was when I first was approached."
But kellyann conway came out and said to fox news that there were 8,000 people at a black church that could only hold a few hundred and there were empty pews.
‘Extremely Problematic’: Giuliani Gets Scolded in Bankruptcy Court for ‘Failures to Comply’ With Filings Jamie FreveleJun 18th, 2024, 10:45 am 182 comments
submit to reddit Rudy Giuliani AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File
Rudy Giuliani’s bankruptcy situation is not going well.
During a hearing with Giuliani’s creditors on Monday, the former mayor of New York City and advisor to former President Donald Trump was read the riot act for months of trying to avoid taking any actions to resolve his case, according to The New York Times. Giuliani filed for bankruptcy protection in December after he was ordered to pay Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss $148 million for defaming them following the 2020 election.
The Times described the confrontation in court:
Rudolph W. Giuliani’s creditors and the judge overseeing his bankruptcy case aired their frustrations with him in court on Monday after months in which he has provided incomplete information about his finances, missed filing deadlines or failed to have his lawyers respond at all.
In the months since he filed, Giuliani has been attempting to dodge his responsibilities:
Mr. Giuliani’s creditors have asked the bankruptcy judge to appoint an independent trustee to take over his personal and business finances, citing his failures to comply with routine filings and their growing suspicion that he is hiding money. …
“There are reasons to be very concerned here,” Judge Sean H. Lane of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York said at the end of a nearly three-hour hearing.
Judge Lane and lawyers for Mr. Giuliani’s creditors have previously raised concerns about his disengaged approach to the bankruptcy proceedings. But on Monday, a representative from the U.S. Trustee’s office, a division of the Justice Department responsible for ensuring that debtors and creditors are treated fairly in bankruptcy proceedings, signaled that the office is also losing patience with Mr. Giuliani.
That representative from the Trustee’s office, Andrea Schwartz, was prepared to dismiss Giuliani’s bankruptcy case, taking away the protection of his assets in the payment of his settlement. The Times reported that among those assets were “his homes in New York and Florida and personal belongings like his New York Yankees World Series rings.” When he does provide information about his income, “reports to the bankruptcy court about his spending have been incomplete and confusing.” Giuliani has also been unable to hire an accountant or bookkeeper.
In addition to the defamation case that has been settled, Giuliani also faces criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona related to the 2020 election. Schwartz said of the ex-mayor’s situation: “All of the things that are going on here are extremely problematic.”
Anybody else would be sitting in a 8x8 cell right about now.