Month: January 2023

Categories
Congress GOP

Maxine Waters Takes A GOP Colleague To School When He Whines About ‘Socialism’ In The US

It’s a favorite red herring used by Republicans when they cannot possibly win a debate on facts or reason: Cry socialism.

But as one GOP congressman found out Tuesday, using the socialism cry doesn’t always end well when someone turns the argument on its head and exposes you as as fearmongering demagogue.

The setting was the House Rules Committee. Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY) insisted, “We will not have a cradle to grave dependency. This country will not be all things to all people. We cannot create an expectation that government is all things to all people.”

Langworthy then asked Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), who was testifying as a witness:

“Do you agree with Donald Trump’s statement in the 2019 State of the Union that America will never be a socialist country.”

Waters noted that the Trump administration ran up the national debt and spent like a drunken sailor, pointing out that Langworthy’s fears about socialism were bogus, asking him if the vaunted GOP/Trump Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that many Republicans in Congress took funds from was socialist.

Langworthy reiterated his question about whether or not Waters agreed with what Trump said about socialism. To that, she responded:

“President Trump said a lot of things. He said he thought Hitler did some good things. For those of you who continue to embrace Trump and all that he did and said — I reject all that. Trump has proven to be someone who is in line with dictators and admires them and claims to love them, so I reject any and everything Trump has to say.”

Finally, Waters shut down Langworthy by telling him:

“Sometimes you like socialism, sometimes you act like you don’t.”

Categories
Crime Donald Trump

WATCH Trump Plead The Fifth OVER 400 TIMES During Deposition In New York Fraud Case

As part of a fraud investigation conducted by New York Attorney General Letitia James, disgraced one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump was forced to sit for a deposition last summer.

Video of that deposition has now been obtained by CBS News, which released portions of it.

According to CBS:

“This is the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country.” He called James “a renegade and out of control prosecutor” and accused her of having political motives for her office’s investigation into his financial practices.

Just over a month later, on Sept. 21, James announced her office’s lawsuit against Trump, three of his children and his company, accusing them of a long-running scheme to inflate the value of their properties. The Trumps have denied wrongdoing.

“This whole thing is very unfair,” Trump says in the deposition video.

“Anyone in my position not taking the Fifth Amendment would be a fool, an absolute fool,” Trump said, adding that on the advice of counsel, “I respectfully decline to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.

“This will be my answer to any further questions.”

While Trump did indeed have a right to cite the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination, doing so can be used against him in civil litigation like the case being pursued by James. Jurors are allowed to consider such evidence in civil cases. Assertions of the Fifth Amendment by defendants cannot be brought up in criminal cases.

At a 2016 campaign rally, Trump attacked aides working for his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, after they pled the Fifth:

“So there are five people taking the Fifth Amendment, like you see on the mob, right? You see the mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”

Categories
Congress Donald Trump GOP

WATCH Matt Gaetz Get Cold Busted By Ari Melber For Lying About Asking Trump For A Pardon

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) got reminded of allegations that he tried to obtain a presidential pardon from disgraced ex-president Donald Trump and presented with the receipts by MSNBC host Ari Melber during a Monday appearance on The Beat.

Melber made reference to a December 2020 meeting at the White House where Trump discussed strategy with top advisers for how they could successfully overturn the results of the presidential election which was won by Joe Biden. He then asked Gaetz what he had suggested Trump do about the election. The Florida Republican replied, “Nothing. I was seeking to understand the process because this was unprecedented.”

Melber: “Did you hear anything in that meeting that you considered unconstitutional or illegal?”

Gaetz: “No.”

The host then inquired, “Then why after that meeting did you seek a pardon for yourself and others who attended that meeting?”

That’s when Gaetz began suggesting he never did any such thing:

“That’s been misreported What I’ve suggested is that there were various groups of people that President Trump was considering pardoning for a variety of reasons, and I was very involved in a number of pardon negotiations.”

Melber brought out the receipts, citing testimony given under oath to the Jan. 6 House Select Committee:

“They all testified under oath that you specifically requested a pardon,” he said, before playing snippets of testimony, including from former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. and former White House senior adviser Eric Herschmann.”

Gaetz went into full spin mode:

“Cassidy Hutchinson is a known liar. There’s testimony she’s given that directly results in perjury. So, I would certainly take exception with her testimony. I do not remember it the same way Eric Herschmann does. I did have conversations with Eric Herschmann about different groups of people that could potentially receive pardons, even including some of the people who may have committed a technical violation of federal law but that weren’t engaged in violence on Jan. 6.”

The congressman then suggested that he only sought pardons for others, not himself:

“I had a lot of conversations with [former White House Presidential Personnel Office Director John] McEntee about pardons for other folks and different groups of people. Whether or not some lawmakers would’ve fallen within those groups, I think, you know, could be debated and discussed. But when it comes to, you know, was I asking for something specifically for me and only me under those circumstances? The answer would be no.”

It should be noted that Gaetz also reportedly sought a pardon from Trump for allegations that he had sex with an underage girl and took her across state lines in direct violation of federal law.

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Elections

Here Are The 6 Crimes Trump Could Be Indicted For In The ‘Imminent’ Georgia Election Fraud Case: Report

There’s a very real chance that we will know as soon as this week exactly who Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis plans to charge with crimes connected to efforts meant to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the Peach State.

Among those facing charges: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) along with his one-time BFF, disgraced former president Donald Trump.

But if Trump is indeed indicted and put on trial, what crimes might he be accused of having committed?

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post has looked carefully at the case and some of the hints that have begun to leak out from Georgia and suggests that Trump is facing six charges.

Solicitation to commit election fraud

This involves inducing someone else to commit a crime involving an election. There are felony and misdemeanor versions.

Georgia law makes it a crime “when, with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a [felony/misdemeanor] under this article, he or she solicits, requests, commands, importunes, or otherwise attempts to cause the other person to engage in such conduct.”

Conspiracy to commit election fraud

This is similar to solicitation, but it involves working with others to commit the fraud. That would include Graham, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, and former chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Intentional interference with performance of election duties

This charge involves, according to Georgia law interfering, hindering, or delaying the results of an election.

Interference with primaries and elections/filing false documents

This would include the “fake electors” list floated by Trump and others connected to him.

(Some legal experts have suggested that the certificate the fake electors submitted to Congress wasitself illegal, because on it, they falsely claimed to be “duly elected.”)

False statements

In other words, lying, as the law states “a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation … in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of state government.”

Racketeering

This is the most serious of the potential charges and carries enhanced penalties.

Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (or RICO) Act is broader than its federal counterpart. It requires proving two predicate crimes and establishing a pattern of racketeering activity, but it doesn’t require those crimes to be indicted separately. And while such laws are most commonly linked to organized crime, it has been used against public officials.

All of the charges are serious, but the racketeering one is the most treacherous for Trump because it would allow the presentation of evidence that might not otherwise be included in the more narrowly-drawn charges.

 

Categories
Fox News GOP Right Wing Morons

Fox News Bans Matt And Mercedes Schlapp From Its Airwaves As Groping Allegation Causes More Fallout

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union and his wife, Mercedes, are apparently now banned from the airwaves at Fox News, the latest major fallout from allegations that Matt groped and sexually assaulted a staffer who worked for the failed Senate campaign of 2022 Republican nominee Herschel Walker.

According to Mediaite, neither Matt or Mercedes have appeared on Fox since the allegations first surfaced earlier this month.

Since the … story broke, Matt and Mercedes, who were regulars on Fox News and Fox Business, have disappeared from the air. Mercedes, who served in former President Donald Trump’s White House and on his unsuccessful 2020 campaign, was last on the air the morning of Jan. 6, while Matt hasn’t appeared on either network since Jan. 4.

Fox has yet to cover the groping allegation. The network did not respond to a request for comment on the absence of the Schlapps from the air.

The Daily Beast was first to report on what allegedly transpired between Matt Schlapp and the Walker staffer.

A staffer for Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign has alleged to The Daily Beast that longtime Republican activist Matt Schlapp made “sustained and unwanted and unsolicited” sexual contact with him while the staffer was driving Schlapp back from an Atlanta bar this October.

The staffer said the incident occurred the night of Oct. 19, when Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union and lead organizer for the influential Conservative Political Action Conference, “groped” and “fondled” his crotch in his car against his will after buying him drinks at two different bars.

The staffer described Schlapp, who had traveled to Georgia for a Walker campaign event, as inappropriately and repeatedly intruding into his personal space at the bars. He said he was also keenly aware of his “power dynamic” with Schlapp, widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in national conservative politics.

Schlapp as repeatedly denied he did anything improper and CPAC will continue to be held in March, though it remains unclear if he will be in attendance.