Tag: Donald Trump

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GOP

Kevin McCarthy Tried To Troll Dr. Fauci And Wound Up Mocking Trump Instead

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) probably thought he had the perfect line to troll Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to the president, who announced that he would be retiring after over 50 years as one the nation’s top experts on disease.

Appearing on Fox News, McCarthy told host Jesse Watters:

“I just have one rule of thumb: I really don’t trust anyone that keeps a mural of themselves in their office. I just think those types of individuals should have to come and answer the questions.”

HuffPost reports that Dr. Fauci does indeed have a portrait of himself in his office:

The Fauci image was painted in 2020 by singer/songwriter/artist Joan Baez to honor him as someone who has “made meaningful social change without the use of violence.”

However, there is a person who has portraits of himself painted and pays for them, although usually not with his own money: Disgraced ex-president Donald Trump.

Trump has a large portrait of himself at his Mar-a-Lago resort and famously lined the walls of his New York office with magazine covers featuring his visage. His post-presidential office even features a small statue of Trump.

That boomeranged badly on McCarthy, who is already under fire from Trump. The failed, one-term former president recently called him “very very foolish” for failing to appoint Republicans to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection.

McCarthy was thoroughly mocked on Twitter for his “trust” declaration.

 

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Donald Trump GOP U.S. Senate

Is Donald Trump Blackmailing Lindsey Graham? A Former Republican Operative Weighs In

Back in 2016, when it became clear that Donald Trump might just be the 2016 GOP presidential nominee, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned that nominating Trump would be catastrophic for Republicans, posting his warning on Twitter.

Trump did indeed win the nomination and then went on to win the 2016 election, defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, and Graham suddenly became one of the Donald’s staunchest defenders.

So what happened? Why did Graham do a 180 so quickly? Could it have been blackmail?

That question was poised to former Republican operative Tim Miller by Ron Filpkowski this week when Filipkowski asked what member of the GOP had most disappointed Miller in recent years.

Miller named Graham, noting that the senator had been a “hoot” to have on the 2016 campaign trail. At the time, Graham was supporting Jeb Bush and making appearances on the former Florida governor’s behalf:

“Me and Lindsey got to hang out a lot, like, two months. And his hatred for Trump, Ron, was greater than ours…. he would say stuff to me and every once in a while I’d be like, ‘OK, Lindsey, you’re going a little far. He’s really bad, but he’s not Hitler. He’s too stupid to be Hitler.”

That led Filpkowski to ask Miller if he thought perhaps Graham had become an ardent Trumper because Trump had blackmailed him.

Miller replied:

“No, I don’t. I don’t think Trump is good enough at keeping secrets to have blackmail… Lindsey, I think, is just a really weak person.”

Others, however, disagree, and  Jon Cooper of the Democratic Coalition said in 2019 that a Republican told him Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin did indeed have dirt on Graham and it was sexual in nature:

 

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Crime Donald Trump Espionage Justice Department

DOJ Subpoenas Security Video From Mar-a-Lago – Suspects Trump May Still Have Classified Material

The Department of Justice has subpoenaed security video from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort because “officials are not certain whether they have recovered all the presidential records,” according to The New York Times.

Sources told the Times that Justice Department officials are trying to get additional footage of the August 8 raid at the ex-president’s Palm Beach golf resort, a clear signal that the investigation is expanding.

The Times also reports that over 300 sensitive documents were taken by Trump when he left the White House.

Documents seized by the FBI were marked “Top Secret,” “Secret” and “Confidential.”

The disgraced former president is suspected of having violated several sections of federal law, including the Espionage Act, which could result in Trump serving decades in prison if he is charged and found guilty.

On Monday, Trump and his attorneys filed a bizarre court document in which they argue that the former president did indeed engage in illegal behavior:

Specifically, the filing states that Trump was subpoenaed on May 11, 2022, and “On June 2, 2022, President Trump, through counsel, invited the FBI to come to Mar-a-Lago to retrieve responsive documents.”

Approximately a month later, Trump extended an invitation for the FBI to return and verify what he had in his possession. That raises the question of why still had documents after June 2. That led to the search warrant being issued because the ex-president was still in violation of the law.

The court filing also has a direct admission from Trump that he did indeed take classified government documents, which is expressly forbidden and illegal under both the Espionage Act and the Presidential Records Act.

Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe had this to say about Trump’s amateurish court filing:

“It doesn’t really give any good reasons for thinking this warrant was illegal. In fact, one of the amazing things that I agree with is a statement on page 13 that President Trump, he still calls himself President Trump, should not be treated differently from any other citizen. Finally, he gets that right. Any other citizen who took top-secret material to not just a private home but a resort, like Mar-a-Lago, which has been penetrated by Chinese spies and perhaps by others, would be prosecuted under the Espionage Act. So, he is sort of asking Merrick Garland to prosecute him. Thank you, Mr. Trump, I won’t call him President Trump.”

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Crime Donald Trump Espionage

Trump’s Attorneys Admit He Violated The Espionage Act In Amateurish Court Filing

A court filing from attorneys representing disgraced, one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump includes an admission that he did indeed violate the Espionage Act, which should make prosecuting him that much easier.

Legal analyst Marcy Wheeler, of EmptyWheel, caught the amateurish language used in the filing.

Specifically, the filing states that Trump was subpoenaed on May 11, 2022, and “On June 2, 2022, President Trump, through counsel, invited the FBI to come to Mar-a-Lago to retrieve responsive documents.”

Approximately a month later, Trump extended an invitation for the FBI to return and verify what he had in his possession. That raises the question of why still had documents after June 2. That led to the search warrant being issued because the ex-president was still in violation of the law.

The court filing also has a direct admission from Trump that he did indeed take classified government documents, which is expressly forbidden and illegal under both the Espionage Act and the Presidential Records Act.

Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe also examined the court filing and dubbed it “very strange,” noting:

“It doesn’t really give any good reasons for thinking this warrant was illegal. In fact, one of the amazing things that I agree with is a statement on page 13 that President Trump, he still calls himself President Trump, should not be treated differently from any other citizen. Finally, he gets that right. Any other citizen who took top-secret material to not just a private home but a resort, like Mar-a-Lago, which has been penetrated by Chinese spies and perhaps by others, would be prosecuted under the Espionage Act. So, he is sort of asking Merrick Garland to prosecute him. Thank you, Mr. Trump, I won’t call him President Trump.”

Reportedly, Trump doesn’t like to pay his attorneys for the work they do on his behalf. Based on this latest court filing, it appears he’s getting what he paid for.

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Espionage Justice Department

Trump’s Latest Court Filing ‘Sort Of Asks For Garland To Prosecute Him’: Harvard Professor Laurence Tribe

Earlier today, attorneys for disgraced former president Donald Trump filed a lawsuit asking a judge to appoint a special master who would review the documents seized from the failed ex-president’s Mar-a-Lago golf resort.

CNBC reports on the suit:

Trump’s lawsuit, which suggests the Aug. 8 FBI raid was politically motivated, also asks that the Department of Justice be blocked from “further review of seized materials” from his Mar-a-Lago residence until the so-called special master is appointed to review the documents.

Special masters are appointed in criminal cases when there is a concern that some material seized by authorities should not be viewed by investigators because it is protected by attorney-client privilege or other factors that weigh against it being used in a prosecution.

But according to Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe, the lawsuit is “very strange” and likely to make it more certain that Attorney General Merrick Garland prosecutes Trump, telling MSNBC host Joy Reid:

“It’s very strange. For one thing, it’s filed not on behalf of private citizen Trump but filed on behalf of President Donald J. Trump. You know, it’s never been clear that he distinguishes between himself as a private citizen and himself as president. That may help explain just psychologically why he feels he’s entitled to all these papers. He says they’re his. That’s one thing that’s really strange. Another thing that’s quite strange, you mentioned yourself just a minute ago: he waited a couple of weeks. So, it’s sort of too late to ask for some new special master.”

Tribe also noted that Trump attacks the Justice Department for taking three days to obtain and execute the search warrant:

“Then, finally, it’s strange, not so much what it says but what it doesn’t say,” he continued. “It doesn’t really give any good reasons for thinking this warrant was illegal. In fact, one of the amazing things that I agree with is a statement on page 13 that President Trump, he still calls himself President Trump, should not be treated differently from any other citizen. Finally, he gets that right. Any other citizen who took top-secret material to not just a private home but a resort, like Mar-a-Lago, which has been penetrated by Chinese spies and perhaps by others, would be prosecuted under the Espionage Act. So, he is sort of asking Merrick Garland to prosecute him. Thank you, Mr. Trump, I won’t call him President Trump.

“If he’s being treated not as president but as a citizen, he’s got to be indicted. Otherwise, the rule of law just doesn’t mean anything.”