Trump Attacks Judge for Ordering Release of Emails that Show He Conspired to Defraud the U.S.

Posted by Mark NC on October 20, 2022 at 12:24 pm. 5 Comments :

The evidence that Donald Trump is leading a crusade to subvert democracy and impose himself as America’s first fascist dictator keeps being revealed in court proceedings. The latest example came in the findings of a federal judge in California who is presiding over the trial of former Trump attorney, John Eastman.

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Judge David Carter was presented with a tranche of emails that Eastman sought to suppress. However, Carter ruled that several of the emails showed that Trump knew that the voter fraud claims he was making were lies. Consequently, Carter ordered Eastman to turn over the emails, making them available to the congressional January 6th Committee that is investigating the insurrection in Washington, D.C. that Trump incited:

“‘The emails show that President Trump knew that the specific numbers of voter fraud were wrong but continued to tout those numbers, both in court and to the public,’ Judge David O. Carter wrote. ‘The Court finds that these emails are sufficiently related to and in furtherance of a conspiracy to defraud the United States,’ he added.”

Predictably, this ruling triggered Trump who took to his floundering social media scam, Truth Social, to post another whining complaint asking…

“Who’s this Clinton appointed ‘Judge,’ David Carter, who keeps saying, and sending to all, very nasty, wrong, and ill informed statements about me on rulings, or a case (whatever!), currently going on in California, that I know nothing about – nor am I represented. With that being said, please explain to this partisan hack that the Presidential Election of 2020 was Rigged and Stolen. Also, he shouldn’t be making statements about me until he understands the facts, which he doesn’t!”

Notice that nowhere in that pathetic babbling does Trump cite a single fact that refutes the findings by Judge Carter. Trump is simply doing what he always does – yammering like a colicky infant who isn’t getting his way. What’s more, his criticism that Judge Carter is saying and/or sending “very nasty, wrong, and ill informed statements” isn’t accurate. Carter is merely making Trump’s own statements in his emails available.

Trump admits in his harangue that he “knows nothing about” the Eastman case. Which is interesting considering that the case has been pending for nearly a year, that Eastman was his lawyer, and that the case directly references Trump’s criminal behavior. If he really doesn’t know anything about it, that can only be because he’s astonishingly ignorant and divorced from reality. Although, to be fair, he has had quite a lot of sleazeball lawyers to keep track of.

Trump also complains that he isn’t represented at this trial, which isn’t surprising since he isn’t a defendant in the case. However, he does append his tedious carping about the 2020 presidential election being “Rigged and Stolen” from him. That’s a charge that Trump has had more than two years to validate, yet has never provided a shred of evidence despite filing – and losing – more than 60 court cases.

The emails that Judge Carter is making public add to the volumes of proof that Trump sought to illegally overturn an American election and undermine faith in the democratic process. They show that Trump is guilty of both defrauding the U.S. and perjury. And we can expect him to continue to chisel away at democracy until he is stopped by the indictments and prosecutions he so richly deserves. And the sooner the better. Our country is teetering on the precipice of failure.

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Trump’s 14 Page Response to Being Subpoenaed By the January 6th Committee is Laughably Pathetic

Posted by Mark NC on October 14, 2022 at 11:21 am. 1 Comments :

As the January 6th Committee investigating the insurrection at the Capitol winds to a close, they took a step to complete the record of evidence by issuing a subpoena for the last, and most conspicuously guilty, witness that has yet to testify. That, of course, is Donald Trump, who incited the deadly riots and for three hours did nothing to stop them.

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On Friday morning Trump posted his interminably drawn out fourteen page response (pdf) to the Committee’s subpoena in a long and utterly substanceless screed that was signed by him alone (i.e. no attorneys). It was essentially a ponderous elaboration on his knee-jerk hissy fit on Thursday.

The protracted version of Trump’s psychosis was predictably incoherent and devoid of any relevant facts. It just another obvious deflection from the subject of the hearings and as tedious rehashing of his baseless reasons to assume that voter fraud took place. The tirade began with Trump wallowing in his victimhood and lashing out at his perceived persecutors:

“The same group of Radical Left Democrats who utilized their Majority position in Congress to create the fiction of Russia, Russia, Russia, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, the $48 Million Mueller Report (which ended in No Collusion!), Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine, the atrocious and illegal Spying on my Campaign, and so much more, are the people who created this Committee of highly partisan political Hacks and Thugs whose sole function is to destroy the lives of many hard-working American Patriots, whose records in life have been unblemished until this point of attempted ruination.”

It’s nice of Trump to itemize all of the illegal and unethical activities he has engaged in over the years. Never mind his perpetually hollow denials of any culpability. He went on to whine that…

“This memo is being written to express our anger, disappointment, and complaint that with all of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on what many consider to be a Charade and Witch Hunt, and despite strong and powerful requests, you have not spent even a short moment on examining the massive Election Fraud that took place during the 2020 Presidential Election, and have targeted only those who were, as concerned American Citizens, protesting the Fraud itself. Those who committed the Fraud, thereby having created the Crime of the Century, go unblemished and untouched, but those who fought the Crime have suffered a fate that was unthinkable just a short time ago. We have a two-tier system of Justice in the United States that cannot be allowed to continue.”

Here Trump is appalled that the Committee is responsibly adhering to the topics that it was established to investigate. He is dismayed that they aren’t veering off into the fantasy world of imagined offenses against Trump. He is outraged that the Committee isn’t humoring him about election fraud that didn’t take place, and for which he and his minions have failed to provide evidence for nearly two years. And he is projecting his own fears unto his cult followers, attempting to make them believe that they are victims.

The ridiculous document goes on to complain that he got “millions more votes in 2020 than I did in 2016.” Someone needs to tell Trump that the objective in an election is to get more votes than your opponent, not more than yourself four years earlier. Similarly irrelevant is his observation that “almost the entire Republican Party feel that the Election was Rigged and Stolen.” That’s merely more evidence that the GOP is pitifully delusional and indoctrinated into the Cult of Trump.

Trump repeats his totally false assertion that he “recommended and authorized thousands of troops to be deployed to ensure that there was peace, safety, and security at the Capitol.” No, actually, he didn’t. But it’s interesting to note that this lie suggests he thought that the Capitol needed protection from his own supporters. PolitiFact’s detailed analysis documented that there is no record of Trump authorizing troops, no evidence that Pelosi denied such an authorization, and that she doesn’t have the authority to do so in the first place.

Trump also lied that the Committee hearings had “very poor television ratings.” To the contrary, the hearings from the very start broke viewing records. With over 18 million viewers, they had a larger audience that the Game two of the NBA Finals.

In closing, Trump said something that was actually true. He noted that “The people of this Country will not stand for unequal justice under the law.” Indeed, the majority of Americans want to see Trump indicted and prosecuted. And finally, nine of the fourteen pages of his response were devoted to an appendix that was entirely composed of flagrantly false allegations of election fraud – all of which were debunked many times, long ago – and nonsense such as references to Hunter Biden’s laptop.

The Committee’s chairman, Bennie Thompson, summed up the hearings saying that…

“[Trump] tried to take away the voice of the American people in choosing their president and replace the will of the voters with his will to remain in power. […] He is required to answer for his actions. He is required to answer to those police officers who put their lives and bodies on the line to defend our democracy. He is required to answer to those millions of Americans who’s votes he wanted to throw out as part of his scheme to remain in power.”

As for Trump, his lengthy reply failed to state whether he would comply with the subpoena. If the past is any indication, he will try to delay any testimony by challenging the subpoena in court. Failing that, he will try to run out the clock and hope that Republicans gain control of the House and disband the Committee. But even if he were to appear, he would almost certainly refuse to answer questions by pleading the 5th Amendment, as he did more than 400 times when deposed by the New York Attorney General.

According to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, Trump told aides “that he’s not opposed to the idea of testifying before the committee, as long as it’s on his terms.” By which he specified that the testimony be aired live. That’s been done with many other witnesses, so the Committee would surely agree to it for Trump. And since it would likely result in Trump embarrassing and/or incriminating himself even further, all that would be missing is the popcorn.

UPDATE: The “author” (perhaps just poster) of Trump’s response is listed as Natalie Harp. She’s a former host on OAN who left the network earlier this year to work for Trump.

Noting the metadata for Trump's response to being subpoenaed (time zone is mine).

Natalie Harp? pic.twitter.com/VrrRF9URXu

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) October 14, 2022

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Fox News Frantically Struggles to Exonerate Trump After Release of the Redacted FBI Affidavit

Posted by Mark NC on August 26, 2022 at 1:54 pm. 2 Comments :

For nearly three weeks Donald Trump has been plaintively whining about the FBI executing a legally obtained search warrant on his Mar-a-Lago bunker. The agency was seeking to retrieve highly sensitive national security materials that Trump had unlawfully absconded with when he was evicted from the White House by the American people.

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Among the complaints Trump had was a thoroughly contrived allegation that the search warrant was improperly issued by a politically biased Justice Department that Trump baselessly charged was influenced by President Biden. It was just one of many pitifully incoherent attempts by Trump to make excuses for his criminal behavior. And as the days wore on, those excuses got incrementally more bizarre.

Lacking any evidence of his self-serving accusations, Trump resorted to demanding that the Justice Department’s affidavit used to justify the search warrant be released. Which, if he were capable of learning, may have taught him the lesson about being careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.

On Friday the Justice Department did release a redacted version of the affidavit. The redactions were intended to prevent the disclosure of information that could reveal sources and methods of the FBI, or could interfere with ongoing investigations. Nevertheless, there was significant material in the release that only further incriminated Trump. For example, the affidavit confirmed that there were numerous classified documents stashed in the boxes Trump was hoarding at his Palm Beach resort hotel. According to Politico…

“[A]gents found 184 unique documents, 25 of which were marked ‘top secret,’ 92 of which were marked ‘secret,’ and 67 of which were marked ‘confidential’ [and that] some of those ‘highly classified records were unfoldered, intermixed with other records.'”

The damning evidence of Trump’s blatant violation of the law was apparent to anyone who read the affidavit. Well, anyone who wasn’t deliberately trying to absolve him of his obvious guilt, such as the propagandists at his Ministry of Disinformation (aka Fox News). Upon the release of the affidavit, the news manglers at Fox commenced their whitewashing.

Martha MacCallum, host of Fox’s “The Story” interviewed her Fox colleague Bret Baier (video below). She began by asking an oddly unrelated question about “Whether or not this was an effort to dig for January 6th information.” To which Baier replied that “It really is.” He then elaborated saying that…

“There is a belief that there was something bigger here that they were searching for. But the impetus for it was these classified documents and the possession of them. Even just the possession of them is a question, even though it’s a former president. There’s a lot here that we have to digest. The 1978 Presidential Records Act, and how that affects all of this. We’re gonna dig in but, gosh, there’s a lot of black.”

If there is “a belief that there was something bigger here,” it exists only in the twisted imaginations of Fox News and their glassy-eyed viewers. Also, what does Baier think is bigger than the possible treason of Trump stealing classified documents, storing them at his home, and being unable to account for who might have had access to them?

As for the Presidential Records Act, Baier appears to be parroting Trump, who has been yammering about the same thing on his floundering Twitter ripoff, Trust Social. For the record, the Presidential Records Act “Establishes that Presidential records automatically transfer into the legal custody of the Archivist as soon as the President leaves office.” In other words, a former president has no right to warehouse classified materials outside of the legal custody of the National Archives. And he surely has no right to lie to the FBI about having those materials.

However, MacCallum and Baier weren’t finished defending Trump. After describing The Former Guy’s actions as “a very Trumpian move,” MacCallum and Baier engaged in the following exchange…

MacCallum: The big question that remains is “why?”. Why was the [former] president holding on to these materials despite the fact that they continually asked for them? Why was there not an ability to make some sort of agreement about returning all of it that he could sort of be at peace with? And the reporting that he sort of felt like ‘”this is my stuff and I have the right to it.”
Baier: But why, also, wasn’t there another subpoena, another effort at interaction? Were they seeing a total stiff-arm from the Trump people? That’s not in this document yet, at least we can’t see it.

MacCallum actually made a good point at first by questioning why Trump should ever have had the documents at Mar-a-Lago in the first place. But she spoiled it by suggesting that there wasn’t a concerted effort by the FBI to retrieve the documents, which was resisted by Trump. And Trump has no rightful expectation of being “at peace” with his obligation to obey the law.

Baier went even further off the rails with his query about whether there should have been a another subpoena. That’s not how subpoenas work. If someone fails to comply with one, you don’t start issuing more. In fact, you get a search warrant, which is what the FBI did.

As more information comes out about this affair, we can expect more evidence of Trump’s guilt. And simultaneously, we can expect Fox News to continue covering for Trump. Even as some at the network are beginning to lean away from Trump, and toward potentially worse alternatives like Ron DeSantis, the network will feel compelled to soft peddle Trump’s crimes so that they don’t tarnish the already declining prospects of other republicans. It’s a tightrope that they are walking because they are trapped in Trump’s world and are too scared to walk away or – heaven forbid – tell the truth.

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Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier: "But why also wasn’t there another subpoena, another effort at interaction? Were they seeing a total stiff-arm from the Trump people? That’s not in this document yet, at least we can’t see it." pic.twitter.com/STgn7gZSPE

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 26, 2022

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Lara Trump Admits on Fox News that Her Sugardaddy-In-Law Interfered with Justice Dept Business

Posted by Mark NC on August 25, 2022 at 12:42 pm. 5 Comments :

The fallout from the recent FBI search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago bunker continues to make waves. With each new day there is accumulating evidence of his criminality and intentional hoarding of highly sensitive national security materials at his insecure Palm Beach resort hotel.

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In addition to the unfolding disclosures that Trump had personal knowledge that he was improperly refusing to return the documents upon demand – and even lying to the FBI that he had them – Trump has floated a shipload of increasingly preposterous excuses for his malfeasance and comically bizarre allegations against others.

On Thursday morning, Lara Trump, spouse of Trump spawn Eric, assumed her position as a Fox News contributor. She was interviewed on Fox and Friends by Katie Pavlich about the stolen documents and made a rather unsurprising, but still grossly disturbing, confession. Pavlich opened the interview by asking “Do you believe Joe Biden when he says he had no prior knowledge of the raid?”

First of all, it’s President Biden. Secondly, who cares if Lara Trump believes him? Her belief has no legal or political value. And everyone already knows that she wouldn’t admit to believing anything that Biden says. So what is the point of the question? Finally, it was not a raid. It was a legally sanctioned search approved by a federal judge upon affirmation of probable cause. And it resulted in the recovery of illegally stolen, classified documents.

That said, Lara Trump began her reply predictably, and falsely, by opining that “I don’t believe anyone believes Joe Biden.” She followed that up by babbling about Hunter Biden, inflation, and other unrelated drivel that she doesn’t believe. Then Lara launched into this nonsensical spiel…

“It’s ridiculous to assume the current president did not know about an FBI raid from his own Department of Justice on the last president and a person that he may be running against in the upcoming 2024 election. What an outrageous statement from Joe Biden. I don’t think anyone believes that. And if you do believe that, then who is in charge of the White House? Who is making these calls? It is very concerning on all fronts and completely insane.”

Lara Trump asks "who is in charge of the White House" if Biden didn't know about the Mar-a-Lago search — I can understand why she'd be confused by a president not incorrectly steering the DOJ for political purposes

"It's ridiculous to assume the current president didn't know" pic.twitter.com/4psvIn3HcL

— Lis Power (@LisPower1) August 25, 2022

The reason that Trump thinks it’s “ridiculous to assume” that Biden knew about the search is because during her father-in-law’s occupation of the White House it was routine to interfere with Department of Justice operations. He pressured, threatened, and even fired his Attorneys General and FBI directors in order to get his way. So naturally, Lara can’t comprehend that other presidents actually have integrity and respect the independence of the DoJ and and the FBI.

Lara goes on to imply that the President, being “in charge of the White House,” is therefore making calls with regard to politically-charged law enforcement activities. She insists that it would be “completely insane” to assume otherwise. The truth, however, is that those calls are reserved for Justice Department officials who are expected to consider only the law and refrain from politicizing their duties. Lara is tacitly admitting that that was not the practice during Donald’s tenure.

What’s more, Lara can’t seem to make up her mind as to whether Biden is a senile incompetent who doesn’t know what day it is, or a brilliant mastermind who controls every lever of the government. It’s a distinction that Daddy Trump is also incapable of making. In recent days he has been accusing Biden of the same improper interference that Lara is harping on. He posted a comment on his floundering Twitter ripoff, Truth Social that alleged that…

“Joe Biden said he knew nothing about the Break-In of Mar-a-Lago or, the greatest political attack in the history of the U.S. Does anybody really believe this???”

To answer Trump’s question – Yes, lots of people believe this. Millions of them, in fact. The only ones who don’t are his blindly obedient cult followers who have open disdain for the law, the Constitution, and long-cherished American principles.

But Trump is lucky to have such glassy-eyed disciples who will never question his wrongdoing, even when he – and his Fox News employed Daughter-in-law – admit to it on national television. And he’s lucky to have Fox News where they ask the same perverse questions that Trump himself asks.

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Fox News Surprisingly Grills GOP Rep Scalise About His Wacko Charges of ‘Rogue’ FBI Agents

Posted by Mark NC on August 11, 2022 at 1:01 pm. 2 Comments :

On Monday Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago bunker was served a with search warrant by the FBI who were reportedly looking for classified documents that Trump unlawfully took from the White House and failed to disclose he still had. It is a crime that has serious implications for national security, as well as severe penalties for violators.

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Ever since then, Trump’s Republican cult followers, and especially Fox News, have been throwing up all manner of preposterous defenses for Trump’s malfeasance. Much of their psychotic overreactions were drenched with accusations of wrongdoing by the FBI and threats of violence against law enforcement. They even unleashed a coordinated media attack baselessly alleging that the FBI planted evidence.

However, on Thursday there was an uncharacteristically sane segment on Fox and Friends wherein co-host Steve Doocy actually challenged the Republican House Minority Whip, Steve Scalise, while he was in the process of disseminating the GOP screed about the FBI operation in Palm Beach. Doocy started off by saying…

Doocy: There are a number of people, online and elsewhere, that are demonizing the FBI. And some Republicans. Paul Gosar, a Republican in your caucus from Arizona, said, “We must destroy the FBI. We must save America. I stand with Donald Trump.” Marjorie Taylor Greene said, “Defend [he meant defund] the FBI.” I’m just curious, whatever happened to the Republican Party backing the blue? And in particular, the 35 members of law enforcement at the FBI?
Scalise: We’re very strong supporters of law enforcement, and it concerns everybody to see some agents go rogue, and if you see an agency that doesn’t have the right checks and balances at the top. this is coming from the top

You may have noticed that, rather than answering Doocy’s question, Scalise invented some imaginary “concerns” that “everybody” is having about “rogue” FBI agents. And in the same breath he placed the blame, not on rogue agents, but on the people “at the top.” So Doocy pressed further…

Doocy: Who went rogue? They were following a search warrant.
Scalise: We want to find that out. That’s why we’re asking these questions. Because there were reports yesterday saying that Merrick Garland didn’t even know about this raid. I don’t if anybody believes that, but he should be asked under oath if he knew about the raid prior to it happening. He hasn’t answered that question. Why hasn’t he held a press conference? Why won’t President Biden talk about this? That is deafening right now, that silence.

Scalise is now flagrantly lying. The examples that Doocy gave of Gosar and Greene were not questions. They were overt statements advocating the destruction and/or defunding of the FBI. What’s more, there have been no reports that Attorney General Merrick Garland didn’t know about this raid. To the contrary, almost every report said that Garland, and FBI Director Chris Wray (a Trump appointee), would have almost certainly had to sign off on it.

Scalise then complains that Garland hasn’t talked about the search. But Scalise knows – or should know – that it would be improper for him to do so. The search warrant was issued under seal. And President Biden has correctly remained distanced from the Justice Department’s operations.

The only one who could have provided any additional data about this was Trump himself. He has a copy of the search warrant, and there is nothing stopping him from releasing it. Well, nothing except the likelihood that it contains something that would incriminate him.

At this point co-host Brian Kilmeade chirps in with the news that GOP Rep. Scott Perry had his cellphone seized by the FBI. And Scalise suggests that there is something untoward about the IRS getting funding to add more agents, who will only be working on high-income individuals and corporations. Both of those matters are obvious deflections that have nothing to do with the search at Mar-a-Lago. But Doocy brings the discussion back to the issue at hand saying…

Doocy: Steve, why not wait a week or so until we know more about this search warrant, then immediately rush to judgment and say, “Yeah, the FBI, they’re crazy.”
Scalise: We’re asking questions right now that no one is answering. We’re not hearing the FBI answer any of these questions. We’re not hearing Justice. And we’re sure not hearing the White House.

Once again, Scalise is not asking questions. And the people he wants to speak out are prohibited by law and ethics from doing so. But what’s truly remarkable about this exchange is that Doocy was the one introducing a rational perspective to the discussion. It would be too soon to assume that there has been any change in Fox’s editorial stance on these matters. They are, after all, the ones who have been ranting about the FBI planting evidence. But it is sufficiently peculiar to keep an eye on.

"Whatever happened to the Republican Party backing the blue?" — Steve Doocy to Steve Scalise pic.twitter.com/rqCQrrBy6n

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 11, 2022

UPDATE: AG Garland held a press conference Thursday afternoon to announce that the Justice Department will make a motion to unseal parts of the search warrant, so that they can be made public. That should make Scalise happy. Or, more likely, just make him have to contrive a different set of lies to cast aspersions on the FBI, law enforcement, the President, and to absolve his messiah Trump of any wrongdoing.

Garland noted that the Department of Justice intended the search to be conducted quietly, but it was Trump who made it a public spectacle. And when the warrant is made public like Republicans and Fox News have wanted, they will learn why it’s important to be careful what you wish for. You may just get it.

Attorney General Merrick Garland on FBI's search of former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home: "I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter." pic.twitter.com/h3Ek1vCaAx

— CSPAN (@cspan) August 11, 2022

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Snowflake Trump Pleads the Fifth Amendment, So Let’s Break Down His Desperately Deranged Reasons

Posted by Mark NC on August 10, 2022 at 6:15 pm. 4 Comments :

On Wednesday Donald Trump finally appeared for a deposition that he tried desperately for months to avoid. After losing every appeal to quash the order to testify, Trump showed up and, when he got there, took the cowardly way out by pleading the Fifth Amendment (more than 400 times). You know, the one that enables people to remain silent so that they don’t incriminate themselves.

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The deposition Trump is keeping his mouth shut for was ordered by New York Attorney General Letitia James. She’s investigating Trump for fraudulently misrepresenting the value of his real estate properties. Trump has responded by viciously attacking James and insulting her, rather than simply making the case for his innocence. What does that tell you?

Of course, anyone is permitted to plead the Fifth in order to avoid self-incrimination. And that includes Trump. However, the reasons he provided in a rambling and hostile statement that he posted online don’t exactly help his case. The full statement is posted below (or here transcribed). But here are a few of choice selections that embody the crux of his feelings about the matter.

Trump opened by saying that “Attorney General Letitia James openly campaigned on the policy of ‘Get and Destroy Trump.’ This political attack on me, my family, and my great company is her despicable attempt to fulfill that cynical, and very corrupt promise.”

Trump’s complaint that James campaigned “on the policy of ‘Get and Destroy Trump,” actually points out how much Trump is despised. After all, it was a winning campaign. And if Trump had such a “great company,” it wouldn’t now be the subject of an investigation for fraud.

Trump wrote that James said “‘He’s going to know my name personally’, and she claimed I was an ‘illegitimate President.'”

Well, James was right on both counts then. Trump obviously knows her name, and his presidency was wholly illegitimate if judged by his ignorance, failure to accomplish anything, and his tendency to violate the legal and moral principles of the position.

Trump wrote that James “colluded with others to carry out this phony years-long crusade.”

In other words, she worked cooperatively other other law enforcement agencies to advance a probe that Trump tried to obstruct for years, but for which James won every court battle. Which is why he was there pleading the Fifth.

Now Trump is whining that “Letitia James openly stated her hostilities toward me.”

Was that while Trump was politely calling her “despicable,” “corrupt,” and “racist?”

Trump insists that “I did nothing wrong, which is why, after five years of looking, the Federal, State and local governments, together with the Fake News Media, have found nothing.”

Actually, Trump has resisted cooperating with the investigations, which is what took up most of that time. And he might want to check with the FBI, who just searched his Mar-a-Lago bunker, about whether anything was found.

Trump calls the probe “a vindictive and self-serving fishing expedition.”

But James is very narrowly looking into how “the Trump Organization exaggerated the value of its holdings to impress lenders or misstated what land was worth to slash its tax burden […] The company even exaggerated the size of Trump’s Manhattan penthouse.”

And this is where we get into the meat of Trump’s excuse for pleading the Fifth.

“I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’ Now I know the answer to that question. When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.”

So I heard he took the fifth? pic.twitter.com/F6y0IpNhAd

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 10, 2022

Indeed. On more than one occasion Trump insisted that taking the Fifth Amendment was a sign guilt: “The mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” However, nothing in Trump’s statement refutes the facts that are alleged against him. So his complaints about them being unfounded, or politically motivated are just more hot air. If anything, he should be more motivated to speak out in order to set the record straight. But that’s hard to do when you know you’re guilty.

Trump then asserts that “the current Administration and many prosecutors in this Country have lost all moral and ethical bounds of decency.”

Once again, Trump offers nothing to support that charge. Just like his tedious lies about election fraud, he can’t provide a shred of evidence.

Trump closes with “Accordingly, under the advice of my counsel and for all of the above reasons, I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.”

This would be a good time to point out that Trump didn’t actually give any reasons for declining to answer questions. He just insulted the Attorney General and other government officials, and he complained about being held accountable for his crimes. And there is nothing in the rest of the statement that rises to any sort of coherent argument for declining to make his case under oath. But then, did you expect anything more from Donald Trump?

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NEW: Former president Trump says he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during his deposition with ?@NewYorkStateAG?’s office pic.twitter.com/NQ0gUyCc4U

— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) August 10, 2022

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Eric Trump Admits on Fox News that the Trump Admin Interfered with Justice Department Business

Posted by Mark NC on August 9, 2022 at 6:21 pm. NO Comments :

The old adage that, if you give them enough rope they will hang themselves, has never been more apt than when applied to the Trump family. On Monday the FBI served a search warrant on Donald Trump’s Palm Beach resort, Mar-a-Lago. And the mindlessly defensive responses have revealed boatload of info about the criminal proclivities of the former First Family.

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For his part, Donald Trump released an utterly inane statement that that only served to make him look more guilty. That was followed by hour after hour of Fox News hyperbolically insisting that civil war was imminent and/or the the world was coming to an end, simply because Trump might finally be being held accountable for his crimes.

Now Eric Trump is contributing to the mess with another appearance on Fox News wherein he does more harm than good for himself and his father. He told Jesse Watters that…

“I know the White House as well anyone. I spent a lot of time there. I know the system. This did not happen without Joe Biden’s explicit approval. The White House approved of this. Mark my words. It will come out.

“I love to see the Press Secretary out there today, ‘We had no knowledge of this at all.’ Give me a break. A field office wouldn’t take … they wouldn’t even think of doing this without the sign-off of the President of the United States. This is raiding one of the most famous houses on planet Earth. One of the most famous people – probably the most famous person on planet Earth. Give me a break.”

Eric Trump: I know the white house as well anyone. I know the system. This did not happen without Joe Biden's explicit approval. pic.twitter.com/HXodvDe6Qo

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 9, 2022

Let’s just set aside the absurd assertion that Donald Trump is the “most famous person on planet Earth,” or that that has any relevance to his being the subject of a criminal investigation.

The more salient point is that Eric is confessing that during his father’s occupancy of the White House, it would be unheard of for an investigation to proceed without the President’s approval. That is, in fact, a serious violation of legal protocol. The Justice Department is supposed to be an independent agency that is run without the interference of political motivations.

However, according to Eric, who is bragging about his in depth grasp of how the system works, the Trump White House didn’t observe any such independence. Which explains Trump repeatedly firing his own attorneys general when they wouldn’t obey his corrupt orders.

Eric also mentioned that he doesn’t believe the White House Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, when she says that President Biden had no prior knowledge of the FBI operation at Mar-a-Lago. Which is precisely how the system is actually supposed to work. But Eric’s remarks indicate that was not how it worked during the Trump administration.

Fox News is just as ill-informed as Eric Trump. At the daily press briefing on Tuesday, Fox’s Peter Doocy engaged in the following exchange with Jean-Pierre…

Doocy: Is this administration weaponizing the Justice Department and the FBI against political opponents?
Jean-Pierre: Peter, the President believes in the rule of law. The President believes in the Department of Justice…
Doocy (interrupting): That’s a yes or no.
Jean-Pierre: It’s a yes or no for you. I’m answering the question. You may not like it, but I’m answering the question…
Doocy (interrupting): [unintelligible]
Jean-Pierre: No…no. I’m answering the question. And I am telling you we are not going to comment on a criminal investigation. The President has been very clear. I’ve laid out what his thoughts were back on January 7, 2021, about how he saw the Department of Justice. And I’m just going to leave it there. We’re not going to comment from here, from this White House, on a criminal investigation that is currently happening.

Doocy: It’s a yes or no
KJP: It’s a yes or no for you. I’m answering the question. You may not like it but I’m answering the question pic.twitter.com/fTximcWLT6

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 9, 2022

Once again, that is precisely how these matter should be handled. For Doocy to badger Jean-Pierre to improperly blab about ongoing investigations proves that he is unfit for the position of a White House correspondent anywhere in the media. Well, anywhere except for Fox News where knowledge and professionalism are considered character flaws.

At least we can be grateful that people like Eric Trump and Peter Doocy so freely demonstrate their ignorance and unfitness for roles in public life. It’s just unfortunate that they continue to have sway over the deplorables who think that Fox is a real news network.

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Fox News Spews Knee-Jerk Defense of Wannabe Dictator Trump After FBI Search of Mar-a-Lago

Posted by Mark NC on August 9, 2022 at 10:42 am. 1 Comments :

In what everyone – including Donald Trump – is calling an unprecedented act by federal law enforcement authorities, the Trump compound at Mar-a-Lago was the subject of a search warrant by FBI agents in connection to Trump’s potentially criminal removal and possession of classified documents from the White House.

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Republicans and right-wing media are fixated on the unprecedented nature of this operation, while desperately seeking to ignore the criminal part. But the only reason it is unprecedented is because no president has ever acted so brazenly in the commission of crimes as Trump. And even while he rages over the indignity of being held accountable to the law like any other American, Trump frantically scrambles to shift attention away from his legal troubles, to unrelated matters about everything from the his Russian collusion scandals to Hillary Clinton.

As soon as the story of the FBI visit to Mar-a-Lago broke, Fox News went to work obediently excusing Trump’s legal malfeasance and baselessly accusing President Biden and the Democrats of engaging in an improper persecution of The Former Guy. In an Olympian feat of projection, they likened it to third-world and/or fascist tactics. Never mind that they couldn’t provide a shred of rational support for their wild charges.

The usual suspects at Fox News launched into hysterical defenses of Trump, affirming their role as boot-licking sycophants. It began with Jesse Watters who presented a parade of Trumpist Fox contributors such as Dana Loesch and Dan Bongino to malign the “radical leftists” at the FBI.

That led into Will Cain, sitting in for Tucker Carlson, who somehow managed to book Lara Trump on a moments notice. The thrust of her attempt at whitewashing the affair was that her sugar-daddy-in-law just “loves to save things like newspaper clippings, magazine clippings, photographs.” Yeah, that’s the ticket. He was just scrapbooking. She went on, of course, to divert the low attention span Fox viewers, directing them to “Look at Hillary Clinton. the 33,000 emails that she just deleted.”

Lara Trump: Look, my father-in-law, as anybody knows, who's been around him a lot, loves to save things like newspaper clippings, magazine clippings, photographs, documents that he had every authority, will, to take from the white house. pic.twitter.com/WydLLLjo8r

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 9, 2022

The headliner for the night was Sean Hannity. And he didn’t disappoint, so lang as your analysis is based on flagrant deception and hostility. Hannity brought on another unbiased guest, Eric Trump, who said that…

“Going back to Hillary [Clinton], There’s a whole lot of other things. How about the Benghazi scandals? How about the Clinton Foundation? I mean, how many shady oligarchs from Russia were contributing to that? How about Uranium One? You want to talk about scandals that were never investigated, never vetted?”

''How about the Benghazi scandals? … you want to talk about scandals that were never investigated?" — Eric Trump pic.twitter.com/5YAAZVduMi

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 9, 2022

Literally every item that Eric uttered was a non-scandal that was indeed investigated and had been proven to be fabricated. Clinton testified under oath for eleven hours (something Trump is too cowardly to do), and no evidence of wrongdoing was found. The Clinton Foundation is a pillar of the charitable world, receiving the top rating from charity watchdogs. As opposed to Trump’s foundation that was shuttered by New York authorities for committing fraud. The Uranium One matter was a wholly contrived sham created by Fox News and the GOP.

Eric also explicitly accused Biden of being at the head of the imaginary cabal against his father. And for an added serving of comedy, Hannity punctuated his propaganda by dementedly messing up the old adage about dotting i’s and crossing t’s…

Hannity: If you are associated with Donald Trump in any way, you better cross all your i’s and dot all your t’s pic.twitter.com/DdNSgzKMwv

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 9, 2022

Much of the wingnut argument on Fox News has been centered on a campaign to literally defund the FBI. That’s quite a reversal from their prior position attacking Democrats for being anti-police. What’s more, they have entirely – or conveniently – forgotten that the FBI director, Chris Wray, is a Trump appointee. They even brought in felon Steve Bannon, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, but was later pardoned by Trump. Bannon advocated for cutting off funds to the agency that he lied to:

“The House leaders right now need to step up and recommit Jim Jordan. Full investigation, I think, cutting off appropriations to the FBI to get to the bottom of this. This is gonna continue on. The FBI right now is the Gestapo.”

Bannon: The FBI is the gestapo pic.twitter.com/nLnEQ4ZOwp

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 9, 2022

At least Bannon didn’t insult the FBI as being gazpacho. However, this take by Fox’s Todd Starnes may truly be the most deranged…

I think this one is my favorite. pic.twitter.com/X55DE7LWAg

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 9, 2022

One thing all of this Trump-fawning settles is the question as to whether Fox News is still on Trump’s side. Clearly they are as worshipful of Trump as ever. There may have had a brief moment wherein a couple of Murdoch’s newspapers went off script, but Fox News itself is still a fully indoctrinated mouthpiece for the Trump cult.

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GUILTY Steve Bannon Only Has One Disappointment? And It’s Apparently that He’s a Flaming Moron

Posted by Mark NC on July 22, 2022 at 3:53 pm. 3 Comments :

Justice was served Friday morning when Donald Trump’s former campaign boss and White House advisor, “Sloppy” Steve Bannon was found guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress. It was a pretty open-and-shut case considering that Bannon didn’t even offer a defense for his having refused to comply with lawful subpoenas.

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Following the verdict, Bannon gave a statement outside of the courthouse, which has been his practice for the past few days that the trial has been in progress. And true to form, Bannon merely unleashed his incoherent rage in bursts of insults and nonsense. After disingenuously “thanking” the jury that convicted him for “whatever they did,” Bannon babbled…

“I only have one disappointment. And that is the gutless members of that show trial committee, the J6 committee, didn’t have the guts to come down here and testify in open court.”

Bannon: I only have one disappointment and that is the gutless members of that show trial committee, the J 6 committee, didn't have the guts to come down here and testify in open court. pic.twitter.com/rWbrfzUpSD

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 22, 2022

REALLY? Who wants to tell Bannon that the members of the House Select Committee investigating the insurrection that Trump incited, had no obligation to appear before that court? They had no relevant testimony to contribute. They weren’t even asked to show up. The crime that Bannon was charged with was his failure to comply with a lawful subpoena. The evidence of that was obvious and undisputed. Bannon even bragged about it.

Bannon is actually lucky that Committee members weren’t witnesses at his trial. It would only have made things worse for him as they could have supplied more testimony and documentation of his obvious guilt. And yet, he somehow believes that their absence is his sole disappointment? Yeah, right.

Furthermore, Bannon’s hysterical post-verdict venting was a display of Olympic-grade hypocrisy. It was, after all, Bannon who “didn’t have the guts” to “testify in open court” at his own trial. Nor did he have the guts to testify before the January 6th Committee in support of his almighty messiah Trump. Why is that all of Trump’s most devoted disciples have been too scared to take the oath and tell the truth about him? Which Trump has whined about, despite being the reason for it.

It was Trump who pretended that he could grant executive privilege to potential witnesses so that they would not have to testify. But why would anyone want to prevent testimony from those who they allegedly believed would exonerate them? Even so, Trump eventually released Bannon from that imaginary constraint by waiving the privilege that he didn’t have to begin with. And Bannon still refused to comply with the subpoenas. The only “gutless” party in this matter is Bannon.

However, Bannon has good reason to be afraid. His partner in crime, Trump’s former White House trade advisor, Peter Navarro, has already confessed to allegations associated with Trump’s seditious coup conspiracy, and explicitly named Bannon as a co-conspirator. And although Trump issued him a pardon, Bannon could still be liable for tangential crimes related to his border wall scam that ripped off Trump supporters.

Bannon is now directly challenging Rudy Giuliani for the title of Dumbest Trump-Fluffing Blowhard. And if Giuliani doesn’t make any more appearances fondling himself in Borat movies, Bannon may actually take the lead.

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LOLOL: Trump Waives Privilege He Doesn’t Have So Bannon Can Lie to the January 6th Committee

Posted by Mark NC on July 10, 2022 at 11:04 am. 5 Comments :

Poor Donald Trump. He is still wallowing in the delusion that he has presidential prerogatives that were thrown out at the same time that he was thrown out of the White House by the American People. There is nothing more pitiful than a wannabe dictator acting out his imaginary authority and issuing decrees that he has no power to enforce.

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On Saturday Trump wrote a letter (posted below) to his former campaign boss and White House aide, Steve Bannon, waiving executive privilege so that he can testify before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection that Trump incited. Never mind that Trump has no power to either grant or waive executive privilege, a determination that was affirmed by the Supreme Court that has a conservative majority, including three Trump appointees.

However, Trump’s letter was a hot mess for so many other reasons. His language was reflective of the rage-fueled rants that he has been disgorging for years. And he offered no legal argument to support his position. What follows are a few choice excerpts of the clownish idiocy that Trump was not embarrassed to commit to paper:

“I write about the Subpoena that you received in September 2021 from the illegally constituted Unselect Committee, the same group of people who created the Russia Russia Russia scam, Impeachment hoax #1, Impeachment hoax #2, the Mueller Witch-Hunt (which ended in no “Collusion”), and other fake and never-ending yarns and tales.”

First of all, Trump is invalidating his whole waiver by writing that the it applies to a subpoena from “the illegally constituted Unselect Committee.” There is no such thing a an “Unselect Committee.” So there is nothing to waive. Also, the actual Committee was lawfully formed by Congress. And Trump’s regurgitation of his childish chants about “Russia Russia Russia,” his two impeachments, and the Mueller probe (which did find cooperation with Russia’s election interference, as well as obstruction of justice on Trump’s part) is just a reprise of the lamest hits he plays for fans at his cult rallies.

The letter continues…

“When you first received the Subpoena to testify and provide documents, I invoked Executive Privilege. However, I watched how unfairly you and others have been treated, having to spend vast amounts of money on legal fees, and all of the trauma you must be going through for the love of your Country, and out of respect for the Office of the President.”

In addition to deploying his fictional invocation powers, Trump empathizes with Bannon’s tribulations and praises his patriotism. Recall that Bannon was a key figure in the insurrection who said the day before that “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow.” He was also indicted for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and money laundering in connection to his fake “We Build the Wall” campaign. He received a pardon from Trump for that plot to ripoff Trump supporters.

The letter continues…

“Therefore, if you reach an agreement on a time and place for your testimony. I will waive Executive Privilege for you, which allows for you to go in and testify truthfully and fairly, as per the request of the Unselect Committee of political Thugs and Hacks, who have allowed no Due Process, no Cross-Examination, and no real Republican members or witnesses to be present or interviewed. It is a partisan Kangaroo Court.”

Here Trump is opening a Grand Canyon sized gap for Bannon to slither through and avoid testifying. He is not entitled to determine the “time and place” for testimony. If he refuses on the basis of not arriving at an agreement, he is still in contempt of Congress. What’s more, Bannon’s response to the “waiver” included his willingness to testify in public. But the Committee routinely holds all of the initial depositions in private, and Bannon would not be treated any differently. This may be Bannon’s attempt exploit his testimony in order to create a media circus, which the Committee will never agree to.

Furthermore, Trump’s complaint that there has been “no Due Process, no Cross-Examination, and no real Republican members or witnesses,” is illustrative of both his ignorance and dishonesty. Due process and cross examination are elements of a court trial, which a congressional committee is not. And literally every witness that has testified publicly to date was a Republican hired by Trump.

The letter continues…

“Why should these evil, sinister, and unpatriotic people be allowed to hurt and destroy the lives of so many, and cause such great harm to our Country?

“It has been, from the time I came down the escalator at Trump Tower, a political hit job against the overwhelming majority of Americans who support the concept and policy of Making America Great Again and putting America First. Good luck in all of your future endeavors.”

If anyone is being hurt by these hearings, it is those who chose to violate the law on behalf of a seditious and criminal, former reality TV game show host. And as for the “overwhelming majority of Americans,” every poll shows that they favor Trump being held legally responsible for his treasonous activities. That’s just another fact that Trump has surrendered to his delusions and/or lies.

UPDATE: Adding another twist to the plot, Trump’s attorney, Justin Clark, told the Justice Department that “at no point did Trump ever invoke executive privilege over Bannon’s testimony.” More proof that the whole charade is a fraud.

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Donald Trump waives his Executive Privilege claim regarding Steve Bannon. pic.twitter.com/144GRdlWBf

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 10, 2022

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