Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

Only 52% of Republicans support Donnie which proves he isn't even really popular in his own party. 

[Rick Plant]

Trump-appointed judge concealing multimillion-dollar stock holding from financial disclosures: report



The Texas-based federal judge who ruled to revoke the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the abortion drug mifepristone is redacting personal wealth disclosures in an unusual move, reported CNN on Friday.

"In his 2020 and 2021 annual disclosures, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk wrote that he held between $5 million and $25 million in 'common stock' of a company – a significant majority of the judge’s personal wealth," reported Casey Tolan and Isabelle Chapman. "The name of the company he held stock in is redacted, despite the fact that federal law only allows redactions of information that could 'endanger' a judge or their family member."

"CNN obtained a previous financial disclosure for Kacsmaryk – which is not available online – from 2017, when he was a judicial nominee," the report continued. "On that unredacted form, Kacsmaryk reported owning about $2.9 million in stock in the Florida-based supermarket company Publix. It’s not clear whether that’s the same holding as the redacted stock, although Publix’s share price had significantly increased by 2020 and 2021 and the company is no longer listed on his more recent disclosures. Redactions are approved by a judicial committee. The redacted holding accounted for at least 85% of Kacsmaryk’s total reported wealth in 2021, and potentially more."

This is not the first time Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee who presides over a district court in Amarillo and is specifically chosen by right-wing litigants for favorable rulings, has attempted to skirt transparency. While the abortion pill case was being heard, he tried to conceal the hearing date from the public, citing the safety of court officers, only reversing after backlash from reporters.

Subsequent reporting has shown he also concealed information about his far-right legal writings and talk radio interviews while being confirmed in the Senate.

On Friday evening, the Supreme Court fully stayed Kacsmaryk's ruling against mifepristone authorization, pending a broader hearing by higher courts.

Read More Here: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/21/politics/judge-kacsmaryk-financial-holdings-abortion-pill/index.html

[Rick Plant]

Jack Smith wants to go after Trump's 'good news boy' to crush his January 6 defense: legal expert



Longtime Donald Trump adviser and right-wing media commentator Boris Epshteyn is scheduled to give testimony to a grand jury empaneled by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith to investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

That could have huge implications for how Smith — if he decides to charge the former president — is trying to undercut any potential defense he might have, argued former Manhattan-based federal prosecutor David Kelley on MSNBC's "The Beat" Friday.

"When you look at someone like Boris Epshteyn, who has so much involvement and so many different aspects, just at an investigative level, how would you and federal prosecutors try to get this information from him?" asked anchor Ari Melber.

"So a couple of thoughts here, Ari," said Kelley. "First off, Jack Smith has taken a methodical approach here, which is encouraging, and going through all the people around the president, the former president, to find out what he knew."

"Let me add this additional thought, which i think is a little unique with Epshteyn, which is, he's reportedly the good news guy for Trump," Kelly continued. "What one of the angles, just one of them, that I think Jack Smith may be taking is, let's find out what the good news boy said to the president so he can kind of preempt a defense by saying, I was told X by a lawyer."

"They took his phone reportedly in September, so here we are," added Kelley. "They have analyzed everything, and they are carefully walking through each text to find out what was going on, what was meant, and outside of the text, what that person said to him and what he heard others say to each other."

Watch:

Smartmatic attorney expects 'full retraction' from Fox News along with a sizable payout

The trial for Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News was avoided on Tuesday, April 18 when plaintiff Dominion and defendant Fox reached a settlement. Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million, and the right-wing cable news channel has been spared the embarrassing testimony that Dominion's attorneys were getting ready to present during the trial.

But Fox News is still facing a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion competitor Smartmatic, whose lawyer, Erik Connolly, discussed that case with CNN's Jake Tapper on Thursday, April 20.

Smartmatic's lawsuit against Fox News is similar to Dominion's. Like Dominion, Smartmatic alleges that it was defamed when Fox News, following the 2020 presidential election, promoted the bogus, thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory that its equipment was used to help President Joe Biden steal the election from former President Donald Trump. But Smartmatic has sued Fox News for a larger amount than Dominion.

The Smartmatic attorney told Tapper that Smartmatic is asking Fox News for a "full retraction," an "apology" and a settlement that is at least as large as the one Dominion is receiving — if not larger.

Connolly said of the Fox News/Dominion settlement, "That set down a marker, and it's a marker that we think we should be exceeding. The scope of the damage done to Smartmatic is a global scale, because we operate globally…. $787 million is a good start. But it's not the right finishing point."

The attorney told Tapper that Smartmatic is "looking to take this case through trial."

A Fox News spokesperson had a combative tone in an April 20 statement on Smartmatic's lawsuit, telling CNN, "We will be ready to defend this case surrounding extremely newsworthy events when it goes to trial, likely in 2025. As a report prepared by our financial expert shows, Smartmatic's damages claims are implausible, disconnected from reality, and on its face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms."

Read More Here:  https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/20/media/smartmatic-fox-news-retraction



Ex-Fox News producer can still drag the network through hell — even after Dominion settlement: attorney

Fox News managed to avert a protracted, embarrassing trial by forking over $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems in a settlement over their promotion of election conspiracy theories in 2020. But their legal problems are far from over, starting with a pair of lawsuits from former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg.

Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Friday, Grossberg attorney Gerry Filippatos explained how solid he believes these cases are.

"You are the attorney representing Abby in her ongoing lawsuit against Fox News," said Wallace. "I think there's some mistake to think that these matters are closed, but they are not at all."

"Not at all closed," Filippatos agreed. "Abby has two lawsuits. One in Delaware, where she is essentially alleging there was a civil conspiracy to throw her under the bus, get her to testify falsely, to cover up Fox's misdoings in that case, and that case is ongoing in delaware."

The other, Filippatos continued, is "a case in the Southern District of New York, which is a very unique, even for me who has been doing this for 30 years, practicing employment discrimination law,"

That case, he added, is a "uniquely strong case alleging gender discrimination, glass ceiling discrimination, failure to promote, she didn't get an executive producer spot, although she was a one-woman show along with Maria Bartiromo and then ultimately was replaced by a man, and then even worse, jumped out of the frying pan into the fire and went to the Tucker Carlson show where she was subjected to one of the most vile, toxic work environments I have seen in my 30 years of practice."

Fox News continues to deny all allegations made by Grossberg against the company.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

The Case Against Donald Trump: What Comes Next?

https://www.nytimes.com/article/trump-indictment-criminal-charges.html

[Rick Plant]

Bombshell revelation of Trump election texts is 'more damning' than his Georgia phone call: legal analyst



Reacting to a CNN report that Trump operatives were making plans to use breached voting data to not only undercut the 2020 presidential election results but also to give the GOP control of the Senate, one legal analyst stated the former president's legal woes have just grown exponentially worse.

Speaking with host Fredricka Whitfield, former prosecutor Michael Zeldin claimed multiple laws at the state and federal level may have been broken.

As CNN reported on Friday, "The plot to breach voting systems in Coffee County, coordinated by members of Trump’s legal team including Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, is part of a broader criminal investigation into 2020 election interference led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis," before adding, "Willis’ office is weighing a potential racketeering case against multiple defendants and is actively deciding who to bring charges against, sources tell CNN. Willis has subpoenaed a number of individuals involved in the Coffee County breach, including the two men who carried it out who were in touch with [Jim] Penrose and [Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug] Logan."

According to Zeldin, "What we have here is the unauthorized access to this privileged computer data. There is a conspiracy to acquire and improperly distribute that data. There is probably a crime of interfering with the rights of the people of Georgia to have a free and fair election."

"And this is a series of crimes, a pattern of criminal activity, then it could possibly violate the Georgia RICO statute, which criminalizes a series of criminal activities by the same person or group of persons, so there's a lot of stake here," he added.

He later stated that the new revelation is "more damning" than the phone call that Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that is a central part of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' grand jury investigation.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Former acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal about the Mar-a-Lago document case: “I think this is a very, very serious problem for Trump. And I expect he will be indicted for it.”

Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1647040699664138240

[Rick Plant]

A new legal maneuver signals Georgia case against Trump is accelerating
https://www.rawstory.com/fulton-county-trump-2659894772/

[Rick Plant]

Even as we wait for the Fulton County DA’s unknown date on the grand jury schedule so she can bring her indictments against Donald Trump and his allies, it looks the criminal case against Trump is even uglier than we knew.

It turns out the DA has possession of text messages showing that Trump and his allies plotted to steal voting machine data in an effort to overthrow the two U.S. Senate special election in Georgia on January 5th.

One legal expert says these text messages are even “more damning” than the already-established evidence in the case, such as Trump’s now famous phone calls to Georgia officials, asking them to find him more votes. Even as we wait for the hammer to drop in Georgia, it’s turning out to be a bigger hammer than we knew.

Former prosecutor Michael Zeldin says the election texts in the possession of Fani Willis are “more damning” than Trump’s Georgia phone call.

“What we have here is…a conspiracy to acquire and improperly distribute (unauthorized) data. There is probably a crime of interfering with the rights of the people of Georgia to have a free and fair election…

And this is a series of crimes, a pattern of criminal activity, then it could possibly violate the Georgia RICO statute.”

The plot Willis is investigated involved the breach of voting systems in Coffee County, coordinated by members of Trump’s legal team including Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.