Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

Donnie is so toxic, that even members of his own party don't want him around.

Some Republicans are begging Trump to stay out of their primaries

One of the biggest problems that Republicans faced in 2022 is that the majority of Americans didn't want to vote for them. They lost all but one U.S. Senate seat they were hoping to hold onto and failed to take back others. The so-called "red wave" they were bragging would happen failed.

The Washington Examiner reported Monday that the GOP is begging Donald Trump to keep out of the 2024 race.

Steve "Daines has reportedly been in touch with the former president and Donald Trump Jr., his eldest son and a friend of the Montana senator, as part of a larger effort to keep all camps on the same page about candidate selection matters," said the report. "The goal is to avoid messy primary fights that left weakened some 2022 candidates in their general election contests. The stakes are especially high given that Republicans only need to net two seats to win back the Senate in 2024."

"If I were [Daines], I’d focus on his own election, but I doubt if he’ll take that advice," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). “You need to learn from your past mistakes. If you don’t make adjustments, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome, it’s insanity.”

"Sure seems like that would be helpful based on our lack of success in 2022," said Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD).

"I hope he stays out because him getting involved last time led to us losing key Senate races we could have won," Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said. “I think it’s viewed [that way] by almost every single member of the caucus, if not all of them, but I think few will say it because they don’t want to get the wrath of Donald Trump.”

Daines is also looking to try and take out Sen. Jon Tester, a centrist Democrat who is beloved in deep-red Montana.

Then there's the matter of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who left the Democratic Party and thinks she can win as an independen. Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb just filed to run as a Republican against her. It's unclear whether Trump ally Kari Lake would run in the race.

Read the full report here: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/senate-gop-nrsc-trump-primaries-2024


Trump expected to return to NYC this week for deposition in $250 million state civil case

Donald Trump is expected to return to New York City this week to be deposed in a case over financial records, but this time he isn't facing criminal charges.

The former president will be back in the Big Apple on Thursday to be deposed in a $250 million New York State civil lawsuit Attorney General Letitia James filed last year, CNN reports.

Trump will return to New York just more than a week after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted the former president on 34 felony counts over election interference centering around alleged hush money payments to Stormy Daniels.

The lawsuit alleges that Trump, along with his children and the Trump Organization defrauded lenders and insurers, among other business entities.

“This conduct cannot be brushed aside and dismissed as some sort of good-faith mistake,” James told reporters around the time of the filing on Sept. 21.

According to CNN, the lawsuit alleges that Trump and his associates “repeatedly and persistently to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization on more favorable terms than would otherwise have been available to the company, to satisfy continuing loan covenants, and to induce insurers to provide insurance coverage for higher limits and at lower premiums.”

Trump was deposed in the case in August of last year, but the former president asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to more than 400 questions — and it is not clear whether he plans to cooperate this time.

Trump before last year’s deposition defended his decision to assert his Fifth Amendment right.

“Anyone in my position not taking the Fifth Amendment would be a fool, an absolute fool,” Trump said in a video of the deposition released by the Attorney General’s Office.

“One statement or answer that is ever so slightly off, just ever so slightly by accident, by mistake, such as it was a sunny, beautiful day when actually it was slightly overcast, would be met by law enforcement.”

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-deposition-2659789406/

[Rick Plant]

'Racists, lunatics, maniacs!' Trump explodes at prosecutors in furious all-caps post



Former President Donald Trump on Monday morning wasn't just content to attack the man whom he appointed to be his attorney general, he also lashed out at prosecutors of all stripes for purportedly leading political investigations into his conduct.

Shortly after he criticized "slovenly" former Attorney General Bill Barr for saying he would likely be indicted for refusing to return top-secret government documents he'd stashed at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump took aim at every person investigating him with an all-caps rage post on his Truth Social platform.

"THE ONLY REASON I HAVE THESE ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS INVESTIGATIONS AGAINST ME , HEADED UP BY RACISTS, LUNATICS, AND RADICAL LEFT MANIACS, IS FOR PURPOSES OF ELECTION INTERFERENCE," Trump claimed. "IT WILL BE HARDER FOR THE DEMOCRATS TO CHEAT LIKE THEY DID IN 2020, SO THEY ARE GOING RIGHT TO THE OLD SOVIET UNION PLAYBOOK AND USING THE DOJ, FBI & OTHERS IN 'JUSTICE' TO INTERFERE IN OUR ONCE SACRED ELECTIONS. WE’VE GOT TO SWAMP THESE CHEATERS, AND WE WILL WIN!"

Trump last month was indicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to multiple hush-money payments he made ahead of the 2016 presidential campaign.

He is also under investigation for refusing to return top-secret documents despite receiving a subpoena for them and for his efforts to pressure officials in Georgia to "find" enough votes in that state for him to have won it in the 2020 presidential election.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-investigations-2659761758/


Trump rages at 'slovenly' Bill Barr for saying he'll likely get indicted in classified documents case



Former President Donald Trump launched a tirade against his former attorney general, William Barr, for saying that he will likely face federal charges over the stash of classified documents FBI agents found at his Mar-a-Lago country club.

Barr made the comments during an interview over the weekend with ABC News, during which he said he believes the Stormy Daniels hush payment case being pursued by Manhattan prosecutors is weak, but that "I'd be most concerned about the documents at Mar-a-Lago. I think that's a serious potential case. I think they probably have some very good evidence."

This statement enraged the former president, who took to his Truth Social platform Monday.

"Slovenly and pathetic Bill Barr, our COWARD former A.G., was on ABC FAKE NEWS this weekend making statements that he knows nothing about (he was long since gone from the White House, I wanted him out!) concerning the BOXES HOAX, a continuation of RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, UKRAINE, the Mueller Witch Hunt, & more," wrote Trump. "While he correctly puts down the N.Y.D.A. case, he plays up the equally ridiculous BOXES HOAX, where Biden should have the problem, not me. Barr is a weak & angry RINO!"

Barr, who served as attorney general in the George H. W. Bush administration before reprising that role through the second half of Trump's term, was continually accused of weaponizing the Justice Department in favor of the former president, including by pre-spinning the Mueller Report on interference by Russia into the 2016 election. He was a large proponent of so-called "unitary executive theory," which denies checks by other branches of government on the presidency.

However, he has grown more critical of his former boss in the wake of efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which has led to his falling out of Trump's inner circle.

Trump is being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith over his handling of classified documents that were found in the former president's Florida home.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-classified-documents-2659761524/


Trump is a nonstop 'nightmare' for his lawyers: Morning Joe



MSNBC's Joe Scarborough on Monday argued that the political tactics that former President Donald Trump has used in the past to thrash would-be Republican challengers are causing massive headaches for his own legal representatives.

Discussing Trump's difficulty in attracting and retaining top legal talent, Scarborough said it wasn't surprising that Trump took on notorious right-wing attorney Roy Cohn as his mentor given how Cohn was notorious for leveling evidence-free outrageous charges that often did not hold up under close legal scrutiny.

"He just throws things against the wall," Scarborough argued. "Maybe that works in politics for a few years, but legally, talk about what a nightmare that's been for Donald Trump and his lawyers."

Andrew Weissmann, a former prosecutor in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign's ties to Russian operatives, said that Trump did manage to attract at least one very strong criminal defense lawyer, but suggested that Trump is sabotaging this by bringing in other lawyers who are undermining the best arguments against throwing him in jail.

"What he is doing is really hiring people who are not really in his best legal interest because he is just thinking this in terms of politics," he said. "He is going through actually some good lawyers but not giving them the role they should have because he thinks he knows better in a court of law. I don't think that plays out terribly well."

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Trump continues to surge in the polls and has received over $4 million in campaign donations since this ridiculous political indictment.  Magnificent.  At least some people are still willing to stand up to the Stalinist purge at risk to themselves.

"Trump continues to surge in the polls".

Donnie's polls continues to sink like a rock. 25% approval rating. The lowest approval rating in history!

[Rick Plant]

Jim Jordan Broke This New York Law With Alvin Bragg Threats: Kirschner



Legal analyst Glenn Kirschner has said that Representative Jim Jordan broke the law in New York state by threatening to investigate Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Jordan, an Ohio Republican who currently serves as chair of the House Judiciary Committee, vowed in the wake of Donald Trump's historic indictment to investigate Bragg's conduct in bringing criminal charges against the former president, claiming that the district attorney's actions were politically motivated. Pursuant to that goal, Jordan on Thursday issued a subpoena for testimony to former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, who worked on the Trump case before resigning last February.

In response, Bragg's office released a statement decrying Jordan's efforts as "an unprecedented campaign of harassment and intimidation."

"The House GOP continues to attempt to undermine an active investigation and ongoing New York criminal case with an unprecedented campaign of harassment and intimidation," a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney's office said Thursday. "Repeated efforts to weaken state and local law enforcement actions are an abuse of power and will not deter us from our duty to uphold the law."

In a SaPersonay episode of his podcast, Justice Matters, Kirschner argued that Jordan's efforts to investigate Bragg were in violation of a law in New York against "obstructing governmental administration."

"Under our law, a person is guilty of Obstructing Governmental Administration in the Second Degree when that person intentionally...prevents or attempts to prevent a public servant from performing an official function by means of intimidation, physical force or interference," the law cited by Kirshner, a former federal prosecutor, reads.

"That is precisely what Jim Jordan has done and is doing," Kirschner argued. "And that's precisely what district attorney Alvin Bragg put Jim Jordan on notice of."

Kirschner continued, stating that it remains to be seen what Bragg will do in response to Jordan's efforts, adding that he can either let the congressman off the hook or "enforce the laws of New York," and pursue an arrest warrant against the Republican. Over the course of making the argument, Kirschner also noted that Jordan's efforts were in violation of the 10th Amendment, as the federal government cannot interfere with a state-level prosecution.

Kirschner, a notably vocal critic of Trump, previously said that the former president had violated that same law when he made several posts to his social media platform, Truth Social, insulting Bragg and threatening "death and destruction" if he were to be indicted.

As of now, Bragg has made no indication that he is considering obstruction charges for Jordan or Trump.

Newsweek reached out to Jordan's press office for comment.

https://www.newsweek.com/jim-jordan-broke-this-new-york-law-alvin-bragg-threats-kirschner-1793301

[Rick Plant]

Judge in Dominion Defamation Case Warns Fox News Lawyers: ‘Newsworthiness’ Argument Won’t Fly at Trial

The network has indicated that the ”newsworthiness“ of opinions from Trump and his cronies would be a big part of its defense



The Delaware Superior Court judge overseeing Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit warned defendant Fox News on Tuesday that its “newsworthiness” arguments – which had been shaping up to be a major pillar of the network’s case – would be on thin ice as the trial gets underway next week.

Judge Eric Davis made the comments Tuesday during a pre-trial conference including lawyers from both Fox and Dominion. The hearing was not made available for streaming or dial-in, but Washington Post media reporter Eric Wemple was threading highlights from the conference on his Twitter feed:

Davis, a former corporate lawyer known as an affable and unshakably straight-shooting judge, has made headlines with his comments and rulings throughout the pretrial process. At one hearing he pointed the finger at former Fox host Lou Dobbs as a major contributor to the pile of examples Dominion says were defamatory; he also challenged the notion that Fox top brass had “no control” over guests and narratives presented on cable’s most-watched network.

Though it might seem like Davis has only been dealing losses to Fox, he has agreed with them on one major point: That the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, which happened after the alleged defamation, is not relevant, and should not be discussed at any length, in part because it could “prejudice” the jury against the network.

But Davis’ skepticism around the “newsworthiness” argument, which Fox has been repeatedly signaling it would pursue, could be an issue for Fox attorneys. Davis went as far as to say he would “rebuke” attempts to evoke the newsworthiness argument in the presence of jurors. Davis went on a “riff,” Wemple reported, “pointing out that Dominion could quite easily – very easily – exploit Fox News’s newsworthiness defense in cross-examination.”

He suggested that among other things, Dominion lawyers cross-examining Fox witnesses could simply ask them why they didn’t have guests who upheld the integrity of the election – why not Joe Biden himself? “I love this cross … I could have a lot of fun with this case,” Davis said with a chuckle.

Dominion is asking for $1.6 billion in damages for what it says are defamatory statements about its voting machines in multiple reports, guest segments and host commentary. Fox has maintained it was merely reporting the news, and has dug in its heels on what could be a landmark First Amendment case.

Jury selection was expected to begin later this week, with opening arguments beginning next Monday in Delaware.

https://www.thewrap.com/judge-dominion-defamation-fox-news-newsworthiness-argument/

[Rick Plant]

Alvin Bragg sues Jim Jordan in effort to block Republicans from interfering in Trump criminal case

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is suing House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) in a move to block House Republicans from interfering in his criminal case against former President Donald Trump, The New York Times reported.

According to The Times' report, the suit is an "extraordinary" move that "accuses Mr. Jordan of a ‘brazen and unconstitutional attack’ on the prosecution of Mr. Trump and a ‘transparent campaign to intimidate and attack’ the district attorney.”

Bragg accuses Jordan of partaking in “a transparent campaign to intimidate and attack District Attorney Bragg, making demands for confidential documents and testimony from the District Attorney himself as well as his current and former employees and officials."

Jordan announced on Monday that his committee plans to hold a "field hearing" in New York City on April 17, which will accuse Bragg of being too focused on the prosecution of Trump at the expense of focusing on Manhattan's crime rate.

Read the full report over at The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/11/nyregion/bragg-lawsuit-jim-jordan-trump-indictment.html


Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg Sues Jim Jordan to Block Meddling in Trump Case

“A retaliatory political circus.”



Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has filed a lawsuit against Congressman Jim Jordan, telling the Ohio Republican to back off the DA’s case against Donald Trump.

Even before a New York grand jury officially indicted Trump, Jordan and other top House Republicans were threatening Bragg with an investigation of their own, apparently aimed at helping defend the former president.

Bragg’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court, asks a judge to block a subpoena that Jordan issued to attorney Mark Pomerantz, who left Bragg’s office last year. Bragg also wants the judge to prohibit Jordan from continuing to “harass” the Manhattan prosecutor’s office.

Back on March 20—well before Bragg’s grand jury indicted Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records—Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, and two other Republicans sent Bragg a letter accusing him of leading a politically motivated investigation into Trump. The Republicans demanded that Bragg provide Congress with details of his probe. Jordan argued that Bragg’s interest in prosecuting Trump—”while adopting progressive criminal justice policies that allow career ‘criminals [to] run[ ] the streets’ of Manhattan—requires congressional scrutiny about how public safety funds appropriated by Congress are implemented by local law-enforcement agencies.”

Last week, Jordan also subpoenaed Pomerantz, a longtime white collar crime prosecutor who Bragg’s predecessor, Cy Vance Jr., had brought into the DA’s office to help investigate any potential Trump-related crimes. Pomerantz quit after Bragg took over, citing frustrations with Bragg’s initial unwillingness to pursue criminal charges against Trump. Pomerantz later wrote a book about his decision and his belief that Trump has committed numerous crimes.

Jordan has also taken to both television and Twitter to attack Bragg.

In a Fox News interview, Jordan even threatened to subpoena Bragg himself and warned that if Bragg resisted, “everything is on the table.”

Bragg and Jordan have continued to trade jabs—Jordan has said he wants to hold a Judiciary Committee hearing in Manhattan to highlight what he believes are high crime rates, while a Bragg aide countered that cities in Jordan’s home state had higher crime rates.

Bragg’s lawsuit is an escalation in the back-and-forth, however, with the request that a federal judge force Jordan to drop his subpoena of Pomerantz. In the complaint, Bragg points out that he’s a local prosecutor and that Congress has no power to interfere with local criminal investigations. What Jordan and his GOP colleagues are really doing, Bragg says in the suit, is trying to create “a retaliatory political circus designed to undermine the rule of law and New York’s police power.”

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/04/manhattan-da-alvin-bragg-jim-jordan-trump/

[Rick Plant]

Donnie is toxic!

Dropping like a rock': Bad news for Trump as he plummets into 'fringe candidate' territory



"Morning Joe" co-host Joe Scarborough dropped bad news on Donald Trump on Tuesday morning by pointing out that new polls show he has little chance of winning re-election even if he does survive the Republican Party primaries.

Responding to a new poll that shows the former president's approval ratings plummeting into the 20s after his indictment in a Manhattan courtroom, co-host Wille Geist chimed in to say the former president is now getting the kind of numbers normally associated with "fringe candidates."

Citing the awful poll numbers, co-host Mika Brzezinski said of Trump, "Republican senators want him to stay away from the races in 2024 following losses by his hand-picked candidates during the last cycle. If his legal issues don't take him off the ballot, maybe his poll numbers will; a new survey shows he is losing support rapidly, dropping like a rock."

"His favorability ratings have never been great, nor the job approval ratings, but if you look at the favorability ratings, when we sit here talking about all the things he is doing and wondering why it doesn't seem to catch up to him, he now has a favorability rating that's collapsed down to 25 percent," host Scarborough interjected. "Actually lost more percentage points post-indictment."

"It is all bad news for him, especially the fact that only one in four Americans now have a favorable impression of him," he continued with Geist adding, "25 percent -- you're dipping into being a fringe political candidate. 25 percent is a terrible number if you're trying to win a general election again."

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

The 4 criminal investigations into Donald Trump, explained

Trump has already been indicted once. More indictments could be coming

https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/4/4/23664866/donald-trump-indictment-alvin-bragg-jack-smith-stormy-daniels-new-york-georgia