Donald J. Trump After the White House - Page 19
Was Fox News running the Trump White House?
Trump reportedly let hosts Hannity and Lou Dobbs join in Oval Office staff meetings by phonePeter WadeFox News hosts were more influential in the White House than previously known, often acting as shadow advisors to the president in private phone calls. According to a Washington Post report, former President Donald Trump would frequently speak with Fox anchors like Sean Hannity or Judge Jeanine Pirro, who had a direct phone number to reach him in the White House residence, and then pass their recommendations on to his staff. “There were times the president would come down the next morning and say, ‘Well, Sean thinks we should do this,’ or, ‘Judge Jeanine thinks we should do this,’ ” Grisham, who resigned after the Jan. 6 insurrection, told the paper. These suggestions from Fox personalities, she said, would often frustrate staff as the hosts shared their thoughts on topics ranging from White House personnel to how to frame the president’s message. Trump would even dial Hannity and former Fox Business host Lou Dobbs into Oval Office staff meetings, a former administration official told The Post. Grisham also recently revealed that on Jan. 6, Trump was “gleefully” watching the violence unfold on television. more...
“This is freaking annoying that a scoundrel won’t pay taxes. My taxes are higher because his taxes are lower,” a local official told The Daily BeastPeter WadeFormer President Trump’s habit of manipulating the value of his properties in an effort to skirt taxes is causing problems for a public school district and local property owners. Former President Trump’s habit of manipulating the value of his properties in an effort to skirt taxes is causing problems for a public school district and local property owners. The Daily Beast reported on Monday that Trump’s golf club in Westchester, New York, recently negotiated with the local government to reduce its value by one third — from around $15 million to $9.5 million — in order to slash its property taxes. Trump has listed the value of Trump National Golf Club Westchester elsewhere — like on White House financial disclosure forms — as worth north of $50 million. more...
The unusual move is indicative of Trump's ongoing influence, experts say.By Soo Rin KimMore than a year after the 2020 presidential election, the GOP is still covering numerous legal bills for the benefit of former President Donald Trump -- and the price tag is ruffling the feathers of some longtime GOP donors who are now critical of Trump. In October and November alone, the Republican National Committee spent nearly $720,000 of its donor money on paying law firms representing Trump in various legal challenges, including criminal investigations into his businesses in New York, according to campaign finance records. Trump's legal bills have sent the Republican Party's total legal expenditures soaring in recent months, resulting in $3 million spent just between September and November. In contrast, the Democratic National Committee has been gradually winding down its legal expenses over the last few months. more...
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large(CNN) "You can't love your country only when you win." That's President Joe Biden during a speech he gave Thursday morning to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the US Capitol riot. It's not only a memorable line -- it's likely to be the one that gets repeated the most today and in the days to come -- but also a hugely important one if we hope to fully come to grips with what happened last January 6 and everything that led to that moment. At the heart of the line is the idea of patriotism. Remember that Donald Trump ran for president in 2016 expressly on the idea of putting "America first." The idea that animated both his campaign and his four years in the White House was that the United States was exceptional in the world and that, for too long, American leaders had been afraid to loudly and proudly proclaim that fact, choosing instead to make America subservient to lesser countries around the world. "The future doesn't belong to globalists," Trump said in a 2019 foreign policy speech at the United Nations. "The future belongs to patriots." more...
The former president’s callousness toward his real and perceived enemies is standard fare for Trump, who frequently revels in their pain and misfortune in public and in private.Asawin Suebsaeng Senior Political Reporter, Will Sommer Politics ReporterThere are a number of things that make Donald Trump happy when he thinks of Jan. 6, and the long-term consequences of the riot. But it’s the anguish and trauma that has really sparked his joy. In the full year since the deadly, Trump-inspired assault on the U.S. Capitol, several lawmakers, police officers, and reporters who were there have publicly opened up about the lingering distress they still feel stemming from the anti-democratic violence and body count of the day. According to three people with direct knowledge of the matter, the twice-impeached former president has noticed the emotional accounts, particularly that from Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Some he has found annoying. Others, however, have become targets of mockery and casual hilarity for him. more...
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl on the scenarios.By Jonathan KarlTwo weeks after the Jan. 6 insurrection , Donald Trump walked out of the White House and Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States. Trump had attempted to use the full power of the presidency and his position as the leader of the Republican Party to stay in power, but he failed. Democracy succeeded. Joe Biden became president, on schedule and without incident, at noon on Jan. 20, 2021. But this was a close call. Attempts by Trump and his followers to overturn the results of the 2020 election -- multi-dimensional efforts of which the assault on the Capitol building was only one element -- came dangerously close to succeeding. Consider, for example, Donald Trump’s demand that Vice President Mike Pence act to nullify Biden’s victory on Jan. 6. Trump wanted Pence to use his power as the presiding officer during the joint session of Congress that day to toss out Biden’s electoral votes in states Trump had contested. On its face, the idea of giving one person the power to overturn the votes of millions of Americans was absurd. And outside of a few fringe lawyers advising Trump, constitutional scholars agreed that Pence had no authority to do what Trump was demanding. more...
By DAVID BAUDERNEW YORK (AP) — For years, Sean Hannity has skirted ethical boundaries with his role on a television network with “news” in its name. Yet it’s never been as stark as now, with the committee investigating last year’s Capitol insurrection seeking his testimony. The Jan. 6 select committee has revealed a series of texts where Hannity privately advised former President Donald Trump before, during and after the assault, and is seeking his insight about what happened in those days. The popular Fox News Channel prime-time host hasn’t said what he will do, but he’s slammed the congressional probe as a partisan witch hunt. His lawyer has raised First Amendment concerns about the request. It’s not unheard of for journalists to offer advice to politicians — history records Ben Bradlee’s friendship with former President John F. Kennedy — but such actions raise questions about their independence and allegiance to the public interest, said Jane Kirtley, director of the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law at the University of Minnesota. more...
Alex Woodward, Maroosha Muzaffar, Eleanor Sly, Gino Spocchia, John BowdenDonald Trump has canceled a press conference scheduled for 6 January at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the attack on the Capitol mounted by his supporters. The former president blamed the “total bias and dishonesty” of the “Fake News Media” as well as the House panel investigating the assault, which released several text messages from Fox News personality Sean Hannity to the former president’s then-chief of staff Mark Meadows in the days surrounding the attack. Documents recently published by the committee also reveal how the former president’s allies planned a campaign to intimidate election officials and spread voter fraud falsehoods, while another appeared to call for the seizure of “evidence” in service of his false claims that propelled the attack and his spurious bid to overturn election results. more...
Brad ReedThree more police officers are suing former President Donald Trump for the "physical and emotional injuries" they suffered as a result of the riots he incited at the United States Capitol building last year. Politico reports that Capitol Officer Marcus Moore, who has spent the last decade on the force, filed a lawsuit in which he described "the intense terror of the day as he moved from his post at the Madison Building to the East Side of the Capitol and eventually into the House chamber, helping evacuate lawmakers to safety." Moore is seeking damages against Trump, whom he says incited a riot that left him suffering from tinnitus, a condition that produces frequent ringing in a person's ear. more...
The administration officials who defected from the administration over the riots have almost all receded from public view even as Trump’s stayed put.By MERIDITH MCGRAW and DANIEL LIPPMANIn the hours after a mob of angry Donald Trump supporters stormed Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, a number of prominent Trump administration officials and Republicans decided that they’d had enough. With a mix of anger and outrage, they condemned Trump for either stoking the riots or doing next-to-nothing to stop them. Cabinet officials submitted letters of resignation. Golf buddies and top donors broke their alliances. Top advisers said they’d been let down by Trump. It was a notable moment of public dissent after four years marked mostly by fidelity. But its impact has proved minimal. One year after the Jan. 6 riot, the voices of those who broke with Trump over that day have mostly been muted, moved on, or, in certain instances, come to embrace Trump all over again. POLITICO contacted eighteen Trump administration officials who stepped down as a result of Jan. 6 or whose resignation seemed timed to it. Only one agreed to speak on the record about their decision that day. more...
By Mychael SchnellIranian President Ebrahim Raisi is calling for former President Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to face trial for the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a January 2020 drone strike ordered by Trump. Raisi, in a speech on Monday, said Trump and Pompeo should be “tried in a fair court” for the assassination of Soleimani. He called Trump an "aggressor," "murderer" and the "main culprit." “If Trump and Pompeo are not tried in a fair court for the criminal act of assassinating General Soleimani, Muslims will take our martyr's revenge,” Raisi said, according to Reuters. “The aggressor, murderer and main culprit — the then-president of the United States — must be tried and judged under the [Islamic] law of retribution, and God's ruling must be carried out against him,” Raisi added. more...
The riot at the Capitol briefly looked like it had broken Trump's hold on the GOP. Instead, he has reaffirmed his dominion over the party.By DAVID SIDERSDonald Trump has already telegraphed the remarks he plans to give at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, the anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. If he follows the script laid out in his announcement of the news conference, he will commit a whitewashing of the day, repeating the lie that the 2020 election was rigged and defending his part in fomenting the insurrection — all while a solemn prayer service is held at the Capitol, in a vivid split-screen moment. And, as Trump castigates Republicans not toeing his line, his event will also serve as a marker of Trump’s extraordinary dominion over the GOP. One year ago, many prominent Republicans predicted Trump’s behavior on and ahead of Jan. 6 would relegate him to the fringes of the right, shaming the GOP back into the mainstream. Instead, the opposite has happened. When Trump speaks, he will set the table for a midterm election year with him firmly at the Republican Party’s center. more...
Lauren Hodges"I was standing amid thousands of Trump supporters on the lawn rising up to the Washington Monument," says NPR's Tom Bowman. "Then Trump came on stage to raucous applause." Bowman was reporting from the "Save America" rally in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6. Up until the point when former President Trump began speaking, the rally held a festive air, almost like a football game, he said. "Some Trump supporters were singing YMCA but using the letters M-A-G-A." But things were different at the Capitol building, where I was standing with Hannah Allam, NPR's extremism reporter. The far-right group the Proud Boys had just shown up and were organizing a crowd to head for the rally. We had quietly embedded ourselves with them as they began to walk west on Pennsylvania Avenue. more...
People with scant illusions about Trump are volunteering to help him execute one of his Big Lies.By David FrumIf Donald Trump had been supported only by people who affirmatively liked him, his attack on American democracy would never have gotten as far as it did. Instead, at almost every turn, Trump was helped by people who had little liking for him as a human being or politician, but assessed that he could be useful for purposes of their own. The latest example: the suddenly red-hot media campaign to endorse Trump’s fantasy that he was the victim of a “Russia hoax.” The usual suspects in the pro-Trump media ecosystem will of course endorse and repeat everything Trump says, no matter how outlandish. But it’s not pro-Trumpers who are leading the latest round of Trump-Russia denialism. This newest round of excuse-making is being sounded from more respectable quarters, in many cases by people distinguished as Trump critics. With Trump out of office—at least for the time being—they now feel free to subordinate their past concerns about him to other private quarrels with the FBI or mainstream media institutions. On high-subscription Substacks, on popular podcasts, even from within prestige media institutions, people with scant illusions about Trump the man and president are nonetheless volunteering to help him execute one of his Big Lies. more...
MSNBCThe Atlantic's David Frum joins Morning Joe to discuss his latest piece 'It Wasn't a Hoax,' on '...the suddenly red-hot media campaign to endorse Trump’s fantasy that he was the victim of a 'Russia hoax.'' video...
Anger over the election animated local GOP chapters in tangible ways this year. Now, some see issues like inflation and education as being of greater interest.By Allan SmithLAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — Former President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election fueled anger among Republicans who flocked to local-level GOP chapters in hope of playing a greater role in future elections. Now, some leaders of those grassroots outfits say they and their members have turned the page — even as Trump himself has made it clear that he wants the issue front and center in coming contests. “People here have turned to the future,” Hai Cao, a member of the Gwinnett County GOP in Georgia, said in an interview. Fellow members of the local Republican Party “don’t dwell and talk about” 2020, he added, because “we’ll just lose opportunity for future advancement — wins.” more...
Ben Wieder and Julie K. Brown | McClatchy Washington BureauDonald Trump appears to have flown on Jeffrey Epstein’s private jets six more times than was previously known, according to flight logs released as evidence in Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial. Previous disclosures of portions of Epstein’s flight log have shown world leaders, billionaires and celebrities among the many passengers who have flown on Epstein’s private jets. Donald Trump and his ex-wife Ivana Trump are seen together watching the men's singles finals match at the U.S. Open in New York Sunday, Sept. 7, 1997. The new log released as evidence in Maxwell’s case stretches back earlier than previous releases. more...
Travis GettysDonald Trump has tried repeatedly to stall or disrupt the House investigation of his efforts to overturn last year's election, but the select committee has been moving forward with new speed. Some of the twice-impeached one-term president's closest allies have resisted efforts to obtain documents and interviews, and Trump's own efforts to shield himself from the probe has reached the U.S. Supreme Court, but CNN reported that House investigators are moving closer to revealing what happened in the leadup to Jan. 6. more...
Bob BrighamNPR on Thursday aired an alarming report on "the clear and present danger of Trump's enduring 'Big Lie.'" "When a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the goal was to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and install Donald Trump in a second term. Call it an insurrection or a coup attempt. It was fueled by what's known as the "Big Lie": the verifiably false assertion that Trump won. Joe Biden won 306 votes in the Electoral College, while Trump received 232. In the popular vote, Biden won by more than seven million votes," Melissa Block reported. Law school professor and election law expert Rick Hasen offered NPR a dire warning. "I've never been more scared about American democracy than I am right now, because of the metastasizing of the 'Big Lie,'" Hasen said. more...
Cheryl TehThe fringe factions of the right-wing have erupted in anger and confusion at former President Donald Trump's enthusiastic lauding of the COVID-19 vaccine this week. On two separate occasions, Trump advocated for people to take the COVID-19 vaccine this past week. On Sunday, crowds booed the former president when he revealed to Bill O'Reilly that he had taken a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot and is pro-vaccination. Trump doubled down on his stance during an interview with conservative commentator Candace Owens on Wednesday, hailing the vaccine as "one of the greatest achievements of mankind." "No, the vaccine worked. But some people aren't taking it. The ones that get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don't take their vaccine," Trump told Owens. more...
Brendan Morrow, Staff WriterFormer President Donald Trump is continuing to advocate for COVID-19 vaccination. In an interview with conservative commentator Candace Owens, Trump called the COVID-19 vaccines "one of the greatest achievements of mankind" after he revealed earlier this week he received his booster dose. Owens suggested the fact that "more people have died" since the vaccines became widely available might call their effectiveness into question, but Trump rejected this notion. "No, the vaccine worked," he said. "But some people aren't taking it. The ones that get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don't take their vaccine." more...
Sarah K. BurrisPresident Donald Trump was able to gather enough funding to start a billion-dollar venture creating his own social media site that will allow him a place where he can't be banned. That funding, however, came from a Chinese company that has struggled with several investigations from the Securities and Exchange Commission. A Washington Post report explained that the Shanghai company Arc Capital has frequently helped finance companies that don't have any revenue or offices. "One claimed to be developing autonomous drone software despite having no employees; another said it operated a publicly-traded in-home bakery 'specializing in freshly-made cakes and cupcakes' before saying it pivoted into touch-screen technologies for a “diversified blue-chip client base,'" the Post said citing regulatory filings. more...
"I think it was a terrific thing, and I think it makes a lot of people happy."By Adam BarnesPresident Biden’s praise for the previous administration’s efforts in rolling out a COVID-19 vaccine “surprised” former President Trump, the 45th president said Tuesday. “Thanks to the prior administration and our scientific community, America was one of the first countries to get the vaccine,” Biden said in remarks from the White House in an update on the U.S. coronavirus strategy. “Thanks to my administration and the hard work of Americans, we led a rollout that made America among the world leaders in getting shots in arms,” he added, referring to the Trump administration’s COVID-19 vaccine effort dubbed “Operation Warp Speed.” more...
Donald Trump speaks during a farewell ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on 20 January this year.Flurry of recent revelations raises the specter that the committee is swiftly heading towards an incriminating conclusionHugo LowellDonald Trump is increasingly agitated by the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack, according to sources familiar with the matter, and appears anxious he might be implicated in the sprawling inquiry into the insurrection even as he protests his innocence. The former president in recent weeks has complained more about the investigation, demanding why his former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, shared so much material about 6 January with the select committee, and why dozens of other aides have also cooperated. Trump has also been perturbed by aides invoking the Fifth Amendment in depositions - it makes them look weak and complicit in a crime, he has told associates - and considers them foolish for not following the lead of his former strategist Steve Bannon in simply ignoring the subpoenas. more...
By Deidre McPhillips and Devan Cole, CNNWashington (CNN) The outgoing director of the National Institutes of Health said Sunday that he faced political pressure from then-President Donald Trump and other Republicans to endorse unproven Covid-19 remedies such as hydroxychloroquine and to fire Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Dr. Francis Collins, whose last day as NIH director is Sunday, told CBS News that he got a "talking to" by Trump, but that he held his ground and would have resigned if Trump made him endorse remedies for Covid-19 that were not based in science. "I have done everything I can to stay out of any kind of political, partisan debates because it is really not a place where medical research belongs," he said. "I was not going to compromise scientific principles to just hold onto the job." more...
By Dan Merica, CNN(CNN) Former President Donald Trump was booed by a portion of an audience in Dallas on Sunday when he said he had received a Covid-19 booster shot, according to video of the closed press event that was shared on social media. The comments by Trump -- who, despite championing his administration's efforts to develop Covid vaccines, rarely discusses his own vaccination and has largely declined to encourage others to get it -- came during a stop of his tour with former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. According to video tweeted by O'Reilly's "No Spin News," the former Fox News host says, "Both the President and I are vaxxed" and then asks Trump, "Did you get the booster?" "Yes," Trump says to a smattering of boos in the audience. "Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't," Trump says in the video, seemingly trying to quiet the boos. "That's all right, it's a very tiny group over there." more...
By Sonia Moghe, CNN(CNN) Former President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization have sued New York Attorney General Letitia James, asking for a federal court to halt or limit her office's ongoing investigations. The lawsuit, which comes on the heels of James' office seeking to depose Trump as part of its civil fraud investigation into the Trump Organization, also seeks to enjoin James' involvement in any civil or criminal actions against the former President or his company. The suit, filed in federal court in Northern New York Monday, accuses James of misconduct, claiming she has abused her investigatory powers to target her political adversaries and advance her career. "Since taking office, she has tirelessly bombarded him, his family and his business, Trump Organization LLC, with unwarranted subpoenas in a bitter crusade to 'take on' the President," the suit states. James responded to the suit in a statement Monday, saying the Trump Organization has repeatedly attempted to delay her office's investigation into its business dealings and called the suit an "attempted collateral attack." more...
Tom BoggioniAccording to a report from Newsweek's David Freedman, supporters of Donald Trump are already looking past the 2022 midterms and making rumblings that they will not react peacefully if the former president makes a third bid for the White House and loses again. In an interview with 73-year-old Vietnam vet Mike Nieznany of Gainesville, Georgia, he called the situation a "ticking time-bomb" and responses to his online comments -- which "received 44,000 views in the first two weeks of November and more than 4 million overall" -- indicated he is not alone with that assessment. According to Nieznany, like-minded people are arming themselves in anticipation of what could happen in 2024 that could "trigger" far-right fans of the ex-president. more...
BY ALEXANDRA HUTZLERAquote of Donald Trump talking about the Fifth Amendment has resurfaced as his allies use it with the House of Representatives select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection. On the campaign trail in 2016, Trump bashed Hillary Clinton after some members of her staff invoked the amendment during a congressional investigation. "You see the mob takes the Fifth," he said during one rally in Iowa. "If you're innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?" more...
The White House repeatedly overruled public health and testing guidance from the nation’s top infectious disease experts and silenced officials, the report found.By Rebecca ShabadWASHINGTON — The Trump administration engaged in “deliberate efforts” to undermine the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic for political purposes, a congressional report released Friday concludes. The report, prepared by the House select subcommittee investigating the nation’s Covid response, says the White House repeatedly overruled public health and testing guidance by the nation’s top infectious disease experts and silenced officials in order to promote then-President Donald Trump's political agenda. In August of last year, for example, Trump hosted a White House meeting with people who promoted a herd immunity strategy pushed by White House special adviser Dr. Scott Atlas. The subcommittee obtained an email sent ahead of that meeting in which Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House Covid response coordinator, told the vice president’s chief of staff, Marc Short, that it was “a fringe group without grounding in epidemics, public health or on the ground common sense experience.” Birx also said in the email that she could “go out of town or whatever gives the WH cover” on the day of the meeting. more...
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) raised the question using precise terminology from the criminal statute that some view as possibly applicable to the former president's actions.By KYLE CHENEY and NICHOLAS WUMembers of the Jan. 6 select committee are homing in on a politically explosive question: Did Donald Trump’s actions amid the Capitol attack amount to criminal obstruction of Congress? Twice this week, committee vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) has raised the possibility that Trump's conduct while a mob of his supporters overtook the Capitol could qualify as an effort to obstruct the certification of Joe Biden's victory. Cheney described that as a “key” topic facing the panel, particularly as it seeks the testimony of one of Trump’s onetime closest aides, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. more...
Michael HiltzikFor a while there, it seemed that the SPAC boom had run out its string. Then came Donald Trump. Already confused? Let's start with first principles. SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies, are shell companies that collect funds from investors on the expectation that they'll find a private company to merge into within a given period of time, usually 24 months.It is never a good idea to invest in a SPAC just because someone famous sponsors or invests in it or says it is a good investment.Securities and Exchange CommissionThe wrinkle is that the SPAC doesn't have a target in mind at the outset, so these are the blindest of blind pools. The SPAC boom built through 2020 and through the first quarter of this year, peaking at some 300 deals in that quarter alone. more...
Who gave him the money? The ex-president’s new company won’t say.By Bess LevinBack in October, Donald Trump announced that he would be forming a new social media company called TRUTH Social, and like many a Trump venture that came before it, it appeared to be a classic Trump scam. Not because, at the time, it looked as though anything illegal had gone down but because of a plan to go public via special purpose acquisition company (or SPAC), which would allow the ex-president to get rich by selling stock—without actually having to build a profitable company or even launch the social network at all. Months later, the con appears to being continuing apace—only now with fun new national security implications! more...
A financing company told investors that it wasn’t in deal talks, weeks after its C.E.O. held a private videoconference about a possible deal with Donald Trump.By Matthew Goldstein, David Enrich and Michael SchwirtzOne day in April, a group of men gathered on a videoconference call to discuss a deal to bankroll former President Donald J. Trump’s planned media company. Among the participants, according to two people familiar with the call, were Mr. Trump’s representatives and the chief executive and a future board member of Digital World Acquisition, a so-called blank-check company that would announce the deal with Mr. Trump six months later. At the time, Patrick Orlando, Digital World’s chief executive, was also running several other blank-check companies, and it’s unclear which one he was representing on the videoconference. more...
But the judge stayed the impact of his ruling for 14 days.By JOSH GERSTEIN and KYLE CHENEYA federal judge has rejected former President Donald Trump’s bid to block congressional Democrats from obtaining his tax returns. Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee to federal district court in Washington, said Trump was “wrong on the law” and that Congress is due “great deference” in its inquiries. “Even the special solicitude accorded former Presidents does not alter the outcome,” McFadden wrote in a 45-page ruling. “The Court will therefore dismiss this case.” The ruling is a boost for the House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), which has been seeking Trump’s tax returns since the middle of 2019. Neal reissued the request after Trump left office earlier this year, saying the returns are necessary for a potential reform of the IRS program that audits presidential tax returns annually. But Trump has fought the request, claiming Neal’s stated purpose was really a pretense for seeking to exact political punishment. more...
By Darragh RocheRepublican members of Congress appear to have conspired with former President Donald Trump 's administration in efforts to prevent the certification of President Joe Biden 's 2020 election victory, according to text messages revealed by the House Select Committee investigating January 6. The select committee released texts from as-yet unnamed lawmakers to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Monday before the panel voted unanimously to recommend contempt charges against him. Those messages appear to show the lawmakers supporting a plan to object to the certification of Electoral College votes on January 6 where then Vice President Mike Pence would have played a key role. more...
It's not just the texts. As part of the Jan. 6 investigation, Liz Cheney raised the prospect of criminal misconduct from Team Trump and its allies.By Steve BenenJust a few days after the Jan. 6 attack, Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, and David Williams, the former inspector general for five federal agencies, wrote a joint op-ed for Politico that raised a few eyebrows. As we discussed at the time, McCabe and Williams said Donald Trump could face criminal charges for inciting a riot, noting that it's a federal crime to "endeavor to persuade" another person to commit a felony that includes the threat or use of physical force. The Washington Post reported soon after that the then-president's legal advisers "expressed increasing concern" about the Republican's "possible criminal liability." The article added that Trump had been told by attorneys "that he could face legal jeopardy for inciting a mob." An adviser close to Trump told CNN the then-president was "worried about" being prosecuted. We now know, of course, that nothing came of this. But what if there were a different area of criminal liability for the former president related to his anti-election efforts? more...
Fox News, right wing media and the GOP blamed Antifa and BLM even though they knew it was Trump supporters who attacked the capitol.House investigators held Mark Meadows in criminal contempt after releasing a trove of messages aimed at getting President Trump to take stronger action amid the Capitol riot.By NICHOLAS WU and KYLE CHENEYAs rioters swarmed the Capitol, President Donald Trump’s eldest son pleaded with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to get his father to do more to end the violence. “He’s got to condemn this [shit] Asap. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough,” Donald Trump Jr. texted, one of a series of messages Meadows provided to the Jan. 6 select committee investigating the former president’s effort to overturn the election. The text message was one of a handful described and released by the committee on Monday from the trove shared by Meadows that showed lawmakers, aides and even Fox News hosts pleading with Meadows to press Trump to take stronger action. After they described the messages, the panel held Meadows in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to testify to investigators. The matter now goes to the full House, which is expected to refer Meadows to the Justice Department on Tuesday. more...
Travis GettysDonald Trump has effectively deputized a "mob" of vigilantes who are intimidating elected officials and civilians across the country, according to one conservative. Armed extremists have threatened citizens arrests of public officials and others in various states in an intimidation campaign that bears strong similarities to the Jan. 6 insurrection, and The Bulwark's Mona Charen said that's no coincidence. "Stories of threats and violence aimed at ordinary Americans who are simply serving on school boards, supervising elections, holding public office, opening a mobile vaccine clinic, or having the effrontery to be elected as secretary of state are not new," Charen wrote. "It’s a mashup of pandemic-induced mania, social media misinformation, Trump-incited disinhibition, and something in the water." more...
Travis GettysCourt records reveal the documents that Donald Trump and his White House officials most want to keep hidden from the House select committee. The twice-impeached one-term president has claimed executive privilege over 39 pages from the 136 pages of documents that were set to be released Friday by the National Archives and Records Administration, and those documents include handwritten notes about Jan. 6, appointments for White House visitors, and switchboard logs that show calls between Trump and former vice president Mike Pence, reported USA Today. "These records all relate to the events on or about January 6, and may assist the Select Committee's investigation into that day, including what was occurring at the White House immediately before, during and after the January 6 attack," wrote Justice Department lawyers in a court filing for the National Archives and archivist David Ferriero. more...
BBC NewsDonald Trump's son sent the White House chief-of-staff frantic texts calling for his father to intervene during the Capitol riot on 6 January.A committee investigating the violence was shown messages from Donald Trump Jr to Mark Meadows, saying the deadly riot had "gotten out of hand". He was one of several senior political and media figures who text Mr Meadows with their concerns. The president was criticised for not intervening early on in the riot. He did eventually urge his supporters to "go home", but not before the pro-Trump mob had stormed the Capitol building, where Congress were meeting to certify Joe Biden's presidential election win. In the newly-revealed messages to Mr Meadows, Mr Trump Jr used strong terms to suggest his father should act. more...
NewsroomCNN's Jamie Gangel reports former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows provided the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot with text messages and emails from his personal cell phone and email account that were related to what former President Donald Trump was doing during the riot. video...
D.C. Circuit ruling could open more draft documents to public disclosureBy MARISSA MARTINEZ and JOSH GERSTEINA federal appeals court has overturned a lower-court decision that allowed the Department of Justice to withhold emails related to former President Donald Trump’s 2017 travel ban that largely targeted Muslim-majority nations. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in the Freedom of Information Act case could open the door to disclosure of more drafts of federal government policies and edicts. Such drafts are often reflexively withheld by federal agencies, but the three-judge appeals court panel’s decision Friday said that agencies can’t withhold drafts solely because they’re drafts and that officials seeking to keep such records secret need to put forward an explanation of how disclosure would upset an agency’s internal deliberations. more...
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