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    Report: Secret Service Prepping If Trump Sentenced To Jail

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      1
      Image via Pixabay

      The U.S. Secret Service doesn’t know what to do about its “Trump problem.”

      The Secret Service is tasked is protecting our current and former presidents, and regarding former President Donald Trump, the organization has reportedly already had meetings to plan how to handle his security if he ends up behind bars.

      Trump is currently on trial in New York facing 34 felony counts for falsifying business records regarding alleged hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

      According to a report by ABC News, the Secret Service “held meetings and started planning for what to do if former President Donald Trump were to be held in contempt in his criminal hush money trial and Judge Juan Merchan opted to send him to short-term confinement,” citing as a source “officials familiar with the situation.”

      During Tuesday’s arguments, prosecutors said they were “not yet seeking an incarceratory penalty,” asking Merchan to impose fines, but also highlighted Trump’s ongoing attacks and argued that he “seems to be angling for” being imprisoned.

      The ABC News report added that the officials “do not necessarily believe Merchan would put Trump in a holding cell in the courthouse but they are planning for contingencies.” These sources added that the discussions had not yet gotten to the point of discussing what to do if Trump is convicted and sent to prison, in this case or in the other three criminal matters pending against the former President, including two federal cases and one in Georgia.

      The Secret Service would not comment on specific discussions or plans for protecting Trump, but issued a statement:

      Under federal law, the United States Secret Service must provide protection for current government leaders, former Presidents and First Ladies, visiting heads of state and other individuals designated by the President of the United States. For all settings around the world, we study locations and develop comprehensive and layered protective models that incorporate state of the art technology, protective intelligence and advanced security tactics to safeguard our protectees. Beyond that, we do not comment on specific protective operations.

      The New York Times’ reporting cited two sources saying that the “impromptu meeting” with federal, state, and city agencies to discuss how to manage imprisoning Trump was instigated by the prosecution’s arguments regarding the gag orders, specifically the request that Merchan expressly remind the former president he could, in fact, be thrown in jail for contempt.

      The short-term incarceration Trump might face for violating a gag order would be in a courthouse holding cell, not a regular state jail or federal prison that he might find as his new address if he’s convicted in any of the cases against him.

      “The far more substantial challenge — how to safely incarcerate a former president if the jury convicts him and the judge sentences him to prison rather than home confinement or probation — has yet to be addressed directly, according to some of a dozen current and former city, state and federal officials interviewed for this article,” reported the Times, adding that it would require “keeping him separate from other inmates, as well as screening his food and other personal items,” plus making accommodations for a rotating detail of Secret Service agents to protect him 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Despite the normal prohibition on firearms in prisons, Trump’s agents “would nonetheless be armed.”

      [Watch] Trump’s Niece Compares Him Unfavorably To Jeffrey Dahmer On MSNBC

        By
        admin
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        3
        Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

        Mary Trump‘s aversion to her famous uncle is well-known, but it’s not every day she compares him to one of America’s most infamous serial killers.

        On national television.

        Reflecting on the Stormy Daniels hush money case, Trump’s niece joined MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell to mock the lack of Trump supporters demonstrating outside the courthouse and the absence of the former president’s family inside the courtroom.

        Several reporters also noticed their lack of attendance in the courtroom, asking the presumptive Republican nominee where Melania is.

        Appearing on Monday’s edition of “The Last Word,” Mary and Larry mocked the presidential front-runner, saying that even Jeffrey Dahmer‘s parents attended his trial. 

        “This is something that I’ve never seen,” O’Donnell claimed. “Not actually made manifest in the courtroom, before Donald Trump‘s in that courtroom alone. Jeffrey Dahmer’s parents were there every single day. It is. It is very hard, to, to find a courtroom where the criminal defendant doesn’t have a relative sitting there in the front row.”

        The younger Trump replied: “Yeah, well, I got a couple of things about that. First of all, it’s another example of how, he, he perverts systems or expectations. For anybody else, that would just be damning. Right. Just the way he talks about dogs would be damning.”

        “How many times have we heard that his bizarre behavior, that, that he engages in bizarre behaviors or just doesn’t conform in a way that, that a, a reasonably well-adjusted human being would?”

        “But like everything else about him, it just kind of gets baked in,” she continued. “Right.”

        “But it is. Let’s, it’s worth, pausing, about how under. Unfair on. Unreal. Bizarre. Strange. Unacceptable. Weird. Whatever adjective you want to use, it is that he is there alone in terms of friends and family,” her assessment continued.

        “I think it is worth pointing out… One. I don’t think he cares. I don’t think it matters to him. That is not where he gets his energy. That is not what gives him solace to the extent that anything does,” Trump opined. “He’s more upset about the fact that there aren’t more people outside protesting on his behalf. Right.”

        “But it also points to, the bizarre thing about my family that every transaction in this family is a transactional one,” the estranged niece continued. “I’m sorry. Every relationship, I should say, is a transactional one. His kids have decided, for whatever reason, that it’s not worth their time for them to be in that courtroom because they’re not going to get anything out of it. That’s, that’s the way this family rolls.” 

        Article Published With The Permission of American Liberty News

        Report: Judge To Rule Over Trump Gag Order

          By
          Madeleine Jackson
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          2
          Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

          On Tuesday, the New York judge presiding over Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial will deliver a ruling over the recently imposed gag order.

          Ahead of Judge Merchan’s ruling, Trump blasted the controversial gag order in a Truth Social post.

          “HIGHLY CONFLICTED, TO PUT IT MILDLY, JUDGE JUAN MERCHAN, HAS TAKEN AWAY MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH,” Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after arguments over the gag order concluded. “EVERYBODY IS ALLOWED TO TALK AND LIE ABOUT ME, BUT I AM NOT ALLOWED TO DEFEND MYSELF. THIS IS A KANGAROO COURT, AND THE JUDGE SHOULD RECUSE HIMSELF!”

          Prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office claim Trump has so far violated the order barring him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, and the judge’s family 10 times. They are asking the judge to fine Trump $1,000 for each violation.

          Trump is being charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to make alleged hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.

          The purported violations were mainly posted to Trump’s Truth Social, where he has made comments about potential witnesses in recent days. The gag order does not prevent Trump from attacking the judge or Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D). 

          One post, made on April 10, thanked an ex-lawyer to porn actress Stormy Daniels for “revealing the truth about two sleazebags who have, with their lies and misrepresentations, cost our Country dearly.”  

          The “sleazebags” in question were Daniels and Trump’s ex-fixer and personal attorney, Michael Cohen — both expected to be prominent witnesses in the district attorney’s case. 

          Another post maligns Cohen as a “disgraced attorney and felon…prosecuted for lying” and suggested that an ex-Manhattan prosecutor who once oversaw the investigation into Trump, Mark Pomerantz, should be “prosecuted for his terrible acts in and out of the D.A.’s office.” 

          Trump has appealed the gag order, arguing it is an unconstitutional violation of his First Amendment rights, but it remains in effect as of now. 

          Asa Hutchinson Announces New Career Move

            By
            Madeleine Jackson
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            0

            Former 2024 GOP presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson is joining Scripps News as a political analyst, the news organization announced on Monday. 

            The former Arkansas governor who also launched an unsuccessful bid for the White House is set to appear regularly on Mondays on the news outlet’s politics and campaign-oriented evening show, “The Race.”  

            He joined the news outlet as a political analyst for the first time on Monday.  

            “I am excited to be part of the Scripps News team as we head into one of the most consequential elections in history,” Hutchinson said in a press release. “Scripps News is committed to balance in its coverage of politics, and that is what America needs at this critical moment.”  

            According to The Hill, the former Arkansas governor performed poorly in the primary as the Republican contest underscored former President Trump’s enduring dominance within the party. He ultimately dropped out in January after the Iowa caucuses.  

            Report: SCOTUS Rejects Kari Lake’s Voting Machine Suit

            By
            Madeleine Jackson
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            1
            Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

            On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Republicans Kari Lake and Mark Finchem’s lawsuit over the use of voting machines in Arizona elections.

            The Hill reports Lake and Finchem asked the Supreme Court to review a federal appellate judge’s decision to dismiss their case last October. The suit sought to block electronic voting machines from being used in the state, questioning their accuracy and reliability.  

            Lawyers for Lake, who is running for a Senate seat in Arizona this cycle, and Finchem, who is seeking a state Senate seat, argued in a court filing to the Supreme Court that they had sufficiently argued that “[a]ll Arizona-certified optical scanners and ballot marking devices, as well as the software on which they rely, have been wrongly certified for use”; Arizona’s voting machines had been “hacked” and “manipulated”; and that there were apparent discrepancies in the Maricopa County’s vote count after the 2020 election. 

            The lawsuit was filed ahead of the November 2022 midterms while Lake was running for governor.

            The Supreme Court’s decision to decline to revisit the federal court’s decision puts a cap on Lake’s and Finchem’s lawsuit.

            “We are obviously disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to review the decisions of the Arizona district court and the Ninth Circuit, and order that our challenge to the 2022 election procedures be heard on the merits,” said Kurt Olsen, one of the attorneys that sought to get the Supreme Court to consider the case, in a statement, who argued new information came to light after their case was dismissed by the  circuit court. 

            “Although the Supreme Court grants review in less than 1 percent of cases presented on petition, we believe we presented a case.”

            “The Kari Lake and Mark Finchem case was dismissed based on a purported lack of standing to assert an injury,” Olsen wrote. “Therefore, the courts, even now, have not ruled on the merits of our case. We will continue to raise these issues especially in light of the upcoming 2024 election.”

            Report: Frank Luntz, Legendary Republican Consultant, Suffers Stroke

              By
              admin
              -
              1
              Photo via Pixabay images

              America’s best-known pollster, celebrated on the right for coining the phrase climate change instead of global warming and estate tax rather than death tax had a stroke earlier this week.

              Frank Luntz posted to X on Thursday he “suffered another stroke Monday night that was hidden by all the vertigo and vomiting.”

              Luntz continued: “Three days later, I’m finding it very difficult to walk, even with assistance. That’s why I’ve been canceling public events for a few days, I walk like an old man.”

              The GOP communications guru added that his “thinking and strategizing are still as sharp as ever. So, I will hopefully resume my role as a commentator very soon.”

              Reactions from across the political spectrum poured in. 

              This is the second stroke Luntz has suffered in recent years. He blamed his first stroke on political tension. After decades of sampling opinion for conservative Republicans, the 62-year-old used the medical emergency to moderate and express his discontent with the direction of the Republican Party under Donald Trump.

              Reflecting on the change, Luntz explained: “The loudness of my voice has changed. The speed in which I speak is changed. I’m slower and I’m quieter and I think about what I say. It’s not that I’m trying to be careful, it’s that I really analyze stuff that comes out.”

              “If I didn’t die, I’m not afraid any more, so you will hear me criticize people I never would have two years ago,” he told The Guardian in 2022. “What are they going to do to me? It can’t be any worse than what I’ve been through and, when you become more fearless, it makes life easier to navigate.”

              Often seen on TV as ebullient and garrulous, Luntz has felt tired all the time following the stroke. He is visibly so as he holds court with half a dozen British newspaper journalists in his downtown Washington luxury condo, a kitsch affair with faux classical columns, built-in saloon bar (“Frank’s sports bar”) and busts of presidents George Washington (wearing a mask) and Abraham Lincoln.

              Luntz’s motivation for this unusual gathering, it seems, is to express gratitude to Britain. He is one of those old school American conservatives who says, “I believe in the special relationship very much,” and is tickled by how the nations rhyme and how they don’t. Last year he went to the UK for a month and ended up staying nearly eight, finding an antidote to American’s poison.

              “I was in real trouble when I got to Britain, in real emotional trouble,” he admitted.

              Luntz, who studied British voters for a conservative thinktank, the Centre for Policy Studies, also invited UK journalists to disseminate a warning: don’t let British politics become as polarised and debased as the American system.

              “You still like each other, you still respect each other, you still value public debate: your democracy is still functioning,” he warned. “Ours has seized up and I don’t know how to get ours flowing again. Be thankful that you don’t have our poison … I’m very afraid of the American system being hopelessly damaged.”

              Republished from American Liberty News.

              Trump Juror Dismissed After Prior Criminal Record Comes To Light

                By
                Madeleine Jackson
                -
                4
                Arrest image via Pixabay

                The path to finding an impartial jury in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York has faced a number of setbacks throughout the week.

                On Thursday, two jurors were dismissed after being sworn in on Tuesday, including one who had previously been arrested for tearing down Right-leaning political posters.

                Judge Juan Merchan excused juror #4 after a prosecutor from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said the man had been arrested for ripping down “political posters that were on the Right,” Fox News reported. Juror #4’s dismissal came just after another juror — juror #2 — was excused by Merchan following her admission that she could no longer be impartial.

                “I definitely have concerns. I don’t think I can be fair,” she said, adding that “outside influence” would “interfere” with her judgment.

                The dismissals of jurors #4 and #2 brought the total of those seated down to five, but shortly after they were let go, more jurors were sworn in, bringing the total to 12, according to the New York Post.

                Five more jurors must be selected as alternates before the trial can move forward. Thursday marks the third day of the hush-money trial, which is the first criminal trial against a former U.S. president. Jury selection will continue on Friday and with hopes that opening statements will kick off at the beginning of next week.

                Dozens of prospective jurors were dismissed on Monday after they said it would be difficult for them to remain impartial throughout the trial.

                Trump is being charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to make alleged hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.

                Fox News Publishes Scathing Op-Ed Targeting MTG

                  By
                  Madeleine Jackson
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                  2
                  Marjorie Taylor Greene -Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, via Wikimedia Commons

                  On Wednesday, Fox News published an op-ed eviscerating MAGA firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene (R).

                  Columnist Liz Peek published “Marjorie Taylor Green is an idiot. She is trying to wreck the GOP” in response to Greene’s recent charge to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)

                  Johnson has slammed the motion against him as “absurd.” On Tuesday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) became the first Congressional colleague to voice support for Greene’s push. (RELATED: Prominent Republican Joins Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Effort To Oust Johnson)

                  Read more of the op-ed here:

                  The ouster of the popular McCarthy also torched the public’s view of the GOP. In May 2023, registered voters were evenly split between approving and disapproving of the Republican Party. Today, there is a 25-point gap, with 61% disapproval and 36% approving. That will not help win elections. 

                  The internal squabbles of the party need to stop. If Marjorie Taylor Greene and others want to oppose aid to Ukraine or the FISA bill, they can vote against it. That’s how democracy works. 

                  Recently, Speaker Johnson attended a meeting with Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago to address election integrity.

                  Standing next to Johnson at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said, “We’re getting along very well with the speaker, and I get along very well with Marjorie. We have a speaker who was voted in, and it was a complicated process. And I think very, it’s not, not an easy situation for any speaker.”

                  On Friday, Trump said Johnson is “doing a very good job.”

                  “And I’m sure that Marjorie understands that, she’s a very good friend of mine. And I know she has a lot of respect for the speaker,” Trump said.

                  The future of the U.S. is on the line. Former President Donald Trump, who very much wants to kick Joe Biden out of office, knows how dangerous the tumult in the House can be. He recently met with Mike Johnson in Florida and gave him an important and well-deserved vote of confidence. “I stand with the speaker,” Trump declared; he also said he thinks Johnson is “doing a very good job – he’s doing about as good as you’re going to do.” 

                  The Fox News contributor concluded her public plea to MTG with a short message.

                  My message for MTG? Borrowing from Hillary Clinton: Get over yourself. The mission today is to elect Donald Trump. 

                  Republished with permission from American Liberty News.

                  Hush Money Judge Stops Trump Jurors From Disclosing Responses To Employer Questions

                    By
                    admin
                    -
                    0
                    Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

                    Judge Juan Merchan ruled on Thursday morning that the media is not allowed to publish the jurors’ responses to questions 3a and 3d on the juror qualification questionnaire.

                    The questions ask: “Who is your current employer and who is your previous employer?”

                    The ruling comes as the seated jury in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial fell to six as a sworn juror expressed concerns about her identity being made public by the media.

                    The juror told Judge Merchan:

                    “Aspects of my identity have already been out there in the public, yesterday alone I had friends colleagues and family push things to my phone questioning my identity as a juror.”

                    A number of people observing the jury selection process (voir dire) have expressed similar concerns about the intense political climate.

                    Merchan proceeded to address members of the press in the courtroom: “We just lost what probably would’ve been a very good juror.”

                    Though the judge agreed with Trump’s lawyers that having that information is essential, the court will redact it from the public record.

                    Merchan also instructed journalists to refrain from revealing any information regarding the physical appearance of the jurors.

                    Jury selection continues. Twelve New Yorkers and six alternates need to be selected.

                    This article was republished with permission from American Liberty News.

                    Trump Risks Violating Court Order By Sharing Media Clip

                      By
                      Madeleine Jackson
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                      1
                      Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

                      Donald Trump might regret this…

                      On Wednesday, Trump seemed to violate the gag order imposed by Judge Juan Merchan in the ongoing hush money trial.

                      On Wednesday, Trump took to Truth Social and quoted comments made about potential jurors by Fox News host Jesse Watters on The Five Wednesday night.

                      “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury,” Trump wrote, quoting the Fox host.

                      That post appears to be in direct violation of Merchan’s gag order, a reality highlighted by JustSecurity’s Ryan Goodman, who shared screen grabs of both the Truth Social post and a section from the gag order, writing:

                      On the left:

                      NY judge’s gag order prohibiting Trump from “making … public statements about any prospective juror or any juror in this criminal proceeding.”

                      On the right:

                      Trump making public statement about prospective jurors in this criminal proceedings.

                      The gag order section reads, in part, “Making or directing others to make public statements about any prospective juror or any juror in this criminal proceeding.”

                      CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin was asked by Anderson Cooper Wednesday night if this sort of social media post was permissible under the gag order. Toobin argued that it was an apparent attempt to intimidate jurors, which is “clearly barred.”

                      Toobin said:

                      I don’t think so. I think it’s false, but more importantly, it’s clearly – I think – an attempt to intimidate jurors and it is clearly barred by the gag order in this case. I mean, Donald Trump doesn’t seem to realize he is now a criminal defendant, and criminal defendants have different and lesser rights than ordinary citizens. They are not allowed to interfere in the trial process – especially when there is a gag order that specifically addresses attempts to intimidate jurors. I mean, it is just not permissible.

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