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James O’Keefe Reemerges at CPAC, Hints at Next Steps

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    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Recently ousted Project Veritas boss James O’Keefe resurfaced at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) with the whistleblower he credited the success to the recent Pfizer sting

    Last month, O’Keefe was ousted last month by Project Veritas’ board of directors over claims of employer abuse and allegations that he wasted the nonprofit’s money on his musical theater dreams.

    “We need brave whistleblowers,” O’Keefe said while introducing Debbie Bernal. “We need people on the inside. There were people on the inside of Pfizer who helped us obtain this.”

    “Stand up,” Bernal said. “Be brave. Do something for this country or we are all doomed.”

    O’Keefe credited Bernal with setting up the undercover encounter in which Jordon Walker, who leads research and development for mRNA projects at Pfizer. The scientist allegedly revealed to a hidden camera that the company’s COVID vaccines are impacting women’s menstrual cycles and that the company uses “directed evolution” to mutate coronaviruses for the creation of more potent variants and vaccines.

    The former Project Veritas boss admitted that Bernal was hesitant about coming forward regarding her help with O’Keefe’s investigation into the major pharmaceutical company.

    O’Keefe told CPAC attendees said that in the days after he was ousted from the organization he founded in 2010, she decided to go public with him. Bernal admitted that she was “scared for her life.”

    “I was worried that I would end up in a body bag, or in a car accident,” she said. “But I realized that the spirit of fear is not from the Lord. As a believer, I knew that I couldn’t just sit there, I couldn’t just sit there and watch. People get lied to, people get gaslit, it made me angry.”

    O’Keefe has kept his next plans close to the vest, but he strongly hinted that he may set up another investigative journalism group.

    “Courage is the virtue that sustains all others, and without that you really can’t do journalism,” he said. “I’m not stopping or giving up.”

    MAGA Representative to Introduce Bill Designating Antifa as Terrorist Org. after Atlanta’s ‘Cop City’ Set Ablaze

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

      House Republicans want to hold Antifa accountable after demonstrators allegedly set fire to the construction site of an Atlanta public safety training facility anti-police and environment activists dubbed “Cop City” Sunday evening.

      Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she plans to introduce legislation to declare Antifa as a terrorist organization.

      “Antifa are domestic terrorists and I’m introducing my resolution to officially declare them a terrorist organization on Tuesday,” Rep. Green tweeted while sharing a video of the fire.

      “This is domestic terrorism. It was planned for weeks and announced on social media. Antifa are self proclaimed communists and consistently organize to attack our government over and over again. They should be taken seriously and not tolerated anymore,” she tweeted.

      Fox 5 reported Sunday that the facility was on lockdown after at least one construction vehicle was set on fire amid the latest protests on Sunday.

      A progressive group called “Stop Cop City” has been protesting against the new 85-acre training facility being built in the wooded parts of DeKalb County, Atlanta since plans for it were announced, arguing it will promote the militarization of the police and may result in environmental concerns.

      On Monday, the Atlanta Police Department (APD) confirmed that a group of “agitators” left the nearby South River Music Festival around 5:30 p.m. and descended on the construction site of the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center “to conduct a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers,” the APD said in a statement. 

      Authorities noted that agitators changed into black clothing and allegedly began to throw commercial-grade fireworks, Molotov cocktails, large rocks, and bricks at police officers. Antifa is known to use similar tactics.

      Atlanta Chief of Police Darin Schierbaum said Sunday’s incident marked a “significant escalation” both in the level of violence and the number of individuals involved in the attack.

      “This wasn’t about a public safety training center. This was about anarchy, and this was about an attempt to destabilize. And we are addressing that quickly,” Schierbaum told reporters. “Actions such as this will not be tolerated. You attack law enforcement officers, you damage equipment, you are breaking the law. This was a very violent attack that occurred this evening.” 

      The FBI and Georgia Bureau of Investigation have joined the probe, he said. 

      Atlanta police said at least 35 people had been detained as of Sunday night. Charging decisions have yet to be announced.

      “Some of those arrested yesterday were from Massachusetts and New York and France and Canada. So this is a national network, an international group of people that are organized to come to our state to undermine a public safety training center,” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said in an appearance on Fox News Monday morning. 

      “This is not a protest,” the chief added. “I made a clear distinction of what a protest looks like. When it is a legitimate protest, you have the full protection of the Atlanta Police Department. This is not a protest. This is criminal activity. And the charges that will be brought forth will show that.” 

      Before Sunday, at least 19 people had been arrested and charged with domestic terrorism since December in connection to demonstrations at the “Cop City” site. 

      In January, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) issued a state of emergency after protests broke out in response to a police shooting of an activist during an operation to clear out the construction site for the facility.

      Trump Denies Asking GOP Governor for Endorsement

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        Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

        Donald Trump is setting the record straight.

        The 2024 presidential candidate is refusing a New York Times report which claimed the former president asked Sarah Huckabee Sanders to endorse his most recent White House campaign. Sanders, who previously served as Trump’s White House Press Secretary was elected Governor of Arkansas in November.

        The New York Times reported on March 4 that Trump is having difficulty garnering public support from former allies, noting that Trump was “disappointed” after Huckabee Sanders, his former White House press secretary, reportedly said she would not yet publicly support him.

        Trump refuted the claims in a post on Truth Social, slamming the report as fake.

        “As per a rather unimportant Fake News report in the NYT, I never asked Sarah Huckabee Sanders for an endorsement,” Trump wrote.

        “I give endorsements, I don’t generally ask for them. With that being said, nobody has done more for her than I have, with the possible exception of her great father, Mike!” he added.

        Sanders has notably stayed out of the 2024 race so far.

        “My focus isn’t on 2024,” Sanders told Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday” in January.

        Trump won with 62 percent, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), likely his closest rival, came in at 20 percent. Businessman Perry Johnson, who announced his candidacy for the White House this week, earned 5 percent.

        Trump won last year’s straw poll at CPAC in Orlando, Fla., with 59 percent support. DeSantis scored 28 percent in that straw poll.

        Justice Department Refutes Trump Immunity Claim in Jan. 6 Civil Suits

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          Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

          The Department of Justice (DOJ) refused to support former President Donald Trump’s claim that he should be immune from civil suits seeking to hold him responsible for his conduct on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters illegally entered the U.S. Capitol building as lawmakers certified the election for Joe Biden.

          The consolidated cases include legal challenges launched by 11 members of Congress who rushed for cover during the riot at the Capitol as well as Capitol Police officers. The cases allege Trump conspired to block lawmakers from carrying out their congressional duties. The suits also seek to hold Trump liable for physical and psychological injuries.

          According to reports from The Hill, the DOJ’s position comes as the former president has appealed a lower court ruling deeming he is not immune from the suits given that a president’s efforts to “secure or perpetuate incumbency” are not part of the White House role that otherwise prevents the president from facing civil suits for actions taken through the office.

          The government in its brief draws a clear line, arguing the broad protections for the president should not cover statements inciting violence. 

          “His briefs advance only a single, categorical argument: A President is always immune from any civil suits based on his ‘speech on matters of public concern’…even if that speech also constitutes incitement to imminent private violence. The United States respectfully submits that the Court should reject that categorical argument,” DOJ wrote in the filing.

          “In the United States’ view, such incitement of imminent private violence would not be within the outer perimeter of the Office of the President of the United States,” they write.

          The Justice Department’s brief doesn’t specifically back the claims from the lawmakers that Trump incited the riot, instead noting that they “plausibly allege” the former president’s speech that day motivated the attack.

          The district court that previously heard the suit also rejected Trump’s First Amendment defense.

          DOJ ultimately encourages the court to make a narrow ruling. The department briefly addressed its own investigation into Trump in a footnote dismissing any connection between outside civil suits and its own probe.

          “The United States does not express any view regarding the potential criminal liability of any person for the events of January 6, 2021, or acts connected with those events,” they write.

          Liberal Comedian Admits He’s ‘Afraid’ of Trump

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            Gage Skidmore Flickr

            It’s no secret that comedian Bill Maher has a sour view of former President Trump, the two have engaged in back-and-forth spats online for years often with no kind word between them.

            However, the liberal comedian recently admitted to CNN’s Jake Tapper that he is scared of Trump “on a very personal level,” especially what the first president might do to him if he’s re-elected.

            “I am afraid of Trump on a very personal level because I don’t think he likes me. I understand why,” the HBO “Real Time” host told  Tapper on Tuesday as part of a CNN primetime special. “And I don’t know what he would do in a second term.”

            Maher, 67, told Tapper that after Trump won the 2016 presidential election, “I was afraid for my own wellbeing. I thought I could wind up in Guantanamo Bay. I think I still could.”

            “He’s obsessed sometimes. I don’t know. He went on a tear for about eight months when he was president every time, he’d have a rally. I have a list three pages long of the things he’s called me,” he said of the 45th president.

            “I mean, he is obviously someone who does not know any boundaries, and, you know, you have to worry when you see what other authoritarian rulers do in other countries to people,” Maher told Tapper of Trump.

            “I’m not thinking he’s going to become [Russian President Vladimir Putin] and start pushing people out windows,” Maher said, “but I’m not going to live on the 30th floor anywhere either.”

            Trump has slammed Maher as a “radical left maniac.”

            Earlier this month, Trump attacked CNN for adding Maher’s “Overtime” post-show segment to its Friday night programming. The cable network, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post, “wants to give wacky liddle’ Bill Maher a shot at bringing them back to just normal ‘bad’ when Bill Maher suffers from the same affliction as CNN — BAD RATINGS!”

            West Virginia Senator Stomps Out 2024 White House Speculation

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            Joe Manchin via Wikimedia Commons

            Joe Biden is likely breathing a sigh of relief right about now…

            On Wednesday, Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin (W.V.) revealed he would not be running for president in 2024, a letdown for those hoping the moderate Democrat would pose a challenge to unpopular President Biden.

            “I’m not running for President of the United States,” Manchin told MetroNews during a radio interview broadcast from the State Capitol in Charleston, West Virginia.

            However, the two-term senator and former governor refused to say if he has decided to seek another term in the Senate as Republicans eye his seat as a top target to flip in 2024.

            West Virginia Attorney General and failed 2018 Senate hopeful Patrick Morrisey has already been named a likely challenger to seek Manchin’s seat.

            While speaking to The Hill, Morrisey said Manchin lost significant political capital when he voted in favor of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which included major components of President Biden’s agenda.

            In November, Rep. Alex Mooney (R- W.Va.) announced that he will run for Senate in 2024 in a bid to unseat Sen. Joe Manchin.

            As Great America News Desk previously reported:

            Manchin stonewalled President Joe Biden’s original Build Back Better plan but ultimately was the deciding vote for the renegotiated Inflation Reduction Act.

            “SEN. MANCHIN DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED WEST VIRGINIANS AND LET THEM DOWN TREMENDOUSLY WHEN HE SUPPORTED THE ‘BUILD BACK BROKE’ BILL LAST SUMMER. THAT LEGISLATION REALLY HIT OUR STATE VERY HARD. YOU CAN DRESS UP THE PIG ANY WAY YOU WANT BUT MOST PEOPLE IN WEST VIRGINIA UNDERSTAND THAT THAT BILL IS GOING TO HURT US,” MORRISEY TOLD THE OUTLET.

            “HE LET THE AIR OUT OF HIS BALLOON AND IT’S NOT GOING TO BE SO EASY TO PUMP IT BACK UP,” HE SAID.  

            MORRISEY, WHO IS “EVALUATING OPTIONS” ABOUT WHAT TO DO IN 2024, SAID “WE’RE LOOKING VERY CLOSELY AT THE SENATE RACE.”  

            While President Biden has indicated he plans to seek a second term in the White House, some Democrats seem undeterred by his plans. While some saw a Manchin 2024 campaign as a potential way to appeal to undecided voters due to his more moderate policies compared to his progressive colleagues another Democrat says she’s ready to step out of the shadows and challenge Biden.

            Former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, 70, recently teased a rematch against Biden.

            This story is developing. Click refresh for the latest updates.

            Report: Georgia Grand Jury Recommended Multiple Indictments

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              Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

              The special grand jury that investigated possible election interference by former President Donald Trump and others in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results recommended indictments against multiple individuals, according to its forewoman Emily Kohrs.

              She declined to discuss specific indictments or give any names.

              The news comes more than a month after the Atlanta grand jury completed its investigation into Trump and his allies. (RELATED: Georgia Jury Concludes Trump Criminal Investigation Report)

              Their decision on whether or not to recommend indictments went directly to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D).

              If Willis decides to indict anyone, including Trump, they will be forced to travel to Georgia.

              As The New York Times reports:

              “It is not a short list,” the forewoman, Emily Kohrs, said, adding that the jury had appended eight pages of legal code “that we cited at various points in the report.”

              She declined to discuss who specifically the special grand jury recommended for indictment, since the judge handling the case decided to keep those details secret when he made public a few sections of the report last week. But seven sections that are still under wraps deal with indictment recommendations, Ms. Kohrs said.

              Asked whether the jurors had recommended indicting Mr. Trump, Ms. Kohrs gave a cryptic answer: “You’re not going to be shocked. It’s not rocket science,” adding “you won’t be too surprised.”

              The investigation in Atlanta has been seen as one of the most significant legal threats to Mr. Trump as he begins another run for the presidency. In November, the Justice Department named a special counsel, Jack Smith, to oversee two Trump-related criminal investigations. And last month, the Manhattan district attorney’s office began presenting evidence to a grand jury on whether Mr. Trump paid hush money to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign, laying the groundwork for potential criminal charges against the former president in the coming months.

              This story is developing. Click refresh for the latest updates

              Former Fox News Host Slams ‘Sell-Out’ Network Amid Dominion Lawsuit

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                Looking east towards 6th Avenue along north (48th Street) side of Fox News building on a snowy afternoon. [Photo Credit: Jim.henderson, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons]

                Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly had nothing to say about his former employer during a recent interview.

                Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox News for $1.6 billion alleging the cable news giant intentionally aired false claims about the company being made by former President Trump and his supporters.

                “I’ll tell ya this, I would never have done what CNN and MSNBC did on Russian collusion or what Fox did on election fraud,” O’Reilly said Monday evening during an appearance on Chris Cuomo’s NewsNation show. “I would rather be fired, I would leave the job … I am not going to sell out for ratings, ever. And I never have.”

                O’Reilly’s comments follow a bombshell report that detailed private internal messages between Fox Employees showed top hosts expressed concern about the claims being made by Trump and his aides while expressing doubts about how the channel’s audience would react to fact checks of those assertions. (RELATED: Fox News Trashed Trump’s Election Fraud Claims: Court Documents)

                Fox has defended itself on First Amendment grounds, and last week in a filing of its own questioned Dominion’s motives and financial valuation.

                “There will be a lot of noise and confusion generated by Dominion and their opportunistic private equity owners, but the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution and protected by New York Times v. Sullivan. Dominion has mischaracterized the record, cherry-picked quotes stripped of key context, and spilled considerable ink on facts that are irrelevant under black-letter principles of defamation law,” the network said.

                O’Reilly, a former top prime-time host at the network, left Fox in 2017 amid allegations of sexual harassment.

                Amanda Head: Biden Admin Leaves Americans In The Dark As Usual

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                Joe Biden prefers to keep Americans in the dark…especially when it comes to his administration’s many many mistakes.

                Watch Amanda break down the latest scandal below:

                Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

                DHS Hires Law Firm for Assistance in Potential Mayorkas Impeachment

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                  NEW YORK CITY (September 11, 2022) Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas lays flowers for USSS Master Special Officer Craig Miller and participates in the September 11th Anniversary Commemoration Ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City, NY. (DHS photo by Sydney Phoenix)

                  The Biden administration is on the brink of impeachment proceedings.

                  On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed it has hired a law firm to aid in responding to the potential GOP House-led impeachment of Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

                  According to reports from The Hill, the contract, signed with New-York based firm Debevoise & Plimpton, comes a week after a second article of impeachment was filed by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.).

                  “The Department of Homeland Security has retained outside counsel to help ensure the Department’s vital mission is not interrupted by the unprecedented, unjustified, and partisan impeachment efforts by some Members of Congress, who have already taken steps to initiate proceedings,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.

                  “DHS will continue prioritizing its work to protect our country from terrorism, respond to natural disasters, and secure our borders while responding appropriately to the over 70 Congressional committees and subcommittees that have oversight of DHS.” 

                  DHS doesn’t have any staff on hand with expertise in such a matter, an agency official told The Hill, and said the scale of legal assistance needed will depend on how the GOP decides to proceed with its probe. Still, the department declined to outline other financial details of the retainer.

                  Republicans have yet to take any action on the resolutions, but House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other Republican leaders have pledged what could be lengthy investigations ahead of an eventual impeachment.

                  The impeachment of Cabinet officials is rare and hasn’t occurred since 1876.