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Report: Trump ‘Workshopping’ Three More Nickname Names For DeSantis, Digging Up ‘Dirt’ On His Wife

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Is this as low as Donald Trump can go?

Former President Trump is reportedly workshopping multiple new disparaging nicknames for Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis as the race for the White House begins to heat up, despite the fact DeSantis has not even thrown his hat into the ring.

According to The Daily Wire, Bloomberg News senior reporter Jennifer Jacobs tweeted a report authored by Nancy Cook which said that Trump is spending “much of his and his team’s time” on complaining about a lack of media coverage, what he claims was a stolen election, and trying to come up with new names for DeSantis, who is widely expected to enter the presidential race in the coming months.

Jacobs said that, according to Trump’s allies, the former president is considering trying to label DeSantis as “Ron DisHonest,” “Ron DeEstablishment,” or “Tiny D.”

The report added that Trump is trying to “dig up dirt” on DeSantis’ wife, recent breast cancer survivor Casey DeSantis, who has three children with the governor.

“If you want to know who Ron DeSantis really is, when I was diagnosed with cancer, and I was facing the battle for my life, he was the dad who took care of my children when I couldn’t,” Casey DeSantis said.

“He was there to pick me off of the ground when I literally could not stand,” she added. “He was there to fight for me when I didn’t have the strength to fight for myself.”

Trump has repeatedly launched attacks against the Florida Governor, sometimes referring to the lawmaker as “Ron DeSanctimonious.”

Last month, a reporter asked if DeSantis’s proposal to make it easier for government officials to sue the media for defamation would address Trump’s “damaging” posts about him. After defending his panel proposals, DeSantis got more direct about Trump’s attack:

“I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden,” DeSantis said to applause. “That’s how I spend my time. I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans.”

Special Counsel Seeks To Silence Trump Through 2020 Election Trial

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Special Counsel Jack Smith is asking a judge to prohibit former President Donald Trump from making “political attacks” about his federal 2020 election interference case set to go to trial in early spring.

“Through public statements, filings, and argument in hearings before the Court, the defense has attempted to inject into this case partisan political attacks and irrelevant and prejudicial issues that have no place in a jury trial,” senior assistant special counsel Molly Gaston wrote in court papers filed Wednesday.

“Although the Court can recognize these efforts for what they are and disregard them, the jury — if subjected to them — may not,” she continued. “The Court should not permit the defendant to turn the courtroom into a forum in which he propagates irrelevant disinformation, and should reject his attempt to inject politics into this proceeding.”

Prosecutors’ motion asks the court to bar Trump and his lawyers from introducing evidence that suggests he is being selectively prosecuted, that prosecutors are coordinating with the Biden administration or that foreign actors interfered in the 2020 presidential election.

It further urges U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the trial proceedings in Washington, to prohibit certain evidence related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. 

Prosecutors are seeking to prevent Trump from placing blame on the National Guard or the D.C. mayor for the attack or from claiming undercover agents helped provoke violence.

“Allowing the defendant to introduce evidence about undercover actors would inevitably lead to confusing minitrials on collateral issues, such as the identities and intentions of the alleged undercover actors,” prosecutors wrote. “For example, it may require the Government to introduce evidence to show that people whom the defendant alleges were undercover actors actually were his vehement supporters.”

Trump is charged in the case with four federal felonies. He has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.

The trial is currently slated for March 4, however, Trump’s appeals may interfere with the scheduled date.

Michael Cohen Requests Judge Dismiss Trump Lawsuit

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Michael Cohen is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit he faces from former President Trump.

The former Trump “fixer” says that Trump’s $500 million lawsuit against him is “retaliation” for his part in being a witness in Manhattan prosecutors’ criminal case against the former president.

“This suit combines the worst of Mr. Trump’s vindictive impulses. The Complaint, frivolous and scattershot, is an abusive act of pure retaliation and witness intimidation, albeit a ham-fisted one. It must be dismissed as a matter of law,” Cohen’s attorneys wrote in a court filing, according to The Hill.

“Former President Donald J. Trump has described his favorite Bible verse as ‘an eye for an eye,’ which fairly captures his long history of exacting brutal retaliation — both broadly against perceived political, professional, and personal enemies, and specifically against Defendant Michael D. Cohen. Some of this retaliatory conduct has been petty and mean-spirited; some of it is patently unlawful and includes witness tampering, obstruction, and civil rights violations. Mr. Trump often abuses the court system to this end,” Cohen’s attorneys wrote.

In the new dismissal motion, Cohen’s attorneys contended Trump’s suit must be tossed because many of Trump’s claims were brought too late, while others weren’t specific enough or did not show Trump suffered any harm.

Trump’s filed a lawsuit against Cohen last month in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The suit alleges Cohen breached a confidentiality agreement and his attorney-client relationship with the former president, among other claims. The former president’s suit takes aim at Cohen’s book, podcast, and various media appearances, claiming he maliciously worked to acquire attention and wealth at Trump’s expense. 

Trump’s lawsuit against Cohen came shortly after he was indicted in New York on 34 felony charges concerning allegations he orchestrated a plan with Cohen and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker to help squash politically damaging stories before they became public knowledge.

Special Counsel Subpoenas Trump White House Aides Over Events Leading Up To Jan. 6

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

The special counsel leading the investigation into former President Donald Trump‘s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results is taking a closer look at the firing of the then-president’s cybersecurity chief.

The New York Times reports that Jack Smith’s team has interviewed former DHS Cybersecurity chief Chris Krebs, who was terminated by Trump after refuting his claims the election was wrought with fraud.

“There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised,” the statement from Krebs’s agency read nine days after the election.

Less than a week later Trump tweeted that Mr. Krebs was “terminated” after releasing a “highly inaccurate” statement about the 2020 election.

“The investigators appear focused on Mr. Trump’s state of mind around the firing of Mr. Krebs, as well as on establishing a timeline of events leading up to the attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021,” Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan reported. “The latest subpoenas, issued roughly two weeks ago, went to officials in the personnel office, according to the two people familiar with the matter.”

Smith’s investigators seem to be asking witnesses about the efforts Trump and his allies took to evaluate the loyalty of federal officials working for the ex-president. John McEntee, a former Trump personal aide, was among those who had Krebs flagged for disloyalty and had developed a “loyalty test” to evaluate government hires under Trump. The Times notes that McEntee “was seen going into the grand jury in recent months.”

Trump is facing numerous investigations regarding his actions while in the White House and after the election.

Smith is also leading the investigation into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents which were seized from his Mar-A-Lago estate in August. Earlier this month reports from The Times indicated the investigation is heating up after the Justice Department secured a “star witness” in the probe. (RELATED: Key Mar-a-Lago witness said to be former White House Employee)

According to the report, the scope of the insider witness’s cooperation is not yet clear, nor is the timeline, but the witness reportedly gave investigators a picture of the storage room where some materials were held. 

Influential Conservative Network Endorses Nikki Haley

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The political network founded by the Koch brothers is endorsing Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary race according to a Tuesday memo.

Americans for Prosperity Action’s endorsement bolsters Haley’s campaign as Republicans get closer to the Iowa Caucuses. Haley is largely seen as the candidate most likely to topple Ron DeSantis for the No. 2 position in the primary field. Trump has so far dominated the primary field despite refusing to participate in any debates.

“In sharp contrast to recent elections that were dominated by the negative baggage of Donald Trump and in which good candidates lost races that should have been won, Nikki Haley, at the top of the ticket, would boost candidates up and down the ballot,” reads the memo from Emily Seidel, a senior adviser to Americans for Prosperity Action, who adds that Ms. Haley would win “the key independent and moderate voters that Trump has no chance to win.”

The memo goes on to say that the country “is being ripped apart by extremes on both sides,” adding: “The moment we face requires a tested leader with the governing judgment and policy experience to pull our nation back from the brink. Nikki Haley is that leader.”

The group has been committed to opposing Mr. Trump’s return as leader of the Republican Party. In a memo in February, Ms. Seidel, who also serves as the president of Americans for Prosperity, the political network’s parent group, wrote: “We need to turn the page on the past. So the best thing for the country would be to have a president in 2025 who represents a new chapter.”

In recent months, Haley’s popularity has surged among Republicans and political pundits but the endorsement from the super PAC established by David and Charles Koch could prove Haley’s campaign the push it needs. It will give her access to a direct-mail operation, field workers to knock on doors and people making phone calls to prospective voters in Iowa and beyond. The group has money to spend on television advertisements, as well.

Americans for Prosperity Action has been among the country’s largest spenders on anti-Trump material this year, buying online ads and sending mailers to voters in several states, including Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. All told, the group has spent more than $9 million in independent expenditures opposing Mr. Trump.

Steve Bannon Released From Federal Prison

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Image via Pixabay

A free man!

Nearly a week from Election Day and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon has been released from Federal custody.

On Tuesday, Bannon walked out of the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut with his head held high after serving his four-month sentence.

Bannon’s conviction stemmed from his refusal to cooperate with the House committee’s investigation into the January 6th Capitol riots in 2021. In 2022, a jury found Bannon guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for failing to provide requested documents and another for refusing to testify before the committee.

According to his representatives, Bannon is expected to hold a press conference in Manhattan late Tuesday. He is also expected to resume his War Room podcast.

Bannon’s legal battles, however, continue. In December, he faces a New York state trial on separate charges, where he is accused of defrauding donors in a campaign to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy.

FBI Unit Who Raided Trump Same as One That Ran Trump-Russia Investigation

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I, Aude, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.That is how the old saying goes, and apparently it is the motto of a particular FBI unit.

The FBI Unit that oversaw the Trump-Russia hoax investigation and is the focus of Special Counsel John Durham’s investigation into the abuses of power by the Bureau during Trump’s tenure, is also the one that conducted the Mar-a-Lago raid, Real Clear Investigations reports.

The counterintelligence division let the investigation into Russian “collusion” title “Crossfire Hurricane” which was led by disgraced former FBI agent Peter Strzok.

Now the unit is leading the investigation into Trump, from Washington, not the field office in Miami.

But one member of Crossfire Hurricane is still involved. Key member Brian Auten still works politically sensitive investigations including the probe into Hunter Biden’s laptop.

RCI continues:

Auten has been allowed to work on sensitive cases even though he has been under internal investigation since 2019, when Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz referred him for disciplinary review for his role in vetting a Hillary Clinton campaign-funded dossier used by the FBI to obtain a series of wiretap warrants to spy on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Horowitz singled out Auten for cutting a number of corners in the verification process and even allowing information he knew to be incorrect slip into warrant affidavits and mislead the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court.

In congressional testimony this month, Wray confirmed that “a number of” former Crossfire Hurricane team members are still employed at the bureau while undergoing disciplinary review. In the meantime, Wray has walled off the former Russiagate investigators only from participating in FISA wiretap applications, according to the sources.

Auten could also be part of the team helping to determine whether the documents seized pose a national security risk, and whick ones fall outside of the scope of the investigation and need to be returned.

The FBI has already made the massive mistake of violating the search warrant and stealing Trump’s passports, which are being returned due to them being unrelated documents.

Another top counterintelligence official is a Democrat donor.

Sources told RealClearInvestigations that Jay Bratt, the top counterintelligence official in Justice’s national security division, who happens to be a Democratic National Committee donor, has been coordinating the Mar-a-Lago investigation with Alan Kohler, who heads the FBI’s counterintelligence division.

The connection between the Russia Hoax and the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago appear to go deeper with all of the agents under investigation still working for the bureau if they decided to stay.

[READ NEXT: Trump to Smoke This Biden Official]

Former Governor Refuses To Back Trump After Endorsement

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Image via Gage Skidmore Flickr

A defiant stance to take…

Republican Senate candidate and former Governor Larry Hogan will not vote for Donald Trump in the 2024 election despite accepting his endorsement earlier this summer.

“Look, I’ve said neither one of the two candidates has earned my vote, and the voters in the country are going to be able to make that decision,” the former Maryland governor said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Maryland GovPics, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Host Robert Costa pressed Hogan, asking if there is “no chance” he would cast his ballot for Trump.

“I’m not going to. I didn’t vote for him in 2016 or 2020 and I’ve made that pretty clear,” Hogan responded in a clip highlighted by Mediaite. “But look, I’m not running just for a Republican Party … it’s not just about red versus blue, which is what my opponent wants it to be about. I’m concerned about the red, white and blue, and I’m willing to put country over party and I’m hoping that the voters will be willing to do the same thing.”

Watch:

According to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ, Democrat Angela Alsobrooks leads Hogan in the Maryland Senate race by 9.4 percentage points.

Trump Moves To Dismiss Georgia Election Interference Case

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Former President Donald Trump’s legal team has moved to dismiss the Georgia election subversion case, arguing that presidential immunity shields Trump from prosecution.

The GOP front-runner’s attorneys argue that the indictment from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charges Trump for “acts that lie at the heart of his official responsibilities as President.”

Willis charged Trump last August with 13 counts for attempting to overturn President Joe Biden’s 11,779 vote victory in Georgia. The headline-grabbing charge was a violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute, a law associated with the American mafia.

Willis’ case that Trump and his co-conspirators exerted pressure on Georgia election officials in public and private included testimony from 75 witnesses, from former Trump advisers and attorneys to Peach State office-holders.

As CNN reports:

Trump’s immunity claims in the Georgia case, filed on Monday as part of a motion to dismiss state-level criminal charges against the former president, are similar to those argued by his defense team in the federal election subversion case.

“The indictment in this case charges President Trump for acts that lie at the heart of his official responsibilities as President. The indictment is barred by presidential immunity and should be dismissed with prejudice,” the motion filed by Trump’s lawyer in the Georgia case reads.

Monday’s filing in the Georgia case reiterates what the former president’s lawyers have repeatedly asserted – that Trump was working in his official capacity as president when he allegedly undermined the 2020 election results and therefore has immunity.

As such, Trump’s indictment in both the Georgia and federal case are unconstitutional because presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for “official acts” unless they are impeached and convicted by the US Senate.

Reacting to the filing, Georgia State University constitutional law professor Anthony Michael Kreis called the motion to dismiss “so meritless it borders on the comical.”

“Trump was acting as a candidate and not as president,” Kreis commented on X. “Despite using the trappings of his office to browbeat officials, nothing that Trump has been indicted for in Georgia constituted an official presidential act. Engaging in racketeering activity is not shielded by Article II.”

This article was republished with permission from American Liberty News.

Trump Threatens To Deport Elon Musk By Using DOGE

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UK Government, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Billionaire Elon Musk is on thin ice…

Speaking with reporters ahead of a flight to Florida on Tuesday, the president was asked about whether he would consider deporting the South African mogul.

“We’ll have to take a look,” Trump said. “We might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon! Wouldn’t that be terrible?”

Watch:

After a brief ceasefire between the president and his former DOGE lieutenant, the war of words has ratcheted up again over the past 24 hours — with Musk revving up his criticism of the Trump-backed “Big, Beautiful” budget bill. Musk, in a Monday post on X, denounced the legislation and floated the idea of forming a new political party. (RELATED: White House Responds After Elon Musk Calls Trump Megabill A ‘Disgusting Abomination’)

“It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!” Musk wrote. “Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people.”

Musk followed his post up with another, targeting the House Freedom Caucus, whose members mostly voted for the House version of the bill. “How can you call yourself the Freedom Caucus if you vote for a DEBT SLAVERY bill with the biggest debt ceiling increase in history?” Musk asked, tagging Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Andy Harris (R-MD).

“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” Musk later added, making a clear threat to help primary challengers to incumbent Republicans.

Trump, in his Monday night response on Truth Social, threatened Musk’s government subsidies.

“Elon Musk knew, long before he so strongly Endorsed me for President, that I was strongly against the EV Mandate. It is ridiculous, and was always a major part of my campaign. Electric cars are fine, but not everyone should be forced to own one,” Trump wrote. “Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”

Trump renewed that threat Tuesday morning outside the White House.

“He’s upset that he’s losing his E.V. Mandate, and he’s very upset about things,” Trump said. “But you know, he could lose a lot more than that, I can tell you right now. Hey, Elon can lose a lot more than that!”