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Trump To Return To New York For $250M Lawsuit One Week After Bombshell Arraignment

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Donald Trump is heading back to the Big Apple.

Nearly one week after Trump was charged with 34 felony counts in part of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into alleged hush money payments the third-time White House contender is to return to New York to be deposed in a $250 million civil suit brought by state Attorney General Letitia James (D). 

“This case is complex, but it is not complicated,” Judge Arthur Engoron said last month of the civil suit. “Essentially, it all boils down to whether (Trump’s) statements of financial interest are true or false.”

AG James claims Trump and others at his Trump Organization deceived lenders and insurance companies by inflating the value of his assets in order to get loans for his real estate and resort business, then undervaluing them for tax purposes. James is seeking to recover more than $250 million in “ill-gotten gains” and to bar the Trumps from doing business in New York. Engoron has set a trial date of October 2.

James campaigned on a pledge to prosecute Trump, who she once called an “illegitimate president.” Trump has called James, who is black, a “racist in reverse.”

 “I will never be afraid to challenge this illegitimate president,” James said in a 2018 video during her successful campaign to be attorney general. “I believe that this president is incompetent. I believe that this president is ill-equipped to serve in the highest office of this land. And I believe that he is an embarrassment to all that we stand for.”

On April 5, the New York grand jury voted to indict former President Donald Trump for his alleged role in a hush money bribe to adult film star Stormy Daniels amid the 2016 presidential election in DA Alvin Bragg’s yearslong investigation into the real estate mogul.

Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.

On Tuesday, the former President surrendered to the Manhattan Criminal Court for his arraignment

Federal Judge Rules Trump Violated Law By Activating National Guard In California

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Competitors in the 2024 Army National Guard Best Warrior Competition run a 1-kilometer route as part of the competition’s biathlon event at Ethan Allen Firing Range, Vermont, Aug. 6, 2024. The Best Warrior Competition is a physically and mentally challenging five-day event that tests Soldiers on a variety of tactical and technical skills. Winners are named the Army Guard Soldier and Noncommissioned Officer of the Year and move on to compete in the Department of the Army Best Squad Competition, with other Soldiers from the Best Warrior Competition filling out the ranks of their squad. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy)

A federal judge has ruled that President Donald Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated federal law when they deployed thousands of federalized California National Guard members to bolster immigration enforcement in Los Angeles earlier this summer

Judge Charles Breyer, a Clinton appointee and brother to retired liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, said Trump violated the Posse Comitatus Act, a 150-year-old law that says the military cannot typically engage in domestic law enforcement.

“This was intentional—Defendants instigated a months-long deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles for the purpose of establishing a military presence there and enforcing federal law. Such conduct is a serious violation of the Posse Comitatus Act,” Breyer wrote. 

Trump federalized about 4,000 National Guard members in June to support federal authorities in California as they carried out immigration raids, despite Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s vehement objections.

Breyer’s decision comes as most of the National Guard members have since been demobilized. Attorneys for California said during the trial, though, that 300 of them remained, which they argued was a “significant” number. (RELATED: Judge Tells Trump To Hand Control Of California National Guard Back To Newsom)

“That’s certainly a large enough number of soldiers to constitute a Posse Comitatus Act violation,” a state attorney said.

While the judge’s decision may have minimal impact on the ground in California, the case could still have nationwide implications as Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth deploy National Guard members in Washington, D.C., and threaten to do so in other blue cities to address street crime. The Trump administration is likely to appeal Breyer’s decision, which could result in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and even the Supreme Court weighing in on the administration’s unconventional use of the National Guard.

Breyer paused his order until Friday, providing the administration with an avenue to appeal before it goes into effect. 

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

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Pilots Who Bombed Iran Will Come To White House On Fourth Of July

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By The White House from Washington, DC - Salute to America 2020, Public Domain,

True patriots…

The pilots who flew into Iran on a mission to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities will join President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday.

The B-2 pilots will be in attendance on Friday at the White House Fourth of July celebrations, two White House officials shared with The Daily Wire. The White House celebration will also include a flyover by B-2 Spirit bombers, the jets that conducted the strikes on Iran earlier this month in Operation Midnight Hammer, according to CBS.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed in a statement that the president “looks forward to celebrating our nation’s founding on Friday in the nation’s capital.”

“To join in the celebration, the might of America’s Air Force will conduct a flyover featuring our state-of-the-art F-22s, B-2s, and F-35s – the same air capabilities used for the decisive and successful strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities,” Leavitt added.

Trump is expected to speak at the event, and additional personnel from the base where the bombers were based (Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri) will attend.

During an interview on “Sunday Morning Futures,” Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo discussed the “courageous” pilots with Trump, and asked the president if he planned to honor them.

“Yes, they’re going to come to the White House,” Trump said. “But what you said is right. These people flew 36 hours in a small space, a big plane, but a small spaces mostly occupied by bombs, and they flew so brilliantly.”

“They hit a target the size of this circle … a little target, they say half the size of a refrigerator door from 50,000 feet up in the air,” he added. “Going at a rapid speed, because they’re going very fast when they’re over a pretty rough territory. And they hit it every single time. And then they knocked out two other sites aside from that.”

Judge Dismisses Trump Lawsuit Against Steele Dossier Business

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Gage Skidmore Flickr

On Thursday, a London judge tossed out Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Orbis Business Intelligence, a company co-founded by Christopher Steele, the former British spy who created the debunked Steele Dossier in 2016.

The infamous dossier was paid for by Democrats and published during Trump’s first presidential bid against Hillary Clinton. It contained uncorroborated allegations and rumors designed through mainstream media outlets and among critics in an effort to sway the 2016 election. Trump denied the legitimacy of the dossier’s contents from the beginning however the claims sparked an investigation into alleged ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

“There are no compelling reasons to allow the claim to proceed to trial,” Judge Karen Steyn said of the lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, Trump alleged Orbis violated British data protection laws and sought damages. He also wanted a judge to definitively rule the claims were false.

Fox News has more:

Trump’s legal team argued the former president “suffered personal and reputational damage and distress” because his data protection rights were violated. Trump’s lawyer Hugh Tomlinson argued the dossier “contained shocking and scandalous claims about the personal conduct of President Trump.” Trump’s case “is that this personal data is egregiously inaccurate.”

Conversely, Orbis said the lawsuit should be thrown out because the dossier, which was published by BuzzFeed, was never meant to be made public. It was done so without the permission of Steele or Orbis, they claim. They also said Trump’s lawsuit was filed too late.

The judge seemed to agree, saying Trump had “chosen to allow many years to elapse – without any attempt to vindicate his reputation in this jurisdiction – since he was first made aware of the dossier.”

Steve Bannon Asks Supreme Court To Toss Out Contempt Conviction

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Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon is taking his fight against what he calls a politically motivated prosecution to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the justices to wipe out his contempt of Congress conviction stemming from the now-disbanded Jan. 6 committee.

Bannon already served a four-month prison sentence for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the Democrat-led panel. But he’s now appealing to clear his record and to set a higher bar for future contempt cases — a move his legal team says is essential to protect the separation of powers and prevent future partisan abuse of congressional authority.

“Political winds change, but the requirements for criminal prosecution should not—least of all when it comes to a statute fraught with implications for the separation of powers,” Bannon’s petition reads.

The petition was filed Friday and will be reviewed later this term after the Justice Department has a chance to respond.

Thor Brødreskift / Nordiske Mediedager, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A Question of Fairness and Executive Privilege

Bannon’s appeal focuses on whether he “willfully” ignored the committee’s subpoena — the legal threshold for contempt. His attorneys argue he acted on the advice of counsel and believed executive privilege issues needed to be resolved before cooperating. Under that interpretation, his actions weren’t criminally “willful.”

However, lower courts sided with the Biden Justice Department, saying prosecutors only needed to show Bannon deliberately refused to comply — regardless of his reasons. Bannon’s lawyers argue that interpretation upends more than a century of precedent and hands Congress unchecked power to criminalize political opponents.

Legitimacy of the Jan. 6 Committee in Question

Bannon’s team also challenges the legitimacy of the Jan. 6 committee itself, arguing its composition violated House rules. The resolution establishing the committee called for 13 members, with five appointed after consulting the minority leader. But then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected several of Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s picks, leading McCarthy to withdraw all Republican participation. Pelosi then filled the seats with seven Democrats and two hand-picked Republicans, both of whom supported the committee’s mission.

According to Bannon’s lawyers, that procedural breach means the subpoena was never valid in the first place. But the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the argument, calling it a procedural objection that Bannon forfeited by not raising it earlier.

A Broader Battle Over Accountability and Power

This case follows the Supreme Court’s earlier refusal to intervene on behalf of Peter Navarro, another Trump official convicted for contempt of Congress. But Bannon’s appeal could mark a new test of how far Congress can go in criminally pursuing political figures — especially when executive privilege and partisan motives are at play.

Appeals Court Rules FBI Violated Americans’ Constitutional Rights In Beverly Hills Raid

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Jsg2020, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A federal appeals court just knocked the FBI down a peg…

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found the bureau violated private citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights when it seized contents from hundreds of safe deposit boxes during a 2021 raid on a Beverly Hills business suspected of money laundering.

“This was a resounding victory, not just for our clients, but for the hundreds of people who’ve been stuck in a nightmare for years because of what the FBI did,” Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Rob Frommer, who represented several plaintiffs in the case, told Fox News.

In March 2021, FBI agents searched and seized 1,400 safe deposit boxes without criminal warrants for each. The total the FBI took about $86 million in cash from the boxes in the raid, as well as a trove of jewelry, gold bars and coins, silver and other valuables. In May, the FBI “commenced administrative forfeiture proceedings” against an unspecified number of the boxes, according to court documents filed by the government.

The ruling reversed a 2022 lower court decision siding with the FBI and requires federal officials to destroy any inventory records of the hundreds of box holders not charged with a crime.

Civil asset forfeiture is the process through which the government seizes money or other property believed to be linked to a crime, even if the owner isn’t charged with a crime.

The FBI’s raid on U.S. Private Vaults was part of its investigation into the company, which ultimately shut down and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder drug money. 

The warrant only authorized authorities to seize business computers, money counters, and surveillance equipment. The judge also allowed them to seize safety deposit boxes and keys, but specifically wrote that agents should only “inspect the contents of the boxes in an effort to identify their owners … so that they can claim their property,” and that the warrant “does not authorize a criminal search or seizure of the contents of the safety deposit boxes.”

In its decision, the 9th Circuit panel wrote that the government had gone beyond the scope of its warrant and violated its own rules by taking inventory of property that wasn’t the subject of a warrant.

Circuit Judge Milan D. Smith Jr. wrote that it was “particularly troubling” that the government couldn’t explain the limitations to these types of inventory searches and questioned how they differed from the “limitless searches of an individual’s personal belongings” like those seen in colonial America.

One of the plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit said the win was “incredibly gratifying.”

“Hearing these judges just knock them down a peg and talk through the situation, this extraordinary overreach and an actual breaking of civil rights … it was just really, really gratifying,” she told Fox News

Another plaintiff said while this ruling helped “expose the government’s attempt to steal innocent people’s things,” he doesn’t think it will end civil forfeiture abuse.

“I think this ruling on its own is important, but it won’t stop the FBI’s grasping hand,” he told Fox News. “Yeah, they got their hand slapped just now. But unless there’s real consequences, they’ll just view this as a dry run for the next time.”

This article originally appeared in American Liberty News. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk. Republished with permission.

Colombian President Immediately Backtracks After Trump Threat

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has backed down from his earlier declaration that he would not accept deportation flights from the United States. After initially refusing two repatriation flights containing 160 deportable migrants, Petro announced that he would instead send his presidential plane to personally pick up deported individuals, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.

This came after former President Donald Trump, who has consistently criticized Petro’s handling of immigration matters, responded with a series of strong retaliatory measures, including the imposition of emergency 25% tariffs on Colombian goods and the threat of a broader diplomatic and economic crackdown.

The Colombian president had originally indicated that he would accept deportation flights from the U.S. but changed his tune resulting in two flights being halted. The public explanation offered was that the U.S. treated Colombian migrants as “criminals,” which he argued violated basic human rights, though some doubted the sincerity of his rationale.

In his announcement, Petro demanded that the United States “establish a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them.” 

Petro was met with swift and fierce condemnation from former President Trump, who argued that Petro’s refusal to accept the flights jeopardized U.S. national security. Trump highlighted the seriousness of the issue in a post on Truth Social.

In response to Petro’s decision, Trump wasted no time in outlining a series of retaliatory measures aimed at pressuring the Colombian government into complying with U.S. demands. On Sunday, Trump announced that his administration would implement “emergency 25% tariffs” on all Colombian imports to the U.S., a figure he vowed would escalate to 50% within one week.

These tariffs are expected to impact a wide range of goods, from agricultural products to textiles, and could severely harm Colombia’s economy, which relies heavily on exports to the U.S. Trump’s statement also included plans for a travel ban and visa revocations targeting Colombian government officials, along with their allies and supporters.

Trump emphasized that these actions were just the beginning, stating, “We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the criminals they forced into the United States.”

In a further escalation of tensions, a U.S. official revealed that the U.S. Embassy in Colombia would close on Monday following Petro’s refusal to honor his previous commitment. While no further details were provided regarding the closure, this move is likely to further strain the relationship between the two nations. The embassy’s closure could have a significant impact on diplomatic and consular services, including visa processing.

Article Published With The Permission of American Liberty News

Kamala Reveals If She Would Appoint Republican To Cabinet If Elected

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Gage Skidmore Flickr

A surprising turnaround…

Vice President Harris said Thursday she would consider appointing a Republican to a Cabinet position if she wins the presidency in November.

“I’ve got 68 days to go with this election, so I’m not putting the cart before the horse,” Harris told CNN’s Dana Bash. “But I would, I think. I think it’s really important.”

Harris, who sat down with CNN for her first taped interview since becoming President Biden ended his campaign, told Bash that having a GOP official in her Cabinet would help her fulfill her pledge to be a president for all Americans. She did not name any individuals she would consider.

“I think it’s important to have people at the table — when some of the most important decisions are being made — that have different views, different experiences,” Harris said. “And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican.”

A number of GOP Trump critics spoke at the Democratic convention in Chicago earlier this month, including former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.

Trump Inches Toward Tulsi Gabbard As VP Pick

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Could this be the winning ticket?

Former President Donald Trump has reportedly been in conversation with former Congresswoman and 2020 presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) in regard to her potentially becoming his running mate.

Per the Washington Post:

Former president Donald Trump and top advisers have spoken with former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard about foreign policy and how the Defense Department should be run in a second Trump term, according to people familiar with the matter.

Gabbard told Fox News about her willingness to entertain discussions with Trump about potentially joining his 2024 presidential ticket as a running mate.

I’d be open to that conversation. My mission in life is to serve our country and serve the American people and find the best way to be able to do that.

She ran for president in 2020 and had issues with the Democrat National Committee throughout her campaign.

Gabbard served on the following committees when she was in Congress: Judiciary, Intelligence, Financial Services, Foreign Affairs, Energy and Commerce, Education and Labor, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Armed Services. 

There has also been talk that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (I) is considering Gabbard as a running mate. 

White House Denies Reports It’s Seeking New Defense Secretary

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt didn’t mince words Monday, firing back at an NPR report claiming the administration is quietly searching for a new secretary of defense.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Leavitt dismissed the story as “fake news” and reaffirmed that President Trump has full confidence in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — echoing remarks she made earlier during an appearance on Fox News.

At the center of the controversy are revelations that Hegseth shared sensitive details about a planned U.S. airstrike in Yemen through a private Signal chat. According to a New York Times report published Sunday — later corroborated by The Wall Street Journal — the previously unreported March 15 exchange included Hegseth’s wife, brother and personal attorney.

Hegseth allegedly disclosed the timing of F/A-18 Hornet aircraft departures for an operation targeting Houthi terrorists. The Signal group, titled Defense | Team Huddle, was reportedly used for both personal and professional updates — but in this instance, it included highly sensitive operational information.

The incident follows a previous misstep involving another Signal chat, where a conversation between top administration officials — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance — was accidentally shared with a prominent liberal journalist from The Atlantic.

The Pentagon inspector general’s office has launched an inquiry to assess whether the use of a platform like Signal violated protocols for handling certain information.

Despite the growing pressure, the administration has shown no public sign of backing away from Hegseth. In addition to Leavitt’s denial of the NPR story, Trump himself has brushed off concerns over Hegseth’s Signal chats.

The White House may be banking on a unified public front to contain the fallout.

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