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Gov. JB Pritzker Claims President Trump Deploying Troops To Chicago Due To ‘Dementia’

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

The gloves are off…

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday accused President Trump of deploying National Guard troops to the Democrat cities of Chicago and Portland based on fixations that stem in part from his being mentally impaired.

“This is a man who’s suffering dementia,” Pritzker said in a telephone interview with the Tribune. “This is a man who has something stuck in his head. He can’t get it out of his head. He doesn’t read. He doesn’t know anything that’s up to date. It’s just something in the recesses of his brain that is effectuating to have him call out these cities.

“And then, unfortunately, he has the power of the military, the power of the federal government to do his bidding, and that’s what he’s doing.”

During the interview, Pritzker — who has been one of Trump’s harshest critics and is a potential 2028 presidential Democrat candidate — said the courts will play an integral role in challenging Trump’s efforts in Illinois and across the nation.

“We’re not going to go to war between the state of Illinois and the federal government, not taking up arms against the federal government,” Pritzker said. “But we are monitoring everything they’re doing, and using that monitoring to win in court.”

The governor’s comments came as National Guard troops from Texas were assembling at a U.S. Army Reserve training center in far southwest suburban Elwood and Trump’s administration was moving forward with deploying 300 members of the Illinois National Guard for at least 60 days over the vocal and legal objections of Pritzker and other local elected leaders.

The Trump administration has said the troops are needed to protect federal agents and facilities involved in its ongoing deportation surge and has sought to do much the same in Portland, Oregon, though those efforts have been stymied so far by temporary court rulings.

Speaking in the Oval Office on Tuesday, the president reiterated that he was considering employing the two-century-old Insurrection Act to get around legal court orders that would deny him the ability to deploy National Guard troops to cities such as Chicago and Portland over governors’ objections.

“It’s been invoked before,” Trump said of the law, which the Brennan Center for Justice said has been used 30 times, starting with President George Washington, to quell the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794.

The last time the Insurrection Act was invoked was by President George H.W. Bush during the Los Angeles riots of 1992, with the support of California Gov. Pete Wilson. It also was used in Chicago in 1968 by President Lyndon Johnson to curb rioting over the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with the backing of Mayor Richard J. Daley and acting Gov. Samuel Shapiro.

As Pritzker has sought to counter Trump on nearly every front, he has joined California Gov. Gavin Newsom in threatening to leave the bipartisan National Governors Association because the organization hasn’t spoken out against Trump’s National Guard mobilizations.

Hunter Biden Indicted In California Tax Probe, Faces 17 Years In Prison

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President Joe Biden hugs his family during the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. (DOD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II)

On Thursday, the President’s son Hunter Biden was indicted in California on numerous tax charges.

Special Counsel David Weiss has been using a federal grand jury in Los Angeles to gather evidence of possible criminal tax charges against Hunter Biden. 

CNN reported that Hunter was hit with nine counts on charges that include failure to file and pay taxes; evasion of assessment; and false or fraudulent tax return.

Biden is facing up to 17 years in prison for his crimes.

Read the indictment below:

Prosecutors said that Hunter Biden made more than $7 million during that period, which included money that he received from Burisma, CEFC China Energy, and others.

“Between 2016 and October 15, 2020, the Defendant spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes,” prosecutors said.

Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty in October to federal gun charges in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware after being charged out of Weiss’ years-long investigation. 

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer attributed Thursday’s indictment to the efforts of “two brave IRS whistleblowers, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler.” 

“The Department of Justice got caught in its attempt to give Hunter Biden an unprecedented sweetheart plea deal,” Comer said. “Every American should applaud these men for their courage to expose the truth.”

“Unless U.S. Attorney Weiss investigates everyone involved in the Bidens’ fraud schemes and influence peddling, it will be clear President Biden’s DOJ is protecting Hunter Biden and the big guy.”

This is a breaking news story. Click refresh for the latest updates.

Nevada Judge Rejects Trump Ballot Eligibility Challenge

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Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

A Nevada federal judge rejected a challenge to remove former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot.

On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Gloria M. Navarro, who was appointed by former President Obama, issued the order dismissing John Anthony Castro’s case, noting he “lack standing.”

Castro, a GOP challenger, ultimately asked if the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment bars Trump from holding office over his alleged incitement of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. 

Fox News has more:

“This is a politically charged question of significant interest to the American public,” Navarro noted. “For reasons discussed below, the Court finds that Castro lacks standing, and the Court therefore lacks jurisdiction to hear this case.” 

“To have standing to sue in federal court, a plaintiff must have suffered a concrete, particularized, and actual or imminent injury in fact that was caused by the defendant’s challenged conduct and is redressable by a favorable decision,” Navarro explained. “This limitation on the judicial power prevents a plaintiff from invoking Article III jurisdiction of federal court by asserting what is merely a ‘general interest common to all members of the public.’” 

The ruling noted that multiple courts have already rejected Castro’s political competitor standing argument. 

“In rejecting his political competitor standing argument, courts have fund that Castro improperly manufactured his standing merely to file this lawsuit,” Navarro writes. “The evidence indicates that Castro is creating his own injury in order to manufacture standing to challenge Trump’s eligibility to run for president.” 

The judge observed that by his own admission, Castro “declared as a candidate and paid the filing fee to show the impermissibility of Trump’s presidency.” The ruling cited how Castro was quoted in an Associated Press article as having said, “I’m not going to lie and pretend my candidacy is anything more than trying to enforce the United States Constitution, and that’s what I’m here to do.” 

In a footnote, Navarro highlighted that Trump and Castro are not even competing on the same ballot in Nevada. 

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung praised the Nevada lawsuit’s dismissal in a statement to news outlets.  

“Today’s dismissal of another bogus, bad-faith, Crooked Joe Biden-engineered attempt to deprive Americans as a whole, and the voters of Nevada specifically, of their right to vote for the candidate of their choice is not only a victory for President Trump, but a victory for all Americans and the people of Nevada,” Cheung said, according to KLAS. “President Trump remains undefeated in federal court against these cynical efforts to interfere in the 2024 election. Courts in eleven states have now dismissed similar, pathetic, 14th Amendment ballot cases.” 

“Make no mistake, each and every one of these ‘ballot-challenges’ are blatant attempts to steal the election for Crooked Joe Biden and disenfranchise over 100 million American voters,” he continued. “President Trump is the leading candidate for not only the Republican primary, but the general election and his opponents are desperate. Rest assured that he will fight each and every one of these disgraceful attacks on American democracy, he will win, and we will all Make America Great Again.”

Dozens of lawsuits are now challenging Trump’s eligibility, citing the Fourteenth Amendment, after the Colorado Supreme Court removed him from the ballot in their state. 

Trump Posts $91.6 Million Bond To E. Jean Carroll In Potential Legal Settlement

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Image via Pixabay free images

Former President Donald Trump has posted a $91.6 million bond in the E. Jean Carroll defamation case.

Despite his appeal, Trump had to post the money which he can get back if he wins the case in appeals court.

The Hill reports:

Trump had aimed to delay posting the bond or reduce the amount as he seeks a new trial and otherwise continues fighting the recent verdict.

But after U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected Trump’s latest request to delay a Monday deadline, the former president on Friday formally filed his appeal and posted the full $91.63 million bond.

“President Trump respectfully requests that this Court recognize the supersedeas bond obtained by President Trump in the sum of $91,630,000.00 and approve it as adequate and sufficient to stay the enforcement of the Judgment, to the extent that the Judgment awards damages, pending the ultimate disposition of President Trump’s appeal,” Trump attorney Alina Habba wrote in court filings.

This article originally appeared on American Liberty News. Republished with permission.

Judge Rules On Trump’s Requests for Immediate Verdict in Fraud Trial

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Gage Skidmore Flickr

On Wednesday, former President Trump’s legal team asked for an immediate and direct verdict in the Trump Organization civil trial following testimony from ex-attorney Michael Cohen. 

The request came after Cohen admitted during testimony that the former president did not ask him to inflate his finances on a personal financial statement.

During a second day on the stand, Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer,” was asked directly whether Trump asked him to inflate his finances on personal financial statements.

“Trump didn’t ask you to inflate the numbers on his personal statement, correct?” Trump attorney Clifford Roberts asked.

“Correct,” Cohen replied.

After Cohen’s response, Roberts spoke with the former president and fellow defense attorneys and told Judge Arthur Engoron he had no further questions.

Roberts then asked for an immediate, direct verdict in the trial in light of Cohen’s testimony.

Judge Engoron immediately said: “denied.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James’ case accuses Trump, his two adult sons, the Trump Organization, and top executives of falsely inflating the values of Trump’s real estate properties and other assets in order to get tax benefits and better loan terms.

James seeks around $250 million in damages, and she wants to bar Trump and his co-defendants from running another business in New York.

Trump responded to the Judge’s ruling in a series of Truth Social posts Wednesday evening.

“The New York State Attorney Generals case against me is DEAD, but the Radical Left Judge REFUSES to end it. He just can’t let it go,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, repeating his frequent attack on the judge in the case.

“Letitia James should focus on Violent Crime, which is out of control. So unfair. I don’t even get a Jury Trial. A blight on the New York State Judicial System,” he continued. “Businesses are watching all over the world, and never coming in, only moving out. The Governor should get involved.”

He added, “Election Interference by my Political Opponent!”

Report: Giuliani’s Former Legal Team Sues Him for $1.36M

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s legal team is adding to his laundry list of legal troubles.

The former Trump attorney’s previous legal team is suing the Republican for failing to pay legal fees amounting to $1.36 million they charged while representing him in numerous controversies.

According to reports from Politicom Robert J. Costello, a longtime friend of Giuliani, and his law firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP filed the complaint on Monday in a state court in Manhattan.

Politico has more:

And now his old counsel is turning against him, accusing him of not paying up all the money he owes them for representing him throughout these his legal battles. Giuliani has already paid the firm — which he employed on a retainer agreement that it alleges he broke — $214,000, with his last payment made on Sept. 14 in the amount of $10,000, according to the filing. In total, the firm has charged him $1.57 million from 2019 to 2023.

“I can’t express how personally hurt I am by what Bob Costello has done,” Giuliani told POLITICO in a statement. “It’s a real shame when lawyers do things like this, and all I will say is that their bill is way in excess to anything approaching legitimate fees.”

Giuliani is staring down the barrel at a host of legal issues stemming from the 2020 presidential election. Last month Giuliani surrendered to Fulton County jail over charges that he helped conspire with Trump to overthrow the election by lying to state legislators and spreading election fraud misinformation. A week later, a federal judge ruled that he was liable for defaming two Georgia election workers.

Judge Rejects Trump Bid To Delay Classified Documents Trial

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Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

A federal judge in Florida refused to delay the start of the classified documents trial involving former President Donald Trump.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled Friday that she would dismiss the motion from Trump’s legal team “without prejudice” against taking it up again in the future. The trial’s start date could be reconsidered at a scheduling conference March 1, she wrote.

The Hill has more:

The order is a small victory for special counsel Jack Smith’s team, which had strongly argued against any delays in the case by suggesting that the former president wanted to push the case until after the 2024 presidential election. Trump is the undisputed front-runner in the GOP presidential primary.

The Florida judge noted the 1.3 million pages of evidence — plus thousands of hours of security video shot at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort — that prosecutors in the Mar-a-Lago case gave to the defense in discovery, in addition to the former president’s other legal woes with schedules of their own.

“I am not quite seeing a level of understanding on your part to these realities,” Cannon said at the time to prosecutor Jay Bratt, a member of special counsel Jack Smith’s team.

Trump is facing Espionage Act charges in the Mar-a-Lago case after refusing to return classified records from his time as president, as well as obstruction of justice charges for his efforts to conceal them from prosecutors.

Report: Trump Expected To Fire U.S. Attorney

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

President Donald Trump is expected to fire the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after his office was unable to find incriminating evidence of mortgage fraud against New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to sources. 

Federal prosecutors in Virginia had uncovered no clear evidence to prove that James had knowingly committed mortgage fraud when she purchased a home in the state in 2023, ABC News first reported earlier this week, but Trump officials pushed U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert to nevertheless bring criminal charges against her, according to sources.

Alec Perkins from Hoboken, USA, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The president has reportedly been leaning on federal prosecutors to bring charges against James for alleged mortgage fraud. She has been accused of falsely claiming her house in Virginia as her primary residence despite being legally required to live in New York as an elected official there.

ABC News reported on Wednesday that Siebert, who is the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, was having difficulty finding enough evidence to sustain a conviction against James. On Thursday, the outlet said Trump is expected to fire the prosecutor.

“Administration officials have told Siebert of Trump’s intention to fire him, sources familiar with the matter said,” ABC News stated. “Siebert’s last day on the job is expected to be Friday.”

Trump nominated Siebert for the job in May.

“The decision to fire Siebert could throw into crisis one of the most prominent U.S. attorney’s offices, which handles a bulk of the country’s espionage and terrorism cases, and heighten concerns about Trump’s alleged use of the DOJ to target his political adversaries,” ABC News stated.

In May, the FBI opened an investigation into the notorious prosecutor. James has denied wrongdoing and called the investigation politically motivated, pointing to her office’s civil fraud case against Trump. That case ultimately resulted in a $354 million judgment against the president, which also bars his

During her 2018 campaign for attorney general, James publicly stated she intended to pursue legal action against Trump and investigate his business dealings in New York.

While campaigning, James vowed to shine a “bright light into every corner” of Trump’s “real estate dealings.” Her critics — including Trump himself — would later argue that her civil lawsuit against him was a political witch hunt.

In announcing the probe, US Attorney John A. Sarcone III took a swipe at James’s 2018 campaign rhetoric about investigating President Donald Trump.

The US attorney said James “unethically ran around the state campaigning on getting Donald Trump,” and essentially accused her of finding a criminal target without an alleged crime.

He added:

We stand prepared to act in the capacity that we need to when and if we are informed there’s a charge to be made. Unlike Letitia James, who unethically ran around the state campaigning on getting Donald Trump… my office conducts itself in a manner that is proper and professional.

Hispanic Democrats Introduce Bill to Ban ‘Latinx’ Term

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Hispanic Democrats in Connecticut have introduced a bill to ban the woke term “Latinx” from state documents.

The bill, written and endorsed by five Democrats of Hispanic descent, comes amid increased scrutiny over the work term and its place in government documents.

The text of the bill reads:

[T]he general statutes [shall] be amended to prohibit any state agency, or state employee on behalf of a state agency, from using the term “Latinx” on any official communications or forms of the state agency.

A search on the state website reveals that at least 920 state documents contain the word “Latinx.”

It was introduced by five members of the state House: state Reps. Geraldo C. Reyes, Christopher Rosario, Juan R. Candelaria, Robert Sanchez, and Minnie Gonzalez.

“This has been offensive and derogatory to all Puerto Ricans, and it’s something that hasn’t sat well with a lot of people here for a while.” Reyes added to CT Insider. “When I found out that Arkansas Gov. [Sanders] banned it on her first day in the office, I saw that as an opportunity for me to do the same thing.” Reyes, however, criticized Sanders’ move, saying she had “other motivations” for banning the word in Arkansas government documents.

According to The Daily Wire, a national poll conducted in October found that only 1% of Hispanics identify as “Latinx,” a gender-neutral term imposed on Hispanics by left-wing culture. WPA Intelligence, a conservative polling firm that collaborated with Visto Media on behalf of the Latino advocacy group Bienvenido, conducted a poll of 1,288 Hispanic registered Democrat, Republican, and Independent voters.

The poll found that the community prefers to be identified as Hispanic, while others said American or Latino.

Last month, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders banned the use of “latinx” in state documents as one of her first acts as governor. (RELATED: Arkansas Governor Bans Woke Term During First Day on the Job)

“ETHNICALLY INSENSITIVE AND PEJORATIVE LANGUAGE HAS NO PLACE IN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS OR GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE TITLES,” SANDERS’ EXECUTIVE ORDER STATED. “THE GOVERNMENT HAS A RESPONSIBILITY TO RESPECT ITS CITIZENS AND USE ETHNICALLY APPROPRIATE LANGUAGE, PARTICULARLY WHEN REFERRING TO ETHNIC MINORITIES.”

Trump Threatens to Prosecute George Soros and His Son Over RICO Charges

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By Niccolò Caranti - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21891838

President Donald Trump took direct aim at billionaire financier George Soros and his son Alex in a fiery Truth Social post on Wednesday, accusing the pair of fueling radical left-wing unrest across the country and hinting at potential RICO charges.

“George Soros, and his wonderful Radical Left son, should be charged with RICO because of their support of Violent Protests, and much more, all throughout the United States of America,” Trump wrote. “We’re not going to allow these lunatics to rip apart America any more, never giving it so much as a chance to ‘BREATHE,’ and be FREE. Soros, and his group of psychopaths, have caused great damage to our Country! That includes his Crazy, West Coast friends.”

Trump concluded with a warning: “Be careful, we’re watching you!”

Who Are the Soroses?

George Soros, a Hungarian-born billionaire, is one of the Democratic Party’s largest donors and has been financing progressive causes for decades. His global influence has been tied to left-wing prosecutors, liberal DA races, and activist organizations that critics say undermine law and order in American cities.

In 2023, Soros handed control of his vast empire—including the Open Society Foundation—to his son, Alex Soros, who has pledged to continue funding progressive causes, often with an even more openly partisan edge. Alex has boasted of his close ties to the Biden White House and prominent Democrats.

The Soros network has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into elections and activist groups, often tipping the balance in favor of left-leaning candidates. Many on the Right argue this influence has led to skyrocketing crime rates, attacks on free speech, and deepening divisions in American society.

Trump’s threat comes less than a week after his FBI raided his foreign policy adviser-turned-critic John Bolton’s home and office as part of what he slammed as a politically motivated investigation.

Bolton, who was national security adviser from 2018 to 2019, has often clashed with Trump since leaving the administration. The raid on his home marked a significant escalation in tensions between the former president and his one-time adviser.

When asked about the raid, Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday that he was not informed ahead of time but expected a briefing later.