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    Marianne Williamson Returns to Presidential Race

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Joe Biden via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    On Wednesday, long-shot candidate Marianne Williamson announced she is jumping back into the presidential race to challenge Joe Biden.

    Williamson made the announcement in a video statement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Williamson said she returned to the race because she feels President Biden is a vulnerable candidate to put up against former President Donald Trump.

    “As of today, I am unsuspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States,” Williamson said. “I had suspended it because I was losing the horse race. But something so much more important than the horse race is at stake here, and we must respond.”

    “Right now, we have a fascist standing at the door. Everybody’s all upset about it. Well, we should be upset about it. But we’re not going to defeat the fascist by–well, by what? What is President Biden offering?” she asked. “What is he saying beyond, ‘You know, the economy is doing really well.’?”

    “We’re still in this. Let’s do this. This is serious,” she added. “We need to say to the American people, ‘we see your pain,’ and we need to say to Donald Trump, ‘we see your B.S.’”

    Williamson originally suspended her campaign on Feb. 7, dropping out of the race without making an endorsement.

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

    House Democrat Becomes The First To Publicly Call On Biden To Withdraw

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    President Joe Biden delivers remarks in National Statuary Hall on the one-year anniversary of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, January 6, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith)

    There’s no going back now…

    On Tuesday, Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D) became the first sitting Democrat U.S. Congressman to call on Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential contest.

    “Instead of reassuring voters, the President failed to effectively defend his many accomplishments and expose Trump’s many lies,” Doggett said in a statement.

    “I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson. Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw,” he later said. “President Biden should do the same.”

    Doggett, who is 77, praised the president’s legislative achievements in his years in Washington but argued that now is a moment to pass the torch in the Democratic Party.

    “While much of his work has been transformational, he pledged to be transitional,” Doggett said. “He has the opportunity to encourage a new generation of leaders from whom a nominee can be chosen to unite our country through an open, democratic process.”

    “My decision to make these strong reservations public is not done lightly nor does it in any way diminish my respect for all that President Biden has achieved,” he continued.

    “Recognizing that, unlike Trump, President Biden’s first commitment has always been to our country, not himself, I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw. I respectfully call on him to do so.”

    On Monday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (D) seemed to signal support for the idea of Biden stepping away from the race and seemed to promote himself as an alternative candidate. (RELATED: Potential Biden Replacement Pitches Himself After ‘Very Bad’ Debate)

    Watch:

    American Released By Taliban Returns Home To ‘Champion’s Welcome’

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Taliban hostage George Glezmann landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Friday after more than 800 days in captivity in Afghanistan, where he received a “champion’s welcome,” according to Fox News.

    “I feel born again,” Glezmann told a reporter. “I have no words. 

    “President Trump is amazing,” he added before thanking Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and hostage envoy Adam Boehler. 

    Watch:

    “A free American individual…abducted because of my U.S. passport.”

    “I’ve got no words to express my gratitude for my liberty,” Glezmann added.

    His wife, Aleksandra, was not in attendance at the time of his arrival, but Fox News was told she had landed in Washington, D.C. on her way to meet her husband after more than two years since his Dec. 5, 2022, capture in Kabul. 

    Ryan Corbett, who was released in January after nearly 900 days in Taliban captivity greeted Glezmann upon arrival.

    Both Glezmann and Corbett were held together in Afghanistan.

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

    CNN Report Finds Trump Leading In Key Battleground States

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    Image via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Bad news for Biden…

    The latest CNN poll found former President Donald Trump leading President Joe Biden in Georgia and Michigan after failing to win the states during the 2020 election.

    CNN has more:

    In Georgia, a state Biden carried by a very narrow margin in 2020, registered voters say they prefer Trump (49%) over Biden (44%) for the presidency in a two-way hypothetical matchup. In Michigan, which Biden won by a wider margin, Trump has 50% support to Biden’s 40%, with 10% saying they wouldn’t support either candidate even after being asked which way they lean. In both Michigan and Georgia, the share of voters who say they wouldn’t support either candidate is at least as large as the margin between Biden and Trump.

    Overall, just 35% in Michigan and 39% in Georgia approve of Biden’s job performance, the surveys find, and majorities in both states say his policies have worsened economic conditions in the country (54% in Georgia, 56% in Michigan).

    Respondents also noted that President Biden’s age plays a major role in his leadership ability. For months, Republicans and Democrats alike have pointed to Biden’s numerous public gaffes and missteps as signs the President is ineffective and should not serve another term.

    Most voters in both states say Biden, who’s 81, does not have the attributes they’re looking for in a president when it comes to his policy positions (57% in Michigan, 56% in Georgia), his ability to understand the problems of people like them (60% in Michigan, 56% in Georgia) or his sharpness and stamina (69% in Michigan, 66% in Georgia).

    Fewer in each state say that Trump, who’s 77, falls short of their expectations for a president on those same measures. But Trump fares worse than Biden on temperament – 57% in Michigan and 58% in Georgia say the former president doesn’t have the temperament they’re looking for, compared with about half who say the same about Biden.

    Trump and Biden are the clear frontrunners for the GOP and Democrat presidential nominations, setting the stage for a 2020 rematch in 2024.

    The polls, conducted by SSRS, also surveyed respondents on how other GOP presidential primary candidates would fare against Biden in the two battleground states.

    In a matchup between Nikki Haley and Biden, the former U.N. ambassador would win the general election in both states, according to the polls.

    In a hypothetical general election matchup between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Biden, the sitting president narrowly leads DeSantis by 3 percentage points in Georgia. In Michigan, DeSantis leads Biden by 7 percentage points.

    Watchdog Group Seeks To Remove Judge From Trump Case

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

    A group is asking the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to remove Judge Aileen Cannon from overseeing former President Trump’s classified documents case.

    The brief filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) argued Judge Cannon has taken “many efforts to undermine and derail the prosecution of this case.” The brief coincides with special counsel Jack Smith’s appeal of a ruling from Cannon that tossed the documents case entirely in determining Smith was unlawfully appointed.

    The CREW brief asks for the documents case to be reassigned to another jurist in South Florida. Smith did not make that request, but the 11th Circuit could independently determine the rare move is warranted.

    The Hill has more:

    “Even before she dismissed this case on novel and insupportable grounds that ignored both statutory authority and Supreme Court precedent, Judge Cannon’s other extraordinary rulings and sluggish administration of the case had provoked well-founded concerns that she might be biased against the Government’s case and unable to manage that case impartially,” CREW wrote in its motion to file a friend-of-the-court brief filed late Tuesday.

    The filing also cites Cannon’s “inexplicable call for jury instructions on a spurious legal defense that would have gutted the Government’s case had it ever gone to trial” after she mulled embracing arguments from Trump on jury instructions even as she failed to account for a trial date in the case.

    It also notes “Cannon’s failure over the course of one year to move the case forward in any significant way—until a one-Justice concurrence in the Supreme Court’s presidential-immunity opinion expressed approval of the novel constitutional theory that allowed her to end the case.”

    That was a nod to an off-topic footnote from Justice Clarence Thomas.

    Appeals Court Blocks Trump Firings, Setting Stage For Supreme Court Showdown Over Executive Power

    By
    admin
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    0
    Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    In a major reversal, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 7–4 to block the Trump administration from removing two Democratic appointees from federal labor boards. The ruling puts Gwynne Wilcox back on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Cathy Harris back on the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).

    Both Biden appointees were previously ousted by President Trump, who argued that restructuring federal agencies gave him the authority to fire appointees at will. A three-judge panel with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals initially backed that move. But the full court disagreed.

    In its Monday ruling, the court said the firings broke the law—specifically, legal protections that say members of independent agencies like the NLRB and MSPB can only be removed for cause, such as “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” The majority leaned on long-standing Supreme Court precedent to support their stance.

    The dissenting judges argued that courts shouldn’t have the power to reinstate executive officers.

    AgnosticPreachersKid, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    With Wilcox and Harris back in place, both boards now have quorum and can resume their functions in overseeing employee grievances and labor disputes.

    The highly unusual ruling takes direct aim at one of the Trump administration’s core legal claims: that the president can fire appointees at will, even in independent agencies.

    Politico‘s Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney have additional details on the fallout and what to expect next:

    It’s a whiplash-inducing turn for the two officials, fired by Trump in the first days of his term. Judges on the federal district court bench in Washington reinstated both of them, harshly scolding Trump for ignoring the laws meant to protect the officials from removal without misconduct or other improper behavior.

    But last month, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit blocked those orders from taking effect, ruling 2-1 that the laws improperly restricted the president’s ability to manage the executive branch. Monday’s ruling, in turn, withdraws that order and allows the officials to return to their posts.

    In the unsigned order Monday, the appeals court’s majority pointed to Supreme Court decisions from the 1930s and 1950s in which the justices “unanimously upheld removal restrictions for government officials on multimember adjudicatory boards.” While more recent rulings from the high court have undermined the rationale of those decisions, the justices have never flatly reversed them.

    Legal analysts expect the case to head to the Supreme Court. If it does, it could become a defining case on the limits of presidential power and the independence of federal agencies.

    Trump Adviser Steve Bannon Sentenced to Four Months in Prison

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0
    Thor Brødreskift / Nordiske Mediedager, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon received his sentence Friday morning following his conviction on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol raid.

    Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, sentenced Bannon to four months in prison and has been ordered to pay a fine of $6,500.

    The judge said that Bannon “has expressed no remorse for his actions” and hasn’t demonstrated that he has any intention of complying with the subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee.

    Federal prosecutor J.P. Cooney argued that Bannon is not above the law and should be sentenced and treated like any other citizen, according to ABC News.

    “It must be made clear to the public and the grand jury … that no one is above the law,” Cooney said. “He hid behind a fabricated claim of executive privilege, to thumb his nose at Congress.”

    “He had an interest in making a public spectacle of the committee’s hearings,” Cooney told the judge, saying that Bannon “has tried to make it about nothing but politics and retribution.”

    During Friday’s proceeding’s Bannon attorney David Schoen hit back against the prosecutor’s claim Bannon did not have a legitimate claim of executive privilege when he rejected the committee’s subpoena.

    In particular, Schoen went after Trump lawyer Justin Clark, who told DOJ investigators in July that at no point did former President Donald Trump ever invoke executive privilege over Bannon’s testimony.

    “You wouldn’t believe a thing he says,” Schoen said of Clark, who also contradicted other claims made by Bannon’s defense team in their case.

    Last week, the Justice Department announced it pushing for a more severe sentence for Bannon of at least 6 months. (RELATED: Feds Recommend Jail Time for Bannon)

    Bannon’s attorney David Schoen argued that there should not be a 30-day mandatory minimum of jail time for the offense.

    Nichols, however, rejected that argument, saying the statute is clear on the point that there is a mandatory minimum of 30 days and a mandatory maximum of 12 months.

    In comments to reporters after the ruling Bannon appeared to hint at an appeal in the near future and said, “this thing about I’m above the law is an absolute and total lie.”

    It wasn’t long before individuals went to Twitter to

    Space Force Commander Fired After Sending Mass Email To Staff About VP Vance

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3
    David B. Gleason from Chicago, IL, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    She’s out…

    The Pentagon fired the commander at the U.S. Space Force base in Greenland after she broke with Vice President JD Vance who recently traveled to Greenland.

    After the vice president’s visit, Col. Susannah Meyers emailed base personnel on March 31, writing, “I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the U.S. administration discussed by Vice President Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik Space Base.”

    She added that she had “spent the weekend thinking about Friday’s visit — the actions taken, the words spoken, and how it must have affected each of you.” The email was first reported by Military.com.

    The Space Force said in a public statement Meyers had been relieved of command “due to loss of confidence in her ability to lead.” 

    “Commanders are expected to adhere to the highest standards of conduct, especially as it relates to remaining nonpartisan in the performance of their duties,” the statement read. 

    Col. Shawn Lee has now assumed the command, Space Force said. 

    “Actions to undermine the chain of command or to subvert President Trump’s agenda will not be tolerated at the Department of Defense,” Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell posted on X. 

    Meyers became commander of the 821st Space Base Group in July, according to a Facebook post about the change-of-command ceremony. 

    Vance, during his visit to the snow-covered island, criticized Denmark for treating Greenlanders as “second-class citizens.” 

    “Our message to Denmark is very simple,” Vance said. “You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have underinvested in the security of this incredible, beautiful landmass.”

    Vance was the highest-ranking official to ever travel to the base in Pituffik, the White House said. 

    The Trump administration has made acquiring Greenland a top goal. 

    “We need Greenland for national security and international security,” President Donald Trump said on March 11. 

    Democrat Senator Sets Up Defense Fund Amid Criminal Probe

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    8
    Senate Democrats, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    Reports indicate Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) plans to create a legal defense fund to help pay for tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees relating to the federal criminal probe into his dealings with foreign regulators.

    Menendez’s office confirmed plans to create the fund to NBC News as the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York continues its months-long investigation into the Democrat.

    Federal investigators opened to new probe into Menendez in October and have given no indication of how long it is expected to continue.

    The probe has already cost Menendez roughly $200,000 in campaign funds, according to filings obtained by NBC.

    “Senator Menendez is confident that this official inquiry will be successfully closed, but as it is still unresolved he will be opening a separate legal defense fund so as not to drain any further campaign funds,” a spokeswoman for Menendez told the outlet. Fox News Digital reached out to Menendez’s office for additional comment, but they did not immediately respond.

    The probe, which involves several federal organizations, is investigating lavish gifts Menendez’s wife received from a food producer that obtained an exclusive contract with the Egyptian government to certify Halal food exports across the globe.

    The inquiry is considering whether Menendez may have improperly used his position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to influence the deal.

    The committee controls roughly $2 billion in U.S. aid to Egypt, according to NBC.

    Menendez was previously indicted on federal bribery charges in 2016. 

    Vance Accuses Harris Running Mate of Stolen Valor

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    President Donald J. Trump is presented with a 10th Combat Aviation Brigade challenge coin following an air assault and gun rain demonstration at Fort Drum, New York, on August 13. The demonstration was part of President Trump's visit to the 10th Mountain Division (LI) to sign the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019, which increases the Army's authorized active-duty end strength by 4,000 enabling us to field critical capabilities in support of the National Defense Strategy. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Thomas Scaggs) 180813-A-TZ475-010

    Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance accused Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) of dodging his military service and misleading the country about his veteran status.

    Vance made the statement after a reporter asked him about Walz’s attempt to frame him as a member of the elite who attended an Ivy League school.

    “I came from a family where nobody in my family had ever gone to law school. I grew up in a poor family. The fact that Tim Walz wants to turn it into a bad thing, that I actually worked myself through college, through law school and made something myself –  to me, that’s the American dream. And if Tim Walz wants to insult it, I think that’s frankly pretty bizarre,” Vance said before launching into an attack on Walz.

    “As a marine who served his country in uniform when the United States Marine Corps, when the United States of America asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it. I did what they asked me to do it, and I did it honorably,” he said. “When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the army and allowed his unit to go without him, a fact that he’s been criticized for aggressively by a lot of the people that he served with.” 

    Vance continued, “I think it’s shameful to prepare your unit to go to Iraq, to make a promise that you’re going to follow through, and then to drop out right before you actually have to go.”

    Then Vance honed in on recent comments from Walz on gun control.

    “He said, ‘We shouldn’t allow weapons that I used in war to be on America’s streets.’ Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war? When was this? What was this weapon that you carried into war, given that you abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq, and he has not spent a day in a combat zone? What bothers me about Tim Walz is the stolen Valor garbage,” Vance said.

    Vance also urged reporters to hold Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris accountable. Harris has not taken questions from the press in the 17 days since President Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed her.

    I, DONALD J. TRUMP, have officially accepted your nomination for President of the United States! Will you stand with me and donate to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN? The future of our beloved country depends on YOU!
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