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    Appeals Court Rejects Trump Request To Stay Criminal Sentencing

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0

    Just in…

    The New York Court of Appeals has denied a motion filed by President-elect Donald Trump to stay the Jan. 10 sentencing in the New York v. Trump case.

    New York Judge Juan Merchan set Trump’s sentencing date in the case earlier this month, ahead of his inauguration as president on Jan. 20. 

    Trump filed a motion to stay the Jan. 10 sentencing with the New York State Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. 

    The New York Court of Appeals denied Trump’s request Thursday morning. The status of his appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court is pending.

    new-york-v.-trumpDownload

    Trump remains set to be sentenced on Friday, Jan. 10, at 9:30 a.m., pending the Supreme Court’s decision. He plans to attend virtually. 

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

    Court Rules Georgia Lawmakers Can Subpoena Fani Willis For Information Related To Trump Case

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    Things have gone from bad to worse for Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis.

    A Georgia judge recently ruled that state lawmakers can subpoena Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as part of an inquiry into whether she engaged in misconduct during her prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump.

    In his Dec. 23 order, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram gave Willis until Jan. 13 to file a list of claimed privileges and objections to anything that has been subpoenaed.

    Willis plans to appeal the decision. 

    “We believe the ruling is wrong and will appeal,” former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, who is representing Willis in the case, wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

    Earlier this month, an appeals court removed Willis from the Georgia election interference case against Trump and others, citing an “appearance of impropriety.” The panel also cited the romantic relationship between Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade.

    “This is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings,” the court said. 

    At the time, Trump called the case a “disgrace to justice.”

    “It was started by the Biden DOJ as an attack on his political opponent, Donald Trump,” he said, “They used anyone and anybody, and she has been disqualified, and her boyfriend has been disqualified, and they stole funds and went on trips.” 

    Willis has been evasive in questioning over her alleged misconduct in prosecuting the new President-elect.

    Report: New Fetterman Chief of Staff Co-founded Org to Push Trump-Russia Collusion Hoax

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3

    Senator-elect John Fetterman’s (D-PA) new chief of staff helped launch an initiative to promote the since-debunked Trump-Russian collusion hoax.

    According to Fox News, Adam Jentleson co-founded The Moscow Project, an initiative launched by John Podesta’s Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF) and headed by Max Bergmann, a former John Kerry speechwriter. 

    The Moscow Project routinely accused the Republican president of colluding with Russia and endorsed the since-debunked Steele Dossier as credible.

    On March 23, 2017, Jentleson tweeted that he was “very excited” about The Moscow Project and linked to a since-deleted copy of the infamous Steele dossier that was annotated by the project.

    “If you’ve been wondering how much of the Steele dossier is backed up by fact, we annotated it here. (Hint: a lot.),” Jentleson wrote at the time.

    The dossier by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele – controversially published in its raw form in 2017 by BuzzFeed News – alleged that Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election over Hillary Clinton and claimed that the Kremlin had blackmail material on the former president, including a tape of prostitutes urinating on him in a Moscow hotel.

    The dossier served as the basis for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against Trump campaign aide Carter Page, and it was originally commissioned by a research firm hired by Hillary Clinton’s campaign lawyer Marc Elias. The 35-page dossier has since been repeatedly discredited and debunked, including by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s two-year investigation, which found no evidence of collusion.

    “The Moscow Project helpfully annotated it for you,” Jentleson wrote of the dossier in April 2017. “Steele is former MI6 head of Russia desk.”

    FBI Accused of Retaliating Against Conservative Agents

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    7
    I, Aude, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    House Republicans have accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of intentionally retaliating against conservative agents and suspected whistleblowers by revoking security clearances.

    Both House and Senate Republicans have raised concerns over increasingly politicized misconduct within the FBI. Recently, Washington, D.C. agent Timothy Thibault was investigating Hunter Biden until he suddenly resigned in August to avoid being subjected to an internal review.

    Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has also claimed that whistleblowers have approached his office to report internal misconduct in the bureau’s investigations into former President Donald Trump, according to The Daily Caller.

    Republican Reps. Jim Jordan (OH), Darrell Issa (CA), and Mike Johnson (LA) alleged in a letter to FBI Executive Assistant Director Jennifer Leigh Moore that the FBI is cracking down on suspected whistleblowers in response.

    “Once a whistleblower makes a protected disclosure, an agency is prohibited from retaliating against the employee for that disclosure by taking or failing to take a personnel action,” the Republicans wrote. “Your efforts to interfere with FBI employees who seek to expose the Bureau’s misconduct by communicating directly with Congress cannot be condoned.”

    FBI agent Steve Friend was reportedly suspended and escorted from a Florida field office after he declined to participate in an arrest operation targeting a Jan. 6 Capitol riot suspect. Friend filed a whistleblower report detailing his experience, according to the New York Post.

    Other whistleblowers have reportedly alleged that the FBI is pulling agents off of child sexual abuse cases to investigate the Capitol riot and that bureau superiors told agents not to look into Hunter Biden’s laptop.

    The FBI has denied the allegations.

    “The FBI does not target or take adverse action against employees for exercising their First Amendment rights or for their political views; to allege otherwise is false and misleading.The FBI is required to follow established policies and procedures, to include a thorough investigation, when suspending or revoking a security clearance. The FBI takes very seriously its responsibility to FBI employees who may make protected disclosures under the whistleblower regulations.  FBI employees who report evidence of wrongdoing through a protected disclosure are protected from retaliation,” a spokesperson said.

    Trump Changes Plan For Fox News Debate

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    Kamala Harris via Wikimedia Commons

    On Monday, former President Trump revealed Vice President Kamala Harris’ team told his campaign that she would not participate in a Fox News presidential debate on September 4.

    The proposed debate would have been held in Pennsylvania and moderated by Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.

    “I am not surprised by this development because I feel that she knows it is very difficult, at best, for her to defend her record setting Flip-Flopping on absolutely everything she once believed in, including her statements that THERE WILL BE NO FRACKING IN PENNSYLVANIA and her HORRIBLE Performance on the Border,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

    Trump and Harris have both confirmed they would participate in a Sept. 10 debate on ABC News. Trump previously said he also agreed to an NBC News debate on Sept. 25. 

    The Harris campaign has said it would consider a second presidential debate in October. Both campaigns have also agreed to a vice presidential debate on CBS News on Oct. 1 between Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance.

    “Voters deserve to see the candidates for the highest office in the land share their competing visions for our future,” Harris’ campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement last week. “The more they play games, the more insecure and unserious Trump and Vance reveal themselves to be to the American people. Those games end now.”

    In place of the Fox News debate, Trump says he will participate in a town hall in Pennsylvania with Fox News host Sean Hannity.

    “Rather than the debate on September 4th, I have agreed to do a Tele-Town Hall, anchored by Sean Hannity, for Fox. It will take place in the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania – Details to follow!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

    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:

    Former Trump Adviser Sued by Biden’s Justice Department

    By
    admin
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    1
    [Photo Cred: Office of the President of the United States, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

    President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro.

    The lawsuit alleges Navarro used personal email accounts to conduct official White House business, “constituting presidential records.” The DOJ also accused the former Trump adviser of violating federal record-keeping laws when he didn’t copy the emails into an official government account or respond to the National Archives requests for the messages.

    “Mr. Navarro is wrongfully retaining Presidential records that are the property of the United States, and which constitute part of the permanent historical record of the prior administration,” the lawsuit states. “Mr. Navarro’s wrongful retention of Presidential records violates District of Columbia law, federal common law, and the [Presidential Records Act].”

    The Justice Department said officials initially approached Navarro about handing over the missing emails, but he refused “absent a grant of immunity for the act of returning such documents.”

    Navarro’s attorneys, John Irving and John Rowley denied withholding the messages.

    “As detailed in our recent letter to the Archives, Mr. Navarro instructed his lawyers to preserve all such records, and he expects the government to follow standard processes in good faith to allow him to produce records,” Navarro’s lawyers told POLITICO. “Instead, the government chose to file its lawsuit today.”

    The civil lawsuit was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton.

    The lawsuit marks the latest in a string of public battles between the former Trump adviser and the U.S. government. In June, Navarro was charged with contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with the January 6th panel’s subpoena requests.

    Classified Documents Judge Rules On Motion To Dismiss Trump Trial

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0
    Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

    The federal judge presiding over Donald Trump’s classified documents trial has denied his motion to dismiss the federal case.

    According to reports, Trump’s legal team had sought to throw out more than a half dozen of the 41 counts in the indictment, which accused the former commander in chief of illegally hoarding classified documents from his presidency and conspiring with others to conceal sensitive files from the federal government. 

    Fox News has more:

    The defendants had challenged counts related to obstruction and false statements, but U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon issued an order Monday saying that “the identified deficiencies, even if generating some arguable confusion, are either permitted by law, raise evidentiary challenges not appropriate for disposition at this juncture, and/or do not require dismissal even if technically deficient, so long as the jury is instructed appropriately and presented with adequate verdict forms as to each Defendants’ alleged conduct.”

    Cannon did, however, agree to strike down a paragraph from the indictment that defense lawyers argued was prejudicial information that was not essential to the underlying charges.

    At another turn she seemed to criticize Smith for using what is known as a “speaking indictment” where prosecutors lay out their charges in great detail, essentially telling the story of their case through court documents.

    “The Court also notes the risks that can flow from a prosecutor’s decision to include in a charging document an extensive narrative account of his or her view of the facts, especially in cases of significant public interest,” Cannon wrote.

    The decision from Cannon clears from her desk one of the many numerous pretrial motions from Trump seeking to toss the case.

    Cannon has pointed to those motions in indefinitely punting the trial date.

    Trump is facing charges on 41 counts in connection with the case, the majority of which are Espionage Act charges targeting the retention of classified records after he left the White House. He is also facing obstruction of justice charges related to his failure to return the records after a subpoena

    Report: Melania Unlikely To Live In White House Full Time

    By
    Patrick Houck
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    2

    “This time is different.”

    In a shift from historical norms, Melania Trump is not expected to reside full-time at the White House as first lady when Donald Trump resumes the presidency.

    Sources close to Mrs. Trump indicate that she is unlikely to relocate to Washington, D.C., on a permanent basis, a decision that would break with the traditional role of the first lady living in the White House. The arrangement is still under discussion, according to CNN, but signs point to her preferring to remain in Florida or New York.

    Mrs. Trump was notably absent from today’s meeting at the White House, where President-elect Trump began transition discussions. A statement from her office described the start of his transition process as “encouraging” and extended her wishes for his “great success.”

    The Daily Beast has additional details:

    Melania won’t be entirely absent in Washington, the network reported. She’s still expected to turn up to major events like state dinners and have her own “platform and priorities as first lady.”

    Rumors about Melania’s living situation have swirled for months. A handful of insiders told Axios in June that she’d live elsewhere in a second Trump term—perhaps at Mar-a-Lago, where the president-elect is expected to spend large swaths of time, or in Manhattan, where her 18-year-old son Barron is a student at New York University.

    …

    If reports are true, Melania will soon become quite the first lady outlier. All of her predecessors—aside from Anna Symmes Harrison, whose husband died a month into his term, and Bess Truman, who lived across the street during renovations—have lived predominantly in the White House since it was built in 1800.

    Focus on Family

    One factor influencing Mrs. Trump’s potential decision to remain elsewhere is the presence of her son, Barron Trump, who recently began his studies at New York University’s Stern School of Business. The 18-year-old is reportedly adjusting well to college life, with his mother describing him as “thriving” in his new environment. Barron commutes from Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan to NYU’s Greenwich Village campus.

    Article Published With The Permission of American Liberty News

    Tucker Carlson Confirms Vladimir Putin Interview

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Kremlin.ru, via Wikimedia Commons

    On Tuesday, Tucker Carlson confirmed he will interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    The sit-down will mark the first time a member of the Western media will interview Putin since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine that sparked the ongoing war between the two countries.

    “We are not encouraging you to agree with what Putin may say in this interview,” Carlson said in a video posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “But we are urging you to watch it. You should know as much as you can. And then, like a free citizen and not a slave, you can decide for yourself.”

    Carlson did not specify when his interview with Putin would be published.

    According to The Hill, while speaking from what appeared to be an elevated balcony in Moscow, Carlson acknowledged what he called “risks to conducting an interview like this” and noted he and his crew paid for the trip to Moscow themselves and did not take any financial assistance from government groups to travel.

    However, the next day Putin’s press secretary called out Carlson for lying about his interview with the Russian leader.

    While Carlson made many claims in his 4-minute video, one that stuck out was, “Not a single Western journalist has bothered to interview the president of the other country involved in this conflict, Vladimir Putin.”

    Dmitry Peskov said they were wrong. The long-time Putin press secretary told the New York Times, “Mr. Carlson is not correct, but he couldn’t have known that. We receive a lot of requests for interviews with the president.”

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