News

Home News Page 2

West Virginia Democrat Senator Already Has a 2024 Challenger

4
Joe Manchin via Wikimedia Commons

Republicans are looking forward to 2024 now that official projections reveal the GOP fell short of its goal to re-take the Senate this year.

While the expected “red wave” turned out to be more of a “red ripple” conservatives refuse to be knocked down for long. Republicans are already setting their sights on which vulnerable Democrats to target during the next election cycle in hopes of turning the upper chamber red.

Early reports indicate West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin should expect to find himself within the GOP’s crosshairs in 2024.

Despite the fact Sen. Manchin has sided with Republicans more than any other Democrat lawmaker, strategists are predicting that won’t stop Mitch McConnell from pouring millions of dollars into West Virginia next cycle to flip Manchin’s seat.

West Virginia Attorney General and failed 2018 Senate hopeful Patrick Morrisey has already been named a likely challenger to seek Manchin’s seat.

While speaking to The Hill, Morrisey said Manchin lost significant political capital when he voted in favor of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which included major components of President Biden’s agenda.

Manchin stonewalled President Joe Biden’s original Build Back Better plan but ultimately was the deciding vote for the renegotiated Inflation Reduction Act.

“Sen. Manchin deeply disappointed West Virginians and let them down tremendously when he supported the ‘Build Back Broke’ bill last summer. That legislation really hit our state very hard. You can dress up the pig any way you want but most people in West Virginia understand that that bill is going to hurt us,” Morrisey told the outlet.

“He let the air out of his balloon and it’s not going to be so easy to pump it back up,” he said.  

Morrisey, who is “evaluating options” about what to do in 2024, said “we’re looking very closely at the Senate race.”  

Morrisey and his team estimated they will have at least $12 million to spend on a Senate Republican primary alone.  

“I learned a lot from a past experience in a terrible political environment. The environment in 2024 is going to be much, much stronger” for Republicans, he predicted.

Morrisey narrowly lost his bid to unseat Manchin in 2018 by 3 percentage points or about 19,000 votes, which turned out to be closer than what the polls indicated before Election Day.

The Hill also lists Gov. Jim Justice (R) and Rep. Alex Mooney (R) as other potential challengers to Manchin.

However, on Tuesday Rep. Alex Mooney, R, W.Va., announced that he will run for Senate in 2024 in a bid to unseat Sen. Joe Manchin.

Mooney announced his challenge in a radio interview on MetroNews Talkline on Tuesday morning. 

This story is developing. Stay with Great America News Desk for updates.

Arizona Candidate, RNC File Election Lawsuit

4
Missvain, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Arizona Republicans have filed a lawsuit after widespread voting issues impacted Election Day and prolonged results for more than a week.

Arizona Republican attorney general nominee Abraham Hamadeh in conjunction with the Republican National Committee (RNC) filed suit against many election officials Tuesday. 

The lawsuit targets Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) alongside the recorders and boards of supervisors for all counties in the state.

According to Fox News, the lawsuit also stated the Republicans are not alleging “fraud, manipulation or other intentional wrongdoing,” and added that the alleged mismanagement did not directly affect the outcome of the election.

“The voters of Arizona demand answers and deserve transparency about the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the General Election by certain election officials,” Hamadeh said. “Pervasive errors by our election officials resulted in the disenfranchisement of countless Arizonans who had their voices silenced.” 

According to Maricopa County election officials, at least 60 voting locations experienced issues with their ballot-on-demand printers. The assistant attorney general is demanding an in-depth report addressing those issues, as well as the “check-out” procedures at each polling location and each location’s official ballot report.

Hamadeh and the RNC allege that Arizona officials also wrongly disqualified provisional ballots and mis-marked early voters in the system.

Over the weekend, Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright sent a letter to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office demanding explanations for the numerous election problems before the results can be certified next week.

“The Elections Integrity Unit of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office has received hundreds of complaints since Election Day pertaining to issues related to the administration of the 2022 General Election in Maricopa County,” Wright wrote. “These complaints go beyond pure speculation, but include first-hand witness accounts that raise concerns regarding Maricopa’s lawful compliance with Arizona election law.”

Trump Reaches Deal with House Oversight Committee on Financial Records

17
The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Donald Trump’s attorneys have reached an agreement with the House Oversight and Reform Committee over its years-long battle to obtain the former president’s financial records.

In 2019, the committee subpoenaed the records as part of a larger investigation to assess if Trump engaged in conflicts of interest, self-dealing, or foreign financial ties. In July three federal judges moved to uphold the 2019 subpoena for the financial records, but with a more narrow scope than Democrats initially sought after.

According to The Washington Examiner:

“After numerous court victories, I am pleased that my Committee has now reached an agreement to obtain key financial documents that former President Trump fought for years to hide from Congress,” Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) said in a statement. “After facing years of delay tactics, the Committee has now reached an agreement with the former President and his accounting firm, Mazars USA, to obtain critical documents. These documents will inform the Committee’s efforts to get to the bottom of former President Trump’s egregious conduct and ensure that future presidents do not abuse their position of power for personal gain.”

The agreement comes after a long-standing legal battle between the committee and Trump, with the former president unsuccessfully attempting to challenge the panel’s subpoena for eight years of financial documents from his accounting firm, Mazars, after his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, accused him of committing fraud while testifying before Congress.

The notice does not affect Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee’s court battle to obtain Trump’s tax returns.

Manhattan District Attorney Finally Addresses Trump Indictment

12
Gage Skidmore Flickr

Manhattan District Attorney has broken his silence on the potential indictment of former President Donald Trump.

On Thursday, Bragg addressed the claim by former President Trump that he would be arrested in connection to an investigation into a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, calling it the creation of a “false expectation.”

According to The Hill, Bragg responded to demands by House Republicans pushing to force his testimony and turn over all documents and communication on the case, in a letter to Congress that such a move was an “unprecendent[ed] inquiry into a pending local prosecution.”

Bragg’s general counsel sent a five-page letter to GOP House committee chairmen Jim Jordan(Ohio), Bryan Steil (Wis.), and James Comer (Ky.) regarding their request for documents and testimony in the Trump investigation.

“The letter only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene,” Bragg wrote.

“If charges are brought at the conclusion, it will be because the rule of law and faithful execution of the District Attorney’s duty require it,” he wrote.

“The Letter’s allegation that the DA’s Office is pursuing a prosecution for political purposes is unfounded, and regardless, the proper forum for such a challenge is the Courts of New York, which are equipped to consider and review such objections.” 

“Your letter treads into territory very clearly reserved to the states. It suggests that Congress’s investigation is being ‘conducted solely for the personal aggrandizement of the investigators or to “punish” those investigated,’ and is, therefore, ‘indefensible,’” he writes, pointing to a 1957 Supreme Court ruling limiting congressional investigations. 

Trump wrote in a Truth Social post over the weekend that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday in connection to the probe, but as of Thursday morning, no charges have been announced and the grand jury weighing the case is not expected to meet for the rest of the week.

“ILLEGAL LEAKS FROM A CORRUPT & HIGHLY POLITICAL MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEYS OFFICE, WHICH HAS ALLOWED NEW RECORDS TO BE SET IN VIOLENT CRIME & WHOSE LEADER IS FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS, INDICATE THAT, WITH NO CRIME BEING ABLE TO BE PROVEN, & BASED ON AN OLD & FULLY DEBUNKED (BY NUMEROUS OTHER PROSECUTORS!) FAIRYTALE, THE FAR & AWAY LEADING REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE & FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WILL BE ARRESTED ON TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK,” Trump posted to his social media platform Truth Social. “PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!”

Trump’s call was shortly followed by a demand from a trio of House Republican chairmen on Monday for testimony from Bragg ahead of his anticipated prosecution of Trump.

“Here we go again — an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance against President Trump,” McCarthy said on Twitter. “I’m directing relevant committees to immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions.”

Prosecutors are expected to charge Trump with a felony by arguing that the alleged crime was committed to hide an illegal campaign contribution. The potential problem for Trump centers around how his company reimbursed former attorney Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to related charges and served time in prison.

The payment to Daniels was listed as a legal expense and Trump’s company cited a retainer agreement with Cohen. The retainer agreement did not exist and the reimbursement was not related to any legal services from Cohen, thus setting up a potential misdemeanor criminal charge of falsifying business records. A report by NBC News said that Trump personally signed several of the checks to Cohen while he was serving as president.

Prosecutors can elevate the misdemeanor to a felony if they can prove that Trump’s “‘intent to defraud’ included an intent to commit or conceal a second crime.”

Prosecutors argue that the second crime is that the $130,000 hush payment was an improper donation to the Trump campaign because the money was used to stop a story for the purpose of benefiting his presidential campaign.

Report: Key Mar-a-Lago witness said to be former White House Employee

13
Marine One lifts-off after returning President Donald J. Trump to Mar-a-Lago Friday, March 29, 2019, following his visit to the 143-mile Herbert Hoover Dike near Canal Point, Fla., that surrounds Lake Okeechobee. The visit was part of an infrastructure inspection of the dike, which is part of the Kissimmee-Okeechobee Everglades system, and reduces impacts of flooding for areas of south Florida. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian) [Photo Credit: The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

The call is coming from inside the house…

New reports indicate a key witness in the ongoing Justice Department and FBI investigation of Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents is a former Trump official.

According to sources close to the matter, Walt Nauta is a Navy veteran who followed the former president to Florida after serving as a valet in the Trump White House and later provided key evidence to investigators.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that an unnamed Trump employee had provided critical evidence to investigators — telling them that he moved boxes at the former president’s request at a time when the government was seeking the return of classified material, including some highly sensitive items, from Mar-a-Lago.

The witness account was corroborated by security-camera footage, the people familiar with the case said, giving investigators key evidence of Trump’s behavior as they probe potential crimes including obstruction, destruction of government records or mishandling classified information.

When FBI agents first interviewed Nauta, he denied any role in moving boxes or sensitive documents, the people familiar with the situation said in interviews before Nauta’s name became public. But as investigators gathered more evidence, they questioned him a second time and he told a starkly different story — that Trump instructed him to move the boxes, these people said.

Nauta’s information marks the most direct look into Trump’s actions and instructions leading up to the FBI’s August 8th raid.

The Justice Department is now ensnared in a contentious legal battle against the former President who has claimed no wrongdoing in the situation. The DOJ is investigating whether Trump violated the Espionage Act by improperly handling the sensitive materials.

Last month, a Florida judge appointed an independent third party, known as a special master, to oversee the documents alleged by the DOJ to contain information sensitive to national security.

‘Ultra MAGA’ 25-Year-Old Karoline Leavitt Cruises to Victory in New Hampshire Primary

5
Karoline Leavitt speaking with attendees at the 2022 Student Action Summit at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. [Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore ]

An “ultra MAGA” 25-year-old former Trump White House staffer made history Tuesday night. Karoline Leavitt – who celebrated her 25th birthday last month, becoming eligible to hold a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives- won her primary for New Hampshire’s First Congressional District Seat, setting up a November showdown with incumbent Democrat Congressman Chis Pappas.

Leavitt emerged victorious from a hotly contested primary after garnering 35 percent to the 25 percent won by her top opponent Matt Mowers.

She beat out a number of candidates including Mowers, a fellow Trump Admin alumnus and the 2020 GOP nominee for the NH-01 House seat. Mowers worked in the State Department as a top aide to Secretary Mike Pompeo who also endorsed him in the primary, as did the 45th President himself.

Although she worked in the Trump White House and was endorsed by a number of Trump’s closest allies – including her old boss and former White House Press Secretary Kaleigh McEnany – the former President for some reason declined to endorse her in the primary and endorsed Mowers instead. He has however celebrated her win via a statement posted on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Another interesting moment in the primary was the division of endorsements from Elise Stefanik – House Republican Conference Chairwoman and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Stefanik opted to endorse Leavitt, who served as her Communications Director following her stint in the White House.

House Minority Leader McCarthy sided with Mowers.

Despite the attacks she endured from the DC swamp Democrats and establishment Republicans, Leavitt won. She also garnered the support of the Freedom Caucus’ Jim Jordan of Ohio and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Leavitt also campaigned with a pair of conservative members of the GOP freshman class. Byron Donalds of Florida and Lauren Boebert of Colorado joined Leavitt’s campaign on the eve of the primary to express their support for the young conservative dynamo.

Now Leavitt will set her mind to tackling the task of flipping a seat that the Cook Political Report ranks as having a partisan voter index (PVI) of EVEN and an overall rating of “toss-up.”

While reporting on the results of last night’s race, Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman attacked Leavitt as “unv****ed America First” and “Pro-MAGA”. Despite his criticism, he still ranks the seat as a “toss-up” – a key indicator that Democrats should be more than concerned about this Republican candidate’s rising success.

As long as Pappas continues sipping the Biden-Pelosi Kool-Aid and helping drive America off a fiscal cliff – Leavitt’s got one heck of a fighting chance.

Aside from the NH-01 race, the Granite State played host to a couple of other key races last night, including a five-way Republican primary for the Senate seat.

New Hampshire is a key swing state and enjoys an elevated political status due to it being the host of the “First In The Nation” primaries in Presidential election years. 

The MAGA wave in the state wasn’t just limited to Leavitt. Pro-Trump Senate candidate Don Bolduc also won his hotly contested primary.

New Hampshire’s Republican Governor Chris Sununu — a moderate who enjoys a fair amount of popularity for a Republican governing a blue state and prevailed against three challengers in his own primary last night — stepped into the race with a last-minute endorsement of Charles (Chuck) Morse, the President of the New Hampshire Senate.

Still, that wasn’t enough to swing the race in Morse’s favor. WMUR reported earlier this month that “Don Bolduc, a retired Army general, has been leading in the polls for the Republican nomination. Morse is making the case to voters that he has the experience for the job.” That polling was done before the debate last month and Sununu’s endorsement but seems to have stood true.

Bolduc has set himself up for a matchup with vulnerable incumbent Democrat Senator Maggie Hassan.

Our friends over at Townhall are reporting RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel’s statement in the race:

“Extreme Democrats like Maggie Hassan and [Representative] Chris Pappas have failed Granite Staters time and again by voting in lockstep with Biden’s failed agenda of high taxes, open borders, and historic inflation. Our data-driven ground game is ready to turn out the vote, and New Hampshire is ready to re-elect Governor Sununu and finally send commonsense Republican leadership to Washington.”

Send Karoline Leavitt – a true fighter – to Congress!

Nancy Pelosi Teases Retirement Plans, Hints Which Republican Could be Next Speaker

3
Gage Skidmore Flickr

As speculation builds over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) retirement plans, she keeps her intentions tight to her chest.

During an interview with CNN, Rep. Pelosi said that her retirement plans will be affected by the recent attack on her husband Paul in their San Fransisco home.

“My decision will again be rooted in what the wishes of my family and the wishes of my caucus, but none of it will be very much considered until we see what the outcome of all of this is,” Pelosi said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked about her intentions by co-anchor Dana Bash.

“There are all kinds of ways to exert influence,” Pelosi continued. “The Speaker has awesome power. But I will always have influence.”

On ABC’s “This Week,” Pelosi similarly demurred to anchor George Stephanopoulos.

“Right now I’m not making any comments until this election is finished, and we have a little more time to go,” Pelosi said. “I wish it was faster.” 

Pelosi previously said she would retire at the end of this term but her reluctance to formally acknowledge those plans has caused some to speculate about the legitimacy of the claim.

Later, Pelosi suggested Republicans have yet to determine who will be the next House Speaker, casting doubt on Kevin McCarthy’s pursuit of the role.

“Why would I make a judgment about something that may or may not ever happen?” Pelosi asked. “No, I don’t think he has it. But that’s up to his own people to make a decision as to how they want to be led or otherwise.”

Last week, McCarthy announced his campaign for House GOP Speaker and Steve Scalise (R-La.) announced his campaign for House Majority Leader.

However, as of Sunday, neither party has officially won control of the lower chamber in Congress.

Judge Signals ‘Preliminary’ Intent to Side with Trump’s Lawyers After Mar-a-Lago Raid

8
The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

On Saturday a federal District judge in Florida signed she is inclined to side with Donald Trump’s legal team’s request a special master be appointed to review the materials recovered from the FBI’s recent raid of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

On Aug. 8th, the FBI raided former president Trump’s residence to recover sensitive materials for the National Archives.

However, instead of fighting against U.S. District Judge Bruce Reinhart, the judge who approved the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant, Trump’s league team filed a motion for  District Judge Aileen M. Cannon to appoint a special master.

Law and Crime reports:

On Saturday evening, Judge Cannon replied that she was inclined to grant the request for a special master due to the “exceptional circumstances presented” by the events at Mar-a-Lago.  However, that inclination, she said, was “subject to an opportunity” for additional arguments by both sides, including the U.S. Government.

Next came a series of specific demands for “the defendant” — the U.S. Government.  Judge Cannon ordered the government to “publicly file a Response” to Trump’s list of demands on or before Tues., Aug. 30.

Additionally, Judge Cannon ordered the government to file under seal a “more detailed” list of the property seized during the Aug. 8 search and a “particularized notice indicating the status of Defendant’s review of the seized property, including any filter review conducted by the privilege review team and any dissemination of materials beyond the privilege review team.”

The documents requested by Judge Cannon must, per her order and “accordance with Rule 53,” explain the parties’ “respective and particularized positions on the duties and responsibilities of a prospective special master, along with any other considerations pertinent to the appointment of a special master in this case.”

Special Masters have been appointed to review allegedly privileged materials in other high-profile cases, including a search of Rudy Giuliani’s office and home.

‘I Love Trump’ Tucker Carlson Addresses Private Text Fiasco

1
Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Tucker Carlson is clearing the air after his private text messages revealed his hidden hatred for former President Donald Trump.

The Fox News star tried to walk back his private remarks about Trump during an appearance on WABC radio.

“And I think this is in the text, and those were all grabbed completely illegitimately, in my opinion, in this court case, which I guess I’m not allowed to talk about, but I’m enraged that my private texts were pulled,” he said.

The Fox News host said those texts were pulled at a moment when he was texting with one of his producers because “some idiot on the Trump campaign had sent us the name of these dead voters who had voted,” referring to his false reporting after the 2020 election that echoed the Trump campaign’s unfounded claims of dead people who were fraudulently counted as voting in Georgia. After Carlson’s segment aired, a local Georgia news outlet debunked his claim, finding that two of the allegedly dead voters were alive and legally registered to vote, with CNN reporting days later that a third of the supposedly dead voters was also still living.

“And we went and I repeated them on air, and it turns out some of them were alive,” Carlson said, referring to the campaign’s accusation. “So I was just — I felt humiliated.”

Earlier this month, Carlson’s along with other prominent Fox News officials’ private text messages were revealed in court documents as part of a $1.6 billion Dominion Voting Systems defamation suit against the network.

During a Jan. 4, 2021 text conversation with an unknown producer, Carlson sounded off on the former president.

The prime-time star wrote, “We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights.”

The unknown staffer reportedly speculated that they believed the madness would cool down by “mid-February.”

“I hate him passionately,” Carlson replied. “I blew up at [former Trump official] Peter Navarro today in frustration. I actually like Peter. But I can’t handle much more of this.”

Judge Greenlights Defamation Lawsuit Against Fox News, Lou Dobbs

7
Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America,

A federal judge has allowed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News and former host Lou Dobbs to continue forward.

Venezuelan businessman Majed Khalil filed the suit last year accusing Dobbs and the network of pushing false claims he helped rig the 2020 presidential election. Khali’s filing claims statements made on Twitter and on Dobbs’ show and by pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell defamed Khalil by accusing him of executing an “electoral 9/11” and helping change ballot counts in voting machines.

In January Dobbs, the Fox Corporation, and Fox News moved to dismiss the case by arguing the statements were protected under the First Amendment and not said with malice, the standard of proof required for defamation against public figures.

According to The Hill, U.S. District Court Judge Louis Lee Stanton denied the motion saying Khalil is not a public figure and that his complaint showed enough evidence of false and defamatory statements to move forward to discovery in the case.

“Defendants repeatedly maintained their claims about Khalil long after Powell’s election fraud theories were challenged,” Stanton wrote in the ruling. “Numerous reports that declared the falsity of the claims against Dominion and Smartmatic and rejected Powell as an accurate source of information gave Defendants reasons to doubt Powell’s veracity and the accuracy of her reports.” 

Khalil’s complaint references a Dec. 10, 2020, tweet from Dobbs listing Khalil as one of “four names” that people need to get familiar with, accusing him of being a liaison with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the “effective COO” of an election rigging scheme using Smartmatic and Dominion voting machines.

According to Khalil’s complaint, Dobbs asked Powell on the show, “You say these four individuals led the effort to rig this election. How did they do it?”

Powell allegedly responded by saying Khalil and the others “designed and developed the Smartmatic and Dominion programs and machines that include a controller module that allows people to log in and manipulate the vote even as it’s happening.” 

Powell’s and other Trump allies’ claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election have triggered multiple defamation lawsuits. Separately, Dominion Voting Systems is also targeting Powell in a $1.3 billion defamation suit.