News

Home News Page 2

Trump Sues Ex-spy Over Debunked Dossier

5
Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Former President Donald Trump suing the ex-spy responsible for the now-discredited Steele Dossier that detailed intel on potential links between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.

The Hill reports that Trump’s lawyers filed suit in Britain against Orbis Business Intelligence, the company founded by Christopher Steele, a former MI6 agent who published a 35-page dossier including uncorroborated claims that Trump’s campaign and Russian agents conspired to influence the 2016 U.S. election.

Hugh Tomlinson, a lawyer for Trump who appeared before a judge at London’s High Court on Monday, alleged the company violated British data protection laws and has “suffered personal and reputational damage and distress” as a result.

The former president has repeatedly claimed the dossier was “fake news” and a political witch hunt following the 2016 presidential election.

Steele, who led the Russia desk for MI6 — formally known as the Secret Intelligence Service — is looking to have the lawsuit dismissed during two days of hearings at London’s High Court, per AP reports.

Steele’s dossier has since been largely discredited and determined to be funded by Democrats during the 2016 presidential election. 

While the dossier itself was not the basis for the FBI’s probe into Trump’s alleged ties to Russia, the report was heavily involved with the investigation led by former special counsel Robert Mueller.

BLM Leader Endorses Trump For 2024

1
A protester holds up a Black Lives Matter sign outside the Hennepin County Government Center.

A Black Lives Matter leader is supporting Trump to become the next President, saying Black Americans are tired of Democrats’ “duplicity and hypocrisy.”

Mark Fisher, who is the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Rhode Island, joined ‘FOX & Friends’ to discuss why some Black voters are abandoning Democrats as they consider who they will vote for in the 2024 presidential election. 

“It’s the duplicity of the Democrats, the hypocrisy,” Fisher told Lawrence Jones Tuesday. “We’re not stupid. The brothers are not stupid. We understand when someone’s for us and when someone is not, and it’s obvious that the Democratic Party is not for us.”

Fisher argued Democrats “don’t value” the Black vote during an interview with “The Kim Iversen Show” earlier this month.

“We’ve been used and abused for so long by that party, they don’t value our vote,” Fisher said. “Their policies are basically racist policies. I believe it’s a racist party. Donald Trump is just the opposite. He’s he’s going to tell you how it is. He’s going to give it to you straight.” 

“A lot of people are misinformed,” Fisher said. “They don’t really understand because they don’t educate themselves on Donald Trump as a person and his history, but if they do that, and it’s going to take… educated leaders to getting the word out there, I think that it’ll happen on its own, and it’ll be organic, because personally, I love the man.

Appeals Court Punts Trump Civil Fraud Judgment

1
Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

On Monday, a New York Appeals Court extended the deadline by 10 days for Donald Trump to post his bond to satisfy the civil fraud judgment and cut the necessary amount to $175 million.

“We will abide by the decision of the Appellate Division, and post either a bond, equivalent securities, or cash,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

CNN reports:

It’s a major lifeline for the former president, who, along with his adult sons and his company, were fined more than $464 million, including interest, after Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump and his co-defendants fraudulently inflated the value of his assets.

The ruling staves off the prospect, for now, of New York Attorney General Letitia James seeking to seize the former president’s property to enforce the judgement against him.

Trump had been struggling to come up with the means to post the $464 million bond, the total that he would have needed before Monday’s appellate decision.

Judge Engoron’s ruling ordered Trump to pay nearly $355 million, Donald Jr. and Eric to each pay $4 million, and ex-Trump Org chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg to pay $1 million. The order also barred Trump from serving as a corporate officer or a director of a company in New York for three years, and barred his sons for two years. The Trumps did avoid the so-called “corporate death penalty;”

New York Attorney General Letitia James said that if Trump fails or refuses to pay the $354.8 million fine, plus roughly $100 million in interest, she will seize his assets – including his properties.

Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham proposed a list of properties former President Trump would be most disappointed to have seized if he cannot pay the damages in his civil fraud case.

“I think if it were to happen, 40 Wall Street is probably the one that he would … I mean, he would hate it,” Grisham told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday. “But I think if she tried to seize Mar-a-Lago or Bedminster or Trump Tower even — I mean, those are his babies.”

“You’ve got the Sterling golf course in Virginia. Any of the properties with golf courses, I think, would absolutely devastate him,” Grisham, who worked under the Trump administration, added. “It will be interesting to see what [New York Attorney General Letitia James] goes for.”

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

Trump Withdraws Lawsuit Against New York AG

2
Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Former President Donald Trump has withdrawn his lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump attorney Honey Rechtin filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice Friday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The filing states that Trump “voluntarily dismisses his claims in this action” against James “without prejudice.” 

Trump filed the lawsuit in November claiming James abused her position as attorney general to “recklessly injure” him, his family and his businesses. Trump alleged James was pursuing “a relentless, pernicious, public, and unapologetic crusade” against him “with the stated goal of destroying him personally, financially, and politically.”

per reports from The Hill:

After James filed a civil lawsuit against Trump and his three adult children in September over allegations of business fraud, the former president responded by suing the New York attorney general in November. 

Trump claimed that James “abused her position as Attorney General for the State of New York to pursue a vendetta” against him.

In her lawsuit, James accused Trump and his children of falsely inflating and deflating property values to obtain investments and tax and loan benefits, following a three-year investigation into the former president’s business practices.

This story is breaking and will be updated as more information becomes available.

Georgia Supreme Court Rejects Trump’s Effort To Halt Election Probe

1
Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously shut down former President Trump’s attempt to stop a potential indictment for tampering with the results of the 2020 presidential election in that state.

In a five-page decision issued Monday afternoon, all nine justices of the Georgia Supreme Court said Trump’s lawyers had failed to make a persuasive case for shutting down the inquiry led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. She has signaled that indictments are possible in the election-related probe in the next few weeks as a grand jury convenes to consider possible charges.

The Georgia court said there was no reason to permit that in these circumstances.

“He makes no showing that he has been prevented fair access to the ordinary channels,” the high court wrote in an opinion not attributed to any specific justice. “He is asking this Court to step in and itself decide the motions currently pending in the superior court. This is not the sort of relief that this Court affords, at least absent extraordinary circumstances that Petitioner has not shown are present here.”

Willis’ probe reportedly focuses on pressure Trump and his allies put on Georgia officials the weeks after the 2020 election to try to reverse Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the Peach State. A key piece of evidence in the probe is an audio recording of a call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger urging him to “find 11,780 votes,” which would have pushed Trump across the threshold to claim victory.

Various election officials and national GOP figures have testified during the special grand jury probe.

Trump’s attorneys also filed a petition in March with Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, asking that Willis’ probe be halted. However, McBurney has yet to rule on that motion. 

Judge Orders Hearing On Fani Willis Amid Corruption Allegation

2
Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

On Thursday, the judge overseeing the Georgia election interference probe against former President Donald Trump and 18 other co-defendants, scheduled a hearing next month to weigh accusations that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) hired her romantic partner as a top prosecutor on the case.

Judge Scott McAfee scheduled the hearing for Feb. 15 and directed Willis to respond to the allegations in writing by Feb. 2.

Michael Roman, a co-defendant and 2020 Trump campaign official, filed a court motion to dismiss the case, accusing Willis of having an affair with the special prosecutor who assisted in securing a grand jury indictment against former President Donald Trump. 

Citing “sources close” to both Willis and Wade, Roman’s lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, claimed the pair have been involved in an “ongoing, personal and romantic relationship,” and went on vacations together. The filings argued the alleged relationship, which Merchant claims started before the election interference began, makes the indictment “fatally defective” and requests it be dismissed.

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

Boebert Says She Won’t Support McCarthy Speaker Bid Without This

15
Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is on the fence about supporting Kevin McCarthy but one condition could push her over the edge.

Boebert, who recently won a razor-thin re-election bid, says that she will only support the California Republican if there is a mechanism to easily remove him from the top post.

According to The Hill, while at a Turning Point USA conference in Phoenix, Boebert said, “We have to have an accountability mechanism on the Speaker of the House.”

“This is third in command for the presidency of the United States of American,” she said in an interview with “Real America’s Voice,” a conservative channel. “And we are going to strip away the one check-and-balance that members of Congress have?”

Some House Republicans have expressed the desire for any lawmaker to call a motion to vacate the Speaker chair to make it easier to remove someone from the leadership post.

Earlier this month, House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Scott Perry along with six other Republicans released a list of conditions for the next Speaker.

The requests in the letter include:

  • Restore any member’s ability to make a “Motion to Vacate the Chair” and force a vote on removing the Speaker. Former Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a founding Freedom Caucus member, helped propel former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) toward retirement by making a motion to vacate the chair in 2015.
  • Require at least 72 hours from release of final bill text before it gets a vote on the House floor.
  • Bar House GOP leadership and leadership-affiliated PACs from getting involved in primaries. The McCarthy-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund was active in many House primaries boosting McCarthy-friendly candidates in the 2022 cycle.
  • Increase the number of Freedom Caucus members in committee chairmanships and on the House Rules Committee.
  • Decline to raise debt ceiling without a plan to cap spending and balance the federal budget in 10 years.
  • Do not “return to the blind embrace of earmarks.” The practice of directing federal spending to a specific recipient or project was brought back in this Congress as “community project funding” after a decadelong ban. The House Republican Conference last month overwhelmingly voted against an internal proposal to ban the practice.
  • Use “must-pass” bills like the annual defense authorization bill and the farm bill as leverage to secure conservative priorities and “check the Biden administration.”
  • Create a “Church Committee”-style panel to target “weaponized government.” While McCarthy and House Republicans have promised extensive investigations into the Biden administration and alleged politicization of federal agencies, some, like Roy, think the plans do not go far enough.

“Negotiations after that are just a wish list,” she said. “There’s no accountability attached to the promises.”

Former Trump Lawyer Responds To Disbarment Push

2
Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

Former President Trump’s ex-attorney John Eastman responded to a California judge’s effort to have him disbarred over his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election saying he’s optimistic he will win his appeal.

Eastman said in an interview on conservative network Frank Speech on Thursday that “there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge yet” before the state Supreme Court hears his case.

“If the law was faithfully followed, this case should have never been brought in the first place,” he said. 

“We had a disagreement on the facts of the 2020 election. We had a disagreement on the constitutional interpretation on issues that have never been settled,” Eastman continued. “That has never been the basis of disciplinary action.”

State Bar Judge Yvette Roland found Eastman culpable in 10 of 11 charges against him.

“In view of the circumstances surrounding Eastman’s misconduct and balancing the aggravation and mitigation, the court recommends that Eastman be disbarred,” she wrote in a 128-page decision.

He also revealed he has been subpoenaed as part of a civil suit brought by a group of Capitol Police officers against Trump. The officers claim Trump is responsible for Jan. 6, and they hope to elicit financial penalties for the violence they suffered in the riots.

“I just got a subpoena served on us last week by the Capitol Police officers seeking everything, all of my communications with the president and anybody else,” he said. “They’ve completely blown through attorney-client privilege.”

While his case is under appeal, Eastman is suspended from practicing law in California. 

Trump Tries to Walk Back Call to Terminate Constitution 

1
Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Donald Trump is setting the record straight after “fake news” reported on the former president’s TRUTH Social posts from the weekend where he indicated a wish to “terminate” the U.S. Constitution.

On Monday, Trump followed up on the media fiasco on TRUTH blaming the media for intentionally twisting his message.

“The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to “terminate” the Constitution. This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES, just like RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, and all of their other HOAXES & SCAMS. What I said was that when there is “MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION,” as has been irrefutably proven in the 2020 Presidential Election, steps must be immediately taken to RIGHT THE WRONG. Only FOOLS would disagree with that and accept STOLEN ELECTIONS. MAGA!” Trump wrote on Monday.

The former president’s original post was in reaction to revelations about Twitter’s handling of the Hunter Biden laptop story.

“So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC, & the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great “Founders” did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!” Trump posted over the weekend.

Trump’s startling rhetoric triggered immediate responses from Republicans who strongly rebuked his messaging.

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski called Trump’s suggestion an “affront to our Republic.”

“Donald Trump believes we should terminate ‘all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the Constitution’ to overturn the 2020 election,” Outgoing Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) wrote on Twitter. “That was his view on 1/6 and remains his view today. No honest person can now deny that Trump is an enemy of the Constitution.”

“With the former President calling to throw aside the constitution, not a single conservative can legitimately support him, and not a single supporter can be called a conservative. This is insane. Trump hates the constitution,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) tweeted.

Tucker Carlson Launches New Twitter Series

2
Tucker Carlson via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Tucker Carlson is back.

The recently ousted Fox News host has officially kicked off his new Twitter-based news program.

“Hey, it’s Tucker Carlson,” the host said, opening the 10-minute video while seated behind a desk at what appears to be his home in Maine.

Throughout the video, Carlson largely focused on the American news media and politicians who have defended U.S. involvement in the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. The pundit opened his video by reporting on an explosion at a dam in Ukraine that sparked widespread evacuations in the war-torn country.

Before signing off, Carlson offered a cryptic message about his new program’s future with Twitter.

“As of today we have come to Twitter, which we hope will be the short wave radio under the blankets,” Carlson said, closing his first video on the platform. “We’re told there are no gatekeepers here. If that turns out to be false, we’ll leave. But in the meantime, we’re grateful to be here.”

According to The Hill, Carlson remains under contract with Fox and it’s unclear if his production of content for the social media platform would violate the terms of his agreement with the network. The pundit has separately accused the network of violating its contract by leaking unflattering material about him to the press. (RELATED: Tucker Carlson Quietly Preparing for ‘War’ Against Fox News)

In April, Carlson was unceremoniously ousted from Fox News. Neither Carlson nor the network have released details on what led to the decision. (RELATED: Tucker Carlson Leaves Fox News)

“We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” the network said in a statement at the time.

Before the launch of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Carlson was co-host of “FOX & Friends Weekend” from 2012 through 2016. 

Days before Carlson’s exit, Fox News agreed to a historic settlement with Dominion Voting Systems hours before an expected blockbuster defamation trial.