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    Report: Trump To Appeal E. Jean Carroll Loss

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Gage Skidmore Flickr

    On Friday, former President Donald Trump’s legal team is expected to file to appeal the $5 million verdict in E. Jean Carroll’s case at a federal appeals court.

    Trump is expected to attend the hearing at the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City. 

    Carroll alleged that Trump raped her at the Bergdorf Goodman department store across from Trump Tower in Manhattan sometime in 1996. She was seeking $12 million. 

    A federal jury in New York City decided last year that Trump was not liable for rape but was liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The former president was ordered to pay $5 million in that trial. 

    Carroll also hit Trump with a separate defamation suit, claiming his responses to her accusations caused harm to her reputation. 

    Trump and his legal team insist that Carroll’s allegations are fabricated, with the former president’s initial reaction including an accusation that Carroll was motivated by wanting to sell copies of her book. 

    Earlier this year a New York jury found that Carroll was injured as a result of statements Trump made while in the White House in 2019. 

    The jury ruled that Trump’s statements were made to harm Carroll and awarded her $65 million in punitive damages. In total, with the reputational repair program, the jury said Carroll should be paid $83.3 million. 

    Trump attorneys on Friday are expected to argue that the jury’s verdict should be tossed because evidence was allowed at trial that should have been excluded, and that other evidence was excluded that should have been permitted. 

    The court is highly unlikely to rule on the matter before the November presidential election. 

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

    Trump Responds As Jack Smith Brings Forth New Indictment

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Former President Trump’s federal Jan. 6 case is headed back to a D.C. courtroom…

    Lawyers are expected to enter a not guilty plea on behalf of former President Trump in federal court in Washington, D.C., Thursday related to charges from special counsel Jack Smith’s new indictment after the Supreme Court ruled a president is immune from prosecution for official acts in office.

    Trump will not appear in court.

    Judge Tanya Chutkan is planning to hold an arraignment on the new superseding indictment in the election subversion case.

    According to a court filing obtained by Fox News, Trump signed an entry of not guilty plea. In the document, filed on Tuesday, Trump also waived his right to be present at his arraignment.

    “I authorize my attorneys to enter a plea of not guilty on my behalf to each and every count of the superseding indictment, Doc. 226,” the document says. “I further state that I have received a copy of the superseding indictment and reviewed it with my counsel.”

    The new indictment keeps the prior criminal charges but narrows and reframes the allegations against the Republican presidential nominee after a Supreme Court ruling that conferred broad immunity on former presidents.

    Specifically, the indictment has been changed to remove allegations involving Department of Justice officials and other government officials. It clarifies Trump’s role as a candidate and makes clear the allegations regarding his conversations with then-Vice President Pence in his ceremonial role as president of the Senate.

    The new indictment removes a section of the previous indictment that had accused Trump of trying to use the Justice Department to undo his 2020 loss. 

    Trump has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. Those charges, to which Trump pleaded not guilty, remain. 

    The special counsel’s office said the updated indictment, filed in federal court in Washington, was issued by a grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in the case. The new grand jury has only heard this new information.

    Sources familiar with the matter tell Fox News that discussions surrounding the superseding indictment will likely not speed things up, and it is unlikely it will go to trial before the November election. 

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

    Report: Trump Judge Sued For Financial Disclosures

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    5
    Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    America First Legal (AFL) is suing New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan.

    AFL sued Merchan, who presided over former President Donald Trump’s trial in New York v. Trump, stemming from the yearslong investigation out of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. They also sued the New York State Unified Court System’s Ethics Commission.

    Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump has appealed the ruling and called on Merchan to overturn the verdict. 

    The lawsuit comes after the AFL sent a demand letter last week for Merchan’s financial disclosures, threatening legal action. The AFL previously requested those records in June. 

    Under New York law, judges are required to file annual financial disclosures, which are required to be made available upon request. 

    “The law is clear that judicial financial disclosures must be released to the public,” AFL Vice President Dan Epstein told Fox News Digital. “New York’s highest court has stated that such disclosures are necessary for parties before the courts to get a fair shake.” 

    Epstein said the public “needs to know what Judge Merchan is hiding or even if he failed to file financial disclosures at all.” 

    “This is especially important given the fact that Merchan appears to have engaged in unlawful campaign contributions and is on the precipice of criminally sentencing the former president of the United States,” Epstein said. “Fundamental fairness dictates a resolution of America First Legal’s suit in its favor.” 

    The AFL is seeking the records amid longstanding concerns of a conflict of interest in Merchan’s role in the trial amid his daughter’s political work. 

    Loren Merchan sits as the president for Authentic Campaigns — a company that has done political work for top Democrat clients like President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. 

    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.

    Judge Responds To Trump Request To Move Hush Money Case To Federal Court

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    4
    Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

    Case closed…

    On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that former President Trump may not request to move his hush money criminal case to federal court after failing to show “good cause,” meaning the case will remain in New York state court.

    U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said in a four-page order that the two reasons Trump offered as to why his case should be removed fall short.

    Hellerstein said that district courts do not have jurisdiction to consider alleged bias against Trump in New York state courts, contending that’s an issue for state appellate courts to consider. That means Trump’s second argument, on presidential immunity, is the only one that “deserves attention,” he said.

    On that matter, Hellerstein previously ruled that “hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts.”

    “Nothing in the Supreme Court’s opinion affects my previous conclusion that the hush money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority,” the judge said Tuesday.

    In a Thursday letter to Juan Merchan, he asked the trial judge to refrain from ruling on outstanding motions, which include his presidential immunity motion and a motion to push back his Sept. 18 sentencing

    Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election.

    Read the full court order below:

    gov.uscourts.nysd.598311.50.0Download

    Piers Morgan Bets Former White House Official $1000 Trump Will Win Election

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    6

    Ex-White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci is putting his money where his mouth is…

    Recently, Scaramucci bet journalist Piers Morgan’s $1000 bet that his old boss, former President Donald Trump, would lose the 2024 presidential election.

    Citing the tweet during an interview on his show Piers Morgan Uncensored on Monday night, the host asked: “Do you stand by it? And if you do, will you accept a $1000 bet from me right now that Trump isn’t going to pull out?”

    Hesitant, Scaramucci replied: “Well, I’ll bet you $1000 on the election, I don’t know if I’m going to bet on the pullout. I mean, he’s got to drop more substantially in the polls.”

    Expanding on his answers he continued to outline the gap in polling numbers between the two candidates: “You know, he’s down with the likely voters. If she opens up a lead, 12 to 15 points, he’s not going to want to lose to her. He’s the worst presidential candidate for the Republicans since Herbert Hoover. He’s lost the House, the Senate and the presidency. And if [Florida Governor Ron] DeSantis or Nikki Haley were running against Kamala Harris, they’d probably be up 10 or 15. So we’ll have to see. But on likely voters, he’s already down six. And I like her momentum.”

    Watch:

    He added: “I understand all the issues that you’re raising related to her. But unfortunately, there’s only two choices. There’s him and her. And I think I would implore people to read H.R. McMaster’s book if they get a chance, because he’s very honest and very objective about the insanity that is Donald Trump.”

    Seeing the bet as non-viable, Morgan pivoted to the election bet, which the ex-Trump staffer accepted.

    “A thousand dollars on the election,” Scaramucci said. “I got Kamala. You can take the orange man if you want. I’m done on that part.”

    Morgan accepted too: “I’ll tell you what, we’ll make you for charity. We’ll make you for charity. I’ll take that bet. I still think Trump’s going to win. I’m not an American citizen. I don’t have a vote. I don’t have a horse in the race. I just think reality is going to kick in.”

    Former GOP Official Abruptly Cuts Ties With Trump Campaign

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Good riddance…

    A senior adviser to the Trump campaign announced on Monday that a top volunteer for former President Donald Trump in Massachusetts would “no longer have any involvement” with the campaign after predicting a massive loss this November.

    Former Massachusetts state GOP official Tom Mountain claimed in an email to other volunteers this week that the campaign had “determined that New Hampshire is no longer a battleground state,” and that Trump was “sure to lose by an even higher margin” in the state than in 2016 and 2020.

    According to the Boston Globe, which obtained a copy of the email, Mountain also “claimed resources would be suspended” in New Hampshire and that “the campaign would not send Trump or high-profile surrogates such as his sons.”

    Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes announced in a statement on Monday that Mountain would “no longer have any involvement” with the Trump campaign as a result of his “ridiculous misrepresentation of our ongoing operation in New Hampshire.”

    Hughes rejected references to Mountain as a “leading volunteer,” calling the label a “massive overstatement of his involvement,” and denied Mountain’s claims about resources in New Hampshire being suspended.

    “This isn’t true,” he said. “President Trump’s campaign maintains an on-the-ground presence in New Hampshire, including staff and offices, while Kamala Harris is parachuting in because she knows that the Granite State is in play. We look forward to building on the momentum that we have grown since the primary and sending New Hampshire’s four electoral votes to President Trump’s column on November 5.”

    According to RealClearPolitics’s poll average, Vice President Kamala Harris is currently ahead of Trump by 5% in New Hampshire.

    Report: Man Who Stormed Trump Rally Press Area to Face Multiple Charges

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Police image via Pixabay free images

    The man who stormed the press area on Friday at a Donald Trump rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania will face charges in the incident, police confirmed.

    Johnstown police chief Richard Pritchard said in a statement on Saturday that the man who was arrested at the rally after a dramatic incident caught on multiple cameras was released, but will be formally charged next week, at which time his identity will be made public.

    Mediate has more:

    “It was not immediately clear what motivated the man or whether he was a Trump supporter or critic,” according to Saturday reports. “Pritchard, who was not directly involved in the arrest, declined to speculate on the man’s motives.”

    The suspect will face several misdemeanors in municipal court next week, “for alleged disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and disrupting a public assembly,” according to reports.

    As things were going down, Trump was on stage saying “That’s ok,” although it was not clear whether he could see what was happening. “He’s on our side. We get a little, uh, itchy, don’t we? Huh, ok. No, no. He’s on our side,” Trump said of the man storming the press area.

    The man was tasered, according to reports, then handcuffed and taken from the venue.

    The AP notes:

    The incident happened amid heightened scrutiny of security at Trump rallies after a gunman fired at him, grazing his ear, during an outdoor rally in July in nearby Butler, Pennsylvania. Security at political events has been noticeably tighter since the shooting.

    A Secret Service spokesperson referred questions to local authorities.

    Nate Silver Reveals The One Battleground State That Could Cost Kamala The White House

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    2
    Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Polling and data guru Nate Silver said Thursday that Vice President Kamala Harris is poised to be a “slight underdog” in Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state with 19 electoral college points.

    Silver, a prominent elections analyst and statistician, wrote on Substack that while Harris is leading by 3.8 points in his national poll tracker and is slated to win the popular vote, his nuanced election forecast model predicts former President Trump is electorally favored to win the White House by a 52.4% chance, versus Harris, who now shows a 47.3% chance of pulling off an electoral victory.

    “Kamala Harris had one of her worst days in some time in our forecast on Thursday despite gaining in our national polling average,” Silver wrote.

    But, he continued, “There’s another, longer-term concern for Harris, though: it’s been a while since we’ve seen a poll showing her ahead in Pennsylvania, which is the tipping-point state more than a third of time in our model.”

    The latest Emerson College swing state poll shows Trump and Harris tied at 48% each in Pennsylvania. 

    “The model puts a lot of weight on this recent data because of all the changes in the race,” Silver explained. “And you can see why it thinks this is a problem for her: if she’s only tied in Pennsylvania now, during what should be one of her stronger polling periods, that implies being a slight underdog in November.”

    At the current date, Silver said his model shows a 17% chance that Harris wins the popular vote but not the Electoral College, calling it “a big concern for her campaign all along. 

    “If she won the popular vote nationally by between 1 and 2 points, for instance, the model estimates that she’d still be a 70/30 underdog in the Electoral College,” he wrote.

    Still, Silver acknowledged that Harris’ unusually late entry into the race could skew his forecast results.

    “While there’s a solid basis for this empirically, you could argue we’re under unusual circumstances because of her late entry into the race. So if you want to treat all of this as a little fuzzier than usual, I don’t really mind that,” he wrote.

    Kamala Reveals If She Would Appoint Republican To Cabinet If Elected

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    8
    Gage Skidmore Flickr

    A surprising turnaround…

    Vice President Harris said Thursday she would consider appointing a Republican to a Cabinet position if she wins the presidency in November.

    “I’ve got 68 days to go with this election, so I’m not putting the cart before the horse,” Harris told CNN’s Dana Bash. “But I would, I think. I think it’s really important.”

    Harris, who sat down with CNN for her first taped interview since becoming President Biden ended his campaign, told Bash that having a GOP official in her Cabinet would help her fulfill her pledge to be a president for all Americans. She did not name any individuals she would consider.

    “I think it’s important to have people at the table — when some of the most important decisions are being made — that have different views, different experiences,” Harris said. “And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican.”

    A number of GOP Trump critics spoke at the Democratic convention in Chicago earlier this month, including former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.

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