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    Trump Predicts GOP White House Hopeful Will Ultimately Endorse Him

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    Vivek Ramaswamy speaking with attendees at the 2022 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

    Donald Trump is confident he will soon have another feather in his cap…

    On Wednesday, Trump predicted Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will ultimately endorse him for President following reports Ramaswamy has canceled TV advertising ahead of the first primary contests.

    “He will, I am sure, Endorse me. But Vivek is a good man, and is not done yet!” Trump wrote Wednesday on TruthSocial.

    “We are focused on bringing out the voters we’ve identified — best way to reach them is using addressable advertising, mail, text, live calls and doors to communicate with our voters on Vivek’s vision for America, making their plan to caucus and turning them out,” Ramaswamy campaign press secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a Tuesday statement.

    Ramaswamy’s praise of the former president has fueled speculation that the biotech entrepreneur is eying a spot on a potential Trump ticket as vice president.

    On Sunday, Ramaswamy expressed some hesitancy over the prospect of taking a position in a second Trump administration telling Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo, “I didn’t get where I am, [his wife, Apoorva Ramaswamy] didn’t get to where she is by being ‘Plan B people,’ and so I’m actually confident we’re going to overdeliver massively at the Iowa caucus.”

    Trump, meanwhile, said in August that Ramaswamy would be “very good” as a running mate, adding, “Anybody that said I’m the best president in a generation … I have to like a guy like that.”

    Ramaswamy has struggled to maintain momentum in the Republican primary race after briefly surging in the polls this summer.

    Michigan Supreme Court Rules On Trump Ballot Bid

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    Gage Skidmore Flickr

    On Wednesday the Michigan Supreme Court rejected the latest bid to keep Donald Trump off the state’s primary ballot.

    A liberal-leaning group had appealed a state appeals court ruling that regardless of whether the 14th Amendment disqualifies Trump from holding office, Michigan’s secretary of state lacks the legal authority to remove him from the ballot.

    The Democrat-controlled court let that lower ruling stand, stating in an unsigned order that it was “not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court.”

    The Hill has more:

    In a solo dissent in Michigan on Wednesday, Justice Elizabeth Welch wrote that it was “important” for the state court to issue a decision on the merits given the gravity of the legal questions at issue.

    But she likened the case to Minnesota, while drawing contrast to Colorado.

    “Significantly, Colorado’s election laws differ from Michigan’s laws in a material way that is directly relevant to why the appellants in this case are not entitled to the relief they seek concerning the presidential primary election in Michigan,” Welch wrote.

    Welch also noted that Tuesday’s ruling leaves open the possibility that the plaintiffs could renew their efforts for the general election if Trump becomes the Republican nominee, which polling indicates is very likely.

    The ruling is a significant win for Trump as he seeks to appeal the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    The 14th amendment prohibits someone from holding “any office … under the United States” if they engaged in insurrection after taking an oath as “an officer of the United States” to “support” the Constitution.

    Former President Trump celebrated the Michigan Supreme Court’s ruling on Truth Social.

    “The Michigan Supreme Court has strongly and rightfully denied the Desperate Democrat attempt to take the leading Candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election, me, off the ballot in the Great State of Michigan,” Trump wrote Wednesday in a Truth Social post. “This pathetic gambit to rig the Election has failed all across the Country, including in States that have historically leaned heavily toward the Democrats.”

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

    GOP Lawmakers ‘Swatted’ on Christmas Day

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3
    Police image via Pixabay free images

    Two Republican lawmakers had an eventful Christmas Day…

    Police officers were called to the homes of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) and Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY) after false reports were made.

    In an X post, Monday, Rep. Williams announced, “Our home was swatted this afternoon. Thanks to the Deputies and Troopers who contacted me before arriving. They left with homemade cookies and spiced nuts! Merry Christmas everyone!”

    In a follow-up post, Williams revealed that Capitol and local police were investigating the incident and that five police cars had arrived at his home following the false report.

    “Swatting” is the act of making a false police report with the intention that the victim receives a visit from armed law enforcement.

    “The deputies & troopers were polite, professional, & prompt. God bless them,” Williams added.

    Greene was visited by law enforcement on Monday morning after an anonymous caller told 911 that a man had been shot at the congresswoman’s address.

    Local police were reportedly called by the suspect, who took responsibility for the incident and said “they were upset about Greene’s stance on ‘trans-gender youth’s rights.’”

    “I have been swatted 8 times but the FBI can’t seem to figure out who is responsible for the swatting and says the law doesn’t allow them to track them down,” protested Greene on X following the incident. “The FBI can do so many things, has even abused FISA to spy on hundreds of thousands of Americans, but can not figure out who wants me killed by a hail of bullets fired by a SWAT team responding to murder suicide calls supposedly coming from me.”

    Federal Judge Rejects Bid To Keep Trump Off West Virginia Ballot

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3
    Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

    On Thursday, a federal judge rejected the latest attempt to keep Donald Trump off the 2024 primary ballot in West Virginia.

    Obama-appointed district judge Irene Berger ruled that John Anthony Castro, the little-known presidential candidate who brought the lawsuit to remove Trump, lacked standing to sue. 

    “The evidence establishes that [Castro] has no campaign offices, staff, or advertising in West Virginia, does not appear in polling, has little name recognition among West Virginia Republican primary voters, and has extremely minimal campaign funds, vastly insufficient to run an actual campaign,” Berger wrote. “If there were any question as to whether the allegations in the complaint are sufficient to overcome a facial challenge, the evidentiary submissions remove any doubt that Mr. Castro’s purported ‘campaign’ exists as a vehicle for pursuing litigation, not votes.”

    Federal judges in Arizona and Rhode Island likewise found Castro lacked standing because he is not seriously running for office. 

    The decision comes days after Colorado’s Supreme Court ruled Trump was ineligible to appear on the state’s ballot under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, likely teeing up a Supreme Court battle.

    “This is a big win for the integrity of our elections,” said Republican West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in a statement, according to News and Sentinel. “This lawsuit was frivolous to begin with and without merit – it had no basis in either law or fact. Any eligible candidate has the right to be on the ballot unless legally disqualified, and we will defend the laws of West Virginia and the right of voters and candidates to the fullest.”

    Conservative Activist Reveals Fox News Staff Are Banned From Events

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3
    Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk says his relationship with Fox News has soured.

    Kirk, a conservative activist, once was a frequent guest on Fox News and enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with the network. Fox talent also frequently headlined Turning Point events but the partnership dissolved earlier this year.

    Since Tucker Carlson’s shocking ouster from the network and Fox News near-$800 settlement with Dominion Voting Systems Kirk has been nowhere to be seen on Fox News.

    Mediaite reports that while Fox News has not publicly commented on the reasons behind the rift, some theories abound. TPUSA is a haven for conspiracy theories, most notably former President Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen. A Daily Beast report from July suggested the rift had something to do with Fox’s $787 million settlement with Dominion over those election lies, as the network feared having its hosts participate in events where such conspiracy theories were being pushed.

    “Fox’s relationship with Turning Point is basically over,” a network source told the Beast. “They don’t want their talent associated with them anymore.”

    Kirk weighed in on the rift in an interview with Breitbart News earlier this week.

    In an interview with Breitbart’s editor-in-chief Alex Marlow, Kirk said that his TPUSA event this year sold 13,000 tickets without any star power from Fox News. And while he said that he still has great affection for Fox News personalities like Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld, they “weren’t allowed” to be part of the event. Despite that, Kirk said “sometimes desperation is the mother of innovation,” so he leaned into “culture” for the event instead when considering his headliners.

    Kirk framed this shift as a benefit:

    I love Fox. They’ve been very good to me. I hope we can heal our relationship, because for whatever reason, it’s gone off the reservation. Since Tucker [Carlson]’s departure, I haven’t been on — and so, we had to do an event without Fox, and that was a great thing, man, because sometimes desperation is the mother of innovation, right? We kind of grew accustomed to — Jesse Watters, love him, Greg Gutfeld, love him — but that wasn’t a thing, we couldn’t do it, they’re not allowed to be here.

    Report: The House Investigated Another Sex Tape Purportedly Made On Capitol Grounds

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3
    Ted Eytan from Washington, DC, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    Unbelievable…

    On the heels of a Senate staffer being fired for allegedly filming a graphic sex tape in a Senate hearing room, Semafor reports that another investigation of another sex tape took place in the House of Representatives last year.

    According to reports, an investigation into an alleged sex tape filmed by a staffer for Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) was confirmed by a spokesperson to have taken place in 2022. The purported act apparently took place in Newhouse’s office, but in the end, there was “no conclusive evidence.

    Mediaite has more:

    However, Goba did find out that a sex tape that made the rounds on Snapchat last year by a user named “Adam J” with the handle “Anjackson2019” appeared to have been filmed on Capitol grounds:

    One of the videos, watched by Semafor, featured a man masturbating inside a House office building, which was identifiable by standard Capitol House furniture and carpeting. The desk at which the videographer performed also held a branded congressional mouse pad. A screenshot of a second video obtained by Semafor shows two men engaged in a sex act in an office setting. The participants’ faces are not visible in any of the material viewed by Semafor.

    After the videos surfaced, Newhouse’s office was told that a suspected participant was a member of their staff.

    Report: Rudy Giuliani Files For Bankruptcy

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    On Thursday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani filed for bankruptcy days after the former Trump lawyer was ordered to pay a whopping $148 million to two ex-Georgia election workers.

    According to reports from The Hill, Giuliani’s Chapter 11 petition, filed in U.S. bankruptcy court in New York, lists between $1 million and $10 million in assets and between $100 million and $500 million in liabilities.

    Last week, a judge ordered Giuliani to pay about $148 million to former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. The judge on Wednesday ordered that the judgment be immediately enforced.

    “The filing should be a surprise to no one,” Ted Goodman, political advisor to Giuliani, said in a statement.

    “No person could have reasonably believed that Mayor Rudy Giuliani would be able to pay such a high punitive amount,” Goodman added. “Chapter 11 will afford Mayor Giuliani the opportunity and time to pursue an appeal, while providing transparency for his finances under the supervision of the bankruptcy court, to ensure all creditors are treated equally and fairly throughout the process.”

    Giuliani’s bankruptcy petition estimates he owes the largest amount to the two women and has a total of less than 50 creditors.

    It includes Hunter Biden, the president’s son, who sued Giuliani over his involvement in Biden’s laptop scandal; voting-equipment companies Smartmatic and Dominion, which both sued Giuliani for defamation over his 2020 election claims; Giuliani’s ex-lawyers, who are suing him over unpaid legal bills; a Staten Island, N.Y. supermarket employee who sued Giuliani after being arrested for allegedly assaulting the former mayor; and one of Giuliani’s former employees, who accused him of sexual assault.

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

    Haley Surges Ahead In Latest New Hampshire Poll

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    5

    Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is gaining on Trump and leaving other Republican contenders in the rearview.

    The latest New Hampshire polls report Haley has now doubled her support in the early voting state since September.

    The survey, published Thursday by the Saint Anselm College Survey Center (SACSC), found Haley garnered 30 percent of the likely Republican primary vote, just 14 points behind Trump, who showed 44 percent support.

    The Hill has more:

    While the former South Carolina governor has gained momentum in the early primary state since September, her closest rival — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — dropped 6 points from 11 percent to 5 percent.

    Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie saw a slight gain in support, garnering 12 percent support in December, a 2 point increase from September, pollsters found. Meanwhile, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson remain in the single digits with 6 and 1 percent, respectively.

    As for the general election, President Biden led Trump by 10 points — 49 percent to 39 percent — in a hypothetical rematch between the two party front-runners. Independent candidate Robert Kennedy, Jr., however, picked up 8 percent support in the new survey.

    The results come less than a month before the Granite State’s primary.

    Earlier this month, popular New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) officially endorsed Haley for president.

    CNN Deals Brutal Reality Check To Democrats’ Latest Anti-Trump Hope

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    CNN Headquarters via Wikimedia Commons

    CNN’s senior data reporter Harry Enten burst the Democrats’ bubble over their latest attack on Trump.

    Trump said illegal immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” during a recent speech, prompting left-wing commentators to condemn the comments as “racist” and “fascist.”

    However, the CNN reporter pointed out that Trump does increasingly well across the board when it comes to handling illegal immigration and that his comments don’t seem to have the same effect on voters as Democrats would hope.

    “Take a look at this poll from Marquette University Law School. Want increased efforts to stop illegal immigration at the southern border, look, you see here, 96% of Republican voters want that but it’s 78% of all voters and even among Hispanic voters it’s 71%. Let’s take a look more broadly. Do a better job on border security and immigration. In 2020, we basically saw a dead heat between Joe Biden and Donald Trump…look at the change that we have seen over the past three years. Donald Trump has opened up a 23-point lead on this issue, whatever he has been doing or whatever folks have been seeing along the border has definitely impacted their views. And at this particular point, this is an issue that Donald Trump wants to play not just in the Republican primary but the general election as well.”

    “Hispanic voters?” CNN’s Phil Mattingly asked.

    “Yeah, so I think there is this idea ‘OK, maybe this rhetoric will hurt among Hispanic voters. And take a look here of the Hispanic voters Biden versus Trump in a general election matchup. Biden won these voters in 2020 by a large margin, 26 points. Look at where we are now. Biden still leads, but that margin has shrunk to just six percentage points.”

    “In 2020, it was one of the best performances for a Republican candidate in a generation since George W. Bush in 200 so we have seen an increasing trend towards Trump. You might be asking yourself, ‘Ok, what about this rhetoric from Donald Trump? Will this hurt him among Hispanic voters?’ Take a look. Better job on border security and immigration among Hispanic voters, check this out, the plurality of Hispanic voters actually prefer Donald Trump on this issue 42% to 30%. So, look, this rhetoric, I think a lot of people don’t like it, but the fact is when it comes to border security and immigration a lot of folks are liking what Donald Trump is saying, especially compared to Joe Biden,” Enten continued.

    “Hispanic voters aren’t single issue, they aren’t monolithic. It’s an important thing for everybody to remember,” Mattingly added.

    Trump has been leading Biden in a series of swing state surveys. Respondents have overwhelmingly voiced concerns over Biden’s handling of the border and foreign policy.

    Report: Trump Voter Challenge Dismissed

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

    North Carolina’s election board has dismissed a voter’s challenge to Donald Trump’s candidacy on the state’s primary ballot.

    On Tuesday, the State Board of Elections voted 4-1 to dismiss the candidacy challenge brought by Brian Martin who argued Trump should be booted from the ballot under the 14th Amendment.

    Before the vote, general counsel to the elections board, Paul Cox, made the case against hearing the voter’s candidacy challenge and said he was “quite uncertain” as to whether the board had the authority.

    The Hill has more:

    “I do think it’s uncertain. And I think that the board has to consider whether it has the jurisdiction and authority to act,” Cox told members of the board during Tuesday’s meeting. “Obviously the board is an administrative agency that derives its authority from the law, and it must consider whether the statutes that give it authority, give it this authority.”

    “And, in reading the language of the challenge statutes, I’m quite uncertain as to whether the challenge statutes in North Carolina law contemplate a challenge to a presidential preference primary candidate,” he added.

    Siobhan Millen, the sole vote against the motion, pushed back on Cox’s arguments, asking him when a voter could bring a candidacy challenge. She argued the board was hiding behind technicalities.

    “It seems like there is an unknown as to whether the presidential primary statute controls the field or whether the challenge statute controls the field, and it’s never been litigated before. You’re uncertain, if I’m hearing you,” Millen said.

    “It’s troubling to me,” she continued. “We have a voter who’s gone to the trouble to fill out a facially very impressive challenge form and we are, to me, hiding behind a technicality by saying it doesn’t apply, that we won’t even hear it. That’s — it’s troubling.”

    The dismissal came the same day the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Trump should be removed from the state’s primary ballot under the 14th Amendment.

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

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