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

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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.

Report: Ex-Obama Official Arrested, Charged With Hate Crime

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Arrest image via Pixabay

Former national security adviser Stuart Seldowitz was charged with a hate crime after his rant at a New York City food vendor was recorded and went viral online.

Seldowitz has pleaded not guilty.

Mediaite has more:

Seldowitz, a former National Security Counsel chief to former President Barack Obama, was launched into public infamy this week when he was filmed spewing racist and insulting comments at a man working at a halal food cart. Videos posted online showed that Seldowitz had been accosting the vendor for weeks, and his abusive comments included him calling the vendor a “terrorist,” saying the killing of 4,000 Palestinian children in the Israel-Hamas war “wasn’t enough,” and calling the Islamic prophet Muhammad a “rapist.”

After the media identified Seldowitz, he was disowned and ostracized by his business associates while claiming he made his comments “in the heat of the moment.” He was arrested on Wednesday, and CNN cited the NYPD to report that he faces preliminary charges of hate crime/stalking, second-degree aggravated harassment, stalking causing fear, and stalking at employment.

Islamophobic and anti-Semitic incidents have seen a global spike since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas War.

Trump Ends Talks With Zelenskyy, Cancels Joint Press Conference

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By The White House - https://www.flickr.com/photos/202101414@N05/54325633746/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=159707159

It’s over…

President Trump has called off negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to end the conflict in Ukraine after a tense Oval Office meeting in which the two leaders sparred over U.S. support for Kyiv.

“We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today. Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure,” Trump posted on Truth Social after the meeting. 

“It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations,” Trump continued. “I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace.”

Shortly after Trump’s post on Truth Social, Zelensky’s motorcade pulled up to the White House, signaling negotiations had ended.

The two leaders had been scheduled to hold a joint press conference and sign a deal giving the U.S. access to Ukraine’s critical minerals supply later in the day. The press conference has been canceled, and the minerals deal was not signed.

Trump’s post followed a stunning exchange in the Oval Office in which the president and Vice President Vance teed off on Zelensky, accusing him of being ungrateful for U.S. support and of having little leverage in talks.

Watch:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted publicly for the first time since his Oval Office blowup with President Donald Trump on Friday with a social media post thanking the United States.

“Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit,” Zelenskyy posted on X. “Thank you @POTUS. Congress, and the American people. Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.”

Report: Trump Seeks To Delay Criminal Sentencing

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Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

Former President Trump asked the New York judge who oversaw his recent criminal trial to delay his sentencing until after November’s presidential election. 

Judge Juan Merchan previously agreed to push the date back until September so he can first decide whether the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision requires tossing Trump’s guilty verdict. 

“[S]etting aside naked election-interference objectives, there is no valid countervailing reason for the Court to keep the current sentencing date on the calendar,” Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in a letter to the judge, which was made public Thursday. 

“There is no basis for continuing to rush,” the letter continued. “Accordingly, we respectfully request that any sentencing, if one is needed, be adjourned until after the Presidential election.” 

In May, a New York jury convicted Trump on all 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Trump’s sentencing in New York was originally slated for July, but the judge pushed it back to Sept. 18 after the Supreme Court ruled that presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for official acts.

According to The Hill, Trump does not claim immunity from the hush money charges themselves, but he asserts that prosecutors at trial improperly introduced immunized evidence, so his verdict must be wiped as a result. Prosecutors have pushed back on the argument, and Merchan is set to rule on the matter two days before sentencing.

Trump’s attorneys said the small gap is an “unreasonably short period of time,” signaling the former president will immediately attempt to appeal if the judge rejects his immunity arguments.

“The requested adjournment is also necessary to allow President Trump adequate time to assess and pursue state and federal appellate options in response to adverse ruling,” the letter reads.

The letter also noted Merchan’s third refusal to recuse from the case Wednesday.

“Notwithstanding the Court’s ruling on the disputed recusal issue, the requested adjournment would prospectively mitigate the asserted conflicts and appearances of impropriety, which are also the subject of an ongoing congressional inquiry,” Blanche and Bove wrote in the letter. 

Report: Judge Unseals More Documents In Trump Investigation

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A new development…

The judge in former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case ordered more documents to be revealed from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the former president just weeks before the 2024 election. 

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered on Thursday night that additional documents be made public. 

The documents pertain to the appendix of exhibits in the fight over whether Trump has a level of presidential immunity that negates the charges against him. 

Much of what readers are able to review is already public, including transcripts from the now-disbanded House Jan. 6 committee, press releases from various secretaries of state, the text of  Trump’s rally speech and phone call with Georgia officials, and even real election certificates showing President Biden as the winner of the 2020 contest. One of the exhibits appears to review much of Trump’s then-Twitter activity from the period of the election.

Chutkan cited in the order Trump’s claim that the “asymmetric release of charged allegations and related documents during early voting creates a concerning appearance of election interference.” 

According to the judge, while there is a public interest for courts to avoid involving themselves in elections, “it is in fact Defendant’s requested relief that risks undermining that public interest.”

She added that the court would continue keeping political considerations out of decisions, despite the defense’s request. 

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


Judge Delays Fox News Trial As Settlement Speculation Builds

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

Is the highly anticipated Fox News trial finished before it even started?

Hours before the trial was set to begin, a Delaware judge announced late Sunday he would delay the beginning of Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News by 24 hours.

“The Court has decided to continue the start of the trial, including jury selection, until Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 9:00 a.m.,” Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said in a statement.

A trial in the case had been slated to start Monday morning. Numerous high-profile Fox News officials including Chairman Rupert Murdoch, CEO Suzanne Scott, Tucker Carlson, and Maria Bartiromo are scheduled to take the stand.

Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.6 billion lawsuit in 2021 following the presidential election. The company argues Fox News’ airing of claims of voter fraud propagated by former President Donald Trump and his allies defamed the company and caused irreparable damage to its credibility.

Fox has fiercely defended itself on First Amendment grounds and has argued the network was covering the allegations being made by the then-President because they were newsworthy.

“This case is and always has been about the First Amendment protections of the media’s absolute right to cover the news,” Fox said in a recent statement about the case. “Fox will continue to fiercely advocate for the rights of free speech and a free press as we move into the next phase of these proceedings.” 

While it remains unclear what exactly triggered the delay in proceedings CNN senior analyst Elie Honig predicted that extra time would allow for a potential settlement.

On CNN This Morning, Honig called this “the most likely scenario” for the Dominion trial before adding, “there’s something about being on the eve of trial that can really sober up both parties.”

“Look at it from Fox’s point of view: they’re looking at the likelihood — if there’s a trial — of having all of their, or many of their, most prominent anchors have to take the stand, testify and get cross-examined,” Honig said. “You can understand why they would be hit by reality at the last moment, say, ‘We need to avoid this.’”

“Keep in mind, the judge here has already made a finding — as a matter of law — that Fox’s statements about the 2020 election and about Dominion were false. So that is on the record,” Honig said. “The only question at trial was going to be is there actual malice? Did Fox know, or were they reckless about the falsity?”

However, Honig conceded “you never really know” what the jury could decide if the trial ultimately happens.

In an early morning Truth Social post, Donald Trump called on the network to to “admit” the 2020 election was effectively stolen from him.

IF FOX WOULD FINALLY ADMIT THAT THERE WAS LARGE SCALE CHEATING & IRREGULARITIES IN THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, WHICH WOULD BE A GOOD THING FOR THEM, & FOR AMERICA, THE CASE AGAINST THEM, WHICH SHOULD NOT HAVE EXISTED AT ALL, WOULD BE GREATLY WEAKENED. BACK UP THOSE PATRIOTS AT FOX INSTEAD OF THROWING THEM UNDER THE BUS – & THEY ARE RIGHT! THERE IS SOOO MUCH PROOF, LIKE MASS BALLOT STUFFING CAUGHT ON GOVERNMENT CAMERAS, FBI COLLUDING WITH TWITTER & FACEBOOK, STATE LEGISLATURES NOT USED, etc.

Judge Blocks Trump Order To Shutter Dept. Of Education

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Just in…

A district judge on Thursday blocked President Trump’s executive order calling for the closure of the Department of Education — as well as against the reduction in force that laid off half of the agency’s workers.

U.S. District Judge Myong Joun’s order blocks the Trump administration from carrying out the mass-firing at the DOE announced in March and orders that any employees who were already fired be reinstated.

The ruling is a blow to Trump’s efforts to eliminate the department and the quick actions taken by Education Secretary Linda McMahon to make that campaign pledge a reality.  

The plaintiffs “have provided an in-depth look into how the massive reduction in staff has made it effectively impossible for the Department to carry out its statutorily mandated functions,” District Judge Myong Joun said.  

“Defendants do acknowledge, as they must, that the Department cannot be shut down without Congress’s approval, yet they simultaneously claim that their legislative goals (obtaining Congressional approval to shut down the Department) are distinct from their administrative goals (improving efficiency). There is nothing in the record to support these contradictory positions,” his ruling continues.

Read:

The ruling comes just a day after another federal judge blocked Trump’s administration from firing two Democrat members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton found that allowing unilateral firings would prevent the board from carrying out its purpose.

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

Massive Explosions In Beirut: Israel Targets Hezbollah HQ, Buildings Crumble

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Palestinian News & Information Agency (Wafa) in contract with APAimages, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Israel has delivered a significant, potentially catastrophic, blow to Hezbollah by bombing the group’s headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon.

According to Fox News reporter Trey Yingst, the airstrike targeted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and resulted in the collapse of several residential buildings.

Preliminary reports indicate that the Israeli Air Force utilized bunker busters and 2,000-pound bombs.

Footage posted on X purports to show Nasrallah’s shattered and smoldering bunker, reportedly the site from which he ordered attacks on Israel.

It is unclear whether he was there and what his condition is.

The escalation is expected to trigger a full-scale conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

This article originally appeared on American Liberty News. It is republished with permission.

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Trump Promotes ‘Peaceful Protests’ Ahead Of Hush Money Trial’s Opening Arguments

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Before opening arguments are scheduled to begin in Donald Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan the former President urged supporters to exercise their right to protest.

Trump is being charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to make alleged hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.

Opening statements are expected to begin Monday.

In a post just before he left for the courthouse, Trump questioned why pro-Palestinian protesters were allowed to “roam the Cities, scream, shout, sit, block traffic, enter buildings, not get permits, and basically do whatever they want” while his supporters are “rudely and systematically shut down and ushered off to far away ‘holding areas,’ essentially denying them their Constitutional Rights.”

“America Loving Protesters should be allowed to protest at the front steps of Courthouses, all over the Country,” Trump added, appearing to reference how demonstrators who have shown up outside his trial have been kept across the street from the building.

Trump urged his supporters to “GO OUT AND PEACEFULLY PROTEST. RALLY BEHIND MAGA. SAVE OUR COUNTRY!”

In a separate post Sunday, Trump specifically attacked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), who is leading the case against Trump, and defended the payment at the heart of the case as a “legal expense.”

“What other term would be more appropriate??? Believe it or not, this is the pretext under which I was Indicted, and that Legal Scholars and Experts CANNOT BELIEVE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It is also the perfect Crooked Joe Biden NARRATIVE – To be STUCK in a courtroom, and not be allowed to campaign for President of the United States!”

‘We’ll Take Care of It’: Grassley Reveals Never-Before-Heard Claim From First Trump Assassination Attempt

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Image via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Iowa’s senior U.S. senator, Chuck Grassley, has disclosed findings from his office’s investigation into the first assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump during a July 13 rally near Butler, Pennsylvania. Revealing the latest to Fox News, Grassley’s office shared concerning security lapses by the Secret Service, which had assured local law enforcement that it would secure the American Glass Research (AGR) building overlooking Trump’s rally – an assurance that was not fulfilled.

The building in question was later used by Thomas Matthews Crooks, the would-be assassin who fired eight shots at Trump in under 30 seconds. Three rallygoers were hit, one fatally, and Trump himself was grazed by a bullet that came within an inch of his head. Despite these dangers, no law enforcement personnel were stationed on the roof where Crooks had taken his position.

“Butler County law enforcement officials stated that at separate times during the walkthrough, when they reiterated their concerns to the agents and counter sniper about securing the AGR complex buildings, the agents responded: ‘we will take care of it,’” Grassley’s office revealed in a Tuesday letter to acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe.

The Iowa senator questioned Rowe whether the Butler County law enforcement officials’ claim is true and, if so, what the Secret Service did to secure the area with the AGR complex buildings.

Grassley noted that in the weeks following the first assassination attempt, Rowe told senators during a hearing, “what was communicated is that the locals had a plan and that they had been there before,” in regard to the roof of the AGR building where Crooks took his shots from. 

Crooks’ final location was only discovered when bystanders noticed him army-crawling toward Trump. A local police officer attempted to access the roof, prompting Crooks to rush his first shot.

Startling video footage, obtained by Fox News more than two weeks after the incident, showed a figure believed to be Crooks moving across the roof of the AGR building three minutes before the attack. FBI officials later revealed that Crooks accessed the roof by climbing HVAC equipment and piping, moving across multiple rooftops to establish his position about 450 feet from Trump.

The Secret Service was aware of a potential threat 10 minutes before Trump took the stage but allowed the event to proceed. Additionally, a local law enforcement countersniper had flagged the shooter as suspicious over an hour before the attack due to his use of a rangefinder and his possession of a backpack.

Grassley’s investigation raises serious questions about the security protocols in place during the rally and the Secret Service’s handling of the potential threat.

Read Grassley’s letter to acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe here:

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