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    Trump Fined In Civil Fraud Trial

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    5
    Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

    Former President Trump was fined $10,000 for violating the gag order in his $250 million New York business fraud trial.

    Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to the witness stand and questioned him about comments he made outside of the courtroom.

    The surprise calling of Trump to the witness stand came amid the second day of testimony from Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer, who faced a barrage of attacks about his credibility as a witness.

    CNBC has more:

    Trump doubled down Wednesday during a mid-morning break, saying Cohen “went to jail for lying” and branding him “a totally discredited witness.”

    Trump, who stared down Cohen in court on Tuesday, repeatedly attacked his former lawyer in between the proceedings. He called Cohen a “proven liar,” a “felon” and a “disgrace” outside the courtroom.

    He launched more attacks on social media, writing Tuesday evening that Cohen “was a complete and total disaster” in the trial.

    “Lie after lie, and getting caught each time,” claimed Trump.

    New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil case accuses Trump, his two adult sons, the Trump Organization and top executives of falsely inflating the values of Trump’s real estate properties and other assets in order to get tax benefits and better loan terms.

    James seeks around $250 million in damages, and she wants to bar Trump and his co-defendants from running another business in New Yo

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

    Trump Files Series Of Motions In D.C. Election Interference Case

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0
    Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Former President Trump attempted to distance himself from the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol in a series of late-night legal motions.

    Former President Trump’s legal team is asking a judge to toss his prosecution in his federal election interference case.

    The Daily Beast reports that in one motion, Trump filed to dismiss his federal 2020 election subversion case, citing First Amendment rights surrounding Trump’s belief the election as stolen and claiming the indictment, “taken as true, violates this core principle.”

    “The fact that the indictment alleges that the speech at issue was supposedly, according to the prosecution, ‘false’ makes no difference,” the defense wrote. “Under the First Amendment, each individual American participating in a free marketplace of ideas — not the federal Government — decides for him or herself what is true and false on great disputed social and political questions.”

    “President Trump’s opinion on the subject was just that — an opinion formed based on his view of the available information. Virtually every American, including the cited public officials, had similar access to much of this same information, including a mountain of publicly reported facts and opinions, which were the subject of wall-to-wall media coverage throughout the post-election period and beyond,” they wrote.

    “Each official thus had every opportunity to form his or her own conclusions, just like President Trump.”

    The second motion seeks dismissal on statutory grounds, arguing, “The prosecution does not explain how President Trump violated these statutes, beyond simply saying he has while regurgitating the statutory language.”

    The third motion asks Judge Chutkan to remove “repeated references to the actions of independent actors at the Capitol on January 6, 2021” from his indictment, claiming Trump was not charged “with responsibility for the actions at the Capitol” and therefore the “allegations related to these actions are not relevant and are prejudicial and inflammatory.”

    “Because the Government has not charged President Trump with responsibility for the actions at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, allegations related to these actions are not relevant and are prejudicial and inflammatory. Therefore, the Court should strike these allegations from the Indictment,” his attorneys wrote in a motion to strike “inflammatory allegations” from Trump’s indictment. 

    The fourth saw Trump request dismissal “on the basis of selective and vindictive prosecution.”

    “These demands place an unacceptable burden on President Trump to foreshadow a possible formal defense,” they wrote.

    Jenna Ellis Takes Plea Deal In Georgia Election Case

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    4
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis became the fourth defendant to plead guilty in the Georgia election interference case on Tuesday.

    According to reports from ABC News, Ellis is pleading guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings.

    Recently, defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, and Scott Hall took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.

    Ellis, who described herself as part of an “elite strike force team” of attorneys combating unfounded claims of election fraud, pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings.

    “If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post election challenges,” a tearful Ellis told the judge.

    “How do you plead to aiding and abetting false statements and writings,” Fulton County prosecutor Daysha Young asked.

    “Guilty,” Ellis responded.

    She was sentenced to five years of probation, 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution and write a letter of apology to Georgia citizens.

    In August, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis indicted former President Trump and 18 others for trying to overturn his 2020 defeat in Georgia.

    Report: Fox News Pulls The Plug On Trump Interviews

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    11
    Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Is Fox News icing out former President Donald Trump?

    New reports indicate the media giant has potentially been blackballed from making appearances on the conservative network for the considerable future.

    “In recent months, Trump’s inner circle has become increasingly convinced that Fox News is essentially sidelining the former president by restricting live appearances on their network,” reported Zachary Petrizzo. “‘Trump is not allowed live on Fox,’ a Trump operative told The Daily Beast, chalking it up to ‘fear’ that Trump could level a baseless allegation that could leave the network in a legal mess. A Trump adviser told The Daily Beast a similar story — that the former president isn’t allowed on live air anymore. At the very least, this person said, Fox News prefers to have Trump in a pre-recorded setting. ‘Fox sent down word from the top that they don’t want to ‘platform’ Trump like they did before,’ a Trump adviser told The Daily Beast. ‘I find it hilarious. For one, it sounds like something MSNBC would do.'”

    “After a lengthy hiatus last year, Trump re-emerged on Fox News this past March,” said the report. “However, following Trump’s absence, the former president only came back in a diminished capacity. Starting in March of 2023, Trump conducted a string of interviews with Fox hosts and anchors including Sean Hannity, Bret Baier, and Larry Kudlow. But gone are the days of Trump simply calling in live and offering his stream of consciousness. According to a search by The Daily Beast and Media Matters for America, Trump last phoned in live to a Fox News program in April of 2022.”

    Trump’s relationship with Fox News has deteriorated since leaving the White House but the current Republican presidential frontrunner has still made a number of appearances with the network in past months. The report noted that the network’s distance from Trump could also be a result of a recent settlement with Dominion Voting Systems.

    Trump has fired off repeated attacks against the network over its coverage of the former President.

    Second Trump Lawyer Pleads Guilty In Georgia Case

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    5
    Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

    A second Trump attorney has pleaded guilty in the Georgia election interference case brought by District Attorney Fani Willis.

    On Friday, Kenneth Chesebro agreed to testify truthfully in any future case proceedings and write a letter of apology to Georgia citizens.

    According to reports from The Hill, Fulton County prosecutor Daysha Young told the court that if the case had gone to trial, the state would have shown that Chesebro — along with Trump, Rudy Giuliani and other co-defendants — entered a criminal conspiracy to cause other co-conspirators to “falsely hold themselves out as the duly elected and qualified electors for the president and vice president from Georgia following the Nov. 3, 2020, presidential election.” 

    Young also said that Chesebro was present at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when an inflamed pro-Trump mob stormed the building while the certification of the presidential election was underway. 

    “Are you pleading guilty because you agree that there’s a factual basis that supports this remaining charge?” McAfee asked Chesebro. 

    “Yes, this charge,” Chesebro replied. 

    McAfee accepted the agreement. 

    Chesebro was also sentenced to five years of probation, 100 hours of community service and ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution.

    He was originally charged with seven felony counts linked to the alternate electors scheme, for which he drafted multiple memos detailing strategies for how slates of pro-Trump individuals could falsely claim to be their states’ valid electors.  However, Under the plea agreement, Chesebro will only be charged with one of those counts, conspiracy to commit filing false documents. 

    Chesebro’s guilty plea comes a day after Sidney Powell also pleaded guilty. (RELATED: Sidney Powell Pleads Guilty In Georgia Election Interference Case)

    Report: Sidney Powell Pleads Guilty In Georgia Election Interference Case

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0
    Tom Williams, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell pled guilty in the Georgia election subversion case brought forward by Fulton County DA Fani Willis.

    Per reports from The Hill, Powell appeared before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee on Thursday to enter her plea, just days before her trial was scheduled to begin next week.

    “How do you plead to the six counts of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with performance of election duties?” asked Daysha Young, a Fulton County prosecutor. 

    “Guilty,” Powell said. 

    McAfee accepted Powell’s plea and said that she could not withdraw it. Powell was sentenced to six years’ probation, a $6,000 fine and $2,700 restitution. She will also be required to “testify truthfully” in future proceedings and must turn over any documents requested by the district attorney’s office.  

    CNN’s Marshall Cohen reports that as part of her guilty plea, Powell will be required to testify at future trials and write an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia, prosecutors said at a hearing Thursday.”

    Powell is the second of 19 co-defendants in the case to plead guilty. 

    Powell was indicted on seven charges in August, accusing her and the others of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act statute by entering a months-long conspiracy to try to keep Donald Trump in the White House following the 2020 election. 

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

    Democrat Billionaire Admits He Was Wrong About Trump

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    5
    Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Silicon Valley venture capital investor Chamath Palihapitiya, who voted for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, is changing his tune about Donald Trump.

    American Wire has more:

    “For where every other president found a way to frankly make our situation a little bit worse, specifically around wars, he did not do that. And that is a huge accomplishment that needs to be acknowledged,” he said Monday on the “All-In Podcast” he cohosts.

    “As a Democrat, who has been left homeless, who is now definitely in the center, but probably leaning increasingly right, I’m left yet again with an appreciation, despite the messenger of the message, of the Trump administration, because what those guys did, was pretty incredible,” Palihapitiya observed.

    “These Abraham Accords, the accords with Israel and the GCC, the almost accord between Israel and Saudi, to really be able to like find a long-lasting peace is just a real example for the world. And those guys did a lot of really great work,” Palihapitiya said.

    “This is a moment when you have to start to re-underwrite, is one’s ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ causing more damage than anything President Trump could have done? And I think the answer is yes, because it is now causing us to not see that good work, and then embrace and extend it,” he added. “So much of the work that happened in that administration turned out to have been right, and that is what is so frustrating for me.”

    “The work on the border wall, we didn’t like the messenger, so, we killed the message. Turned out it was right,” Palihapitiya noted. “Issuing long-term debt to refinance when rates were at zero. We didn’t like the messenger, so we killed the message. A structural peace deal in the Middle East. We didn’t like the messenger, so we killed the message. When are we going to stop shooting ourselves in the foot? When are we going to actually take the time to look past who was saying things and actually listen to them word for word?”

    Trump Doxxes Dem Attorney General After Being Hit With Gag Order

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    10
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Trump could be in deep trouble now…

    On Tuesday, the former president lashed out at New York Attorney General Letitia James over the current fraud trial before posting a link to her home address despite already being under a gag order in the case.

    Trump’s Truth Social post contained his usual insults against the Democrat prosecutor but added a little extra spice to the message:

    Her Fake Case against me should be dropped immediately! My Financial Statements are extremely conservative, and her numbers were way off, including the fact that she undervalued Mar-a-Lago and Doral by Billions of Dollars. She also didn’t reveal the 100% Disclaimer Clause at the front of the Financial Statements, and that she sued me under a Statute that was never used before. MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE AND ELECTION INTERFERENCE ALL WRAPPED UP IN ONE!

    Mediaite has more:

    The post included a link to a smear piece by white nationalist Laura Loomer that featured documents that showed a home address for Attorney General James. The link is to a Loomer substack post.

    According to the gag order imposed earlier this week, Trump is specifically prohibited from attacking the court’s staff.

    Engoron said in court, “Consider this statement an order forbidding all parties from posting, emailing or speaking publicly about any members of my staff. Failure to abide by this … will result in serious sanctions.”

    Trump Appeals Gag Order in Jan. 6 Case

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    4
    Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    The day after the federal judge overseeing Donald Trump’s election interference case agreed to a “narrow” gag order the former President’s team is seeking an appeal.

    According to reports from The Hill, Trump’s legal team is expected to challenge the order on First Amendment grounds, as the former president has complained the order unfairly restricts his freedom of speech.

    On Monday, Judge Tanya Chutkan issued the ruling barring the former President from targeting witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and their families.

    Judge Tanya Chutkan said Trump’s status as a candidate did not give him authority to level a “smear campaign” against those involved in the case, saying that “1st amendment protections yield to the administration of justice and to the protection of witnesses.”

    During the hearing, Chutkan particularly raised concerns over Trump’s statements calling special counsel Jack Smith a deranged thug.

    “I cannot imagine any other criminal case where a defendant is allowed to call a prosecutor deranged or a thug,” she said.

    “I will not permit it here simply because the defendant is running a political campaign,” Chutkan added.

    A Trump campaign spokesperson connected the decision to President Biden immediately after the ruling was made, who had no role in the decision or in Trump’s court cases, and called the ruling “an absolute abomination and another partisan knife stuck in the heart of our Democracy.”

    “President Trump will continue to fight for our Constitution, the American people’s right to support him, and to keep our country free of the chains of weaponized and targeted law enforcement,” the spokesperson said in a statement shared by the campaign.

    Trump Sues Ex-spy Over Debunked Dossier

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    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.

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