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Judge Again Blocks Biden From Violating 1st Amendment

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Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

ANALYSIS – Even when presented with overwhelming evidence that Team Biden colluded intimately with Big Tech social media companies to censor conservative Americans, the White House doubled down on violating the 1st Amendment. 

As I wrote last week, on July 4th a federal judge blocked “federal agencies from communicating with Big Tech firms to censor posts.”

This, after a lawsuit against the Biden administration by three Republican state Attorney Generals (AGs).

According to the judge, Terry A. Doughty, the AGs “have produced evidence of a massive effort by Defendants, from the White House to federal agencies, to suppress speech based on its content.” 

“If the allegations made by plaintiffs are true, the present case arguably involves the most massive attack against free speech in United States history,” Doughty wrote in his preliminary injunction against more than 40 administration officials. 

“In their attempts to suppress alleged disinformation, the federal government, and particularly the defendants named here, are alleged to have blatantly ignored the First Amendment’s right to free speech.”

Please note – ‘disinformation’ is any information the left and Team Biden don’t like.

This is serious constitutional stuff. One would think the White House might say, “ok, we overstepped a bit.”

But not Team Biden.

Using the Orwellian doublespeak, the left always uses to hide the truth, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “We are going to continue to promote responsible actions.” 

She added: “That is something that we’re going to continue to do to make sure we protect public health and make sure there is safety and security.”

Using similar verbiage, the Department of Justice announced later that same day that it would appeal the decision, to protect public health, safety, and security.

Basically, Team Biden said, we don’t care, we want to keep violating the Constitution and censoring our opponents. And we are going to request an emergency order from the judge to do it.

The Daily Caller reported:

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Louisiana Attorney General Jeffrey Landry opposed the Biden administration’s attempt to stop the injunction in a court filing Sunday, writing the administration was essentially asking to “continue violating the First Amendment.”

“In essence, Defendants argue that the injunction should be stayed because it might interfere with the Government’s ability to continue working with social-media companies to censor Americans’ core political speech on the basis of viewpoint,” they wrote in the court filing. “In other words, the Government seeks a stay of the injunction so that it can continue violating the First Amendment.”

Thankfully, on Monday the same federal judge blocked Biden again, denying the administration’s attempt to pause the injunction. 

The Washington Post reported that Judge Doughty noted again that the plaintiffs (the state AGs) would likely succeed in proving the government colluded with social media companies “to engage in viewpoint-based suppression of protected free speech.”

Responding to the hysteria surrounding his initial injunction, Doughty also wrote:

Although this Preliminary Injunction involves numerous agencies, it is not as broad as it appears. “It only prohibits something the Defendants have no legal right to do—contacting social media companies for the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner, the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech posted on social-media platforms. 

Rejecting the administration’s argument that the order could chill law enforcement activity to protect national security, the judge added that It also contains numerous exceptions for communications related to criminal activity, explicit dangers to national security, and foreign election interference.

Meanwhile, this important battle will continue as the AGs’ lawsuit works its way through the legal system.

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

DeSantis Addresses Campaign Struggles ‘Narrative’

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Ron DeSantis via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Florida Governor and presidential contender Ron DeSantis (R) is addressing claims his campaign has faltered head-on.

DeSantis made the remarks during an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” with host Maria Bartiromo.

“These are narratives. The media does not want me to be the nominee,” he said. “I think that’s very, very clear. Why? Because they know I’ll beat Biden. But even more importantly, they know I will actually deliver on all these things. We will stop the invasion at the border, we’ll take on the drug cartels, we’ll curtail the administrative state, we’ll get spending under control. We’ll do all the things that they don’t want to see done.”

The Florida Governor said that national primary polls were effectively useless because the primary is not national and it takes place over a series of months, not all on one day.

“I can tell you we understand this is a state-by-state process,” he said. “We’ve had incredible support in the early states building an organization, signing up the key people that you need to be able to compete in a place like Iowa. We just launched our ‘Mamas Movement’. My wife was in Iowa with Governor Kim Reynolds launching that.”

“Nobody has been a better champion for those folks than me,” he said. “And I would just also point out, you know, my re-election in Florida we had the greatest victory that any Republican governor candidate in the history of the state had, and yet a few months before the election I had media saying that somehow my re-election campaign was stalling, that we weren’t doing anything. And so we’re doing what it takes to win.”

“And, oh, by the way, we just announced last week better fundraising than any non-incumbent has ever had if you look at what was reported, it was about $150 million, and that hasn’t even been deployed yet,” he continued. “We’ve got a long way to go. I’m looking forward to being able to participate in the debates, but this is not something that, you know, I ever expected to just snap fingers and all of a sudden, you know, you win seven months before anything happens. You’ve got to work, and it requires a lot of toil and tears and sweat, and we’re going to do that.”

Last week, a prominent pro-DeSantis spokesman said he was concerned about the Florida Governor’s ability to overtake Donald Trump.

“Right now in national polling we are way behind, I’ll be the first to admit that,” said Cortes. “I believe in being blunt and honest. It’s an uphill battle but clearly Donald Trump is the runaway frontrunner.”

Mark Levin Loses It In Livid Monologue On Biden DOJ

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

Fox News firebrand Mark Levin fired off some harsh accusations against President Biden’s Department of Justice on Sunday.

During the latest airing of Life, Liberty, and Levin, the host honed in on the number of leaks that have been made to the media in Trump’s ongoing legal cases.

“This department is destroying America. It’s destroying the 2024 election. It’s violating every norm, every tradition, everything it inherited to ensure that that department could be trustworthy and could be reliable,” Levin said. “And I want to say this. If we don’t break the back of the Department of Justice, and I will explain what I mean in a moment, it will destroy this country.”

Levin then begins reading headlines from the New York Times, CNN, and the Washington Post about leaks regarding Trump’s legal cases.

“Who do these leaks help? Do they help Donald Trump? Do they help a single witness? It’s the federal government. It is the Biden Department of Justice. It is the Democrat Party’s Department of Justice that’s interfering in the election.

“Look at this! You see this?! These are the leaks! From grand juries to witnesses to Mar a Lago to the nature of the classified documents,” Levin adds. “Leak after leak after leak!”

Levin then claims that the “pattern of leaks” violates Trump’s 5th and 6th Amendment rights as well as contaminates the jury pool in the upcoming cases.

“All roads go through the Department of Justice. All roads go through Jack Smith‘s office, the special counsel,” Levin screams. “Now the Trump lawyers need to wake the hell up to do something about this.”

Special Counsel Jack Smith has charged the former President with 47 counts, if convicted Trump could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Activists Seek to Disqualify Trump From 2024 Ballot

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Two activist groups want to keep former President Donald Trump from the White House by any means necessary.

The groups say secretaries of state are empowered by the 14th Amendment to bar Trump from running for office because of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. The groups are calling their campaign “Trump is Disqualified,” and are timing it to coincide with the 155th anniversary of the 14th Amendment.

The Hill has more:

Starting Sunday, Mi Familia Vota and Free Speech for People will stage a week of rallies and banner drops outside the offices of the secretaries of state of California, Oregon, Colorado and Georgia.

The groups also penned a letter to Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar last month, calling on him to block Trump under what’s known as the Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause.

“We’re really focusing on Nevada and California and [Oregon, Colorado and Georgia] to make sure that they are taking a stand by disqualifying Trump in those spaces, which is something that the secretary of state can do,” said Héctor Sánchez, executive director of Mi Familia Vota.

“Trump is responsible for the January 6th insurrection, plain and simple,” said Alexandra Flores-Quilty, campaign director for Free Speech For People. 

“Failing to hold him responsible not only violates the Constitution, but it also sets a dangerous precedent for permitting violent attacks on our democracy. That’s not a risk we can afford to take.”

Secretaries of state are charged with certifying eligibility of candidates and counting the votes in their state. Though Trump has been indicted twice and is under investigation in other cases, the groups say those are not disqualifying facts under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

Trump Valet Pleads Not Guilty in Mar-A-Lago Case

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Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

On Thursday, former President Donald Trump’s valet Walt Nauta pleaded not guilty in a Miami, FL courtroom over his role in the ongoing Mar-A-Lago classified documents case.

Nauta, a former White House military valet, is facing charges on six counts in the case after he was spotted on security cameras moving boxes in and out of the storage room at Trump’s Florida residence according to The Hill.

Court filings describe Nauta as moving boxes in advance of a visit by former Trump attorney Evan Corcoran, who was set to retrieve documents in order to comply with a subpoena from the Justice Department seeking the return of all records with classified markings.

Nauta is accused of coordinating with Trump to conceal the documents from Corcoran and investigators.  

Nauta appeared in court alongside Trump on June 13, but was not arraigned as he had yet to secure counsel in Florida.

Nauta, who remains a valet to Trump, has been ordered not to discuss the case with the former president except through their attorneys.

This story is breaking. Click refresh to stay updated on the latest news.

Republican Hopeful Refuses to Sign RNC Pledge to Support 2024 Nominee

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Former Texas Congressman William Hurd is refusing to sign on to the rules laid out by the Republican National Committee (RNC) to support the 2024 presidential nominee, therefore disqualifying him from the 2024 debate stage.

In an appearance on CNN, Hurd, who has positioned himself as a centrist, anti-Trump contender for the Republican nomination, said that he was fine meeting all the other criteria for attending the Republican presidential debates, but would not pledge to support Trump if he is the eventual nominee.

“That’s right,” he answered when asked if it was true that he would not pledge to support the eventual 2024 Republican nominee. “I’m gonna work towards hitting all the requirements, but I can’t lie to get access to a microphone.”

“I’ve taken one oath, and that’s to protect the Constitution,” he continued. “I’m not going to support Donald Trump. I recognize the impact that it has on on on my ability to get access to the debate stage, but I can’t lie. It’ll be easy to say I’ll do it, and then when it comes down, you know, change your mind. But I just can’t, I can’t do that.”

The RNC laid out its requirements for Republican candidates to secure a spot on the debate stage last month. In the RNC rules, candidates must poll at least 1% in three national polls, sign a pledge to support whoever the 2024 nominee ends up being, and reach a minimum of 40,000 unique donors, among other qualifications.

Hurd, one of the most recent entries into the Republican field, fails to register in most recent polls. 

Report: Koch-Linked Group Reportedly Raised Over $70 Million to Bring Down Trump

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Gage Skidmore Flickr

As former President Trump continues to dominate in the polls some powerful Republicans are desperate to prevent another term in the White House.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that the “political network established by the conservative industrialists Charles and David Koch” raised the eye-popping sum ahead of its decision to work to actively influence the GOP presidential primary for the time in its 20 years.

“The network spent nearly $500 million supporting Republican candidates and conservative policies in the 2020 election cycle alone,” the Times wrote of Americans for Prosperity Action adding this cycle will be the first time it “throws its weight into” the primary – with the aim of stopping Trump.

“Two groups closely affiliated with Charles Koch contributed $50 million of the more than $70 million that has been raised,” reported the Times article

The article added:

The Koch Network’s goal in the 2024 presidential primaries, which has been described only indirectly in written internal communications, is to stop Mr. Trump from winning the Republican nomination. In February, a top political official in the network, Emily Seidel, wrote a memo to donors and activists saying it was time to ‘have a president in 2025 who represents a new chapter.’

Trump Sues E. Jean Carroll for Defamation

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against E. Jean Carroll this week for defamation.

The lawsuit comes after a federal jury in New York City ruled last month that Trump was not liable for rape but was liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The former president vowed to appeal the ruling, according to Fox News.

Trump’s lawyers Alina Habba and Michael Madaio filed the lawsuit this week said the rape “clearly was not committed,” pointing to the jury verdict last month.

Habba and Madaio said that Carroll’s “repeated falsehoods and defamatory statements” have brought “significant harm” to Trump’s reputation, which has “yielded an inordinate amount of damages sustained as a result.”

Habba and Madaio is demanding Carroll “retract her defamatory statements” against the former president; deny all relief and purported damages sought by Carroll; and award Trump “compensatory and punitive damages.”

Habba and Madaio also demanded Trump be awarded “counsel fees, costs, and any further relief as this Court may be deem just and proper.”

Carroll, 79, alleged that Trump raped her at the Bergdorf Goodman department store across the street from Trump Tower in Manhattan sometime in 1996. 

 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.

In an exclusive interview last month just after the jury delivered the verdict, Trump told Fox News Digital that he has “absolutely no idea who this woman is.”

“This verdict is a disgrace,” he told Fox News Digital. “It is a continuation of the greatest political witch hunt in history.”

Carroll has a second defamation suit against Trump that will go to trial early next year.

Fox News Host Suggests Trump is Behind Leaked Audio Footage

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

The plot thickens…

On Tuesday, Fox News host Steve Doocy suggested former President Trump may have been behind the leak of an audio recording showing Trump talking about his handling of classified documents.

In newly obtained audio former president Donald Trump can be heard discussing classified documents with people not cleared to have access to the highly sensitive information.

On Monday’s edition of Anderson Cooper 360, the host claimed that the audio from 2021, exposes Trump sharing US military war plans against Iran despite the former president telling Fox News host Bret Baier earlier this month that there was no such document. (RELATED: Trump Responds After New Audio Tapes Discussing Classified Docs Surface)

“You know what? If Trump thinks it’s an exoneration of him, perhaps somebody on his side actually did the leaking to CNN and Maggie Haberman,” Doocy said Tuesday morning.

“That makes sense,” co-host Brian Kilmeade chimed in.

“It does, actually,” Doocy said. “He’s admitting he’s got classified documents.”

Trump was federally indicted earlier this month in connection to his handling of classified documents. He said Monday night the audio is “actually an exoneration” and accused the Department of Justice of intentionally leaking the recording.

“The Deranged Special Prosecutor, Jack Smith, working in conjunction with the DOJ & FBI, illegally leaked and ‘spun’ a tape and transcript of me which is actually an exoneration, rather than what they would have you believe,” he said in a post on Truth Social

Former Navy SEAL Issues Challenge to Montana Dem Senator

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Former Navy SEAL officer Tim Sheehy launched a Senate bid in Montana on Tuesday.

“I’ve proudly fought for our country to defend our freedoms, and I’m once again answering the call to serve,” Sheehy, a Republican, said in a statement. “I will fight to bring real leadership to Washington to save our country and protect our Montana way of life.”

Sheehy, who serves as CEO of Bridger Aerospace, accused Tester of having “lost sight of our Montana values.”

“Like any good politician, Jon talks one way but votes another,” Sheehy said. “Montanans have had enough of these career politicians who are full of empty promises and are not representing our Montana values. It’s time for a new generation of leadership to rebuild America.”

The former Navy SEAL officer has received the endorsement of fellow Montanan and head of the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.). Sheehy’s announcement marks the first Republican to jump into the race, potentially teeing up a fight against incumbent Sen. Jon Tester.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) threw his support behind former Navy SEAL officer Tim Sheehy on Thursday in the race to take on Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) next year.

“Tim Sheehy is a good friend, and I’m glad he decided to run for the U.S. Senate. Tim’s business experience and commitment to public service is what we need in Washington,” Gianforte said in a statement shared by Sheehy’s campaign.

“I know Tim Sheehy will serve Montana well in the U.S. Senate, and he has my full support,” he added.