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Evangelist Franklin Graham Refuses to Endorse Trump in GOP Primary Race

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Rev. Franklin Graham via Wikimedia Commons

Prominent Evangelical pastor Franklin Graham and longtime supporter of former President Trump is staying out of politics, at least until after the primary.

Graham told CBS News that it was an “easy decision” not to endorse someone during the 2024 primaries.

“I’m going to stay out of it until after the primaries have finished,” Graham told CBS News on Friday at the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C.

Graham, who is the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, has previously defended Trump, saying that “God was behind” Trump’s election win in 2016 and that Trump “defends the faith.”

“I’m just not going to get involved in supporting this one over that one,” he said to CBS News on Friday. “Let’s just let the people decide. And when the dust is settled, I’ll make a decision on that point.”

Graham’s comments come as tensions have been rising between evangelical groups and Trump in the months after he announced his third bid for president. Recently, Trump said in an interview that evangelical leaders are showing “signs of disloyalty” because they have yet to endorse his 2024 campaign.

During an interview for “The Water Cooler,” Trump lashed out against evangelical leaders for staying silent over his 2024 campaign. Trump is specifically upset he has yet to receive endorsements from more of these leaders, including pastor and prominent televangelist Robert Jeffress.

“That’s a sign of disloyalty. There’s a great disloyalty in the world of politics and that’s a sign of disloyalty,” the former president told The Water Cooler host David Brody.

MAGA Congressman Threatens to Resign if Republicans Strike Deal with Democrats

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

As the 118th Congress reconvenes for the fourth day with no Speaker some lawmakers can feel the desperation in the air.

As House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy heads into what will be the twelfth round of voting one of the more boisterous detractors says he is prepared to resign from Congress if Republicans strike a deal with Democrats to support a more moderate candidate.

“These 212 Democrats are going to vote for Hakeem Jeffries every single time. He’s a historic candidate. They’re not going to cleave off,” Gaetz told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham on Thursday when asked if he thought centrist Democrats would back McCarthy if they were promised co-control of House committees.

“If Democrats join up to elect a moderate Republican, I will resign,” Gaetz continued.

Gaetz, who has voted against McCarthy’s nomination during each round of voting says that no concessions the California Republican offers swill be enough to sway his vote.

“He’s the masthead of the lobby core. I resent to which Kevin McCarthy utilizes the lobbyists and the special interests to be able to dictate how political decisions are made. How policy decisions are made, how leadership decisions are made. Kevin McCarthy has been in the leadership for 14 years. He’s sold shares of himself to special interests, to political action committees, and that’s why I don’t think he’s right.”

The Florida Congressman, who cast his vote for Donald Trump for Speaker during Thursday’s round of voting, says that he believes Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) could garner 218 votes if McCarthy withdraws from consideration.

“If Kevin McCarthy got out of this race, Jim Jordan would get into it,” Gaetz said. “And I believe he would win and invigorate our movement. He’s broadly trusted in every corner of the Republican Party and with a lot of our donors and supporters and activists. That’s the type of option if McCarthy bows out.”

Thursday evening McCarthy indicated he may have a path to Speaker after all. A new deal has emerged that McCarthy hopes will propel him forward.

Lawmakers said the framework gives members of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) who have been resisting McCarthy virtually everything they’ve been asking for. That includes a stronger HFC representation on key House committees, guardrails aimed at curbing excessive federal spending, and allowing just a single member of the House to make a motion to replace the speaker, lawmakers familiar with the framework told Fox News.

Trump Co-defendant Carlos de Oliveira Released on Bond

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Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

Former President Donald Trump’s newest co-defendant in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case was released on bond Monday.

Carlos de Oliveira was released on a $100,000 bond after an initial court appearance Monday, according to The Hill. He is facing obstruction of justice charges as well as charges for making false statements to investigators. 

De Oliveira was named as a co-conspirator in the case in a Thursday superseding indictment that accused the Mar-a-Lago property manager of coordinating with Trump to attempt to delete security camera footage that showed him and another defendant in the case, Walt Nauta, moving boxes in and out of a storage room. 

Trump accused the Justice Department of “prosecutorial misconduct” in a statement to Fox News. (RELATED: Special Counsel Charges Third Defendant, Adds Additional Charges in Document Case)

“It’s election interference at the highest level,” Trump told Fox News Digital just after he learned of the latest indictment. “They’re harassing my company, they’re harassing my family and by far, least importantly of all, they’re harassing me.” 

Trump told Fox News Digital that “the charges are ridiculous, and they know it better than anyone.”

“This is prosecutorial misconduct used at a level never seen before,” Trump said. “If I weren’t leading Biden by a lot in numerous polls, and wasn’t going to be the Republican nominee, it wouldn’t be happening. It wouldn’t be happening.” 

He added: “But I am way up as a Republican and way up in the general election and this is what you get.”

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

Report: Trump ‘Workshopping’ Three More Nickname Names For DeSantis, Digging Up ‘Dirt’ On His Wife

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Is this as low as Donald Trump can go?

Former President Trump is reportedly workshopping multiple new disparaging nicknames for Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis as the race for the White House begins to heat up, despite the fact DeSantis has not even thrown his hat into the ring.

According to The Daily Wire, Bloomberg News senior reporter Jennifer Jacobs tweeted a report authored by Nancy Cook which said that Trump is spending “much of his and his team’s time” on complaining about a lack of media coverage, what he claims was a stolen election, and trying to come up with new names for DeSantis, who is widely expected to enter the presidential race in the coming months.

Jacobs said that, according to Trump’s allies, the former president is considering trying to label DeSantis as “Ron DisHonest,” “Ron DeEstablishment,” or “Tiny D.”

The report added that Trump is trying to “dig up dirt” on DeSantis’ wife, recent breast cancer survivor Casey DeSantis, who has three children with the governor.

“If you want to know who Ron DeSantis really is, when I was diagnosed with cancer, and I was facing the battle for my life, he was the dad who took care of my children when I couldn’t,” Casey DeSantis said.

“He was there to pick me off of the ground when I literally could not stand,” she added. “He was there to fight for me when I didn’t have the strength to fight for myself.”

Trump has repeatedly launched attacks against the Florida Governor, sometimes referring to the lawmaker as “Ron DeSanctimonious.”

Last month, a reporter asked if DeSantis’s proposal to make it easier for government officials to sue the media for defamation would address Trump’s “damaging” posts about him. After defending his panel proposals, DeSantis got more direct about Trump’s attack:

“I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden,” DeSantis said to applause. “That’s how I spend my time. I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans.”

Classified Documents Discovered with Former President Mike Pence

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Mike Pence via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Former Vice President Mike Pence has informed Congress that he discovered documents bearing classified markings in his Carmel, Indiana, home on Jan. 16 from his time as vice president. 

According to reports from Fox News, Pence’s team informed the National Archives on Jan. 18 of a small number of potentially classified documents found in two small boxes. Another two boxes contained copies of vice presidential papers.

Pence’s team said that after the documents with classified markings were discovered, they were immediately put into a safe.

Next, the National Archives informed the FBI per standard procedure.

Pence attorney Greg Jacob wrote on Jan. 18 to Acting Director Kate Dillon McClure of the White House Liaison Division National Archives and Records Administration to inform her of the papers “containing classified markings.”

The documents were collected by the FBI at Pence’s home in Carmel, Indiana, on Thursday evening, Jan. 19. Pence was in Washington, D.C. for the annual March for Life when the FBI collected the documents.

Pence’s team said that although the documents bear classified markings, the Department of Justice or the agency that issues the documents will need to make a final determination on whether the documents are considered classified or not.

According to Pence’s attorney Greg Jacob in a letter to Chief Operating Officer William “Jay” Bosanko of the National Archives and Records Administration on Jan. 22, the DOJ departed from its standard procedures that it ran with Biden, when it requested direct possession of the documents on Jan. 19.

The discovery comes after classified documents from President Biden’s tenure as vice president were found at the Penn Biden Center think tank and Wilmington, Delaware.

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

Texas Begins Construction of Makeshift Border Barrier

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CBP Photography, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Don’t mess with Texas.

The Lone Star state is taking matters into its own hands and creating its own defense against illegal immigration. According to Gov. Greg Abbott, the state is using shipping containers in addition to other measures along the El Paso border to build a border wall.

The move comes as El Paso saw an average of 2,400 migrants per day entering over one seven-day period, leading the city to declare an emergency. 

“Texas is adding shipping containers to the US-Mexico border in El Paso,” Abbott tweeted on Wednesday. “This is in addition to the razor wire and National Guard. Together, the strategies are causing illegal immigration at that location to plummet.”

Abbott’s announcement also came shortly after he provided an update to announce that Texas has bused 15,900 migrants to sanctuary cities in 2022.

Abbott shared the update in a Twitter post with details on the number of migrants sent to each of the four included cities. The totals included over 8,900 migrants bused to Washington, D.C., over 4,900 to New York City, over 1,500 to Chicago, and over 690 to Philadelphia.

Gov. Abbott linked to a San Antonio Fox 29 report on the barrier:

Shipping containers were placed next to the Rio Grande in El Paso in hopes of diverting people crossing.

In El Paso, the state of Texas lined up new shipping containers.

The Lone Star state seems to be following the lead of Arizona which also used shipping containers to form a makeshift border wall to fill gaps left unresolved by the Biden administration.

The Biden administration eventually sued the state of Arizona to remove the containers, claiming the state trespassed into federal lands.

Sheriff Lamb on Border Security: ‘Go Back to the Trump-era Policies’

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Pinal County, AZ Sheriff Mark Lamb attends the Federation for American Immigration Reform's 15th annual "Hold Their Feet To The Fire" media event in Washington, DC.

The Federation For American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is currently hosting its annual two-day event – “Hold Their Feet to the Fire” – which is a gathering of radio show hosts, members of Congress, dozens of immigration activists, and even a few non-radio media members including your very own American Liberty News – who were invited to attend the event this year. The purpose of the event is to have the tough conversations about immigration that most in the mainstream media refuse to have.

Sheriff Mark Lamb of Pinal County, Arizona – and of Live PD and 60 Days In fame – was one of this year’s attendees. Pinal County is located between the cities of Phoenix and Tuscon.

I had the chance to ask Sheriff Lamb a few questions today and get his thoughts on why he had come to Washington this year to share the extreme impacts of illegal immigration that he sees every day back home in Arizona, as well as what Washington can do about it.

When asked about specific policies Washington could enact to make the lives of Sheriffs like himself easier, Lamb first pinpointed what he sees as “a key problem in this country” – “that we don’t understand the three branches of government anymore. ” Each branch is in place do their job and from the Sheriff’s perspective – that’s not currently happening.

The number one problem that his officers face every day, Lamb said was Fentanyl, an issue that President Biden and most Washigton, D.C. politicians rarely touch on. Most Fentanyl that comes into the United States makes it through Pinal County, due to the I-10 corridor. Lamb praised the brave officers in his department who are on that interstate every day trying to stop the flow of drugs, as well as humans beings who are also smuggled through his jurisdiction illegally.

Still, he emphasized that fentanyl is the leading cause of death amongst Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. Last year in Arizona, Lamb told me there were 33 children who died from fentanyl – seven of them were under the age of one.

When prompted, Lamb said he would welcome a visit from Biden as he could not recall a time when Biden had visited the border – either during his time as President or tenure as Vice President. “I do not agree with these guys at all, but I have respect for the positions of President and Vice President.”

The Sheriff’s first and foremost request to the Administration is simple, he “would actually like to see them do their job – protect our border, secure it.” The easiest thing they can do is first “go back to the Trump-era policies, as we know those worked.” He said that the Biden Administration should should “start there, and then build from there.” In another effort to highlight the differences between the current Administration and their predecessors, Lamb said that he wants to see partnerships restored between federal agencies and the local agencies. He emphasized a stark difference between the “open line of communication that existed under Trump”, and the lack of communication he experiences now.

Attorney General Appoints Special Counsel to Investigate Biden

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Chuck Kennedy for The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Things are heating up for Joe Biden.

New reports indicate a second batch of classified documents has been recovered from President Biden’s garage in Wilmington, Delaware. The first batch of documents dating back to the Obama administration was uncovered inside the Washington offices of the Penn Biden Center think tank.

“Lawyers discovered among personal and political papers a small number of additional Obama-Biden administration records with classified markings. All but one of these documents were found in storage space in the President’s Wilmington residence garage,” White House lawyers wrote in a Thursday statement. “One document consisting of one page was discovered among stored materials in an adjacent room.”

The second discovery triggered the Justice Department to escalate to a special counsel investigation from a mere review. In a special press conference, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed former United State Attorney Robert Hur to handle the investigation.

Fox News reporter Peter Doocy pressed the President over the second batch of documents on Thursday.

“Classified documents next to your Corvette? What were you thinking?” Doocy asked.

“I’m going to get the chance to speak on all of this, God willing it’ll be soon, but I said earlier this week — and by the way my Corvette is in a locked garage. It’s not like it’s sitting out in the street,” Biden responded.

“So the documents were in a locked garage,” Doocy prompted.

“Yes, as well as my Corvette. But as I said earlier this week, people know I take classified documents and classified material seriously,” Biden said. “I also said we’re cooperating fully and completely with the Justice Department’s review.”

Trump’s Former Chief of Staff Subpoenaed in Jan. 6 Investigation

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Office of Congressman Mark Meadows, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows has been issued a subpoena in the special counsel’s ongoing investigation into Trump’s alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.

Reports indicate special counsel Jack Smith issued the subpoena to Meadows in January. Smith is seeking documents and testimony related to the Jan. 6 riot.

The subpoena of Meadows follows the recent subpoena of former Vice President Mike Pence.

Pence has vowed to fight the subpoena from the DOJ, saying he was prepared to go to the Supreme Court if it was necessary.

“I’m going to fight the Biden DOJ’s subpoena for me to appear before the grand jury because I believe it’s unconstitutional, and it’s unprecedented,” Pence told reporters after an event in Iowa on Wednesday.

As Great America News Desk previously reported:

PENCE ALLIES SAY HE IS COVERED BY THE CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION THAT PROTECTS CONGRESSIONAL OFFICIALS FROM LEGAL PROCEEDINGS RELATED TO THEIR WORK — LANGUAGE KNOWN AS THE “SPEECH OR DEBATE” CLAUSE. THE CLAUSE, PENCE ALLIES SAY, LEGALLY BINDS FEDERAL PROSECUTORS FROM COMPELLING PENCE TO TESTIFY ABOUT THE CENTRAL COMPONENTS OF SMITH’S INVESTIGATION. IF PENCE TESTIFIES, THEY SAY, IT COULD JEOPARDIZE THE SEPARATION OF POWERS THAT THE CONSTITUTION SEEKS TO SAFEGUARD.

“HE THINKS THAT THE ‘SPEECH OR DEBATE’ CLAUSE IS A CORE PROTECTION FOR ARTICLE I, FOR THE LEGISLATURE,” SAID ONE OF THE TWO PEOPLE FAMILIAR WITH PENCE’S THINKING, WHO SPOKE ON CONDITION OF ANONYMITY TO DISCUSS HIS LEGAL STRATEGY. “HE FEELS IT REALLY GOES TO THE HEART OF SOME SEPARATION OF POWERS ISSUES. HE FEELS DUTY-BOUND TO MAINTAIN THAT PROTECTION, EVEN IF IT MEANS LITIGATING IT.”

This story is developing. Click refresh for the latest updates.

Kari Lake Appeals Key Court Dismissal

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Kari Lake speaking with supporters at a "Stand for Freedom" rally at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Scottsdale Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. [Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons]

Kari Lake won’t go down without a fight.

The 2022 Arizona gubernatorial hopeful has filed an appeals notice to overturn an Arizona judge’s decision to dismiss her election contest.

According to The Washington Examiner, in the appeal filed with Arizona Superior Court on Tuesday, the Republican challenged the dismissal of several counts that were thrown out by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson over the weekend.

In his decision, Thompson ruled Lake’s campaign did not have sufficient evidence to support her claims that the election was influenced by intentional misconduct that handed Hobbs the victory.

“I am standing up for the people of this state, the people who were done wrong on Election Day, and the millions of people who live outside of Maricopa County, whose vote was watered down by this bogus election in Maricopa County,” Lake told Steve Bannon on his War Room podcast on Tuesday.

Lake signaled her intent to appeal the judge’s decision shortly after her lawsuit was thrown out, claiming her “election case provided the world with evidence that proves our elections are run outside of the law.”

Earlier this week, Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs (D) requested the judge sanction Lake.

Maricopa County and Hobbs argued Lake and her team should have known that they had no evidence to successfully mount an election challenge. They also noted the Republican’s refusal to commit to accepting the election results prior to the midterms citing a since-deleted tweet Lake issued on Monday accusing the judge of integrity violations. 

On Wednesday, Lake avoided being found liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees incurred by Arizona Governor-elect Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County after a judge rejected pleas to sanction the losing gubernatorial candidate. 

Arizona Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson ruled Tuesday that Lake must pay $33,000 for the expert witnesses hired by Hobbs in defense of her Nov. 8 election victory.