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    Republican Governor Blames Jan. 6 Panel After Phone Gets Hacked

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1

    South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is furious after her personal phone number was leaked.

    The Republican Governor said her phone was hacked following the release of her and her family’s personal information, including her social security number, by the House Jan. 6 committee. 

    “Callous mishandling of personal information has real world consequences,” Noem said in a statement. “If you get such a phone call from my number, know that I had no involvement.”

    Noem said that South Dakota’s Fusion Center, a state agency that compiles criminal intelligence, has been notified of the cell phone hack.

    Noem said she also has asked U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Congress to investigate the leak.

    Earlier this month, The Washington Post reported nearly 2,000 Social Security numbers of former President Trump’s closest allies, including former Cabinet members and Republican governors, were disclosed in a spreadsheet that the committee posted along with a number of other records. The document has since been taken down.  

    Classified Documents Discovered with Former President Mike Pence

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    4
    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.

    Evangelist Franklin Graham Refuses to Endorse Trump in GOP Primary Race

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    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.

    New GOP Bill Aims to Strengthen SCOTUS Security

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0
    Washington D.C., USA - January 22, 2015; A Pro-Life woman clashes with a group of Pro-Choice demonstrators at the U.S. Supreme Court.

    A proposed bill aims to strengthen the integrity of the Supreme Court and would impose strict punishments on leakers.

    House Republicans are proposing a stiff fine and a lifetime ban from the federal court system for employees who leak draft Supreme Court opinions.

    According to Fox News, Rep. William Timmons, (R-S.C.) proposed the Leak and Lose Act just days after the Supreme Court said it can’t be sure who leaked the draft copy of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization opinion in 2022. 

    Rep. Timmons said his bill would make it more difficult for staff and others to leak Supreme Court documents until they are ready to be formally released.

    “The leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion to the media was a dangerous affront to the highest court in the land and the very bedrock of our judicial system,” Timmons said. “We must take action to ensure something like this never happens again. My legislation, the Leak and Lose Act, will help deter any future leaks and ensure the Supreme Court can continue to uphold the rule of law free from any political pressure.”

    Timmons’ bill says that anyone who removes, conceals or takes other actions with the intent of removing any final or draft opinion before its formal issuance by the Supreme Court will be fined $5,000, and “shall forfeit their admission to all federal courts and shall be ineligible for admission to a federal court for the remainder of their life.”

    Last week, the Supreme Court’s Marshal of the Court released a report that said it was “unable to identify a person responsible” for the leak. But it did say the Supreme Court’s flexible work policies during the COVID pandemic likely created vulnerabilities in the systems in place aimed at keeping documents secure.

    “The pandemic and resulting expansion of the ability to work from home, as well as gaps in the Court’s security policies, created an environment where it was too easy to remove sensitive information from the building and the Court’s IT networks, increasing the risk of both deliberate and accidental disclosures of Court-sensitive information,” the report said.

    The court’s investigation uncovered that some Supreme Court staffers who were interviewed told their spouses about the pending decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The report said the court would review its internal procedures in order to tighten security in order to “mitigate the risk of future incidents.”

    Republican Says ‘Cyber-Criminal’ Stole Nearly $700,000 From Senate Campaign

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2

    A Senate campaign is reeling after nearly $700,000 was stolen by cybercriminals.

    According to an election filing reported by The Daily Wire, $690,000 was reported stolen from Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran’s campaign accounts.

    Moran’s campaign treasurer, Timothy Gottschalk, wrote in a Federal Election Commission filing on December 8, 2022 that money had been taken from the campaign by a “third party cyber criminal.”

    “On November 14, 2022, our office was contacted by Astra Bank to notify us of potentially fraudulent activity concerning recent wire transfers to SRCP Media, Inc. After communications with staff, it was determined that two wires were sent for payment of fraudulent invoices. One wire was sent on October 25, 2022, for $345,000.00, and a second wire on November 9, 2022, for $345,000.00. For a total of $690,000.00,” Gottschalk wrote in the filing, first reported by Raw Story.

    According to Moran’s office, they reported the incident to the Republic County Sheriff’s Office on November 16, before the investigation was turned over to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the FBI.

    “Cybercriminals targeted the accounting firm employed by Moran For Kansas and money was wired to fraudulent bank accounts,” said Tom Brandt, a spokesman for Moran. “As soon as a discrepancy was realized, it was reported to law enforcement.”

    Gottschalk said that $168,184.03 had been recovered on November 23. “We are currently pursuing all avenues available to recover the money and there is an ongoing investigation with the FBI,” Brandt added. 

    Moran was elected to the Senate in 2010 and is the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies for the Appropriations Committee. He is also the ranking member on the Veterans Affairs Committee. 

    Trump Withdraws Lawsuit Against New York AG

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Former President Donald Trump has withdrawn his lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James.

    Trump attorney Honey Rechtin filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice Friday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

    The filing states that Trump “voluntarily dismisses his claims in this action” against James “without prejudice.” 

    Trump filed the lawsuit in November claiming James abused her position as attorney general to “recklessly injure” him, his family and his businesses. Trump alleged James was pursuing “a relentless, pernicious, public, and unapologetic crusade” against him “with the stated goal of destroying him personally, financially, and politically.”

    per reports from The Hill:

    After James filed a civil lawsuit against Trump and his three adult children in September over allegations of business fraud, the former president responded by suing the New York attorney general in November. 

    Trump claimed that James “abused her position as Attorney General for the State of New York to pursue a vendetta” against him.

    In her lawsuit, James accused Trump and his children of falsely inflating and deflating property values to obtain investments and tax and loan benefits, following a three-year investigation into the former president’s business practices.

    This story is breaking and will be updated as more information becomes available.

    White House Correspondents Reportedly Fed Up With Biden Press Secretary

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    9
    White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre holds a press briefing on Friday, July 30, 2021, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Erin Scott)

    There is trouble brewing at the White House.

    New reports signal growing animosity between the White House press corps and Karine Jean-Pierre over her refusal to stray from talking points and her providing false information.

    According to Mediaite, more than a half dozen press corps members told CNN’s Oliver Darcy that “the temperature has gone up a lot in the last few days” in the White House briefing room.

    “She is arguably the least effective White House press secretary of the television era,” said one unnamed reporter who Darcy identified as a White House veteran, though this person did exclude Trump-era press secretaries from that dig.

    Another White House reporter told CNN, “You just get the feeling that you’re wasting your time and whatever is in front of her in the binder is all she is going to say, no matter how many times you ask the question. It’s just a painful waste of time.”

    Pressure has been building in the White House briefing room since last week. On Thursday afternoon, Jean-Pierre repeatedly said that the administration’s search for classified documents had been completed. However, that same night, five additional classified documents were found at President Joe Biden’s Wilmington, DE residence. The Press Sec. did not disclose the discovery of the documents at Friday’s briefing. The information wasn’t revealed until the White House released a statement on Saturday.

    On Tuesday, Jean-Pierre was pressed on whether the discovery of classified documents had been concealed from her or whether she knew about them and intentionally misled the reporters in the room during previous briefings. After multiple, lengthy non-answers, Jean-Pierre finally said she did not know the documents had been recovered ahead of last Friday’s briefing.

    “There is the expectation that when you say something, it’s going to be true,” an unnamed White House correspondent told Darcy. “That’s been the biggest credibility hit for her, it’s answering a question in a way that ends up not being true.”

    Judge Orders Trump and Attorney to Pay Nearly $1 Million Over ‘Bogus’ Clinton Lawsuit

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    15
    Gage Skidmore Flickr

    A federal judge in Florida has ordered Donald J. Trump and one of his lawyers to pay nearly a million dollars in sanctions for filing a frivolous lawsuit against nearly three dozen of Trump’s perceived political rivals, including Hillary Clinton.

    The sanctions, first reported by The New York Times, serve as a significant rebuke of the former president and add to his growing list of legal woes.

    “This case should never have been brought,” U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks wrote in a 46-page ruling. “Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start. No reasonable lawyer would have filed it. Intended for a political purpose, none of the counts of the amended complaint stated a cognizable legal claim.”

    In the Thursday ruling, the judge addressed Trump’s history of using the courts as a cudgel, going back decades in his business career.

    “Mr. Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries,” Judge Middlebrooks wrote. “He is the mastermind of strategic abuse of the judicial process, and he cannot be seen as a litigant blindly following the advice of a lawyer. He knew full well the impact of his actions.”

    Judge Middlebrooks said Mr. Trump’s suit had been “brought in bad faith for an improper purpose” and had “needlessly harmed” the 31 individuals and organizations, including the Democratic National Committee, he had sued “in order to dishonestly advance a political narrative.” The judge added that Mr. Trump’s use of the courts had helped to undermine the public’s confidence in them.

    “A continuing pattern of misuse of the courts by Mr. Trump and his lawyers undermines the rule of law, portrays judges as partisans and diverts resources from those who have suffered actual legal harm,” he wrote.

    The judge said Trump and the lawyer who filed the case for him, Alina Habba, and her firm, Habba Madaio & Associates, are to pay $937,989.39.

    Trump Pressures Zuckerberg to Address Account Freezeout

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    4
    Photo via Pixabay images

    Former President Trump appears ready to rejoin social media.

    According to NBC News, Trump’s campaign is formally petitioning Facebook parent company META to unblock his accounts.

    Facebook and Twitter banned Trump a day after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol as lawmakers certified Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

    Facebook ultimately decided to institute a limited ban on Trump that would come up for review after two years, starting Jan. 7 of this year.

    “We believe that the ban on President Trump’s account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse,” Trump’s campaign wrote in its letter to Meta on Tuesday, according to a copy reviewed by NBC News.

    Trump’s campaign didn’t threaten a lawsuit, as some sources close to Trump thought he would. It instead talked about the importance of free speech and petitioned Meta for a “meeting to discuss President Trump’s prompt reinstatement to the platform.”

    A Meta spokesperson declined to comment about Trump beyond saying the company “will announce a decision in the coming weeks in line with the process we laid out.”

    According to a Trump adviser, who has spoken with him about Facebook and shared the gist of the private conversation with NBC News on condition of anonymity, explained that his campaign is cautiously optimistic Facebook will ultimately honor the two-year ban. However, the source noted the campaign is prepared to engage with House Republicans to advocate on Trump’s behalf and pressure Meta. The adviser said Congress is likely to examine Section 230 of the federal law affecting social media companies.

    “If Facebook wants to have this fight, fine, but the House is leverage, and keeping Trump off Facebook just looks political,” the adviser said, noting that House Democrats like Adam Schiff of California told Facebook last month to keep Trump off the platform.

    Federal Court Hands DeSantis a Win Over His ‘Stop Woke Act’

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Ron DeSantis via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    A federal judge in Florida handed Governor Ron DeSantis a substantial win after ruling that the governor’s administration did not violate a court order regarding the state’s “Stop WOKE Act,” which prohibits colleges from teaching Critical Race Theory and other woke concepts. 

    According to Townhall, plaintiffs attempted to argue that Gov. DeSantis failed to comply with a preliminary injunction that prevents the enforcement of some parts of the law, citing a memo sent out by Florida’s chief of the Office of Policy and Budget, Chris Spencer, asking universities to provide a list of all staff, programs and campus activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory.

    “Although this court would not hesitate to compel compliance with its preliminary injunction, this court finds there has been no violation of the injunction at this time,” U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker wrote in her decision. 

    Judge Walker previously called the law “positively dystopian” while issuing a temporary injunction. 

    In November, Walker wrote, “our professors are critical to a healthy democracy, and the State of Florida’s decision to choose which viewpoints are worthy of illumination and which must remain in the shadows has implications for us all…if our ‘priests of democracy’ are not allowed to shed light on challenging ideas, then democracy will die in darkness.”

    DeSantis’s press secretary Bryan Griffin defended the law, asserting the administration is fulfilling its duty to protect students against overt indoctrination attempts.

    “The governor, as chief executive of the state, has every right to ask how public dollars are being spent by public state entities, like state colleges and universities. In fact, that is good government,” Griffin said. 

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