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GOP Governor Stops Short of Endorsing Donald Trump

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Despite Donald Trump’s early entrance to the 2024 presidential campaign, some Republicans are dedicated to taking the “wait and see” approach to the next election.

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who also previously served as Trump’s press secretary, told Fox News’s Shannon Bream that she isn’t focused on 2024 yet and declined to endorse her old boss publicly.

According to The Daily Wire, Bream asked the newly sworn-in governor, “Your bio, on your official page as Governor, describes you as a ‘trusted confidant of President Trump. Have you talked to him about his ’24 run? Will you endorse him in that?”

“I love the president, have a great relationship with him,” Sanders responded. “I know our country would be infinitely better off if he was in office right now instead of Joe Biden. But right now, my focus isn’t 2024. It’s focusing here in Arkansas and doing what we can to empower the people of this state, and make sure that I’m delivering on the promises that I laid out over the course of the last two years.”

“My focus isn’t on 2024,” Sanders answered. “It’s on what we can deliver in this legislative session. I’m not going to set an arbitrary timeline. I’m not really focused on that at all.”

Bream also pressed Sanders on her own ambitions.

“I feel the pressure of delivering this legislative session,” Sanders said. “That’s the only thing that our team, and that I am focused on, is delivering on what we laid out to do.”

Sander’s refusal to outwardly endorse Trump underscores speculation that Republicans are preparing to steer away from the former president and support another candidate in the 2024 election. Numerous polls have reported Trump trailing behind other potential contenders such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Jim Jordan Launches First Investigation as Judiciary chair

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Jim Jordan via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Jim Jordan’s (R-Ohio) first investigation as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee will examine President Biden’s “mishandling” of classified documents and the Justice Department’s investigation.

“We are conducting oversight of the Justice Department’s actions with respect to former Vice President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, including the apparently unauthorized possession of classified material at a Washington, D.C., private office and in the garage of his Wilmington, Delaware, residence,” Jordan and Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote in a letter sent Friday to Garland.

“On January 12, 2023, you appointed Robert Hur as Special Counsel to investigate these matters,” they wrote. “The circumstances of this appointment raise fundamental oversight questions that the Committee routinely examines. We expect your complete cooperation with our inquiry.”

“It is unclear when the Department first came to learn about the existence of these documents, and whether it actively concealed this information from the public on the eve of the 2022 elections,” Jordan wrote. “It is also unclear what interactions, if any, the Department had with President Biden or his representatives about his mishandling of classified material. The Department’s actions here appear to depart from how it acted in similar circumstances.”

“In fact, on August 8, 2022, despite the publicly available evidence of President Trump’s voluntary cooperation, you personally approved the decision to seek a warrant for excessive and unprecedented access to his private residence. On August 15, 2022, Committee Republicans wrote to you and FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting documents and information related to the FBI’s raid of President Trump’s residence,” the letter said.

Rep. Jordan’s investigation comes one day after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to examine the matter, former U.S. attorney Robert Hur. The DOJ escalated the matter to a special counsel investigation from a mere review after a second stash of classified documents was found inside the garage of Biden’s Delaware home. The first batch of documents were found inside the D.C., offices of the Penn Biden Center think tank.

Trump Organization Fined in Tax Fraud Case

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Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

On Friday, the Trump Organization was fined $1.6 million following its conviction last month for criminal tax fraud.

It was the maximum penalty former President Trump’s sprawling business organization could face for what prosecutors have described as a long-running scheme to evade taxes by providing perks to company executives.

Earlier this week, former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg was sentenced to fives months in prison as well as pay nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties, and interest, and serve five years of probation for his role in the 15-year tax scheme.

As Great America News Desk previously reported:

Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer for the Trump Organization, is expected to be sent to Rikers Island jail in New York after receiving his sentence for his participation in a tax fraud scheme.

Wesselberg, along with other top executives, pled guilty to running the scheme for the past 15 years where he and others received bonuses and other kickbacks designed to save the real estate company money.

On Tuesday, the CFO was sentenced to five months in jail as well as pay nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties, and interest, and serve five years of probation.

Rikers Island is one of New York’s most well-known jails and has become notorious for violence and drug use.

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House Speaker Signals Interest in Expunging Trump Impeachment

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Congressional Republicans are hitting the road running.

On Thursday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy signaled to reporters that he would consider expunging one or both of former President Trump’s impeachments, according to The Hill.

“I would understand why members would want to bring that forward,” McCarthy said in response to a question at a press conference on Thursday, before listing off several other key priorities for House Republicans. 

“But I understand why individuals want to do it, and we’d look at it,” he added.

Republicans have attempted to expunge the former President’s impeachments before.

In the last Congress, a group of more than 30 House Republicans led by Rep. Markwayne Mullin (Okla.) put forward a resolution to expunge Trump’s second impeachment.

A smaller group, again led by Mullin, also introduced a resolution to expunge Trump’s December 2019 impeachment for allegedly attempting to withhold military aid from Ukraine in an effort to pressure the country to investigate the business dealings of President Biden’s son Hunter Biden.

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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.”

Arkansas Governor Bans Woke Term During First Day on the Job

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

New Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is hitting the ground running.

One of Gov. Sanders’s first moves was taking on the woke mob directly by signing an executive order banning the use of “Latinx” in government documents because it is “culturally insensitive” to the Latino community, according to The Daily Wire.

“Ethnically insensitive and pejorative language has no place in official government documents or government employee titles,” Sanders’ executive order stated. “The government has a responsibility to respect its citizens and use ethnically appropriate language, particularly when referring to ethnic minorities.”

The executive order noted that polling from the Pew Research Center has found that roughly only 2-3% of Latinos even use the word “Latinx” to describe themselves and that the Real Academia Española, a Madrid-based institution that serves as a guide for the Spanish language, has officially rejected the use of “x” as an alternative to “o” and “a” in Spanish.

“All state offices, departments, and agencies, unless granted an exemption by the Governor, shall review official documents of their respective entities regarding the use of the term ‘Latinx,’ ‘latinx,’ ‘Latinxs,’ or ‘latinxs’ in official state documents,” the order said.

Sanders, who made history by becoming the country’s youngest governor, is also taking a direct hands-on approach to the controversial Critical Race Theory.

Sanders also signed an executive order Critical Race Theory, which the order described as “antithetical to the traditional American values of neutrality, equality, and fairness.”

“It emphasizes skin color as a person’s primary characteristic, thereby resurrecting segregationist values, which America has fought so hard to reject,” the order said. “It is the policy of this administration that CRT, discrimination, and indoctrination have no place in Arkansas classrooms.”

Sanders was the White House Press Secretary under former President Trump from 2017 to 2019. She is the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who served from 1996 to 2007 and was the state’s lieutenant governor from 1993 to 1996.

Sanders handily defeated Democrat Chris Jones and libertarian candidate Ricky Dale Harrington.

Former Trump Org. CFO Sentenced to Notorious Prison

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Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer for the Trump Organization, is expected to be sent to Rikers Island jail in New York after receiving his sentence for his participation in a tax fraud scheme.

Wesselberg, along with other top executives, pled guilty to running the scheme for the past 15 years where he and others received bonuses and other kickbacks designed to save the real estate company money.

On Tuesday, the CFO was sentenced to five months in jail as well as pay nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties, and interest, and serve five years of probation.

Rikers Island is one of New York’s most well-known jails and has become notorious for violence and drug use.

The Washington Examiner reports:

Weisselberg’s sentence comes one month after prosecutors and defense lawyers gave their closing arguments in the criminal tax fraud trial against the Trump Organization, wrapping up the yearslong investigation into the former president’s company and its financial dealings.The former CFO emerged as the prosecutor’s star witness after he testified that he had accepted illegal compensation for his own benefit and hid the payments from the company’s outside accountant. The former CFO continued this practice for years, ending it once Donald Trump was elected president and his company’s business practices came under new scrutiny.

Weisselberg’s testimony strengthened prosecutors’ accusations that the Trump Organization paid for the personal expenses of several company executives without reporting them as income. These payments included paying for the managers’ rent, car lease payments, and other expenses. Prosecutors also alleged the company partially paid these executives as independent contractors rather than company employees.

The Trump Organization pleaded not guilty, and defense lawyers sought to point the finger solely at Weisselberg.

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DOJ Subpoenas Rudy Giuliani

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

The Department of Justice subpoenaed former President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani in connection with a probe into fundraising efforts following the 2020 election.

According to CNN, the DOJ first issued the subpoena in November seeking documents from Giuliani about payments he received during the period when he was filing post-election lawsuits on behalf of the Trump campaign.

The inquiry to Giuliani came from David Rody, a former top prosecutor in New York who specializes in gang and conspiracy cases and is assisting Smith with examining a broader criminal conspiracy after the election, according to some of the sources.

In response to being informed of CNN’s reporting on Giuliani’s subpoena and asked for a statement, Ted Goodman, his adviser, said, “The mayor is unaware of the specific claims by this so-called ‘anonymous source,’ and therefore is not in position to respond.”

Giuliani is already facing fallout, including a preliminary determination from the D.C. bar association that he violated rules of professional conduct in filing the suits, a matter that could eventually result in the loss of his law license.

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Pro-Trump Influencer Dead at 51

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

Pro-Trump influencer Ineitha Lynnette Hardaway, better known as “Diamond” in “Diamond and Silk” has sadly passed away according to the former president.

In a message to his TRUTH Social account, Trump announced Diamond’s sudden passing. She was only 51 years old.

“Really bad news for Republicans and frankly, ALL Americans,” Trump said in a post on social media. “Our beautiful Diamond, of Diamond and Silk, has just passed away at her home in the State she loved so much, North Carolina.”

“Silk was with her all the way, and at her passing,” the message continued. “There was no better TEAM anywhere, or at any time! Diamond’s death was totally unexpected, probably her big and precious HEART just plain gave out. Rest In Peace our Magnificent Diamond, you will be greatly missed!”

The Diamond and Silk Twitter account shared a link for people to donate to her funeral. The funds will be received by her sister Herneitha Rochelle Hardaway Richardson, also known as “Silk.”

The duo were conservative activists who posted live-stream videos talking about politics. The occasionally appeared on conservative news shows and regularly attended rallies for the former president.

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Georgia Jury Concludes Trump Criminal Investigation Report

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

The special purpose jury in Fulton County, Georgia, has finished its final report on its investigation into alleged criminal efforts by former President Donald Trump and others during the 2020 election.

The special jury, requested by District Attorney Fani Willis and approved last January, reportedly submitted its final report and will await the ruling of Judge Robert McBurney on whether to make it public.

A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 24, according to Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Bill Rankin.

Willis opened the investigation last year after audio surfaced of a call between Raffensperger and Trump, where the former president pushed the secretary of state to “find” 11,780 votes to secure a win in Georgia and overturn his loss in the 2020 election against President Joe Biden.

The special grand jury was granted the power to help dole out subpoenas and recommend charges, however, it lacks the authority to indict on its own.

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