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    Trump Asks Supreme Court to Intervene in Tax Docs Battle

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    5
    Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    UPDATE: Chief Justice John Roberts put a temporary hold on the handover of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns to a congressional committee. Roberts’ order gives the Supreme Court time to weigh the legal issues in Trump’s emergency appeal.

    On Monday, former President Trump filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court after a lower court declined to reverse its ruling mandating that he turn over his tax records to the House Ways and Means Committee. 

    “No Congress has ever wielded its legislative powers to demand a President’s tax returns,” Trump argued to the high court, expressing outrage about the “far-reaching implications” of the D.C. Circuit’s ruling.

    “The Committee’s purpose in requesting President Trump’s tax returns has nothing to do with funding or staffing issues at the IRS and everything to do with releasing the President’s tax information to the public,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in the filing according to The Washington Examiner. 

    The request was made to Chief Justice John Roberts, who has authority over such appeals stemming from the District of Columbia.

    Last week, Trump lost his latest bid to block the House Committee from accessing his records after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to reconsider a unanimous August ruling from one of the court’s panels ordering their release.

    Committee chairman Richard Neal(D-MA) celebrated the lower court’s ruling last week.

    “The law has always been on our side,” Rep. Neal said in a statement. “Former President Trump has tried to delay the inevitable, but once again, the Court has affirmed the strength of our position. We’ve waited long enough—we must begin our oversight of the IRS’s mandatory presidential audit program as soon as possible.”

    In December, federal court Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, ruled that the Treasury Department must turn over the tax returns, holding that despite Trump’s claims that the pursuit of records by the House committee was politically motivated, the committee’s chairman, Democrat Richard Neal, held a “valid legislative purpose” with his request, according to The Hill.

    “The Chairman has identified a legitimate legislative purpose that it requires information to accomplish,” Judge David Sentelle, wrote in the panel’s opinion. “At this stage, it is not our place to delve deeper than this.”

    Democrats have engaged in a yearslong battle for Trump’s tax records, claiming they need to probe how the Internal Revenue Service conducts its routine presidential audits, however, Trump and his legal team have argued the matter is purely political. 

    New York Gubernatorial Candidate Under Investigation

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    14
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    New York Republican gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin has been targeted in a new investigation less than two weeks before the midterm elections.

    Zeldin is under investigation by the State Board of Elections over allegations that he coordinated with two super PACs supporting his campaign, according to The Hill.

    Michael Johnson, the chief enforcement counsel of the New York State Board of Elections, opened a preliminary investigation into Zeldin’s campaign after the allegations emerged.

    Johnson is now seeking subpoena authority from the State Board of Elections to compel cooperation with his investigation, according to the Times. 

    However, he was stymied when two Republican members of the board unexpectedly missed a business meeting on Tuesday, preventing the board from reaching a quorum to vote on the subpoena issue and likely delaying the issue until after the election, per the Times.

    The Albany Times-Union first reported in mid-October that there were several overlaps between Zeldin’s campaign and two super PACs supporting him — Safe Together New York and Save Our State New York.

    Days later, the New York State Democratic Party filed a complaint against Zeldin’s campaign over the alleged super PAC. Super PACs are legally allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to advocate for or against candidates but are barred from coordinating with the candidates they benefit.

    Zeldin has been rapidly closing the gap against New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in recent weeks.

    Musk Fires Twitter Employee Who Banned Trump First Move as Boss

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    6


    Elon Musk is wasting no time as Twitter’s new boss.

    The South African-born billionaire officially became Twitter’s new CEO Thursday evening and he wasted no time before addressing some concerns. As part of his first move as boss, Musk fired Twitter’s top lawyer Vijaya Gadde, who played an instrumental role in censoring the Hunter Biden laptop scandal and banning former President Donald Trump from the platform.

    Earlier this year after Musk announced his plan to buy Twitter, Politico reported that “Gadde cried during [a] meeting as she expressed concerns about how the company could change.”

    Musk also fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and Sean Edgett, the company’s general counsel

    Musk released a statement earlier in the day explaining why he wanted to buy Twitter:

    “I wanted to reach out personally to share my motivation in acquiring Twitter,” Musk wrote. “There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter and what I think about advertising. Most of it has been wrong.”

    “The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk continued. “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”

    “In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fueled and catered to those polarized extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but, in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost,” Musk continued. “That is why I bought Twitter. I didn’t do it because it would be easy. I didn’t do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love. And I do so with humility, recognizing that failure in pursuing this goal, despite our best efforts, is a very real possibility.”

    “That said, Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!” Musk concluded. “In addition to
    adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experience according to your preferences, just as you can choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature.”

    Musk’s first moves as the boss received widespread praise from conservative users.

    Musk, a free speech advocate, has vowed to address censorship and bias concerns on the platform.

    After officially becoming CEO, Trump released a statement praising Musk for the endeavor and urged him to reinstate his account.

    “Congratulations to Elon Musk on his purchase of Twitter. Many people are saying that change was needed, as the old management was too concerned with the woke agenda. I have been told that my account will be back up and running on Monday – we will see. Happy to be able to engage with African-American owned business!”

    In May, Musk said he didn’t agree with the decision to permanently ban Trump from the platform.

    “I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump, I think that was a mistake,” Musk said back in May. “I would reverse the perma-ban. … But my opinion, and Jack Dorsey, I want to be clear, shares this opinion, is that we should not have perma-bans.”

    Kari Lake Responds to Democrat Opponent’s Baseless Criminal Accusation

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    6
    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]

    Don’t mess with Kari Lake.

    The TV reporter turned Republican Arizona gubernatorial nominee wasted no time in hitting back at her Democrat opponent Katie Hobbs’ baseless claim she was connected to a break-in at the Democrat’s office.

    The Phoenix Police Department is currently investigating an early Tuesday break-in at Hobbs’ campaign office as a “commercial burglary.” However, despite authorities noting only a few items were taken Hobbs wasted no time before pointing fingers at Lake.

    However, on Thursday authorities confirmed a suspect has been arrested in connection with the burglary.

    According to The Daily Caller, Phoenix police Sgt. Brian Bower didn’t identify what items were stolen from the campaign office.

    “Unfortunately, Katie and so many other elected officials are victims of threats and intimidation tactics like this. Make no mistake — this is a direct result of Kari Lake and fringe Republicans spreading lies and hate and inciting violence — and it is despicable.” The Arizona Democrat Party said while retweeting a message from Hobbs’ official Twitter.

    In photos of the break-in shared by Hobbs’ campaign, the suspect can’t be seen wearing anything distinguishing that points to any political affiliation, let alone a link to Republicans.

    During a Wednesday appearance with CNN, Lake called the accusations from Hobbs’s campaign “despicable” and hit at media for willingly amplifying her baseless lies.

    “That is absolutely absurd. It sounds like a Jussie Smollett part two. You’re going to drag the people through something like this?” Lake said. “You’re letting a woman who has been running a terrible campaign direct you to a story like this? You know she is running a bad campaign.”

    “I can’t believe she would blame my amazing people, blame me for something like that,” Lake said. ‘I don’t even know where her campaign office is. I’m assuming it’s in a basement somewhere, because that’s where she’s been campaigning. You guys are despicable for falling into that trap.”

    “I’m saddened that Hobbs and her camp would try to pin this on us. It’s defamatory and it’s wrong. Her own party is attacking her. She is trying to deflect her abysmal campaign,” Lake added.

    Lake, a political newcomer, has exceeded experts’ expectations as she’s seen unprecedented success throughout her campaign. RealClearPolitics still regards the race as a “toss up” but recent polls show Lake with a distinct edge over her opponent. A Daily Wire/ Trafalgar poll showed Lake with a three-point edge over Hobbs while a Fox 10/ InsiderAdvantage poll reported Lake up 11 points.

    In the Arizona Senate race, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report(CPR) reported it is shifting its rating of the race from “lean Democrat” to “toss up” less than two weeks ahead of Election Day.

    CPR noted the new shift because recent private polling has shown the race between Sen. Mark Kelley (D) and Republican Blake Masters tightening up despite the fact that Democrats are outspending Republicans in the state by a 2-to-1 margin.

    Mark Meadows Ordered to Testify in Georgia

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    4
    Office of Congressman Mark Meadows, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    On Wednesday, a Georgia circuit judge ordered former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows to testify in an ongoing election investigation.

    Circuit Judge Edward Miller ruled that Meadows must cooperate in the probe by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who’s investigating former President Donald Trump and his associates for possible criminal interference in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, according to The Hill.

    Willis is looking into possible 2020 election interference in Georgia, which was initiated after a January 2021 conversation came to light of Trump urging Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger to “find” more than 11,000 votes.

    “I am going to find that the witness is material and necessary to the investigation and that the state of Georgia is assuring not to cause undue hardship to him,” Miller ruled

    Willis subpoenaed Meadows in August, noting that he had been a part of a meeting in December 2020 with Trump and others “to discuss allegations of voter fraud and the certification of the electoral college votes from Georgia and other states.”

    She also noted Meadows’ attempt to observe an audit of election results in the state and also stated that the former Trump official was involved in the infamous call with Raffensberger. 

    Report: Biden’s Chief of Staff Notified of Hatch Act Violation

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    5
    President Joe Biden walks with Chief of Staff Ron Klain along the Colonnade of the White House, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021, to the White House Situation Room. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)

    President Joe Biden’s chief of staff, Ron Klain was notified he violated the Hatch Act in May but the Office of Special Counsel (OSC).

    According to The Daily Wire, the OSC responded to the violation in a letter to America First Legal Foundation’s vice president and general counsel, Gene Hamilton, who filed the complaint in June.

    “Although OSC has concluded that Mr. Klain violated the Hatch Act, as explained below, we have decided not to pursue disciplinary action and instead issued him a warning letter,” Ana Galindo-Marrone, chief of the Hatch Act Unit at the OSC, wrote.

    “OSC confirmed that Mr. Klain retweeted a May 22, 2022 message from Strike PAC (@StrikePAC) from his official Twitter account (@WHCOS). The tweet read, ‘Operation Fly Formula delivers 70,000 pounds of infant formula for American mothers and their infants. Thank you @POTUS.’ The tweet also read, ‘Get your Democrats Deliver merch today!’ and included a link to Strike PAC’s online store and an image of the group’s ‘Democrats Deliver’ t-shirt,” she wrote.

    Strike PAC is a partisan political group that supports the Democratic Party. In the letter, Galindo-Marrone also noted that Klain promptly removed the tweet from his account after being notified of the violation.

    “Although OSC has concluded that Mr. Klain violated the Hatch Act, we understand that he promptly removed the retweet upon being notified of this complaint,” the letter read.

    “Accordingly, we have decided not to pursue disciplinary action and will close this matter. Mr. Klain has been warned that if in the future he engages in activity prohibited by the Hatch Act while employed in a covered position, OSC would consider such activity to be a willful and knowing violation of the law that could result in disciplinary action,” the letter concluded.

    “Using your White House Twitter account to advocate for a PAC is ILLEGAL,” said Hamilton in response to the OSC’s decision while also noting Klain previously criticized President Trump’s administration in 2018 over alleged Hatch Act violations.

     “Using your WH title in a press release advocating the President’s reelection is ILLEGAL,” Kalin tweeted at the time, suggesting he is versed in the Hatch Act.

    Guatemalan Officials Blame Biden for Border Crisis, Warn of Migrant Caravans Heading for Border Ahead of Midterms

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    Joe Biden via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Top Guatemalan officials are calling on President Joe Biden to reinforce the border before it’s too late.

    Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei accused Biden of rejecting his country’s proposal to help end the crisis at the border.

    According to The Washington Examiner, President Giammattei said he approached Administration officials with a plan for the United States to deport people heading north from Guatemala before they reach the U.S.-Mexico border but was rejected. Biden tapped Vice President Kamala Harris to handle efforts to secure the border but she has largely seemed to ignore the role and has notably never visited the border.

    “Having all of these people in the United States costs the U.S. government millions and millions of dollars. We have suggested that they should keep the airplanes here, so that we ourselves can deport them back to their countries of origin, be it Haiti or be it whatever the country,” Giammattei said in an interview in Guatemala City. “Otherwise, why wait until the people reach U.S. soil to then spend millions and millions of dollars to then send them back?”

    Guatemala is only returning Honduran citizens south of its border, but Giammattei is willing to fly or bus people back to other countries. The move could deter others from making the journey through Guatemala to the U.S., knowing that they would be returned.

    Giammattei said the U.S. turned down his idea of allowing Guatemala to use American planes to return people to their countries of origin on the basis that the “laws don’t allow it.”

    The U.S. has a history of donating vehicles and resources to the country. Just last week, the U.S. gave Guatemala 95 vehicles to boost its border security.

    Since President Biden took office nearly 4 million people have been encountered attempting to enter the U.S. illegally, a record-shattering number that doesn’t include the number of migrants that managed to evade arrest.

    However, despite the record-breaking number of migrants flooding the border the Biden administration seems to lack any urgency to address the ongoing crisis. With less than two weeks until Election Day, Guatemalan Interior Minister Napoleon Barrientos is sounding the alarm on a rapid influx of migrant caravan planning to flood the border before the Midterms.

    During an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation, Barrientos shared that an uptick in caravans are making their way to the border now out of anticipation that Republicans will retake Congress and tighten restrictions at the border.

    “We have information that caravans will be coming in the next few weeks, particularly before the date of November 8. So we’re doing operations in our borders to stop the flow migration,” Barrientos said.

    “The information that these migrant caravans have is that after that date, policies will be hardened,” he said.

    In preparation of the caravans’ arrivals, Guatemala is staging military drills with its partners in Mexico, Barrientos explained. But the country hasn’t had as much luck at its southern border with Honduras, where illegal migrants continue to cross and where bi-lateral cooperation has been difficult.

    “For that reason, Guatemala plans different actions, up until that date, to keep our borders secure, and to stop irregular migration,” he said.

    Stacey Abrams’ Group Gave Millions to Law Firm Run by Her Campaign Chair

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    Office of U.S. House Speaker, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is in hot water once again.

    New reports indicate Abrams’ voting rights group Fair Fight Action has funneled millions of dollars to a law firm led by the chairwoman for Abrams’s gubernatorial campaign.

    According to The Washington Examiner, Fair Fight Action spent $9.4 million in 2019 and 2020 with Lawrence & Bundy, a boutique Atlanta law firm that counts Abrams’s campaign Chairwoman Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, a close friend of the candidate, as one of its two partners, according to the nonprofit group’s 2019 and 2020 IRS tax filings.

    There are no definitive reports to show how much Lawrence-Hardy’s firm has received from Fair Fight Action in 2021 and 2022. The organization has been involved in a legal fight against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) for the past years. Fair Fight Action filed the lawsuit after Abrams lost her 2018 gubernatorial bid to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, whom she is currently running against, claiming the secretary of state engaged in voter suppression. In September, U.S. district judge Steve Jones ruled against Abrams and found no evidence of voter suppression.

    “This is a win for all Georgia election officials who dedicate their lives to safe, secure and accessible elections,” Raffensperger said at the time. “Stolen election and voter suppression claims by Stacey Abrams were nothing but poll-tested rhetoric not supported by facts and evidence.”

    “Judge Jones’ ruling exposes this legal effort for what it really is: a tool wielded by a politician hoping to wrongfully weaponize the legal system to further her own political goals,” Kemp said in a statement celebrating the ruling.

    The $9.4 million that Lawrence & Bundy received accounts for over 37% of the roughly $25 million in legal fees that Fair Fight Action has racked up in the past two years, according to Politico, which first reported on the payments to Lawrence-Hardy’s law firm.

    Fair Fight Action raised over $61 million in 2019 and 2020 after being founded in 2018. At least one-third of that money has gone toward the lawsuit against Raffensperger, while $20 million has been put in cash reserves, tax records show. While there are eight separate law firms that worked on the case against the secretary of state, Lawrence & Bundy has earned the most in fees.

    Abrams and Lawrence-Hardy were classmates together at Georgia’s Spelman College, and Abrams graduated from Yale Law School three years after Lawrence-Hardy.

    Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for the left-wing think tank Public Citizen, says that Abrams’s years-long friendship with Lawrence-Hardy represents a clear conflict of interest.

    Despite Abrams’s accusations of rampant voter suppression in the Peach State early voting data reports Georgians to have already broken records for early turnout. According to The Hill, Saturday’s turnout surpassed the 2020 election’s sixth day of early voting by 20 percent.

    The 79,682 voters who cast ballots on Saturday also marked a 159 percent increase from the first Saturday of early voting in the 2018 midterm elections, according to the Georgia secretary of state’s office.

    Georgia also smashed early voting on the first day polls opened last week, when 131,318 ballots were cast in-person, far above the 70,849 reported in 2018 and close to the 136,739 mark in 2020.

    “Early Voting is strong because Georgia’s voter registration system is strong,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a statement. “Every eligible Georgian who wants to be registered to vote is registered to vote.”

    However, despite the record-breaking data Abrams is still claiming voter suppression is underway in Georgia.

    “In 2018, we had record turnout,” Abrams said in a press conference Monday. “We had record turnout that shattered records for Democrats among communities of color and in that same election … we know that 85,000 Georgians were denied their right to vote due to voter suppression tactics that shut down their precincts. We know that 50,000 voters had their right to vote held hostage by the exact match process which was proven to be voter suppression tactics. We know that thousands of people stood in lines for hours because of voter suppression tactics.”

    Amanda Head: OUTRAGEOUS! Steve Bannon Will Serve Time In Prison

    By
    Amanda Head
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    0
    Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

    On Friday, Judge Carl Nichols sentenced former Trump strategist Steve Bannon to pay a $6,500 fine and serve four months in prison.

    Watch Amanda break down the shocking news below:

    Trump Adviser Steve Bannon Sentenced to Four Months in Prison

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0
    Thor Brødreskift / Nordiske Mediedager, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon received his sentence Friday morning following his conviction on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress after he defied a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol raid.

    Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, sentenced Bannon to four months in prison and has been ordered to pay a fine of $6,500.

    The judge said that Bannon “has expressed no remorse for his actions” and hasn’t demonstrated that he has any intention of complying with the subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee.

    Federal prosecutor J.P. Cooney argued that Bannon is not above the law and should be sentenced and treated like any other citizen, according to ABC News.

    “It must be made clear to the public and the grand jury … that no one is above the law,” Cooney said. “He hid behind a fabricated claim of executive privilege, to thumb his nose at Congress.”

    “He had an interest in making a public spectacle of the committee’s hearings,” Cooney told the judge, saying that Bannon “has tried to make it about nothing but politics and retribution.”

    During Friday’s proceeding’s Bannon attorney David Schoen hit back against the prosecutor’s claim Bannon did not have a legitimate claim of executive privilege when he rejected the committee’s subpoena.

    In particular, Schoen went after Trump lawyer Justin Clark, who told DOJ investigators in July that at no point did former President Donald Trump ever invoke executive privilege over Bannon’s testimony.

    “You wouldn’t believe a thing he says,” Schoen said of Clark, who also contradicted other claims made by Bannon’s defense team in their case.

    Last week, the Justice Department announced it pushing for a more severe sentence for Bannon of at least 6 months. (RELATED: Feds Recommend Jail Time for Bannon)

    Bannon’s attorney David Schoen argued that there should not be a 30-day mandatory minimum of jail time for the offense.

    Nichols, however, rejected that argument, saying the statute is clear on the point that there is a mandatory minimum of 30 days and a mandatory maximum of 12 months.

    In comments to reporters after the ruling Bannon appeared to hint at an appeal in the near future and said, “this thing about I’m above the law is an absolute and total lie.”

    It wasn’t long before individuals went to Twitter to

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