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New York Attorney General Sues Trump

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Alec Perkins from Hoboken, USA, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

New York attorney general Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against former president Trump and three of his children, alleging business fraud.

The move by James’ office comes on the heels of a years-long civil investigation into the Trump family’s real estate business, the Trump Organization. The investigation has centered on whether the former president’s company misled investors and tax authorities by inflating property values to get investments and subsequently deflating them to get tax and loan benefits.

The lawsuit also targets Trump’s three adult children: Eric, Ivanka, and Donald Jr. who have all held senior executives at the Trump Organization.

The New York AG’s lawsuit comes after she rejected an offer from the former president’s legal team to settle the civil investigation into his business.

If the case goes to trial and Trump loses, a judge could potentially impose financial penalties and restrict the former president’s business operations in New York — all potentially in the midst of a 2024 presidential campaign that he is expected to join.

It is possible that James, as part of her lawsuit, could seek to curtail Trump’s Manhattan real estate portfolio, though she has given mixed signals publicly about what sort of punishment she will seek to impose.

Trump has long dismissed the investigation as a “phony years-long crusade” against him and criticized James for the inquiry.

“Today’s filing is neither focused on the facts nor the law — rather, it is solely focused on advancing the Attorney General’s political agenda,” Alina Habba, a Trump attorney who has represented the former president in New York-based and Trump Organization litigation. “It is abundantly clear that the Attorney General’s Office has exceeded its statutory authority by prying into transactions where absolutely no wrongdoing has taken place. We are confident that our judicial system will not stand for this unchecked abuse of authority, and we look forward to defending our client against each and every one of the Attorney General’s meritless claims.”

This story is developing. Stay with Great America’s News Desk for the latest updates.

Judge Rules Mike Lindell Must Face Defamation Trial

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Mike Lindell via Gage Skidmore Flickr

On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled longtime Trump defender and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell must a defamation lawsuit brought by voting company Smartmatic.

U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright denied Lindell’s motion to dismiss Smartmatic’s case against him after the company sued the businessman for defamation after spreading false claims the company rigged the 2020 presidential election for Democrat Joe Biden, according to MSN.

“Construing the facts in the light most favorable to Smartmatic, the Court concludes that Smartmatic has alleged facts sufficient to suggest that Lindell knew or should have known that his statements were false and acted with actual malice in promoting the challenged statements,” Wright wrote.

The judge also found that Smartmatic made a plausible case that Lindell harmed its reputation.

“Smartmatic also alleges that, as a result of Lindell’s defamatory remarks, Smartmatic’s officers and employees have been threatened and the company has expended over one million dollars on public relations, crisis management, cybersecurity, and employee retention and recruitment efforts. Smartmatic alleges that its business depends on its reputation for safety, accuracy and auditability, and that Lindell’s defamatory statements have tarnished Smartmatic’s reputation,” the order notes.

“Smartmatic also alleges that Lindell made and promoted his defamatory statements for his own profit,” Wright, wrote in her ruling. “For example, Smartmatic alleges that on several occasions Lindell told audiences to purchase MyPillow products after making claims of election fraud and supplying audiences with MyPillow promotional codes related to Lindell’s election-hacking theories.”

MyPillow argued that it couldn’t be held liable for Lindell’s statements however the judge also shot down that argument.

“Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, intentionally promoted MyPillow while allegedly defaming Smartmatic in media and other public appearances,” the order states. “Lindell used the MyPillow logo during media appearances in which he allegedly defamed Smartmatic. During these appearances, Lindell promoted the MyPillow business and provided audiences with promotional codes to use when buying MyPillow products. The MyPillow promotional codes Lindell relayed to audiences used words and phrases that correlated to Lindell’s allegedly defamatory statements.”

Lindell is also facing a similar lawsuit from a separate voting machine company, Dominion Voting Systems.

This Democrat Governor is Planning to Run for President in 2024 Under One Condition

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Casa Rosada (Argentina Presidency of the Nation), CC BY 2.5 AR via Wikimedia Commons

Democrats are chomping at the bit to announce their campaign for president but there seems to be one obstacle, President Joe Biden.

Biden, who is currently the oldest president in history, will be 81 years old when the next election occurs and some Democrats say he isn’t the best candidate to lead the country or stand a chance of defeating Trump who has all-but-confirmed his own 2024 plans. (RELATED: New Report Indicates Trump Will Postpone 2024 Campaign Announcement)

One Democrat desperately vying for the presidency is none other than California Governor Gavin Newsom. According to sources close to the politician, Newsom is “absolutely” planning to run for president in 2024 if Biden opts out.

According to The Washington Examiner:

“After this midterm election is over, he absolutely is going to announce that he is running for the presidency once Biden announces that he is not running,” a top California fundraiser close to the Newsom family told the Wrap. “No ifs, ands or buts. He will run if Biden does not.”

Governor Newsom’s political ambitions have been the subject of scrutiny over the past few months as he has sought to distinguish himself early on as a presidential contender by meeting with prominent donors, sparring with Republican lawmakers, and calling out his party’s inaction on hot-button issues like abortion and climate change.

One of the Wrap’s sources, a Los Angeles philanthropist who backed Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential bid in 2020 and supported her during her time as district attorney in San Francisco, said some in the party have questioned whether she will be the automatic forerunner if Biden chooses to step aside.

“There’s going to be a ton of people coming out against Kamala if Biden doesn’t run,” the source said.

President Biden recently called his own 2024 campaign into question during an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” when he declined to say if he absolutely planned to run for a second term.

“In terms of election laws,” Biden said, “it’s much too early to make that kind of decision.”

“Look, my intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again,” Biden responded to CBS anchor Scott Pelley. “But it’s just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen.”

Federal Judge Grants Trump’s Special Master Request, Rejects DOJ’s Demands

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Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

Thursday evening, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon officially appointed a special master to review the thousands of pages of materials seized by the FBI during its August raid of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

Judge Cannon also rejected the Justice Department’s demand she permits federal investigators continue their own probe into the records marked classified, according to POLITICO. In her ruling, Cannon rejected the DOJ’s claims that records they are trying to review as part of an ongoing criminal investigation remain highly classified or contain extraordinarily sensitive defense information that could damage national security if released.

“The Court does not find it appropriate to accept the Government’s conclusions on these important and disputed issues without further review by a neutral third party in an expedited and orderly fashion,” Cannon, a Trump appointee, wrote in her 10-page ruling denying the Justice Department’s request to essentially exclude about 100 documents marked classified from the special master process.

Judge Cannon selected Raymond Dearie a former federal judge in New York, to lead the independent investigation. Earlier this week, Trump’s legal team named Dearie as one of its proposed judges to oversee the case. In a separate filing, the Justice Department also named Dearie as one of its pre-approved candidates. (Related: DOJ Signals Support for Trump-selected Special Master Candidate)

Dearie is a former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York who also served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. He was also among the FISA judges who signed an order approving electronic surveillance of Carter Page, a former Trump aide, as part of the FBI’s investigation into whether the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russia.

Dearie accepted the role in a signed filing Thursday night.

Judge Cannon pressed him to complete the review by Nov. 30th, over a month after the Oct. 17 deadline the Justice Department had most recently asked Cannon to set. Cannon also requested the special master “prioritize review of the approximately 100 documents marked as classified (and papers physically attached thereto).”

However, the Justice Department was able to secure two wins over the former president. In Judge Cannon’s ruling, she ordered Trump to shoulder the full cost of Dearie’s review, as well as that for any staff or associates he hires.

The judge also offered clarification on how the DOJ might continue its criminal investigation while the documents are reviewed by the special master, such as “questioning witnesses and obtaining other information about the movement and storage of seized materials, including documents marked as classified, without discussion of their contents.”

“The Government’s submissions, read collectively, do not firmly maintain that the described processes are inextricably intertwined, and instead rely heavily on hypothetical scenarios and generalized explanations that do not establish irreparable injury,” she wrote.

“There has been no actual suggestion by the Government of any identifiable emergency or imminent disclosure of classified information arising from Plaintiff’s allegedly unlawful retention of the seized property,” Cannon wrote. “Instead, and unfortunately, the unwarranted disclosures that float in the background have been leaks to the media after the underlying seizure.”

New York Attorney General Mulls New Trump Lawsuit

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Alec Perkins from Hoboken, USA, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

New York attorney general Letitia James is considering escalating her legal fight with former President Donald Trump.

James is reportedly considering suing Trump, and potentially one of his children, after rejecting an offer from the former president’s legal team to settle a civil investigation into his real estate business.

According to The New York Times, James’s rejection of the settlement tees up the potential to sue Trump for fraud. Sources close to the matter say that James’s chances of suing Trump grew after rejecting at least one settlement offer last month. The Trump Organization has attempted for months to reach a settlement after the AG’s office informed a court in January that it had uncovered evidence the company used “fraudulent or misleading” asset valuations to secure loans and other tax benefits.

The New York AG has honed in on allegations Trump fraudulently inflated the value of his assets and has mounted a years-long inquiry. Trump has denied all wrongdoing and derided the investigation as a politically motivated witch hunt. James, a Democrat, is seeking another term as the state’s AG after abandoning a campaign for governor earlier this year.

A lawsuit from Ms. James would supercharge their drawn-out battle, offering her an opportunity to deliver a significant blow to the former president and his business, which she vowed before taking office to “vigorously investigate.” If the case goes to trial and Mr. Trump loses, a judge could impose financial penalties and restrict the former president’s business operations in New York — all potentially in the midst of a 2024 presidential campaign that he is expected to join.

It is possible that Ms. James, as part of her lawsuit, could seek to curtail Mr. Trump’s Manhattan real estate portfolio, though she has given mixed signals publicly about what sort of punishment she will seek to impose.

The New York AG could also potentially target Trump’s older children in the lawsuit. Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Trump Jr. have all been senior executives at the Trump Organization.

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.

‘Ultra MAGA’ 25-Year-Old Karoline Leavitt Cruises to Victory in New Hampshire Primary

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Karoline Leavitt speaking with attendees at the 2022 Student Action Summit at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. [Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore ]

An “ultra MAGA” 25-year-old former Trump White House staffer made history Tuesday night. Karoline Leavitt – who celebrated her 25th birthday last month, becoming eligible to hold a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives- won her primary for New Hampshire’s First Congressional District Seat, setting up a November showdown with incumbent Democrat Congressman Chis Pappas.

Leavitt emerged victorious from a hotly contested primary after garnering 35 percent to the 25 percent won by her top opponent Matt Mowers.

She beat out a number of candidates including Mowers, a fellow Trump Admin alumnus and the 2020 GOP nominee for the NH-01 House seat. Mowers worked in the State Department as a top aide to Secretary Mike Pompeo who also endorsed him in the primary, as did the 45th President himself.

Although she worked in the Trump White House and was endorsed by a number of Trump’s closest allies – including her old boss and former White House Press Secretary Kaleigh McEnany – the former President for some reason declined to endorse her in the primary and endorsed Mowers instead. He has however celebrated her win via a statement posted on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Another interesting moment in the primary was the division of endorsements from Elise Stefanik – House Republican Conference Chairwoman and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Stefanik opted to endorse Leavitt, who served as her Communications Director following her stint in the White House.

House Minority Leader McCarthy sided with Mowers.

Despite the attacks she endured from the DC swamp Democrats and establishment Republicans, Leavitt won. She also garnered the support of the Freedom Caucus’ Jim Jordan of Ohio and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Leavitt also campaigned with a pair of conservative members of the GOP freshman class. Byron Donalds of Florida and Lauren Boebert of Colorado joined Leavitt’s campaign on the eve of the primary to express their support for the young conservative dynamo.

Now Leavitt will set her mind to tackling the task of flipping a seat that the Cook Political Report ranks as having a partisan voter index (PVI) of EVEN and an overall rating of “toss-up.”

While reporting on the results of last night’s race, Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman attacked Leavitt as “unv****ed America First” and “Pro-MAGA”. Despite his criticism, he still ranks the seat as a “toss-up” – a key indicator that Democrats should be more than concerned about this Republican candidate’s rising success.

As long as Pappas continues sipping the Biden-Pelosi Kool-Aid and helping drive America off a fiscal cliff – Leavitt’s got one heck of a fighting chance.

Aside from the NH-01 race, the Granite State played host to a couple of other key races last night, including a five-way Republican primary for the Senate seat.

New Hampshire is a key swing state and enjoys an elevated political status due to it being the host of the “First In The Nation” primaries in Presidential election years. 

The MAGA wave in the state wasn’t just limited to Leavitt. Pro-Trump Senate candidate Don Bolduc also won his hotly contested primary.

New Hampshire’s Republican Governor Chris Sununu — a moderate who enjoys a fair amount of popularity for a Republican governing a blue state and prevailed against three challengers in his own primary last night — stepped into the race with a last-minute endorsement of Charles (Chuck) Morse, the President of the New Hampshire Senate.

Still, that wasn’t enough to swing the race in Morse’s favor. WMUR reported earlier this month that “Don Bolduc, a retired Army general, has been leading in the polls for the Republican nomination. Morse is making the case to voters that he has the experience for the job.” That polling was done before the debate last month and Sununu’s endorsement but seems to have stood true.

Bolduc has set himself up for a matchup with vulnerable incumbent Democrat Senator Maggie Hassan.

Our friends over at Townhall are reporting RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel’s statement in the race:

“Extreme Democrats like Maggie Hassan and [Representative] Chris Pappas have failed Granite Staters time and again by voting in lockstep with Biden’s failed agenda of high taxes, open borders, and historic inflation. Our data-driven ground game is ready to turn out the vote, and New Hampshire is ready to re-elect Governor Sununu and finally send commonsense Republican leadership to Washington.”

Senate to Open New Investigation into Trump

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

The Senate Judiciary Committee is opening another investigation into former President Donald Trump’s behavior while in office. The latest investigation stems from allegations posed by a former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York that Trump’s Justice Department attempted to influence the Manhattan attorney’s office to prosecute his critics and protect his allies.

Geoffrey Berman’s allegations against Trump are recounted in his upcoming book, which Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin cited in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling for the investigation. Berman served for two years under Trump and had previously volunteered on his 2016 campaign and White House transition team.

The Hill reports:

“These reported claims indicate astonishing and unacceptable deviations from the Department’s mission to pursue impartial justice, which requires that its prosecutorial decisions be free from political influence,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Berman alleges Trump appointees pressured the Manhattan office to go after Trump’s critics and to shield Trump and his allies but that he resisted those efforts.

Durbin noted that Berman “contends that Department officials pressured his office to remove references to President Trump from the charging document for Michael Cohen, his personal lawyer, as well as later attempts by Attorney General Barr himself to reverse Mr. Cohen’s conviction and stop related investigations entirely.” 

The allegations “compound the already serious concerns” about Barr’s 2020 efforts “to replace Mr. Berman with a Trump loyalist,” Durbin wrote. 

Durbin, in the letter to Garland, requested a number of documents and communications between the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Trump-selected Special Master Candidate Gets Unexpected Response From DOJ

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

In a late Monday court filing, the Department of Justice said it would accept one of former President Trump’s proposed judges to be appointed special master to review the records seized during the FBI’s August raid of Mar-a-Lago.

The DOJ wrote in its court filing that it believes Raymond J. Dearie, a former federal judge in New York is well qualified for the position. The DOJ also made two recommendations for the high-profile appointment, retired federal judges Barbara S. Jones and Thomas B. Griffith.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

“Judges Jones, Griffith, and Dearie each have substantial judicial experience, during which they have presided over federal criminal and civil cases, including federal cases involving national security and privilege concerns,” the Justice Department wrote in its filing.

Despite there being a rare agreement between Trump’s team and the DOJ it’s unclear if Judge Cannon will listen to the two parties’ request.

Dearie is a former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York who also served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. He was also among the FISA judges who signed an order approving electronic surveillance of Carter Page, a former Trump aide, as part of the FBI’s investigation into whether the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russia.

Trump’s team also recommended Paul Huck Jr., who served as general counsel to former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. However, the Justice Department opposed Mr. Huck because he doesn’t have similar experience to the other candidates.

The DOJ also proposed Barbara Jones, who is a retired federal judge from the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York. She served as the special master who reviewed materials seized from Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen. The retired judge once again served as special master when then-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s New York office and home were raided.

The Justice Department’s other candidate, Thomas Griffith, is a retired judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit appointed by former President George W. Bush. He most recently served on President Biden’s commission to study changes to the Supreme Court bench.

In a Monday court filing, Trump’s legal team noted it does not trust the DOJ to accurately represent what was recovered in the classified documents.

“The Government has not proven these records remain classified. That issue is to be determined later,” Mr. Trump’s lawyers wrote in a Monday morning filing to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon.

“In opposing any neutral review of the seized materials, the Government seeks to block a reasonable first step toward restoring order from chaos and increasing public confidence in the integrity of the process,” the Trump legal team said, adding that the issue “at its core is a document storage dispute.’’

In a separate filing Monday afternoon, Mr. Trump’s lawyers said they oppose the two Justice Department candidates for the special master role, and asked to explain their reasoning privately before the court to be “more respectful to the candidates.” The filing said only that they believe “there are specific reasons why those nominees are not preferred for service as Special Master in this case.”

Judge Cannon granted Trump’s request for a special master last Monday, issuing a stay on the DOJ’s investigation of the seized materials. In response, the DOJ filed a motion for an appeal to continue its review of Trump’s handling of presidential documents and classified materials.

Trump’s legal team responded and accused the DOJ of seeking to “limit the scope of any review of its investigative conduct and presuppose the outcome, at least in regard to what it deems are ‘classified records.’”

“This investigation of the 45th President of the United States is both unprecedented and misguided,” Trump’s lawyers said in the filing. “In what at its core is a document storage dispute that has spiraled out of control, the Government wrongfully seeks to criminalize the possession by the 45th President of his own Presidential and personal records.”

“The Government should therefore not be permitted to skip the process and proceed straight to a preordained conclusion,” they wrote.

Judge Cannon has not revealed when a final decision will be announced in regard to the special master appointment or if she will seriously consider any of the candidates proposed by Trump or the Justice Department.

Judge Dismisses Trump Lawsuit Against Hillary Clinton

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Hillary Clinton via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Former president Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Hillary Clinton has been dismissed by a federal judge in Florida.

Trump filed the lawsuit in March accusing Clinton and more than two dozen others of “a malicious conspiracy to disseminate patently false and injurious information about Donald J. Trump and his campaign, all in the hopes of destroying his life, his political career and rigging the 2016 Presidential Election in favor of Hillary Clinton.” 

Bloomberg reports:

The suit was amended in June to include new details from Special Counsel John Durham’s failed prosecution of longtime Democratic lawyer Michael Sussmann, who was accused of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation while providing a Trump-Russia tip just before the 2016 election.

“At its core, the problem with plaintiff’s amended complaint is that plaintiff is not attempting to seek redress for any legal harm; instead, he is seeking to flaunt a two-hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances against those that have opposed him, and this court is not the appropriate forum,” US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks, appointed to the bench by Bill Clinton, said in a 65-page order dated Thursday. 

The ruling by Middlebrooks, who in April rejected Trump’s request that he disqualify himself from the case, takes several shots at the lawsuit, noting that the theory of the case was “difficult to summarize in a concise and cohesive manner. It was certainly not presented that way.” He said many of the “characterizations of events are implausible because they lack any specific allegations which might provide factual support for the conclusions reached.” 

Trump is currently ensnared in multiple legal battles in the Sunshine State. On Thursday, the Department of Justice filed a notice of appeal regarding a Florida judge’s motion to appoint a special master to review materials seized during the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago.