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    Trump To Return To New York For $250M Lawsuit One Week After Bombshell Arraignment

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3

    Donald Trump is heading back to the Big Apple.

    Nearly one week after Trump was charged with 34 felony counts in part of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into alleged hush money payments the third-time White House contender is to return to New York to be deposed in a $250 million civil suit brought by state Attorney General Letitia James (D). 

    “This case is complex, but it is not complicated,” Judge Arthur Engoron said last month of the civil suit. “Essentially, it all boils down to whether (Trump’s) statements of financial interest are true or false.”

    AG James claims Trump and others at his Trump Organization deceived lenders and insurance companies by inflating the value of his assets in order to get loans for his real estate and resort business, then undervaluing them for tax purposes. James is seeking to recover more than $250 million in “ill-gotten gains” and to bar the Trumps from doing business in New York. Engoron has set a trial date of October 2.

    James campaigned on a pledge to prosecute Trump, who she once called an “illegitimate president.” Trump has called James, who is black, a “racist in reverse.”

     “I will never be afraid to challenge this illegitimate president,” James said in a 2018 video during her successful campaign to be attorney general. “I believe that this president is incompetent. I believe that this president is ill-equipped to serve in the highest office of this land. And I believe that he is an embarrassment to all that we stand for.”

    On April 5, the New York grand jury voted to indict former President Donald Trump for his alleged role in a hush money bribe to adult film star Stormy Daniels amid the 2016 presidential election in DA Alvin Bragg’s yearslong investigation into the real estate mogul.

    Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.

    On Tuesday, the former President surrendered to the Manhattan Criminal Court for his arraignment

    Trump-Era AG Says Prosecutors Likely Have ‘Very Good Evidence’ Trump Obstructed Justice

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    The United States Department of Justice, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Trump Administration Attorney General William Barr said over the weekend that prosecutors likely have “very good evidence” that the former president committed obstruction of justice.

    Barr made the remarks on Easter Sunday during an interview on ABC News’ “This Week” while discussing the numerous criminal investigations into former President Donald Trump.

    Barr expressed his doubts about Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s investigation into Trump’s alleged role in a hush-money scheme. The former AG said that he believes that Democrats are trying to use the investigations to “get into the middle of the Republican primary process and turn it into a circus.”

    “And I think, ultimately, the savvy Democratic strategists know this is going to help Trump, and they want him to be the nominee because he is the weakest of the Republican candidates, the most likely to lose again to Biden,” Barr warned.

    The former AG instead said Trump’s main concern should be the investigation surrounding the classified documents recovered in Mar-A-Lago.

    The raid on Mar-a-Lago was “taken after a long period, about a year-and-a-half of trying to get the documents from him, which he had no claim to,” Barr said. “He had no claim to those documents, especially the classified documents. They belonged to the government. And so, I think he was jerking the government around. And they subpoenaed it. And they tried to jawbone him into delivering documents.”

    “But the government is investigating the extent to which games were played and there was obstruction in keeping documents from them,” he added. “And I think that’s a serious potential case. I think they probably have some very good evidence there.”

    Barr said that there is “a very good chance” that Trump will be criminally indicted in the case.

    Trump Tries to Save Republican Party By Discouraging DeSantis 2024 Run

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    6
    Ron DeSantis via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    It’s no secret Donald Trump wants Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) to stay out of the 2024 presidential race.

    In a recent Truth Social post, Trump tried to discourage DeSantis from entering the race by predicting the devastating defeat would affect the governor’s chances of holding any future political office.

    “Ron DeSantis is a young man who is not doing well against me in the polls, to put it mildly,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I believe that if he decides to run for President, which will only hurt and somewhat divide the Republican Party, he will lose the cherished and massive MAGA vote, and never be able to successfully run for office again.”

    “If he remains Governor, which is what Florida voters assumed, it would be a whole different story….JUST SAYIN’ – But who knows?” Trump added.

    DeSantis has not yet announced whether he is running for president in 2024, but he is widely expected to enter the race once Florida’s legislative session concludes.

    The governor is widely viewed as Trump’s most formidable potential challenger based on polling data, however, national polls have shown Trump with a healthy lead over DeSantis and other potential challengers for the 2024 GOP nomination. 

    Trump and his team have ramped up attacks on DeSantis in recent weeks, even threatening to blacklist any officials who support the Governor from future positions.

    According to a new report by right-of-center publication RealClearPolitics, Trump’s campaign has informed conservative operatives that anyone who works for the Florida governor will be blackballed.

    According to sources with direct knowledge of the edict, Justin Caporale, who helps lead the advance team for the former president, has said that anyone who staffed a recent DeSantis book tour will be considered “persona non grata.” A top Trump ally was more comprehensive, telling RealClearPolitics that the prohibition would apply to more than just the junior aides tasked with setting up folding chairs and hanging banners.

    “It’s a time for choosing,” the source close to the former president said. “If you work for Ron DeSantis’ presidential race, you will not work for the Trump campaign or in the Trump White House.”

    Report: Settlement Reached In Lawsuit Against Fox News, Lou Dobbs

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0
    Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America,

    A settlement has been reached in a defamation lawsuit against Fox News and former host Lou Dobbs.

    Venezuelan businessman Majed Khalil filed the lawsuit in 2021 alleging statements made on Dobbs’s social media and by pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell on Dobbs’s Fox Business show defamed him by accusing the businessman of executing an “electoral 9/11” and helping change ballot counts in voting machines.

    “The 2020 Election is a cyber Pearl Harbor: The leftwing establishment have aligned their forces to overthrow the United States government,” Dobbs wrote in a Twitter post.

    According to Khalil’s complaint, as Powell appeared on one of his shows, the host asked, “You say these four individuals led the effort to rig this election. How did they do it?”

    Dobbs and Fox’s attorney had unsuccessfully moved to have the case dismissed on First Amendment grounds last fall.

    The Hill reported that lawyers for the two parties confirmed they had reached an agreement to resolve the matter, however, the financial terms of the agreement were not specified.

    “This matter has been resolved amicably by both sides,” a Fox News spokesperson said when contacted Sunday by The Hill. “We have no further comment.”

    Fox News network is separately fighting a $1.6 Billion defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems over similar claims about the 2020 election made on its air. Fox has also argued the allegations made by Dominion are protected by the First Amendment.

    “This case is and always has been about the First Amendment protections of the media’s absolute right to cover the news,” the network said in a recent statement about the Dominion case. “Fox will continue to fiercely advocate for the rights of free speech and a free press as we move into the next phase of these proceedings.” 

    The trial, which is slated to begin later this month will feature testimony from high-profile officials such as Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, Tucker Carlson, and Sean Hannity.

    American Liberty News previously reported that in a letter to Judge Eric M. Davis, lawyers for the cable news behemoth told the judge they intend to make Tucker Carlson, Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity available to testify. They also named news anchors Bret Baier and Dana Perino. Additionally, they will call top executives and producers, including CEO Suzanne Scott, President Jay Wallace and Justin Wells, executive producer of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” in its defense.

    House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Major Banks For Biden Family Financial Records

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    The House Oversight Committee issued subpoenas to banks asking for the Biden family’s financial records.

    Fox News has confirmed that the Oversight Committee subpoenaed Bank of America, Cathay Bank, JPMorgan Chase, HSBC USA N.A., as well as former Hunter Biden business associate Mervyn Yan asking for financial records.

    Rep. Jamie Raskin, (D-Md.) the top Democrat on the committee, accused Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) of intentionally trying to hide information regarding the investigation from Democrats on the committee.

    In a statement to Fox News, Rep. James Comer said “Ranking Member Raskin has again disclosed Committee’s subpoenas in a cheap attempt to thwart cooperation from other witnesses. Given his antics with the first bank subpoena, the American people and media should be asking what information Ranking Member Raskin is trying to hide this time. No one should be fooled by Ranking Member Raskin’s games. We have the bank records, and the facts are not good for the Biden family.”

    The Oversight Committee Democrat staff sent a memo to members on Thursday accusing Republicans of conducting their investigation behind a “veil of secrecy.”

    “Despite this massive investment of time and resources, Republican efforts on this and other congressional committees have failed to yield any evidence of misconduct by President Biden. Nevertheless, Chairman Comer has issued six document subpoenas for financial records as part of this renewed investigation, several of which have been based on information Committee Republicans know to be false,” the memo states.

    “On February 27, 2023, Chairman Comer secretly issued the Committee’s first document subpoena as part of Committee Republicans’ ongoing investigation into the Biden family to Bank of America. This subpoena sought, among other information, “all financial records” from January 20, 2009, to the present — a staggering 14-year period — for John R. Walker, a private U.S. citizen… Yet, because of Chairman Comer’s use of a secret subpoena, Mr. Walker was never notified that the Committee had subpoenaed his financial records from Bank of America, he was never notified that Bank of America turned over his records to the Committee, and he was never notified that the Committee was publicly releasing information from these records,” the memo states.

    Sean Spicer Announces Departure from Newsmax

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3

    Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer is leaving Newsmax.

    In a video posted online late Thursday, Spicer, who had hosted a show on the channel for several years, teased a new venture.

    “The 2024 election cycle will be in full swing before we know it,” Spicer said. “And I want to give you a front row seat to what’s happening.”

    Spicer, who remains a supporter of Trump, did not expand on his new venture, but said he will be working to “expose the false narratives and the hypocrisy the mainstream media is pushing.”

    Newsmax recently inked a new deal with DirecTV, one of its largest providers, after a nasty public dispute over carrier fees. The channel remains well behind the three major cable networks — Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, in the monthly ratings race.

    Legal Expert Says DA Alvin Bragg Violated Donald Trump’s Constitutional Rights

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    2
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg may have violated Donald Trump’s Constitutional rights according to Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett.

    On “Hannity,” Jarrett said that Bragg’s refusal to disclose the underlying crime the defendant intended to conceal through his alleged falsification of business records violated the Sixth Amendment.

    The Sixth Amendment provides in part for the right of a criminal defendant to “be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor…”

    When questioned by a reporter as to what the underlying crime the indictment fails to name is, Bragg replied in New York State, he does not have to.

    “The indictment doesn’t specify it because the law does not so require,” he told the journalist.

    “He does [have to name it, via] the Sixth Amendment,” Jarrett said. “[The indictment] is therefore facially defective. It is deficient on its face and it would be susceptible to a motion-to-dismiss.”

    Jarrett recalled a warning from former Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, a Nuremberg Trial prosecutor, who said the “greatest danger to justice is an unscrupulous prosecutor who targets a person and then scours the law books to find an offense he can pin on that person.”

    “That’s what Alvin Bragg has done,” he said.

    Last Thursday, the New York grand jury voted to indict former President Donald Trump for his alleged role in a hush money bribe to adult film star Stormy Daniels amid the 2016 presidential election in DA Alvin Bragg’s yearslong investigation into the real estate mogul.

    Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.

    On Tuesday, the former President surrendered to the Manhattan Criminal Court for his arraignment. Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.

    Judge Rules Dominion can call Murdoch to Testify in Fox News Lawsuit

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    4
    Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

    A Delaware judge has ruled Dominion Voting Systems can call Fox Corp. executives Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch as witnesses to testify during a jury trial as part of its $1.6 Billion lawsuit against Fox News.

    In a new development, lawyers for Dominion asked Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis to allow them to call the Murdochs as live witnesses during the trial, which is slated to begin later this month. 

    Davis last week tossed out Fox’s latest attempt to throw out the suit and ruled that Dominion had proven the first key elements of their defamation claim: that the network’s statements about Dominion and the 2020 election were false.

    Davis also ruled last week that a jury was needed to decide whether Fox operated with actual malice, or reckless disregard for the truth, another key legal hurdle Dominion needs to clear in order to prove defamation. 

    Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox News for $1.6 billion alleging the cable news giant intentionally aired false claims about the company being made by former President Trump and his supporters during the 2020 election.

    Fox has moved to have the case brought against it by Dominion dismissed on First Amendment grounds.

    “Dominion’s lawsuit has always been more about what will generate headlines than what can withstand legal and factual scrutiny, as illustrated by them now being forced to slash their fanciful damages demand by more than half a billion dollars after their own expert debunked its implausible claims,” the network said in a statement on Monday evening. “Their summary judgment motion took an extreme, unsupported view of defamation law that would prevent journalists from basic reporting and their efforts to publicly smear Fox for covering and commenting on allegations by a sitting President of the United States should be recognized for what it is: a blatant violation of the First Amendment.”

    Judge Opts Not To Impose Gag Order In Trump Hush Money Case

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    3
    Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    On Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan declined to impose a gag order on former president Donald Trump and his legal team despite the mounting speculation.

    During the Tuesday afternoon arraignment, Merchan warned Trump and his team, as well as the opposing counsel, not to make social media posts that could incite violence.

    Early reports indicated the judge was considering imposing the order on parties in the case which would have blocked Trump and his team from talking publicly about the trial at the risk of potentially being found in contempt of court.

    Criminal defense attorney Duncan Levin, who previously served as a staffer in the Manhattan DA’s office and as a federal prosecutor, told Business Insider that it is “extremely likely” there will be a gag order.

    “I think it’s not only a possibility, but it’s extremely likely that there will be a gag order in the case,” said Levin, known for representing clients including Harvey Weinstein and Anna Sorokin. “Gag orders are very common in criminal cases, particularly in cases where there is an enormous amount of pretrial publicity like this one.”

    Punishment for criminal contempt, under New York law, is a fine not exceeding $1,000, jail for up to 30 days, or both.

    Supporters of Trump’s questioned the legality of imposing such an order on a candidate who is actively running for president.

    According to The Daily Wire, Mike Davis, the founder of the Article III Project, said gag orders “generally” protect the Sixth Amendment right of defendants to fair trials, but that does not preclude them from having First Amendment rights.

    “Ordering any defendant not to speak about his charges would almost certainly violate the First Amendment,” he added in a post to Twitter. “Telling a presidential candidate he cannot respond to allegations —including media leaks — in a political prosecution is un-American.”

    On Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in Manhattan.

    Following the court proceedings, the former President traveled back to Mar-a-Lago where he delivered a fiery speech slamming DA Alvin Bragg’s politically-motivated witch hunt.

    Report: Trump Indictment Unsealed!

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    5
    Gage Skidmore Flickr

    The charges against former President Donald Trump have been revealed after he was arraigned on Tuesday.

    The indictment against the former president, People of the State of New York against Donald J. Trump, Indictment No. 71543-23, has been unsealed. Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. 

    Read the indictment below:

    Donald-J.-Trump-IndictmentDownload
    https://twitter.com/EricTrump/status/1643323850057306112

    The charges come one day after Trump arrived in New York for the criminal proceedings.

    Last Thursday, the New York grand jury voted to indict former President Donald Trump for his alleged role in a hush money bribe to adult film star Stormy Daniels amid the 2016 presidential election in DA Alvin Bragg’s yearslong investigation into the real estate mogul.

    Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump related to the Daniels payment in 2019. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.

    On Tuesday, the former President surrendered to the Manhattan Criminal Court for his arraignment

    “Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse,” he said on Truth Social as he made his way from Trump Tower to the courtroom.

    “Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME,” he said. “Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!”

    Trump was processed and then escorted to Justice Juan Merchan’s courtroom for the arraignment proceedings. Trump was not handcuffed, as some are during an arraignment, and did not have a mugshot taken. Detectives handled the arrest of the former president. However, the arraignment has been surrounded by a media firestorm after Trump became the first president to be indicted.

    At least two helicopters hovered over the courthouse and the adjacent public park as protestors gathered. Dueling chants of “USA!” and “lock him up!” were fired back and forth between crowds of pro-Trump and anti-Trump demonstrators assembled in the public square across the street from the courtroom.

    Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges and has called on District Attorney Alvin Bragg to be indicted himself over his handling of the case, claiming the DA “illegally leaked” details of Trump’s case.

    “Wow! District Attorney Bragg just illegally LEAKED the various points, and complete information, on the pathetic Indictment against me,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday. “I know the reporter and so, unfortunately, does he. This means that he MUST BE IMMEDIATELY INDICTED. Now, if he wants to really clean up his reputation, he will do the honorable thing and, as District Attorney, INDICT HIMSELF.”

    Numerous conservatives have publicly tweeted their support of Trump.

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

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