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    GOP Rival Threatens to Stalk Trump Across the Country Until He Debates

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    Maryland GovPics, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is not letting Donald Trump off so easily…

    Christie, one of Trump’s fiercest Republican critics, pledged Sunday to follow the leading candidate “around the country” if the former president does not debate.

    “Well, if he doesn’t do any of the debates, Howie, you know, we’re going to give him another chance,” he told Fox News’s Howard Kurtz on “Media Buzz.” “I’m sure he’s not coming to the Reagan debate. We’ll give him another chance in Alabama. But if he doesn’t come there, then I’m going to follow him around the country. Wherever he goes, I’ll go. And we’ll wind up talking to each other one way or other. And he knows that’s true.”

    When pushed further on the topic, Christie confirmed he would change his schedule to follow Trump around.

    Trump refused to participate in the first Republican presidential debate, citing his massive lead in the polls and his rocky relationship with Fox News and Rupert Murdoch. Trump also indicated he does not plan to participate in the next debate.

    Kurtz also asked the former governor if he has been “selling” Republicans as he attacks the former president, questioning whether Christie is just telling voters what they “want to hear about Trump.”

    “You know, first, you have to make sure that you distinguish yourself from the front-runner, and I’m doing that. But also, you’ve got to tell people about what you’re for and what your experience will get them a chance to do,” he said.

    “The American people are tired of being lied to,” he added. “They’re tired of being lied to by Joe Biden when he said the other day that he’s reduced the deficit when, in fact, he’s going to double the deficit this year. They’re tired of being lied to by Donald Trump when he says the election in 2020 was stolen, and that’s all he wants to talk about going forward is that and the fact that he’s out on bail in four different jurisdictions.”

    Obama Appointed Judge Makes Shocking Pro-Trump Decision

    By
    admin
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    8
    The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    A judge appointed by Barack Obama has issued a decisive response to a lawsuit filed by a group that claims Donald Trump’s involvement in the U.S. Capitol attack renders him unfit for office.

    Judge Robin L. Rosenberg ruled the plaintiffs, led by Boynton Beach attorney Lawrence Caplan, lacked standing to bring a federal lawsuit against the former president, citing the 14th Amendment’s restriction on insurrectionists holding office.

    The Washington Times has more on Rosenberg’s response and the ensuing fallout:

    “Plaintiffs lack standing to challenge defendant’s qualifications for seeking the presidency, as the injuries alleged are not cognizable and not particular to them,” the judge wrote.

    Lawrence Caplan of Boynton Beach argued in a federal court filing with the Southern District of Florida that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution prevents someone from holding power in the U.S. government if that individual has rebelled against the government through an insurrection or aided its enemies.

    In his filing, Mr. Caplan refers to it as the “disqualification clause” and says it can operate independently of criminal proceedings. But he noted that special counsel Jack Smith has indicted Mr. Trump over the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and allegedly attempting to undermine the 2020 election.

    The legal filing also noted Georgia prosecutors have charged the ex-president and his allies with election interference, among other allegations.

    “President Trump’s efforts both in Washington, as well as in Georgia and perhaps other states, as well as the consequential assault on the U.S. Capitol, put Trump at the center of the disqualification clause, and as a result of which, make him ineligible to ever serve in federal office again,” Caplan added.

    READ NEXT: Woman Opens Fire On Carjacking Suspect At Philly Gas Station

    This piece was first published in American Liberty News. Republished with permission.

    What’s The Latest Hold Up To A House GOP Impeachment Inquiry Into Biden? McCarthy Explains.

    By
    admin
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    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    In an exclusive interview with Breitbart, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he won’t open an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden without a floor vote. “If we move forward,” it “would occur through a vote” on the House floor, the speaker explained to Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle.

    McCarthy’s announcement confirms that moving forward with an impeachment inquiry will require 218 yes votes.

    Appearing on Charlie Kirk’s podcast, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said that she believed the House Republican Conference has the votes to initiate formal proceedings against Biden.

    Fox News has more:

    “To open an impeachment inquiry is a serious matter, and House Republicans would not take it lightly or use it for political purposes. The American people deserve to be heard on this matter through their elected representatives,” McCarthy told Breitbart News in a statement. “That’s why, if we move forward with an impeachment inquiry, it would occur through a vote on the floor of the People’s House and not through a declaration by one person.”

    McCarthy’s position is a departure from how his predecessor Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., handled the first impeachment inquiry against former President Donald Trump. In 2019, Pelosi unilaterally proclaimed that the House would advance an impeachment inquiry against Trump after the controversy over his infamous phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

    “This week, the president has admitted to asking the president of Ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically,” Pelosi said on Sept. 24, 2019. “Therefore, today, I’m announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. I’m directing our six committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella.

    “The president must be held accountable,” she continued. “No one is above the law.”

    A McCarthy spokesperson has not responded to Fox News’ request for comment.

    This article first appeared in American Liberty News. Republished with permission.

    Did Fauci Lie To Congress? New Investigation May Reveal The Truth.

    By
    Donny Ferguson
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    1
    National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony S. Fauci. Photo Credit: Fogarty International Center from Bethesda, MD, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

    In the wake of revelations that the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci may have knowingly lied to Congress in sworn testimony, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is asking the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation.

    Paul has asked U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Matthew Graves to open an investigation into testimony Fauci made to the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) on May 11, 2021, in which Fauci denied funding research at viral laboratory in China where the COVID-19 virus reportedly originated.

    “The NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Fauci said under oath in May.

    But a month later a June 14, 2023,  Government Accountability Office report concluded the Wuhan Institute of Virology did receieve NIH funding.

    There are concerns the COVID-19 virus “may have been genetically engineered because gain-of-function research was taking place in Wuhan before the pandemic,” Paul reports.

    Now Paul wants to determine if Fauci’s statements were illegal.

    “I warned Dr. Fauci of the criminal implications of lying to Congress and offered him an opportunity to recant his previous statement,” Paul wrote in a letter to Graves. “Dr. Fauci’s testimony is inconsistent with facts that have since come to light.”

    “Before Congress, Dr. Fauci denied funding gain-of-function research, to the press he claims to have a dispassionate view on the lab leak hypothesis, and in private he acknowledges gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology to his colleagues. His own colleagues have acknowledged Dr. Fauci’s inconsistency. A congressional hearing, however, is not the place for a public servant to play political games – especially when the health and well-being of American citizens is on the line,” Paul writes.

    Under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 it is a federal crime to make “any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation” as part of “any investigation or review, conducted pursuant to the authority of any committee, subcommittee, commission or office of the Congress, consistent with applicable rules of the House or Senate.”

    The penalty for an offense includes criminal fines and imprisonment of up to five years.

    The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Great America News Desk. It was first published in American Liberty News.

    READ NEXT: Ukrainian Special Forces Reportedly ‘Pinned Down’ During Night Raid In Crimea By Security Guard In Underwear

    Blake Masters Looks To Run For Arizona’s Senate Seat Once More

    By
    admin
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    Blake Masters speaking with attendees at the 2022 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.

    Despite losing to Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in 2022, Blake Masters plans to run for the United States Senate again.

    This time against Kyrsten Sinema.

    Confirmation from Masters may come as soon as next week, as Politico reports:

    Masters did not reply to a request for comment. Masters won the GOP nomination last year but lost to Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in a critical swing state.

    Former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s advisers say she is expected to announce a Senate campaign in early fall, though some Republicans are skeptical Lake and Masters would run for the same seat. Pinal County sheriff Mark Lamb is another GOP candidate.

    Barrett Marson, an Arizona-based GOP strategist, said he talked to Masters a few months ago and he “was pretty decisively in.” However, he said, Masters had been waiting for Lake to decide whether to run.

    “I think he is now under the impression that maybe Kari Lake isn’t going to run, because I’ll tell you if Lake and Blake are both in, he is wasting his time,” he said. “They occupy the same lane. They have nearly the same name. And she has much better positive name ID among Republicans than Blake does.”

    In March 2022, Masters resigned from Peter Thiel’s firm to run for Senate. Within three months, he secured endorsements from Thiel and former President Donald Trump, leading to a comfortable victory over Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich in the Republican primary.

    However, Sen. Kelly defeated Masters by 4.9 percentage points. Kelly enjoyed a massive fundraising advantage, raising $75 million compared to Masters’ $12 million.

    On the campaign trail, Kelly utilized the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Masters’ support for privatizing Social Security, and his flip-flopping on the 2020 presidential election to weaken his support with Republican-leaning voters and moderates.

    This article first appeared in American Liberty News.

    Biden’s Lies About Hunter’s Foreign Influence Peddling Are About To Blow Up In His Face

    By
    Paul Crespo
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    6
    President Joe Biden hugs his family during the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. (DOD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II)

    ANALYSIS – Where there’s smoke there’s fire. And there is a lot of smoke surrounding Joe and Hunter Biden. It is increasingly clear that Joe Biden has repeatedly lied about his involvement in, and knowledge of, his son Hunter’s overseas influence peddling businesses.

    And with Biden’s Department of Justice (DoJ) and FBI dragging their feet with documents requested by congressional investigators, an official impeachment inquiry may be the only way to get to the truth.

    And that official inquiry may be coming very soon.

    Republicans could open an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden over ties to his son Hunter’s shady and unethical business entanglements when Congress reconvenes on September 12.

    In the final presidential debate of the 2020 U.S. election between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joseph Biden, moderator Kristen Welker asked Biden: “there have been questions about the work your son has done in China and for a Ukrainian energy company when you were vice president; in retrospect, was anything about those relationships inappropriate or unethical?”

    “Nothing was unethical. My son has not made money in terms of this thing about, what are you talking about, China,” Biden replied.

    Biden also said he never discussed business with his son.

    Well, to put it in Biden terms, that was all a bunch of malarkey.

    Now, nearly three years later, Hunter has rebutted Joe Biden’s assertions directly. In court testimony in late June, Hunter acknowledged that he had been paid substantial sums in China – the first official confirmation that this was the case.

    This direct contradiction creates a major problem for the White House, and Republicans insist there’s a lot more to find out.

    “A lot of the things the president said about his family’s shady business dealings, we’re proving every day that they’re not true,” Republican James Comer, Chair of the Oversight and Accountability Committee, said.

    An impeachment inquiry is the next logical step to find out what is true.

    The Epoch Times (ET) reported: “House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said that initiating an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden would be a ‘natural step forward.’” This, following unresolved questions from the House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s investigations into the Biden family’s business dealings.

    The speaker said on Monday that the impeachment inquiry could start soon. McCarthy added that an impeachment inquiry would provide Congress “the apex of legal power to get all the information they need” to investigate whether President Biden misused his office to assist family businesses.

    ET continued:

    McCarthy said on Monday that the inquiry was needed to overcome stonewalling of congressional investigators looking for transparency about the Biden family’s business records following testimony from former Hunter Biden associate Devon Archer that President Biden met with son Hunter Biden’s business partners during the time he was vice president, as well as concerns raised by whistleblowers at the IRS regarding Hunter Biden’s tax records.

    The House Oversight and Accountability Committee has so far subpoenaed six different banks, receiving thousands of bank records of businesses and individuals connected to Joe Biden’s family members.

    According to ET:

    Those records showed that more than $20 million in payments from foreign sources have been made to the president’s relatives, including Hunter Biden, and their business associates while Mr. Biden was acting as U.S. vice president from 2009 to 2017.

    Romanian, Chinese, and Russian nationals were among those making payments to the Biden family and their associates. The records also revealed that the funds were funneled through a network of at least 20 shell companies before being transferred to Biden family members.

    An inquiry doesn’t mean the House will impeach Biden. But it does give Republicans far more legal power to force reluctant Biden DoJ bureaucrats and others to come forward with the truth.

    The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Great America News Desk.

    CIA Sued Over Role In Hunter Biden Laptop Election Cover-Up

    By
    Donny Ferguson
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    3
    The New Headquarters Building (NHB) of the CIA. The Central Intelligence Agency, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    A nonprofit legal watchdog has filed a federal lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency, seeking documents and records over an election-year government effort to cover up reporting seen as damaging to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.

    In particular, the group seeks information on the agency’s role in a letter signed by 51 intelligence officials that falsely claimed the Russian government “planted” evidence of criminal activity on a laptop owned by Biden’s middle-aged son Hunter.

    Judicial Watch filed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the CIA for all “communications of the spy agency’s Prepublication Classification Review Board (PCRB) regarding an October 19, 2020, email request to review and ‘clear’ a letter signed by 51 former intelligence community officials characterizing the Hunter Biden laptop story as having ‘all the earmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign,’” the group announced.

    “The Deep State CIA, it seems, engaged in election interference and a political operation against the American people to help Joe Biden and hurt Trump,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “And now the CIA is ignoring FOIA law to cover up its role in the scandal, censoring and suppressing the Hunter Biden/Joe Biden laptop story just before the presidential election.”

    In October 2020, the New York Post broke a bombshell story revealing that Hunter Biden’s laptop, which he abandoned at a Delaware computer shop, contained photographs of Hunter Biden engaged in drug use and using prostitutes, as well as emails describing what appear to be shady foreign business deals.

    Fearing the story could damage Biden’s presidential campaign, social media companies attempted to suppress the sharing of the Post’s reporting.

    The Biden campaign also reached out to intelligence officials, including the CIA and FBI, seeking their help in falsely discrediting the story.

    “In a May 10, 2023, report the House Judiciary Committee revealed that on October 19, 2020, three days before the second presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democrat candidate Joe Biden, then-Acting CIA Director Michael Morell sent the PCRB the finalized letter for review, calling it a ‘rush job,’ and quickly secured its approval,” Judicial Watch reports.

    Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit after the CIA failed to respond to a May 11, 2023, FOIA request for:

    Records and communications of the Prepublication Classification Review Board, Central Intelligence Agency, including emails, email chains, email attachments, text messages, cables, voice recordings, correspondence, statements, letters, memoranda, reports, presentations, notes, or other form of record, regarding an October 19, 2020, email request to review and “clear” a letter involving the Hunter Biden laptop story potentially having Russian involvement or being a Russian disinformation plot.

    An investigation by the House Judiciary Committee and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence found that the CIA, or a CIA employee, may have helped the Biden campaign find signers for the false letter.

    One former CIA employee, David Cariens, reveals that while speaking with the PCRB in October 2020 to review materials for his memoir, a CIA employee “asked” him to sign the false letter.

    “When the person in charge of reviewing the book called to say it was approved with no changes, I was told about the draft letter,” said Cariens.

    “The person asked me if I would be willing to sign. . . . After hearing the letter’s contents, and the qualifiers in it such as, “We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails provided to the New York Post by President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement . . .’ I agreed to sign,” Cariens said.

    “If accurate, this information raises fundamental concerns about the role of the CIA in helping to falsely discredit allegations about the Biden family in the weeks before the 2020 presidential election,” Judicial Watch notes.

    Another former CIA officer, Marc Polymeropoulos, criticized the CIA’s involvement in his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee in the following exchange:

    Q. Does what [Former CIA official David Cariens] described there, that interaction with the [Prepublication Classification Review Board], sound like a quid pro quo to you?

    A. I can’t comment on this. This is—to me, this is something that the [Prepublication Classification Review Board] in my experience would never engage in something like that. They are just straightforward back and forth in terms of approval. The idea they would have a comment on any other thing that they were working on, that to me is not even close to what I’ve experienced with them.

    Q. Does that concern you?

    A. If it’s true, it would concern me, for sure. But I just—I have a hard time believing that occurred. If it did, that’s incredibly unprofessional.

    The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Great America News Desk. It first appeared in American Liberty News.

    READ NEXT: Longtime ACU/CPAC Leader David Keene Speaks Out After Vice Chair’s Resignation

    Longtime ACU/CPAC Leader David Keene Speaks Out After Vice-Chair’s Resignation

    By
    Victoria Churchill
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    Charlie Gerow speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. [Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons]

    Longtime Conservative leader Charlie Gerow has resigned as Vice Chairman of the American Conservative Union (ACU/CPAC) and as a Board Member of the ACU Foundation (ACUF).

    His resignation follows several recent resignations of other officers and directors of ACU/CPAC/ACUF.

    Like other former directors and officers, Gerow cited growing concerns with the sexual battery charges against ACU/CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp, financial questions, and internal management problems.

    Gerow’s resignation comes on the heels of the organization’s Treasurer, former Congressman Bob Beauprez’s resignation 3 months ago who brought up questions of financial and office mismanagement in his letter to the Board of Directors. POLITICO.com also reported earlier today that attorney Tim Ryan also resigned earlier this week.

    In resigning, Gerow issued the following statement:

    “It is with deep sadness and true regret that I have joined several of my colleagues in resigning from the Board of ACU/CPAC. I have consistently exercised my fiduciary duties to the organization and have always done my very best to fulfill all of my responsibilities to this very vital organization. I know I have done the right things.
    It was a great honor to serve the conservative movement in my leadership roles at CPAC/ACU/ACUF and I will continue to pray that the difficulties they are encountering will be dealt with openly and honestly.
    Although I will not now be able to participate in the August Board meeting, I am calling on my former colleagues to authorize an independent investigation into the charges against Matt Schlapp, to conduct an independent forensic audit of the organization’s finances, to obtain a written opinion of counsel that the organization is in full compliance with its own by-laws and all applicable law and to thoroughly review all the exit interviews of the large number of staff who have recently left CPAC/ACU/ACUF.”

    Gerow also cited his long record of service to the conservative cause.

    The loss of Gerow is a great one for the ACU and the conservative movement as a whole.

    Former ACU Chairman David A. Keene spoke exclusively to American Liberty News this evening about Gerow’s decision to depart his role on the CPAC board.

    “Charlie has always spoken the truth as he sees it, and is a valuable part of both the ACU and the conservative movement as a whole. It is a shame that he feels that he can not be a part of it any longer.”

    Keene served as Chairman of the ACU Board from 1984 to 2011 and his term overlapped with both Schalpp and Gerow’s respective tenure on the board. Keene was succeeded in his role as board Chairman by Al Cardenas, who served in the role until 2014. Schlapp has been Chairman for nearly a decade since then, when he was unanimously elected to the position.

    Keene also noted that CPAC has changed in the era of Schlapp’s chairmanship and that the loss of Gerow is the severing of a link to the original Reagan era of the organization. Once, the annual CPAC conference was a gathering place for conservatives of all stripes. Keene observed that in the past dozen years, the event evolved into “more of a show than a conference” drawing many more corporate sponsors than traditionally conservative grassroots organizations and think tanks. In the past several years, it has been an event showcasing the likes of 45th President Donald Trump and Schlapp himself.

    When asked if those golden days of CPAC can be returned to, Keene stated that the possibility exists, but that it would take “new leadership” to go back to a time when a more diverse group of conservatives could call CPAC home. Still, Keene believes that the gathering is a “vital part of the conservative experience” and those in charge have an obligation to make sure it stays that way.

    The Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse, Raheem Kassam noted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that “Matt Schlapp has single-handedly made CPAC an irrelevant and corrupt sideshow.  He HAS TO GO.”

    CPAC responded tweeting: “CPAC remains committed to compliance. Having a board that is unified toward the goal of defeating the left and winning on important issues and the next election is critical to saving America.”

    In February of this year, the Washington Post reported that “Schlapp received a $150,000 payment in 2021 for ‘business services’ and he started receiving annual compensation of $600,000 in mid-2022 according to tax documents.” Those records also show that his wife Mercedes received $175,000 for “strategic communications”, per the Post.

    It remains unclear if the remaining board members will support an investigation into Schlapp’s alleged misconduct in the wake of the recent resignations.

    This article originally appeared in American Liberty News. Republished with permission. Continue to check back with American Liberty News for updates as this story develops.

    Is Vivek Ramaswamy The GOP’s New Trump ‘Lite’?

    By
    Paul Crespo
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    13
    Vivek Ramaswamy speaking with attendees at the 2022 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Arizona.

    ANALYSIS- Who is this skinny guy with the funny-sounding name? (That was his opening line at the debate). Vivek Ramaswamy wasn’t supposed to be at the center of the first Republican presidential candidate debate in Milwaukee.

    Ron DeSantis was supposed to be the viable GOP alternative to Donald Trump. A two-term governor of the third most populous state in the union, DeSantis, a Navy veteran who served in Iraq, is as conservative as they come.

    And he has a proven track record of fighting the left in Florida – and winning.

    But despite his solid bona fides and resume, DeSantis has a personality problem. He just doesn’t exude charm or confidence, and that’s hurting him – a lot.

    Meanwhile, Ramaswamy the 38-year-old Trump-defending, Cincinnati-born, biotech billionaire (worth at least $950 million), son of Pakistani immigrants, kind of stole the show at the debate.

    According to former FBI agent and body language expert, Joe Navarro: “[Ramaswamy] consistently looked the most comfortable on stage.”

    He was also the most openly and unabashedly pro-Trump. He was the first candidate to raise their hand when asked who would support the former President as the party nominee even if he is convicted on felony charges that he’s facing.

    He has also promised to pardon Trump if elected. But he went even farther than that.

    “President Trump, I believe, was the best president of the 21st century,” Ramaswamy said in a clip from the debate Trump posted on Truth Social.

    And Trump loved it.

    “This answer gave Vivek Ramaswamy a big WIN in the debate because of a thing called TRUTH. Thank you, Vivek!”

    The ever-smiling political newbie Ramaswamy, who seemed to be having a blast on stage, was also the target of many of his GOP rivals.

    As TIME reported:

    Maybe it was Ramaswamy’s consistent and confounding defense of All Things Trump. Maybe it was his smooth talk and culture-war acumen. Maybe it was just the fact that Ramaswamy frankly does not care how things were done before and might just have enough self-made money to go the distance.

    Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie snarled that he had “had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT,” an A.I. battery. He then dismissed Ramaswamy as someone on the same level as a political figure universally loathed in the GOP. “The last person in one of these debates… who stood in the middle of the stage and said, ‘What is a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here?’ was Barack Obama. And I am afraid we are dealing with the same type of amateur standing on the stage tonight,” Christie said.

    But the quick witted Ramaswamy’s riposte to Christie was a zinger: “Give me a hug like you did to Obama, and you’ll help elect me just like you did to Obama. Give me the damn hug, brother.”

    Ramaswamy was referring to the 2012 incident when Christie was accused of “hugging” Obama during his visit in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy which hit days before the 2012 presidential election.

    It’s a claim that Christie has been denying since then, saying: “I didn’t hug him.”

    Photos at the time seem to back up Christie, but the zinger still worked.

    Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN under Trump, and ex-South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley, who is of Indian descent, hit Ramaswamy too: “You have no foreign policy experience, and it shows.”

    I would agree with that assessment and believe he has made a few deeply flawed important national security statements – including on Ukraine and Israel.

    But he is super smart and can learn quickly.

    Then Vice President Mike Pence took a Christie-like jab at Ramaswamy, attacking the very same quality that originally helped raise Trump in the GOP base – that he is not a politician.

    “Now it’s not the time for on-the-job training,” retorted Pence. “We don’t need to bring in a rookie. We don’t need to bring in people with no experience.”

    AS TIME noted: “Attacks during debates are the norm but this was different. Ramaswamy’s competitors really don’t like him. Not even a little.”

    However, there is one important GOP rival who seems to like Ramaswamy – Donald Trump. And that could be all that matters.

    Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.

    Retired Conservative Judge Says American Democracy ‘In Peril’ Due to Trump

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Retired federal judge J. Michael Luttig says that America’s democracy is at risk due to the current state of the Republican Party.

    Luttig, a conservative-leaning former judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals, joined CNN This Morning on Wednesday to discuss the “decay” of the Republican Party under Donald Trump’s leadership.

    “What do you think has happened to your party?” Harlow asked Luttig.

    His answer:

    Frankly, I don’t care about the Republican Party at all, except to the extent that the two political parties in America are the political guardians of democracy in our country. American democracy simply cannot function without two equally healthy and equally strong political parties. So, today, in my view, there is no Republican Party to counter the Democratic Party in the country. And for that reason, American democracy is in grave peril.

    “There is no Republican Party?” Harlow asked him. Luttig explained by outlining his view that “a political party is a collection, an assemblage of individuals who share a set of beliefs and principles and policy views about the United States of America.”

    “Today there is no such shared set of beliefs and values and principles, or even policy views, within the Republican Party for America,” Luttig determined. “Until or unless the Republican Party can pull itself together into a credible Republican political party, we simply don’t have two competing parties in America.”

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