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Marianne Williamson Returns to Presidential Race

By
Madeleine Jackson
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Joe Biden via Gage Skidmore Flickr

On Wednesday, long-shot candidate Marianne Williamson announced she is jumping back into the presidential race to challenge Joe Biden.

Williamson made the announcement in a video statement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Williamson said she returned to the race because she feels President Biden is a vulnerable candidate to put up against former President Donald Trump.

“As of today, I am unsuspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States,” Williamson said. “I had suspended it because I was losing the horse race. But something so much more important than the horse race is at stake here, and we must respond.”

“Right now, we have a fascist standing at the door. Everybody’s all upset about it. Well, we should be upset about it. But we’re not going to defeat the fascist by–well, by what? What is President Biden offering?” she asked. “What is he saying beyond, ‘You know, the economy is doing really well.’?”

“We’re still in this. Let’s do this. This is serious,” she added. “We need to say to the American people, ‘we see your pain,’ and we need to say to Donald Trump, ‘we see your B.S.’”

Williamson originally suspended her campaign on Feb. 7, dropping out of the race without making an endorsement.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

Jeb Bush Defends Trump Following $355M Court Ruling

By
Madeleine Jackson
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Former 2016 Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush defended his old rival in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed.

The column, which was co-authored by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, slammed the recent civil fraud trial against Trump, which resulted in a nearly $355 million fine and barred Trump from operating his business in New York for three years. 

“Every American has a right to be critical of Mr. Trump’s politics—one of us ran against him in 2016,” reads Bush’s op-ed, titled, “Elon Musk and Donald Trump Cases Imperil the Rule of Law.” 

“…But equality before the law is precious, and these rulings represent a crisis not only for the soundness of our courts, but for the business environment that has allowed the U.S. to prosper,” the opinion piece continued. “If these rulings stand, the damage could cascade through the economy, creating fear of arbitrary enforcement against entrepreneurs who seek public office or raise their voices as citizens in a way that politicians dislike.”

The op-ed marks a defense of Bush’s former 2016 rival, albeit not for Trump’s political stances. Instead, Lonsdale and Bush are calling for a “dispassionate” legal system that will not throttle businesses and lead to a weakened economy. 

“​​New York and Delaware have played an outsize role in business in the U.S.” the pair wrote. “Many major companies are incorporated in Delaware owing to the state’s body of corporate legal precedents; and a significant number of banks operate in New York, the world financial capital. The appellate courts in those states now have a chance to review these dangerous judicial rulings and try to stop further damage to the reputations of their respective judiciaries.”

“If they don’t, blue-state politicians may have the satisfaction of ‘sticking it’ to Messrs. Trump and Musk, but the loss to those states will be significant,” they continued. “The damage to the legal fabric of the country will be even worse. A dispassionate justice system is at the heart of American exceptionalism, and the country will be poorer if we lose it.”

Long-Shot Candidate Drops Out Of Race, Endorses Trump

By
Madeleine Jackson
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Gage Skidmore Flickr

A long-shot presidential candidate has suspended his campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump to become the Republican nominee.

On Tuesday, Texas pastor Ryan Binkley announced his decision to end his campaign.

“Today, I am suspending my campaign for the Presidency of the United States of America and offering my endorsement and unwavering support for President Trump,” Binkley wrote on X. 

“When I began this journey, it was with a message in my heart that our country needs to awaken to the fact that the unsustainable deficit spending and debt path we are on will undoubtedly lead us to a generational economic disruption,” he continued. “I believe that we can get off that path and begin a journey to balance the federal budget by transforming and demonopolizing the healthcare system which has been bankrupting our nation. I also felt deeply that as bad as the U.S. fiscal and monetary policy is, the political corruption and cultural divide in our country is an even greater threat. Throughout my campaign, I have seen our party struggle to find a place for a new vision while weighing the corrupt allegations and indictments against President Trump. He will need everyone’s support, and he will have mine moving forward.” 

Binkley, the co-founder and current CEO/president of Generational Equity Group, a merger and acquisitions business advisory in Texas, announced his bid in April of last year.

“Currently our nation is lost, divided, and in financial trouble. Here’s the good news: united, we can rise to change it as we restore our faith in God, freedom, and each other,” Binkley’s website said.

According to Fox News, Binkley’s campaign platform focused on issues like immigration reform and border controls, boosting the economy, privatizing healthcare, utilizing cheap energy sources like nuclear energy, and supporting pro-life policies.

Explosive Device Detonated Outside Of Republican Attorney General’s Office

By
Madeleine Jackson
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Police image via Pixabay free images

Authorities are investigating an explosive that was detonated Saturday morning outside the office of Alabama Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall.

In a statement on Monday, Marshall said that there were no injuries from the explosion and that Alabama authorities would be further investigating the incident. No possible motives have been given and no suspects have been identified by state authorities. 

The Daily Wire has more:

“In the early hours of Saturday, February 24, an explosive device was detonated outside of the Alabama Attorney General’s Office building in Montgomery,” Marshall said in a statement. “Thankfully, no staff or personnel were injured by the explosion. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency will be leading the investigation, and we are urging anyone with information to contact them immediately.”

The explosion reportedly took place at the intersection of Washington Avenue and South Bainbridge Street in Montgomery. and followed reports of a suspicious package being at the scene. 

“It was determined that the suspicious package was an explosive device that was detonated in the early morning hours of Saturday, Feb. 24,” the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said. “Nothing further is available as the investigation remains ongoing.”

The Alabama Bureau of Investigation was informed of the incident around 8:19 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Sgt. Jeremy Burkett said that there was no property damage from the detonation. 

Biden Classified Documents Scandal Blows Open Again After Nine Mystery Boxes Discovered

By
Donny Ferguson
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Joe Biden via Gage Skidmore Flickr

The same United States Justice Department prosecuting former President Donald Trump for mishandling classified documents ordered the National Archives and Records Administration to recover nine boxes of documents that had been held by Joe Biden – but a federal prosecutor investing whether Biden illegally retained documents appears to have not looked into the matter.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Committee on the Budget, “sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray, and Special Counsel Robert Hur regarding an apparent ‘significant factual omission’ in the Special Counsel’s report on President Biden’s handling of classified records,” a statement from Johnson announced.

“In March 2023, the senators revealed that the Department of Justice (DOJ) tasked the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to retrieve nine boxes of Biden records from the Boston office of Patrick Moore, one of Biden’s personal counsels. NARA told the senators that it did move the boxes to its facility in Boston on November 9, 2022.  It remains unclear whether any of the records in those boxes contained classified information,” the statement reveals.

Many assume the boxes contained classified documents, as the order to retrieve them came from the Justice Department.

The senators wrote, “[o]ddly, Special Counsel Hur’s report did not mention NARA’s retrieval of the nine boxes from Mr. Moore’s office. This apparent omission is significant given that, according to NARA, the Department of Justice requested that NARA recover the boxes. In fact, in March 2023, NARA informed our offices that ‘while NARA has not yet reviewed the contents of the nine boxes, the FBI has.’” 

“The senators noted that if the FBI did review the contents of the boxes, it is unclear what was found, if it included any classified information, and ‘whether the FBI informed Special Counsel Hur’s office of its findings,’” Johnson noted.

The senators added, “it is unclear if Special Counsel Hur had any awareness of or reviewed the information contained in these nine boxes. It would be extremely troubling if Special Counsel Hur failed to investigate the contents of these nine boxes particularly given that we first publicly revealed the existence of these specific boxes on March 27, 2023 — nearly one year ago.”

Report: Authorities Respond To Death Threat Sent To Donald Trump Jr.

By
Madeleine Jackson
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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

This is hardly the first time…

Former President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr. informed reporters that he received another death threat containing an unknown white substance on Monday.

A hazmat unit and firefighters arrived at Trump Jr.’s Florida home on Monday to assess the threat. In a statement to The Daily Caller, the son of the current Republican presidential frontrunner expressed his disappointment over the repeated threats and the media’s biased treatment of Republicans, especially Trump supporters.

“It’s just become a little bit too commonplace that this sort of stuff happens,” Donald Trump Jr. told the Daily Caller. “Clearly, if this happened to a prominent Democrat it wouldn’t be tolerated and would drive news coverage for weeks. The media would blame all Republicans and force them to answer for it, But since it’s me, radical haters on the left will largely get a free pass and the media will barely flinch.”

“It doesn’t matter what your politics are, this type of crap is unacceptable,” Donald Trumpl Jr. continued. “This is actually the second white powder substance envelope that’s been mailed to me. The last time we had this happen, it was during my father’s presidency and my then-wife opened it up with my kids by her side. So, it’s just sad that we live in a society where politics and the left’s hatred of my father would drive people to do such crazy things, but that’s where we are unfortunately. ”

Andrew Surabian, a spokesperson for Trump Jr., told the Caller that: “The test results of the substance came up inconclusive on what it was exactly, but officials on the scene do not believe it is deadly.”

Trump, Biden To Make Dueling Border Visits This Week

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    Trump at the border wall via Wikimedia Commons

    On Thursday, both President Biden and Donald Trump plan to visit the U.S.-Mexico border as illegal immigration continues to be a central topic through the 2024 election.

    Biden will travel to Brownsville, Texas to meet with U.S. Border Patrol agents, law enforcement, and local leaders, according to a White House official. 

    That same day, Trump is delivering remarks in Eagle Pass, Texas, Fox News previously confirmed. 

    Brownsville and Eagle Pass are about 325 miles, or about a 5-hour-20 minute drive, apart. 

    According to a Fox News analysis published last week, nearly 7.3 million migrants are known to have illegally crossed the southwest border since Biden took office. 

    That number is greater than the population of 36 individual states. It comes from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which has already reported 961,537 border encounters in the current fiscal year, which runs from October through September. If the current pace of illegal immigration does not slow down, fiscal year 2024 will break last year’s record of 2,475,669 southwest border encounters — a number that by itself exceeds the population of New Mexico, a border state. 

    The total number of southwest land border encounters since Biden assumed office in 2021 is 7,298,486, CBP data shows. 

    Trump Appeals $464 Million Fraud Verdict

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    On Monday, former President Donald Trump’s legal team appealed the recent civil fraud ruling by New York Judge Arthur Engoron.

    Judge Engoron’s ruling ordered Trump to pay nearly $355 million, Donald Jr. and Eric to each pay $4 million, and ex-Trump Org chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg to pay $1 million. The order also barred Trump from serving as a corporate officer or a director of a company in New York for three years, and barred his sons for two years. The Trumps did avoid the so-called “corporate death penalty;”

    Engoron declined to revoke the Trump Org’s certificate to do business in New York.

    The monetary verdicts also incur pre- and post-judgment interest under New York law. With interest, the total amount Trump is currently on the hook for is just over $354 million, with post-judgment interest accruing at nearly $112,000 per day. 

    Trump has previously signaled he planned to file an appeal.

    CNN Newsroom anchor Jim Acosta described it as “breaking but not shocking news” Monday morning and reported Trump will have to put up the cash or post bond to sustain the appeal, as chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid noted.

    As CNN reported, the “common practice” in this New York court district is to require a bond of 110 percent, a staggering sum in light of these cumulative verdicts.

    The New York fraud case and the Carroll verdicts “could wipe out a substantial amount of Trump’s liquid assets,” reported Adam Klasfeld at Just Security, noting that the ex-president had said in a deposition that his assets were “‘substantially in excess’ of $400 million,” and a Bloomberg analysis “estimated Trump’s liquid assets at $600 million.”

    Ronna McDaniel Steps Down As RNC Chair

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Ronna McDaniel via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    This is big…

    Following Donald Trump’s South Carolina primary win Ronna McDaniel has formally announced plans to step down as chairwoman of the Republican National Committee (RNC).

    McDaniel shared she plans to officially step down next week amid reports Trump wants fresh leadership in the RNC before heading into the general election.

    Maggie Haberman broke the news Monday morning, writing in the New York Times:

    The decision is not a surprise. The chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel, told Mr. Trump weeks ago that she planned to leave shortly after the South Carolina primary, which was held on Saturday. But she now sets in motion a new election within the party’s official body, where Mr. Trump’s preference for chair and co-chair will try to secure enough votes to take over.

    Mr. Trump has publicly backed Michael Whatley, the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party and the national committee’s general counsel, to replace Ms. McDaniel. And he has said that he wants his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to be the next co-chair.

    Mr. Trump’s remarks on the R.N.C. leadership came in the run-up to the South Carolina primary on Saturday, and in anticipation of his tightening his grip on the party. He ended up defeating his main rival, former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, by more than 20 points in her home state.

    Mediaite obtained a statement from the RNC, which reads:

    “It has been the honor and privilege of my life to serve the Republican National Committee for seven years as Chairwoman to elect Republicans and grow our Party. Some of my proudest accomplishments include firing Nancy Pelosi, winning the popular vote in 2022, creating an Election Integrity Department, building the committee’s first small dollar grassroots donor program, strengthening our state parties through our Growing Republican Organizations to Win program, expanding the Party through minority outreach at our community centers, and launching Bank Your Vote to get Republicans to commit to voting early.

    “I have decided to step aside at our Spring Training on March 8 in Houston to allow our nominee to select a Chair of their choosing. The RNC has historically undergone change once we have a nominee and it has always been my intention to honor that tradition. I remain committed to winning back the White House and electing Republicans up and down the ballot in November. I want to thank my husband Patrick, our children Abigail and Nash, the members of the 168 who elected me four times, President Trump for giving me the opportunity to lead our Party, as well as the RNC staff and donors who have supported me and our mission over the years.”

    Earlier this month, Trump endorsed North Carolina GOP chair Michael Whatley, daughter-in-law Lara Trump, and campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita to lead the Republican National Committee (RNC).

    “Michael has been with me from the beginning, has done a great job in his home state of North Carolina, and is committed to election integrity, which we must have to keep fraud out of our election, so it can’t be stolen,” Trump said.

    “Lara is an extremely talented communicator and is dedicated to all that MAGA stands for,” the former president said. “She has told me she wants to accept this challenge and would be GREAT!”

    Biden Challenger Signals Openness To Being Haley’s VP

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      1

      Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips could turn this election on its head…

      During a recent interview the long-shot primary challenger to President Biden said he was open to running alongside Nikki Haley as a “unity ticket.”

      “I think it’s a conversation that Ambassador Haley and I should have, if that’s what this comes down to,” Phillips said in a Thursday interview on Minneapolis’s News Talk 830 WCCO, first highlighted by Mediaite. 

      Phillips said “in the event of a Donald Trump victory this November,” he thinks “any American who opposes that, should celebrate, encourage and inspire an alternative that can actually win and lead our country in the way that people want, and I think anybody, including myself, should keep open minds and hearts about that.”

      “I hope Nikki Haley does, and I think America could be very well served by some type of a bipartisan ticket that restores faith in government and most importantly, demonstrates to the world — to the world — that America can work together and restore its extraordinary brand around the entire world,” Phillips said.

      The Minnesota Democrat repeatedly argued that Democrats should nominate someone else to take on Biden before ultimately jumping into the race himself.

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