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Report: Trump Will File For Mistrial In NY Fraud Case

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Image via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Former President Trump’s attorney Alina Habba is planning to file for a mistrial in the former president’s fraud cause in New York.

On Sunday, Habba told Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that she planned to file for a mistrial “soon,” while raising concerns that it will be the same trial judge deciding on the motion. 

New York Attorney General Letitia James’ case accuses Trump, his two adult sons, the Trump Organization, and top executives of falsely inflating the values of Trump’s real estate properties and other assets in order to get tax benefits and better loan terms.

James seeks around $250 million in damages, and she wants to bar Trump and his co-defendants from running another business in New York.

When asked about Trump’s concerns over the judge and clerk, Habba said the gag order prevented her from responding.

“I can tell you that we will be filing papers to address all of those issues,” Habba said. 

When asked if she will file for a mistrial, Habba said “soon,” and then “very soon.”

“The problem is, with all of these things, such as filing a motion for recusal, which we have done twice, is that the judge has to be the one that decides: Is he going to recuse himself? Does he feel that there was a mistrial,” Habba said.

“It’s a bench trial. We have one judge. And it’s the same judge that issued the gag order that has to make those determinations. So, at this point, I don’t have any reason to believe he shouldn’t after what we have learned, if it’s true,” Habba continued.

Trump’s Older Sister, Maryanne, Dead At 86

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Photo via Pixabay images

Former President Trump is grieving the loss of his older sister.

Maryanne Trump Barry died Monday morning at age 86.

She died at her home on the Upper East Side, in Manhattan, and the cause of death is unknown at this time, the New York Times reported.

Barry was a former federal appellate judge who retired in April 2019.

During her legal career, Barry worked as a federal prosecutor before being nominated by then-President Ronald Reagan to the Federal District Court in New Jersey in 1983. In 1999, then-President Bill Clinton appointed her to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

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

Tim Scott Ends 2024 Presidential Campaign

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Michael Vadon, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

In a surprising turn of events, the presidential primary field has one less competitor… Tim Scott has officially dropped out of the race.

Scott made the announcement on Fox News’ “Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy,” the host himself a former Republican South Carolina congressman who wrote a book with Scott.

“I love America more today than I did on May 22nd, but when I go back to Iowa, it will not be as a presidential candidate. I am suspending my campaign,” Scott told Gowdy. “I think the voters who are the most remarkable people on the planet have been really clear that they’re telling me, Not now, Tim.”

Scott’s campaign sent a fundraising email just minutes before he made his announcement giving donors what it called “one last chance to donate this weekend and help Tim reach his campaign goal.”

Scott launched his candidacy in May 2022 and was the second South Carolinian after former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley to run for the White House on the Republican side. 

Scott’s decision came a few days after the third Republican debate.

Scott’s decision to drop out of the race leaves the question of who the South Carolina Senator will ultimately choose to endorse in the race as other candidates are openly vying for his support.

“The best way for me to be helpful is to not weigh in,” he said when asked who he will support.

Scott also gave a thumbs down to the idea that he could serve as the nominee’s running mate on the Republican Party’s 2024 national ticket.

“Being vice president has never been on my to-do list,” he said.

Who will be the next candidate to call it quits? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Judge Rejects Trump Bid To Delay Classified Documents Trial

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Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

A federal judge in Florida refused to delay the start of the classified documents trial involving former President Donald Trump.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled Friday that she would dismiss the motion from Trump’s legal team “without prejudice” against taking it up again in the future. The trial’s start date could be reconsidered at a scheduling conference March 1, she wrote.

The Hill has more:

The order is a small victory for special counsel Jack Smith’s team, which had strongly argued against any delays in the case by suggesting that the former president wanted to push the case until after the 2024 presidential election. Trump is the undisputed front-runner in the GOP presidential primary.

The Florida judge noted the 1.3 million pages of evidence — plus thousands of hours of security video shot at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort — that prosecutors in the Mar-a-Lago case gave to the defense in discovery, in addition to the former president’s other legal woes with schedules of their own.

“I am not quite seeing a level of understanding on your part to these realities,” Cannon said at the time to prosecutor Jay Bratt, a member of special counsel Jack Smith’s team.

Trump is facing Espionage Act charges in the Mar-a-Lago case after refusing to return classified records from his time as president, as well as obstruction of justice charges for his efforts to conceal them from prosecutors.

Republican Billionaire Says Trump Failed To Meet ‘Low Expectations’

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    Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    During a recent interview high-profile Republican billionaire Peter Theil said he was disappointed by former President Trump’s time in office.

    During an interview with The Atlantic’s Barton Gellman, Thiel said “voting for Trump was like a not very articulate scream for help,” which he hoped would change the country for the better but ultimately he was left disappointed.

    “There are a lot of things I got wrong,” Thiel told Gellman. “It was crazier than I thought. It was more dangerous than I thought. They couldn’t get the most basic pieces of the government to work. So that was—I think that part was maybe worse than even my low expectations.”

    Thiel, who financially backed Trump in 2016, also told Glemman he recently received a call from Trump over his refusal to contribute to his latest campaign. Trump reportedly told Theil “he was very sad” and “had expected way more” from the Republican businessman.

    “Months later, word got back to Thiel that Trump had called [Blake] Masters to discourage him from running for Senate again, and had called Thiel a ‘fucking scumbag,’” Gellman reported, adding that Thiel no longer wanted to make any donations to Republican candidates in the near future.

    Thiel told Gellman, “There’s always a chance I might change my mind. But by talking to you, it makes it hard for me to change my mind. My husband doesn’t want me to give them any more money, and he’s right. I know they’re going to be pestering me like crazy. And by talking to you, it’s going to lock me out of the cycle for 2024.”

    Thiel also called Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election “not helpful,” and reportedly told Gellman that while Trump “did not turn out to be the revolutionary Thiel had hoped he might be,” he would not “refashion himself a Never Trumper in retrospect.”

    While the Republican billionaire has sworn off contributing to political candidates in the immediate future, Theil did express his support for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in May.

    Joe Manchin Will Not Seek West Virginia Reelection

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    Joe Manchin via Wikimedia Commons

    On Thursday, moderate Senator Joe Manchin (D- W.V.) announced he would run for another term in the Upper Chamber.

    The Hill reports:

    “After months of deliberation and long conversations with my family, I believe in my heart of hearts that I have accomplished what I set out to do for West Virginia. I have made one of the toughest decisions of my life and decided that I will not be running for re-election to the United States Senate,” Manchin said in a statement. “But what I will be doing is traveling the country and speaking out to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring Americans together.”

    Manchin’s announcement almost certainly hands Republicans a seat in next year’s elections in a deep red state

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

    Trump Holds 39-point Lead Over DeSantis In Florida Poll

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    Ron DeSantis via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Trump is still the reigning favorite in the Sunshine State.

    The most recent University of North Florida (UNF) poll sided with Trump, compared to just 21 percent for DeSantis and 6 percent for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. In a head-to-head poll, Trump leads DeSantis 59-29.

    The Hill has more:

    “Despite historically high approval in the polls, Governor DeSantis losing steam in his home state doesn’t bode well for his national campaign,” UNF professor Michael Binder said in a statement. “Even if you wipe out the rest of the competition in a head-to-head, Trump leads DeSantis by 20 points.”

    DeSantis has struggled in Florida, losing key endorsements to Trump despite his leadershhip. A majority of Florida’s congressional delegation has supported Trump, including Sen. Rick Scott (R), who made his Trump endorsement clear last week.

    “I am optimistic that we can return America to its rightful position of economic and military strength and the undisputed moral leader of the free world, but only with strong leadership in the White House,” Scott said in a Newsweek op-ed last week.

    “That is why I support my friend President Donald J. Trump to be the 47th President of the United States and encourage every Republican to unite behind his efforts to win back the White House,” he added.

    Watergate Prosecutor Says ‘Trump Is Toast’ In Fraud Trial 

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    Slowking4, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Ackerman said former President Trump is “toast” in his New York civil fraud case.

    New York Attorney General Letitia James’ case accuses Trump, his two adult sons, the Trump Organization, and top executives of falsely inflating the values of Trump’s real estate properties and other assets in order to get tax benefits and better loan terms.

    James seeks around $250 million in damages, and she wants to bar Trump and his co-defendants from running another business in New York.

    According to The Hill, Ackerman argued people are not only focused on the former president’s testimony but also his deposition with James’s lawyers last summer, where he invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 400 times.

    “Now what does it mean to take the Fifth Amendment? It means that you are refusing to answer a question, because a truthful answer would tend to be incriminating,” Ackerman said. “Then what did Donald Trump do last week? He went into court and said, ‘Oh, I didn’t do anything fraudulent, I wasn’t involved in a fraud.’ Which is just the opposite what in effect he was saying when he took the Fifth Amendment in his deposition.”

    “So you’ve got contradictory testimony,” Ackerman continued. “You can use his assertion of the Fifth Amendment against him to basically find that he’s lying, that he’s manipulating the system when he goes in, refuses to answer questions, answers the questions in a half-baked manner.”

    Earlier this week when Trump took the stand he fiercely defended his business practices and condemned those involved in the case as politically motivated “Trump haters.”

    “I just don’t see how this judge at the end of the day is not going to find that, with respect to Donald Trump … ‘Liar, liar, pants on fire,’” Ackerman said.

    Ackerman said that in his more than 40 years of civil law experience, he has never seen anyone “do such a stupid move as to suddenly start testifying” after they’ve taken the Fifth Amendment.

    After Brutal Poll, Top Obama Advisor Suggests Biden Drop Out of Race

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    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    ANALYSIS Are Democrats wetting their beds about Joe Biden? As I wrote about earlier, even the New York Times (NYT) is admitting Biden is losing in the polls to Donald Trump in five key electoral states. 

    And David Axelrod, chief strategist for Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, and a senior advisor to the former president Obama, is sending a message to the elderly Biden – “this is your last chance – get out now.”

    This is one of Obama’s top advisors, so it seems like a veiled message from the ex-president himself to Biden that it’s time to quit. We will likely hear this chorus to grow among Democrat movers and shakers.

    As reported by The Hill:

    When questioned about his comments Monday, Axelrod told CNN that it’s a good time for Biden to check if he should keep up his campaign. Sunday marked one year before the election.

    “As I’ve said for like a couple years now, the issue’s not — for him, is not political, it’s actuarial. You can see that in this poll and there’s just a lot of concern about the age issue, and that is something I think he needs to ponder. Just do a check and say, ‘Is this the right thing to do?’” Axelrod said.

    “Is this the best path? I suspect that he will say yes, but time is fleeting here, and this is probably the last moment for him to do that check, and it’s probably good if he does,” the Obama alum added.

    By ‘actuarial,’ Axelrod was referring to Biden’s age, calling it is “his biggest liability” and something he cannot change.

    “Among all the unpredictables there is one thing that is sure: the age arrow only points in one direction,” Axelrod wrote on X. Meaning, Biden is only going downhill from here.

    The NYT poll found Biden being trounced by Trump in five out of six battleground states including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania by margins of 3 to 10 points.

    The poll also found that 71 percent of registered voters said they agree to some degree that Biden is “just too old to be an effective president.” 62 percent of participants said Biden did not have the “mental sharpness to be an effective president.”

    The Hill added: “Axelrod told CNN that he’s not reacting to one poll with his comments but has had conversations with people and finds 2024 a unique year considering the threat of Trump — who is leading the GOP primary race — on the other side of the aisle.”

    The Hill continued:

    “Trump is a dangerous, unhinged demagogue whose brazen disdain for the rules, [norms], laws and institutions or democracy should be disqualifying,” Axelrod wrote in a separate post. “But the stakes of miscalculation here are too dramatic to ignore.”

    I would add that maybe the growing GOP impeachment inquiry into the Biden family business – ‘influence peddling’ – and the tax fraud and gun indictments against Hunter Biden, are also worrying Democrats.

    Echoing the growing talking points about Biden quitting while he still can, a separate Hill piece reported:

    Arguing Biden is “justly proud of his accomplishments,” Axelrod said Biden’s poll numbers will “send tremors of doubt” through the Democratic Party.

    “Not ‘bed-wetting,’” but legitimate concern, Axelrod wrote…

    “Only @JoeBiden can make this decision,” he continued. “If he continues to run, he will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. What he needs to decide is whether that is wise; whether it’s in HIS best interest or the country’s?”

     I don’t know about you, but I sense there is a lot of Democrat bed-wetting about Biden going around right now.

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

    Minnesota Supreme Court Dismisses Challenge To Keep Trump Off 2024 Ballot

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    The Minnesota Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to bar former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 primary ballot.

    Left-wing group Free Speech For People argued that Trump violated the 14th Amendment during the Jan. 6th, 2020 Capitol riot.

    The 14th Amendment disqualifies anyone from running for office who had previously taken an oath of office who then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

    The Daily Wire has more:

    “There is no state statute that prohibits a major political party from placing on the presidential nomination primary ballot, or sending delegates to the national convention supporting, a candidate who is ineligible to hold office,” Chief Justice Natalie Hudson ruled.

    However, the court’s ruling only applies to the state’s primary ballot and left open the possibility that the plaintiffs could make another attempt to block Trump from appearing on the general election ballot in November 2024.

    Trump celebrated the ruling in a series of Truth Social posts on Wednesday.

    “Ridiculous 14th Amendment lawsuit just thrown out by Minnesota Supreme Court,” Trump said. “Congratulations to all who fought this HOAX!”

    In response to the ruling, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in part: “Today’s decision in Minnesota, like New Hampshire before it, is further validation of the Trump Campaign’s consistent argument that the 14th Amendment ballot challenges are nothing more than strategic, un-Constitutional attempts to interfere with the election by desperate Democrats who see the writing on the wall: President Trump is dominating the polls and has never been in a stronger position to end the failed Biden presidency next November.”