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Notorious Criminal Speaks Out Ahead Of Trump Hush Money Trial

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    On Tuesday, MSNBC’s Ari Melber interviewed incarcerated convicted felon Michael Avenatti to get his thoughts on former President Donald Trump’s fast-approaching New York criminal hush money trial.

    Avenatti, a disbarred attorney, is currently serving 19 years for extortion, fraud, obstruction, and identity theft. Some of those charges stem from his theft of proceeds from a book by his former client, Stormy Daniels. 

    The former president faces 34 charges linked to hush money payments made by his ex-fixer to porn actress Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty.

    Trump is scheduled to head to trial in his New York criminal case on April 15.

    Mediaite has more:

    “Michael, have you been in touch with D.A. Bragg’s office?” Melber asked. “And what specifically in evidence or logic do you think is wrong with this case?”

    “I’m going to decline to answer as to whether I’ve been in touch with either the defense or the D.A.s office,” Avenatti replied. “But let me say this in response to the second part of your question. You know, I think the case has a lot of problems. Now that– I don’t mean to suggest that means that Trump will not be convicted because I think he will be convicted because number one, he’s a criminal defendant in our society. I don’t believe criminal defendants generally get a fair shake.”

    Avenatti then echoed attorneys for Trump, who have unsuccessfully attempted to secure a change of venue. He said:

    I don’t think that he can get a fair trial in New York. And to the people who claim that in fact, he can get a fair trial in New York with a New York jury, I would ask them, if they were to go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow and find out that the case had been moved to Mississippi or Alabama, would they still think the trial was going to be fair?

    And I think if they were being honest, they would answer no. So, I don’t think he can get a fair trial in New York.

    On Monday, a judge in New York denied a request for a delay in his hush money trial. Trump’s attorneys argued for the trial to be relocated from Manhattan and postponed as they pursue the matter. 

    Trump’s attorneys argued for the trial to be relocated from Manhattan and postponed as they pursue the matter. His attorneys argued that Manhattan, a well-known liberal bastion, was not an appropriate location for the Republican president’s case. They requested a change of venue to Staten Island, the only borough in New York City that Trump won in both 2016 and 2020.

    Prominent Foreign Politician Meets With Trump

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3
    Marine One lifts-off after returning President Donald J. Trump to Mar-a-Lago Friday, March 29, 2019, following his visit to the 143-mile Herbert Hoover Dike near Canal Point, Fla., that surrounds Lake Okeechobee. The visit was part of an infrastructure inspection of the dike, which is part of the Kissimmee-Okeechobee Everglades system, and reduces impacts of flooding for areas of south Florida. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian) [Photo Credit: The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

    On Monday, Former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron met with former President Donald Trump in a surprise visit to Mar-a-Lago.

    Cameron serves as the U.K. foreign secretary and is in the U.S. to urge lawmakers to back additional funding to Ukraine in its war against Russia.

    A spokesperson for the British government’s Foreign Office described the Mar-A-Lago meeting as “standard practice” to meet with an opposition candidate, with Trump being the presumptive Republican nominee for this year’s presidential election.

    It is unclear how the meeting went or what exactly was discussed. Trump has previously stated that he would end the war within 24 hours should he be reelected while he has also touted converting the cost of weapons transfers to Ukraine into a loan.

    Fox News has more:

    Cameron will meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday to discuss the $60 billion military aid package which he has held up for months, while the pair will also discuss the Israel-Gaza war.

    Last week, Cameron called on Western leaders to put pressure on House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans in Congress to approve the additional aid for Ukraine, as Britain and the European Union have already done.

    “Speaker Johnson can make it happen in Congress,” Cameron said in a video posted on social media platform X. “I’m going to go and see him next week and say, ‘Ukraine needs that money. It is American security, it’s European security, it’s Britain’s security that’s on the line in Ukraine, and they need our help.’”

    Judge Rejects Trump’s Request To Delay Hush Money Trial

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    5
    Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

    On Tuesday the New York Appeals Court denied Donald Trump’s effort to delay his hush money criminal trial while he argues against a gag order the judge overseeing the case imposed. 

    Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order bars Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, and the judge’s family.

    The Hill has more:

    During an emergency hearing Tuesday before Justice Cynthia Kern, Trump’s lawyers argued that banning public statements about those individuals is an unconstitutional prior restraint on his right to free speech while running for president and mounting his defense. 

    “The First Amendment harms arising from this gag order right now are irreparable,” said Trump lawyer Emil Bove, according to the Associated Press. 

    State prosecutors countered that Trump’s remarks threaten the “public interest in protecting the integrity of the trial.”

    “This is not political debate. These are insults,” Steven Wu, appellate chief for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, said of Trump’s statements, according to the AP.

    Trump is scheduled to head to trial in his New York criminal case on April 15.

    The former president faces 34 charges linked to hush money payments made by his ex-fixer to porn actress Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty.

    On Monday, a judge in New York denied a separate request for a delay in his hush money trial. Trump’s attorneys argued for the trial to be relocated from Manhattan and postponed as they pursue the matter. 

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

    Trump Sues Judge Overseeing New York Hush Money Trial

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    On Monday, former President Donald Trump sued the New York judge presiding over his hush-money case over the gag order in an effort to delay the upcoming trial.

    Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order bars Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and the judge’s family.

    The Hill has more:

    The documents were placed under seal, though several outlets have reported that they pertain to the gag order. The Hill requested comment from Trump’s lawyers and his campaign regarding the lawsuit, which essentially functions as an appeal of the gag order.

    Merchan cited Trump’s “uncontested record” of attacks on those involved in his legal matters in his original order curbing the former president’s speech. He originally refrained from gagging Trump, instead choosing to admonish him, but agreed to do so after Bragg’s office requested it last month.

    Loren Merchan is also the subject of the former president’s efforts to recuse the judge from the case — an effort he has mounted twice. The most recent bid came Friday, when Trump asked the judge to recuse because his daughter has a “direct financial interest” in the former president’s case, given the firm’s work for his 2024 presidential election opponents.

    The eleventh-hour lawsuit against Merchan comes just a week before Trump is scheduled to head to trial in his New York criminal case on April 15.

    The former president faces 34 charges linked to hush money payments made by his ex-fixer to porn actress Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election. He has pleaded not guilty.

    On Monday, a judge in New York denied a separate request for a delay in his hush money trial. Trump’s attorneys argued for the trial to be relocated from Manhattan and postponed as they pursue the matter. 

    Trump’s attorneys argued for the trial to be relocated from Manhattan and postponed as they pursue the matter. His attorneys argued that Manhattan, a well-known liberal bastion, was not an appropriate location for the Republican president’s case. They requested a change of venue to Staten Island, the only borough in New York City that Trump won in both 2016 and 2020.

    House Democrat Files Revenge Bill Following Trump Airport Proposal

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      Image via Pixabay

      On Sunday, Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly defended his proposal saying he thinks it’s “only fitting” to name a federal prison after former President Trump

      “Well, there’s a nice federal penitentiary right near Mar-a-Lago. And I just thought for a guy who’s now got 88 criminal indictments pending, criminal — plus two major civil penalty trials that have already been resolved, costing him about a half a billion dollars,” Connolly told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart.

      “I think it’s only fitting that if Republicans really want to honor Donald Trump, the most appropriate way to do that is to name a federal prison he might be visiting soon, after Donald J. Trump,” Connolly added.

      Connolly was one of three Democrats to introduce a bill Friday to change the name of the Miami Federal Correctional Institution in Florida to “Donald J. Trump Federal Correctional Institution.” 

      Connolly was joined by Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) and John Garamendi (D-Calif.).

      The proposal came in response to a Republican push to rename Washington Dulles International Airport after Trump.

      Leading Anti-Abortion Group Breaks With Trump Over Latest Announcement

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      4
      Washington D.C., USA - January 22, 2015; A Pro-Life woman clashes with a group of Pro-Choice demonstrators at the U.S. Supreme Court.

      On Monday, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump made his stance on abortion clearer by stating he believes abortion laws should be decided by the states.

      In an announcement on Truth Social on Monday, Trump said he was proud to be the president responsible for overturning Roe v. Wade.

      “My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land,” Trump said. “In this case, the law of the state.”

      “Many states will be different. Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have more conservative than others, and that’s what they will be,” Trump said. 

      However, Trump stopped short of providing any specifics of at what point abortion should be banned. Last week, he was pressured to give his opinion on a six-week abortion ban set to go into effect in Florida.

      Trump called Florida’s ban a “terrible thing and a terrible mistake” but did not go into specifics.

      “President Trump supports preserving life but has also made clear that he supports states’ rights because he supports the voters’ right to make decisions for themselves,” said Brian Hughes, senior adviser to the Trump campaign. “Where President Trump thinks voters should have the last word, Biden and many Democrats want to allow abortion up until the moment of birth and force taxpayers to pay for it.”

      Trump’s position drew fire from the anti-abortion heavyweight group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

      “We are deeply disappointed in President Trump’s position. Unborn children and their mothers deserve national protections and national advocacy from the brutality of the abortion industry. The Dobbs decision clearly allows both states and Congress to act,” SBA President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Saying the issue is ‘back to the states’ cedes the national debate to the Democrats who are working relentlessly to enact legislation mandating abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. If successful, they will wipe out states’ rights.”

      Trump’s Net Worth Takes Roller Coaster Ride

      By
      Paul Crespo
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      0
      Image via Piaxabay

      ANALYSIS – Trump lovers and haters are having quite the ride as Trump’s net worth seems to be on a rollercoaster.

      The Wall Street debut of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) – whose flagship product is the social media platform “Truth Social” – boosted Donald Trump’s stock on paper, but the value of his shares has since plummeted. (RELATED: Truth Social Co-Founders Sue Donald Trump)

      Will Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign help boost his worth again?

      As I recently wrote about, Trump’s net worth soared to at least $6.4 billion – up nearly $4 billion – last week after investors approved his social media company’s merger with Digital World. Tuesday, March 27, was its first day as an independently traded public company.

      This briefly made the former president one of the 450 richest people in the world.

      Even though Trump Media, which trades under the ticker DJT (Trump’s initials) is losing money and generating scant revenue, Wall Street had valued the company at as much as $11 billion based on the stock’s closing price Friday, according to Renaissance Capital.

      By Monday afternoon that valuation tumbled to about $8.8 billion.

      It closed at $48.66 per share, a 26.5% drop from its $66.22. The plunge came after Trump Media unveiled its 2023 results for the first time, revealing full-year revenues of $4.1 million on a net loss of $58.2 million.

      Trump’s company has said it expects to continue losing money for a while, and at least one expert says it’s likely worth far less than the stock market suggests.

      Trump, who owns 78.5 million shares in Trump Media, about 57% of all shares, saw his stake in the social media business fall in value by $1.4 billion. At Monday afternoon’s prices, that stake is now worth approximately about $3.8 billion. (RELATED: Wall Street Journal Rips Into Biden for Now-Infamous Tweet)

      Trump’s nearly 79 million shares of Trump Media & Technology Group are now – by far – his largest asset, worth nearly twice as much as all his real estate, resort and cash holdings combined.

      Meanwhile, CNN reported: “The problem for Trump Media is its main product — Truth Social — is shrinking.” It added “Monthly active US users on iOS and Android plunged in February to 494,000, down 51% year-over-year.”

      “By comparison,” CNN noted, “X has 75 million monthly active US users. Even Threads has more than 10 times as many users as Truth Social.”

      CNN continued:

      While Trump Media made just $4.1 million in revenue in 2023, rival X (formerly known as Twitter) raked in more than 100 times that much — $665 million — in 2013, ahead of its initial public offering in November 2013. Twitter also generated just over $5 billion in revenue in the final year before it was taken private by Elon Musk.

      In fact, Truth Social’s financials are comparable to that of The Messenger, the upstart digital news outlet that imploded earlier this year. Citing an investor deck, CNBC reported in January that The Messenger posted 2023 revenue of $3.8 million and a net loss of $43 million.

      But this year may decide the future of Trump’s net worth, at least related to his media company. Matthew Kennedy, senior IPO strategist at Renaissance Capital said, according to CNN:

      2024 is the make-or-break year for this company. For TMTG the thing that matters now is getting in front of the cash cannon that is the 2024 presidential election. And the company does have one notable advantage. Trump-backed super PACs have raised millions. Where do you think they’ll spend their digital ad buckets?

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

      No Labels Ends 2024 Unity Ticket Plan

      By
      admin
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      0
      Missvain, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

      Despite voting to proceed with its bid to shake up the 2024 presidential election, the centrist group No Labels announced Thursday that it is scrapping its plans to field a third-party candidate this year.

      “Americans remain more open to an independent presidential run, and hungrier for unifying national leadership, than ever before,” stated the organization. “But No Labels has always said we would only offer our ballot line to a ticket if we could identify candidates with a credible path to winning the White House. No such candidates emerged, so the responsible course of action is for us to stand down.” (RELATED: Popular Dem Strategist Blames ‘Preachy Females’ For Disappointing Polls)

      Last month, 800 delegates from all 50 states convened for a private meeting to approve the organization’s increasingly desperate plan to push an independent ticket.

      In a press release, No Labels National Convention Chair Mike Rawlings asserted that voters remained extremely dissatisfied with Joe Biden and Donald Trump, making a case for a third-party candidacy.

      The group indicated that they were open to both Democrats and Republicans and would ideally serve as a “unity” option for anyone disillusioned by partisan politics.

      However, on March 18, former Georgia Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan (R) announced his withdrawal from consideration to run on a third-party presidential ticket backed by No Labels. (RELATED: Former Republican Lieutenant Governor Tells CNN Trump Has Values Of ‘Axe Murderer’)

      “It was an honor to be approached, and I am grateful to all those who are engaged in good-faith efforts to offer Americans a better choice than the Trump vs. Biden re-match,” Duncan said in a statement.

      Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has chosen to run for the U.S. Senate as a Republican instead of launching a third-party bid for the White House. Additionally, former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley (S.C.), Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) all made clear they were not interested in running.

      Article Published With The Permission of American Liberty News

      Former Trump Lawyer Responds To Disbarment Push

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      2
      Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

      Former President Trump’s ex-attorney John Eastman responded to a California judge’s effort to have him disbarred over his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election saying he’s optimistic he will win his appeal.

      Eastman said in an interview on conservative network Frank Speech on Thursday that “there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge yet” before the state Supreme Court hears his case.

      “If the law was faithfully followed, this case should have never been brought in the first place,” he said. 

      “We had a disagreement on the facts of the 2020 election. We had a disagreement on the constitutional interpretation on issues that have never been settled,” Eastman continued. “That has never been the basis of disciplinary action.”

      State Bar Judge Yvette Roland found Eastman culpable in 10 of 11 charges against him.

      “In view of the circumstances surrounding Eastman’s misconduct and balancing the aggravation and mitigation, the court recommends that Eastman be disbarred,” she wrote in a 128-page decision.

      He also revealed he has been subpoenaed as part of a civil suit brought by a group of Capitol Police officers against Trump. The officers claim Trump is responsible for Jan. 6, and they hope to elicit financial penalties for the violence they suffered in the riots.

      “I just got a subpoena served on us last week by the Capitol Police officers seeking everything, all of my communications with the president and anybody else,” he said. “They’ve completely blown through attorney-client privilege.”

      While his case is under appeal, Eastman is suspended from practicing law in California. 

      Report: Two Republican Congressmen Subpoenaed In Trump Probe

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      2
      Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

      Two Republican Congressmen have been subpoenaed as part of a probe into a scheme that attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Arizona.

      According to a Politico report, the investigation by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is similar in nature to those in other states Donald Trump lost, where the former president and his allies attempted to advance slates of pro-Trump electors for recognition in the Electoral College.

      Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar have been ordered to testify before a grand jury, noting:

      There is no indication that Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, who is leading the probe, is considering bringing criminal charges against either lawmaker. And it’s unclear whether Mayes has insisted on enforcing the subpoenas against the lawmakers, who may have legal bases to resist testifying.

      But the subpoenas themselves — in conjunction with a series of other aggressive recent moves — show that Mayes, a Democrat, has cast a far wider net in her probe than previously understood.

      Politico said it reviewed a letter dated Feb. 16 from Gosar to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) apprising the speaker of the subpoena.

      The pair of GOP congressmen mark the latest Trump allies to be subpoenaed in Mayes’ Investigation. Last month, she subpoenaed former Trump campaign aide Michael Roman.

      Electors in Michigan and Nevada, where similar schemes were attempted, have already been indicted in those states.

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