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‘Deranged’ Leftist NY Judge Declares Trump Guilty of Fraud Before Trial Begins

By
Paul Crespo
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15
Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

ANALYSIS – In what is only the latest weaponized, partisan legal action against former President Donald Trump, the far-left Democrat New York state attorney Letitia James and her leftist cohort Justice Arthur Engoron have just found Trump guilty of civil fraud before his trial even began.

Never mind that the case is obscene to begin with and should not even exist. And the law it is based on is obscene as well and should not exist either. Andrew McCarthy explains in National Review:

James, an ambitious progressive authoritarian who campaigned for office on a vow to weaponize the Empire State’s legal processes against Trump, decided to package the scraps [of leftover fraud charges no one else could prosecute] into a lengthy civil complaint. After all, she had a secret weapon: New York’s Executive Law 65(12), which empowers an abusive prosecutor to put partisan enemies out of business without having to prove anything. Although this provision purports to outlaw “repeated” and “persistent” “fraud” and/or “illegality,” in reality, as I explained last week in a column for The Messenger:

“The law doesn’t require a showing of harm. The state need not prove the defendant even intended to defraud anyone, much less actually defrauded someone. It need not be established that any creditor or financial institution even relied on the defendant’s misrepresentations, that those misrepresentations were material, or that anyone was actually fooled by them. The state just has to show that a defendant made false claims with enough “persistence” and “repetition” that at least two persons were “affected” — which, whatever it means, is not a synonym for ‘harmed.’”


Claiming Trump significantly overvalued his properties and assets when presenting his company’s financials to banks and lenders and that this somehow “affected” someone, James is seeking at least $250 million in penalties, a ban against Trump and his sons Donald Jr. and Eric from running businesses in New York, and a five-year commercial real estate ban against Trump and the Trump Organization.

The accusations are that Trump inflated the value of assets by $1.9 billion to $3.6 billion annually between 2011 and 2021 to save hundreds of millions on loans and insurance.

This, even though no one has been claimed to have been harmed, and all financial institutions take self-declared valuations like those made by Trump, with a grain of salt when making loans and other major financial decisions.

Bankers and insurance executives have a fiduciary obligation to conduct their own due diligence to determine what they believe are fair market valuations of assets. And they always do.

And as McCarthy further explains, everyone involved knew Trump exaggerated just about everything:

…this was for political consumption and the burnishing of celebrity. In the league of sophisticated financial actors in which Trump plays, where corporate departments are dedicated to valuation analysis because that’s the bread-and-butter of finance, nobody took this nonsense seriously. Indeed, Trump even included a “worthless clause” in his SFCs which, in so many words, warned that they were apt to be, you know, somewhat less than perfectly accurate. Many of the financial institutions that did business with Trump did so for years, and knew exactly the cat they were dealing with. They made loans and indemnified Trump because they knew, based on their own expertise and experience with him, that he was quite wealthy (even if not as wealthy as he claimed) and that he would pay up.

But that didn’t stop Justice Engoron, who ruled preemptively on September 26 that James had proven Trump and his co-defendants fraudulently inflated his assets. 

Engoron, in his ruling, ordered the cancellation of certificates that 10 of Trump’s business entities need to operate some of his marquee properties — including Trump Tower and his golf clubs in New York — and said he would appoint independent receivers to oversee their “dissolution.”

The judge thus essentially imposed the corporate death penalty on Trump’s businesses BEFORE the trial even began.

Trump responded in a post on his Truth Social platform the day of the ruling, calling accusations that he committed fraud “ridiculous and untrue,” and hit back, calling Engoron a “DERANGED” judge.

In this case, I must agree with Trump’s wording. The judge is deranged, but he is also a partisan hack and embarrassment in what is already a highly partisan and embarrassing New York judicial system.

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

Supreme Court Reviews 14th Amendment Challenge to Boot Trump from Ballot

By
Madeleine Jackson
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2
Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Good news for Team Trump!

On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear a bid to disqualify former President Trump from running for office under the 14th Amendment.

John Castro, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, filed various lawsuits seeking to challenge Trump’s eligibility to appear on the 2024 ballot.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states that no person shall hold elected office who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”

The Hill has more:

In a brief, unsigned order issued Monday, the justices declined to take up one of his cases after Castro lost in a lower court.

“The Supreme Court can deny to hear the case but appellate courts cannot,” Castro responded on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“I’m still pursuing decisions in the liberal appellate courts and there’s a full blown trial scheduled for October 20 in New Hampshire and a bench trial in Arizona on October 31,” he added.

Castro had argued Trump gave “his aid and comfort to the convicted criminals and insurrectionists that violently attacked our United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, which results in disqualification to hold public office pursuant to the self-executing nature of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.”

The Supreme Court’s decision comes as Trump faces similar efforts in multiple states to disqualify him from the ballot.

Over the weekend a liberal group in Michigan filed a lawsuit to keep Trump off the ballot, arguing he violated the 14th Amendment. (RELATED: Michigan Group Sues To Keep Trump Off 2024 Ballot)

Trump, who waived his right to respond to Castro’s petition before the Supreme Court, has broadly attacked the legal push as “another ‘trick’ being used by the Radical Left Communists, Marxists, and Fascists.”

Attorney General to Resign If Asked to Take Action on Trump

By
Madeleine Jackson
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5
Chuck Kennedy for The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in an interview that he would resign if asked by President Joe Biden to take action against Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.

While noting the unlikelihood that he would be put in such a position AG Garland told “60 Minutes” that he would not personally take action against the former president. The Justice Department has indicted Trump on charges relating to his effort to overturn the 2020 election and wrongly keeping classified documents after leaving office.

“I am sure that that will not happen, but I would not do anything in that regard,” he said on CBS “60 Minutes.” “And if necessary, I would resign. But there is no sense that anything like that will happen.”

Garland has largely kept silent about the cases and reiterated Sunday he would not get into specifics, but dismissed claims by Trump and his supporters that the cases were timed to ruin his chances to be president in 2024.

“Well, that’s absolutely not true. Justice Department prosecutors are nonpartisan. They don’t allow partisan considerations to play any role in their determinations,” Garland said.

“We do not have one rule for Republicans and another rule for Democrats. We don’t have one rule for foes and another for friends,” he said. ”We have only one rule; and that one rule is that we follow the facts and the law, and we reach the decisions required by the Constitution, and we protect civil liberties.”

Woke Group Sues To Keep Trump Off Michigan Ballot

By
Madeleine Jackson
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1
Gage Skidmore Flickr

A liberal group in Michigan is trying to keep Donald Trump out of the White House by any cost necessary…

On Friday, a liberal group sued to prevent Trump from appearing on the state’s ballot, claiming the former president violated the 14th Amendment.

The lawsuit marks the third such attempt to keep Trump off the ballot after similar actions were filed in Colorado and Minnesota. It was filed by Free Speech for People, the same group behind the Minnesota lawsuit.

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which is cited in the lawsuit, states that no person shall hold elected office who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”

“The insurrection defeated the forces of civilian law enforcement; forced the United States Congress to go into recess… occupied the United States Capitol, a feat never achieved by the Confederate rebellion… and blocked the peaceful transition of power in the United States of America, another feat never achieved by the Confederate rebellion,” the suit reads.

“Donald J. Trump, through his words and actions… engaged in insurrection or rebellion, or gave aid and comfort to its enemies, as defined by Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment,” the group continued. “He is disqualified from holding the presidency or any other office under the United States unless and until Congress provides him relief.”

A group of New Hampshire lawmakers urged their state’s election chief to prevent similar 14th Amendment arguments for their 2024 ballot, calling the attempts an “absurd conspiracy theory.”

Trump himself dismissed the attempts earlier this month.

“Almost all legal scholars have voiced opinions that the 14th Amendment has no legal basis or standing relative to the upcoming 2024 Presidential Election,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

Did Trump Threaten to Execute Gen. Mark Milley for Treason?

By
Paul Crespo
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4
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Michael J. McCord provide testimony at a Senate Armed Services Committee budget hearing, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., March 28, 2023. (DoD photo by Chad J. McNeeley)

ANALYSIS – Words matter. In a post on his Truth Social platform last Friday, former President Donald Trump suggested that outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley deserved to be executed after speaking with China’s top general during Trump’s final months in office. 

Trump said Milley’s “treasonous act” was “so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!”

Clearly, Trump wasn’t threatening to do so but saying that Milley’s actions could have been punished by death in a prior era.

I condemned Milley’s actions at the time because they seemed to give the Chinese Communist regime a promise that they would be given a warning prior to any attack under Trump.

While Milley claims his actions were a normal part of his duties, I disagree. 

They appeared to be more a normal part of the mission that he took upon himself, which was to counter Trump when Milley believed the president had crossed some line only Milley could see.

Some argue that Milley’s actions were not only disloyal to the president but also borderline ‘treasonous.’

Milley contends that he was behaving appropriately to avert an accidental war. He responded to Trump’s comments on CBS:

He also assured viewers that he had adequate safety measures for himself and his family.

The two backchannel calls to China’s top general, Li Zuocheng, that Milley made, and at the center of all this, were revealed in the 2021 book “Peril.”  

As CNN reported:

In October 2020, as intelligence suggested China believed the US was going to attack them, Milley sought to calm Li by reassuring him that the US was not considering a strike, according to the book. Milley called again two days after the January 6 riot at the US Capitol to tell Li that the US is “100 percent steady” even though “things may look unsteady.”

How much of this reporting in the book was accurate, is hard to say. But Trump sees things very differently. 

Trump said that Milley “turned out to be a Woke train wreck who, if the Fake News reporting is correct, was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States.”

And Trump may be right. For Milley to do that could be seen as highly inappropriate, if not exactly ‘treasonous.’

Still, Trump, a former president, and current front-runner for the Republican nomination for president, is way out of line. No American political leader should be using that kind of language against any American military official or political leader.

In today’s volatile climate, it is extremely dangerous.

Yet few in the GOP will condemn Trump’s statements. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is one of those willing to take aim at the Republican frontrunner. Politico quoted Hutchinson as saying:

To suggest that Gen. Milley should be executed is inexcusable and dangerous. While some will excuse this latest outrage as Trump just being Trump, the fact is that his statement endangers people and is an insult to those who serve in the military.

Perennial Trump critic, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, had stronger words, calling Trump an “absolute child” for the “reprehensible” remarks. 

But it is part of a disturbing pattern by both sides to use dangerously inflammatory rhetoric at the highest levels against the other side.

Democrats raised the political temperature considerably against Trump, calling for, or at least condoning the calls for, his beheading and death on many occasions. 

The demonization of Trump by the left and Democrat Party was more than I had ever seen in over thirty years in and around U.S. politics. 

It was, and still is, outrageous.

But Trump isn’t helping things with his own dangerous rhetoric.

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

Sen. Dianne Feinstein Dead at 90

By
Madeleine Jackson
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4
California State Senator Dianne Feinstein delivers remarks at the 2021 Capitol Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in Washington DC, December 1, 2021. USDA Forest Service photo by Tanya E. Flores.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein has passed away at age 90.

Sen. Feinstein was the longest-serving woman in the Senate.

Her biography says her “most notable achievements” are the “enactment of the federal Assault Weapons Ban in 1994” and the “six-year review of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program that culminated in the 2014 release of the report’s executive summary and passage of legislation ensuring that certain post-9/11 interrogation methods are never used again.”

“Senator Feinstein’s career has been one of firsts,” her website biography also says. “She was the first woman president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the first woman mayor of San Francisco, the first woman elected Senator of California, the first woman member and first woman ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the first woman to chair the Senate Rules and Administration Committee and the first woman to chair the Senate Intelligence Committee.”

Rumor Mill Swirls Around Youngkin Presidential Bid Once More

By
Victoria Churchill
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2
Gage Skidmore Flickr

Over the past few months, we have brought you numerous reports of influential Republicans in the Commonwealth and across the country calling on Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to enter the 2024 Presidential race.

This time, it seems to be much more serious.

Today, an op-ed published in the Washington Post has set the internet rumor mill alight once more.

Matt Gertz of the liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America noted that Fox News gave Youngkin unprecedented airtime this afternoon and ran him through the paces on all of the questions they asked the seven Republican Presidential who took the stage at the Reagan Library last night in Simi Valley, California.

From all of the reports we are seeing today, it seems like only a matter of time before he formally announces a run.

Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk. It first appeared in The Republican Standard.

Trump Responds To Potential VP Candidate Questions

By
Madeleine Jackson
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15
Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Donald Trump is not impressed by the current pool of Republican candidates…

Following the second Republican presidential debate Trump, the current frontrunner, responded to speculation he could choose his next running mate from the group of current candidates. His answer? No way.

“We’re competing with the job candidates, they’re all running for a job. No, they’re all job candidates,” Trump said of his competition. “They want to be in the – they want to, they’ll do anything, secretary of something, they even say VP.”

“Does anybody see the VP in the group? I don’t think so,” the former president added.

Seven GOP candidates were on the stage Wednesday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

The seven candidates were North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, biotech entrepreneur and political commentator Vivek Ramaswamy, and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.

Who should Trump pick to be his next running mate? Tell us your favorite candidate below.

Report: Kari Lake to Launch Senate Campaign

By
Madeleine Jackson
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3
Kari Lake speaking with supporters at a "Stand for Freedom" rally at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Scottsdale Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. [Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons]

Popular Arizona MAGA firebrand Kari Lake is reportedly planning to launch her highly anticipated Senate campaign on October 10th, according to her campaign.

Lake’s entrance into the race makes her the most high-profile Republican to seek to unseat Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

Sen. Sinema has yet to announce her re-election campaign, however, Rep. Rueben Gallego (D) is also widely expected to launch a Senate campaign

Blake Masters, who ran an unsuccessful campaign against Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) in 2022, is also reportedly considering another bid for Senate. 

However, Trump reportedly dissuaded Masters from running in a phone call, saying that he’d likely lose to Lake in a primary.

She touted strong early polling numbers in lobbying for her candidacy.

“I’ve looked at the polling, to be honest, and I believe I’m the only one who can win that race,” Lake said in July.

Lake, a former television news anchor who rose to prominence after losing the 2022 gubernatorial race to now-Gov. Katie Hobbs (D), has not yet conceded. She still contests that she won the election and that it was fraudulently awarded to Hobbs.

Lake has also been floated as a potential running mate for Trump.

Trump Dominates GOP Presidential Rivals as Biden Approval Tanking

By
Paul Crespo
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4
Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

ANALYSIS – Even as the indictments pile up, or maybe because of them, a new national NBC News poll finds former President Donald Trump expanding his national lead in the Republican presidential nominating contest to 43 points over his nearest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Trump leads the first-choice field with 59% of national Republican primary voters. In comparison, Ron DeSantis gets support from 16% — followed by former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley at 7% and former Vice President Mike Pence at 4%.

The poll also includes an all-time high disapproval of Joe Biden’s job performance. Fewer than 4 in 10 voters (37%) approve of his handling of the economy. This is huge.

As NBC News reported: 

Deeper inside those numbers, Biden is underwater among voters between the ages of 18 and 34 (46% of them approve of his job performance), all women (46%), Latinos (43%) and independents (36%).

What’s more, the NBC News poll finds 37% of voters approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, and 41% approve of his handling of foreign policy.

Biden is also taking a big hit for his open borders policy and unprecedented waves of illegal immigration on his watch, as also shown by a recent The Washington Post-ABC News poll. 

Axios noted: 

“A variety of factors may be at play,” [ABC News’ Gary] Langer writes in his analysis. “Biden’s poor performance ratings, the extent of economic discontent, the immigration crisis and doubts about his age clearly are relevant.”

Axios added: “In the Post-ABC poll, 44% said they’re worse off — the most for any president in the poll since… 1986, ABC News’ Gary Langer said in his poll analysis.”

“In NBC, Biden’s disapproval rating is the highest of his term for that poll.”

NBC News also noted that: “Another 60% have major concerns (45%) or moderate concerns (15%) about Biden’s possible awareness or involvement in the business dealings of his son, Hunter, including alleged financial wrongdoing and corruption.”

“This [NBC] survey is a startling flashing red light for an incumbent party,” said Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies. McInturff conducted the September 15-19 poll with Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt and his team at Hart Research Associates.

“Yes, the numbers for Biden aren’t where he needs them to be,” said Horwitt. However, Trump and Republicans have challenges, such as the GOP front-runner’s unpopularity with the general electorate.

Most polls show that both Trump and Biden have high unfavorability going into a general election.

NBC News reported: “Three-quarters of voters say they’re concerned about President Joe Biden’s age and mental fitness, while nearly two-thirds have concerns about the multiple trials former President Donald Trump faces, a new national NBC News poll finds, casting a gloomy shadow over the upcoming 2024 presidential election.”

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

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