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‘QAnon Shaman’ Eyes Run For Arizona Congressional Seat

By
Madeleine Jackson
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Elvert Barnes, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Jacob Chansley, the Capitol rioter who came to be known as the “QAnon Shaman,” has reportedly filed paperwork signaling his interest in running for the Arizona congressional seat being vacated by Debbie Lesko (R).

The Arizona Republic reported that a candidate statement of interest was signed by Jacob Angeli-Chansley and filed with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on Thursday, indicating he would seek to run as a Libertarian. He has also been known to go by Jacob Angeli.

The Hill has more:

Chansley, 35, gained notoriety for his horned fur hat, bare chest and face paint that made him one of the more recognizable Jan. 6 rioters. He pleaded guilty to a charge of obstructing an official proceeding and sentenced to 41 months in prison. Chansley, who grew up in Phoenix, served 27 of those months before being released to a halfway house this past March.

The Associated Press reported that while the Constitution does not bar felons from running for Congress, Arizona law prevents them from voting in elections until they complete their sentence and have the right restored.

Former Republican Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters has also jumped into the race for Lesko’s seat.

“I’m running for Congress, to fight for Arizona’s 8th,” Masters said on X, formerly Twitter. “Biden has failed. We need Trump back. We need to stop inflation, Build the Wall, avoid WW3, and secure Arizona’s water future. We need to fight for our families.”

House Republicans Issue Criminal Referral Against Michael Cohen

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    IowaPolitics.com, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    Two Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee have recommended the Justice Department look at pursuing charges against former Trump attorney Michael Cohen.

    The criminal referral letter sent by House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and committee member Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) accuses Cohen of committing perjury and having “knowingly made false statements” before the congressional panel four years ago.

    “That Mr. Cohen was willing to openly and brazenly state at trial that he lied to Congress on this specific issue is startling,” the referral letter reads. “His willingness to make such a statement alone should necessitate an investigation.”

    Amid cross-examination by Trump’s legal team late last month, Cohen testified that he lied under oath to the House Intelligence Committee in February 2019. In that testimony, Cohen said Trump did not ask him to inflate the numbers detailed in his statements of financial condition. However, Cohen then changed his testimony last month.

    Alina Habba, one of Trump’s attorneys, tore into Cohen over the discrepancy during cross-examination.

    “Mr. Cohen, were you being honest in front of the Permanent Select Committee when you testified on February 28, 2019?” Habba asked.

    “No,” Cohen replied.

    “So you lied under oath in February of 2019? Is that your testimony?” Habba pressed.

    “Yes,” Cohen said.

    While it urges prosecutors to take action, a criminal referral is largely symbolic and does not hold any legal weight. 

    Third-Party Candidate Scores 3 High-Profile Endorsements

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr just scored three major endorsements.

    NBA legend and 1992 “Dream Team” Olympian John Stockton, Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame member Ken Ruettegers and three-time North American Enduro mountain biking champion Kyle Warner are all endorsing Kennedy for president.

    The athletes said they like the cut of Kennedy’s personality — all three pointed to what they say are the independent candidate’s genuineness, honesty and openness to conversations about policies as reasons they support him.

    Fox News has more:

    Stockton said he believes Kennedy “has been put on this planet for just this moment in time” and that there’s “a real need for him and his leadership.”

    “There’s a need for very smart people in these positions that have integrity that [is] off the charts, that have the stamina and strength to be able to speak and be a leader 24/7, not just on occasion or on blips,” Stockton said.

    Ruettgers said he has met Kennedy “a couple times” and that the independent presidential candidate’s “level of commitment to honesty” that he will “bring to our federal government, to the Oval Office, to the leadership position” is part of why he’s supporting Kennedy for president.

    “I love the fact that he loves the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,” the Packers Hall of Fame member said. “Man, that seems to have been eroded in our culture over the last couple decades.”

    Warner — who won the 2014, 2015 and 2016 North American Enduro Championships — said that he believes there’s “a level of elitism” currently in American politics, including with President Biden and former President Donald Trump.

    “Whereas I think that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. … does a great job of being a populist and … understanding the plight of the common man,” Warner said. “I have had friends that have been in these big meetings at Facebook, at these censorship meetings with Robert, and they’re just normal people, everyday normal people, and he cares about them. He wants them to succeed.”

    Report: Trump Will File For Mistrial In NY Fraud Case

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    7
    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

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0
    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

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    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

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3
    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’

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      7
      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

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      2
      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

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      2
      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.

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