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Appeals Court Punts Trump Civil Fraud Judgment

By
Madeleine Jackson
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Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

On Monday, a New York Appeals Court extended the deadline by 10 days for Donald Trump to post his bond to satisfy the civil fraud judgment and cut the necessary amount to $175 million.

“We will abide by the decision of the Appellate Division, and post either a bond, equivalent securities, or cash,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

CNN reports:

It’s a major lifeline for the former president, who, along with his adult sons and his company, were fined more than $464 million, including interest, after Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump and his co-defendants fraudulently inflated the value of his assets.

The ruling staves off the prospect, for now, of New York Attorney General Letitia James seeking to seize the former president’s property to enforce the judgement against him.

Trump had been struggling to come up with the means to post the $464 million bond, the total that he would have needed before Monday’s appellate decision.

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;”

New York Attorney General Letitia James said that if Trump fails or refuses to pay the $354.8 million fine, plus roughly $100 million in interest, she will seize his assets – including his properties.

Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham proposed a list of properties former President Trump would be most disappointed to have seized if he cannot pay the damages in his civil fraud case.

“I think if it were to happen, 40 Wall Street is probably the one that he would … I mean, he would hate it,” Grisham told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday. “But I think if she tried to seize Mar-a-Lago or Bedminster or Trump Tower even — I mean, those are his babies.”

“You’ve got the Sterling golf course in Virginia. Any of the properties with golf courses, I think, would absolutely devastate him,” Grisham, who worked under the Trump administration, added. “It will be interesting to see what [New York Attorney General Letitia James] goes for.”

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

Ronna McDaniel Faces Roadblocks Over NBC News Gig

By
Madeleine Jackson
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Ronna McDaniel via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Former Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Ronna McDaniel could already be heading for the exit…

Days after NBC News announced it had hired McDaniel as a new contributor to the network and reports of inner turmoil are already running rampant.

According to The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC president Rashida Jones “has no plans to have McDaniel on the channel,” citing “people familiar” with the controversy.

The Journal reported that there has been “internal backlash” over the hire — adding that “a number of MSNBC anchors and producers have voiced concern about McDaniel’s ties to former President Donald Trump and the RNC’s role in his efforts to challenge the 2020 election results.”

“Morning Joe” Co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski in their Monday broadcast sharply criticized the network for hiring McDaniel and called on NBC News to reconsider the decision.

“To be clear, we believe NBC News should seek out conservative Republican voices to provide balance in their election coverage. But it should be conservative Republicans, not a person who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier,” Brzezinski said.

“And we hope NBC will reconsider its decision. It goes without saying that she will not be a guest on ‘Morning Joe’ in her capacity as a paid contributor,” Brzezinski added.

On Friday, Carrie Budoff Brown, who leads political coverage at NBC, wrote in a memo shared with The New York Times, “It couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team.”

Chuck Todd, the former host of “Meet the Press,” appeared on the Sunday morning show and blasted his network over the decision.

“There’s a reason why there are a lot of journalists at NBC News uncomfortable with this, because many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years have been met with gaslighting, have been met with character assassination,” he said.

“We learned about the hiring when we read about it in the press on Friday,” Scarborough said.

“We weren’t asked our opinion of the hiring, but if we were, we would have strongly objected to it for several reasons, including, but not limited to, as lawyers might say, Ms. McDaniels’s role in Donald Trump’s fake electoral scheme, and her pressuring election officials to not certify election results while Donald Trump was on the phone,” he continued.

Ken Buck Leaves Congress With Unbelievable Parting Gift

    By
    admin
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    With less than one day left in Congress, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) is leaving Congress with one last parting gift, or shot, depending on your perspective.

    The conservative congressman signed the House Democrats’ foreign aid discharge petition for Ukraine late last night. He is the first Republican in the chamber to do so. If the petition reaches 218 signatures, it will force a vote on a $95 billion Ukraine aid package, an increasingly unpopular proposition with MAGA Republicans.

    The New Republican’s Tori Otten reports:

    House Speaker Mike Johnson has refused to consider the aid package, which would also give aid to Israel and Taiwan, despite it passing the Senate with broad bipartisan support, because it does not include regulations for the U.S.-Mexico border that he considers strict enough. But if the aid bill makes it to the House floor, it is expected to pass, again with bipartisan backing.

    As of Thursday night, the discharge petition had 188 signatures. It needs just 30 more to pass.

    Buck also signed a competing discharge petition to force a vote on a package that includes both Ukraine aid and new border restrictions. Other Republicans have also signed on to that petition, which has only 16 signatures so far.

    Although Friday is Buck’s last day in Congress, his signatures will remain on both petitions until his temporary successor is chosen in a special election. If the successor also signs either petition, Buck’s name will be removed. The special election to replace Buck won’t be held until June, coinciding with the Colorado primaries.

    On Tuesday, the conservative House Freedom Caucus decided to expel Rep. Buck from their ranks.

    The decision to cleave Buck from the herd was allegedly due to his lack of active participation in the group, including failure to attend meetings regularly.

    However, one source told that Buck, known for his increasing frustration with – and opposition to – former President Trump, was ousted for political reasons.

    This article originally appeared on American Liberty News. Republished with permission.

    Former RNC Director To Join NBC News

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    Former Republican National Committee (RNC) director Ronna McDaniel is joining NBC News as a contributor.

    According to The Hill, McDaniel will appear on “Meet The Press” this Sunday, giving her first interview since resigning as head of the RNC earlier this year.

    McDaniel is expected to be featured as part of election coverage on NBC and on the network’s sister cable channel, MSNBC.

    “It couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team,” Carrie Budoff Brown, who leads political coverage at NBC, wrote in a memo shared with The New York Times.

    McDaniel became RNC chair in 2017 and was re-elected four times before announcing her plans to resign after the South Carolina primary.

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

    Report: Trump Media Company Truth Social To Become Publicly Traded Company

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    Image via Piaxabay

    On Friday,  shareholders voted in favor of making Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, a publicly traded entity.

    According to Fox Business, shareholders voted in favor of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) merging with its special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Digital World Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded shell company.

    Last month, though, the SEC approved the merger.

    Trump Media & Technology Group first launched in October 2021. 

    Trump launched Truth Social in February 2022, a year after he was banned from platforms such as then-Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, following Jan. 6, 2021. Those bans have been lifted but the former President has refused to rejoin.

    Fox Business has more:

    The merger approval means TMTG stock will trade on Nasdaq as “DJT” as early as next week. 

    Former President Trump, the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee, holds 78.7 million shares in Trump Media & Technology Group. His personal stake in the company at its current stock price of approximately $44.17 would be worth between $3 billion and $4 billion. 

    There is a six-month lock-up on Trump’s shares, but the board could vote to waive that rule. 

    The merger brings Truth Social, which describes itself as a free-speech platform and a “safe harbor” from censorship on other Big Tech platforms, approximately $300 million to expand the platform.

    The deal’s approval comes as Mr. Trump is facing a Monday deadline to cover a $454 million penalty in a civil fraud case in New York. 

    The Daily Wire Cuts Ties With Candace Owens

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3
    Image via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    On Friday, The Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boreing announced the company has ended its relationship with high-profile conservative commentator Candice Owens.

    “Daily Wire and Candace Owens have ended their relationship,” announced Boreing on X.

    Owens’ departure comes after months of tensions between her and Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro over the Israel-Hamas conflict.

    Mediaite has more:

    In November, Boreing had insisted that Owens was “paid to give her opinion,” and that until her opinion violated the law or the terms of her contract, she would be “welcome at Daily Wire.”

    But that defense of Owens came before any of her more recent and more brazen comments.

    Amidst renewed attention on her anti-Semitic comments this week, Owens has doubled down. After the Anti-Defamation League noted that infamous white supremacist Nick Fuentes had been praising Owens for her rhetoric, Owens said she was “grateful” that the organization had “turned their smear merchant guns on me.

    “The world already knows my heart. Their attacks will have the opposite desired effect. Awaken world,” she wrote on X.

    New York Attorney General’s Office Preparing To Seize Trump’s Properties

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    admin
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    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]

    The New York Attorney General’s office has taken the initial steps to seize former President Donald Trump’s properties, including one of his golf courses and a private estate north of the Big Apple, known as Seven Springs.

    As CNN reports:

    State lawyers entered the judgments with the clerk’s office in Westchester County on March 6, just one week after Judge Arthur Engoron made official his $464 million decision against Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization.

    Entering a judgment would be the first step a creditor would take to attempt to recover property. Additional steps, such as putting liens on assets or moving to foreclose on properties, or taking other actions in court would follow, if the asset is going to be seized.

    The judgment is already entered in New York city where Trump’s properties including Trump Tower, his penthouse at Trump Tower, 40 Wall Street, his hotel abutting Central Park, and numerous apartment buildings are located.

    Judgments have not been entered in Florida counties including Miami or Palm Beach where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property and the Trump National Doral Golf Club and resort are located or Cook County, Illinois, where Trump’s hotel in Chicago is located, according to a review of records Thursday by CNN.

    Trump has four days to satisfy the $464 million judgment.

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

    This article originally appeared on American Liberty News. Republished with permission.

    Republican Senator Todd Young Declares He Will Not Vote For Trump In November

    By
    admin
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    Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) has announced that he will not be voting for former President Donald Trump in the upcoming November election.

    “Principled conservatives need to incentivize our party to nominate somebody that principled conservatives can believe in. I’m tired of having my vote taken for granted,” the Indiana Republican announced on Wednesday night. 

    The Washington Examiner’s Emily Jacobs reports:

    Young split from the former president after he refused to accept the results of the 2020 election, though he voted against impeachment. He pledged not to vote for Trump again in 2023 over his conciliatory tone toward Russian President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine and has remained undeterred by the wave of endorsements from his GOP colleagues.

    …

    Young said it was fair for people to ask if abstaining from casting a vote in November would “reward one person at the expense of the other,” adding, “My response is, at some point, principled conservatives need to incentivize our party, the Republican Party, to nominate somebody that principled conservatives can actually believe in.”

    “Stated differently, I’m tired of having my vote taken for granted,” he explained. “I think a lot of Hoosiers are.”

    Young and his colleagues who don’t support Trump have faced increasing questions about their respective plans for November as the former president became their party’s nominee. 

    Former Vice President Mike Pence said last week that he could not endorse Trump “in this campaign,” citing his conscience. 

    “I won’t be voting for Biden. I also won’t be voting for Trump,” Young told an Indiana reporter, echoing Pence’s announcement to Fox News’ Martha MacCallum. “So, does that mean I leave it blank? Does that mean I identify another conservative who’s almost certain not to be the next president of the United States and write them in? I haven’t decided that, and I think that’s a largely unimportant point. I don’t know who goes in that line, if anyone.” 

    According to FiveThirtyEight, as of January 2021, Young supported the Trump administration’s legislative position 82.2% of the time.

    This article originally appeared on American Liberty News. Republished with permission.

    Liberal Influencer Triggers Intense Backlash Over Barron Trump Comments

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      1
      Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

      This is disturbing…

      Mike Sington, a retired NBCUniversal senior executive who is now better known for his pro-liberal social media posts, commemorated Barron Trump’s 18th birthday on Wednesday with a sickening post on X. 

      “Barron Trump turns 18 today. He’s fair game now,” Sington wrote, sharing an image of him with his father. 

      Critics quickly attacked Sington for targeting Barron, who has largely stayed out of the public eye during and after the Trump presidency. 

      Sington deleted the post and walked back the comment but stopped short of offering an apology. 

      “I posted he was ‘fair game’ now, meaning, as an adult, he’s ‘fair game’ for criticism from the press,” Sington told Newsweek in a statement. “Someone pointed out to me ‘fair game’ could mean fair game to be harmed. I don’t wish physical harm on anyone, so I took it down. I listen to the comments and criticism I receive.”

      The former NBC executive has repeatedly commented on the former President’s family as Trump navigates multiple high profile lawsuits.

      Trump Fires Back at Republicans Refusing To Endorse Him

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      Mike Pence via Gage Skidmore Flickr

      Trump is responding after his former running mate and vice president said last week that he would not endorse Trump’s latest presidential campaign.

      Trump spoke with a group of reporters after he cast his ballot in the Florida primary election, which he later won. Trump was asked how he felt about Pence’s recent comments.

      “Oh, I couldn’t care less,” Trump told the press corps. “I couldn’t care less. We need patriots. We need strong people in our country. Our country is going downhill very fast, very rapidly.”

      He added: “Millions of people coming across the border, coming from jails, from prisons, coming from mental institutions and insane asylum terrorists. We need strong people in this country. We don’t need weak people.”

      Pence, who briefly ran for president in the 2024 cycle, announced last week that he would not endorse his former running mate.

      “It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,” Pence said on “The Story.”

      “I’m incredibly proud of the record of our administration. It was a conservative record that made America more prosperous, more secure and saw conservatives appointed to our courts in a more peaceful world,” he added. “What I’m going to spend the rest of this year on is talking about what we should be for. And that is the broad mainstream conservative agenda that’s defined our party and always made America strong and prosperous and free.”

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