Trump’s attempt to block release of John Bolton’s book denied by federal judge

Judge Royce Lamberth has denied Donald Trump’s attempt to block the release of John Bolton’s book. In the ruling, Lamberth says that the presentation from William Barr’s DOJ team failed to “established that an injunction is an appropriate remedy.”

During the presentation on Friday, Lamberth repeatedly pointed out that the book was, in fact, already published, printed, in the hands of reviewers, and stacked up in both warehouses and bookstores. Digital versions have also been produced, along with audiobooks. He asked the DOJ “what do you want me to do about it?” and got back a fumbling response about possibly blocking the release in ways that seemed about as well thought out as most things emerging from this White House. In his ruling, Lamberth makes it clear that he was unimpressed: “For reasons that hardly need to be stated, the Court will not order a nationwide seizure and destruction of a political memoir.”

None of this makes Bolton’s book worth buying. The former National Security Advisor’s demonstrated cowardice and greed in refusing to testify before the House impeachment proceedings showed clearly enough that he placed potential profits infinitely above the good of the nation. 

Over the next few days, as the embargo is released, all the “good parts” of Bolton’s book will be made public in any case—including information this morning that makes it clear that Donald Trump was mad at the U. S. attorney who Barr is trying to kick out in part because that attorney screwed up a scheme between Trump and a Turkish bank. And no one really wants to read John Bolton’s opinion on anything. Ever.

Lamberth’s ruling makes it clear that Bolton may have violated national security and that he, “stands to lose his profits from the book deal, exposes himself to criminal liability, and imperils national security.” However, none of that means that this last second maneuver can stop the release of the book.

So Trump loses. Barr loses. And Bolton also loses. That’s a good ruling.

The ruling from judge Lamberth just establishes—again—how willing Bill Barr is to use the Justice Department as if it is Trump’s private law firm. And how amazingly incompetent Barr is in just about every instance. But it also shows that Bolton’s cowardly action is unlikely to net him a dime. You have to like that.

Trumpworld Fears Its ‘Nightmare Scenario’ Is Coming True

Trumpworld Fears Its ‘Nightmare Scenario’ Is Coming TrueAs Donald Trump returns to the campaign trail this Saturday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma, some of his top political advisers are growing increasingly concerned that the president won’t be able to dig himself out of the hole he’s made for himself.Over the past two weeks, several of the president’s campaign lieutenants as well as individuals in his administration have reacted with mounting alarm as multiple polls have shown Trump dipping into the 30s against former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee. In weeks past, various aides in the White House and on the Trump re-election effort had privately expressed cold comfort in the fact that with everything going on—a bungled response to a deadly pandemic, a massively crippled U.S. economy, protests across the nation, and a number of Trump’s own former top officials coming out against him—it was practically a miracle that the president’s poll numbers hadn’t sunk even lower.Early this month, one senior White House official told The Daily Beast that their “nightmare scenario” would be for the president to slip beneath 40 percent support in a sustained string of public and private surveys—thus signaling that a previously unshakable base was starting to grow a bit disillusioned. Trump’s consistent—though perhaps unenviable—standing in the low 40s had for years remained an illustration of his enduring base and iron Republican support. “Until then, I’m not a doomsayer,” this official said, referring to the nerve-racking 30s in national, and some state, polling.In the time since that comment, multiple polls have shown Trump sliding into the 30s. Asked this week about the change, the same White House official simply responded, “This is not where any of us wanted to be at this point [in the election], but there is still time… to make up the difference.”Trump Aides Know His Polls Are Terrible—And Tell Him OtherwiseSome advisers lay the blame for recent poll numbers squarely at the weeks-long news coverage of the mass protests against institutional racism and police brutality following the killing of George Floyd, and how Trump has responded to it. “When race is in the news cycle and dominating the conversation, President Trump’s numbers always go down,” said a source close to the White House. “That’s just a fact.”The source added that they hoped coverage of former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s tell-all book about Trump would actually lead to a poll bump for the president, if for no other reason than it would mean less talk of racism, COVID, and social unrest.But Trump has had a knack for getting in the way of even the most well-crafted media plans, to say nothing of the ones his advisers hope play out. Even the announcement of the Tulsa rally was fraught with hiccups and missteps. His team had previously scheduled it for Friday, which meant it would have fallen on Juneteenth in a city that was the site of one of the country’s most savage massacres of Black people. Following a backlash, the president announced the date switch to Saturday. He subsequently claimed that he had made Juneteenth—which has long commemorated the end of slavery in the United States—“very famous” because “nobody had ever heard of it.” His White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, defended those remarks on Friday by noting a spike in Google searches.Stephen Colbert Slams Trump’s ‘Stupid’ Juneteenth ClaimTrump has also attempted to portray the economic damage caused by the pandemic as fleeting. But Republican operatives have expressed concern that his talk of a rocket ship recovery may effectively portray him as out of touch to voters who still feel left behind. And even his own team is uncertain about whether it’s an effective campaign play. Two of the four aforementioned officials told The Daily Beast that they were unnerved by the fact that they’d seen no polling evidence, in internal data or in multiple different public polls, that the news of higher retail sales and the addition of 2.5 million jobs in May had given the president the bump they had wanted and expected.“If the next [unemployment] reports get better and better, hopefully you’ll see a change then and noticeable impact,” one of these officials said, adding that right now far too many people are out of work and “hurting.”Hoping to give himself an additional boost on the economic front, Trump has continuously expressed a desire for additional, big-ticket federal stimulus—which some Republican officials believe would improve his chances. Top Democrats on the Hill, however, say they have not yet had any formal discussions with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin about such a package (House Democrats have passed one of their own) and there is wide antipathy among aides about working with the White House unless it provides more insight into how it is spending the hundreds of billions of dollars that was already appropriated.“It is a top priority,” a senior House Democratic aide said of getting answers on where the Treasury Department’s funds have gone. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, have put off talk of another bill entirely. And even among Trump’s cadre of advisers, there is not much appetite for another stimulus bill.“The economic damage done by the coronavirus is a lot less than what was predicted months ago… It’s awful, but it’s much better in states like California, Texas, and Florida than what experts thought it would be,” said Art Laffer, the notoriously conservative economist who informally advises Trump. “People are even hedging their bets on if there’s going to be a second wave of the virus… The stock market is telling us this ain’t going to be a big deal. It’s nothing compared to Y2K or 2008… Those were really big downs in the market, and this is nothing compared to that. It started off really big, with a big drop… but then it came right back. That’s not the way it went in 2008 and 2009.”Absent a major economic measure or turnaround, Trump’s options for reversing his polling slide are slimmer. In an interview with Politico that was published on Friday, the president did express a degree of worry about his chances against Biden. But he couched his concern in baseless theories about the potential for rampant voter fraud in mail-in ballots. “My biggest risk is that we don’t win lawsuits [regarding mail-in voting],” the president said. “We have many lawsuits going all over. And if we don’t win those lawsuits, I think—I think it puts the election at risk.”Increasingly, Trump seems content to try and re-run the playbook he used in 2016 in hopes that it works again. Elsewhere in that Politico interview, he warned other Republican candidates—including those running to help preserve the party’s Senate majority—not to tiptoe away from him, no matter what his poll numbers look like. And in recent days his team has made another aggressive effort to troll Biden (much as they did Hillary Clinton) as physically and mentally unwell. The president has brought back top aides from his last presidential run and is turning to one of his most prominent surrogates from that race to help, as well. On Thursday, Politico reported that the Trump campaign had enlisted former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani—who as Trump’s personal lawyer launched a dirt-digging expedition into the Bidens that led directly to the president’s impeachment—to “spearhead a campaign to press for more debates this fall, starting earlier than usual and to have a say in choosing the moderators,” so that Trump can have more opportunities to publicly humiliate Biden, someone who the president seems convinced will crack under a one-on-one grilling.Asked on Thursday if he now has an official title on Trump 2020, Giuliani told The Daily Beast, “No sir I am just helping out.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.


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Senate Republicans recommit themselves to Trump—no matter how much he endangers the country

Sure, Donald Trump is unfit. Sure, Trump may have begged yet another country—China—to help him win reelection. Sure, Trump is emotionally damaged and intellectually addled, according to a written account by his former national security adviser John Bolton. 

But does that matter to the Senate Republicans who cosigned Trump's presidency by saving him from conviction without hearing from a single witness? Are you high? No effing way do they have the integrity required for a little self-examination, according to CNN reporting. They're in the tank for Trump—always have been, always will be, no matter what.

Wanna give Senate Republicans the boot? Give $2 right now to say “Bye Felicia” this November.

Asked whether Senate Republicans should have sought to secure Bolton's testimony now that his book is out, the ever-reflective Sen. Ron Johnson responded, "No," adding, "We never should have had an impeachment trial."

Of course, that's not what Bolton said. Based on Trump's persistent pattern of placing his own personal and electoral needs over duty to the country, Bolton said Trump should have been investigated and impeached for more, not less. Trump engaged in "obstruction of justice as a way of life," as Bolton said, referring to his interventions in criminal investigations for personal favors.

Still, Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, who's likely one of the top two most-endangered GOP senators seeking reelection, had the nerve to speak up and blame House Democrats for not taking Bolton to court over this unwillingness to testify. "The House didn't think it was important," Sen. Gardner quipped. What a weasel. Bolton, who's no hero, did publicly express his willingness to testify in front of the GOP-led Senate—the Republican caucus just refused to hear from him, or any other witnesses for that matter.

The sole Republican senator to express regret about not hearing from Bolton also voted in favor of having witnesses at the trial. “I wish we had a trial with the people testifying under oath,” Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah told reporters.

But most Republicans did the only logical thing one could do in the face of a 500-page manuscript documenting the myriad ways in which Trump is selling out and endangering the country: They refused to comment. 

Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, however, really went the extra mile, affirming that he's more convinced than ever that Trump's the right guy for the job despite begging China to buy more agricultural products in order to secure his reelection. "Different people use different sales techniques," Barrasso offered. Whether they’re legal or not apparently isn’t relevant. "Every president has, one way or another, thought they ought to be reelected. I think President Trump should be reelected. I support his reelection, I'm for it."

Do Republicans even know the Constitution exists? They are  proving themselves more useless by the day, and have no business stewarding the country.

If The Left Has Anything To Do With The 2020 Election Polls, Expect Corruption

I read a poll of polls recently. It disclosed that approximately 80% of Joe Biden supporters were willing to communicate that to someone calling to ask who they would rather see elected President. In contrast, only 29% of Trump supporters would reveal their preference.

If that is accurate, then the Biden numbers are correct and he’s likely topped out in his support.

But the Trump support is likely much higher than is being reported.

MORE NEWS: Cuomo Blames Republicans For Promoting Nursing Home Scandal, Dismisses Deaths As ‘Shiny Object’

Why shouldn’t election polls be corrupt? Everything else the Left touches has been. Polls used to be taken to take a snapshot in time of the public’s pulse on an issue or candidate. They are now used to shape public opinion. In Trump Derangement Syndrome terms, they are used to deflate us into thinking there’s no chance he can win, so just stay home and don’t vote.

We learned this lesson the last time, and we remember why it’s so important to elect Trump to at least stave off disaster for another four years. I know it means four more years of impeachment theater, but it’s worth it.

WHY ARE THE POLLS FAVORING BIDEN THIS TIME?

The reason the large polling outfits continue to show Biden with a significant lead, besides tweaking Trump’s nose, is to set the table for further unrest when Trump does win reelection.

Just like after Trump’s win in 2020, The Left, including the DNC and the HRC campaign, immediately went into a street-battle mode. Leftist operatives held violent street protests, riots actually, and attacked Trump supporters where they could find them.

Trump’s reelection will trigger these anti-American fools like never before. Maybe Nancy Pelosi (RIP!!) will have a stroke.

THE POLITICAL POLLING INDUSTRY IS DEAD

Pollsters have been so cynical and possessed of liberal biases since the first Clinton administration that no serious conservative voters take them seriously or even pay attention to them anymore. There is substantial evidence that many, if not most, people who answer pollster’s questions actively lie about their political stance and their intentions on election day.

The ONLY poll that matters any longer is the one which is taken on election day.

MORE NEWS: Chick-Fil-A CEO Dan Cathy Kisses Feet And Says White Christians Need To Repent For Racism: ‘We’re Shameful’

EARLY SUMMARY

Polls. Are. Bunk. Period. Rigged sampling, statistical manipulation, biased reporting, pre-conceived conclusions, formulated results, all combine to make them meaningless except as headline generators and propaganda tools. Voter turnout and legitimate voting practices determine elections, not polls.

Only cattle and sheep follow the herd.

SHOULD WE BE WORRIED?

I am a Trump supporter and hope he wins reelection, but I still have to ask the question: so what if he does? He is a tremendous fighter, but at best he is breaking even? What do we do post-Trump? There is no other conservative candidate that can fight the battle he has been fighting.

I keep saying this, but I don’t think anyone is listening. The Democrats have no opposition. No one is plotting strategies to counter their strategy.

We are forced to vote Republican because the alternative is even worse, but they will not fight for us. Sure they will vote umpteen times to repeal Obamacare when it is a certainty that it won’t pass, but gosh darn it, they were just one vote shy from getting it done when they held all three branches of government.

We need to revive the Tea Party or something — we got no men on the field.

MORE NEWS: Bruce Springsteen Goes Off On President Trump In Foul Rant Over COVID-19: ‘Put On A F**king Mask’

I don’t like the idea of political dynasties either but, I also don’t think Donald Trump, Jr. should be penalized for his genes if he has that “fire down below.” Maybe if he was VP for a few years, we could see whether that fire was another inferno, like his father, or only a smoldering ember. After all, he has been pretty much sheltered most of his life.

WAYNE’S RECOMMENDATIONS

 

 

The post If The Left Has Anything To Do With The 2020 Election Polls, Expect Corruption appeared first on The Political Insider.

Pompeo: John Bolton Is a ‘Traitor Who Damaged America’

Pompeo: John Bolton Is a ‘Traitor Who Damaged America’Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday evening hit back at former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s depictions of the Trump administration’s inner workings in his new memoir with a scathing statement.“I’ve not read the book, but from the excerpts I’ve seen published, John Bolton is spreading a number of lies, fully-spun half-truths, and outright falsehoods,” Pompeo said. “It is both sad and dangerous that John Bolton’s final public role is that of a traitor who damaged America by violating his sacred trust with its people.”Pompeo joins President Trump and other White House officials in portraying Bolton as a liar ahead of the June 23 publication of his book, The Room Where It Happened. The book contains a series of damning allegations about the Trump administration, including that the president sought China’s help in securing victory in the 2020 election and routinely offered favors to dictators. The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit to stop the book’s distribution. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin echoed Pompeo in a statement released Thursday: “John Bolton has put self-promotion ahead of the truth and of the interests of his country.”Trump went even further in a series of Twitter tirades, calling Bolton a a “wacko” and a “liar” who is just trying to make him “look bad.” Bolton, known for taking detailed notes during his tenure as national security adviser from April 2018 to September 2019, has faced criticism for writing a book about incompetence within the Trump administration but refusing to testify before the House during impeachment proceedings. News of his book first broke in January 2020, but prepublication review by the federal government, meant to redact classified information, delayed its release for months. Lawyers for the White House have said Bolton failed to complete the process, an allegation Bolton’s attorneys and his publisher denied.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.


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