Month: April 2023

Rep. Dan Goldman endorses Gallego for Senate

Posted on (Updated by Mychael Schnell

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) endorsed Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) for Senate on Thursday, marking the Arizona Democrat's third endorsement from a House lawmaker as he vies for the seat currently held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.).

“Now, more than ever, our country needs elected officials who stand firm in the face of extremist Republicans who are threatening our legal and democratic institutions,” Goldman said in a statement. “As a Marine veteran who fought for our democracy overseas, Ruben understands the importance of the rule of law and, more importantly, that no one is above it —not even a former president.”

“Ruben is exactly the kind of elected official and candidate this moment demands and I am proud to endorse his campaign for United States Senate,” he added.

Gallego — who represents Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District — announced a campaign for Sinema’s seat in January after much speculation about whether or not he would jump in the race. This week, his campaign revealed that it raised $3.7 million in the first quarter.

Sinema, who changed her party affiliation from Democrat to Independent in December, has not yet indicated if she will run for reelection next year. Her strong fundraising, however, suggests she may — the senator will report $9.9 million on hand following the most recent fundraising quarter, according to Politico.

Gallego is currently the only candidate in the race from any party.

Despite Sinema not yet entering the race, Gallego has gone on the offensive. In an interview with The Associated Press around his launch, the congressman said, “I’m better for this job than Kyrsten Sinema because I haven’t forgotten where I came from.”

“I think she clearly has forgotten where she came from. Instead of meeting with the people that need help, she meets with the people that are already powerful,” he added.

Gallego has picked up a number of endorsements since launching his bid, including from Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Seth Moulton (D-Mass.). He welcomed Goldman’s support on Thursday.

“I’m deeply honored to have earned the trust and support of my friend and colleague Dan Goldman,” Gallego said. “From leading the first impeachment inquiry against Trump to fighting for his constituents and our country in Congress, he is a champion and critical voice in our fights for democracy and justice.”

“I’m grateful to have his endorsement as we fight for the future of Arizona and our country,” he added.

Ocasio-Cortez calls for Thomas impeachment after report of undisclosed gifts from GOP donor

Posted on (Updated by Stephen Neukam

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is calling for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be impeached following a report that he accepted luxurious gifts from a billionaire Republican donor for decades.

For years, Thomas took luxury trips and outings on yachts and private jets owned by Dallas businessman Harlan Crow, according to an investigation by ProPublica. Thomas did not disclose the travel, the investigation found. Crow has donated lavishly to Republican candidates.

Ocasio-Cortez blasted the alleged actions as an “almost cartoonish” level of corruption.

“This is beyond party or partisanship,” Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter. “This degree of corruption is shocking — almost cartoonish. Thomas must be impeached.”

The New York congresswoman also said the report of Thomas’s alleged misconduct reflects negatively on Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. 

“Barring some dramatic change, this is what the Roberts court will be known for: rank corruption, erosion of democracy, and the stripping of human rights,” Ocasio-Cortez continued.

Ocasio-Cortez is not the only Democratic lawmaker to blast Thomas after the report was released. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said the news called for an independent investigation.

“This cries out for the kind of independent investigation that the Supreme Court — and only the Supreme Court, across the entire government— refuses to perform,” Whitehouse said on Twitter.

Crow in a statement did not deny the allegations that Thomas had accepted such trips from him over the years, but he said the Supreme Court justice never asked for the gifts.

“The hospitality we have extended to the Thomas’s over the years is no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends,” Crow said in a statement. “Justice Thomas and Ginni never asked for any of this hospitality,” referring to the justice's wife, Ginni Thomas.

Republicans threaten frivolous prosecutions of prominent Democrats in retaliation for Trump charges

Posted on (Updated by Laura Clawson

One of the key Republican responses to the criminal charges against Donald Trump comes in the form of a threat. (What a surprise.) The argument goes like this, each step dripping with its own form of dishonesty: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s charges against Trump are purely political and/or Trump should simply be above the law. Therefore, a reasonable response would be for local prosecutors in Republican areas to cook up charges against prominent Democrats.

Democrats, the claim is, have forced Republicans to fight dirty. 

RELATED STORY: Trump indictment provides damning 'statement of facts' that lays out scheme to sway 2016 election

Here’s House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer on Fox News: 

I’ll tell you one of the things that I don’t think’s been picked up a lot that’s going to be a problem: I had two calls yesterday, one from a county attorney in Kentucky and one from a county attorney in Tennessee. They were Republican, obviously, both states are heavily Republican. They want to know if there are ways they can go after the Bidens now. They’ve opened up a can of worms, they’ve set precedents now that we can’t go back on.

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The “one of the things that I don’t think’s been picked up on a lot” part is particularly funny since a lawyer whose firm represents some Trump advisers made exactly this argument in The New York Times last week, when it was just as dishonest as it is coming from Comer. The can of worms is only opened up if you take for granted that Bragg’s prosecution was purely political, and even if you grant that—a big stretch given the documentation on offer—Bragg is the prosecutor where Trump did the thing that is allegedly a crime. How is a local prosecutor in Kentucky or Tennessee going to tie any Bidens to alleged crimes in their county? 

But note the lack of pretense that this is about anything but retaliation. There’s the cursory gesture at regret that precedents have been set “that we can’t go back on,” but that’s in defense of a claim that this is a precedent for things it is not a precedent for. Michael Cohen went to prison for his role in this scheme and the Trump Justice Department worked to avert further investigations. Whether Bragg can make the case that what Trump personally did was a violation of New York criminal law remains to be seen—again, Trump’s lawyers will have the chance to aggressively defend their client—but the charges against Trump are a far cry from a Kentucky county attorney saying “Can I go after the Bidens for ... something?” (Comer, remember, was whining about the lack of prosecution of Beau Biden before Bragg indicting Trump seemed like a serious likelihood.)

Comer wasn’t the only one making this threat. Appearing on Fox News, former George W. Bush official Ari Fleischer was even more explicit about it as a threat and as retaliation.

“One of the raps against Donald Trump is that he violates the norms, and as a result the Democrats had no choice, prosecutors had no choice. But Sean, what’s happened to Donald Trump is actually the real violation of the norms,” Fleischer said, touching on (and lying about) the impeachments of Trump and framing Bragg’s prosecution as wholly political. The implication is that no amount of wrongdoing by Trump could justify Democrats taking action against him—the reaction to Trump’s actions will always be the more profound violation of norms.

Then Fleischer moved on to the retaliation part.

Here’s what I hope happens, Sean. I earnestly hope that conservative prosecutors in rural areas of America indict Bill Clinton, indict Hillary Clinton, indict Hunter Biden. Their only way and return to the norms is for one side to realize if they go too far the other will match them. And that is not the way we settle our disputes in America, they should be settled at the ballot box, not through the courts, but Republicans cannot unilaterally disarm. You can’t let them try to interfere in the 2024 election by doing to Donald Trump what they’re doing. And I say that as somebody who will criticize Donald Trump when he goes too far. The Democrats are violating the norms and they’re especially doing it through this case, this weak case, in Manhattan.

Bill Clinton? Hillary Clinton? Republicans are also complaining that the crimes Trump is charged with should have passed the statute of limitations, but Fleischer wants local prosecutors reaching back to, what, the 1990s to get Bill Clinton? And it seems safe to assume that if the Justice Department under Trump could not find a way to “lock her up,” there’s nothing to prosecute Hillary Clinton for. Maybe Hunter Biden went on a bender in a county with a Republican prosecutor sometime, but this is a ridiculous idea unless you’re solely motivated by revenge—which Fleischer can confidently assume his audience on Sean Hannity’s show is.

Fleischer, as a Republican of the Karl Rove school, also knows that projection is the way to go, accusing Democrats of trying to interfere in the 2024 election to distract from the fact that Trump’s alleged crimes are about an effort to cover up his sexual encounters until after the 2016 election, and shifting the burden of “violating the norms” from Trump onto Democrats. But we’re not talking about norms here. We’re talking about laws, and whether Trump broke them.

Republicans cannot be allowed to shift the question from where it belongs—can the Manhattan DA prove that Trump broke the law and get a jury to convict him?—to these outlandish “can of worms” retaliation schemes. There are enough ambitious Republican prosecutors in this country that if they thought they could get a court to allow them to charge Bill Clinton or Hillary Clinton or Hunter Biden with a crime, they would already have done it. This isn’t a serious threat of legal action, it’s a media strategy, and it’s the media’s job (outside of Fox News, which is obviously pushing it) to ensure that it fails to gain traction.

Our planned Ukraine episode will have to wait, as Donald Trump is being arraigned in New York City for his role in falsifying records to hide hush money paid to Stormy Daniels. This is the first of a potential slew of indictments coming Trump’s way, and we are here for a celebration of karmic justice—and to talk about what happens to the Republican Party after this.

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Grand jury hears how Trump tried to seize voting machines despite being told he lacked authority

Posted on by Mark Sumner

The federal grand jury seated by special counsel Jack Smith has reportedly heard additional testimony from former Homeland Security officials about Donald Trump’s efforts to seize voting machines following the 2020 election. CNN reports that both former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and former Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli testified that Trump went ahead with plans to seize the machines even though they repeatedly told him that he did not have this authority.

A report in January revealed that Trump had drafted at least two versions of an executive order in December 2021, directing the military to seize voting machines after discussions with convicted former national security advisor Michael Flynn and retired Col. Phil Waldron. Waldron was also the author of an extensive presentation in which he claimed that the voting machines had been tampered with by foreign governments. He urged Trump to declare a national emergency and use U.S. marshals and National Guard troops to manage a “secure” election. Trump and Waldron reportedly had multiple meetings with Trump and took his “how to overthrow democracy” slideshow around Washington, where it was played for Republican members of Congress, who were eager to participate.

The latest testimony apparently focused on Wolf and Cuccinelli telling the jury that Trump continued in these efforts even though they told him repeatedly he did not have the authority to seize the machines. Additional testimony on the subject came from former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, but this was reportedly given to investigators in a closed-door meeting, not to the jury.

All of this testimony shows that Smith’s investigation is focusing heavily on Trump’s efforts to overturn the election that extended beyond the specific scheme on Jan. 6.

As CBS notes, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that Trump could not shield former staff members from testifying before the grand jury under claims of executive privilege. That ruling is likely to mean that Cuccinelli, Wolf, and O’Brien will spend more time with the grand jury. It will also mean that Mark Meadows and others who have previously avoided such testimony are likely out of options.

Much of this testimony appears to be new information not heard in either Trump’s impeachment trial or previous investigations.

The House Select Committee did have one of the drafts of Trump’s executive order, one that ordered the Department of Defense to take charge of the voting machines. That order contained a vast collection of improbable and unsupportable claims, including that the voting machines had been altered by “a massive cyber-attack by foreign interests,” that the machines “intentionally generated high number of errors,” and that voter databases could not be trusted because they had been “hacked by Iran.” It also leans heavily on a “forensic analysis,” which actually confused counties in Michigan and Minnesota. The order ended by instructing officials to take seven steps, starting with:

“Effective immediately, the Secretary of Defense shall seize, collect, retain and analyze all machines, equipment, electronically stored information, and material records...”

That the jury is hearing this testimony means that Smith is interpreting his writ beyond the narrow confines of just how Trump’s actions contributed to violence on Jan. 6 but all the ways that Trump sought to undermine the election. It’s also unlikely that the jury would be hearing this testimony unless Smith thought there was a good possibility that it would support criminal charges.

Now that the appeals court has removed another layer of doubt around whether or not Trump could halt some testimony—no, he can’t—Cipollone and O’Brien are also likely to be asked about an infamous Oval Office meeting in mid-December. That was the “rancorous meeting” at which Trump, Flynn, attorney Sidney Powell, and others launched so deeply into sedition that even Mark Meadows reportedly turned away. Cipollone and O’Brien were reportedly first-hand witnesses to that event.

Between Waldron’s military coup presentation, attorney John Eastman’s plan for declaring Trump the winner on Jan. 6, the Jeffrey Clark plan to replace the attorney general and declare the vote invalid in several states, the scheme laid out for Pence to simply ignore the vote in seven states, and straight out calls for violence and threats on Jan. 6, Trump tested the waters on just about every illegal option he could use to make himself dictator. Smith has plenty to look at. 

All that came after every possible legal remedy, including requests for recounts, were rejected, and it’s not even considering the efforts Trump made in deliberately leaning on local officials in Georgia.

If a federal grand jury is hearing testimony, it’s because Jack Smith thinks they need to hear it. They’re likely to hear a lot more.

GOP Rep. Massie Calls on Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg to Be Disbarred and Removed From Office

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Representative Thomas Massie, the libertarian Republican from Kentucky, is calling on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to be disbarred and removed from office following the indictment of former President Donald Trump.

Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, low-level felonies in New York State but which carry a potential for a 4-year prison sentence each.

Bragg’s dogged pursuit of Trump comes as he’s made a career of allowing criminals guilty of far more egregious crimes to roam the streets of Manhattan.

Massie, it appears, has seen enough.

“Alvin Bragg should be disbarred and removed from office,” he tweeted. “This is an egregious abuse of the legal system for political purposes and threatens the fabric of our judicial system.”

RELATED: Alvin Bragg – You Have a Problem: Letter Surfaces Explicitly Stating Prez Did NOT Pay Stormy Daniels

Should Alvin Bragg Be Disbarred?

Massie doesn’t provide any specific details on why Alvin Bragg should be disbarred and removed from office, though he has defined the charges against Trump as “completely bogus.”

“Supposedly, Trump’s been indicted for failing to properly report hush payments as campaign expenditures,” Massie said.

“That’s completely bogus. In fact, they would have indicted him sooner for a crime of using campaign funds for personal benefit had he reported it as a campaign expenditure!”

It’s not the first time critics have suggested Bragg be disbarred for his actions.

Conservative radio host Mark Levin stated the Manhattan DA “should be disbarred” in part because of the “way he campaigned” and added, “This is crap that a pre-law student shouldn’t even put in front of a damn judge.”

“Donald Trump is a historic figure or they wouldn’t be doing this,” Levin added. “There wouldn’t have been a January 6 committee. There wouldn’t have been a Mueller criminal investigation. There wouldn’t have been two phony impeachments.”

RELATED: DeSantis Forcefully Condemns ‘Un-American’ Trump Indictment, Says Florida Will Refuse to Cooperate in Extradition

Massie Hammers Squad Member After They Throw Temper Tantrum

Representative Massie made headlines last week when he decided to attempt civilized debate with ‘Squad’ member Jamaal Bowman, who instead insisted on screaming about gun control.

“They’re cowards! They’re all cowards!” Bowman screeched. “They won’t do anything to save the lives of our children at all. Cowards!”

Massie happened upon the scene and interjected with facts, pointing to the effectiveness of armed security or teachers in our schools.

“You know, there’s never been a school shooting in a school that allows teachers to carry,” Massie pointed out.

Bowman showed up at protests outside the courthouse where Trump was set to appear for his arraignment and couldn’t turn off the crazy.

Massie also finds a way to be a thorn in the side of ‘Ukraine First’ Republicans, last year demanding a halt to all taxpayer funds being funneled to the country until “a thorough audit of the $60 billion that Joe Biden and Congress have already sent there” had been conducted.

The GOP-led House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, on which Massie sits, has announced they will investigate Bragg’s potential use of federal funds.

The Manhattan DA’s office insists that no federal grant money was used toward expenses in the Trump investigation, though GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy disputes Bragg’s claims.

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GOP Rep. Dan Knodl wins open Wisconsin Senate seat, creating a Republican supermajority in the chamber

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Republican state Rep. Dan Knodl defeated a Democratic attorney to win an open Senate seat in Tuesday’s special election, creating a GOP supermajority in the chamber that could be used to impeach Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and other office holders.

Knodl defeated Jodi Habush Sinykin in the 8th District race. The seat represents Milwaukee’s northern suburbs and has leaned red for years. It came open after longtime Republican incumbent Alberta Darling decided to retire in November. Evers called a special election to fill the position.

"This campaign has always been about focusing on the issues, like rising prices, crime, and education, and I am incredibly grateful to the voters of the 8th Senate District for placing their trust in me to represent them in the Wisconsin State Senate," Knodl said in a statement Wednesday.

"Whether you voted for me or my opponent, I intend to resolutely and faithfully represent all of my constituents," he said.

WISCONSIN SPECIAL ELECTION TO FILL OPEN STATE SENATE SEAT COULD GIVE GOP SUPERMAJORITY, IMPEACHMENT POWER

Knodl’s victory gives Senate Republicans 22 votes in the 33-seat chamber. That’s enough to override a gubernatorial veto in that house. A successful override takes a two-thirds vote in the Senate and Assembly, however, and Assembly Republicans remain two seats shy of the 66 they need.

Knodl’s win also gives Senate Republicans enough votes to convict a civil officer, including the governor, other constitutional officers such as the attorney general and judges in impeachment trials. Knodl has said he probably would not support an attempt to impeach Evers.

The state constitution says civil officers can be impeached, including the governor, lieutenant governor and judges. A February analysis from the Legislative Reference Bureau concluded that other constitutional officers such as the attorney general and the state schools superintendent can be impeached as well.

WISCONSIN TEEN WHO SHOT 8 PEOPLE AT A MILWAUKEE MALL SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON

Knodl has said he's not interested in impeaching Evers, saying he has been able to work with the governor. But he said he wants to impeach Milwaukee judges for being too lenient on criminal defendants. That list could include Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz, he said. She won Tuesday's election to the Supreme Court and will take the seat in August.

Knodl also has his sights set on Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chilsholm. Republicans have criticized the Democratic prosecutor for years as too soft on crime. They've called for his job since he acknowledged his office's bail request for Darrell Brooks Jr. was far too low.

Chisholm's office requested a judge set bail at $1,000 for Brooks after he allegedly tried to run over his ex-girlfriend with his SUV in November 2021. The judge complied. Brooks posted the money and was released from jail. Days later he drove his SUV through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, a Republican stronghold. Six people were killed and dozens more were hurt.

Chisholm has said an assistant prosecutor handling Brooks' initial case never had access to his risk assessment and shouldn't have asked for such a low bail amount.

Habush Sinykin, who holds a law degree from Harvard, worked as an attorney for Midwest Environmental Advocates. She was a key litigator in a lawsuit challenging Wisconsin wolf hunters' right to use dogs. An appeals court ultimately rejected MEA's arguments in 2014.

She said she's running for the Senate to stop Knodl from winning the seat, saying it's crucial that checks on the Legislature's power remain in place.

After Arrest, Trump Perfectly Explains Why They Want Him Locked Up

Posted on by The Center Square

By Casey Harper (The Center Square)

President Donald Trump called the charges against him unprecedented election interference in a speech Tuesday night from his Mar-a-Lago home, just hours after pleading not guilty to nearly three dozen felony charges during his arraignment in New York City.

“I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” Trump told his supporters at his Florida residence. “The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it.”

RELATED: With Assist From Manhattan DA, Trump Once Again Enjoys United GOP Support

Trump faces 34 charges related to allegations that he paid hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels through a lawyer seven years ago and covered it up as a legal expense before being elected president. Trump offered his “not guilty” plea during his arraignment before Judge Juan Merchan in Manhattan Criminal Court.

Trump began his speech by pointing to the string of investigations and impediments that Democrats and federal law enforcement threw at him, drawing a comparison between the unfounded accusations like the debunked Russian dossier and the current legal prosecution.

“From the beginning, the Democrats spied on my campaign, remember that?” Trump said. “They attacked me with an onslaught of fraudulent investigations. Russia, Russia Russia. Ukraine… Impeachment hoax number one, impeachment hoax number two. The illegal and unconstitutional raid on Mar-a-Lago right here.”

Trump was impeached twice by the then Democrat-controlled U.S. House during his presidency, but was acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate both times.

Trump also pointed to media reports that showed federal law enforcement working with social media companies to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story, which Trump said “exposes the Biden family as criminals” and would have swayed the election in his favor.

“And we remember the 51 intelligence agents who said Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation,” Trump said, pointing to an open letter signed by those agents making that assertion. “Russian disinformation, remember that? And that was all confirmed strongly by the FBI, when they all knew that it wasn’t Russian disinformation.”

RELATED: Trump Campaign Warns Gag Order Would ‘Backfire’

The indictment was unsealed after Tuesday’s arraignment. It alleges Trump falsified business records related to the hush money scheme and can be read in full here.

Trump blasted New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Letisha James, attorney general for New York, both of whom promised to go after Trump while on the campaign trail.

“We have a Trump-hating judge with a Trump-hating wife whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris and now receives money from the Biden-Harris campaign, and a lot of it,” Trump said.

Trump’s speech hit political notes as well. He attacked President Joe Biden on the Afghanistan withdrawal, the border, the loss of energy independence, rising crime, and more.

Trump surrendered to New York Police before the arraignment after a grand jury voted to indict him last week, the first time a current or former president has been charged with a crime. Trump is also the 2024 Republican frontrunner for president.

During his speech, Trump also blasted the the investigation into his possession of classified documents from his time at president, arguing that he had the power as president to declassify them. He said Biden had classified documents as well from his time in the Obama administration but did not have the power to declassify as vice president.

Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.

The post After Arrest, Trump Perfectly Explains Why They Want Him Locked Up appeared first on The Political Insider.

Illegal Immigration is Surging… Across the Northern Border, Now

Posted on by The Center Square

By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square)

Federal agents patrolling the U.S.-Canadian border in Vermont, upstate New York and New Hampshire continue to apprehend record numbers of foreign nationals illegally entering the U.S. from Canada.

Last month, Border Patrol agents reported 816 apprehensions and 371 gotaways, according to preliminary data obtained by a Border Patrol agent on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. The data only represents Border Patrol data and excludes Office of Field Operations data, meaning the numbers are likely higher. Agents also reported 19 people they identified who illegally entered the U.S. but turned back to Canada.

RELATED: Cruz to Mayorkas: ‘If You Had Integrity, You Would Resign’

These are the highest numbers ever recorded in Swanton Sector history.

The sector encompasses 24,000 square miles, which in addition to all of Vermont’s border, includes six upstate New York counties and three New Hampshire counties. It spans 295 miles of international boundary with the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, of which 203 miles is on land. The remaining 92 miles of border fall primarily along the St. Lawrence River. The sector is the first international land boundary east of the Great Lakes.

This sector has consistently led northern border sectors in reported apprehensions and gotaways. Last month, Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia said, “In just over 5 months, we have apprehended more individuals than the last three (3) Fiscal Years combined. The current rate of illicit cross-border activity is unprecedented for Swanton Sector.”

He also said over a 12-day-period in March, agents “encountered 28 children under the age of 14, the youngest only five months old.”

“Illegal entry along the northern border is dangerous” he added, saying illegally bringing in the “vulnerable population” of children “is reprehensible.”

Garcia also described how concerned citizens help Border Patrol agents save the lives of foreign nationals disoriented by subfreezing temperatures. In one incident that occurred last month, for example, Champlain Station agents responded to residents’ calls about a woman wandering in the snow. Agents searched the area in question and found a female Mexican citizen who’d illegally crossed the border into the U.S. from Canada that morning when it was 14 degrees Fahrenheit.

The woman was observed shuffling shoeless through snowy fields and ditches near the outskirts of Champlain, New York, using a tree branch for support. One of her feet was bare, swollen and bloodied. She also appeared to be disoriented and incoherent. Border Patrol agents radioed Emergency Medical Services and team-carried her to a warm patrol vehicle.

RELATED: Why Hasn’t the GOP Yet Walked the Walk on Its Mayorkas Impeachment Talk?

“Temperature extremes and the associated hazards have done practically nothing to deter cross-border human traffic in our area,” Raymond Bresnahan, acting patrol agent in charge of the Champlain Station, said in a statement of the incident. “Stations in Swanton Sector – Champlain in particular – have responded to historic levels of illicit border crossings that have trended upwards since October 2021.”

Due to the severity of her frostbite injuries, the Mexican woman was transported to Champlain Valley Physician’s Hospital in Plattsburgh, New York, and later transferred to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington at taxpayer expense.

In another instance, Border Patrol agents have helped U.S. attorneys prosecute human smugglers. Last month, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont announced the sentencing of a New Jersey man to 14 months in prison for “conspiring to transport foreign nationals in furtherance of their illegal entry into the United States.” He was also required to serve three years of supervised release after he completes his prison term.

The sentencing was announced March 23 after Jose Alvarez, 31, of Trenton, New Jersey, pleaded guilty. He’d been arrested last September near East Berkshire, Vermont, after he picked up four Guatemalan citizens who entered the U.S. illegally. Three of the Guatemalans said they each expected to pay $2,000 to $3,000 to Alvarez or his associates as a fee to be smuggled into the U.S.

“Alvarez admitted to soliciting others to engage in the transportation of foreign nationals and to coordinating payment and pick up logistics with other members of the conspiracy,” the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

U.S. Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest credited Border Patrol agents “for their investigation and apprehension of Alvarez and their continued efforts to prevent the exploitation of foreign nationals by human-smuggling organizations.”

RELATED: MAGA Rep. Jackson Demands Kamala Harris be Removed as ‘Border Czar’

Last month, Garcia said encounter data showed a “persistent upward trend despite average temperatures below freezing and greater snowfall than January. Dauntless in the face of all obstacles, our Border Patrol agents stand against the breach of our 295-mi. of border.”

In January, Swanton Sector agents apprehended more people than they did in “12 preceding years of January totals combined,” he said. “Prior to January, Swanton Sector experienced an uninterrupted 7-month streak of sustained encounter increases – part of an upward trend dating back to the beginning of FY22.”

While the number of apprehensions pale in comparison to southern border apprehensions, they represent a 743% increase from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2022, and an 846% increase from Oct. 1, 2022, to Jan. 31, 2023, comparative to those timeframes last year.

Once official March data is released, they’re expected to surpass these records.

Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.

The post Illegal Immigration is Surging… Across the Northern Border, Now appeared first on The Political Insider.

Trump slams Bragg after pleading not guilty: ‘I never thought anything like this could happen in America’

Posted on by Latest Political News on Fox News

Former President Trump slammed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Tuesday from Mar-a-Lago, just hours after pleading not guilty to falsifying business records related to alleged hush-money payments made ahead of the 2016 presidential campaign, telling supporters he "never thought anything like this could happen in America." 

TRUMP PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO 34 FELONY COUNTS OF FALSIFYING BUSINESS RECORDS LINKED TO 2016 HUSH-MONEY PAYMENTS

Trump was arraigned Tuesday in New York City, after being indicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges. 

The judge did not impose a gag order, so Trump was free to make remarks about the case Tuesday night when he returned to Mar-a-Lago. 

"I never thought anything like this could happen in America. I never thought it could happen," Trump said Tuesday night. "The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defending our nation from those who seek to destroy it." 

"From the beginning, the Democrats spied on my campaign--remember that they attacked me with an onslaught of fraudulent investigations Russia, Russia, Russia; Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine; impeachment hoax number one; impeachment hoax number two; the illegal and unconstitutional raid on Mar-a-Lago right here; the lying to the FISA court; the FBI and DOJ relentlessly pursuing Republicans; the uncontested judicial changes to election laws by not getting approvals from state legislatures," Trump said. 

Trump was referring to the original investigation by the FBI, then Special Counsel Robert Mueller, into whether he and members of his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to influence the presidential election. After nearly two years, Mueller's investigation yielded no evidence of criminal conspiracy or coordination by the Trump campaign. 

TRUMP TARGETED: A LOOK AT THE INVESTIGATIONS INVOLVING THE FORMER PRESIDENT, FROM RUSSIA TO MAR-A-LAGO

Trump also referred to his impeachments. Trump was the first president in United States history to be impeached and acquitted twice. He also detailed a number of other investigations that clouded his administration. 

But Trump, on Tuesday night, slammed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as a "Soros-backed prosecutor" who "campaigned on the fact that he would get President Trump."

"A local failed district attorney charging a former President of the United States for the first time in history on a basis that every single pundit and legal analyst said there is no case—there’s no case," Trump said. "But it’s far worse than that, because he knew there was no case."

Trump called on Bragg to "resign" after "leaking" details of the indictment to the media before it was unsealed Tuesday.

Trump went on to slam the judge presiding over his case as a "Trump-hating judge," Bragg’s wife as a "Trump-hating wife and family whose daughter worked for Kamala Harris." 

The former president and 2024 GOP presidential front-runner's speech came after his unprecedented arraignment in New York City Tuesday. 

The indictment alleged that Trump "repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election."

Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted out of charging Trump in 2019 related to the payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The Federal Election Commission also tossed its investigation into the matter in 2021.

Trump surrendered to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and was arraigned in court Tuesday afternoon after being indicted by a Manhattan grand jury last week.

Bragg is alleging that Trump falsified New York business records in order to "conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election."

The former president went on to deliver a point-by-point description of each investigation of which he is currently the target.

Trump defended himself against allegations out of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation. Smith is investigating Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified records at Mar-a-Lago.

"Our justice system has become lawless," Trump said. "They’re using it now, in addition to everything else, to win elections."

Trump took a swipe at Hillary Clinton, who "got rid of 33,000 emails."

"That was okay," Trump said.

Trump slammed Smith as a "lunatic special prosecutor." 

The former president also slammed President Biden, who is also under special counsel investigation for his alleged mishandling of classified records, and claimed that the documents he held at Mar-a-Lago were declassified.

"As president, I have the right to declassify documents. If I take them with me, it’s automatic declassify," Trump said, adding that Biden was vice president, and said he "had absolutely no right to declassify." 

"They like to say that I’m obstructing, which I’m not, because I was working with NARA very nicely until the raid on my home."

Smith was appointed as special counsel after the FBI, in August, in an unprecedented move, raided Trump’s private residence at Mar-a-Lago in connection with an investigation into classified records the former president allegedly took with him from the White House on Aug. 8, 2022. 

Smith is also investigating whether Trump or other officials and entities interfered with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, including the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021.

Shifting to New York, Trump slammed New York State Attorney General Letitia James as a "racist in reverse who also campaigned on ‘I will get Trump.’"

James, a Democrat, has been investigating Trump since she took office in January 2019. James brought a lawsuit against Trump in September alleging he and his company misled banks and others about the value of his assets.

Trump also slammed the Georgia grand jury investigating Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state, including his phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump suggested the Republicans "find" enough votes to change the results.

Trump slammed the "local racist Democrat district attorney in Atlanta who is doing everything in their power to indict me over an absolutely perfect phone call, even more perfect than the one I made with the president of Ukraine."

Trump was referring to his first impeachment—brought after a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which he suggested Ukraine should investigate the Biden family's business deals in Kyiv. 

DONALD TRUMP AND STORMY DANIELS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

"I kept saying that is a perfect call—this one was even more perfect," Trump said, referring to the Georgia call. 

"This fake case was brought only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election and it should be dropped and immediately," Trump said. 

Trump also slammed Hunter Biden and the Biden family, saying had their business dealings and the infamous Hunter Biden laptop been revealed before the 2020 election, the election results "would have been in our favor."

The charges against Trump come after a years-long investigation opened in 2019 by then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. The probe was focused on possible bank, insurance and tax fraud. The case initially involved financial dealings of Trump’s Manhattan properties, including his flagship Fifth Avenue building, Trump Tower, and the valuation of his 213-acre estate Seven Springs in Westchester.

Last year, the investigation led to tax fraud charges against The Trump Organization and its finance chief Allen Weisselberg.