Category: Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi Hints Attack On Her Husband May Lead to Retirement

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicates that the recent brutal hammer attack on her husband in their San Francisco home has her pondering retirement.

Her comments came during her first sit-down interview since the attack, an appearance with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

“There’s been a lot of discussion about whether you’d retire if Democrats lose the House,” Cooper said, referencing the Democrats’ expected midterm shellacking on Tuesday.

While declining to make an announcement, Pelosi acknowledged, “The decision will be affected about what happened over the last week or two.”

Cooper continued to press: “Will your decision be impacted by the attack in any way?”

“Yes,” she replied.

RELATED: Report: Paul Pelosi’s Hammer-Wielding Attacker Is an Illegal Immigrant

Pelosi Prepping for Retirement?

Ever the master manipulator, Pelosi is already trying to control the narrative following the midterm elections.

Rather than admitting she’s about to be retired due to a Republican red wave, she wants to be able to say that political violence caused by Trump and his supporters forced her to step aside.

Pelosi even said she agrees with President Biden that there is a direct correlation between the hammer attack and January 6th, calling it a “copycatter” event “inflamed by the same misrepresentation.”

“There’s no question. It’s the same thing,” she added.

RELATED: Fox’s Jesse Watters Slams Gavin Newsom After CA Governor Accuses Him of ‘Aiding and Abetting’ Paul Pelosi Attack

She’s an Outstanding Master of Resources

Aside from discussing retirement, Nancy Pelosi went on endlessly rave about why she was allegedly the true target of her husband’s hammer-wielding assailant.

“I’ve been a target for a long time. Because I’m very effective,” she bragged. “I’m a great … master of the legislation.”

“On the political side, I’m an outstanding, shall we say, a master of the resources necessary, intellectual, financial, political to win elections,” Pelosi added.

“So they have to put a stop to me, right, because they know that I’m about having our members succeed.”

Here again, notice the use of the word “they.” Pelosi is attempting to portray the attacker as more than a lone lunatic who broke into their home late at night, and rather, a representative of the pro-Trump movement.

She’s a master alright. A master manipulator.

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Former President Donald Trump has a different term for her.

“I think she’s an animal, too, to tell you the truth,” Trump said at a rally Monday night, after referring to MS-13 gang members as the same.

Trump would go on to point out how the media will run with his ‘animal’ comment and link it to the attack at Casa de Pelosi.

“They’ll say, ‘What a horrible thing. He called Nancy Pelosi an animal,’” he predicted.

Trump was commenting on impeachment efforts led by the House Speaker.

“I will never use the word bullshit again. But what she did to us in this country … ” he lamented.

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What we know about suspected Paul Pelosi attacker  

Posted on (Updated by Julia Mueller

The man who allegedly attacked Paul Pelosi on Friday reportedly had an active online presence in which he posted QAnon conspiracy theories and was previously a pro-nudity activist.

San Francisco police have identified the suspect as 42-year-old David DePape, who was booked on several charges, including attempted homicide, elder abuse, aggravated battery with serious bodily injury, and threatening a public official or family member. 

DePape allegedly attacked 82-year-old Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), with a hammer after repeatedly asking, "Where is Nancy?"

Details that have emerged of the suspected attacker since Friday show that he was active in promoting conspiracy theories online and "very consumed by darkness."

Here's what else we know about DePape.

Conspiracy theories and antisemitism

DePape had a complicated political presence online, making posts that questioned the 2020 election outcome and promoted QAnon conspiracy theories. 

After moving to California from British Columbia, DePape became known in Berkeley as a pro-nudity activist, protesting against rules requiring people to be clothed in public, according to The Associated Press.  

He was also a “hemp jewelry maker” connected to pro-nudity activist Gypsy Taub, who pushed conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Taub's daughter, who said DePape helped raise her until she was 13, wrote on her blog, "There is some part of him that is a good person even though he has been very consumed by darkness."

DePape has also been tied to a number of social media accounts and blogs sharing far-right conspiracy theories. 

Two blogs authored by a “daviddepape” included recent posts with antisemitic content and claims of election fraud as well as a video of Nancy Pelosi at one of former President Trump’s impeachment proceedings, according to CNN. 

In some posts, the author defended former President Trump and the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who has come under criticism for antisemitic comments.

In one post from last month, an author under DePape's name wrote that journalists who denied the former president's fraud claims about the 2020 presidential election “should be dragged straight out into the street and shot,” according to the AP.

Echoes of Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Police reportedly arrived at the scene to find Paul Pelosi and DePape struggling with a hammer — and before officers could tackle and disarm DePape, he allegedly took control of the hammer and assaulted Paul Pelosi with it. 

Both Paul Pelosi and DePape were then transported to a local hospital. There, Paul Pelosi underwent surgery for a skull fracture and other significant injuries to his arm and hands, according to the Speaker’s spokesperson. 

The suspect reportedly entered the Pelosis’ San Francisco home on Friday in search of the Speaker, who was in Washington, D.C., at the time, and shouted, “Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?”  

The question is reminiscent of chants heard during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as some rioters searched the halls for the Speaker. One rioter was sentenced to 60 days behind bars earlier this year for threatening to shoot Nancy Pelosi “in the friggin’ brain” during the insurrection. 

DePape also reportedly brought zip ties with him when he entered the Pelosis’ home, another move seen from some Jan. 6 rioters who were spotted carrying zip ties into the Capitol. 

The San Francisco District Attorney has said multiple felony charges will be brought against DePape on Monday, with an arraignment expected Tuesday.

Greene: If McCarthy wants to make base happy, he’ll ‘give me a lot of power’

Posted on (Updated by Emily Brooks

Firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) warned that the Republican base would be “very unhappy” if House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) does not give her more power if Republicans take control of the chamber next year.

In a New York Times Magazine profile on Monday examining Greene’s rise in influence and future, the Georgia congresswoman indicated that McCarthy would have to adopt her “a lot more aggressive” approach toward President Biden, whom she has introduced multiple articles of impeachment against.

“I think that to be the best Speaker of the House and to please the base, he’s going to give me a lot of power and a lot of leeway,” Greene said. “And if he doesn’t, they’re going to be very unhappy about it. I think that’s the best way to read that. And that’s not in any way a threat at all. I just think that’s reality.”

McCarthy, who is aiming to become Speaker in a House majority, has given the confrontational right flank of the House GOP a seat at the table as he aims to shore up support. Greene was in attendance at a House GOP “Commitment to America” midterm policy and platform rollout event in Pennsylvania last month.

Greene was stripped of her committee assignments soon after being sworn into office as punishment for her posts about conspiracy theories and liking a Facebook comment that called for the assassination of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). 

McCarthy has pledged to restore Greene’s committee assignments, suggesting at one point that she could have even “better committees” than the ones she was assigned to before – the Education and Labor and Budget committees.

“I would like to be on Oversight,” Greene told the New York Times Magazine. “I would also like to be on Judiciary. I think both of those I’d be good on.”

Republicans on both the House Oversight and Reform and House Judiciary committees have been preparing to bring a spotlight to the business activities of Biden’s son Hunter Biden’s business activities and social media suppression of an election-season 2020 New York Post story revealing the contents of his laptop.

The committees have helped to skyrocket Republican members to stardom in the past.

“I completely deserve it. I’ve been treated like [expletive]. I have been treated like garbage,” Greene said.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), ranking member on the House Oversight and Reform Committee who is in line for the chairmanship in a GOP majority, indicated that he would welcome Greene to his committee.

“If Americans entrust Republicans with the majority next Congress, we look forward to the Steering Committee adding new GOP members to the committee like Rep. Greene with energy and a strong interest in partnering with us in our efforts to rein in the unaccountable Swamp and to hold the Biden Administration accountable for its many self-inflicted crises that it has unleashed on the American people,” Comer told New York Times Magazine.

Lawmakers furious at Democratic leaders after stock trading ban stalls

Posted on (Updated by Tobias Burns

Anger is boiling over at House Democratic leadership for failing to deliver on a bill to ban members of Congress from trading stocks — a key priority for voters on both sides of the aisle — ahead of the midterm elections.  

Democratic leaders unveiled draft legislation to tackle the issue Tuesday, just days before Congress was set to leave for an extended recess. That left lawmakers little time to review the bill or offer changes, such as closing loopholes that critics say make the bill toothless, dooming its chances of a floor vote. 

Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) on Friday issued a scathing statement, accusing Democratic leaders of slow-walking her own stock trading proposal — introduced two years ago with bipartisan backing — and ultimately offering a more complicated bill that was designed to fail. 

“This moment marks a failure of House leadership — and it’s yet another example of why I believe that the Democratic Party needs new leaders in the halls of Capitol Hill, as I have long made known,” Spanberger said in her statement.  

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters Friday that the bill didn’t come to the floor because it didn’t have the votes to pass.  

The delay is a momentous setback for the stock trading reform effort, which drew a rare confluence of support from an overwhelming majority of Republican and Democratic voters.  

Public scrutiny of lawmakers’ trades intensified when Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) unloaded much of his portfolio after attending a private briefing on the devastating impacts of COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic. Pelosi, whose husband is a prolific trader, also drew backlash when she said she wouldn’t support a ban on stock trading in Congress, a position she later reversed. 

“Passing a stock trading bill before the midterms would have been a good faith sign to the voters that Congress takes its responsibility to the public interest seriously,” said Danielle Caputo, an ethics lawyer at the Campaign Legal Center. “And so obviously, that's disappointing.” 

The Combatting Financial Conflicts of Interests in Government Act, spearheaded by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) at the request of Pelosi, aims to prevent insider trading among members of Congress, federal government officials and Supreme Court justices. 

The bill is meant to stop insider trading by making officials put any stocks they own into what’s called a blind trust, whereby the stocks are handed over to a third party that manages them without their owner’s knowledge. 

But critics of the bill say that it contains a loophole that allows officials to get out of this requirement. 

“The problem is that the bill allows people to create a trust that they can claim is blind and diversified, and yet it doesn’t actually have to meet the criteria that are currently in the law for it to officially be a blind trust,” said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, an advocate with The Project on Government Oversight (POGO), a nonprofit watchdog organization.  

Congressional ethics committees, notorious for failing to hold lawmakers accountable for violating existing ethics rules, would sign off on the blind trusts under the proposal.  

“It’s basically a fake blind trust,” he said. “We don’t have that much trust in what the ethics committee is going to do because they’re notoriously weak in doing anything that’s particularly restrictive or robust around what happens internally.” 

Critics of Democratic leaders’ approach say that the stock trading bill should have stuck to the legislative branch, and that including ethics reforms to the judiciary and federal government only complicated its chances of passage. Those changes could have come in future bills, they said. 

Lawmakers complained this week that the Lofgren bill was not crafted with input from many rank-and-file lawmakers, particularly Republicans.  

“This is a complex issue requiring thought, debate, amendment and a full airing in committee to build as much bipartisan agreement as possible rather than the normal cram-down from the top that permeates literally everything we do,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who partnered with Spanberger on a stock trading bill, said in a statement Wednesday. 

House Judiciary Committee member Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) said in an interview that he suspects that many members of his committee haven’t had time to properly review the legislation. 

“I would suppose there are many members who have not actually read the legislation. And it’s certainly an important enough issue that we need to take adequate time to deliberate on it. We know that stock trading by members of Congress and by judges — Article III judges — is unacceptable,” he said, referring to judges who are nominated by the president and can only be removed from office with impeachment proceedings. 

A recent analysis by The New York Times found that one-fifth of U.S. lawmakers traded financial assets in industries that relate to their work on government committees in recent years.  

A 2012 law called the STOCK Act forbids members of Congress from using insider information when buying and selling stocks, but watchdogs say violations of the law are common. 

“We keep seeing STOCK Act violations,” POGO’s Hedtler-Gaudette said. “We see them time and time again. And they’re not even assessing penalties on the people who are violating the STOCK Act.” 

The proposed stock trading ban in the House is one of several bills now being debated in the Senate from lawmakers including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). 

Upon hearing the news of the stalled bill Friday, Hawley tweeted, "Pathetic. This should be a slam dunk."

"Congress AND their spouses from owning stock. But no. Pelosi & Company won’t give up the $$$$," he continued.

The proposals from Hawley and Ossoff allow for stocks to be put into blind trusts, while the bipartisan measure from Warren and Daines is more strict and requires that stocks be sold off outright. 

Supporters are still hopeful that lawmakers can finish a stock trading bill in a lame duck session after the election. But they note that there will be less pressure on lawmakers to appease voters, and Congress will already have its hands full with a slew of legislative priorities, including a government spending bill. 

The Hill has reached out to Pelosi's office for additional comment.

Updated 4:02 p.m.

Top Dem Nadler Knew Trump Impeachment Process Was ‘Unconstitutional’ But Schiff and Pelosi Dismissed Him

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Powerful Democrat Representative Jerry Nadler was reportedly convinced the process behind the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump was “unconstitutional” and tried warning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and fellow Rep. Adam Schiff, only to be rebuffed.

The extraordinary accounting comes from excerpts of a new book titled, “Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress’s Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump​.”

Fox News, which obtained the excerpts, reports that Nadler had issues with how Schiff (D-CA) was planning to run impeachment proceedings, particularly concerned that the then-President was not being afforded due process.

The New York Democrat was so concerned, the book’s authors reveal, that he told Schiff the process is “unfair, and it’s unprecedented, and it’s unconstitutional.”

RELATED: Schiff: Impeachment Necessary to Stop Trump In 2020

Nadler: Trump Impeachment is Unconstitutional

Despite Nadler’s initial concerns, House Democrats impeached former President Trump on the basis of a July 25, 2019, phone call between he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump, according to transcripts of the call, asked Zelensky to “look into” Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

Trump maintained that nothing untoward took place during the conversation.

Schiff, who seemed unconcerned about potential constitutional violations of Trump’s rights during the impeachment proceedings, responded to Nadler’s concerns by saying, “I don’t appreciate your tone.”

He also said, “I worry you’re putting us in a box for our investigation.”

Nadler’s warnings persisted.

“If we’re going to impeach, we need to show the country that we gave the president ample opportunity to defend himself,” he demanded.

The Fox News report indicates again that Pelosi and Schiff were less concerned with due process and more concerned that Trump’s lawyers, if allowed to convey their own messages during the proceedings, would hurt Biden’s chances of being elected.

“F*** Donald Trump,” Schiff’s team is accused of saying.

Pelosi, meanwhile, was arguing that Americans weren’t going to understand the complexity of the impeachment charges and that they’d have to carefully construct the narrative.

“We need to make the case more strongly that this is a national security issue,” Pelosi said, according to the book.

“Eighty percent plus say it’s not okay for the president to ask for foreign assistance [in an election] — despite Trump asserting that he can do it,” she added. “I just think we need to make this case to rural voters, evangelicals, and Republicans.”

RELATED: Watch: Schiff Confronted by George Stephanopoulus For Making Up Trump Quotes, Keeps Lying

Pelosi: If Trump Complains About Due Process, We’ll Ignore Him

The authors of the book contend that Pelosi’s strategy to combat concerns of due process were to simply ignore them.

“Let’s not give them any attention,” she allegedly said adding, “Democrats are giving Trump more rights than the Democrats had under the Clinton impeachment.”

Anybody who witnessed the show that was the impeachment proceedings knows Democrats were more concerned about stopping Trump from being re-elected than anything else.

Schiff, you may recall, argued that impeachment couldn’t wait at that time because Trump cheated in the 2016 presidential election and Democrats couldn’t afford for that to happen again.

“The argument, ‘why don’t you just wait?’ comes down to this,” Schiff claimed. “‘Why don’t you just let him cheat in just one more election? Why not let him have foreign help one more time?'”

Whoa. You heard that correctly. Schiff, very clearly denying the results of the 2016 presidential election.

Some would call that ‘insurrection.’

Schiff also completely fabricated quotes by President Trump during a congressional whistleblower hearing on the Ukraine controversy. Something so absurd even George Stephanopoulus called him out.

And while the proceedings were so “unfair” that Jerry Nadler had to call them out, Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) came to the defense of Pelosi at the time.

“She’s able to do what she feels is right. That’s up to her,” Romney said in defending Pelosi. “At this stage, the process is to continue to gather information but clearly what we’ve seen from the transcript itself is deeply troubling.”

Of course, the narrative from that “deeply troubling” transcript was manipulated by anti-Trump lawmakers and media members from the start.

Nadler, somewhere along the line, went from accusing Schiff of conducting things unconstitutionally, to saying Senate Republicans, by not going along with the sham, were behaving in the same manner.

“If the Senate doesn’t permit the introduction of all relevant witnesses and of all documents that the House wants to introduce, because the House is the prosecutor here, then the Senate is — is engaging in an unconstitutional and disgusting cover-up,” he claimed.

He said that knowing what Democrats had just done in the House was ‘unconstitutional and disgusting.’

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) responded to those comments by alluding to what Nadler had previously argued about the process.

“We’re not going to do a kangaroo court, like they did in the House,” Paul fired back. “The House only produced witnesses that Adam Schiff agreed to.”

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Pelosi backs Mondaire Jones for open House seat in New York

Posted on (Updated by Max Greenwood

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday endorsed Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) in his bid to represent a newly drawn New York City congressional district. 

In a statement, Pelsoi praised Jones, saying that the first-term congressman “has gotten real results for New Yorkers.”

“Once elected as the freshman representative to House leadership, Congressman Mondaire Jones played a vital role in passing life-changing legislation that has lifted up working families, helped deliver expanded access to health care, and invested in affordable housing,” Pelosi said.

The endorsement is a big one for Jones, who is facing a crowded primary field in his bid to represent New York’s redrawn 10th District. 

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) previously represented the 10th District. But after a chaotic redistricting process significantly altered the district lines, he chose to run instead in the 12th District, putting himself in direct competition with fellow Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.). 

Jones, meanwhile, opted against running for reelection in his current district because of the new political lines and launched a campaign for the open seat in New York’s 10th District. 

One of Jones’s challengers, former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, dropped out of the race last month after struggling to gain traction in the primary. Jones’s other rivals include Trump impeachment lawyer Daniel Goldman, Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou and former Rep. Liz Holtzman. 

While many of his opponents have touted local endorsements in the race, Jones has racked up the support of national political figures like Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and, now, Pelosi. 

New York will hold its congressional primaries on Aug. 23.

Democrats Support School Choice, But Only For Themselves, Not For You

Posted on by Becky Noble

The COVID-19 pandemic was a horrific thing. Millions died, businesses were shut down, many of them closed for good, and because of those lockdowns of society, American children lost precious education time.

But one good thing that came from the pandemic was the ability of parents to look over their kids’ shoulders to see what was going on in the classroom.

They got a first hand look at what was being taught, but also, what was not being taught.

RELATED: Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor Defends Clarence Thomas Amid Calls For Impeachment: ‘Cares Deeply About The Court’

Private vs. Public Schools

Proponents of school choice say that things like school vouchers level the playing field and give children the opportunity to go to a better school.

Ideally, dollars can be used for charter schools, homeschooling, and other alternatives to public schools.

Opponents like the ACLU and teachers unions, which heavily donate to the Democrat Party, argue that taxpayer dollars should not go to funding private schools. Most Democrats are largely opposed to school choice.

But as is so often the case, what they say and what they do are two very different things. While Democrat elected officials deny low-income kids a chance at a better education, the nation’s pricy private schools are filled with the children of those officials.  

RELATED: Chinese Report About Discovery Of Alien Life Mysteriously Deleted; Politics, Jumping The Gun, Or Real?

OK For Me But Not For Thee

So who are these politicians that feel their children are entitled to a better education than yours just because they have “Rep.,” Senator,” or even “President” in front of their name and more zeroes in their bank account? Well, they are exactly who you might think they are.

Bill and Hillary Clinton sent daughter Chelsea to the exclusive and pricy Sidwell Friends school. Hillary flip-flopped on school choice.

Malia and Sasha Obama also attended school at Sidwell, while their father, President Barack Obama, opposed school choice.

President Joe Biden attended the also-exclusive Catholic prep school Archmere Academy in Delaware, and also sent sons Beau and Hunter there. Tuition runs in the $30,000 range.

Biden has expressly attacked the notion of school choice:

Vice President Kamala Harris’ stepchildren attended Wildwood School, also very private and very elite. Tuition fees there will set parents back roughly $44,000. As a Senator, Harris voted against Trump Education Secretary Betsy Devos’ confirmation as Secretary specifically because she supported school vouchers.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended an all-girls private Catholic high school growing up in Baltimore, and sent her son Paul to Episcopal High School in Virginia, a boarding school that runs almost $65,000 in tuition a year.

Pelosi voted against the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Reauthorization Act in 2015.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent her son to a private school beginning when he was in the fifth grade. In 2019, she released an education plan that was staunchly anti-school choice, including ending school choice programs that largely assist low-income families.

RELATED: Biden Tries To Pass The Buck On The Inflation Blame-Game

Fighting Back

Some parents, with the help of Republican Governors like Ron DeSantis of Florida, are fighting back against the elite hypocrisy. In May of 2021, DeSantis signed HB 7045. The bill makes more children eligible for school choice scholarships.

Once again, almost on cue, Florida Senate Democrats opposed the bill. In a statement, they stated, “By signing this bill into law, Gov. DeSantis is taking Floridians’ hard-earned tax dollars and diverting them out of public schools.” 

Well, yes, that’s the idea.

DeSantis responded saying the funds are “not going to any institution, it’s going to the parents, to give them the ability to make decisions about their children’s education.”

Parents will get to make a statement in November about what they think about Democrats who vote to deny their children the same education Democrats insist upon for theirs. 

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House GOP Demands Release Of Biden-Ukraine Transcript Following Reports Call ‘Did Not Go Well’

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

House Republicans are demanding transcripts of a call between President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about a possible Russian invasion of the country be released after disputed reports over the substance of the conversation.

CNN initially reported that a senior Ukrainian official described the talk between Biden and Zelensky as “long and frank” but that it “did not go well.”

CNN reporter Alexander Marquardt, late Thursday, tweeted alarming quotes provided by the Ukrainian official.

“A Russian invasion is now virtually certain once the ground freezes, Biden said to Zelensky, a senior Ukrainian official told [CNN reporter Matthew Chance],” he wrote.

“Kyiv could be ‘sacked,’ Russian forces may attempt to occupy it, ‘prepare for impact’, Biden said, according to this official.”

RELATED: Biden’s Deputy National Security Advisor: Border Should Be ‘Inviolate’ … Ukraine’s Border That Is

Release The Biden Transcript

The characterization of the phone call was immediately disputed by the White House and the Ukrainian government, according to Newsweek.

National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne described the CNN report based on a Ukrainian official’s comments as “completely false.”

Horne would later tell CNN that “anonymous sources are ‘leaking’ falsehoods.”

A spokesman for Zelensky also posted to Facebook that the accounts were “completely false.”

A readout of the call on the White House website makes no mention of any dire warnings to Ukraine, instead indicating that Biden “reaffirmed” to Zelensky that the United States would “respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine.”

House Republicans though, challenged the White House to clear the air by demanding they release the actual transcript of the call.

The official Twitter account of the Republican conference wrote, “Now it’s your turn @JoeBiden. #ReleaseTheTranscript.”

They added a video of Biden in 2019 calling on then-President Trump to “release the transcript of the call” between him and Zelensky, a call that led to the former president’s first impeachment in 2019.

RELATED: House Democrats Want Biden To Relinquish Sole Authority To Launch Nuclear Weapons

Experts Warn Of Nuclear War

The hashtag ‘#ReleaseTheTranscript’ began trending and was the number one leading topic on Twitter Friday morning.

Releasing the transcript of Biden’s call with Zelensky seems like a logical step. The last thing all parties involved need is reckless and possibly false comments by the President escalating tensions with nuclear-armed Russia.

The controversy comes as experts are warning of a nuclear exchange should Russia and the U.S. come to blows.

“As Russian troops bear down on Ukraine and the United States prepares its own military buildup in Eastern Europe, concerns are growing across the ideological spectrum that the standoff could inadvertently escalate into the unthinkable: nuclear war,” Politico reports.

The column cites “current and former officials and experts on both sides of the Atlantic” who worry about ‘miscalculations’ and ‘stumbling into nuclear confrontation.’

Is there anything at stake here that could justify even the remote chance of nuclear war? 

Shortly after Biden was sworn into office, dozens of House Democrats quietly called on President Biden to relinquish sole control over the country’s nuclear arsenal and the ability to launch a strike using those weapons.

The movement stalled.

General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, assured House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that in the waning days of the Trump presidency, a President couldn’t launch a nuclear attack alone.

The State Department in November said “all options are on the table and there’s a toolkit that includes a whole range of options” in how to respond to Russia’s troop buildup near Ukraine’s border.

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Liz Cheney Releases ‘Stunning’ Text Messages During January 6 Riot, It Appears To Have Backfired

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Representative Liz Cheney released text messages provided by former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows showing several people close to Donald Trump during the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, urging the then-President to issue a statement condemning the protesters.

The texts have been alternately referred to by The Hill as “stunning,” the Daily Beast as a “bombshell,” and Twitter as “damning.”

They are none of these.

The panel, upon which Cheney serves as token Republican and Vice-Chair, has been trying to create a narrative that the January 6 riot was an “insurrection” and planned by Trump and those in his inner circle beforehand.

The text messages, however, paint a different picture – one of Fox News personalities, Trump’s own son, and his Chief of Staff being caught off guard by events that day and strongly advising the former President to try to stop it.

Which he attempted to do.

RELATED: Former Trump Chief Of Staff Mark Meadows Sues January 6 Committee, Nancy Pelosi

Liz Cheney’s ‘Bombshell’ Text Messages

Liz Cheney read the text messages aloud during a hearing of the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 riot.

The panel voted to recommend a full House vote on whether or not to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress and refer him for prosecution to the Department of Justice for not cooperating with their investigation.

Meadows initially cooperated with the anti-Trump panel but reversed course with the committee due in part to subpoenas over private phone records from Verizon.

He subsequently announced a lawsuit against the panel and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The text messages read by Cheney show Meadows and Trump Jr. were caught off guard by the events of January 6 – which defeats their entire theory; that is, that it was pre-planned.

“He’s got to condemn this shit ASAP,” Trump Jr. texted.

Meadows replied, “I’m pushing it hard. I agree.”

“We need an Oval Office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand,” Trump Jr. added.

President Trump did, in fact, deliver a statement, though he was criticized for creating an air of sympathy for the protesters and for taking a long time to tell them to go home, something he requested they do peacefully.

RELATED: Top Pence Aide Marc Short Cooperating With January 6 Committee

Did Cheney’s Stunt Backfire?

The text messages read by Liz Cheney also show Fox News anchor Sean Hannity urging President Trump to issue a statement.

“Can he make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol,” Hannity wrote.

Other Fox News personalities joined in.

“Mark, president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy,” texted host Laura Ingraham.

“Please get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished,” added Brian Kilmeade.

But the text messages indicate both Trump’s Chief of Staff and his own son weren’t initially expecting the mostly peaceful protest to turn into a breach of the Capitol. Instead, they reacted as they saw events unfold.

“Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement,” the President would tweet at 2:38 p.m.

“The Capitol Police tweet is not enough,” Trump Jr. would say to Meadows.

Trump seemed to concur tweeting, “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful” at 3:13 p.m.

Roughly an hour later he released a video urging people to go home.

Ironically, for those who claimed Trump didn’t “do enough,” he was suspended from Twitter shortly after his video imploring people to go home.

A few days later, he was permanently banned merely for stating he would not attend Biden’s inauguration.

Everything Liz Cheney and the panel have asserted about a conspiracy theory regarding the Capitol riot went up in smoke with those text messages.

The House will vote whether to hold Meadows in contempt on Tuesday.

Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury on two contempt-of-Congress charges related to his refusal to testify and provide documents to the committee.

Nine Republicans joined Democrats in voting to hold Bannon in contempt.

 

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The post Liz Cheney Releases ‘Stunning’ Text Messages During January 6 Riot, It Appears To Have Backfired appeared first on The Political Insider.

Trey Gowdy Slams Media For Ignoring Pelosi’s ‘Open Duplicity When It Comes To Congressional Investigations’

Posted on by LifeZette

During his Fox News show on Sunday night, former Republican congressman Trey Gowdy blasted “partisan” media outlets for not holding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) accountable after she rejected multiple Republican lawmakers for her House commission investigating the January 6 Capitol riots.

Gowdy Sounds Off 

“The DC media tells us they ‘speak truth to power.’ They tell us ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness.’ They tell us they publish ‘All the News that is Fit to Print,’ and a host of other meaningless self-congratulatory platitudes, but they can’t question Pelosi on her open duplicity when it comes to congressional investigations,” Gowdy began.

Gowdy went on to remind his viewers of Pelosi’s questionable history regarding previous high-profile committee placements.

“She put Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., on the Benghazi committee, even though his mind was fully made up, and he did everything he could to protect the Democrat nominee for president,” he argued. “That was his job. Not to interview survivors, not to access information, not to ascertain why the military did not respond in a timely manner, but protect Hillary Clinton. Pelosi picked him despite his bias.”

Related: Trey Gowdy Annihilates Squad-Member Cori Bush For Spending $70K On Private Security While Pushing Defund The Police

Gowdy Doubles Down 

Not stopping there, Gowdy said that Pelosi also tapped Schiff to investigate former President Donald Trump over Russia collusion allegations, “even though Schiff misstated evidence, prejudged the outcome and claimed to have evidence he never produced.”

“She picked Schiff to lead the prosecution in a failed impeachment trial, even though Schiff misstated facts, misrepresented a meeting with the whistleblower, and manufactured evidence during a committee hearing…Pelosi picked him anyway,” he continued.

Months after that, Pelosi let Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) keep his seat on the House Intelligence Committee even though reports came out that he’d had a close relationship with a Chinese spy.

Despite this, Pelosi rejected Trump allies Republican Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Jim Banks (R-IN) from her commission investigating the Capitol riot.

“There is not a single cop, prosecutor or judge who would be allowed to remain on those cases if he or she did what Schiff, Swalwell… or the others did. Not one,” Gowdy said. “She picked her own biased members but she rejected Jim Jordan. Jordan is the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, he was on the Intelligence Committee, which has more access to more sensitive information than any committee in Congress.”

Related: Gowdy Torches Anti-American Protesters – Remember ‘Those Who Would Give Everything They Have’ To Be Here

Gowdy Let’s Loose 

That’s when Gowdy really went off on Pelosi.

“Jordan has participated in previous investigations, he worked hard, and he didn’t leak, which is more than I could say for many of his colleagues,” Gowdy said. “But whether you like Jim Jordan or not is irrelevant, whether you think the previous investigations or even the current investigations are appropriate is beside the point, Congress has the power and often responsibility to investigate, it should be fair.”

“It is fair to ask, why Democrat members of congress are free to prejudge evidence…run against the person they are investigating….and yet they are qualified for service on an investigative committee, but Jim Jordan is not?” he questioned. 

“That is the question,” he added. “Why Schiff and not Jordan? Why Swalwell and not Jordan? Why is it your members can have their minds already made up, but somehow that is disqualifying for the other side?”

“It’s the sort of question a serious objective media would ask.… but the modern media in this country is just as partisan as politicians themselves,” he concluded. “‘Truth to Power,’ they claim. ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness,’ they claim. Well,” he said, “it doesn’t do well in the slew of hypocrisy either, that is where we are right now, and in no small part because the referee is just as partisan as the players.

This piece was written by James Samson on August 2, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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