MSNBC host stunned after key Donald Trump impeachment witness Gordon Sondland backs ex-president
Biden and Harris' "policies are not only becoming an existential threat to our country's way of life, but to our allies as well,” Sondland said.
Prosecutors: Trump ‘resorted to crimes’ in failed bid to cling to power
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump laid the groundwork to try to overturn the 2020 election even before he lost, knowingly pushed false claims of voter fraud and “resorted to crimes” in his failed bid to cling to power, according to a newly unsealed court filing from prosecutors that offers new evidence from the landmark criminal case against the former president.
The filing from special counsel Jack Smith's team offers the most comprehensive view to date of what prosecutors intend to prove if the case charging Trump with conspiring to overturn the election reaches trial. Though a months-long congressional investigation and the indictment itself have chronicled in stark detail Trump's efforts to undo the election, the filing cites previously unknown accounts offered by Trump's closest aides to paint a portrait of an “increasingly desperate” president who while losing his grip on the White House “used deceit to target every stage of the electoral process.”
“So what?” the filing quotes Trump as telling an aide after being alerted that his vice president, Mike Pence, was in potential danger after a crowd of violent Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 to try to halt the counting of electoral votes.
“The details don't matter,” Trump said, when told by an adviser that a lawyer who was mounting his legal challenges wouldn’t be able to prove the false allegations in court, the filing states.
The brief was made public over the Trump legal team’s objections in the final month of a closely contested presidential race in which Democrats have sought to make Trump’s refusal to accept the election results four years ago central to their claims that he is unfit for office. The issue surfaced as recently as Wednesday night’s vice presidential debate when Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, recounted the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, while Republican opponent, Sen. JD Vance, refused to directly answer when asked whether Trump had lost the 2020 race.
The filing was submitted, initially under seal, following a Supreme Court opinion that conferred broad immunity on former presidents for official acts they take in office, a decision that narrowed the scope of the prosecution and eliminated the possibility of a trial before next month's election.
The purpose of the brief is to persuade U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan that the offenses charged in the indictment are private, rather than official, acts and can therefore remain part of the case as it moves forward. Chutkan permitted a redacted version to be made public even though Trump's lawyers argued that it was unfair to unseal it so close to the election.
Though the prospects of a trial are uncertain, particularly in the event that Trump wins the presidency and a new attorney general dismisses the case, the brief nonetheless functions as a roadmap for the testimony prosecutors would elicit before a jury.
“Although the defendant was the incumbent President during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one,” Smith’s team wrote, adding, “When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office."
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the brief “falsehood-ridden” and “unconstitutional” and repeated oft-stated allegations that Smith and Democrats were “hell-bent on weaponizing the Justice Department in an attempt to cling to power." Trump, in a separate post on his Truth Social platform, said the case would end with his “complete victory.”
The filing alleges that Trump “laid the groundwork” for rejecting the election results before the contest was over, telling advisers that in the event he held an early lead he would “declare victory before the ballots were counted and any winner was projected.”
Immediately after the election, prosecutors say, his advisers sought to sow chaos in the counting of votes. In one instance, a campaign employee, who is also described as a Trump co-conspirator, was told that results favoring Democrat Joe Biden at a Michigan polling center appeared accurate. The person is alleged to have replied: “find a reason it isnt” and “give me options to file litigation.”
The filing also includes details of conversations between Trump and Pence, including a private lunch the two had on Nov. 12, 2020, in which Pence “reiterated a face-saving option” for Trump, telling him, “don’t concede but recognize the process is over,” according to prosecutors.
In another private lunch days later, Pence urged Trump to accept the results of the election and run again in 2024.
“I don’t know, 2024 is so far off,” Trump told him, according to the filing.
But Trump “disregarded” Pence “in the same way he disregarded dozens of court decisions that unanimously rejected his and his allies’ legal claims, and that he disregarded officials in the targeted states — including those in his own party — who stated publicly that he had lost and that his specific fraud allegations were false,” prosecutors wrote.
The filing says by Dec. 5, the defendant was starting to think about Congress’ role in the process.
“For the first time, he mentioned to Pence the possibility of challenging the election results in the House of Representatives,” it says, citing a phone call.
Pence chronicled some of his interactions with Trump, and his eventual split with him, in a 2022 book he wrote called “So Help Me God.” He also was ordered to appear before the grand jury investigating Trump after courts rejected claims of executive privilege, giving prosecutors a first-hand account.
Prosecutors also argue Trump used his Twitter account to further his illegal scheme by spreading false claims of election fraud, attacking “those speaking the truth” about his election loss and exhorting his supporters to travel to Washington for the Jan. 6, 2021, certification. They intend to use "forensic evidence” from Trump’s iPhone to provide insight into Trump’s actions after the mob of his supporters began to attack the Capitol.
Of the more than 1,200 Tweets Trump sent during the weeks detailed in the indictment, the vast majority were about the 2020 election, prosecutors say. They cite a slew of Trump tweets throughout the filing, including those falsely claiming Pence could reject electors even though the vice president had told Trump that he had no such power.
That “steady stream of disinformation” in the weeks after the election culminated in his speech at the Ellipse on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, in which Trump “used these lies to inflame and motivate the large and angry crowd of his supporters to march to the Capitol and disrupt the certification proceeding,” prosecutors wrote.
His “personal desperation was at its zenith” that morning as he was “only hours from the certification proceeding that spelled the end,” prosecutors wrote.
Trump makes meeting with Ukrainian president all about Trump
Donald Trump met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday and used the occasion to tout his poll numbers, complain at length about his first impeachment, and praise Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“We’re leading in the polls,” Trump told reporters at Trump Tower in New York, as Zelenskyy looked on. This is false. Trump is behind Vice President Kamala Harris in most national polls and averages of those polls, and is also trailing in many swing state polls.
After acknowledging that the war in Ukraine is a “terrible situation,” Trump claimed he has had a “great relationship” with Zelenskyy and brought up his first impeachment.
Donald Trump: When they did the impeachment hoax, it was a hoax, just a Democrat hoax, which we won, one of the reasons we won it so easily is that when the president was asked—it was over a phone call—with the president, and he said, he could have grandstanded and played cute, but he didn’t do that. He said, “President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong.” He said it loud and clear. And the impeachment hoax died right there.
Trump was impeached in 2019 on the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The charges stemmed from Trump’s decision to initially withhold military aid to Ukraine while attempting to solicit political dirt on his rivals, like President Joe Biden. A key piece of evidence against Trump was a phone call in which he repeatedly pressured Zelenskyy to instigate an investigation into the Biden family, which Trump has repeatedly falsely categorized as a “perfect” call.
The articles of impeachment ultimately passed in the House and Trump was later acquitted on a party-line vote in the Republican-held Senate. Trump was also later impeached for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, becoming the only president in U.S. history to be impeached twice.
In addition to relegating domestic political battles, Trump also used the occasion of his discussion with the Ukrainian leader to reiterate his long-standing habit of saying good things about Putin—who launched an invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“[Putin] wants it to end, and he wants it to end as quickly as possible,” Trump said, adding, “I’m sure President Putin wants it to stop.”
According to the United Nations, over 11,520 civilians in Ukraine have been killed since the war began, with an additional 23,640 who have been wounded. The U.S. government has estimated a death toll of 500,000 for military troops of both nations.
Putin has not ceased his aggression despite global condemnation of his actions, including from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and other NATO allies.
Trump has threatened to cut U.S. aid to Ukraine if he wins the election and attacked Zelenskyy at a June rally as “the greatest salesman of all time” for securing financial support from the U.S.
“It never ends,” Trump complained.
By contrast, during her meeting on Thursday with Zelenskyy, Harris reiterated her support for Ukraine.
“The United States supports Ukraine not out of charity, but because it’s in our strategic interest,” she said.
Campaign ActionHouse GOP’s latest attempt to cling to power is just so lazy
Members of Congress are heading home for the final reelection sprint, and you can almost hear the scurrying footsteps as Republican lawmakers flee from their duties. They’re vacating the Capitol earlier than usual, and that’s not a shock. As Daily Kos reported, House Republicans have trouble with actual governing—but when it comes to vindictive “investigations,” their energy is endless
This exodus will take place after a Wednesday night House vote on a funding bill that will keep the government open through Dec. 20. The continuing resolution is expected to pass, but it’s worth keeping an eye on which Republicans vote against it—and why, other than to throw spokes in the wheels of legislative efficiency.
Congress will return after the November election to a long to-do list, including annual defense authorization funding, a farm bill that needs extending, and tax and health care provisions that need finalizing. As Punchbowl News writes, “all of this is being left undone as lawmakers head home to take care of their ultimate must-have—getting reelected.”
But instead of focusing on, you know, keeping the government running, the House GOP is going after President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and a Cabinet member.
On Wednesday, the Republican-led House Oversight Committee announced it is investigating the Biden-Harris administration for flying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Pennsylvania ahead of the 2024 presidential election, alleging that he was in effect campaigning for Harris.
“If the Biden-Harris Administration attempted to use a foreign leader to benefit the Vice President’s presidential campaign, this is an abuse of power and misuse of taxpayer dollars,” the committee wrote in a statement on X.
Another misuse of taxpayer dollars would be to use them to fund futile investigations, hearings, and impeachment efforts.
The fractured and feckless House GOP has more lofty plans when Congress comes back in November: Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul on Tuesday announced a resolution to hold Secretary of State Antony Blinken in contempt of Congress for not appearing before the committee on days when Blinken was in Egypt, France, and at the United Nations General Assembly doing his actual job. The committee demanded that Blinken show up to testify on the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The full House could vote to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress, and kick it up to the Justice Department. That seems like an important objective when their efforts to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Biden all went nowhere.
Republicans’ focus on all the wrong issues highlights their struggle to show Americans that they are actually working to improve their lives. However, this hasn’t stopped them from resorting to familiar obstructionist tactics.
While Wednesday’s stopgap government spending bill may have the votes, the future remains uncertain. House Speaker Mike Johnson has promised to torpedo the so-called Christmas omnibus bill, which has historically been used to fund the government in one fell swoop. His obstinance means Congress members may not be able to return home in time for the holidays. Bah humbug.
“There won’t be a Christmas omnibus,” Johnson vowed at a Tuesday press conference.
As Americans struggle with a housing affordability crisis, slashed reproductive rights, and high food costs, Republicans are running fool’s errands as they keep targeting Biden and administration officials who will be out of office come January.
Who needs to fund the government anyway?
Dems eye possible Trump investigations if they win House majority
Some House Democrats are already looking at the possibility of investigating former President Donald Trump if they win the House majority in November.
Two top lawmakers, Reps. Richard Neal, D-Mass., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., did not rule out probing Trump if he wins the White House in November.
Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways & Means Committee who led the probe into Trump’s tax returns in the last Congress, told Fox News Digital it would be "hard to assess" whether he would see himself resuscitating that effort, but he added that the Supreme Court’s recent decision expanding presidential immunity could change the calculus.
"That would be speculative, but I certainly would not back away from the positions I’ve taken over the years on that issue," Neal said.
CLUB FOR GROWTH POURS $5M INTO TIGHT HOUSE RACES AS GOP BRACES FOR TOUGH ELECTION
Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told Fox News Digital, "I’d rather look to the future than the past, but we’ll do our job."
In a longer statement provided to Fox News Digital on Wednesday, Raskin accused Republicans of ignoring issues like gun violence and prescription drug costs.
"Instead, for two years, House Republicans have used the gavel to pursue a laughingstock flop of an impeachment investigation to help their presidential nominee and personal cult leader, Donald Trump. Even worse, they have blocked and obstructed Democrats' efforts to investigate the corruption of Donald Trump and his autocrat allies," Raskin said.
"Investigating this endless corruption is critical for Congress to create legislative fixes to ensure government serves the people and to put an end to efforts to exploit the presidency and sell out our government to the highest bidder."
Meanwhile, rank-and-file Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said investigations could be warranted into Trump’s family and their business dealings even if the former president lost his re-election bid.
Both singled out his son-in-law and former White House adviser Jared Kushner, whose investment firm got a $2 billion investment commitment from a fund led by Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
"His family has some ongoing deals that we learned about after we went out of the majority that I think are worth visiting," Swalwell said. "The Kushners and the Saudi deal – I think people want some closure on that."
He took a shot at the House GOP’s probes into the foreign business dealings of President Biden’s son, Hunter, adding, "If you tell me you're interested in Hunter Biden, then you probably owe it to the country to be interested in what happened there."
JOHNSON'S PLAN TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN GOES DOWN IN FLAMES AS REPUBLICANS REBEL
Goldman, an Oversight Committee member, told Fox News Digital, "I think if Trump wins, obviously that'll be the principal purpose [of the committee], is to provide the checks and balances that Congress needs to check, and that Donald Trump especially requires."
"I think there are a lot of really important, substantive issues that the committee has not investigated this year that are not partisan, that we should be focused on," he said, adding, "But we also were frustrated this term that obvious, obvious concerns were not investigated."
"How did Jared Kushner get $2 billion from Mohammed bin Salman for an investment company in something that he had never done before…That's a tremendous amount of money. There's been no investigation into that."
SHUTDOWN FEARS MOVE HOUSE REPUBLICANS TO PROTECT MILITARY PAYCHECKS
Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt responded, saying, "Swalwell and Goldman should get a life. President Trump has endured two fake impeachments, four baseless witch-hunt indictments, and endless investigations into his businesses — all of which have failed because they are not based on facts but rather, they are fueled by the vitriolic Trump Derangement Syndrome that has taken over the Democrat Party."
Raskin’s investigatory efforts into Trump during this Congress, as leader of the Oversight Committee’s Democratic minority, could also offer a possible preview of what Democrats’ probes could look like in a second Trump term.
Earlier this month, he and Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., sent a letter to Trump demanding that the former president prove he did not take a "cash bribe" from Egypt’s president in 2017. The letter was spurred by a Washington Post report that also alleged former Attorney General Bill Barr had blocked a probe into the matter.
Investigating Biden and his family has been a core focus of the committee under Chairman James Comer’s tenure. Comer, R-Ky., released a report recently accusing the president of having committed impeachable offenses – something the White House denies.
He denied that the intensity of his Biden probe could give Democrats cover to investigate Trump, however – insisting their inquiries into Trump were political.
"If the Democrats want to waste taxpayer dollars and time investigating the Trump administration again for the second time, then that's their prerogative. But we focused on waste, fraud and abuse and mismanagement by the federal government," Comer told Fox News Digital.
"If Trump wins…They're going to harass and obstruct every step of the way."
Blinken may be held in contempt after House GOP advances measure
Secretary of State Antony Blinken could be held in contempt of Congress after a key House committee advanced the penal measure on Tuesday.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced a contempt resolution against the top Biden administration Cabinet secretary, setting it up for a House-wide vote after Congress returns from a six-week recess. A secretary of state has never in history been held in contempt.
"We have a duty of oversight, and no one’s above the law," McCaul told Fox News Digital Tuesday morning.
HOUSE GOP RELEASES SCATHING REPORT ON BIDEN'S WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Fox News Digital, "I’m sure we will," when asked if there would be a House-wide vote on holding Blinken in contempt when Congress returns in November.
If the House votes to hold Blinken in contempt, he would be automatically referred to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for criminal charges.
HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBPOENAS BLINKEN OVER AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL
The House GOP majority has already held another Biden official in contempt – Attorney General Merrick Garland. The DOJ declined to prosecute, however.
House Republicans also voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, though it was quickly dismissed by the Senate.
McCaul has accused Blinken of stonewalling his committee’s probe into President Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021.
Blinken was absent from the hearing portion due to a full schedule at the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, however.
In a letter sent to McCaul over the weekend, Blinken urged McCaul to withdraw his subpoena and efforts to hold him in contempt, saying he was "disappointed" with the Texas Republican.
"As I have made clear, I am willing to testify and have offered several reasonable alternatives to the dates unilaterally demanded by the Committee during which I am carrying out the President’s important foreign policy objectives," Blinken wrote.
But McCaul dismissed the Biden official’s arguments.
"I gave him any day," McCaul challenged. "Any day in September, and he refuses."
"He doesn't have one day in the whole month of September to show up before Congress? I mean, I've been very flexible with him since May to try to get cooperation."
It comes after McCaul’s committee released an explosive report detailing Biden administration shortfalls that led to the hasty military withdrawal from Kabul following a lightening-fast takeover of the country by the Taliban.
The Republican-led paper opens by hearkening back to President Biden’s urgency to withdraw from the Vietnam War as a senator in the 1970s. That, along with the Afghanistan withdrawal, demonstrates a "pattern of callous foreign policy positions and readiness to abandon strategic partners," according to the report.
The report also disputed Biden's assertion that his hands were tied to the Doha agreement former President Trump had made with the Taliban establishing a deadline for U.S. withdrawal for the summer of 2021, and it revealed how state officials had no plan for getting Americans and allies out while there were still troops there to protect them.
Two recent House contempt votes that resulted in criminal charges were those against former Trump administration advisers Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro. Both were held in contempt by the previous House Democratic majority for failing to comply with subpoenas from the now-defunct House select committee on Jan. 6.
Piling on: A tsunami of anti-Trump pieces offer a stark contrast with Kamala’s upbeat coverage
In just the last few days, there’s been a tremendous media pile-on against Donald Trump.
Whether you think that’s warranted or not – much of it is based on his own words – we are back to a Trump-centric universe. Kamala Harris is making little or no news, despite such spectacles as the Oprah show, and Trump, as usual, is back to driving each news cycle.
I have been telling people since 2015 that negative stories are good for Trump because the ensuing debate then unfolds on his terms. In fact, he deliberately uses provocative or inflammatory language as catnip for the press, knowing that even if he’s denounced that will drive coverage for at least a couple of days.
The vice president generally gets such favorable press that many people assume she’s got this race wrapped up. When an NBC poll shows her leading Trump by 5 points, she’s said to have the momentum, although national surveys are basically meaningless.
SCANDALS, FAILED ASSASSINATIONS AND POLITICAL RHETORIC: BOTH SIDES GO HIGH AND LOW
And a New York Times poll shows Trump leading in the key Sunbelt states that the Harris camp hoped to pick off. He has a 5-point lead in Arizona, a 4-point lead in Georgia and a 2-point lead in North Carolina.
That’s within striking distance and in some cases a statistical tie. But the Times piece says that many voters believe Trump "improved their lives when he was president – and worry that a Kamala Harris White House would not."
That’s the thing. Trump’s already had four years in the Oval Office. And while there was no shortage of chaos – two impeachments, January 6th – plenty of folks remember a strong economy. And they want more details about whether Harris would take the country in a more liberal direction, even as she puts her rhetorical focus on the middle class and small business (as well as abortion rights).
Plus, it’s hard to run as a change candidate when you’re part of the incumbent administration and large numbers see the country as being on the wrong track.
Virtually everyone in America has a set-in-stone view of the former president. His MAGA loyalists have been with him since he said in his first campaign that "I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue" and not lose support.
That takes on a more ominous tone now that Trump has barely escaped assassinaton twice – and, after the Florida golf course attempt, blamed the attacks on "danger to democracy" language by Harris and the Democrats. Many in the media have made Hitler comparisons, and the truth is both sides have used incendiary language.
Sometimes Trump just resorts to trolling – "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!" – to get chattering classes chattering, even though he much wanted her endorsement.
Let’s look at the coverage in recent days:
TRUMP INDICATES HE WON'T MAKE ANOTHER PRESIDENTIAL RUN IN 2028 IF UNSUCCESSFUL THIS TIME
The Washington Post describes "Donald Trump’s imaginary world," where "Americans can’t venture out to buy a loaf of bread without getting shot, mugged or raped. Immigrants in a small Ohio town eat their neighbors’ cats and dogs. World War III and economic collapse are just around the corner. And kids head off to school only to return at day’s end having undergone gender reassignment surgery.
"The former president’s imaginary world is a dark, dystopian place, described by Trump in his rallies, interviews, social media posts and debate appearances to paint an alarming picture of America under the Biden-Harris administration.
It is a distorted, warped and, at times, absurdist portrait of a nation where the insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to deadly effect were merely peaceful protesters, and where unlucky boaters are faced with the unappealing choice between electrocution or a shark attack. His extreme caricatures also serve as another way for Trump to traffic in lies and misinformation, using an alternate reality of his own making to create an often terrifying — and, he seems to hope — politically devastating landscape for his political opponents."
Trump also accused Tim Walz speaking positively about "execution" after a baby is born–though Washington Post’s Fact-Checker says the governor never said that, and that fewer than 1 percent of abortions are performed after 21 weeks of pregnancy.
In the New York Times, conservative writer David French uses self-described "Black Nazi" and pro-slavery GOP candidate Mark Robinson, who’s running for North Carolina governor, to slam Trump.
French says he’s endorsed Kamala "because I believe that a Harris victory gives Republicans ‘a chance to build something decent’ from the ruins of a Trump defeat.
"After enduring weeks of lies about the Haitian immigrants who live in Springfield, Ohio, and an entire news cycle devoted to covering Trump’s connection with Laura Loomer, one of the most overtly racist figures in MAGA America (she once spoke at a conference of white nationalists and declared, ‘I consider myself to be a white advocate, and I openly campaigned for the United States Congress as a white advocate’) — I’m hardening my view. Trump loses now or the Republicans are lost for a generation. Maybe more…
"This has changed the composition of the party. While many decent people remain — and represent the hope for future reform — Trump’s Republican Party has become a magnet for eccentrics and conspiracy theorists of all stripes."
64 DAYS: KAMALA HARRIS HAS YET TO DO FORMAL PRESS CONFERENCE SINCE EMERGING AS DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE
Back at the Washington Post, the Trump campaign is described as imploding:
"In a single 24-hour span at the end of last month, for example, he amplified a crude joke about Harris performing a sex act; falsely accused her of staging a coup against President Joe Biden; promoted tributes to the QAnon conspiracy theory; hawked digital trading cards; and became embroiled in a public feud with staff and officials at Arlington National Cemetery.
"The Swift attack was especially concerning to Trump’s advisers, who are worried about attracting female voters."
And there are his constant tributes to "the late, great Hannibal Lecter," the movie serial killer.
"Some campaign advisers are eager to move on from Trump’s and Vance’s unverifiable claims about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs — a potentially detrimental news cycle that has stretched into its second week — but also acknowledge that Trump rarely retreats, even when it might be politically advantageous to do so."
The piece describes Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s first campaign manager, as playing a divisive role, to which he responded: "Same old nonsense that has already been written by the Washington Compost. Your obsession with my volunteer efforts just demonstrates your continued hatred of Donald J. Trump and prove you will stop at nothing to try and prevent him from becoming the 47th President of the United States."
Post op-ed columnist Ruth Marcus says Trump is "crossing a hazardous new line" by saying it will be the fault of Jewish people, insufficiently grateful for his pro-Israel policies, if he loses the election:
"They threaten, if he does lose, and especially if he continues this line of argument, to unleash the fury of disappointed Trump supporters on Jews. It does not take much to imagine the backlash, and the violence, that could ensue. We Jews know something about being scapegoated…
Trump has long had an unnerving habit of bringing up the fact of people’s Judaism — sometimes mistakenly — on occasions when it seems irrelevant at best. ‘Who would have thought my top guys are Jews?’ Trump observed to aides Jared Kushner, Stephen Miller and Jason Miller aboard Air Force One, according to the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman. (In fact, Jason Miller, as he told Trump, is not Jewish.)"
By contrast, a Times piece on Harris’ record as a prosecutor soberly finds "a coherent record that is for the most part consistent. Ms. Harris seemed particularly focused on protecting the most vulnerable victims by cracking down on violent offenders while seeking alternatives to incarceration for less serious criminals."
It’s not that each individual story isn’t based on reported facts. But the tsunami of anti-Trump pieces is a reminder of how relentlessly negative his coverage is – his supporters just don’t trust the media – when compared to the general praise for the Democratic nominee.
Footnote: As I was typing this column, I got a statement from Trump saying "the Kamala Harris/Joe Biden Department of Justice and FBI are mishandling the second assassination attempt on my life since July." He says Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida should handle the investigations and prosecutions instead.
Hillary Clinton celebrates decades of marriage to Bill after being ‘deeply hurt’: ‘We just have a good time’
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton celebrated her nearly 50-year marriage to former President Bill Clinton despite "dark periods" throughout their relationship.
"I've said this for many years, nobody really knows what happens in a marriage except the two people in it. And every marriage I'm aware of has ups and downs – not public, hopefully for everyone else – and you have to make the decisions that are right for you. And I would never tell anybody else, ‘stay in a marriage, leave a marriage,’ whatever the easy answer is. And you know, for me and for us, I think it's fair to say we are so grateful that at this stage of our life, we have our grandchildren. We have our time together," Clinton told CNN's Fareed Zakaria in an interview that aired Sunday morning.
Clinton recently published her new memoir, "Something Lost, Something Gained," which included excerpts on how "both my marriage and Bill's presidency were imperiled" at the end of the 1990s. Bill Clinton's presidency was rocked by a sex scandal in 1998, with the 42nd president admitting to having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky later that year.
Hillary Clinton did not cite Monica Lewinsky by name in her memoir or during her interview that aired Sunday, only referring to "dark periods" that threatened her marriage or "a very unfortunate" incident.
"I write about how we start the morning playing spelling bee in bed. And, you know, Bill is like such a great player. He gets to Queen Bee almost immediately it feels like. We just have a good time. We have a good time sharing this life that we've lived together for now nearly 50 years of marriage. That's what is right for us, and that's really my, my message," Clinton shared of her marriage during the interview.
CNN COMMENTATOR BLASTS DEMOCRATS FOR HAVING BILL CLINTON AT DNC: 'QUIT' HIM, 'FINALLY PLEASE!'
The couple married on Oct. 11, 1975, meaning they will celebrate their 50th anniversary next year.
Bill Clinton was ultimately impeached over his affair with Lewinsky, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice.
Hillary Clinton said that during "one of the darkest periods" of the impeachment, she felt "deeply hurt" by the scandal, while "on the other hand," she saw the incident as a "political ploy" to force her husband out of office.
CLINTONS ENDORSE KAMALA HARRIS HOURS AFTER BIDEN DROPS OUT
"I had to almost have a binary view of the world that I was living in my reality," she reflected of how she was feeling during the impeachment. "My reality, on the one hand, I was deeply hurt, deeply confused, really upset, angry. And on the other hand, I knew that this was a political ploy to try to drive, you know, Bill out of office, and I thought he'd been a really good president, and I resented that as an American citizen, that these hypocrites, who, you know, had all kinds of their own stories about, you know, marriage and everything else, were going after him because of a very unfortunate, you know, incident in his life.
"So on the one hand, I'm trying to make a decision about my life, my marriage, my future, my child, my family, which only I could make. On the other hand, I saw the hypocrisy and cruelty of what those Republican, you know, members of Congress were doing, and that that is a reality that people on the outside could never have understood.
"And you know, obviously I got tons of unsolicited advice from all sorts of observers, but my friends – and I have a whole chapter in there about how incredibly grateful I am to my friends – friends of a lifetime, friends you know, that have stood with me, have supported me, who, during that dark period showed up at the White House to be with me," she said.
GOP held a hearing to bash Biden. Watch this Democrat turn the tables
GOP Rep. James Comer held a House Accountability and Oversight Committee hearing on Thursday titled, “A Legacy of Incompetence: Consequences of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Policy Failures.” The laughably biased display is the latest Republican attempt to bash President Joe Biden, tarnish Vice President Kamala Harris’ record, and bolster Donald Trump's flailing presidential campaign.
Not unlike the committee’s abject failure to find a single shred of evidence to impeach Biden, this new attempt did not go the Republican Party’s way. Instead of creating angry and aggrieved sound bites for MAGA minions to salivate over, the hearing was mostly a boring stream of conservative lies.
Enter Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, who used his time to detail the Biden administration’s many accomplishments on behalf of the American people. Connolly enlisted Skye Perryman, CEO of public policy organization Democracy Forward and the only witness the Democrats were allowed to call during the hearing, as his willing accomplice in this brief history lesson.
He began by countering the GOP claims that the Biden administration’s environmental regulations preventing energy industries from drilling for oil willy-nilly are “impeding energy production.”
Not only are Trump and Republicans lying about how superior they are when it comes to American energy production, they are lying about the Biden administration’s historic success in reaching new levels of energy independence.
Connolly moved on from there, asking Perryman about the Trump administration’s attempts to pass an infrastructure bill.
Connolly: Did they ever pass an infrastructure bill?Perryman: They did not.
Connolly: Did President Biden pass an infrastructure bill?
Perryman: He did.
Connolly: Is it also the largest infrastructure bill in American history?
Perryman: The Biden-Harris infrastructure bill is the largest in American history.
Connolly: And pretty comprehensive, covers lots of different kinds of infrastructure. Is that correct?
Perryman: Many infrastructure and lots of investment.
The Biden administration did indeed pass an infrastructure bill with nearly zero support from the Republican Party.
Connolly then detailed the Trump administration's failures in Afghanistan, including the rushed withdrawal timeline that Republicans now decry and blame on Biden. Trump tried to make his already terrible plan catastrophic by ordering a rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan after he lost the election in 2020. Thankfully, senior military staff did not follow through.
The GOP and Trump have also blamed Biden for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. So Connolly walked down memory lane to recall why, unlike Biden, Trump was first impeached in 2019. We all remember how Trump tried to extort Ukraine into interfering in the 2020 election by withholding weapons for the country’s defense.
“Would it be fair to say that that development, that threat and that withholding of weapons, might be construed—if you were Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin—as a sign of weakness on the part of Ukraine and a sign that maybe the United States wasn't going to be there should something bad happen between Russia and Ukraine?” Connolly asked.
“It seems plausible,” Perryman agreed.
Finally, in light of the right wing’s frequent fearmongering over nuclear war and Iran, Connolly gave everyone watching the hearing a quick history lesson.
Connolly: Iran and nuclear weapons: Was there not an agreement that the United States actually led that involved Russia and China, Europe and Iran, to limit nuclear weapon production in Iran?Perryman: There was a historic agreement.
Connolly: And was it working?
Perryman: Yes.
Connolly: In all respects?
Perryman: I believe so.
Connolly: Inspected by IAEA [the International Atomic Energy Agency] and the Trump administration, and certified by both.
Perryman: Yes.
Connolly: Is that correct? And what happened to that treaty?
Perryman: President Trump pulled out.
Connolly: And has Iran been less active in producing nuclear weapons, or more?
Perryman: Iran is now a greater threat because of that failure.
Connolly: So much for efficacy. Just thought I'd revisit that revisionist history.
Comer seems to have found a novel way to waste taxpayer money: using his position as chairman of the Accountability and Oversight Committee to nakedly campaign against the Biden-Harris administration and prop up Trump’s dogged quest to return to the White House.
If Thursday’s display was any indication, this latest effort will be about as effective as Comer’s last set of bogus hearings.
Mayorkas, top border officials in Biden-Harris admin worth millions: database
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other top officials dealing with the crisis at the southern border are worth millions, according to a database collecting federal forms -- leading a top Trump ally to accuse them of inflicting mass migration on regular Americans while avoiding the consequences.
"Inside Biden's Basement," which lists the OGE Form 278e of government employees showing financial worth, is an organization stemming from the Transparency Action Fund, a 501(c)4.
According to the database, Mayorkas' estimated net worth is between $3.8 million to $9 million.
NEW ‘INSIDE BIDEN’S BASEMENT' PROJECT AIMS TO ‘EXPOSE’ OFFICIALS ‘DRIVING AMERICA INTO A DITCH'
Previous reporting identified his worth at around $8 million. Mayorkas’ finances, specifically his salary, came into focus this year when Republicans voted to block his salary.
It was an amendment by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., for the House's appropriations bill funding the DHS for fiscal year 2025 that would block funds in the bill from being used to pay Mayorkas.
Biggs cited Mayorkas’ impeachment in the House earlier in the year for freezing his salary. Mayorkas was impeached in the GOP-led chamber for his handling of the border crisis, but the Senate did not take up his trial. The DHS had brushed off efforts by Republicans to freeze his salary.
"While the House Majority has wasted months trying to score points with baseless attacks, Secretary Mayorkas has been doing his job and working to keep Americans safe," a spokesperson said last year. "Instead of continuing their reckless charades and attacks on law enforcement, Congress should work with us to keep our country safe, build on the progress DHS is making, and deliver desperately needed reforms for our broken immigration system that only legislation can fix."
Meanwhile, other officials were also valued as having a high net worth by the website.
Royce Bernstein Murray, assistant secretary for Border and Immigration Policy, has an estimated net worth of $1.7 million to $6.8 million. Michelle Brane, the immigration detention ombudsman and who previously served as executive director for the department’s Family Reunification Task Force, has an estimated net worth of $1.4 million to $3.3 million.
Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for comment on the figures.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS
While the website shows others in the administration have significantly higher net worth, the numbers from the immigration officials brought criticism from former Trump senior White House official Stephen Miller, who told Fox News Digital that it showed how rich officials have the ability to distance themselves from the policies of the administration.
"Leftist elites force intolerable mass migration on an unwilling populace while using their wealth to remove themselves as far as possible from the catastrophe they have inflicted on everyone else," Miller, who is also the founder of America First Legal, told Fox News Digital.
Immigration and the ongoing border crisis has been a top issue in the U.S. ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Republicans have placed the blame for the crisis on the Biden administration's ending of Trump-era policies. The Biden administration has said its strategy of expanding lawful pathways for migration while implementing consequences at the border is working – pointing to a recent drop in encounters by more than 50% since June when President Biden signed an executive order implementing new restrictions.