Trump Blasts McConnell for Being Dems’ ‘Lapdog’ on Funding Govt

Trump Blasts McConnell for Being Dems' 'Lapdog' on Funding Govt donald trump speaks into a microphone Former President Donald Trump (Getty Images)

By Eric Mack | Thursday, 15 September 2022 09:18 PM EDT

Former President Donald Trump is praising a few Republican senators for working to stop Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and "his favorite," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., from "ramming through a disastrous continuing resolution."

"Finally, some Republicans with great courage!" Trump wrote in a Save America PAC statement posted to Truth Social on Thursday night. "Rick Scott, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are working hard to stop Chuck Schumer and his favorite, Sen. Mitch McConnell, from ramming through a disastrous continuing resolution that would do nothing to stop inflation, grow our economy or restore the American dream — it would only put big government first and give [Sen. Joe] Manchin his terrible deal."

Manchin, D-W.Va., helped rework the Inflation Reduction Act to his liking to allow him to get on board as a 50th vote to pass the law on the tiebreaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris.

"Instead, we need a long-term continuing resolution so we can deal with the real emergency at hand, the radical left's destruction of America, and once again, put America first. McConnell is so bad!" Trump's statement concluded.

Earlier Thursday, Trump issued a statement blasting McConnell for bending to Democrats on the continuing resolution as he did a year ago. The resolution would permit the government to remain open and funded under past budget terms.

During Trump's second year in the White House, Senate Democrats forced a government shutdown by refusing a continuing resolution and not passing a new budget.

"Mitch McConnell is giving the Democrats everything they want," Trump's first Save America PAC statement, posted to Truth Social, read. "He is their lapdog! He didn't stop trillions of dollars in spending by refusing to use the debt ceiling as a negotiating tool.

"He gave it up for nothing. Now he wants to give Manchin the thing he wanted in order to destroy America and even the people of West Virginia. How about his tax on coal? The Republican Senate must do something about this absolute loser, Mitch McConnell, who folds every time against the Democrats — and he's only getting worse!"

McConnell has been a frequent object of Trump's ire since his last days in the White House.

Trump has made multiple calls for McConnell to be removed as Senate Republican leader "immediately" — a call some have speculated might have affected campaign finance decisions by the McConnell-backed Senate Leadership Fund.

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Scholars Support Condemned Professor’s Queen Elizabeth II Tweets

Scholars Support Condemned Professor's Queen Elizabeth II Tweets Scholars Support Condemned Professor's Queen Elizabeth II Tweets

(Amy Lutz/Dreamstime)

By Jay Clemons | Thursday, 15 September 2022 08:56 PM EDT

Thousands of university professors are speaking out in support of Uju Anya, the Carnegie Mellon University professor who was condemned by her own institution last week for publicly characterizing Queen Elizabeth II as a "genocidal colonizer" and "wretched woman."

In an open letter on Anya's behalf, the supporting professors wrote that Queen Elizabeth II oversaw a "throne of Indigenous and Black blood, embedded in the overall legacy of the British monarchy," and that "her actual government presided over and directly facilitated the genocide that Dr. Anya’s parents and siblings barely survived."

Last Thursday, after news broke of the queen initially falling ill, Anya tweeted:

"I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating."

And then later, after the announcement of Queen Elizabeth's death at age 96, Anya wrote:

"If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star."

Shortly after that, while exchanging byplay with other Twitter users, Anya offered this observation:

"That wretched woman and her bloodthirsty throne have [expletive] generations of my ancestors on both sides of the family, and she supervised a government that sponsored the genocide my parents and siblings survived. May she die in agony."

The professors' supporting letter — penned by professors Chelsey R. Carter (Yale University), Nelson Flores (University of Pennsylvania), Sirry Alang (University of Pittsburgh), Crystal M. Fleming (Stony Brook) and Adia Benton (Northwestern), as well as postdoctoral fellow Dick Powis (University of South Florida) — continues:

"Dr. Anya tweeted her feelings about the queen’s death. As a Black woman who was born in Nigeria, whose family has been directly harmed by the insidious impacts of British imperialism, genocide, and white supremacy, Dr. Anya expressed her pain on her personal Twitter account."

Also, "While within public discourse, the term 'colonizer' can appear to be an abstract term that people have only read about in history books, Dr. Anya experienced the reverberations of colonial white supremacy first hand," the letter continued.

The professors' letter concluded with the following notion: "Queen Elizabeth II was not figuratively but literally her colonizer, and the colonizer of millions of people across the world — and particularly countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and Indian Ocean territories … Over the course of more than 70 years, the imperial reign of Queen Elizabeth II was inextricably tied to the legacy of the British Empire’s commitment to white supremacy and colonialism."

For their statement last week, Carnegie Mellon administrators said:

"We do not condone the offensive and objectionable messages posted by Uju Anya today on her personal social media account. … Free expression is core to the mission of higher education, however, the views she shared absolutely do not represent the values of the institution, nor the standards of discourse we seek to foster."

Also last week, Twitter flagged Anya's tweets for violating terms and conditions.

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Rep. Ronny Jackson to Newsmax: Will Hold FBI, DOJ Accountable After Midterms

Rep. Ronny Jackson to Newsmax: Will Hold FBI, DOJ Accountable After Midterms (Newsmax/"Rob Schmitt Tonight")

By Jack Gournell | Thursday, 15 September 2022 08:39 PM EDT

Had the FBI more fully investigated the Hunter Biden laptop case, the outcome of the 2020 election would have been completely different, Rep. Ronny Jackson tells Newsmax.

But top officials at the Justice Department and FBI want to harm former President Donald Trump and boost the Biden family, and Republicans will hold them accountable once they regain control of the House of Representatives, Jackson said Thursday on "Rob Schmitt Tonight."

"They have been trying to destroy this man [Trump] since he walked down that escalator, and this is just evidence of what's been going on to do that," Jackson told host Rob Schmitt.

"I mean, we've had people in the FBI and DOJ ever since that day that have made it their mission to destroy this man and to prop up people like the Biden family … and cover up a lot of the corruption involved … in this particular family so that it could accomplish this mission," he added.

Jackson said Republicans in Congress don't yet have all the answers, but will be holding investigations as soon as they take over the House.

Jackson agreed that the greater majority of agents are hardworking and patriotic, but that a handful of the leadership is the problem.

The "cancer" has hopefully been identified, the former chief medical adviser to the president said, "but we failed to cut it out. Nobody's ever held responsible for the stuff that happens there."

Expect a lot of whistleblowers to come out when the GOP takes the House back, as expected, he said.

"The whistleblowers are going to come out of the woodwork," Jackson said.

The agency has been politicized and weaponized against its political opponents, he said. "In this particular case, President Trump and anybody who supported President Trump or has anything to do with President Trump."

Jackson added, "There's nothing they won't do to try to bring President Trump and his supporters down, and this is just evidence of that. But we will get to the bottom of this and there will people that are going to be held responsible."

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Judge Making Trump Pay for Special Master, Literally

Judge Making Trump Pay for Special Master, Literally donald trump

Former President Donald Trump (Getty)

By Eric Mack | Thursday, 15 September 2022 08:22 PM EDT

Former President Donald Trump's lawyers earned a legal win in court, as Judge Aileen Cannon selected one of Trump special master nominees, but Trump is going to pay for it, she ruled, Politico reported Thursday.

Trump literally will be on the hook for the costs of special master Raymond Dearie, a senior judge in Brooklyn, New York, who will lead the independent review of the materials seized by the FBI and the Justice Department during an August raid of Trump's private residence at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump will also be on the hook for any staff or associates hired by Dearie, according to Cannon's ruling.

Other notable aspects of Cannon's ruling, according to the report:

  • She detailed the steps the DOJ can take to further its investigation while the documents remain sequestered, including "questioning witnesses and obtaining other information about the movement and storage of seized materials, including documents marked as classified, without discussion of their contents."
  • DOJ is cleared to brief "congressional leaders with intelligence oversight responsibilities."
  • DOJ can use the materials to conduct security assessments.

These stipulations came in the ruling where Cannon denied the DOJ request for a stay on the ruling to permit the special master.

"The government's submissions, read collectively, do not firmly maintain that the described processes are inextricably intertwined, and instead rely heavily on hypothetical scenarios and generalized explanations that do not establish irreparable injury," her ruling read.

"To the extent that the security assessments truly are, in fact, inextricable from criminal investigative use of the seized materials, the court makes clear that the Sept. 5 order does not enjoin the government from taking actions necessary for the security assessments," she added.

Original Article

Judge Making Trump Pay for Special Master, Literally

Judge Making Trump Pay for Special Master donald trump

Former President Donald Trump (Getty)

By Eric Mack | Thursday, 15 September 2022 08:22 PM EDT

Former President Donald Trump's lawyers earned a legal win in court, as Judge Aileen Cannon selected one of Trump special master nominees, but Trump is going to pay for it, she ruled, Politico reported Thursday.

Trump will be on the hook for the costs associated with the work of special master Raymond Dearie, a senior judge in Brooklyn, who will lead the independent review of the materials seized by the FBI and the Justice Department during an August raid of Trump's private residence at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump will also have to pay for staff or associates hired by Dearie, according to Cannon's ruling.

Other notable aspects of Cannon's ruling, according to the report:

  • She detailed the steps the DOJ can take to further its investigation while the documents remain sequestered, including "questioning witnesses and obtaining other information about the movement and storage of seized materials, including documents marked as classified, without discussion of their contents."
  • DOJ is cleared to brief "congressional leaders with intelligence oversight responsibilities."
  • DOJ can use the materials to conduct security assessments.

These stipulations came in the ruling in which Cannon denied a DOJ request for a stay on the ruling to permit the special master.

"The government's submissions, read collectively, do not firmly maintain that the described processes are inextricably intertwined, and instead rely heavily on hypothetical scenarios and generalized explanations that do not establish irreparable injury," her ruling read.

"To the extent that the security assessments truly are, in fact, inextricable from criminal investigative use of the seized materials, the court makes clear that the Sept. 5 order does not enjoin the government from taking actions necessary for the security assessments," she added.

Amb. Friedman to Newsmax: This Is ‘Not the America That Makes Abraham Accords’

Amb. Friedman to Newsmax: This Is 'Not the America That Makes Abraham Accords' David Friedman speaks into a microphone Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman speaks during a Republican Jewish Coalition event with Mehmet Oz, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, on Aug. 17. (Matt Rourke/AP)

By Nicole Wells | Thursday, 15 September 2022 08:04 PM EDT

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told Newsmax on Thursday that America under the Biden administration is "not the America that makes Abraham Accords," referring to the historic peace agreements the Trump administration brokered between Israel and several Arab nations.

"You have Israel, you have a Muslim country and you have America at the apex of the triangle," Friedman explained during an appearance on Newsmax's "The Record with Greta Van Susteren." "And in every one of these cases you have an America that is strong, that is projecting its power, its strength, its values in a way that gives these countries the comfort so they can move out of their zone and really engage.

"It requires America at the apex of the triangle, being strong," he continued. "[It] wasn't strong in Afghanistan, it's not strong now in Ukraine, it wasn't chasing Iran begging for a deal that will place great risk on all of our allies. That's not the America that makes Abraham Accords."

On September 15, 2020, then-President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and foreign ministers from the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain signed the official documents decreeing the normalization of relations among the nations.

"[It was the] first time Israel and two Arab nations made peace in 25 years," Friedman said. "We quickly got two more done before we finished and I think we really made a huge dent in ending the Arab-Israeli conflict."

Morocco signed on to the accords in December 2020 and Sudan in January 2021, according to published reports.

"It's a different America under the Trump administration," Friedman said. "Think back to 2011, what America did to what was a great friend of America, Hosni Mubarak, when he was the president of Egypt.

"He runs into some domestic difficulty [and] Obama just let him hang in the wind. He was replaced by the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt almost blew up and almost ended the treaty with Israel until the military came back and ended it.

"But that's the America that the Muslim countries currently are looking at," he continued. "They're looking at Biden and Obama, that kind of philosophy, which doesn't give many comfort."

Friedman added that the U.S. has not expanded the Abraham Accords to include more countries in two years.

"We were talking to six or seven countries when we left office; we could have gotten at least two or three more by now, maybe more," he said.

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Amb. Friedman to Newsmax: This Is ‘Not the America That Makes Abraham Accords’

Amb. Friedman to Newsmax: This Is 'Not the America That Makes Abraham Accords' Amb. Friedman to Newsmax: This Is 'Not the America That Makes Abraham Accords' Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman speaks during a Republican Jewish Coalition event with Mehmet Oz, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, Aug. 17, 2022. (Matt Rourke/AP)

By Nicole Wells | Thursday, 15 September 2022 08:04 PM EDT

Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman told Newsmax Thursday that America under the Biden administration is "not the America that makes Abraham Accords," referring to the historic peace agreements the Trump administration brokered between Israel and several Arab nations.

"You have Israel, you have a Muslim country and you have America at the apex of the triangle," Friedman explained during an appearance on Newsmax's "The Record with Greta Van Susteren." "And in every one of these cases you have an America that is strong, that is projecting its power, its strength, its values in a way that gives these countries the comfort so they can move out of their zone and really engage.

"It requires America at the apex of the triangle, being strong," he continued. "[It] wasn't strong in Afghanistan, it's not strong now in Ukraine, it wasn't chasing Iran begging for a deal that will place great risk on all of our allies. That's not the America that makes Abraham Accords."

On September 15, 2020, then-President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and foreign ministers from the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain signed the official documents decreeing the normalization of relations among the nations.

"[It was the] first time Israel and two Arab nations made peace in 25 years," Friedman said. "We quickly got two more done before we finished and I think we really made a huge dent in ending the Arab-Israeli conflict."

Morocco signed on to the accords in December 2020 and Sudan in January 2021, according to published reports.

"It's a different America under the Trump administration," Friedman said. "Think back to 2011, what America did to what was a great friend of America, Hosni Mubarak, when he was the president of Egypt.

"He runs into some domestic difficulty [and] Obama just let him hang in the wind. He was replaced by the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt almost blew up and almost ended the treaty with Israel until the military came back and ended it.

"But that's the America that the Muslim countries currently are looking at," he continued. "They're looking at Biden and Obama, that kind of philosophy, which doesn't give many comfort."

Friedman added that the U.S. has not expanded the Abraham Accords to include more countries in two years.

"We were talking to six or seven countries when we left office; we could have gotten at least two or three more by now, maybe more," he said.

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NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!

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Veteran NY Judge Named as Arbiter in Trump Mar-a-Lago Probe

Veteran NY Judge Named as Arbiter in Trump Mar-a-Lago Probe Veteran NY Judge Named as Arbiter in Trump Mar-a-Lago Probe Courtroom sketch of Dearie (AP)

Thursday, 15 September 2022 07:24 PM EDT

A federal judge has appointed a veteran New York jurist to serve as an independent arbiter and review records seized during an FBI search of former President Donald Trump's Florida home last month.

The selection of Raymond Dearie, a former federal prosecutor who for years served as the chief judge of the federal court based in Brooklyn, came after both the Justice Department and Trump's lawyers made clear that they would be satisfied with his appointment as a so-called special master.

In that role, Dearie will be responsible for reviewing the documents taken during the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago and segregating out any that may be covered by claims of privilege. It is not clear how long the work will take but the special master process has already delayed the investigation, with a judge in Florida directing the Justice Department to temporarily pause core aspects of its probe.

The Justice Department is investigating the hoarding of top-secret materials and other classified documents at the Florida property after Trump left office. The FBI says it recovered more than 11,000 documents from the home during its Aug. 8 search, including over 100 with classification markings.

Trump’s lawyers had asked last month for a judge to name a special master to do an independent review of the records and segregate any that may be covered by claims of executive privilege or attorney-client privilege. The Justice Department argued the appointment was unnecessary, saying it had already done its own review and Trump had no right to raise executive privilege claims that ordinarily permit the president to withhold certain information from the public and Congress.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, disagreed and directed both sides to name potential candidates for the role. She also ordered the Justice Department to halt its review of the documents for investigative purposes until “further Court order” or until the special master completes their review.

The Trump team recommended either Dearie or a Florida lawyer for the job. The Justice Department said that, in addition to the two retired judges whose names it submitted, it would also be satisfied with a Dearie appointment.

Dearie served as the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York from 1982 to 1986, at which point he was appointed to the federal bench by then-President Ronald Reagan. He has also served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which authorizes Justice Department wiretap applications in investigations involving suspected agents of a foreign power.

He took senior status in 2011, but the Justice Department has said he remains active and had indicated to officials that he was available for the position and could work expeditiously if appointed to it.

Original Article

Veteran NY Judge Named as Arbiter in Trump Mar-a-Lago Probe

Veteran NY Judge Named as Arbiter in Trump Mar-a-Lago Probe Courtroom sketch of Raymond Dearie Courtroom sketch of Raymond Dearie (AP)

Thursday, 15 September 2022 07:24 PM EDT

A federal judge has appointed a veteran New York jurist to serve as an independent arbiter and review records seized during an FBI search of former President Donald Trump's Florida home last month.

The selection of Raymond Dearie, a former federal prosecutor who for years served as the chief judge of the federal court based in Brooklyn, came after both the Justice Department and Trump's lawyers made clear that they would be satisfied with his appointment as a so-called special master.

In that role, Dearie will be responsible for reviewing the documents taken during the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago and segregating out any that may be covered by claims of privilege. It is not clear how long the work will take but the special master process has already delayed the investigation, with a judge in Florida directing the Justice Department to temporarily pause core aspects of its probe.

The Justice Department is investigating the hoarding of top-secret materials and other classified documents at the Florida property after Trump left office. The FBI says it recovered more than 11,000 documents from the home during its Aug. 8 search, including over 100 with classification markings.

Trump's lawyers had asked last month for a judge to name a special master to do an independent review of the records and segregate any that may be covered by claims of executive privilege or attorney-client privilege. The Justice Department argued the appointment was unnecessary, saying it had already done its own review and Trump had no right to raise executive privilege claims that ordinarily permit the president to withhold certain information from the public and Congress.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, disagreed and directed both sides to name potential candidates for the role. She also ordered the Justice Department to halt its review of the documents for investigative purposes until "further Court order" or until the special master completes their review.

The Trump team recommended either Dearie or a Florida lawyer for the job. The Justice Department said that, in addition to the two retired judges whose names it submitted, it would also be satisfied with a Dearie appointment.

Dearie served as the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York from 1982 to 1986, at which point he was appointed to the federal bench by then-President Ronald Reagan. He has also served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which authorizes Justice Department wiretap applications in investigations involving suspected agents of a foreign power.

He took senior status in 2011, but the Justice Department has said he remains active and had indicated to officials that he was available for the position and could work expeditiously if appointed to it.

Original Article

Rep. Fallon to Newsmax: White House Responsible For Rise in Human Trafficking

Rep. Fallon to Newsmax: White House Responsible For Rise in Human Trafficking (Newsmax/"The Chris Salcedo Show")

By Luca Cacciatore | Thursday, 15 September 2022 06:15 PM EDT

Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, told Newsmax on Thursday that the Biden administration is "responsible for the largest human smuggling and sex trafficking operation" in history.

During an appearance on "The Chris Salcedo Show," Fallon tore into the White House's complacency in the migrant crisis, instead choosing to condemn red states for transporting illegal immigrants into Northern cities.

"If the far left didn't have double standards, they'd have no standards at all," Fallon stated. "Let's look at a tale of the tape: 234,000 illegal border crossings in April, which was 1258% worse than the last April [former] President [Donald] Trump was in office."

"Almost 240,000 in May, which was 930% worse than the last May President Trump was in office. From April to August of this year, when you consider the known crossings and known got-aways, we're looking at probably 1.5 million illegal border crossings," he added.

Fallon emphasized that the skyrocketing numbers not only mean that there are more people in the country but also more human trafficking, illicit narcotics like fentanyl, and general crime.

"The drug cartels are making wild profits, up to $30 billion a year, just on the narcotics. But now they're making about $12 billion or more on human smuggling," the Texas congressman said. "We've lost 107,000 Americans to opioid overdoses just last year alone."

"It's a de facto open border," Fallon continued. "[President] Joe Biden has been in office over 600 days – he's never visited the border. [Vice President] Kamala Harris is a joke who came once. She's pathetic. They are propagating this."

Fallon also called out several "call to arms" comments made by prominent Democratic politicians, notably Ohio Senate candidate Tim Ryan and Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii.

"It's very dangerous rhetoric. … when that U.S. senator said a literally – she called for a literal call to arms. Not figurative. She was very clear in what she was saying," Fallon said of Hirono's controversial statement.

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Former FBI Official Who Helped Spark Russia Probe Under Scrutiny

Former FBI Official Who Helped Spark Russia Probe Under Scrutiny fbi logo under a microscope (Dreamstime)

By Solange Reyner | Thursday, 15 September 2022 03:32 PM EDT

Charles McGonigal, a former FBI official who helped trigger the probe into Russia's role into former President Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, is under scrutiny by federal prosecutors for his own ties to Moscow and other foreign governments, reports Business Insider.

The U.S. Attorney's Office last year secretly convened a grand jury to examine McGonigal's business dealings with a top aide to Oleg Deripaska, a billionaire Russian oil tycoon and longtime associate of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Deripaska in 2021 was investigated by the Justice Department for money laundering and accused of "threatening the lives of business rivals, illegally wiretapping a government official, and taking part in extortion and racketeering."

McGonigal, who retired from the FBI in 2018, led the agency's counterintelligence division in New York. He also served as the cyber-counterintelligence section chief in Washington, D.C.

According to the Insider, McGonigal helped spark the FBI's investigation into alleged collusion between Trump and Russia.

Business Insider obtained a witness subpoena issued in November 2021 that requests records related to McGonigal and consulting firm Spectrum Risk Solutions. A separate filing showed that Soviet-born immigrant Sergey Shestakov told authorities that McGonigal helped him "facilitate" an introduction between Spectrum and Deripaska's aide.

McGonigal also helped introduce the aide to New York-based law firm Kobre & Kim, which specializes in representing clients who are being investigated on suspicion of "fraud and misconduct."

Kobre & Kim told Business Insider: "This is not an area where we can provide a statement at this time."

McGonigal previously led the FBI's investigation into Chelsea Manning and Sandy Berger.

The witness subpoena says prosecutors are also looking into whether McGonigal has ties to the Bosnian and Herzegovinian government and whether he received payments or gifts from the governments of Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania.

Original Article

Former FBI Official Who Helped Spark Russia Probe Under Scrutiny

Former FBI Official Who Helped Spark Russia Probe Under Scrutiny fbi logo under a microscope (Dreamstime)

By Solange Reyner | Thursday, 15 September 2022 03:32 PM EDT

Charles McGonigal, a former FBI official who helped trigger the probe into Russia's role into former President Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, is under scrutiny by federal prosecutors for his own ties to Moscow and other foreign governments, reports Business Insider.

The U.S. Attorney's Office last year secretly convened a grand jury to examine McGonigal's business dealings with a top aide to Oleg Deripaska, a billionaire Russian oil tycoon and longtime associate of former Trump campaign Chair Paul Manafort.

Deripaska in 2021 was investigated by the Justice Department for money laundering and accused of "threatening the lives of business rivals, illegally wiretapping a government official, and taking part in extortion and racketeering."

McGonigal, who retired from the FBI in 2018, led the agency's counterintelligence division in New York. He also served as the cyber-counterintelligence section chief in Washington, D.C.

According to the Insider, McGonigal helped spark the FBI's investigation into alleged collusion between Trump and Russia.

Business Insider obtained a witness subpoena issued in November 2021 that requests records related to McGonigal and consulting firm Spectrum Risk Solutions. A separate filing showed that Soviet-born immigrant Sergey Shestakov told authorities that McGonigal helped him "facilitate" an introduction between Spectrum and Deripaska's aide.

McGonigal also helped introduce the aide to New York-based law firm Kobre & Kim, which specializes in representing clients who are being investigated on suspicion of "fraud and misconduct."

Kobre & Kim told Business Insider: "This is not an area where we can provide a statement at this time."

McGonigal previously led the FBI's investigation into Chelsea Manning and Sandy Berger.

The witness subpoena says prosecutors are also looking into whether McGonigal has ties to the Bosnian and Herzegovinian government and whether he received payments or gifts from the governments of Kosovo, Montenegro, and Albania.

Trump: Americans Would Not ‘Stand for’ an Indictment

Trump: Americans Would Not 'Stand For' an Indictment Donald Trump Former President Donald Trump (Getty Images)

By Sandy Fitzgerald | Thursday, 15 September 2022 02:48 PM EDT

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday said there is no reason that the Department of Justice would indict him over the records that were taken to his Mar-a-Lago estate, other than "if they are sick and deranged," but if it happens, there will be "problems" throughout the United States.

"I think if it happened, I think you'd have problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we've never seen before," Trump told radio show host and columnist Hugh Hewitt on his program Thursday. "I don't think the people of the United States would stand for it."

Trump also insisted, even though he has not yet officially announced his 2024 presidential campaign, that an indictment would not prohibit him from running for another term in the White House.

However, when Hewitt reminded him that the "legacy" media would claim he was "attempting to incite violence" with the warnings of "big, big problems," Trump replied that he was "not inciting. I'm just saying what my opinion is. I don't think the people of this county would stand for it."

"They will not sit still and stand for this ultimate of hoaxes," said Trump. "We went through phony impeachments. We went through phony Mueller reports that came out with no collusion … on top of that, I did more than virtually any president. You take a look, with the biggest tax cuts, the rebuilding of our military, with all of the things we've done. I don't think the people of this country would stand for it, especially since they know, especially since they know I'm totally innocent."

Trump further said that "everything" that was taken to his Mar-a-Lago home and seized there by the FBI should not have been.

"If you look at the presidential, if you look at the act that was passed, it talks about what you can do, what you can't do, how you negotiate with NARA (the National Archives and Records Administration)," said Trump. "Then if you look at what's running NARA, it's radical left-run, radical, radical left. Then you take a look at Hillary [Clinton] with her 33,000 emails that were deleted, and you take a look at Obama and others, and people say Trump's gotten treated very, very unfairly."

Trump also said that nobody from the Justice Department called him to ask him to return the records, but, "We were having very positive discussions. All of a sudden, we get raided by the FBI."

However, he would not comment on whether he knew the documents belonged to the federal government, and when Hewitt asked him if he took the papers on purpose or if they were taken accidentally, Trump insisted that "everything was declassified."

Trump on Thursday also talked about his endorsed candidates, telling Hewitt that his record in the primaries is at "98.6. It's easy to remember because that's a perfect temperature."

"I endorsed J.D. Vance as an example, and he'd done great," said Trump. "He's really doing good. Herschel [Walker's] doing good. I think Dr. Oz is going good, but you know, [John] Fetterman is totally cratering, I think. I mean, if he doesn't crater, nobody will. If Fetterman makes it, anybody can make it."

The former president addressed several other topics in the wide-ranging interview, including:

  • Inflation: "We had better than no inflation. We had 1%. The ideal number is between 1% and 2%. I said let's keep it down, and I kept it down. And I kept energy prices down."
  • China: The real estate market "could very well collapse. One of the reasons is because I put on tariffs the like of which nobody's ever seen before. … What I did is I put on hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of tariffs coming into the United States, and Biden, as much as he wants to do it for his friends who pay his son and him a fortune, Biden is finding a hard time taking those tariffs off."
  • Electric Cars/Gasoline: "We do have the gasoline for the cars that people want. I'm not against electric cars. I personally don't like them because they don't go long enough. They don't go far enough. You have to stop for two hours, and that's not going to get that much better, no matter what they do. So I think it's insane what they're doing. Let the market determine if somebody wants to buy an electric car or a gasoline car."
  • Immigration: "Democrats are all about a word. It's called disinformation. Some people say misinformation … they will look at a border where millions of people are pouring through from prisons, from everywhere. They're emptying their prisons into the United States. We're like a dumping ground. And they'll say, they'll look you in the eye and they'll say we have a secure border."
  • Supreme Court: "I'm proud of them. I mean, they've done a great job. I'm also proud of the fact that we've got almost 300 federal judges all throughout the United States including Washington, D.C. Over 300. We have almost 300 judges, and that has a big decision. That has a tremendous impact on our country."
  • Midterms: "I think that we're going to have a very big victory based on the economy. I think it's about the economy. It's about the horrible inflation. It's cutting people's lifestyles. It's cutting people's, it's ruining people's lives, what's happening."

Original Article

Florida Gov. DeSantis: Flights Sent Migrants to ‘Greener Pastures’

Florida Gov. DeSantis: Flights Sent Migrants to 'Greener Pastures' Ron DeSantis Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis (Getty Images)

By Jay Clemons | Thursday, 15 September 2022 02:09 PM EDT

On Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis publicly addressed his Wednesday decision to help send two planes carrying illegal immigrants to Martha's Vineyard, saying his state was simply doing its part to accommodate the northeast cities and states which proudly trumpet its own "sanctuary" status.

"Our message to [migrants] is we are not a sanctuary state, and it's better to go to a 'sanctuary' jurisdiction," said the Florida Republican. "And yes, we will facilitate the transfer for you to go to greener pastures."

DeSantis' comments took place during a "Florida for Truckers" speech, and elicited applause from the crowd.

The governor then lamented the left-leaning politicians and liberals who were once "beating their chests" during the Trump administration, saying they would gladly take in migrants — perhaps just to spite then-President Donald Trump.

DeSantis reasoned that places like the Massachusetts beach community of Martha's Vineyard have incurred "but a small fraction" of migrants, compared to the thousands of illegal immigrants making daily crossing into towns along the United States-Mexico border.

However, when the migrants "are brought to the [liberals'] front door, they go berserk," said DeSantis, before adding, "It shows you they're virtue-signaling is a fraud."

DeSantis, who's up for reelection this November, has reportedly funded $12 million for a migrant relocation program that intends to "send undocumented migrants to sanctuary cities and states" around the country.

According to Kellan Howell, a White House reporter for Newsy, DeSantis also said on Thursday, "We take what's happening at the southern border very seriously. Unlike some, and unlike the President of the United States, who's refused to lift a finger at that border."

As Newsmax chronicled on Wednesday, charter flights began arriving to Martha's Vineyard in the afternoon; and according to flight records, the charter flights originated in Texas and also made a secondary stop to load migrants from Florida's panhandle.

There were an estimated 50 Venezuelan migrants, including some children, brought to Martha's Vineyard Regional High School for snacks and shelter before being cared for by migrant shelters in Edgartown, Massachusetts, according to WCVB-TV in Boston.

Martha's Vineyard has the reputation for being an upscale vacation destination and weekend escape for wealthy progressives living on the East Coast.

A few years ago, former President Barack Obama purchased a waterfront mansion on Martha's Vineyard, reportedly for $15 million.

While sharing stories from his book, "The Price of Principle: Why Integrity Is Worth the Consequences," Alan Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School and one of this nation's foremost authorities on the U.S. Constitution, has repeatedly told Newsmax he has been "ostracized" on the island for defending former President Trump's impeachment proceedings, and also and not toeing the line of liberalism.

Original Article

CNN Demotes Don Lemon to Morning Show

CNN Demotes Don Lemon to Morning Show Don Lemon Don Lemon attends the 2022 White House Correspondents Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton on April 30 in Washington, D.C. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images)

By Jeffrey Rodack | Thursday, 15 September 2022 01:46 PM EDT

CNN has demoted Don Lemon from his prime-time spot to a new morning show, where he will be one of three co-hosts.

The demotion comes as part of a major overhaul of the news network's programming by Chris Licht, who took over as chair in May.

The New York Times noted the new morning show is Licht's biggest programming move since being named chair. It comes as Licht is still trying to find a host for the 9 p.m. slot left vacant when Chris Cuomo was fired. And Licht will now need to fill Lemon's usual 10 p.m. hour, as well.

Lemon will be joined in the new show by midmorning anchor Poppy Harlow and White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins. The new show is expected to start airing in late October.

Lemon is known for his left-wing rants and verbal attacks on former President Donald Trump. Trump had called Lemon "the dumbest man on television" in July 2019 when the CNN host insinuated the then-president was a racist.

Trump repeated his claim about Lemon's intelligence in January, 2020, by tweeting, "Don Lemon, the dumbest man on television (with terrible ratings!)"

Lemon faced scrutiny in December, 2021, after actor Jussie Smollett testified that the CNN anchor sent him a text warning him that police did not believe his claim about having been the victim of a racist attack, according to Newsweek.

News of Lemon's warning to Smollett drew outrage from conservatives. Some had demanded CNN fire Lemon.

Christian conservative writer Carmine Sabia said at the time: "Jussie Smollett has admitted that CNN anchor Don Lemon warned him that police were suspicious of his story. CNN does not have journalists. It has activists. Time for Don Lemon to follow Chris Cuomo."

And The Hill reported in January, 2020, that a spokesperson for Heritage Action for America on Wednesday blasted Lemon over a segment in which the host laughed after a guest mocked supporters of Trump.

"The CNN segment shows exactly what the elites of America think about the rest of the country," said Noah Weinrich. "They think they're dumb [and] they think they're incapable of governing themselves, but it's rude and it's offensive, and it's just wrong."

Meanwhile CNN needs "actual journalists," billionaire media mogul John Malone told CNBC in a November, 2021, interview in which he explained there is a place for the news channel in the combination of WarnerMedia and Discovery into a new entity, Warner Bros. Discovery. "I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing," said Malone, who is longtime chair of Liberty Media, which is a major shareholder in Discovery.

Stephen Moore to Newsmax: Climbing Mortgage Rates Hurts Buyers, Sellers

Stephen Moore to Newsmax: Climbing Mortgage Rates Hurts Buyers, Sellers Stephen Moore (Getty Images)

By Sandy Fitzgerald | Thursday, 15 September 2022 01:16 PM EDT

When it comes to the economy, one sector Americans should be "most worried" about is how growing inflation and the rising interest rates are affecting the housing market, economist Stephen Moore said on Newsmax on Thursday.

"You've seen this gigantic increase in mortgage rates, from 2.7% to 6.2%, and those increases mean your monthly payments rise by, depending on the size and the cost of your house, maybe by as much as $1,500 a month," Moore, a senior economic adviser under former President Donald Trump, said on Newsmax's "National Report." "If you look at that over a 30-year period, that means you're paying between $150,000 to $200,000 more in mortgage interest expenses over that period."

That kind of extra cost hurts buyers, who won't be able to spend as much money on a house as they would want, and sellers, because they'll be forced to drop the prices of their houses so they can clear the market, said Moore.

Further, there is a slowdown in new homes being built and purchased, and that is another important sector for the economy, said Moore.

He added that he'd be a "little bit nervous" about buying a home at this time, but at the same time, interest rates may keep climbing, so "you might want to lock in at 6.2%, even though that's a lot higher than it was a year and a half ago. Maybe refinance later, if you can."

Meanwhile, Moore said "everybody got caught by surprise" earlier this week when inflation only marked a slight dip, with the markets taking a sharp drop.

"It's important for people to understand what's going on here," Moore said. "Gas prices did come down there, down by about a $1.25 a gallon from their peak from a couple of months ago when they hit $5 a gallon, but almost everything else went up in price. Grocery prices went up. Health insurance prices went up, transportation costs, new cars, used cars went up … and that canceled out the effect of the lower gas prices."

That spooked Wall Street, he added, and investors now expect the Fed will become even more aggressive in raising interest rates.

"It's a big mess," Moore said.

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Jason Miller to Newsmax: Twitter Must Get CCP Spy ‘the Hell Out’

Jason Miller to Newsmax: Twitter Must Get CCP Spy 'the Hell Out' Jason Miller to Newsmax: Twitter Must Get CCP Spy 'the Hell Out' The Twitter logo is seen outside their headquarters on April 26, 2022 in downtown San Francisco, California. (Amy Osborne / AFP via Gett)

By Eric Mack | Thursday, 15 September 2022 01:05 PM EDT

The Twitter whistleblower alleging a Chinese Communist Party spy works at the company is just the latest example of America getting infiltrated by China, according to former Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller on Newsmax.

"The very first thing they should be doing is what is the CCP's spy name and get him the hell out," Miller, who is the CEO of Gettr social media platform, told Thursday's "John Bachman Now."

Miller was astounded an American media platform could allow this to happen, much less go on.

"How does this happen?" Miller asked co-hosts John Bachman and Bianca de la Garza. "How can you have one of the largest social media platforms in the entire world have an active CCP spy, and they just let it go? Because they're worried about it jeopardizing their mainland China business and kowtowing to the CCP?

"When you launch a social media platform, or if you're running it, you have a pact with the people who are on your platform to protect their data, to look after their interests, to make sure that it's a positive user experience. That's what we've tried to do with Gettr."

Miller praised the whistleblower for coming forward to expose the China connection.

"But the notion of having an active CCP spy in there who can meddle around with data is scary," he continued. "And, keep in mind, while much of the focus this week was on Twitter, TikTok is still even worse. They're outright controlled by the CCP, which is a whole other level worse than what Twitter is doing."

Miller warned "the media and the Democrats are so triggered and so obsessed with President Trump," they are losing sight of what is important – if not using Trump to cover for their own failures.

"They're doing their best to put President Trump on the ballot in the run up to the midterms because their candidates are terrible," Miller said of Democrats.

"Ultimately, though, inflation," he added, "is going to make a lot more difference than folks trying to attack President Trump."

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Original Article

AP Source: Meadows Complies With DOJ Subpoena

AP Source: Meadows Complies With DOJ Subpoena mark meadows listening Mark Meadows (AP)

ERIC TUCKER Thursday, 15 September 2022 11:49 AM EDT

Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff under former President Donald Trump, complied with a Justice Department subpoena and turned over records as part of a federal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, a person familiar the matter said Thursday.

The records produced by Meadows are the same he earlier provided to a House committee conducting a similar investigation, according to the person, who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing Justice Department probe.

The subpoena to Meadows, first reported by CNN, makes clear that Justice Department officials are seeking information from the most senior of Trump's White House advisers as they examine wide-ranging efforts to overturn the results of the election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

The department, whose work at times has mirrored or overlapped with that of the committee, this month served a broad wave of grand jury subpoenas and search warrants to Trump allies.

Meadows has been a pivotal figure in the House investigation, his name invoked repeatedly in testimony by other Trump advisers, including by his own top aide. He had provided the committee with thousands of text messages, including communications with outside Trump allies and advisers.

In a filing in April in a federal lawsuit over his House subpoena, a lawyer for Meadows accused the committee of trying to vilify him publicly, noting that all of the texts it had been provided had been disclosed to the news media. The committee declined at the time to respond to the accusation.

Meadows did not provide to the committee records he believed were subject to claims of executive privilege and those documents were also not produced to the Justice Department.

Original Article

Report: N.Y. Attorney General Refuses Trump Settlement Offer

Report: N.Y. Attorney General Refuses Trump Settlement Offer Letitia James New York Attorney General Letitia James (AP)

By Charlie McCarthy | Thursday, 15 September 2022 10:54 AM EDT

New York Attorney General Letitia James has vowed to pursue her case against former President Donald Trump and his family real estate business after refusing a settlement offer, the New York Times reported.

James, a Democrat running for reelection in November, also is considering suing at least one of Trump's adult children — Ivanka, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., the Times reported Thursday.

Each of the Trump children has been a senior executive at the Trump Organization.

The Times said the AG's office this month rejected at least one settlement offer from Donald Trump's attorneys — increasing the likelihood of a lawsuit.

The newspaper added that the two sides still could reach a deal, though there was no indication a settlement would happen soon.

James, as part of her lawsuit, could seek to curtail Trump's Manhattan real estate portfolio, though the AG has given mixed signals about what sort of punishment she will seek to impose.

Trump early last month said he refused to answer questions during an appearance before the AG in her civil investigation into his family's business practices, citing his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

Eric Trump, who ran the company when Trump was president, also invoked his Fifth Amendment rights more than 500 times in a 2020 deposition with James' office. The Times added that Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. responded to questions during their interviews.

The newspaper said that in civil cases, refusing to answer questions can, in some instances, be held against defendants at trial.

James has said her investigation has uncovered significant evidence that the Trump Organization, which manages hotels, golf courses, and other real estate, gave banks and tax authorities misleading financial information to obtain benefits.

Trump has denied all wrongdoing, and has called the investigation a politically motivated witch hunt by "racist political hacks."

James' investigation continues while the Department of Justice probes Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents.

FBI agents raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 8, and the DOJ said agents removed 11 sets of classified documents including some marked as top secret. Trump and allies insist the documents had been declassified.

In a case unrelated to James' investigation, the Trump Organization is set to go on trial in Manhattan next month for criminal tax charges.

Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg's plea agreement reportedly included that he will testify in a potential trial but did not sign on as a cooperator in James' investigation of the company's finances.

Original Article