Author: Data and Research Manager

Former Trump aide says campaign paid actors to appear at his 2016 presidential announcement

NOTE: This was reported back in 2016 and vehemently denied at the time. Surprise! It was the truth.

Donald Trump’s top 2016 aide previously denied the campaign had paid actors to appear at the future president’s big campaign-launch announcement at Trump Tower, but that same official recently told Insider that people were indeed hired to show up.

Trump kicked off his candidacy at his New York City skyscraper in a speech on June 16, 2015, appearing before a large crowd of what seemed to be his supporters. The event immediately prompted speculation about how Trump managed to draw a sizable group of people.

“I remember thinking, ‘Man, I’m surprised he couldn’t even get people there. That seems insane,'” Sarah Isgur, the deputy campaign manager for 2016 presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, told Insider as part of an oral history project chronicling one of the most unorthodox GOP primaries the country has ever seen.

MAGA rioter’s hearing turns ‘ugly’ after she yells at judge while declaring herself a ‘sovereign citizen’

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A court hearing for MAGA rioter Pauline Bauer went off the rails on Monday after she began yelling at the judge while declaring herself a “sovereign citizen.”

NBC 4 Washington’s Scott MacFarlane reports that Bauer, who infamously called for the hanging of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) during the Capitol riots, immediately went off the deep end by telling the judge that she is not subject to American laws.

According to MacFarlane, Bauer during her court hearing repeatedly interrupted the judge while also demanding that the court recognize her own personal judicial authority. Continue reading.

AG’s office refuses to reveal Marshall’s whereabouts before or after Jan. 6

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AG Steve Marshall’s office denied APR’s request for his calendar during the lead up to, and after, the Jan. 6 attack.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall won’t say where he was on the days leading up to and following the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

Marshall leads the Republican Attorneys General Association’s dark-money nonprofit Rule of Law Defense Fund, which paid for robocalls detailing when and where citizens should meet. 

Then-Republican Attorneys General Association director Adam Piper attended a Jan. 5 meeting at the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., along with Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama; Donald Trump Jr.; Eric Trump; Trump’s former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn; adviser Peter Navarro; Trump’s 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski; and 2016 deputy campaign manager David Bossie, according to Charles W. Herbster, who was then the national chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Advisory Committee in Trump’s administration.

Trump fan went to ‘protest’ Democratic event in rural Texas — and almost immediately began assaulting people: police

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On Monday, DailyTrib.com reported that a Trump supporter was arrested on charges of assault and resisting arrest following an incident at a rally for rural Democrats in Marble Falls, Texas, a small community northwest of Austin.

According to the report, the incident started when Reynol P. Gray came to the Turn Rural Texas Blue Rally to protest, and things escalated. 

“The rally, hosted by local Democratic clubs, featured speeches by Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Mike Collier, state Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa, and others,” reported Brigid Cooley. “Police were called to the rally after Gray began yelling profanities at event speakers and made his way toward the pavilion stage.” Continue reading.

Minnesota mayors urge support of massive infrastructure bill

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Noting the potential payoffs to Minn., they urge the state’s congressional delegation to do same. 

DULUTH – Duluth’s working seaport supports 8,000 jobs and, along with the port in neighboring Superior, Wis., $1.4 billion in economic activity.

That’s a key driver for Duluth Mayor Emily Larson’s support of President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill scheduled for a procedural vote Wednesday in the U.S. Senate, she said at a news conference Monday.

Minnesota members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and two of the state’s business leaders met virtually to urge Minnesota’s congressional delegation to support the bill, focusing heavily on its bipartisan nature. The eight-year plan would invest in public works projects, including roads, bridges, broadband, public transit and passenger rail. Continue reading.

Jim Jordan among McCarthy picks for Jan. 6 panel

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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Monday is expected to pick five Republicans to serve on the special House committee created to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The top Republican on the bipartisan panel will be Rep. Jim Banks (Ind.), a rising star who is serving this cycle as chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, GOP sources said.

The others , sources said, are Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio), the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee and the co-founder of the far-right Freedom Caucus; Rep. Rodney Davis (Ill.), the top Republican on the Administration Committee; and Reps. Kelly Armstrong (N.D.) and Troy Nehls (Texas), a former county sheriff. Continue reading.

Trump says his only regret as President was not deploying military to attack BLM protestors

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Donald Trump, the twice-impeached, one-term Republican president who lost the popular vote twice and the Electoral College once says he has but a single regret for his time as Commander in Chief: not deploying the U.S. Military to attack Black Lives Matter protestors during the summer of 2020 – an act that at the very least would have been met with massive resistance nationwide and some say would have violated the Constitution.

In a lengthy excerpt published at Vanity Fair from their new book, “I Alone Can Fix It,” Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker focus on their hours-long interview with the former president at Mar-a-Lago, just 70 days after Joe Biden was sworn in as president.

“I think it would be hard if George Washington came back from the dead and he chose Abraham Lincoln as his vice president, I think it would have been very hard for them to beat me,” Trump told the two Washington Post reporters.”I think it would be hard if George Washington came back from the dead and he chose Abraham Lincoln as his vice president, I think it would have been very hard for them to beat me.” Continue reading.

Rep. Dean Phillips (CD3) Update: Conversation and Collaboration

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Hi Neighbors,

I’m checking in with more updates after a busy week. My time was split between DC and Minnesota, and highlights included engaging with my constituents, supporting two pieces of bipartisan legislation that keep America at the centerstage, and authoring a bill that works to fuel the modernization of our healthcare system.

I’m already looking forward to my next visit home, but, in the meantime I have some great news to share: 

Community Conversation

Last Thursday, I was thrilled to be back with you all at our first in-person town hall in over a year. Its been a long year for many of us, and, as is often the case, what is good for the soul is good for our democracy.

Continue reading “Rep. Dean Phillips (CD3) Update: Conversation and Collaboration”

State, Dems call out Cruz over holds ahead of key Russian talks

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The State Department and Senate Democrats are calling out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for holding up confirmation votes on key members of President Biden’s national security team. 

They are particularly criticizing Cruz for his hold on Bonnie Jenkins, who Biden nominated as under secretary of State for arms control and international security affairs.

U.S. and Russian officials are expected to meet on July 28 for the first Strategic Stability Dialogue on nuclear nonproliferation talks, which was announced during Biden’s first face-to-face summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin next month. Continue reading.