Category: Trump Administration

Tampa man, 20, admits intending to block Congress with Oath Keepers in new Capitol riot guilty plea

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A Tampa man pleaded guilty Tuesday to joining a “stack formation” of Oath Keepers members and associates who allegedly breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, becoming the latest to cooperate with prosecutors and the first among the formation to specify that he intended to hinder Congress that day using intimidation and coercion.

Caleb Berry, 20, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of obstructing an official proceeding.

In a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to request lowering an estimated prison term of 51 to 63 months under federal guidelines for Berry, who has no criminal record and is one of the youngest defendants charged in the Capitol riots, in exchange for his substantial assistance. Continue reading.

Chair of Trump’s 2017 inaugural fund arrested on federal charges

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Real estate investor Tom Barrack, a longtime ally of former President Trump who chaired his 2017 inaugural fund, was arrested Tuesday and charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates, the Department of Justice announced.

Why it matters: The DOJ said Barrack attempted to advance the interests of the UAE by influencing the foreign policy positions of Trump’s campaign in 2016 and, subsequently, the foreign policy positions of the U.S. government in the incoming administration.

  • Matthew Grimes and Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, a UAE national, were also charged with conspiring to act as agents of the UAE between April 2016 and April 2018. Grimes was arrested on Tuesday and Alshahhi remains at large. Continue reading.

Paul Krugman Points Out The Unusual Thing About The GOP Cult Of Donald Trump

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“Many people, myself included, have declared for years that the GOP is no longer a normal political party,” the economist wrote in his New York Times column.

Economist Paul Krugman, in his latest column for The New York Times, pointed out the “unusual thing” about the GOP’s cult-like devotion to one-term, twice-impeached former President Donald Trump.

The party “doesn’t have a monopoly on power; in fact, it controls neither Congress nor the White House,” noted Krugman in his essay published Monday.

“Politicians suspected of insufficient loyalty to Donald Trump and Trumpism in general aren’t sent to the gulag. At most, they stand to lose intraparty offices and, possibly, future primaries,” Krugman continued. “Yet such is the timidity of Republican politicians that these mild threats are apparently enough to make many of them behave like Caligula’s courtiers.” Continue reading.

Tell-All Authors Confronted Donald Trump On His Lies And He Replied With 1 Word

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The former president was uncharacteristically honest with his response to Washington Post journalists Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker.

Former President Donald Trump had a surprisingly candid response when challenged over the tens of thousands of lies he told during his time in office, according to the author of a new tell-all book.

“We asked him why, as president, he thought it was OK for him to continually tell the American people things that were not true, to lie again and again and again,” Washington Post journalist Philip Rucker recalled of interviewing Trump on Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“And he said to us, ‘You know, there’s a beautiful word, and it’s called disinformation,’” Rucker said. Continue reading.

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.

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.