Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

REVEALED: Trump’s congressional allies were 'key foot soldiers' in the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election
https://www.rawstory.com/here-s-how-trump-loyalists-conspired-to-overturn-the-2020-election/

Mark Meadows trapped himself — and now his ‘situation is quickly worsening’: analysis
https://www.rawstory.com/meadow/

'You were the hero of January 6th!' Peter Navarro inadvertently implicates Steve Bannon while talking on his podcast
https://www.rawstory.com/peter-navarro-steve-bannon/

'Tell us everything': CNN's Paul Begala demands Jim Jordan reveal all his MAGA riot texts
https://www.rawstory.com/jim-jordan-capitol-riot-2656053324/

Michael Cohen sues Donald Trump and Bill Barr for violating his First Amendment rights
https://www.rawstory.com/michael-cohen-sues-first-amendment/

There is a ‘direct line’ from Fox News lies to Trump supporters trying to overturn elections: NYT columnist



Fox News has played a critical role in undermining democracy in America by spreading lies about the election that incite violence, according to a New York Times column published online on Thursday.

"What did Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham say about the Jan. 6 rioting at the United States Capitol — and when did they say it? Were they suitably censorious of the violence? At the time, did their public remarks match their private horror?" columnist Frank Bruni asked. "Those questions have been heatedly and extensively hashed out over the days since a House committee released text messages from Jan. 6 in which Hannity and Ingraham, the popular hosts of prime-time shows on Fox News, separately implored President Donald Trump’s chief of staff to get Trump to say and do something to disperse the protesters and quell the violence. Hannity and Ingraham knew that he had stirred those protesters and could sway them, more so than they ever acknowledged on-air, according to their critics."

The network has received a great deal of scorn for its hypocrisy after Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) read the texts messages into the public record.

"You can delve into the weeds of this or you can pull back and survey the whole ugly yard. And what you see when you do that — what matters most in the end — is that Fox News has helped to sell the fiction that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and there’s a direct line from that lie to the rioting. There’s a direct line from that lie to various Republicans’ attempts to develop mechanisms to overturn vote counts should they dislike the results," Bruni explained. "That lie is the root of the terrible danger that we’re in, with Trump supporters being encouraged to distrust and undermine the democratic process. And that lie has often found a welcome mat at Fox News."

Bruni noted comments by Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro and Fox Business hosts Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs.

"And their evidence? It was fugitive then, and no one has tracked it down since. That’s because it doesn’t exist. It’s a conspiracy-minded, ratings-driven hallucination," he wrote. "And they’re being motivated and cheered, both directly and obliquely, by what they see and hear on Fox News. I care less about Hannity’s and Ingraham’s precise words on Jan. 6 than about what they and their colleagues on Fox News said before and after, and what they’re saying now. It’s reckless. It’s subversive. And it’s scary."

Read the full column:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/16/opinion/fox-news-trump-january-6.html

[Rick Plant]

I hope Dominion takes them for every penny they have.

'A nightmare for Fox': CNN panel says right-wing cable network in massive trouble over Dominion lawsuit

On Thursday's edition of CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," a panel of legal experts weighed in on Dominion Voting Systems' preliminary victory at a key step of their lawsuit against Fox News.

"By putting Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, making these outrageous false allegations on the air without allowing Dominion to refute them, that's libel," said chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. "And that's what Fox is going to have to defend. And I don't know how they're going to defend it it. I think it's a very good case for the plaintiffs."

Cooper turned to former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean. "Legally, how difficult is it to prove individuals knew their statements were false, or that they were intentionally leaving out relevant information?"

"It's not easy," said Dean. "In fact, it's very surprising. Most of these cases get dismissed at this very early stage with a motion to dismiss. I think that probably handles overwhelming number of defamation cases, because the standard is very unique. They have to show actual malice that was employed, meaning that they either knew it was false and went ahead with it or they did it with reckless disregard, they had some indication but yet they still went ahead."

"This case has not been decided on any substance yet. Just on the pleadings," Dean added. "And it made the basic bar and got over that, which is going to be a nightmare for Fox, as Jeffrey says. They're going to now dig in deep and it's not going to be easy."

Watch below:

[Rick Plant]

Mitch McConnell's latest remarks about Jan. 6 probe shows GOP senators are done with Trump

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) signaled that he's closely watching the House select committee investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection, and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough explained why that's bad news for Donald Trump.

The Kentucky Republican said this week that he was interested in learning who all the participants were in the deadly U.S. Capitol riot, as the panel was revealing communications between former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and lawmakers, Fox News hosts and others ahead of the insurrection and as the violent assault was underway.

"We're going to look back on those Mark Meadows documents, those 6,000 documents released, and they are going to be seen historically as extraordinarily significant because it is the beginning of cracks in sort of this united front," Scarborough said, "and it's going to require other people since the information is out, it's going to require other people to talk about it."

"There is, I think, a growing sense of unease," the Morning Joe host added. "It may not be among many people in the House where you have an extraordinarily gerrymandered chamber. In the Senate there is no doubt. Republicans in the Senate, at the beginning said, 'Oh, we want nothing to do with this committee, it's going to be so political.' Things are getting so bad that Mitch McConnell is going out now about every day, and what Mitch is doing is, we've heard that he does not do anything without the consent -- he's not Newt Gingrich, he's not a renegade. He speaks for his caucus."

McConnell had opposed the independent commission, and Republican senators had echoed Trump's language about the congressional investigation, but Scarborough said something has changed.

"Mitch McConnell is lending credibility to this by just saying the fact-finding is significant," Scarborough said. "It is significant, that's truthful. It was a horrific event. Yes, it was a horrific event and most Americans, despite what they tell pollsters, we know on that day was horrified by what was happening, and we can never forget that House members, they run in these gerrymandered little safe districts. United States senators, they have to run statewide, so they just have to take a more reasonable, rational view and face up to facts. We've seen Mitch now two days in a row speaking, not just for himself, he knows he's speaking for the entire caucus to say let the chips fall where they may."

[Rick Plant]

77 Days: Trump's Campaign to Subvert the Election
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/31/us/trump-election-lie.html

[Rick Plant]

LISTEN: Trump rails against American Jews for not loving Israel in new rant filled with 'anti-Semitic tropes'

In a discussion with Israeli reporter Barak Ravid at Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump attacked American Jews, complaining that they don't love Israel as much as they should — and also threw in a reference to Jews controlling the media.

"There's people in this country that are Jewish, no longer love Israel," said Trump. "I'll tell you, the evangelical Christians love Israel more than the Jews in this country. It used to be that Israel had absolute power over Congress. And today I think it's the exact opposite, and I think Obama and Biden did that. And yet in the election, they still get a lot of votes from Jewish people, which tells you that the Jewish people, and I've said this for a long time — the Jewish people in the United States, either don't like Israel or don't care about Israel."

"I mean you look at The New York Times, The New York Times hates Israel, hates them, and they're Jewish people that run The New York Times, I mean the Sulzberger family," Trump added.

"Trump was clearly trying to set a record for anti-Semitic tropes in a single soundbite," Mother Jones journalist David Corn said of the audio clip.

Last month, Trump faced criticism after claiming that Israel used to "literally own" Congress.

Watch video in link below:
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-jews-dont-love-israel/


CNN reveals most damning Mark Meadows text was sent from Rick Perry's phone



CNN reported on Friday that former Texas Gov. Rick Perry's phone was used to send what so far has been the most damning text message sent to former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.

On November 4th, the day after the election, a text from Perry's phone sent to Meadows recommended taking an "aggressive" plan to stop President Joe Biden from being declared the winner.

"Here's an aggressive strategy," the message began. "Why can't Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and other Republican-controlled state houses declare this is B.S. (where conflicts and election not called that night) and just send their own electors to vote."

Perry, through a spokesperson, denied sending the text message, although the spokesperson had "no explanation" when asked how the message was sent from the phone of the former Texas governor, who also served as Trump's Secretary of Energy from 2017 through 2019.

CNN confirmed with "multiple sources" who had Perry's personal number that the text message did indeed come from Perry's phone.

Trump eventually would try a variation of Perry's strategy by getting former Vice President Mike Pence to reject election results from key swing states, and then send back the results to GOP-controlled state officials to determine the winner.

https://www.rawstory.com/rick-perry-mark-meadows/

[Rick Plant]

Trump Admin Sabotaged COVID Efforts to Score Political Points, House Probe Finds

Decisions made by Trump officials “contributed to one of the worst failures of leadership in American history,” the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis said.



A House oversight panel found former President Donald Trump and his administration routinely undermined efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic last year, prolonging a deadly public health disaster in the hopes of winning an election he eventually lost.

The conclusion was part of a 46-page report released Friday by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. The report collated documents that had largely been released in the preceding months, including documents showing that the Trump administration prevented public officials from giving public briefings on the virus and attempted to play down the importance of testing.

But it also showed the Trump administration’s malfeasance throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in new ways, including the ways they infuriated public health officials who felt they couldn’t do their jobs.

Dr. Jay Butler, the deputy director for infectious diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told the panel how he felt the directive to change mask guidance for churchgoers in May 2020 may have put them at unnecessary risk. He wrote in one email that he felt “very troubled… that there will be people who will get sick and perhaps die because of what we were forced to do.”

The beleaguered COVID-19 response coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, also attempted to express her frustration with the administration’s lack of effort. She said she refused to participate in a meeting with a “fringe groups” of officials who pushed the idea of herd immunity.

“These are people who believe that all the curves are predetermined and mitigation is irrelevant—they are a fringe group without grounding in epidemics, public health or on the ground common sense experience,” she wrote in an August 2020 email to Marc Short, the then-chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence. “I am happy to go out of town or whatever gives the WH cover.”

Birx also told the committee that Dr. Scott Atlas, the conspiracy theorist turned Trump adviser, worked to change guidance to avoid testing asymptomatic individuals exposed to COVID-19—even though it contradicted the science surrounding the virus.

The committee said these and other examples proved the Trump administration placed a heightened focus on its policies’ political impact over public health effects, resulting in a “pattern of political interference” that put lives in jeopardy. More than 800,000 Americans have died of COVID-19.

“These decisions placed countless American lives at risk, undermined the nation’s public health institutions, and contributed to one of the worst failures of leadership in American history,” it wrote.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-administration-undermined-covid-efforts-for-political-points-house-committee-says?ref=wrap


Retired generals warn of 'lethal chaos' and 'civil war' if Trump attempts another coup in 2024



America could descend into "civil war" following the 2024 presidential election if former President Donald Trump or a "Trumpian loser" attempts another coup that results in "lethal chaos inside our military," according to three retired Army generals.

"In short: We are chilled to our bones at the thought of a coup succeeding next time," Paul D. Eaton, Antonio M. Taguba and Steven M. Anderson wrote in the Washington Post on Friday.

Saying they fear "military breakdown mirroring societal or political breakdown," the three generals noted that "a disturbing number of veterans and active-duty members" participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

"The potential for a total breakdown of the chain of command along partisan lines — from the top of the chain to squad level — is significant should another insurrection occur," they wrote. "The idea of rogue units organizing among themselves to support the 'rightful' commander in chief cannot be dismissed. Imagine competing commanders in chief — a newly reelected Biden giving orders, versus Trump (or another Trumpian figure) issuing orders as the head of a shadow government."

Such a scenario would result in our national security being crippled, which could allow enemies to attack the U.S., the generals wrote. They called the military's response to the aftermath of the 2020 election "striking and worrying," and said Congress and the Department of Justice "must show more urgency" in holding people accountable for inspiring the insurrection.

They also made specific recommendations with regard to the military, calling on the Pentagon to order a civics review on the Constitution and electoral integrity for all members. They also called for training on dealing with illegal orders, as well as efforts to root out propagandists and potential mutineers.

"Finally, the Defense Department should war-game the next potential post-election insurrection or coup attempt to identify weak spots," they wrote. "The military and lawmakers have been gifted hindsight to prevent another insurrection from happening in 2024 — but they will succeed only if they take decisive action now."

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-coup-2656064087/

[Rick Plant]

Forbes editor says he testified before Trump grand jury



NEW YORK (AP) — The editor of Forbes magazine testified Thursday before the grand jury hearing evidence in a criminal investigation of former President Donald Trump and his business practices, answering questions about an article examining whether the former president inflated his wealth.

Forbes editor Randall Lane wrote in a post on the business magazine’s website that he was questioned about articles he wrote in 2015 about Trump’s fixation with his ranking on the magazine’s annual list of wealthiest people.

Lane said deputy wealth editor Chase Peterson-Withorn also testified, briefly answering questions about a 2017 article he wrote about the size and value of Trump’s apartment at Trump Tower.

Lane’s disclosure is the clearest indication yet that Manhattan prosecutors investigating Trump are zeroing in on whether he committed fraud by exaggerating his wealth, not only to Forbes but to banks to secure more favorable loan terms.

The investigation has already led to tax fraud charges in June against Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, and its longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg. They are accused of evading taxes on lucrative fringe benefits paid to executives.

Lane said he was questioned for about 20 minutes by Mark Pomerantz, a former mafia prosecutor assisting in the probe, and was asked to confirm various things, including the methodology of the magazine’s list of richest Americans and Trump’s statements in the article that “I look better if I’m worth $10 billion than if I’m worth $4 billion” and that a higher net worth “was good for financing.”

Pomerantz also asked about Trump’s claims, reported in the 2015 article, that his holdings in Trump Tower were worth five or six times more than the magazine’s $530 million estimate and that his apartment was worth at least twice the $100 million that the magazine valued it at, Lane said. The editor said Peterson-Withorn testified for about five minutes and was asked specifically about Trump’s claim that the apartment was 33,000 square feet.

Messages seeking comment were left with Trump’s lawyer.

The Manhattan district attorney's office declined to comment.

In disclosing his testimony, Lane said he and Peterson-Withorn had been fighting subpoenas for their testimony since September, raising concerns that testifying about a news subject would erode their journalistic independence and have a chilling effect on sources who provide them with information.

Lane said the judge overseeing this grand jury limited the scope of their questioning to confirming the accuracy of the articles about Trump. Lane said everything he and Peterson-Withorn testified about had already been revealed in their articles, writing: “If we were sitting on anything newsworthy, we would have already shared that with our readers.”

While grand jury proceedings are secret, there is nothing barring witnesses called before them from talking about their testimony.

Prosecutors started looking at how Trump and his company value their assets after Trump’s longtime personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen told a congressional committee in 2019 that the developer-turned-politician had a habit of manipulating property values.

Cohen said Trump would inflate values to gain favorable loan terms and minimize them to reap tax benefits.

Cohen gave a Congressional committee copies of Trump’s financial statements from 2011, 2012 and 2013 – statements he said Trump gave to his main lender, Deutsche Bank, to inquire about a loan to buy the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, and to Forbes to substantiate his claim to a place on its list of the world’s wealthiest people.

Trump “would go into a frenzy” when Forbes and Fortune were compiling their annual lists of the world’s richest people and would have Cohen and longtime financial chief Allen Weisselberg inflate valuations to come up with an acceptable number, Cohen wrote in his memoir “Disloyal.”

Lane wrote in his 2015 article that other real estate developers had told the magazine “slapping a high Forbes 400 estimate on a banker’s desk can sometimes help secure bigger loans and better rates.”

https://news.yahoo.com/forbes-editor-says-testified-trump-172150254.html


Jim Jordan ‘committed a felony’ with text message to Mark Meadows: former federal prosecutor



Democratic lawmaker and a former federal prosecutor are keeping the heat on Ohio Republican Congressman Jim Jordan.

Jordan came under fire this week after it was revealed that he forwarded a text message to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows calling on then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject some electoral college votes on Jan. 6.

After news of Jordan's text message broke on Wednesday, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) called him "a traitor to the Constitution."

On Friday, Gallego appeared on MSNBC and defended his use of the word "traitor."

Gallego said Jordan is "just as bad" as rioters who stormed the Capitol wearing camouflage and carrying Confederate flags.

"As a matter of fact, he's more dangerous than the yahoos, because he actually has access to power, access to information, and actually knows the process of how to stall democracy," Gallego said.

Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor, agreed with Gallego that Jordan is a "traitor."

Kirschner also said he believes the text message to Meadows constitutes probable cause that Jordan committed a federal felony. He noted that when Jordan sent the text, Attorney General Bill Barr had already stated there was no widespread fraud in the presidential election, and Trump cybersecurity official Chris Krebs had called the 2020 vote "the most secure in American history."

"What Jim Jordan by forwarding that text was obstruct an official proceeding, and that statute, which is a 20-year felony, says if you actually obstruct, or you attempt to obstruct, or you endeavor to impede an official congressional proceeding like the electoral vote count, you've committed the federal felony of obstructing an official proceeding," Kirschner said. "That is what Jim Jordan did."

Watch below: