Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

Jared Kushner boasts of connections with Russians and Saudis in leaked pitch to investors



Former Trump official Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump, is using his past work in the White House as an asset for investors in his new Affinity Partners investment fund.

The Intercept has obtained a slide deck from Affinity Partners that pitches Kushner's experience cutting deals with the governments of Russia and Saudi Arabia as something that should give investors confidence that their money will be well spent.

In particular, the slide deck touts Kushner's role in negotiating an oil production cut with those two nations in the spring of 2020 in a bid to stabilize rapidly collapsing oil prices at the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

"Affinity’s unique network and experience makes us a differentiated partner for companies navigating the rapidly evolving global political and economic environment," reads one slide obtained by The Intercept.

Kushner has come under scrutiny after the Saudi government invested $2 billion with Affinity Partners, despite the fact that a panel screening the prospective investment warned that Kushner did not have sufficient experience in this particular field.

A Kushner spokesperson defended his dealings with the Saudis in an email sent to The Intercept.

"Jared’s track record in government was unprecedented," the spokesperson said. "His leadership and efforts led to the historic Abraham Accords, the [U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement] which was the largest trade deal in history, life changing criminal justice reform, Operation Warp Speed among many other achievements."

Read more here: https://theintercept.com/2022/04/18/saudi-russia-jared-kushner-affinity-partners/

[Rick Plant]

Trump's 'decertification' push is 'the clearest and most present danger to democracy': Conservative lawyer



Donald Trump and his allies are still pushing to "decertify" the 2020 presidential election, despite the fact that the Constitution has no mechanism for performing such an action.

In an interview with the New York Times, conservative attorney and former appeals court judge J. Michael Lutig warned about the threat posed by Trump's continuing efforts to nullify the results of the 2020 election.

“At the moment, there is no other way to say it: This is the clearest and most present danger to our democracy," he said. "Trump and his supporters in Congress and in the states are preparing now to lay the groundwork to overturn the election in 2024 were Trump, or his designee, to lose the vote for the presidency."

Even though Trump has been out of the White House for more than a year now, that hasn't stopped him and his allies from trying to get him reinstalled as president.

Just last month, pro-Trump attorney John Eastman went to Wisconsin to push for state lawmakers to declare that the 2020 election in the state had been unlawfully decided.

And Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) said recently that Trump decided to withdraw the endorsement of his Senate candidacy because he would not publicly call on officials to "rescind" the 2020 election.

Read more here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/us/politics/trump-allies-election-decertify.html

[Rick Plant]

MAGA PAC once again shoveling campaign cash into Trump's legal bills



Donald Trump's campaign committee reported campaign losses for the third straight quarter after paying about $1.1 million in the former president's legal fees.

Campaign finance disclosures show Make America Great Again PAC lost $1.2 million at the start of 2022, with more than 40 percent of its $2.6 million in total expenses going to lawyers, and the committee's cash on hand dropped from $6.66 million at the end of 2021 to around $5.47 million at the end of March, reported The Daily Beast.

The MAGA PAC paid off the bulk of Trump's legal costs in the first half of 2021, spending $7.8 million of the $8 million total spent on lawyers' fees, although those payouts dropped late last year after the Republican National Committee agreed to pay up to $1.6 million in legal expenses related to investigations into his business practices.

But those payouts spiked again in the first quarter of 2022, with $410,000 to election challenger Jesse Binnall's firm, which also subcontracts with other lawyers around the country whose names aren't listed on the campaign finance reports.

Binnall's firm, its local subcontractors and Elections LLC, a joint venture between three former top campaign aides, soaked up more than half of Trump's legal costs in the quarter.

The rest of the PAC's expense report showed a $1.17 million in payments to a Delaware-based company called 2M Document Management and Imaging, LLC, for “research consulting," after it was paid $1.6 million by the MAGA PAC last year.

Read more here: https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-pac-keeps-losing-money-his-lawyers-keep-cashing-in

[Rick Plant]

DOJ faces demands to investigate if Trump 'mutilated or destroyed' records to cover up crimes

A few weeks after the revelation that White House documents turned over to the panel probing the attack on the U.S. Capitol contains a seven-hour-and-37-minute gap in call logs, a pair of U.S. groups on Monday called for an investigation into whether former President Donald Trump "willfully mutilated and destroyed critical records of his presidency before leaving office."

Building on a February 8 letter — sent before the call logs were shared last month with the U.S. House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021—Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and National Security Archive again wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray.

Demanding an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the groups' letter emphasizes that the "significant gap" in Trump records corresponds to "a critical period when the Capitol was under attack by insurrectionists, raising the possibility that portions of the call logs were willfully destroyed to cover up evidence of criminal misconduct."

"As our previous letter outlines," the document reiterates, "former President Trump engaged in a pattern of conduct throughout his tenure in office that violated his record-keeping obligations under the Presidential Records Act in multiple ways."

"The time period during which there is a gap in the phone logs includes at least five calls from or to President Trump whose occurrence has been documented in the public record," the letter notes, pointing to his reported correspondence with then-Vice President Mike Pence, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah—who supposedly passed his phone to Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.

The letter also lays out key events between 11:06 am—when Trump finished a call with then-Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga.—and 6:54 pm, when he had the White House operator contact an adviser who earlier this month was referred to the DOJ for not cooperating with the January 6 panel, Dan Scavino:

President Trump spoke to a gathering of his supporters near the White House beginning at noon that day, less than an hour after his call with Senator Perdue. One hour later an initial wave of protestors began storming the Capitol, and by 1:30 pm they had overcome the police. Nearly one hour later at 2:24 pm. President Trump tweeted his criticism of Vice President Pence for lacking "the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution." At 3:36 pm White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted that President Trump had ordered the National Guard to the Capitol. At 4:17 pm President Trump tweeted a video directed to his supporters inside the Capitol urging them to go home but also telling them "We love you. You're very special." Shortly after 6:00 pm police were able to clear the Capitol.

Trump's actions that day—including his furtherance of the "Big Lie" that the 2020 election was stolen from him—led to his historic second impeachment just days before President Joe Biden took office, though the U.S. Senate, then controlled by Republicans, declined to convict the GOP leader.

The new call for a DOJ probe into the call logs gap comes as members of the January 6 panel are reportedly weighing whether to refer Trump to the department for prosecution.

The letter notes that U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter concluded last month that it is "more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the joint session of Congress on January 6," and that he and his ex-attorney, John Eastman, "dishonestly conspired" to do so.

"Judge Carter's conclusions also suggest the need for further investigation to determine whether former President Trump attempted to shield his actions during the January 6th insurrection from being discovered by Congress and the public," the document asserts. "Information contained in the missing call logs likely would help elucidate the former president's full role in those events."

"The public must have confidence that all individuals—including former President Trump—will be thoroughly and fairly investigated," the letter adds, "and be held accountable if they engaged in criminal misconduct to attack the heart of our democracy."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/04/18/doj-urged-probe-whether-trump-willfully-mutilated-and-destroyed-jan-6-call-logs

[Rick Plant]

At least 50 people have testified in Georgia probe into Trump's effort to overturn 2020 election



A Georgia investigation into former President Donald Trump's efforts to illegally overturn the state's 2020 election results has seen over four dozen people voluntarily testify, Newsweek reports.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said at least 50 people have already testified and there are about another 60 people her team is waiting to interview. She added that she will try to subpoena an additional 30 other people who have turned down interview requests.

"The probe into Trump launched 14 months ago after the former president called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and told the fellow Republican to 'find' votes in order to overturn the election results," Newsweek reports. "Earlier this year, Willis was granted approval for a special grand jury by a judge, and she has requested backup protection from the FBI, citing the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as a reason for added security during the investigation."

Prosecutors in Trump Election Case in Georgia Have Heard Dozens Testify

More than four dozen people in Georgia have voluntarily testified in an investigation into whether President Donald Trump tried to illegally overturn results in the state for the 2020 presidential election, according to the district attorney working on the case.

In an Atlanta Journal-Constitution story published Tuesday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said at least 50 people have already offered up testimonies before prosecutors. Willis also said there are about another 60 people her team will contact in the upcoming weeks, and she added that she will try to subpoena an additional 30 other people who already turned down interview requests.

The probe into Trump launched 14 months ago after the former president called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and told the fellow Republican to "find" votes in order to overturn the election results. Earlier this year, Willis was granted approval for a special grand jury by a judge, and she has requested backup protection from the FBI, citing the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as a reason for added security during the investigation.

Willis also told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she will wait until after Georgia's May 24 primaries to have witnesses testify before a jury. Part of her reason behind the decision to wait is to stave off potential criticism that her probe is a political effort to undermine Republican candidates.

"I don't want anyone to say 'oh, she's doing this because she wants to influence the outcome of this upcoming election,'" Willis, a Democrat, told the newspaper. "The people will decide the outcome of this upcoming election. It will have nothing to do with this district attorney's office."

Among the people Wallis would likely seek to interview that are on the primary ballot include Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Governor Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr. The three men, all Republicans, reportedly received calls from Trump following the 2020 election results.

The selection of the special grand jury is scheduled to start May 2 but Willis indicated they won't hear from witnesses until June 1. Along with waiting for the conclusion of the primaries, Willis said another factor in the month-long break is that it would allow jurors more time to approve subpoenas for witnesses and for her office to deliver the subpoenas.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Willis has a team of 10 prosecutors and investigators working on the probe into Trump's efforts to interfere with Georgia's election results.

https://www.newsweek.com/prosecutors-trump-election-case-have-heard-dozens-testify-1699071

[Rick Plant]

'Sheer lunacy': Morning Joe shreds Republicans for allowing QAnon 'craziness' to take over

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough urged Democrats to call out the Republican Party's "sheer lunacy" as they head into the midterm election campaigns.

The "Morning Joe" host agreed with Democratic strategist James Carville, who recently blasted the GOP's pivot to QAnon conspiracies, 2020 election denialism and other fringe viewports, and he said Democrats must do a better job of highlighting their extremism as a campaign issue.

"The Republican Party, and James points it out, the Republican Party, the conservative movement -- crazy, absolutely crazy, what they've been allowing extremists to do since Donald Trump came there," Scarborough said. "If you don't speak out against it and you're a Republican, then you're endorsing it, for the most part. If you have people saying really extreme, really dangerous things, as they've been saying other over the past five, six years -- yeah, just absolutely bizarre things going on."

Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat, pushed back against GOP state Sen. Lara Theis' "hateful" allegations that she's a "groomer" and supports child abuse, and Scarborough shamed Republicans for allowing QAnon conspiracies to leak into mainstream political discourse.

"We're going to have a state senator from Michigan who is going to come on, who had a bizarre attack against her," Scarborough said. "Somebody like Ron DeSantis deciding to create an issue and try to make money off of it. Mallory just said no, no more of it, and called the craziness out, called the lunacy out, called the phony, performative Christianity out. I think that's what Democrats have to do. They should see what she did on the state floor."

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

'Very dishonest -- you're a fool!' Trump storms out of interview after Piers Morgan says 2020 election wasn't stolen

Donald Trump recently sat down for an interview with one-time supporter Piers Morgan -- but things quickly went downhill after Morgan told him that he legitimately lost the 2020 presidential election.

The New York Post reports that Morgan told Trump during the interview, which is scheduled to air next week, that the 2020 election was "a free and fair election" that "you lost."

“Only a fool would think that,” Trump angrily replied.

“You think I’m a fool?” Morgan asked.

“I do now, yeah,” Trump said.

Morgan then informed Trump that he still hadn't produced "hard evidence" of voter fraud.

"I don't think you're real!" Trump fumed, and then called Morgan "very dishonest."

Morgan also said he blamed Trump's refusal to concede the election for the January 6th riots at the United States Capitol building.

"Then you’re a fool!" Trump told him. "And you haven’t studied!"

Trump then walked away while telling the crew to turn off the cameras and stop filming.

The full interview is set to air on Monday, April 25.

Watch a preview of the interview below.