Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

New York AG Looking to Probe Trump’s $250M in ‘Big Lie’ Donations: Report

NY AG Letitia James will look at $250 million Donald Trump raised on bogus "Big Lie" claims.



New York Attorney General Letitia James will investigate possible fraud surrounding some $250 million in campaign donations Donald Trump raised in the months after the 2020 presidential election through his "Big Lie" claims, a source has told Insider.

James, who is already probing the former president's hotel and golf resort empire, can claim jurisdiction on behalf of defrauded New York donors, the source, who is familiar with the AG's plans, said Tuesday night.

The source requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about James' plans to look at possible fraud connected to Trump's post-election fundraising.

In addition to citing a duty to New York donors, the AG can also use New York City's
banking industry
 to establish jurisdiction, one former assistant attorney general said.

"If the money passed through any institution with a foot in New York, that gives her jurisdiction," said Tristan Snell, who was the lead assistant in the AG office's 2014 prosecution of Trump University.

James had signaled in a Monday night tweet that she found details revealed earlier in the day — during the second televised Congressional hearing on the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol — "disturbing."

The tweet did not specify what James found to be disturbing. But testimony during the hearing revealed that Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.'s fiancée, had been paid $60,000 by Trump's "official election defense fund" for a brief speech she made during his January 6 "Stop the Steal" rally.

Financial disclosures have shown that Trump raised more than $250 million off of his "stolen election" claims in the two months after Election Day.

"It's my duty to investigate allegations of fraud or potential misconduct in New York," James had said in her tweet, again without detail. "This incident is no exception," she tweeted.

Snell predicted that a campaign-fraud probe would have much smoother sailing compared to the AG's probe into the Trump Organization, which has dragged on for three years, in large part due to extended battles by Trump lawyers over James' subpoenas for evidence and testimony.

Also on Tuesday night, James notched her latest hard-won battle on that legal score. New York's highest court rejected a last-ditch attempt by Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump, Jr., to dodge James' subpoena for his testimony.

"In this particular case, investigators are going to be able to get what they need without going through Trump himself," Snell told Insider.

"It's not the kind of thing that will require internal Trump business documents," which is where investigations slow down, he noted.

Banks routinely respond seamlessly with AG subpoenas, he said.

"There's no bank that's not going to comply with a subpoena from the New York AG's office," unless the bank itself is under investigation, explained Snell, who subpoenaed banks for the Trump University probe and others.

Also, "There were mass solicitations," added Snell, founder of MainStreet.com and a legal commentator on CNN and MSNBC.

"So it's not like they're not going to get what was said in emails to donors — saying, 'Your money is going to go to X.' And then if it didn't, then that's fraud."

https://www.businessinsider.com/ny-ag-to-probe-trumps-250-million-big-lie-fundraising-2022-6

[Rick Plant]

Trump to Comey: I want you to publicly announce that I’m not under investigation.

Trump to Zelensky: I want you to make an announcement that you are investigating the Biden’s.

Trump to DOJ: Just say the election was rigged and leave the rest to me.

Notice a pattern?

Trump not only understands the facts and the truth, he understands that he has a credibility issue.

That’s why he looks for *credible third party sources* to substantiate his narratives.

This is called LEGITIMIZING PROPAGANDA.

The purpose of legitimizing propaganda is to have a seemingly independent third party claim something. Then HE points to that person and says, “See? He’s saying the same thing! It must be true!”

A great example of a successful op using legitimizing propaganda was the Soviet’s Operation Infektion, claiming that U.S. created the AIDS virus.

The story was originally placed in an Indian paper. Then THAT paper was cited as “evidence.” Rinse, repeat.

Watch: https://www.nytimes.com/video/what-is-disinformation-fake-news-playlist

[Rick Plant]

Grand jury testimony resumes in Fulton’s Trump probe

Witness testimony resumed Tuesday at the Fulton County courthouse as part of District Attorney Fani Willis’s investigation of Georgia’s 2020 elections.

In-person meetings of the special purpose grand jury focused on the actions of former President Donald Trump and his allies had been delayed a week due to a logistical issue, according to a source with knowledge, but now the 23-person panel is making up for lost time.

Over the next several weeks the jury is expected to hear a blizzard of testimony from a handful of current and former aides to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whose appearances were originally scheduled for last week. It is also scheduled to question Attorney General Chris Carr, several Democratic state legislators and at least two county-level elections officials from metro Atlanta.

But who exactly is coming in when is unclear. Spokesmen for the Fulton DA’s office and the Secretary of State’s office declined to comment. All grand jury testimony is designed to be secret.

Despite not knowing who was on the day’s schedule, several television crews waited on the courthouse steps on Tuesday to see who might be walking in to give testimony. Attorneys and cops walked up the courthouse stairs the same as residents wearing black dress shoes or Adidas slides — all beading with sweat in the muggy June morning.

There are untold ways to get in and out of the building without being seen, unlike Raffensperger two weeks ago when he was photographed walking up the steps before testifying. No one who has testified so far has made themselves available for an interview with any journalist.

Among the officials who were requested to appear this week were Erica Hamilton, the former DeKalb County elections director who now works in Cobb, and Janine Eveler, Cobb County’s director of elections and registration, according to copies of their subpoenas obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

While Trump was most fixated on Fulton County as the vote count was underway, he was also deeply interested in Cobb, where an audit of 15,000 absentee ballots was conducted.

As recently as last fall, he pointed to DeKalb as the site of alleged widespread voter fraud. In a September 2021 letter to Raffensperger urging him to take the unprecedented step of decertifying Georgia’s election results, Trump alleged that 43,000 absentee ballots were in violation of Georgia’s chain of custody rule and were thus invalid, citing a report from the pro-Trump site the Georgia Star News.

Meanwhile, state Rep. Bee Nguyen, D-Atlanta, confirmed on Tuesday that she has also received a subpoena to testify before the grand jury next week, just two days after her runoff for the Democratic nomination for secretary of state.

Nguyen is a member of the state House Governmental Affairs Committee, which in December 2020 heard conspiracy-laden testimony from Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani about Georgia’s vote count that’s of interest to prosecutors. At least two other Democrats who heard Giuliani’s testimony in front of another committee, state Sens. Jen Jordan and Elena Parent, confirmed they’ve been subpoenaed.

Showcasing just how broad Willis is going with her investigation, prosecutors are also reportedly seeking testimony from Trevian Kutti, a former publicist for Kanye West and R. Kelly who last year allegedly pressured a Fulton County poll worker, CNN reported.

In January 2021, Kutti showed up at the Cobb County home of Ruby Freeman, a Fulton elections worker and grandmother who received death threats after Trump accused her of manipulating ballots at State Farm Arena. Election investigations and publicly available videos showed no improprieties.

Kutti claimed to be a crisis manager sent by a “high-profile individual” and told Freeman to confess to committing election fraud or risk being arrested, according to Reuters.

Among the state officials who could also testify as soon as this week are Deputy Secretary of State Gabe Sterling; Frances Watson, the former chief investigator for the Secretary of State’s office; and Ryan Germany, the office’s general counsel.

Other legislators are expecting to receive subpoenas from the grand jury imminently. Many are likely to invoke legislative privilege and immunity — which shields members of the statehouse from most judicial scrutiny for actions carried out as part of their official duties — and try to quash any subpoenas.

https://www.ajc.com/politics/grand-jury-testimony-resumes-in-fultons-trump-probe/ZLUILBXPWFDDTIUMA4I46AJKQU/

[Rick Plant]

Trump's election lies are 'choking the life' out of the GOP: former RNC chairman
https://www.rawstory.com/michael-steele-2657512421/

[Rick Plant]

Trump’s raising of $250m for fund that ‘did not exist’ suggests possible fraud
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/15/capitol-attack-panel-trump-election-defense-fund

[Rick Plant]

Never-Before-Seen Footage of January 6 Capitol Riots Revealed (L&C Daily)

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

DOJ official ‘emphatic that Garland can and will prosecute’ Trump allies over Jan. 6: investigative reporter

An investigative reporter who recently spent time with a Justice Department official said he was "optimistic" that former President Donald Trump and his allies will be held accountable for their attack on democracy.

David Rohde, the online news director for The New Yorker, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that the House select committee hearings were producing important evidence that could deliver a political and legal blow to the former president.

"I met with a Justice Department official recently and they said they are emphatic that [attorney general Merrick] Garland can and will prosecute if there's enough evidence," Rohde said. "They have pointed back to his speech in January that said he will follow every lead and also the speech he gave at Harvard, a graduation speech about public service, but he talked to that class about the importance of defending democracy. But I do think the Justice Department sees it as a last resort."

"A member of the Judiciary Committee told me they're trying to defeat Donald Trump politically first, what happens at the ballot box," Rohde added. "But the $250 million, $1 million of that going to an organization run by Mark Meadows, lying people to raise money, not using it for the purpose you promised. So I think that's another angle for a very clear answer, more cut and dried possible prosecution."

The risk with a criminal prosecution would be proving intent, Rohde said, which might be difficult to do for the notoriously slippery Trump.

"Donald Trump is very clever about hinting what he wants, signaling what he wants but not having that definitive proof, so there's a huge desire among people, skeptics of Trump or even people who fear him for a prosecution," Rohde said. "But the bar is much higher for a criminal prosecution and, again, I don't think we know yet what Merrick Garland is going to do, but it's a very serious thing to do it. It's a last resort, I think. What if Donald Trump is put on trial and acquitted?"

But he said both the House Select Committee and the Justice Department understand that some action must be taken in response to the insurrection.

"It's a hell of a moment," he said. "I mean, if we can't agree on election results, we're looking at chaos and civil war, and I've covered this before, and people resorting to political violence is a very dangerous thing for the country, so I think it's an option. Prosecution is necessary if you defy election results."

"I'm optimistic," Rohde added. "I'm impressed with the job that the Jan. 6 committee is doing. They're elected politicians, they're informing voters and producing new information on what the president did."