Daily Archives: February 24, 2022

NEW YORK (AP) Lawyers for Donald Trumps longtime finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, are asking a judge to throw out tax fraud charges against him, arguing New York prosecutors targeted him as punishment because he wouldnt flip on the former president.

In court papers filed Tuesday, Weisselbergs lawyer said the Trump Organizations CFO is collateral damage in a singular crusade by Democratic prosecutors to have him implicate and help put the Republican ex-president behind bars.

Mr. Weisselbergs unequal and unfair treatment is the consequence of his proximity to Donald J. Trump, and his rejection of (prosecutors) demand that he cooperate with (their) investigation targeting Mr. Trump and his businesses, Weisselberg lawyers wrote.

Weisselberg was arrested last July on charges he collected more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation, including apartment rent, car payments and school tuition. Trumps company is also charged in the case, which prosecutors have described as a sweeping and audacious tax fraud scheme.

Weisselberg and the Trump Organization have pleaded not guilty. Lawyers for the company also sought Tuesday to have the companys charges dismissed.

Weisselberg, 74, is the only Trump executive charged in the yearslong criminal investigation started by former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and now overseen by his successor, Alvin Bragg. Several other Trump executives have been granted immunity to testify before a grand jury in the case.

A message seeking comment was left Wednesday with the Manhattan District Attorneys Office. Prosecutors are expected to respond to Weisselbergs motion to dismiss in a court filing in the coming weeks.

Judge Juan Manuel Merchan has given both sides until spring to file motions and responses and indicated hell decide on them at a July hearing, the next time Weisselberg is due in court. Merchan has said hell likely schedule a trial for the end of August or beginning of September.

Weisselbergs lawyers, who include Mary Mulligan, Bryan Skarlatos and Rita Glavin, have also asked Merchan to consider throwing out part of the indictment and suppressing statements made while in custody on July 1, if the judge doesnt agree to dismiss the case entirely. Glavin also represents former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Weisselbergs lawyers argued that some charges against him are outside the statute of limitations or are otherwise legally deficient. They said Weisselbergs statements to investigators during the eight hours he was in custody after his arrest shouldnt be admissible because they were taken in violation of his rights.

D.A.s office investigators struck up conversations with Weisselberg that were laser-focused on issues relevant to the indictment, even though they were aware that Weisselberg was represented by counsel that wasnt present at the time, the lawyers wrote. The conversations constituted an interrogation and violated Weisselbergs Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, they said.

Trump has not been charged with any wrongdoing, but prosecutors noted he signed some of the checks at the center of Weisselbergs case, which they said stemmed from a 15-year scheme orchestrated by the most senior executives at the Trump Organization.

A judge last week ruled that Trump and his two eldest children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. must answer questions under oath in a parallel civil investigation into his business practices being run by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

James, a Democrat, said her investigation has uncovered evidence Trumps company, the Trump Organization, used fraudulent or misleading valuations of assets like golf courses and skyscrapers to get loans and tax benefits. Trumps longtime accounting firm recently dumped him after warning him not to rely on years of financial statements it prepared based on his companys valuations, given questions about their accuracy.

Although James civil investigation is separate from the criminal investigation, her office has been involved in both, dispatching several lawyers to work side-by-side with prosecutors from the Manhattan D.A.s office. It was evidence uncovered in James civil investigation that led to criminal charges against Weisselberg.

In a statement last week, Trump said he believed Weisselberg was innocent and that the charges against the man he described as a 74-year-old long-term and wonderful employee were overblown.

The charge is that he did not pay taxes on a company car or a company apartment (Do others pay such a tax? Did Cy Vance pay a tax on his car?), and a charge having to do with my paying for the education of his grandchildren, Trump said. Murderers all over the city and they are worried about me helping with young childrens education?

In a separate ruling, a judge last week ordered Weisselberg to sit for a limited deposition in Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racines lawsuit accusing Trumps inaugural committee of grossly overspending at Trumps Pennsylvania Avenue hotel to enrich Trumps family.

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Weisselberg, Trump Organization seek to toss tax fraud case - Associated Press

The rollout of Truth Social, former President Donald J. Trumps social media alternative to Twitter, has gotten off to a slow start.

On Wednesday morning, Mr. Trumps account on the app, available free on Apples App Store since Monday, had just under 50,000 followers. That is a far cry from the tens of millions of followers he had on Twitter before the social media platform barred him last year after some of his supporters attacked the Capitol.

Mr. Trumps account still has a single post, which the company calls truths as opposed to tweets.

The official debut of Truth Social on Monday was marred by error messages and a long waiting list for people who had already signed up to download the app. (This reporter was at 94,000 on the list but was able to download the app on Tuesday.)

Technical glitches for new apps are not uncommon, and the parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group, had said it didnt expect the new platform to be fully operational before the end of March. Truth Social posted a message from its own account that said our team is working as fast as possible.

The apps glitchy start didnt appear to have deterred investors, who continue to push up the share price of Digital World Acquisition, the special purpose acquisition company that Trump Media announced plans to merge with in October. On Tuesday, Digital Worlds stock rose 14 percent to close at just over $96 a share.

Digital World has become the best performing SPAC a kind of company that goes public first, raising money from investors to buy a private company. The stock has continued to rise even in the face of regulatory investigations into how exactly Digital Worlds deal with Trump Media came about.

Because of an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, it is unclear when the merger will close. If and when it does, Trump Media will gain access to nearly $1.3 billion in cash, which would help build its social media business.

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Donald Trumps Truth Social Is Off to a Glitchy Start - The New York Times

Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz has once again claimed he has tried to convince Donald Trump to throw his hat in the ring to serve as speaker of the House if the GOP retakes the majority in the 2022 midterms.

Gaetz, who has touted the far-fetched prospect of the former president becoming the next leader of the House since last summer, told Sebastian Gorka's America's First show that he has once more discussed the possibility with Trump.

"I just think America deserves that moment when Nancy Pelosi hands Donald Trump the gavel," the Florida Republican said.

"I told him you don't even have to be speaker for the whole day," Gaetz said. "You could do it for like three or four hours, give us a great speech, make a few structural reforms to the institution and then you could resign and we could have another election for speaker."

Gaetz said he mentioned the idea to Trump in Florida the night before he appeared on Gorka's show, but admitted "I don't know if I've fully got him to swallow the hook."

Only one vote is needed for someone to be nominated for the speaker's post, and they do not have to be a sitting member of Congress.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who appeared on Gorka's show alongside Gaetz, said that her choice for the next speaker if the GOP regains control of the House has to be someone "willing to fight for things that matter," such as conservatives like herself and Trump getting banned from social media.

"I want to see a person that's willing to step up to the plate and be the type of speaker that will actually take action in defense of conservatives across America that have been censored and banned and had their accounts taken away," the Georgia Republican said.

The congresswoman, who had her personal account banned from Twitter for repeatedly spreading COVID-19 misinformation, said such actions are like Big Tech companies putting tape over people's mouths so "they can no longer speak in the public sphere."

Gaetz previously said in December 2021 he had spoken with Trump about running for the potential speaker of the House position.

Pressed for additional details at a press conference, Gaetz said he kept "conversations with the former president between the two of us."

Gaetz also vowed to nominate Trump as the next House speaker during a "Save America" rally in Sarasota, Florida, in July 2021.

"After the next election cycle when we take back the House of Representatives, when we send Nancy Pelosi back to the filth of San Francisco, my commitment to you is that my vote for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives will go to Donald J. Trump," Gaetz told the crowd.

Trump has not publicly expressed any desire to become the next House Speaker, although he told radio talk-show host Wayne Allyn Root in June 2021 that the idea was "very interesting."

Trump has been contacted for comment.

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Matt Gaetz Tries To Convince Donald Trump To Become Speaker of the House - Newsweek

Former Vice President Mike Pence was once considered the natural successor to President Donald Trump for a 2024 run, but after Joe Bidens 2020 presidential victory, the dynamics of the 2024 race have changed significantly.

Former President Donald Trump has indicated several times that he intends to run again in 2024 and is hosting Save America rallies across the country. He has also very publicly disagreed with the former president on allegations of fraud and misconduct in the last election.

Despite this, it looks as though former Vice President Mike Pence is making moves and considering his own run for the presidency in 2024 presumably conscious of the fact that he will be running against Trump.

Pence Is Making Moves

Former Vice President Pence, who was the Governor of Indiana at the time he was chosen by candidate Donald Trump to be his running mate, appears to be preparing a run of his own.

Mike Murphy, a Republican campaign strategist from Indiana, said that Mike Pence is doing everything he needs to set himself up to run and that if Trump is not the eventual nominee in 2024, Pence is clearly the frontrunner.

I think people are realizing that he was an unlikely hero on January 6. In the end, even for people who disagree with him for many other policy positions hes taken, whether it was as a governor or as a vice-president, he did the right thing when the pressure was on January 6, Murphy said.

Pence has visited New Hampshire, he has spoken at conservative, pro-life events in South Carolina. He even gave a speech at an event hosted by Heritage Action in which he slammed President Joe Biden for overseeing rising inflation and implementing a catastrophic environmental spending plan.

Some Say He Cant Do It

Tara Setmayer, a former Republican communications director who now works at The Lincoln Project, said in an op-ed for NBC News this month that Vice President Pence has no chance of winning the Republican nomination or becoming the next president of the United States.

Setmayer, who served as the communications director for former Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, said that Pences criticism of the former president is a cardinal sin that means hell never win the nomination.

Lets be honest, my cat, Tiki, has a better chance of becoming president than Pence, she said.

Mike Pence Heres What the Polls Say

Pence certainly has an uphill battle securing the Republican nomination for 2024, and it remains to be seen whether his campaign will involve direct or severe criticism of former President Donald Trump.

In the meantime, we have the polls and they dont give us a clear idea either.

One poll from Quinnipiac University released on February 16 suggests that 52% of Republicans side more with former Vice President pence than they do Trump on whether or not Pence had the authority to reject Electoral College votes in the wake of the 2020 election. Just 36% said otherwise.

That poll indicates a majority of Republican voters are willing to forgive Pence for refusing to reject those votes on January 6, 2021.

Other polls, however, show Trump with a clear lead over Pence. In fact, not a single poll so far has shown Pence even remotely competitive in a race against former President Trump.

Could Mike Pence win the nomination in 2024? That depends on a lot of factors.

Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and report on Western governments approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.

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Does Mike Pence Have A Chance Against Donald Trump In 2024? - 19FortyFive

INSURGENCYHow Republicans Lost Their Party and Got Everything They Ever WantedBy Jeremy W. Peters

When Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on the morning of June 16, 2015, there was little indication the event would alter American political history. Pundits dismissed Trumps chances. He was polling at 4 percent; the head of Fox News, Roger Ailes, suggested Trump was really seeking a job at NBC, not the White House.

But Trump did make an impression on Steve Bannon, a voluble conservative activist plotting his own takeover of the Republican Party. Watching the reality-television star deliver remarks from the Trump Tower food court to a crowd that allegedly included actors who had been paid $50 to hold signs and cheer, Bannon couldnt contain himself. Thats Hitler! Bannon said. And, as Jeremy W. Peters writes in this spirited new history, he meant it as a compliment.

Insurgency chronicles the astonishingly swift transformation of the Republican Party, from the genteel preserve of pro-business elites to a snarling personality cult that views the Jan. 6 insurrection as an exercise in legitimate political discourse. Peters, a political reporter for The New York Times, depicts mainstream Republicans surrender to Trumpism as a form of political self-flagellation. From 1969 to 2008, Republicans occupied the White House for all but 12 years. And yet one of the more peculiar features of American conservatism is that despite decades of Republican rule, many true believers grew embittered and resentful of their party. They thought it was run by weak-willed leaders who compromised and sold out once they got in power.

The outlines of the Republicans hard-right turn are by now largely familiar. What distinguishes Insurgency is its blend of political acuity and behind-the-scenes intrigue. Much of the books opening material revolves around the first national figure to channel the bases anger: the former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who might have forestalled Trumps rise had she chosen to run for president in 2012. Trump was sufficiently concerned about Palins potential to claim the title of populist standard-bearer that he invited her to Trump Tower in 2011 to size her up in person. He concluded that while she had tremendous political appeal, she didnt know what to do about it.

Trump, of course, did. Peters is a fluid and engaging writer, and as the narrative of Insurgency unfolds and Trump inevitably, irresistibly, assumes center stage, you almost cant help admiring as Bannon did the candidates raw, demagogic genius: Devoid of empathy, incapable of humility and unfamiliar with what it means to suffer consequences, he behaved and spoke in ways most would never dare. In one luridly fascinating section, Peters details how Trump defused the furor over the Access Hollywood tape by ambushing Hillary Clinton with her husbands accusers at the second presidential debate in St. Louis. The stunt came about thanks to a norm-shattering partnership between the Trump campaign and Aaron Klein, a 36-year-old reporter for Bannons website, Breitbart News, who tracked down the women and cajoled them into attending.

In the history of modern presidential politics, no candidate had pulled off such a ruthless act of vengeance in public, Peters writes. It changed the game, proving to Trump and his allies that there was nothing off-limits anymore. So pivotal was Kleins role in Trumps upset victory that Jared Kushner later told him, My father-in-law wouldnt be president without you.

Anecdotes like these make Insurgency worth reading, though its harder to say who would want to. The book contains too many examples of Trumps manifest flaws to appeal to MAGA true believers, but not enough revelations of outright criminality to satisfy veterans of the #resistance. With the specter of a 2024 Trump candidacy looming, the rest of us could use a break while we can still get one. He just dominates every day, Bannon told Trumps advisers in 2020, warning of voters exhaustion with the president. Its like a nightmare. Youll do anything to get rid of it. Easier said than done.

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How Donald Trump Captured the Republican Party - The New York Times

Ivanka Trump, assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump, listens to remarks during the American Technology Council roundtable hosted at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Monday, June 19, 2017.

Zach Gibson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Ivanka Trump, the adult daughter of former President Donald Trump, is negotiating with the House probe of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot about cooperating with the investigators, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The House select committee, which is investigating the facts and causes of the 2021 invasion of the Capitol by a mob of Trump's supporters, had invited Ivanka Trump last month to sit for a voluntary interview.

Attorneys for Trump's eldest daughter have been in talks with the committee since Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., delivered that invitation in an eight-page letter, the Times reported, citing a person familiar with the discussions.

A spokeswoman for Ivanka Trump confirmed in a statement to the newspaper that she is "in discussions with the committee to voluntarily appear for an interview."

Neither a spokesman for the select committee nor a Trump Organization spokeswoman immediately responded to CNBC's requests for comment.

Read more of CNBC's politics coverage:

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Ivanka Trump in talks about cooperating with House investigation of Jan. 6 Capitol riot, report says - CNBC

In 1974, fresh out of college, I found myself transfixed by the televised Watergate hearings.

Richard Nixon was responsible for the illegal entry into the Democratic headquarters. After massive attempts at covering up the scandal, conspirators went to prison. Faced by senators who could no longer support him, Nixon resigned before facing congressional trials.

Now Donald Trump, the first president in history who refused to concede, is still claiming a stolen election despite losing by over 7 million votes. Its the direct cause of a tragic insurrection that resulted in six deaths, 700 people arrested and about 200 already sentenced.

Now we discover that Trump has destroyed untold numbers of presidential papers (in violation of a law with no enforcement). And the latest transgression has this dangerous thug taking 15 boxes of paperwork, some bearing the top secret designation, to his Florida estate.

Now a big difference between the two former presidents is that in 1974, GOP officeholders felt more obligation to the United States than to their party. Now, Republicans are far different.

We have both senators and representatives who stand by Trump and the big lie. We have the minority leader of the House refusing to support the Jan. 6 Commission. And the two GOP members of the commission are being censured by their own party for having the courage to investigate the insurrection.

Why does Trump have these politicians running so scared?

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Letter to the editor: The difference between Richard Nixon and Donald Trump - Summit Daily

A look at some of the top headlines trending online today around the world including Russias latest moves in Ukraine, Trump news, coronavirus developments and much more.

Ukraine moves to impose state of emergency as U.S., allies pressure Russia with sanctions (NBC)

Europe braces for further strife as Ukraine crisis escalates (AP)

China accuses U.S. of creating panic over Ukraine crisis and dismisses sanctions against Russia as ineffective (CBS)

How a Russian invasion of Ukraine, the breadbasket of Europe, could hit supply chains (CNBC)

Trump sides with Putin as Biden tries to stop a war (CNN)

Supreme Court formally ends Trumps fight over Capitol attack records (Reuters)

COVID-19 updates: US daily death average falls below 2,000 for 1st time in month (ABC)

D.C. Braces for Possible Trucker Protests, Asks for Pentagon Assistance (US News)

Reduced testing is concerning, WHO official says (Washington Post)

California nearly back to pre-omicron level of COVID spread, tests and wastewater show (Sacramento Bee)

South Korea COVID-19 cases skyrocket under Omicron wave; PM urges calm (UPI)

What Is Truth Social? What to Know About Donald Trumps Social Network (WSJ)

Oscars slim down, will hand out 8 awards ahead of broadcast (AP)

Mark Lanegan, Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age Singer, Dies at 57 (NY Times)

Gary Brooker, frontman of rock band Procol Harum, dies at 76 (AP)

The Wendy Williams Show is ending (NPR)

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Russia, Donald Trump & more: Whats trending today - cleveland.com

Thomas venerated his grandfather, Myers Anderson, who was as influential in his life as his wifes mother was in hers, and titled his memoir My Grandfathers Son. But the relationship was often fractious. Anderson, who donated to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, wasnt happy with his grandsons choices, Kevin Merida, now the executive editor of The Los Angeles Times, and Michael A. Fletcher wrote in a 2007 biography, Supreme Discomfort. The authors quoted Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Black former clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer whom Biden is now considering for the vacancy being created by Breyers retirement. She remembered sitting across from Thomas at lunch and thinking: I dont understand you. You sound like my parents. You sound like people I grew up with. But the lessons he tended to draw from the experiences of the segregated South seemed to be different than those of everybody I know.

Clarence and Ginni met in 1986 at a conference on affirmative action, which they both opposed. After a stint at the civil rights office of the Education Department, he was running the E.E.O.C.; she was an attorney at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and mused that year to Good Housekeeping about someday running for Congress. She had extracted herself from a New Age-y self-help group called Lifespring, which she would denounce as a cult, but was still attending meetings held by a cult-deprogramming organization, and she took him along to one. He would describe her as a gift from God, and they married in 1987 at a Methodist church in Omaha; it was her first marriage, his second. Theres no other way to politely say this, but the fact she married a Black man mustve caused an uproar in that family, I cant even imagine, said Scott Bange, who dated Ginni in high school. In 1991, one of Ginni Thomass aunts told The Washington Post that the future justice was so nice, we forgot he was Black, adding, He treated her so well, all of his other qualities made up for his being Black.

Thomas had custody of a teenage son, Jamal, from his previous marriage to Kathy Ambush, his college girlfriend. For several years, the couple also raised his great-nephew, Mark Martin. Jamal Thomas, who did not return requests for comment, has spoken warmly, if rarely, of his father on Facebook, writing in a 2015 Fathers Day post: Dad showed me that you can enjoy all sorts of music. His album collection is legendary. Country, R&B, Classical, Blues, Gospel, Jazz, and yes, even Culture Club. But I kind of compare that to his ability to relate and connect with anyone.

Together, the Thomases considered themselves happy warriors. If he was estranged in some ways from his own upbringing, he embraced her world, and even became an ardent fan of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. They have this happy-kindness, Nebraska thing going on, one longtime friend of the couples said. Ginni can be annoying and obnoxious with the happy talk, but when youre with her one on one, she can be very kind. And with Clarence too, theres a kindness too; its not just the manipulative happy talk. But theres an underbelly of pain, and they turn it against other people.

Clarence Thomas has always maintained that he had to be talked into accepting an appointment to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit when he was nominated as a federal judge in 1989. I was minding my business, he said, recounting the story in his remarks at the Heritage celebration. He was championed by Danforth, by then a senator, who said on the Senate floor: I hope that people would not attack Clarence Thomas because of some stereotype of what they think a Black lawyer should believe.

Thurgood Marshall announced his retirement from the Supreme Court in 1991, and President George H.W. Bush turned to Thomas. His confirmation hearings, presided over by Joe Biden, then the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, began with an attempt to determine his views on Roe v. Wade. Then, after an F.B.I. report was leaked, Anita Hill, a law professor who worked under Thomas at the Department of Education and the E.E.O.C., testified that he made numerous unwelcome advances, persisted in workplace conversations about his sexual prowess, described graphic pornography and said he found a pubic hair on a cola can and asked who had put it there. The future justice flatly rejected the allegations, calling the public inquiry a high-tech lynching for uppity Blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas.

Asked during the hearing whether he wanted to withdraw, he said, Id rather die. He did not watch Hills testimony. I was the one that tried to watch what was going on for as long as I could, Ginni Thomas said in a 2020 documentary on Justice Thomass life and legal philosophy, Created Equal, made with the Thomases participation and funded by the far-right Charles Koch and Bradley Foundations. It was all so wrong, she continued. It was so untrue. When Biden informed Thomas in a phone call that he would vote against him, he tried to reassure him about the process. As she listened in, Ginni Thomas took a spoon from a kitchen drawer and pretended to gag herself, her husband later recounted. (Biden was also criticized for excluding testimony favorable to Hill and, much later, expressed regret.) Friends and associates said that the couples rage over the confirmation battle came to both define and unify them.

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The Long Crusade of Clarence and Ginni Thomas - The New York Times