Category Archives: Donald Trump

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former personal attorney, said he thought Jared Kushner had already flipped on his father-in-law as the criminal investigation into Trump's business empire intensifies.

Cohen did not offer any evidence but said he thought that was the case because of how little Kushner had been mentioned.

Cohen tweeted on Wednesday that Kushner's name had been absent from "all the controversy, indictments and arrests" related to the investigation. He speculated that this was because Kushner was already cooperating with prosecutors.

"Interesting how @jaredkushner (#SecretaryOfEverything) name appears to be absent from all the controversy, indictments and arrests," Cohen tweeted. "Is he next to fall or a cooperating witness? Knowing what a snake he is, I bet the latter!"

Cohen was one of Trump's most trusted confidants, but their relationship deteriorated in 2017. Federal prosecutors investigated Cohen over hush-money payments made to women who said they had affairs with Trump and over Cohen's comments to Congress about Trump's business dealings in Russia.

Cohen pleaded guilty to federal crimes including lying to Congress, tax evasion, and bank fraud. Cohen, who is serving the rest of his sentence under house arrest, has become one of Trump's most vocal critics.

Cohen has cooperated with prosecutors and provided evidence against his former boss since at least 2019 in a bid for a more lenient sentence.

Representatives for Kushner did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

On July 1, the Manhattan district attorney's office issued a 15-count indictment against the Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg, its chief financial officer, including charges of grand larceny and tax fraud. Prosecutors described a years-long scheme by executives at the company to avoid taxes.

Read more: The definitive oral history of how Trump took over the GOP, as told to us by Cruz, Rubio, and 20 more insiders

The indictment against Weisselberg twice listed an unnamed co-conspirator, leading to speculation that one of Trump's immediate family members could be the next to face charges.

Weisselberg, one of Trump's most trusted staffers, had told prosecutors that he would not flip on his boss, The Washington Post reported in June.

Commentators have since speculated that the prospect of criminal charges and prison time could tempt members of Trump's family to turn on him.

Cohen alleged in June that Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, had been involved in creating false documentary evidence on Donald Trump's behalf. No evidence of that has emerged.

Mary Trump, the former president's estranged niece, has speculated that Ivanka could be persuaded to provide evidence against her father.

"As counterintuitive as this might sound, I think Ivanka has, one, more to lose, and, two, more to hang on to. Her husband's family is legitimately very wealthy," she told The Daily Beast earlier in July.

Read the original here:

Michael Cohen says he thinks Jared Kushner has already flipped on Trump - Business Insider

Seriously, literally, this is a cult.

Donald Trump, who regrets not ordering the White House flag to be flown at half-staff to mourn Ashli Babbitt, the rioter and Qanon believer killed while storming the U.S. Capitol, is determined to create a narrative that his idiot insurrectionists are in fact part of an army of holy MAGA warriors.

I would venture to say it was the largest crowd I had ever spoken before It was a loving crowd too, by the way. Many, many people have told me that was a loving crowd. It was too bad, it was too bad that they did that Trump said in one of his post-presidency interviews from Mar-a-Lago. He didnt mention the violence, but insisted that, In all fairness, the Capitol Police were ushering people in They were hugging and kissing. You dont see that. Theres plenty of tape of that.

You dont see that tape because that didnt happen, but thats the point of this cult: Never mind your lying eyes, have faith in your Dear Orange Leader.

Personally, what I wanted is what they wanted, he concluded, meaning to overturn the results of the election because hed said there was fraud and never mind all of the judges appointed by Republicans and Republican state and election officials who said there was no evidence of any of that. Heretics. The GOP is dead, and theres only the MAGA movement now, as the partys leaders sojourn to his sacred golf clubs to confess their sins.

Kevin McCarthy, who briefly knew better before remembering his place and getting on his knees, saw the same religious iconography I did when Trumps supporters stormed the Capitol Building in the hopes of installing their reality-TV hero as a sick new sort of American Idol. Men wore Armor of God patches and someone carried a Jesus 2020 banner. Sure, the idea that Trump was leading a death cult had been batted around for some time, but Jan. 6 was something new in its religious fervor and Trump knew it too, which is why hes been fighting to make Babbitt into the first MAGA martyr.

Now that hes a certified loser, a twice-impeached, one-term historical freak show of a president, his only hope as a political leader is to turn his movement into a cult, worshipping himself of course. Its the Trump Steaks of religion.

In March, during the height of the pandemic, Gallup released a poll showing Americans memberships of religious institutions (churches, mosques and synagogues) had declined by more than 20 percent since the turn of the century to the lowest level theyd ever recorded. During a time of despair and hardship, Americans were rejecting religion. Only 47 percent of Americans belong to some religious institution and, as Public Religion Research Institute chief Robert P. Jones told the Washington Post, White evangelical Protestants have been losing ground among young people. As they have shrunk over the last decade, their median age has risen from 53 to 56, compared to a median age of 47 in the country overall.

That same month, his group released a poll showing that one in five Americans believe in Qanon and agreed with the statement, There is a storm coming soon that will sweep away the elites in power and restore the rightful leaders. So one in five Americans believe in a kind of weird hybrid of religion and politics, centered on the idea that Democrats are a secret cabal of child sex traffickers.

At CPAC last weekend, thousands flocked to Dallas as if joining a religious pilgrimage. They displayed Q slogans, bought Trump merchandise and delighted in booing the name of Anthony Fauci as if he were Haman and harassing journalists.

There was a lot of trying to relitigate the election that Trump wont admit he lost. A seven-point plan to reinstate Trump was circulated with its first order of business being Reveal ACHILLES HEEL: Pull back the curtain on the horror show that is todays Democrat Party. Watch Pelosi melt, like the Wicked Witch of the West. See the Black Caucus and other key groups flip, unexpectedly, and watch the tables turn. Yes, Pelosi is going to melt, as speakers of the House often do. It promoted a website full of videos explaining how Mary Jo Kopechne was a reincarnation of the Virgin Mary, and how that connected to the moon landing and 9/11 and the death of JFK Jr. (which, given the Q peoples insistence that hes still alive, maybe counts as a form of progress).

But Trumpworld is rife with this kind of magical thinking, if you can even call it thinking, from people desperate to connect random dots to find meaningand finding a perverse sort of community in their crazed conspiracizing, to replace the sort that perhaps they would have once found in a house of worship.

And Trump, of course, was happy to play into peoples most desperate and disconnected hopes. As the pandemic took hold here, he was talking about an Easter reopening with packed churches, and about how COVID would disappear one day," "like a miracle." More than a year later, its pretty clear the miracle was the vaccine that 47 percent of Republicans refuse to take.

The CPAC before Dallas had featured a gold Trump, since no religious movement would be complete without a false iconin this case one that was made in Mexico.

So if hes got a martyr, a golden calf, and worshippers, does that make Trump a religious leader? Nah, in America religions have tax-exempt status and we all know that Trump doesnt have that. Then again, he didnt pay any federal taxes for 10 out of the last 15 years so maybe Trumpism really is a religion after all.

Continued here:

Certified Loser Donald Trump Is Rebranding MAGA as a Full-On Cult - Daily Beast

Meghan McCain is departing imminently from "The View," and the Daily Mail is reporting that ABC is looking for a "Trump Republican" to replace the conservative co-host who was often critical of the former president.

The three names floated in the tabloid's report are former Fox News and NBC host Megyn Kelly, firebrand Candace Owens, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, former first lady of San Francisco and Fox News host who's currently working on the campaign of controversial Missouri Senate candidate Eric Greitens. Guilfoyle's work with Greitens has reportedly drawn Trump's ire.

In response to the tabloid report, Guilfoyle's boyfriend Donald Trump Jr. tweeted, "LOL, hey @ABC even Id tune in to see @kimguilfoyle do this. Kim vs the other 4 doesnt seem like a fair fight though. You may need a few more libs."

Guilfoyle on "The View" would be, to put it mildly, insane.

The Daily Mail reported that ABC tried to hire Guilfoyle on three separate occasions while she was at Fox News, but it is unclear whether the network would still hire her now given that she was reportedly outed from Fox News over sexual harassment allegations. The Daily Mail also reported that co-host Joy Behar who got into several shouting matches with McCain is freaking out behind the scenes because the new co-host could be well to the right of McCain.

Of course, ABC likes it when said shouting matches go viral, and there would surely be no shortage of them with Guilfoyle in tow. Guilfoyle joining "The View" would also possibly complicate things for her ex-husband, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who frequently appears on the show.

Guilfoyle's workplace harassment allegations would, under normal circumstances, remove her from contention. But from a ratings standpoint, it's hard to imagine "The View" doing better than Guilfoyle. We'll see if that's what ABC decides to prioritize.

Read more here:

Donald Trump Jr. intrigued by Kimberly Guilfoyle replacing Meghan McCain on 'The View' - SFGate

Donald Trump Jr. has weighed into the debate over the future of The View after Meghan McCain announced that she would be leaving the ABC show.

There's growing speculation over who might replace McCain after she said earlier this month that she would leave the show to remain in Washington, D.C., where she moved before the birth of her daughter, Liberty.

The daughter of the late GOP Arizona senator John McCain, she was the most conservative voice on the program, which she joined in 2017.

She would often get into heated debates with her more liberal colleagues, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin and Sara Haines.

Although she provided a Republican voice, she was critical of former President Donald Trump and backed President Joe Biden, who was a close friend of her father's.

In reference to her notice period and the clashes she engaged in with her co-hosts, McCain said: "If you guys want to fight a little bit more, you have four more weeks."

Meanwhile, the son of the former President Donald Trump shared a Daily Mail.com report saying that the race is on to find a "Trump Republican" to replace McCain, so the show can appeal to a broader audience.

The Mail reported that this quest for a conservative has raised concerns behind the scenes that the show's presenters may have to tussle with someone further on the right.

In tweeting the article, Trump Jr. responded to rumors that his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former co-host on Fox's The Five, was being considered.

"LOL, hey @ABC even I'd tune in to see @kimguilfoyle do this," Trump Jr. tweeted.

"Kim vs the other 4 doesn't seem like a fair fight though. You may need a few more libs," he added, referring to liberal voices.

The Mail also reported that The View had tried three times to hire Guilfoyle while she was at Fox News. Other popular conservatives reportedly in the frame include Megyn Kelly and the controversial Candace Owens.

While the speculation mounts over what might happen after McCain's final show on August 6, Page Six reported that her exit will be followed by a number of guest host appearances in the fall.

An insider at the show told Page Six that the guest hosts will include conservatives, "some well-known, some not," and that producers will be "taking time to find the right person to fill the seat."

An ABC spokesperson told Newsweek in a statement that the network was "looking for a conservative voice and will take some time to find the right person to fill the co-host seat.

"Any specific names at this point are just speculation and rumor," the statement said, "we will be sharing plans for the new season including celebrating our historic 25th season in the coming weeks."

UPDATE: This story has been updated to include a statement to Newsweek from ABC.

Here is the original post:

Donald Trump Jr. Responds to Kimberly Guilfoyle 'The View' Rumor - Newsweek

It seemingly came out of nowhere. In 2010, Scott Walker, who was then the Milwaukee County Executive, did not campaign on it. In fact, he had said a couple of weeks prior to the election that he would use collective bargaining to win concessions over pensions and health insurance.

However, the demise of public employee unions had been a long-standing goal of a powerful right-wing network thats spearheaded by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and includes groups like the Bradley Foundation and the Koch brothers Americans for Prosperity.

Walker was very connected to this network. In fact, he was almost auditioning for it. There was a lot of posturing in 2010 by a number of Republican governors who were looking to attract attention from the Kochs in particular.

So Walker went furthest. Act 10 essentially eliminated collective bargaining rights for the states public employees both municipal employees and state employees except for nearly all of the police unions and all of the firefighters unions. Many of those unions had endorsed Walker.

Walker framed it as a way to save money: communities would gain flexibility. And, of course Act 10 played into economic resentment that had been building. The 2008 financial crisis was severe and lasting for many people, especially in rural America. So Walker was able to stoke resentment against public employees because they had decent benefits pensions, health insurance. They might, for example, be among the few people in a small community who even had employer-sponsored health insurance.

So there was this opening for a new Republican assault on labor. And prominent Democrats in some ways abetted this effort, with rhetoric attacking the public sphere. (Arne Duncan, Obamas secretary of education, in particular, had a lot of ideas that deeply antagonized public school teachers.)

There were these huge protests in Madison against Act 10 at least a hundred thousand people, some people say more showed up. They occupied the statehouse for three weeks, and Democratic state senators fled for Illinois (much like how the Texas Democrats are doing now over voting rights) in order to prevent a quorum on the bill. But there was little support for this among national Democrats. Neither Obama nor Joe Biden came to Wisconsin.

In the piece, I talk about how Obama had promised that he would walk on the picket line and protect collective bargaining rights if they were ever attacked. So that was a really important thing that people in Wisconsin, especially those who were part of the protests against Act 10, were keenly aware of and felt deeply betrayed over. Tellingly, I think many establishment Democrats wanted to distance themselves from that movement; Walker even boasted about that in his book. He bragged that Obama was too frightened to come to Wisconsin and defend labor.

Why has labor weakened so much? On one side you have these direct attacks; on the other side you have a negligence that is, in a way, a more subtle attack.

One of the criticisms made by some labor activists in Wisconsin was that this grassroots movement was quickly subsumed by an electoral effort, which in the end favored Walker because of the massive influx of dark money that flooded into the state to aid him. You had a hundred thousand people mobilized, and then all of a sudden they were told to go home and put their energy into a recall petition drive with the goal of ousting Walker. They did get a million signatures, and it was a remarkable grassroots effort not just centered in Madison or Milwaukee, it was really all over the state.

But ultimately, Walker was able to frame the recall as unjust and undemocratic, even though recall elections come out of a democratic reform thats been a part of Wisconsins political tradition for nearly a hundred years.

So Walker won, narrowly. Obama didnt campaign with Walkers opponent and even distanced himself from the whole episode, because he was worried about his own reelection. That was the most bitter blow for a lot of people in Wisconsin who had been activated by the fight for labor rights. All the energy at the Capitol just vanished.

However, in the piece I talk about the ways in which the Act 10 protests were an underappreciated spark for Occupy, the Sanders 2016 campaign, and the wider revival of a social-democratic strain which is firmly rooted in the labor movement and goes back to the New Deal, or even earlier.

You hadnt seen that kind of mass labor action in the United States in decades. It was so shocking. And even though it was defeated, it resonated and continues to resonate. Although in Wisconsin itself the situation is very bleak as far as any kind of turnaround because the Republicans have so thoroughly gerrymandered the state legislature. Theres no hope, in the near future at least, to restore the labor rights that were taken away.

Go here to read the rest:

How Scott Walker's Wisconsin Paved the Way for Donald Trump's America - Jacobin magazine

Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen told Insider that Melania Trump didn't expect her husband to win the White House in 2016 Pool / Pool / Getty Images

Former First Lady Melania Trump never expected her husband to win the White House in 2016, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen told Insider.

"Melania played a very limited role during the campaign not believing Donald would actually win," Cohen told Insider for its 2016 oral history of how Trump took over the Republican Party. "However, when directly asked for her opinion on a matter by Donald, she offered it readily."

Read more: The definitive oral history of how Trump took over the GOP, as told to us by Cruz, Rubio, and 20 more insiders

Cohen's comment echoes other reports that Melania Trump and many others close to the former president weren't expecting to win on Election Night in 2016. His niece Mary Jordan wrote in her 2020 book that Donald Trump was stunned when he won the election.

In 2018, New York journalist Michael Wolff reported that Melania Trump cried on Election Night in 2016 after realizing her husband had won. The Trump White House denied Wolff's report at the time. However, Wolff has struggled with credibility questions surrounding his books on Trump.

Former House Speaker John Boehner speculated in 2018 that Donald Trump promised Melania Trump they wouldn't win, and therefore wouldn't have to leave New York and move to Washington.

Just days after the 2016 election, the New York Post reported that Melania Trump and their son Barron Trump would stay in New York until the end of the school semester. They left New York for Washington in the middle of June 2017, according to a Politico report at the time.

Inside Trumpworld, the former first lady is viewed as one of Donald Trump's most influential advisors, rivaled only by the influence of his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Story continues

A spokeswoman for the former first lady did not immediately comment for this story.

In a separate anecdote from Insider's oral history project, Melania Trump concurred with her husband that John McCain "isn't a war hero," according to longtime Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski. Melania Trump's office denied she made the comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider

See original here:

Melania Trump told Donald Trump she did not think he would win in 2016, former lawyer Michael Cohen told Insider - Yahoo News

A spike in violent crimein the Atlanta area mayjeopardize one of the strongest investigations into former President Donald Trump's alleged misdeeds, as the local district attorney struggles to both probe the former commander-in-chief and tackle an "historic" backlog incases that grows by the day.

Fulton County DA Fani Willis has for months dedicated significant resources to investigating Trump for his pressure campaign on Georgia officials to overturn the state's 2020 election results. She is reportedly focusing her attention in particular onTrump'sinteractions with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who at one point was askedto "find" enoughvotes to overturn the former president'sloss in the state.

But just as that investigation heated up, a backlog of more workaday cases under Willis' jurisdictionhas grown to more than 12,000, according to a report from Insider, citing public comments and interviews with former associates of Willis. Much of this backlog stems from rising violent crime andstate-mandated court closures due to COVID-19.

Though some resources are incoming in the form ofrelief money,that cash comes with stringent restrictions leaving the future of her investigation into the former president in limbo.

"The problem she has is that she's in an elected position and the residents are getting tired of the crime," Michael Moore, aU.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia during Obama's presidency, told Insider. "So are you going to dump all your resources into this [Trump] case that may turn into nothing? Or are you going to do your job and represent the people who have voted you in?"

Earlier this month Willis asked the Fulton County Board of Supervisors for more than $7 million in new funding for her office, which could be used to hire additional staff and lessen the backlog in cases. Local reports suggest the board and itschairman, Rob Pitts, arewilling to consider the additional funding.

It certainly doesn't help matters that the investigation into Trump is a completely unprecedented case for a countydistrict attorney, an office that has significantly fewer resources than prosecutors at the state or federal level.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

"The DA's office has never handled anything like this before in its history," Clint Rucker, a former Fulton County assistant district attorney, told Insider. "You're talking about investigating a former president of the United States for some kind of impropriety as it relates to election fraud. Nothing like that has ever come through the DA's office before."

Though she faces a difficult task, a number of Willis' current and former associates all say she is doing a commendable job with the case, and that they trust her to carry the investigation to its conclusion whatever that may be.

"If anybody's qualified to take on an investigation of this magnitude, it's Fani," said Peter Odom, a former prosecutor who previously worked with Willis.

Read the original here:

Why the investigation into Trump's alleged misdeeds may be in trouble - Salon

WASHINGTON (AP) Former President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that he wouldnt have used the military to illegally seize control of the government after his election loss. But he suggested that if he had tried to carry out a coup, it wouldnt have been with his top military adviser.

In a lengthy statement, Trump responded to revelations in a new book detailing fears from Gen. Mark Milley that the outgoing president would stage a coup during his final weeks in office. Trump said hes not into coups and never threatened, or spoke about, to anyone, a coup of our Government. At the same time, Trump said that if I was going to do a coup, one of the last people I would want to do it with is Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The mere mention of a coup was a stunning remark from a former president, especially one who left office under the cloud of a violent insurrection he helped incite at the U.S. Capitol in January in an effort to impede the peaceful transfer of power to Democrat Joe Biden. Since then, the FBI has warned of a rapidly growing threat of homegrown violent extremism.

Despite such concerns, Trump is maintaining his grip on the Republican Party. He was meeting on Thursday with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and has stepped up his public schedule, holding a series of rallies for his supporters across the country in which he continues to spread the lie that last years election was stolen from him.

His comment about a coup was in response to new reporting from I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trumps Catastrophic Final Year by Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker. The book reports that Milley was shaken by Trumps refusal to concede in the weeks after the election.

According to early excerpts published by CNN and the Post on Wednesday ahead of its release, Milley was so concerned that Trump or his allies might try to use the military to remain in power that he and other top officials strategized about how they might block him even hatching a plan to resign, one by one.

Milley also reportedly compared Trumps rhetoric to Adolf Hitlers during his rise to power.

This is a Reichstag moment, Milley reportedly told aides. The gospel of the Fhrer.

Milleys office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Milley has previously spoken out against drawing the military into election politics, especially after coming under fire for joining Trump on a walk through Lafayette Square for a photo op at a church shortly after the square had been violently cleared of protesters.

Trump, in the statement, mocked Milleys response to that moment, saying it helped him realize that his top military adviser was certainly not the type of person I would be talking coup with.

The book is one of a long list being released in the coming weeks examining the chaotic final days of the Trump administration, the Jan. 6 insurrection and the outgoing presidents refusal to accept the elections outcome. Trump sat for hours of interviews with many of the authors, but has issued a flurry of statements in recent days disputing their reporting and criticizing former staff for participating.

There is no evidence that supports Trumps claims that the election was somehow stolen from him. State election officials, Trumps own attorney general and numerous judges, including many appointed by Trump, have rejected allegations of massive fraud. Trumps own Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency called the 2020 election the most secure in American history.

Trump remains a dominant force in Republican politics, as demonstrated by McCarthys visit on Thursday to the former presidents summer home in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Trump and McCarthy were expected to spend their meeting discussing upcoming special elections, Republicans record fundraising hauls and Democrats they see as vulnerable in the 2022 midterm elections, according to a person familiar with the agenda who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private meeting. McCarthy previously met with Trump in January at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Meanwhile, Republicans who are eyeing White House bids of their own arent crossing Trump, who remains popular with many GOP voters.

GOP Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a potential 2024 presidential contender, said no comment, when asked if he thought Trumps statement was appropriate for a former president. A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and an Army veteran of two combat tours in Iraq, Cotton declined to comment again when asked if he wanted to criticize Trumps remark.

I think he has the right to say what he wants to say, said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, when asked if he was comfortable with a former president even hypothetically entertaining the idea of a coup.

You know, Donald Trump speaks for himself and he always has, said Cruz, another potential White House candidate in 2024.

___

Associated Press writers Robert Burns and Alan Fram contributed to this report.

See the original post here:

Trump opines on coup while rejecting fears about his actions - Associated Press

Rudy Giuliani points to a map as he speaks to the press about various lawsuits related to the 2020 election on Nov. 19, 2020. He and other Trump lawyers are now under scrutiny for their roles in promoting false claims of election fraud. Drew Angerer/Getty Images hide caption

Rudy Giuliani points to a map as he speaks to the press about various lawsuits related to the 2020 election on Nov. 19, 2020. He and other Trump lawyers are now under scrutiny for their roles in promoting false claims of election fraud.

Six months after the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, attorneys who promoted former President Donald Trump's false claims about election fraud are being forced to defend their actions in court.

But some experts say the abuses over the past four years compel the legal profession to perform some deeper soul-searching.

"I just think it's important, if we are to reset, that our profession is prepared to confront itself and make decisions about who we want to be, who we are and what it's going to require, which may be uncomfortable, to ensure that we hold our character," said Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, at an event sponsored by New York University School of Law.

Ifill, who used to teach aspiring attorneys about their roles and responsibilities as "officers of the court," has been calling for an independent commission to produce a full accounting of how lawyers lost their way.

So far, there's little public sign of interest in that kind of self-examination. Instead, judges and attorney discipline panels are performing their own investigations, case by case, in a methodical fashion.

This week in Michigan, U.S. District Judge Linda Parker grilled lawyers close to Trump about the actions they took before filing a lawsuit that claimed irregularities in the 2020 election.

"What authority did this court have to decertify election results?" Parker asked.

The city of Detroit wants those attorneys to face sanctions. At the hearing, Detroit lawyer David Fink called their lawsuit sloppy, careless and "an embarrassment to the legal profession."

Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, has been monitoring the election fallout with interest.

"You make a misstatement in court first of all, don't do that," Bharara said. "And if you do, correct it immediately. There's nothing worse."

But at the hearing in Michigan, some of the attorneys who are under scrutiny adopted a different approach.

One of them, attorney Lin Wood, said he didn't read the complaint before it was filed. Another lawyer with ties to Trump, Sidney Powell, said she took "full responsibility" for the paperwork. Powell told the judge she'd practiced law with the highest standards.

Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell leaves the Federal Court in Washington on June 24. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP hide caption

Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell leaves the Federal Court in Washington on June 24.

Meanwhile, authorities in New York recently suspended the law license of Rudy Giuliani, Trump's former personal lawyer.

They said Giuliani had "communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public" while trying to overturn the results of the election.

Giuliani wants a hearing, where his lawyers John Leventhal and Barry Kamins said they think he'll be reinstated "as a valued member of the legal profession that he has served so well in his many capacities for so many years."

George Conway, a lawyer who regularly criticizes Trump and the attorneys who worked for him, said the rules are pretty straightforward.

"When you assert something, you have to be able to back it up," Conway said. "You can't make things up."

Conway famously turned down a top job in the Trump Justice Department, calling it "probably the best decision I ever made."

But Conway said many of those lawyers who did serve in the Trump years deserve thanks for refusing to advance phony theories about election fraud this year.

"The upper echelons of the Justice Department in the waning weeks of the administration basically refused to do what Trump wanted them to do and they entered into essentially a bureaucratic suicide pact" where they agreed to quit in protest if Trump tried to fire the head of the Justice Department over the election cases, said Conway.

Trump backed down.

Attorney Lin Wood, who served as a member of former President Donald Trump's legal team, speaks during a rally in December 2020 in Alpharetta, Ga. He is among the lawyers who now have to defend their actions around the 2020 presidential election. Ben Margot/AP hide caption

There are lawyers who think the legal profession needs to do a lot more to counter widespread violations of norms and rules misleading courts, lawmakers and the public.

For her part, Ifill said elite institutions, including the American Law Institute and the American Bar Association, mostly didn't rise up when that happened over the past few years.

"What happens when lawyers, particularly in position of responsibility like government lawyers or I would even say law firm partners, take on positions ... or run so close to the edge of the rules that they potentially reset the rules in ways that undermine the core of what the profession is supposed to be about?" she asked.

See more here:

Trump Lawyers Who Spread False Election Claims Are Now Defending Themselves In Court - NPR

Earlier this week, the lead item of my newsletter was about three books looking at the final year and days of Donald Trumps presidency. In fact, Ive written many times about Trump since he left the White House.

After my recent newsletter about Trump, I received several emails from Poynter Report readers just like I do every time I mention Trump.

Enough! one reader wrote to me.

Will you please stop writing about Trump? Hes not the president any longer, another one said.

And another wrote: No more Trump! Im begging you.

The pushback is valid, or at least worth considering. Many see his false claims about the 2020 election and his combative rhetoric to be dangerous to the country.

Why give his words and ideas oxygen? After all, its true, he is not the president.

But that doesnt mean he no longer has power.

He still has millions of devoted supporters. He still wields clout over those serving in the House and Senate, including some of the countrys most powerful lawmakers. He remains the most influential figure in the Republican Party. He will have a heavy hand over the 2022 midterm elections.

And, most of all, he could run again for president in 2024.

His past behavior as president needs to be dissected. His current commentary on politics needs to be scrutinized. His future role needs to be considered.

Maybe much of what he says and much of who he is might, indeed, be dangerous. But ignoring him might even be more dangerous.

Many ignored Trump or didnt take him seriously before the 2016 election. Many dismissed the idea that he might become president. Many believed that he would never gain the support needed to actually win the election.

And what happened?

It would seem that using the same tactic this time around ignoring him, dismissing him, not taking him seriously might produce the same results as 2016. And he clearly has not gone away.

But covering Trump does come with a caveat: It needs to be newsworthy. It cant be the same old repeated and untrue complaints of a stolen election and revisionist history about COVID-19 and Jan. 6 and so forth.

PolitiFacts Miriam Valverde has a new piece out: Suspended from social media, Donald Trump turns to traditional media avenues to push falsehoods.

Trump has been kicked off Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms, mostly because of the events of Jan. 6. Valverde writes, Since his exit from the White House, Trump has headlined political conferences, hosted rallies, held a press conference, given media interviews, made appearances with political allies, and issued written statements (often several a day).

So, how should Trump be covered? Well, it all comes down to news value.

Aly Coln, a media ethics professor at Washington and Lee University and a former Poynter faculty member, told PolitiFacts Valverde, If there is not a news value, they see no reason to be a megaphone for someone who may not be advancing anything or advancing things that are not accurate, possibly untrue.

When covering Trump, its critical that the media calls out Trump when he lies.

Jane E. Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota, told Valverde, Being complicit in lies is not the proper role of the news media, and journalists should push back against falsehoods and unsubstantiated statements.

This isnt to suggest that every Trump rally be broadcast, or that everything he says gets amplified. But the media cant just act as if the past four years didnt happen and that Trump is gone for good just because he lost in 2020.

These new books are important history lessons on Trumps presidency, and perhaps insight into what the future might hold. Keeping tabs on what Trump is saying now and how its impacting his supporters, his party and conservative lawmakers is essential.

TV networks, newspapers, websites and all other forms of media should not just hand Trump a megaphone. But they shouldnt completely turn their back on him either. The answer is somewhere in between.

Noah Shachtman, the top editor at The Daily Beast, is moving over to Rolling Stone to become its editor-in-chief. Shachtman told The New York Times Marc Tracy that hes going to bring his approach from The Daily Beast (news and emphasis on the web) to his new job at Rolling Stone.

Its got to be faster, louder, harder, he told Tracy. Weve got to be out getting scoops, taking people backstage, showing them parts of the world they dont get to see every day.

Shachtman will start his new job in September. He takes over for Jason Fine, who is now overseeing Rolling Stones podcasts and documentaries after being editor-in-chief for five years. Shachtman has been The Daily Beasts top editor since 2018.

Tracy reported that Tracy Connor, The Daily Beasts executive editor, will be interim editor-in-chief after Shachtman departs next month.

On Twitter, Shachtman wrote, Rolling Stone changed my life. Its music journalism helped push me to play in bands for real. Its conflict reporting gave me a north star to aim for when I was a national security reporter. I cant (expletive) wait to help this incredible team write its next chapter.

He added, Yall know how much I love The Beast. Ive never had a job so fulfilling, so fun, and that delivered such an impact. Ive never had colleagues more dedicated to their mission. Tracy Connor is the best journalist I know. Shes going to do an amazing job with this crew.

CBSs The Talk has finally replaced Sharon Osbourne and her replacement is a bit of a surprise. Actor Jerry OConnell has permanently joined the show, becoming the first male co-host in the shows 11-year history.

Then again, it shouldnt be too much of a surprise. OConnell has been guest hosting for the past few months.

OConnell told his fellow panelists, First of all, I want to say, you ladies have been so welcoming to me. I mean, I came here as a guest months ago, and just from the moment I walked in, youre just gracious, youre kind, youre fun, and it worked. And here we are. Were going to have a lot of fun, we really are.

Osbourne left the show in March after an on-air spat with co-host Sheryl Underwood and subsequent reports that Osbourne had made other insensitive, racist and homophobic comments in the past. The exchange with Underwood started when Osbourne defended British TV host Piers Morgan, who was critical of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Especially Meghan.

OConnell first became widely known as a child actor when he played Vern Tessio in the 1986 film Stand by Me. He went to play roles in movies such as Jerry Maguire and Kangaroo Jack, as well as the TV show Crossing Jordan.

OConnell said on air, Its something new, you know, I dont want to say its scary, but its new so its a change. And change is good. You have to do things that scare you, that shake it up a bit, and this is definitely shaking it up.

Tucker Carlson. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

Another day, another Tucker Carlson piece. Time Magazines Charlotte Alter has Talking With Tucker Carlson, the Most Powerful Conservative in America.

Some of Carlsons comments:

Theres plenty more if youre interested. Alter writes, he sanitizes and legitimizes right-wing conspiratorial thinking, dodges when you try to nail him down on the specifics, then wraps it all in an argument about censorship and free speech. He has a way of talking about culture and politics that is rooted in defiance: defiance of elites, defiance of the federal government, defiance of scientific consensus. And it has won him the loyalty of millions of Americans who are already suspicious of everything he questions.

For this item, I turn it over to my Poynter colleague Angela Fu.

Starting today, stories and photos produced by union members at The Buffalo News will run without bylines. Workers are participating in this open-ended byline strike to protest the companys attempts to outsource jobs and eliminate layoff protections.

The journalists union, the Buffalo Newspaper Guild, has been bargaining its first contract with Lee Enterprises since February. Lee bought the paper from Berkshire Hathaway in January 2020, along with BH Media Groups publications.

At stake are three key contract proposals that the union says will hurt workers. The first aims to outsource work done by page designers, copy editors, customer service representatives and members of the accounting department to out-of-state Lee hubs. The second makes it easier for the company to lay off workers. The third gives Lee the right to freeze union members pension plans.

In addition to launching a byline strike a method journalists sometimes use to signal to readers dissatisfaction with their managements conduct the union is circulating a petition, which has already garnered more than 1,100 signatures.

We are united in our voice to the company and to this community that were going to stand up for whats right, Buffalo Newspaper Guild president Sandra Tan said at a Thursday press conference. And if it takes removing our bylines from the print paper so that people dont see our names even though we take our names as a personal source of pride for everything that we produce then thats what were going to do.

Lee Enterprises spokesperson Charles Arms declined to comment.

Chrissy Teigen. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.

The Poynter Report is our daily media newsletter. To have it delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, sign up here.

Follow us onTwitterand onFacebook.

View post:

Opinion: Why we still pay attention to Donald Trump - Poynter