Category Archives: Donald Trump

Opinion: Former enablers on Fox and in Congress are dressing him down although, naturally, that doesn't stop him.

Donald Trump cant seem to quit spreading lies about election fraud.

Then again, I dont believe he wants to.

He couldnt wait to jump on a report issued by the Department of Homeland Security that said in part that the widespread online proliferation of false or misleading narratives regarding unsubstantiated widespread election fraud is contributing to the current heightened threat environment.

Meaning, domestic terrorism.

So, what did Trump do?

He issued a statement filled with false or misleading narratives regarding unsubstantiated widespread election fraud.

But, something has changed.

Trumps ongoing delusional rant is wearing thin … on Republicans.

His latest diatribe, instigated by the DHS advisory, involved debunked conspiracy theories from several states, including Arizona.

But now, instead of hearing criticism from longtime critics who have exposed the fantasy of his rants, Trump is hearing it from former loyal supporters.

For instance, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, one of the early morning hosts of Fox & Friends, who for years has catered to Trump and his delusions.

On his radio show recently, however, Kilmeade said of Trump, Nobody cares about 2020. Nobody. And everything that he said and the challenges that he made should have been done before the election. And they did a recount in Arizona, and the recount showed no difference almost, and he came out and said it showed that they won Arizona. Thats an outright lie, and please stop wasting our time with that, because hes capable of doing so much more.

McConnell breaks with Trump, RNC on 'violent insurrection' of Jan. 6

Sen. McConnell questioned the leadership of the RNC and resent decisions to censure members of the party.

Associated Press, USA TODAY

Then theres his former biggest enabler in Congress, Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, who actually called the Jan. 6 insurrection exactly what it was an insurrection.

McConnell said, We all were here. We saw what happened. It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election from one administration to the next. Thats what it was.

Did you catch that?

Insurrection.

Legitimately certified election.

Ouch.

McConnell also dressed down the Republican National Committee for censuring Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for putting country over party and serving on the House select committee investigating the insurrection. He said the RNCshould not be singling out members of our party who may have different views from the majority.

Naturally, Trump issued a statement attacking McConnell.

Even former Vice President Mike Pence has spoken out, dressing-down (with his Pence-like gentility) the former president for suggesting that Pence could have single-handedly overturned the election results.

President Trump is wrong, Pence said.

Adding, There is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president."

Pence may believe that.

And thats what it says in the Constitution. But there is someone who believes that one person could choose the American president:

Pences old boss.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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Donald Trump's election fraud lies are wearing thin on Republicans - The Arizona Republic

As youve no doubt heard by now because there is literally no escaping this man, at a rally last month in Texas, Donald Trump devoted a good portion of his remarks to attacking a trio of prosecutors who are currently investigating him. After referring to Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, and Fani Willis as vicious, horrible people and claiming theyre racists and theyre very sick, theyre mentally sick, the ex-president then encouraged his supporters to launch the biggest protest we have ever had in Washington, D.C., in New York, in Atlanta, and elsewhere, if these radical racist vicious prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal. Note: There is no evidence whatsoever that James, Bragg, or Williswhom Trump was clearly referring to, though didnt directly nameare vicious, horrible, racist, or sick, but Trump is sure acting like someone hugely panicked about the walls closing in on him, throwing anything against the wall he can think of in the hopes of making it stick.

Anyway, given what happened the last time Trump encouraged his followers to fight on his behalf, more than a few people were disturbed by his call to action. Quite reasonably, Willis asked the FBI to provide security around her office and at the courthouse where she is convening a special grand jury to investigate Trumps attempts in Georgia to overturn the 2020 election. But while Trump seems to believe that convincing his supporters the prosecutors investigating him are crooked will help him in the long run, it looks more likely that his comments will put him in even more legal peril.

The Guardian reports that Trumps incendiary callfor his backers to ready massive protests on his behalf could backfire legally and be viewed as grounds for obstruction of justice charges. Former federal prosecutor Dennis Aftergut told the paper he believes the ex-president may have shot himself in the foot, and added: Criminal intent can be hard to prove, but when a potential defendant says something easily seen as intimidating or threatening to those investigating the case it becomes easier. Echoing those comments, Michael Moore, a former U.S. attorney in Georgia, said Trumps demand that people rise up on his behalf could potentially intimidate witnesses and members of a grand jury, and pointed out that thats a felony in the state of Georgia. Trump is essentially calling for vigilante justice against the justice system. Hes not interested in the pursuit of justice but blocking any investigations, Moore told The Guardian. And former DOJ attorney Paul Pelletier made the case via The Guardian that: Trumps history of inciting people to violence demonstrates that his recent remarks are likely to cause a disruption of the pending investigations against him and family members. Should his conduct actually impede any of these investigations, federal and state obstruction statutes could easily compound Mr Trumps criminal exposure.

In other Trump legal news, remember the former presidents habit of shredding presidential legal records, which resulted in the January 6 committee receiving documents that had been torn up and taped back together, and which at least one expert believes could constitute a crime? Turns out it was even more widespread than previously thought!

Per The Washington Post:

The ripping was so relentless that Trumps team implemented protocols to try to ensure that he was abiding by the Presidential Records Act. Typically, aides from either the Office of the Staff Secretary or the Oval Office Operations team would come in behind Trump to retrieve the piles of torn paper he left in his wake, according to one person familiar with the routine. Then, staffers from the White House Office of Records Management were generally responsible for jigsawing the documents back together, using clear tape. One person familiar with the National Archives process said that staff there were stunned at how many papers they received from the Trump administration that were ripped, and described it internally as unprecedented.

[James] Grossman, [executive director of the American Historical Association] said that Trumps chaotic approach to handling physical documents leaves gaping holes in the historical record, not to mention being disrespectful to the archivists and general public. We dont know how much of it was or was not successfully taped back together, Grossman said. Also, how much did the taxpayers pay to have a bunch of highly qualified archivists sit at a desk and tape things back together?

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Donald Like, Really Smart Trump May Have Given Prosecutors a Reason to Charge Him With Obstruction - Vanity Fair

Politics is serious business. It often feels existential. Exhausting. Infuriating. Bone-dry. Confusing.

Can it also be fun?

Eliot Nelson insists it can be. And to prove it, hes turning politics into a game.

A video game.

For the past three years, Nelson has been working on Political Arena, which he bills as the first truly in-depth video game about American democracy. For those of a certain age, think SimCity meets The Oregon Trail with a little Grand Theft Auto thrown in. Nelson wants to educate the masses about the ins and outs of how their government really works. And entertain them, too.

Politics is gripping, Nelson told us. Its one of the most popular subjects across time. The thrill of wielding power is inherently exciting.

As one early online ad for the game puts it, Seek fame or infamy in a fully simulated political world, complete with high stakes campaign strategizing, backroom deals, scandals, special interests, and the press. Be the politician of your dreams (or nightmares).

Nelson spent the early part of his career as a journalist in Washington. His much-loved newsletter on Congress, HuffPost Hill, was an extension of his personality a blend of earnest wonkery, serious legislative coverage and lots and lots of wisecracks.

It was the one tipsheet that I would recommend to my friends who were not in politics, said Jess McIntosh, who was a press secretary for former Senator Al Franken and is now advising the video game project. I still miss it.

The first iteration of the game will be released later this year. Nelson acknowledged that the post-Jan. 6 environment has cast a dark cloud. But, he added, Politics contains multitudes, and there are moments of levity and dark humor.

After crowdsourcing more than $100,000 in seed money on Kickstarter, he assembled a scrappy team of game designers, marketers and grizzled industry veterans. They puzzled through how the gameplay should work, poring over storyboards and seeking input from hard-core political junkies and strategy-game fans.

The focal point of Political Arena is accruing power.

You start by creating your own politician, picking a limited number of points to spend on a few skills and character traits. Are you a media-obsessed, populist firebrand or a legislative lion? Is your goal to become president, master of the Senate or a spitball-throwing House backbencher?

To simulate the real world, the software generates politicians who hew as closely to the politics of their district or state as possible. Want to be a certain senior senator from Kentucky? Call your new avatar Mitch McConnell and have a blast.

For now, your adversary is the computer and the scenarios it throws at you. But future versions of the game might allow players to compete against one another online.

There are three kinds of currency in the game: money, fame and political capital, a kind of clout score. As in real life, the more of each you amass, the better you do. You might be asked, for instance, to handle the political fallout when your vice president tweets a racist meme or gets caught having an extramarital affair with a secretary.

This isnt the kind of game where youre killing orcs with an ax, Nelson said.

Patrick Curry, the chief executive of FarBridge, a studio based in Austin, Texas, that is helping to develop the software for Political Arena, said his team is also working on boss battle moments those intense showdowns at the end of each level in a classic video game.

A boss battle might be a high-stakes news conference or a campaign debate. And it doesnt have to look like a PBS version of the debate, either, Curry said.

Well before leaving HuffPost in 2018, Nelson, a lifelong gamer, had been noodling over how a video game might be able to reach an entirely different audience.

Its like trying to understand football without ever watching a game of football, Nelson said. He added, alluding to Oregon Trail: People are more fluent in what you need in your wagon and how much buffalo meat you should carry than they are about how bills are passed.

McIntosh, the former press secretary for Franken and a political consultant, said that games can teach Americans how their democracy works by creating a degree of intimacy that journalism cant quite match.

Its weird that you can role-play just about any experience in life, including going to the grocery store in another country, but you cant play a political campaign, she said. It just feels like understanding how and why our politics happen is more important than ever.

There have been past attempts to make video games about politics. But either the technology wasnt advanced enough to make them appeal to a large audience, or the focus was too much on education and not enough on fun.

The closest thing to a commercial forebear to Political Arena might be President Elect, a primitive simulation game that debuted in 1981 and went through several iterations before fading from memory in the late 1980s.

When we last spoke with Nelson, he was working out kinks in Political Arenas legislative voting system, to allow for what he called Joe Manchin-style, last-minute negotiations on the floor of the Senate.

He was trying to figure out how to simulate the adrenaline rush of watching a big vote like the one to authorize the Affordable Care Act in 2010. And he was hashing out the complexities of how best to enable players to strike the unseemly sorts of bargains that happen in the real-world Congress all the time.

A game that doesnt include the good and bad would be making matters worse, he said. Politics is compelling in part because of the warts.

The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol has subpoenaed Peter Navarro, a former White House adviser to Donald Trump, Luke Broadwater reports.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed a proposed ban on lawmakers trading stocks, amid a bipartisan push led by vulnerable House members, Jonathan Weisman reports.

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said the agency was working on new health guidance as Democratic governors begin lifting pandemic-related restrictions, but cautioned against moving too quickly, Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports.

postcard FROM WYOMING

CHEYENNE, Wyo. To pro-Trump Republicans in Wyoming, Representative Liz Cheney has been out of sight on the campaign trail, but not out of mind.

She hasnt appeared at a state Republican Party function in more than two years and hasnt been to an in-person event for any of the partys 23 county chapters since 2020. Her opposition to Trump has forced her into a kind of exile from Wyomings Republican Party apparatus.

And her former political ally, whos now running against her after winning Trumps endorsement?

Well, they dont talk much.

The last time Cheney spoke to her Republican primary opponent, Harriet Hageman, was in a phone call a few weeks after the 2020 election. In separate interviews, each shared her side of that conversation.

Cheney had just publicly urged Trump to concede he had lost, a statement that proved highly unpopular with Wyoming Republicans. She was calling around to gauge the political blowback in her home state.

When she called Hageman the two had been close enough politically that Hageman introduced Cheney at the state party convention in 2016 Cheney said she expected her to agree on the legitimacy of President Bidens victory.

She is somebody who has been committed to the rule of law, Cheney explained. Shes an attorney.

But the conversation did not go well. Hageman recalled telling Cheney of Trumps objections to the election results in Georgia, Pennsylvania and other battleground states.

I just said, I think that there were some legitimate questions and we have every right to ask them, Hageman said. This is America. We get to ask questions.

Cheney recalled informing Hageman that it was unconstitutional to object to other states electoral votes. And she said that she warned of setting a precedent that would allow Democrats in Congress to decide the legality of Wyomings electoral votes.

I was surprised that she seemed not to be exactly where I was on the issue, Cheney said. I thought she would have been.

Hageman said Cheney ended the call with a scold telling Hageman that it was time for Mr. Trump and his allies to accept the results of the election, given his myriad legal defeats.

I said, We have the right to look into that, Hageman said. And she just flat told me, Youre wrong. And I have not spoken to her since.

Is there anything you think were missing? Anything you want to see more of? Wed love to hear from you. Email us at onpolitics@nytimes.com.

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A New Video Game About Politics in the Age of Donald Trump - The New York Times

Sen. Rick Scott on Thursday addressed the split between Senate Minority LeaderMitch McConnell and former PresidentDonald Trump in a television interview.

Scott, as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), has tried to maintain a good relationship with both men, an increasingly challenging assignment.

McConnell has rebuked Trump over facilitating the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. Amid the war between the two, Scott continues to maintain the 2022 election wont be predicated on rehashing the aftermath of 2020, but will be about issues.

Its not going to be about what different party officials are saying, Scott told Fox Business hostStuart Varney.

My position, Im chair of the NRSC. I want everybody to help us. So I try to make sure that all Republicans are unified, Scott said, with the focus on winning, winning, winning.

Varney asked a follow-up, noting the split between Trump and McConnell precludes the unity Scott wants.

My experience in talking to people is that this is not what people are talking about, Scott deflected, again trying to steer the discourse back to reliable talking points rather than the chasm between two of the leading figures in the GOP.

Most people are not talking about the party issues that go on year after year, Scott continued.

Indeed, Scott continues to leverage friendly ties with Trump for the Senate re-election effort. Last year, Scott invented a Champions for Freedom award for Trump, despite the violence and destruction Trump spurred Jan. 6. This year, Scott kicked off the NRSC podcast with a friendly interview of Trump.

The appearance continued what has been an interesting dynamic between the two men. Back in August, Trump took credit in a written statement for Republican fundraising writ large, including that of Scotts NRSC.

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Rick Scott continues to split the difference between Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell - Florida Politics

A cynical old joke goes: How can you tell when politicians are lying?

The punch line: Their lips move.

Cynical, yes, but funny before the age of Trump, which made it too real to be funny.

Now, with Trump gone, at least gone from office, we are left with the detritus of formerly ordinary Republican politicians, with formerly ordinary reputations as prevaricators, trying to find their way back to that former ordinary status after having sold or rented their former reputations as merely ordinary lip movers who might or might not be lying.

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My case study for today is Sen. Lindsay Graham.

Because Graham was the friend and sidekick of the late Sen. John McCain, and because McCain was famous for being a straight talker (perhaps in general, but at least if we grade McCain on the deplorably low level of expectations weve come to accept of politicians) Graham was, long ago, considered a relatively candid pol.

Thats over. Waaay over.

What happened? Trump happened. In fact, because Graham ran against Trump for the 2016 Republican nomination, Graham had a last chance to do his Straight Talk McCain impression while briefly running against Trump. While still running against Trump for the 2016 nomination, for example, he said: 35 percent [of the Republican primary electorate] believe that Obama is a Muslim who was born in Kenya. [Trump] has locked that crowd down. But 65 percent of us think [Obama] is just a bad president.

He also said: If Donald Trump carries the banner of my party, I think it taints conservatism for generations to come. I think his campaign is opportunistic, race-baiting, xenophobia. Other than that, hed be a good nominee.

When Graham dropped out of contention for the presidential nomination, he endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz, who was still in the race. Soon after that endorsement, he appeared on an episode of The Daily Show, where host Trevor Noah asked him how he could support Cruz, considering that Graham had once said of Cruz: If you killed Ted Cruz, and the trial was on the floor of the Senate, no one could convict you.

Graham had also been asked, while he was still in the presidential field, who he preferred, Trump or Cruz, to which Graham replied: That tells you everything you need to know about Donald Trump. Its like asking me whether Id rather be shot or poisoned. Does it really matter?

When Noah pressed him to say something favorable about Cruz, whom Graham had just endorsed, Graham replied: That hes not Trump.

At the end of the interview, Noah coaxed Graham to explain how he had lost a race to both Trump and Cruz. He replied (in a moment that actually made me feel pretty sorry for him): Im gonna change my name to Vote-y McVote-face Graham. Maybe that would help.

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Of course, once Trump became the nominee, and then president, Graham changed his routine to be an unswerving supporter of Trumpism and admirer of Trump.

But, to his credit, Graham has enough integrity to have avoided, so far, changing his name to Vote-y McVoteface Graham.

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Donald Trump and the detritus of formerly ordinary politicians - MinnPost

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The National Archives has asked the Department of Justice to investigate Donald Trump for his handling of White House documents. Joy Reid and her panel discuss these allegations and more.Feb. 10, 2022

Problems deepen over Trump record-keeping04:26

Joy Reid: Prices will keep going higher and higher until the consumer says enough!08:25

Steele: I dont want to hear another word about Clintons emails after Trump doc eating allegation10:19

NYT: Trump may have taken classified material from White House03:48

Trumps handling of WH records05:31

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National Archives asks the Department of Justice to investigate Donald Trump for handling of White House documents - MSNBC

But there may yet be a flaw in reformers designs. House Democrats are pushing to make it harder for members of Congress to reject any slates of electors provided by state governors by requiring a two-thirds supermajority, rather than a simple majority, in both the House and Senate. Had this been in place in 2020, much of the drama that ensued among lawmakers during the certification process would have been avoided.

However, as Judd Legum points out in a recent edition of Popular Information, Democrats may not be thinking ahead. The next crisis may not come from challenges to legitimate slates of electors. Citing a new paper from Yale Laws Matthew Seligman, Legum warns that a future Congress may have to deal with a Trump-supporting Republican Governor in a swing state ignoring the results and submitting a phony certification to Congress.

In this scenario, a supermajority built to protect the integrity of the election becomes the means by which the plot to overturn the election is furthered. As Insiders Grace Panetta has written, Georgia gubernatorial candidate David Purdue is one governor who might consider carrying out such a plot; Legum points to Republicans running for statehouses in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin who also fit the bill.

All of which goes to show that no matter how exposed Trumps band of miscreants might be, the former president is still adding powerful allies to his corrupt cause. And the next coup, if it comes, will look very different from the last one. It wont be a ragtag mob trying to sack the Capitol or flailing efforts to enlist the Department of Homeland Security to swipe voting machines off the streets. Strong protections were already in place before Trump took those desperate measures. Rather, the next plot against the Republic would be much more subtle, painted with a sheen of lawfulness and mounted against more vulnerable spots, where democracy is held together only by long-standing norms and gentlemens agreements. But what happens when those gentlemen are replaced by rogues?

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The Emerging Plot to Defend Trumps Next Coup - The New Republic

Over Memorial Day weekend in 2011, a caravan of journalists chased her up the East Coast during a six-day trip from Washington to New Hampshire, believing she might use the occasion to announce that she would run against Mr. Obama. The trip also included a dinnertime stop at Trump Tower, where she and its most famous resident stepped out in front of the paparazzi on their way to get pizza.

She wouldnt reveal her intentions until later that year, in October. And when she did, she broke the news on Mark Levins radio show not on Fox News. It was a slight that infuriated Mr. Ailes, who had been paying her $1 million a year with the expectation that it would pay off with the buzz and big ratings that kind of announcement could generate.

There were signs at the time that Mr. Trump was starting to fill the void in Foxs coverage and in conservative politics that would exist without Ms. Palin center stage. He had been getting a considerable amount of coverage from the network lately for his fixation on wild rumors about Mr. Obamas background.

One interview in March 2011 on Fox & Friends the show known inside the network to be such a close reflection of Mr. Ailess favorite story lines that staff called it Rogers daybook was typical of how Mr. Trump used his media platform to endear himself to the hard right. He spent an entire segment that morning talking about ways that the president could be lying about being born in the United States. Its turning out to be a very big deal because people now are calling me from all over saying, Please dont give up on this issue, Mr. Trump boasted.

Three days after that interview, the network announced a new segment on Fox & Friends: Mondays With Trump. A promo teased that it would be Bold, brash and never bashful. And it was on Fox & Friends where Mr. Trump appeared after his pizza outing with Ms. Palin in the spring, talking up his prospects as a contender for the White House over hers.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Ailes were, at first, seemingly well matched.

Though he had financial motivations for promoting sensational but misleading stories, Mr. Ailes also seemed to be a true believer in some of the darkest and most bizarre political conspiracy theories.

In 2013, Mr. Obama himself raised the issue with Michael Clemente, the Fox News executive vice president for news, asking him at the White House Correspondents Dinner whether Mr. Ailes was fully bought-in on the conspiracies over the presidents birthplace. Does Roger really believe this stuff? Mr. Obama asked. Mr. Clemente answered, He does.

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Where Fox News and Donald Trump Took Us - The New York Times

Donald Trumps incendiary call at a Texas rally for his backers to ready massive protests against radical, vicious, racist prosecutors could constitute obstruction of justice or other crimes and backfire legally on Trump, say former federal prosecutors.

Trumps barbed attack was seen as carping against separate federal and state investigations into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and his real estate empire.

Trumps rant that his followers should launch the biggest protests ever in three cities should prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal by criminally charging him for his efforts to overturn Joe Bidens 2020 victory, or for business tax fraud, came at a 30 January rally in Texas where he repeated falsehoods that the election was rigged.

Legal experts were astonished at Trumps strong hints that if he runs and wins a second term in 2024, he would pardon many of those charged for attacking the Capitol on 6 January last year in hopes of thwarting Bidens certification by Congress.

Former Richard Nixon White House counsel John Dean attacked Trumps talk of pardons for the rioters as the stuff of dictators and stressed that failure to confront a tyrant only encourages bad behavior.

Taken together, veteran prosecutors say Trumps comments seemed to reveal that the former president now feels more legal jeopardy from the three inquiries in Atlanta, Washington and New York, all of which have accelerated since the start of 2022.

Trumps anxiety was especially palpable when he urged supporters at the Texas rally to stage the biggest protests we have ever had in Washington DC, in New York, in Atlanta and elsewhere, should any charges be brought, a plea for help that could boomerang and create more legal problems for the former president.

Dennis Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor who is of counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy, told the Guardian Trump may have shot himself in the foot with the comments. Criminal intent can be hard to prove, but when a potential defendant says something easily seen as intimidating or threatening to those investigating the case it becomes easier, Aftergut said.

Aftergut added that having proclaimed his support for the insurrectionists, Trump added evidence of his corrupt intent on January 6 should the DOJ prosecute him for aiding the seditious conspiracy, or for impeding an official proceeding of Congress.

Likewise, a former US attorney in Georgia, Michael Moore, said Trumps comments could potentially intimidate witnesses and members of a grand jury, noting that it is a felony in Georgia to deter a witness from testifying before a grand jury.

Trump is essentially calling for vigilante justice against the justice system. Hes not interested in the pursuit of justice but blocking any investigations, Moore added.

Trumps angry outburst came as three investigations by prosecutors that could lead to charges against Trump or top associates all seemed to gain steam last month.

A special grand jury, for example, was approved in Atlanta focused on Trumps call to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger on 2 January last year, asking him to just find enough votes to block Joe Bidens Georgia victory, a state Trump lost by more than 11,700 votes.

Trumps call for huge protests prompted the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, who is leading the criminal inquiry, to ask the FBI to do a threat assessment to protect her office and the grand jury that is slated to meet in May.

Last month too a top justice official revealed that DOJ is investigating fake elector certifications declaring Trump the winner in several states he lost, a scheme reportedly pushed by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani by which vice-president Mike Pence could block Congress from certifying Bidens win. To Trumps chagrin, Pence rejected the plan.

Further, the New York state attorney general last month stated in a court document that investigators had found evidence that Trumps real estate business used fraudulent or misleading asset valuations to obtain loans and tax benefits, allegations Trump and his lawyers called politically motivated.

Ex-prosecutors say that Trumps Texas comments are dangerous and could legally boomerang as the prosecutors appear to have new momentum.

Our criminal laws seek to hold people accountable for their purposeful actions, Paul Pelletier, a former acting chief of the fraud section at DOJ, said. Trumps history of inciting people to violence demonstrates that his recent remarks are likely to cause a disruption of the pending investigations against him and family members.

Pelletier added: Should his conduct actually impede any of these investigations, federal and state obstruction statutes could easily compound Mr Trumps criminal exposure.

Trumps remarks resonated especially in Georgia, where former prosecutors say he may now face new legal problems.

Former prosecutor Aftergut noted that Willis understood the threat when she quickly asked the FBI to provide protection at the courthouse, and he predicted that the immediate effect on the deputy DAs working on the case would be to energize them in pursuing the case.

In a similar vein, ex-ambassador Norm Eisen and States United Democracy Center co-chair said Trumps call for protests in Atlanta, New York and Washington if prosecutors there charge him certainly sounds like a barely veiled call for violence. Thats particularly true when you combine it with his other statements at the Texas rally about how the last crowd of insurrectionists are being mistreated and did no wrong.

In addition, congresswoman Liz Cheney, the co-chair of the House panel investigating the 6 January Capitol assault by Trump followers, has stated that Trumps talk of pardons and encouraging new protests suggests he would do it all again if given the chance.

On another legal front, Aftergut pointed out that some Trump comments at the rally might help prosecutors at DOJ expand their inquiry. Trump handed federal prosecutors another gift when he said that Mike Pence should have overturned the election.

Some veteran consultants say Trumps latest attacks on prosecutors shows he is growing more nervous as investigations appear to be getting hotter.

Trumps prosecutor attacks are wearing thin with the broad Republican electorate, said Arizona Republican consultant Chuck Coughlin Hes trying to whip up the base for his personal gain. This is another iteration of Trumps attacks on the government.

From a broader perspective, Moore stressed that Trumps multiple attacks on the legal system at the Texas rally represent just another erosion of the norms of a civilized society by Trump. The truth has taken a backseat to Trumpism.

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Trumps incendiary Texas speech may have deepened his legal troubles, experts say - The Guardian

At a recent rally in Texas, Donald Trump talked about Hillary Clinton and how the 2020 election was allegedlystolen from him through voter fraud.

"The 2020 election was rigged and everyone knows it," Trump asserted, even though all such claims have been thoroughly disproved. The US Supreme Court, which is majority conservative thanks to judges put on the bench by Trump himself, has thrown out a lawsuit seeking to overturn election results in four battleground states.

If this rhetoric sounds familiar, it's because the messaging at Trump rallies today consists of bits and pieces he's been using since he first ran for president (such as the hatred against Hillary Clinton) and the voter fraud conspiracy he's been focused on since his 2020 loss.

"He is doing what he's always done: playing to his base and throwing them red meat," said Brandon Conradis, a campaign editor at the political news site The Hill and a former newswriter with DW. "It's the greatest hits, still."

On January 6, thousands of supporters of former President Donald Trump flocked to the US Capitol, waving flags and claiming the election had been stolen from their political idol. Later, some 800 protesters stormed the iconic building, hunting down lawmakers, beating up police officers and leaving a trail of destruction. Five people died in connection with the riot and dozens were injured.

Many observers later said the riot marked an attempt to overthrow the government, instigated or orchestrated by the former president. A select committee of the US House of Representatives has begun investigating the events, and Trump's possible role in them. For his part, Trump has claimed there was "love in the air" on January 6.

The Capitol riot sparked global outrage. Many Republicans still, however, say the incident was a legitimate means of protest against what they claim was a rigged election. Some Republicans have even staged rallies outside US prisons in support of jailed rioters. The exact interpretation of the January 6 events will certainly have a big impact on the US midterm elections in November 2022.

Hundreds of individuals are facing prosecution over their role in the January 6 attack. So far, over 50 people have been sentenced for their actions on that day. Many left a slew of evidence on social media, boasting of their crimes, which has helped in handing down convictions. Defendants willing to plead guilty can hope to receive a reduced sentence.

The city of Washington, D.C, is suing members of the right-wing extremist group Proud Boys, loyal Trump supporters, to recoup damages for the Capitol attack. Authorities have accused the group's leaders of having conspired "to terrorize the District of Columbia" in "a coordinated act of domestic terrorism." Criminal charges have already been brought against several Proud Boys members.

Radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is considered a key instigator of the Capitol riot. He drummed up support for the pro-Trump march in Washington, calling for a million people to turn up and protest against allegedly corrupt Democratic Party. The congressional panel investigating the events of January 6 has found Jones helped finance the rally.

Images of Jacob Chansley, a topless, tattooed rioter wearing a striking, horned headdress, went around the globe. He soon became a symbol of the January 6 attack. Now, the self-proclaimed "QAnon Shaman" and conspiracy theorist from Phoenix, Arizona, has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in jail.

Capitol Police officer Aquilino Gonell broke down as he rewatched footage of the deadly riot during a hearing of the congressional panel investigating the attack in July. That day, Gonell recalls, he thought "this is how I'm going to die, defending this entrance." One of Gonell's fellow police officers was killed in the Capitol riot, and four others committed suicide in the months that followed.

The reason die-hard Trump supporters managed to force their way into the Capitol is that US security agencies were unprepared. The US Senate found that despite warning signs of a potential attack, the police leadership failed to act: National Guard reinforcements were called in too late, and the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security downplayed the threat of violence.

Many political analysts predict Donald Trump will run again in the 2024 presidential election. While his supporters would be elated, critics would surely regard this as a nightmare come true. Until now, Trump has weathered practically all political scandals not even his role in the January 6 Capitol attack seems to have undermined a potential comeback.

Author: Oliver Pieper, Goran Cutanoski

Trump also came out with a new hit single, if you will, during his rally in Conroe last weekend. The former president spoke out stronger than he ever had before in favor of the insurrectionists who stormed the US Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021.

"If I run and if I win," he said, referring to the 2024 presidential election, "we will treat those people from January 6 fairly. We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly."

"When Trump says provocative things like this, he above all craves the attention," Michael Cornfield, associate professor of political management at George Washington University, told DW.

The violent attack on the Capitol saw an angry mob disrupting the session of Congress about to formalize Joe Biden's election win. Five people died, more than 700 have since been charged. As a result of the attack, Trump was impeached during his last days in office after being charged with "incitement of insurrection."

In the days following the Conroe rally, numerous high-profile Republicans have spoken out against Trump's idea of pardoning those who stormed the Capitol. South Carolina senator and well-known Trump ally Lindsey Graham said he hoped the perpetrators would "go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it."

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu was also adamantly against the idea. "Of course not," Sununu told CNN when asked whether the Capitol rioters should be pardoned. "Oh my goodness. No."

But high-profile Republicans, observers say, aren't the target audience for Trump's contentious statements anyway.

"Trump doesn't care about" criticism from the high echelons of his party, Conradis said. "He is appealing to his base, and those who stormed the Capitol are definitely part of it. Those are the die-hard [supporters] who are going to vote for him no matter what."

Thousands of people turn up to Trump's rallies like this one in Georgia in June 2021

Keeping his supporters close will be crucial if Trump does decide to run again in the 2024 presidential election. Statements that begin with "If I run and if I win" certainly make it sound like another Trump candidacy is a likely scenario.

"Obviously anything could happen, but where things are right now, he definitely wants to run again and is laying the groundwork," Conradis said. "He doesn't want people to forget about him. He loves the spotlight, he is a showman and he wants the media coverage."

Cornfield is less sure. "He's an entertainer with an important political position and a political past. But his political future is very much up in the air," he said.

Either way should Trump decide to run again, things are looking good for the former president. In a poll first published by The Hill at the end of January, Trump garnered 57% of the vote in a hypothetical 8-candidate 2024 Republican primary, the first place by a wide margin. In second place with 12% is Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

Currently Trump leads polls among potential Republican presidential candidates

Trump has also built up an impressive war chest. He raised $51 million in the second half of 2021 alone, bringing his total funds to $122 million, according to federal filings. Many of those dollars came from small-time donors, "normal Americans," as Conradis put it. "That in itself tells you how much support he still has."

Cornfield points out that Trump has only spent a fraction of this money on supporting candidates on the local and state level in the midterm elections coming up this November. Normally, the politics professor explains, someone looking to run for president would spend much more this way. But he believes Trump is saving the money for something else.

"He's knee-deep in lawsuits and it could get worse," Cornfield said.

And good legal defense is expensive.

Of course, Trump might also hope that he won't have to face any judges at all if things go his way.

"Not to be too cynical, but one of his primary motivations for running again is that he will make the case that because he's a candidate for president, he's immune from prosecution," Cornfield said.

Whether that move would work is a different story. As of now, it's still not clear whether Trump will attempt to take back the White House. If he does, though, the Democrats would face a serious opponent.

"Trump is still the person elected in 2016," Conradis said. "That's why he could win again."

Continued here:

Donald Trump 'laying the groundwork' for another presidential run - DW (English)