Category Archives: Donald Trump

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The Jan. 6 committee revealed several texts sent to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows urging former President Trump to condemn the capitol riot. Washington Examiner senior political correspondent David Drucker joins MSNBCs Chris Jansing to discuss the vote to hold Meadows in contempt and the text sent by Donald Trump Jr.Dec. 14, 2021

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Extremely interesting: David Drucker says of Donald Trump Jr. texts04:10

UP NEXT

'The support has been overwhelming: Muhlenberg Co. judge executive on Kentucky tornado aftermath04:08

'Covid is not going to go away without action': First U.S. covid-19 vaccine recipient09:33

FDA authorizes Pfizer Covid booster dose for ages 16 and 1700:16

There are tremendous downsides: Wall Street Journal reporter on Instagrams impact on kids03:30

'I recovered very quickly and I'm back to normal now': Vaccinated convention attendee on contracting Omicron variant04:35

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Extremely interesting: David Drucker says of Donald Trump Jr. texts - MSNBC

Mary Trump made headlines discussing tests sent by Donald Trump Jr. to President Trump's former chief of staff, Marj Meadows. The texts were released during a meeting of the committee investigating the riots at the Capitol on January 6th. In one text, Trump Jr. wrote about his father, "He's got to condemn this s*** ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough" (via CNN).

During an interview on MSNBC's "Last Word" with host Lawrence O'Donnell, Mary Trump did not hold back when asked this question, "Why was your cousin Don Jr. texting Mark Meadows on Jan. 6 instead of calling his dad?" Her response followed, "...in this particular instance, it's simply cowardice because Donnie knew the message he was sending was a message his father did not want to hear" (via People).

Mary agreed with her cousin, believing former President Trump could have put the violence to rest with one statement. "What they also knew though was that even though a horrific situation had gotten out of hand, they were directly responsible for creating it, as was Donald, and he was reveling in it," she said. "The only thing that disappointed him was that it didn't work that day."

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Mary Trump Shares Harsh Words About Donald Trump Jr.'s Texts On January 6 - The List

Former President Donald Trump appears to be eying a 2024 presidential run, but he also believes there are some "good people" within the Republican Party who could make a strong candidate if he chooses not to mount another campaign.

Trump's been teasing a return to the campaign trail since he left office and while he hasn't officially announced a campaign, he said his supporters would be "very happy" with his decision. The former president leads polls of hypothetical 2024 GOP nominees and his entering the race could convince other presidential hopefuls not to run. However, with Trump out of the race, it's likely several prominent Republicans would battle for the nomination.

During a Wednesday interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump said there are a "couple of people" who would be "very good" candidates for the nomination if he doesn't run. He has "two or three" people in mind, but he wouldn't tell Hewitt specifically who he thought would give Republicans their best chance at winning back the presidency in 2024.

Trump's likely going to wait until after the 2022 midterms to officially launch a campaign if he plans to run. At that point, he told Hewitt he would "discuss" the subject of who Republicans should "flock to" if he decides not to vie for the presidency again.

"I'll tell you about that someday soon, okay? I'll tell you about it, but I'm not going to say anything about it now," Trump told Hewitt when asked who Republicans should nominate. "We do have some good people. We really do. We have some very good people."

Throughout the interview, Trump pointed to his strong polling numbers in surveys about potential candidates for the Republican nomination in 2024. Trump also mounts a strong campaign in a hypothetical matchup with President Joe Biden, at times having the advantage and being in a statistical tie with Biden in other polls.

Some potential candidates, including Florida Representative Matt Gaetz and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, have said that they won't run for president if Trump decides to enter the race. However, Haley may be reconsidering that position.

In October, Haley told the Wall Street Journal that if she decides to runa decision she plans to make at the beginning of 2023she would call Trump and discuss her plans. Then, the two would "work on it together," a shift from April when she said she would only run if Trump did not.

Trump committed to helping Republican candidates win their elections in the midterms and he told Hewitt that he believed the Republican party would have a "great" 2022. He added that he thought the GOP would also have a "really incredible" 2024.

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Donald Trump Has 'Two or Three' People in Mind to Lead GOP in 2024 if He Doesn't Run - Newsweek

And yet the company has excited traders enough to boost its current market value to more than $2 billion. You might think that this means the Trump brand is actually worth $2 billion, but youd be wrong: The speculative run-up of the stock is a reaction to the $1 billion the Trump brand attracted, not to the Trump brand alone.

Did we say there are no big names attached to TMTG? Well, Trump is chair, and he is a big name. But he has no tech experience and a mixed record, at best, as a company-builder. The second biggest name at TMTG is Devin Nunes, whom Trump just appointed as the companys CEO. Nunes is a soon-to-retire Republican member of Congress who has degrees in agriculture science and lots of experience running his familys dairy farm, but no tech background. Sounds like a great starting rotation for a phantom team!

The ridicule thats gushing down on Trumps company from the tech and financial press is wholly warranted. Putting money into the company is is closer to gambling than investing, says Marketwatch. TMTG has already blown through its promise to produce a beta version of its Truth software by November and the Securities and Exchange Commission has commenced an investigation of whether Trumps media company had broken securities laws in its formation. All this flakiness gives us a safe harbor the size of the San Francisco Bay to speculate that Trump hasnt set out to create a viable media business as much as he has dreamed up a new fusion of politics, media and finance designed with one primary objective: To give people who like Trump an easy and legal way to give Trump money.

The way TMTG has come charging out of the gate with no product and no revenue but ample investors has financial journalists comparing it to a meme stock (like Gamestop, AMC and Blackberry) securities that appeal to nave retail investors who willingly ignore business fundamentals and buy depending on which way the social media winds blow.

A different point of comparison might be with other ex-presidents looking to cash in on their political celebrity. Trump isnt the first to board the money-go-round after leaving office. In the first dozen years out of office, Bill Clinton collected $106 million for giving speeches. Barack and Michelle Obama reportedly signed a $65 million book deal. But no former president and certainly no former president who is preparing to run again has ever dipped his cup into financial markets to raise the sort of money TMTG has raised overnight.

The prospect of another Trump run again raises fresh ethical issues. Who might the unnamed investors enlisted by Trump be, OBrien asks in his column? To whom might Trump become financially beholden? Who will have financial hooks into him if he regains the White House? The Saudis? United Arab Emirates? Russian oligarchs? Drug cartels? Any one of these groups would represent a conflict of interest not to mention a potential national security threat that would make his Trump Hotel entanglements look like free tickets to a monster truck show.

What, exactly, did unnamed investors buy when they dropped their millions into TMTG? And should we worry about them getting fleeced? No. This is 2021, after all, and even nave investors know the wretched history of Trumps bankruptcies, his poor record of running public companies, and his failure to pay back loans. That hes a stinker of a business partner is deeply baked into his persona by now. Anybody willing to invest with him today has either convinced themselves theyll find a greater fool they can sell their shares to later at a profit, or has decided that millions of dollars theyve invested will pay off with favors if he returns to the White House.

Trumps media company may look like a scam, but youve got to admire the way hes leveraged his name into a billion-dollar cascade that fills his coffers and also gives him a new vantage point to conduct his campaign against other media. $1 billion sends an important message to Big Tech that censorship and political discrimination must end. America is ready for TRUTH Social, a platform that will not discriminate on the basis of political ideology, was the way Trump bragged about it in a Saturday press release about a new round of investment.

The size of Trumps own stake in TMTG remains unknown, but its likely to have produced a better short-term payout than the 40 percent of the company the social media site Parler was said to have offered him at the beginning of the year to make it his home on the web. Why share his aura with Parler, he obviously thought, when capturing most of the value of Trumpiness for himself was possible?

Will TMTG end up a financial winner like Trump Tower, or a dud and an embarrassment like Trump Steaks? The 2016 election results are a permanent reminder that nobody should ever underestimate Trump. But does he possess the drive and retain the personal appeal to his fans that convert them into devoted users of Truth Social? Dan Alexander, who has been following the Trump initiative for Forbes, writes that the company could be worth $5.6 billion if it succeeds in attracting about 29 million users (one-third of the 86 million who followed Trump on Twitter), they become dedicated users, and TMTG serves them ads at Twitters rates ($186 per user). These are all big ifs, of course. Changing users media habits with a new site can be formidable. Parler, launched in 2018 as a Twitter alternative for the right-leaning, had only about 2.3 million active users last December, according to CNN.

In the coming months, as Truth Social goes live and users download the app, well quickly find out if Trump is worth the $1 billion bet investors have placed on him, or if the Trump aura is actually a mirage as TMTG collapses into lawsuits, acrimony and financial penalties extracted by the federal government in Trump University fashion. Either way, you can be assured that Trump will come out of it with a handful of cash. He always seems to.

******

Truth Social should market itself as Americas first anti-social media site. Send one-liners to [emailprotected]. My email alerts miss Orkut. My Twitter feed loved Friendster. My RSS feed clicks only on RSS feeds.

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Opinion | Finally, a Sort of Real Number for Donald Trumps Entirely Subjective Worth - POLITICO

It was one of Vince Lombardis most famous sayings.

"Show me a good loser, the famous Green Bay Packers coach said, and I will show you a loser.

By that, Lombardi meant that a person who faced defeat with grace really couldnt want to win. The thought of losing should burn so hot and so much that the competitor wouldnt be able to stand it, much less after a handshake and congratulations to the victor.

The problem with Lombardis thinking is that it ignores the discipline and determination required to demonstrate graciousness in defeat. Being able to summon the will to offer the person who defeated you in a contest that matters to you means you also will be able to find the resolve to learn from the experience and come back stronger and more formidable the next time.

Being a gracious loser isnt just a question of manners.

Its also a measure of character.

Its an indicator that a person has mastered his or her emotions and impulses enough to be successful. The person who can do the hard things when it is most difficult to do so is the one who wants to win the most.

This brings us to the political train wreck down in Georgia.

Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, should have been close to a lock for re-election in 2022. He is an incumbent in a state that has been reliably red for nearly three decades.

Now, his return to office is in doubt because of two bits of bad news he received in recent days.

The first bit was that Stacy Abrams planned to run against him again. Abrams is the Democrat who almost beat him in 2018. She is a prodigious fundraiser and an electrifying campaign presence.

She took Kemp to the wall four years ago. If he hadnt engaged in some creative and unscrupulous voter-suppression efforts, she likely would have beat him.

Now, shes solidified her position as one of her partys brightest stars and will have even more money and resources at her disposal to do battle this time.

Thats bad for Kemp.

The other bit of news was even worse.

Former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Georgia, will challenge Kemp in the primary. That means Georgias Republican gubernatorial candidate whether it ends up being Kemp or Perdue will have to undergo a brutal intraparty brawl before he even gets to square off against Abrams.

The question is: Why?

In terms of political philosophy, there isnt a sliver of difference between Kemp and Perdue. They are both rock-ribbed conservatives, adherents to all the same ideological beliefs.

Only one thing separates them.

Kemp was unwilling to lie about who won the 2020 presidential election. Perdue had no such qualms.

Perdue has been enthusiastic about embracing former President Donald Trumps prevarications about the 2020 campaign and he has yielded to the former presidents pleas to challenge Kemp in the primary.

Trumps aim here isnt to aid Republicans. Its to punish Kemp for disloyalty.

Thats because the former president cant stand to admit that he lost in 2020.

His refusal already has cost his party a great deal.

If Trump hadnt engaged in a prolonged pout about the 2020 results, Perdue and his fellow Republican Kelly Loeffler would have won the special election races in January. The GOP would control the U.S. Senate and that chamber would be the place where all President Joe Bidens plans died.

But Trump hasnt been able to summon the willpower to accept defeat with even a minimum of grace.

That means he hasnt been able to learn anything from the experience.

Because of that, Republicans lost the U.S. Senate at the beginning of this year. Now hes managed to toss the Georgia governors race into doubt by creating a civil war within the GOP, one that also will imperil the partys chances to hold onto the states U.S. Senate seat that will be on ballot in November, too.

All this is happening because Donald Trump couldnt acknowledge that hed been beaten. His denial of reality is so severe that hes willing to seize defeat from the jaws of victory, again and again.

Vince Lombardi was wrong.

Show me a sore loser and I will show you a loser.

One who finds ways to keep on losing.

John Krull is director of Franklin College's Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

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John Krull: Donald Trump and the art of losing - Terre Haute Tribune Star

During my recent trip to Washington, the dirty secret that, strikingly, almost every Democratic Party operative I spoke with confessed to is that while their party is surely on the ropes it is counting on Donald Trump, the cancer still bedeviling their Republican rivals, to bail them out in 2024.While many Democrats accept that the 2022 midterms will lead to a Republican wave, with the GOP retaking the House easily and quite possibly the Senate, this tsunami will have the paradoxical effect of tempting Trump to run again in 2024, a reality that had Democratic Party operatives literally cackling with glee. For while as Glenn Youngkin just showed in the Virginia governors race Trumpism (deregulation, tax cuts, disdaining fighting wars of choice, a strategic focus on China, and protectionism) remains popular, Trump assuredly is not, particularly with the independent voters who tend to determine the outcome of American presidential elections.Unquestionably, the GOP is still Trumps party. An October Morning Consult poll found that a dominant 47 percent of Republicans said they would vote for Trump if he ran in the 2024 party primaries, with only 13 percent supporting former Vice President Mike Pence and 12 percent rising star Ron DeSantis, the present governor of Florida. Reading the tea leaves, most Republican presidential hopefuls have not dared to declare, preferring to wait and see if Trump throws his hat into the ring once again.By all accounts, a Republican sweep of the 2022 midterms will paradoxically be the single most important event tempting him into the 2024 presidential race. The Trump camps view is that, with the Republicans on the rise and with their man according to Gallup polling the most popular leader of the party ever, the political circumstances could not be more propitious for his return to front-line politics, as he tries to become only the second president in US history (after Grover Cleveland) to regain the White House after losing it.Up to a point, all of this makes eminent sense. But it ignores the elephant in the corner of the room: Trumps culpability for the Jan. 6 riots on Capitol Hill, the worst stain on Americas democratic reputation in memory. Beyond the events tarring Trump historically in perpetuity, more practically, since that remorseful day, independent voters have deserted the former president in droves. It is safe to say that, during the coming presidential campaign, Trump will be asked about this damning incident incessantly.

The former president is forcing the Republican Party into pursuing extraconstitutional claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

Dr. John C. Hulsman

Worse still for the GOP, Trump simply cannot let the calamity fade from view. He is the first president in the history of the country to refuse to accept defeat in an election, all facts to the contrary. To put it mildly, endangering Americas cherished and unique political stability all for the sake of one mans ego is not something it seems likely most Americans are likely to warm to.Yet, unrepentant as ever, Trump plows ahead, citing conspiracy theories and refusing to accept the facts in front of his nose. In mid-October, the former president erratically insisted that his populist base wont be voting in 2022 unless Republican lawmakers prioritize his baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him a statement that (although merely amounting to wish fulfillment) obviously delighted the embattled Democrats.It has come to this for the Republican Party. The leader of the GOP is forcing them into pursuing extraconstitutional claims that a national presidential election was stolen from him. This is the price the party leadership is paying for its continued cowardice (and, yes, privately they all know better) in not refuting Trumps poisonous claims or even publicly making it clear that his dangerous, selfish actions in January were deeply wrong.While they are not and will not pursue Trumps 2020 election vendetta, by not refuting it and him, the rest of the party remains firmly tied to the whims of this erratic man. When I asked what the endgame was to get the party finally past Trump as no one of stature has the courage to refute him I was bluntly told: "We are waiting for him to lose again. Such is the GOPs lack of political courage at present.My Washington trip made it crystal clear that both parties critique of the other is spot on. Republicans are correct in that the Democrats are seen as navel-gazing infighters, who are worrying about everything but the one major issue (inflation) that Americans are most concerned with, while having an alarmingly aging president meekly follow the dictates of the out-of-control left of his party. At the same time, Democrats are right that the GOPs cowardly failure to get to grips with the seminal problem that is former President Trump leaves them securely tied to him as a political millstone.In normal times, both these critiques would be more than enough to doom the party in question to years in opposition. But, of course, these are not normal times. In the end, the party that leaves its analytical blinders behind and actually looks at itself squarely in the mirror, moving on from its current myopia, is likely to emerge victorious in 2024.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point-of-view

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Troubled Democrats have one thing going for them Donald Trump - Arab News

The House passed a sweeping legislative package on Thursday designed to guard against abuses of presidential powers as part of a package of reforms put forth by Democrats in the wake of former President TrumpDonald TrumpOn The Money Senate risks Trump's ire with debt ceiling deal Bank regulator erupts in partisan split as Democrats go rogue Biden to appear on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' on Friday MOREs White House tenure.

The legislation, titled the Protecting our Democracy Act, passed almost entirely along party lines by a vote of 220-208. Rep. Adam KinzingerAdam Daniel KinzingerHouse goes after Trump with bill to curb presidential abuses of power Roger Stone to plead the Fifth in Jan. 6 investigation The Hill's 12:30 Report - Presented by Facebook - Senate takes up Biden's vaccine mandate MORE (R-Ill.), who has been critical of his partys continued embrace of Trump, was the only Republican to vote to pass it, with all Democrats in support.

Passage of the bill came as President BidenJoe BidenNicaragua breaks diplomatic relations with Taiwan, recognizes Chinese sovereignty Biden reassures Ukraine's Zelensky of U.S. support amid Russian aggression On The Money Senate risks Trump's ire with debt ceiling deal MORE convened global leaders on Thursday to pledge new commitments to democracy at a time when traditional democratic traditions in the U.S. have faced unprecedented threats in recent years.

The legislation proposes statutory reforms in response to Trumps refusal to concede that Biden won the 2020 election; the blanket stonewalling by Trump officials in response to House Democrats subpoenas; Trump issuing pardons to his political allies; and repeated violations of a law prohibiting government officials from using their positions to engage in political activities. Democrats compared the legislative package to the campaign finance and ethics reforms made in the aftermath of the Nixon administration.

The need for stronger guardrails is greater than ever, said Rep. Adam SchiffAdam Bennett SchiffHouse goes after Trump with bill to curb presidential abuses of power Roger Stone to plead the Fifth in Jan. 6 investigation Jan. 6 panel faces new test as first witness pleads the Fifth MORE (D-Calif.), the chief author of the bill and House Intelligence Committee chairman who led the first impeachment inquiry against Trump in 2019.

Although the Trump presidency demonstrated the need for wholesale reinforcement of our democratic institutions, the Protecting our Democracy Act is less about the past than it is about the future, Schiff said.

Republicans blasted the legislation as unnecessary and an attempt to exert excessive control over the executive branch.

After nearly a year in power, it's time for Democrats to actually start governing and abandon their obsession with Donald Trump, said Rep. James ComerJames (Jamie) R. ComerHouse goes after Trump with bill to curb presidential abuses of power Overnight Defense & National Security Senate looks to break defense bill stalemate Oversight GOP eyes records on Afghanistan withdrawal MORE (Ky.), the top Republican on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, arguing that the bill diminishes the power of the executive branch.

The wide-ranging legislation put forth by Democrats would seek to establish more guardrails by, in part, requiring the Justice Department to provide information to Congress about any presidential pardon or commutation in cases involving a president or their relatives and suspending the statute of limitations for any federal crime committed by a sitting president or vice president.

It would further expedite the judicial process for congressional subpoena enforcement actions, after Trump officials effectively evaded participating in House Democrats investigations as court proceedings dragged on for months. In addition, it would authorize courts to issue fines to government officials who refuse to cooperate with congressional subpoenas.

Democrats were also frustrated over the years in their efforts to obtain Trumps tax returns, which the former president refused to disclose from the time he launched his campaign in 2015.

A provision of the bill would require the president and vice president, as well as major-party candidates for those offices, to release ten years worth of tax returns to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). And if they refused to disclose the returns, the Treasury Department would be required to provide them to the FEC, which would make them public.

Another provision of the bill would require political committees to report to the FBI and FEC about certain foreign contacts. And in turn, the FBI would have to inform congressional intelligence committees about any reported contacts.

More than a year after the election, Trump continues to falsely claim that he didnt lose the 2020 contest to Biden. Those falsehoods ultimately led to a mob of his supporters violently storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 in an attempt to stop Congress from formally ratifying the election results.

Trump's refusal to acknowledge that Biden won resulted in a delay of the ascertainment processthat allows the formal presidential transition to begin. The General Services Administration (GSA) didn't officially inform Biden that the Trump administration was ready to begin the process until more than two weeks after Biden was declared the winner in the election.

House Democrats bill would require each eligible presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate to be treated as the winner if the GSA doesnt begin the transition process within five days of an election, until an ascertainment is made or Congress certifies the actual winner.

Despite Democrats control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, the bill faces long odds for advancing in the Senate given a likely GOP filibuster.

At least two centrist Democrats, Sens. Joe ManchinJoe ManchinHouse goes after Trump with bill to curb presidential abuses of power Biden kicks off global democracy summit, acknowledges challenges in US The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Uber - Senate gets busy, except for Build Back Better MORE (W.Va.) and Kyrsten SinemaKyrsten SinemaHouse goes after Trump with bill to curb presidential abuses of power The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Uber - Senate gets busy, except for Build Back Better Pharma lobby eyes parliamentarian as last resort to nix drug pricing measure MORE (Ariz.), have remained adamant all year against changing Senate filibuster rules so that 60 votes arent required to advance almost all legislation.

Schiff urged his Democratic colleagues across the Capitol to establish an exemption to the filibuster for bills related to voting rights and protecting democracy.

I think any delay in passage of these democracy reforms continues to put our country at risk and this experiment in self-governance at risk, Schiff said.

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House goes after Trump with bill to curb presidential abuses of power | TheHill - The Hill

Recently, the biggest Trump-related news comes from the accusations made in the new book penned by the former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows (via Business Insider). Meadows claims that Trump knew he had COVID-19 before debating Joe Biden, and not even a diagnosis like that would have stopped him from hitting that debate stage.

Meadows wrote, "I shuddered at the thought of having to tell President Trump, a man who does not like to shy away from a fight, that we were going to have to cancel the debate with Joe Biden all because of an illness." However, Trump did debate Biden anyway.

Now, the former first lady is being implicated in this scandal (per The Washington Post). The writer of the column, Greg Sargent, penned that the whole Trump family could go down with this accusation, writing, "It turns out that this revelation, which comes in a new book by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, also implicates members of Trump's family, including Melania Trump and Donald Trump Jr."

He continued, "That's because multiple people around Trump, including his wife, Melania Trump, and his kids Donald Jr. and Eric, all sat mask-less at the Sept. 29 debate, according to contemporaneous reports, despite the fact that debate attendees were required to wear masks."

Time will tell how the fallout of this scandal will materialize.

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Melania Trump Could Be In Big Trouble Over This Donald Trump Scandal - The List

Mark Meadows, Donald Trumps former chief of staff, told a member of Congress he loved the idea of appointing alternate electors as part of a direct and collateral attack three days after the Nov. 3 presidential election, according to documents he submitted to the committee investigating the attack on the Capitol.

The committee revealed the information in a letter to Meadows lawyers informing them of their intent to move forward with contempt proceedings. The three-page letter gives further insight into Meadows involvement in the events related to Jan. 6, including a text message exchange between him and a member of Congress about appointing alternate electors in which he said, I love it, a text message exchange between him and an organizer of the Jan. 6 rally where Trump calls on the crowd to go to the Capitol, and a Jan. 5 email about having the National Guard on standby.

The letter does not give the name of the member of Congress with whom Meadows had the exchange but notes that the undisclosed lawmaker acknowledged that appointing alternate electors in certain states would be highly controversial.

Hours after the committee's letter was released, Meadows filed a lawsuit against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the eight members of the committee, claiming the subpoenas compelling him to cooperate fully are overreaching and illegal. Meadows' attorneys argue the subpoenas violate executive privilege and lack legislative power in an attempt to delegitimize the congressional committee.

Meadows was able to stave off contempt proceedings last week after he struck a deal with the committee to produce records and appear for a deposition. But he reversed course shortly after, with his lawyers claiming the information the committee sought from a third-party communication provider included intensely personal communications," according to a letter first published by Politico.

The abrupt change came immediately after Trump claimed details in Meadows newly released book The Chiefs Chief that alleged the former president had COVID-19 during the first debate with now-president Joe Biden were fake news. Meadows says in the book that the president had tested positive three days before and received a negative test a short time after.

Story continues

Meadows could be the third Trump ally to be slapped with criminal contempt charges for defiantly refusing to cooperate with the committees investigation. Jeffrey Clark, an exJustice Department official, asserted his Fifth Amendment rights after first claiming that conversations between him and Trump were protected by attorneyclient privilege. Steve Bannon said Trump's lawyers directed him to claim executive privilege over communications leading up to and during the insurrection. Trump also sought to use executive privilege to block the National Archives from turning over information to the committee.

The Jan. 6 committee has repeatedly pushed back against the claims of executive privilege, and the conundrum is also on trial in the DC court of appeals as Trumps lawyers said they would petition the Supreme Court to take on the case if they lose again.

Bannon will stand trial in July 2022 on contempt charges. The House of Representatives will likely vote to move forward with contempt charges against Clark, who is known to have supported Trumps efforts in trying to overturn the election.

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Donald Trump's Former Chief Of Staff Told A Member Of Congress He "Loved" A Plan To Undermine The Election Days Before Jan. 6 - Yahoo News

Hillary Clinton appeared to take a shot at her longtime political nemesis, former President Donald Trump, in her Twitter sendoff for departing German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday.

Merkel, of the center-right Christian Democratic Union Party, ceded her place in the Bundeskanzleramt on Tuesday to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a member of the left-leaning Social Democratic Party.

In commemoration, Clinton tweeted a photo of her and Merkel together, with a message praising the 67-year-old chancellor's 16-year tenure.

"After a decade and a half in power, Angela Merkel passes on the chancellorship of Germany today,".

"She led Europe through difficult times with steadiness and bravery, and for four long years, she was the leader of the free world. Thank you, Angela."

Observers keyed into the penultimate sentence as a very likely shot at Trump, whose often-upfront governance was criticized on the political left both domestically and abroad.

Clinton, however, is not the first visible American figure to make the claim that Merkel supplanted Trump as "Leader of the Free World" a moniker traditionally reserved for the American president, who leads the world's largest economy.

During an appearance at the annual SXSW event in Texas in 2017, CNN anchor Jake Tapper did so while lambasting Trump's denigration of certain media outlets:

"It's a difficult environment when the commander in chief of the country, Id say, Leader of the Free World, but I think thats Angela Merkel now, [he] hears anything he doesnt like and calls it, fake news,," Tapper quipped at the time.

BERLIN, GERMANY - DECEMBER 08: New German Chancellor Olaf Scholz holds his certificate of appointment at Bellevue palace on December 8, 2021 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Emmanuele Contini/Getty Images) (Emmanuele Contini/Getty Images)

A 2016 Washington Post "analysis" also made the claim that Merkel "became leader of the free world" during Trump's tenure.

In Berlin on Tuesday, Scholz said he promises to "take up the major challenges of this decade and well beyond that."

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Merkel wished Scholz luck at a handover ceremony at the chancellery. "Take possession of this house and work with it for the good of our country," she said. Scholz thanked Merkel for her work, telling her "you made your mark on this country."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Hillary Clinton jabs Donald Trump on Angela Merkel's last day: 'Leader of the free world for 4 years' - Fox News