Tag Archive for: Donald Trump

An Overlooked Trump Cabinet Pick Could Upend The Left’s Grip On Power

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President Joe Biden summed up his education vision last year with a few words.

“There is no such thing as someone else’s child. No such thing as someone else’s child. Our nation’s children are all our children,” Biden said while honoring the 2023 teacher of the year.

Biden’s remarks triggered a firestorm among Republicans, education activists and parents alike.

Now those Biden critics are strategizing for a potential second Trump administration. Priorities have been outlined, shortlists have been drawn. Some are preparing to join the administration.

But it’ll be up to Trump to make his pick for the unheralded but critical cabinet spot of education secretary.

“It’s pretty much impossible to overstate the importance of the education secretary. Not just to Americans today, but to America’s future,” Angela Morabito, spokesperson for the Defense of Freedom Institute, told the Daily Caller.

“It is not a secret that our country is falling behind while we’re spending more per student on education than nearly anywhere else on Earth. And yet, our results are mediocre to put it generously,” Morabito said.

There’s been no shortage of anonymously sourced conjecture on who might take other cabinet roles. But the Secretary of Education has flown under the radar despite being a hot-button issue for Republican voters — and a position that influences the future of the country in a way that’s unique from any other.

The issue of education has exploded into the spotlight during Biden’s term after accelerating at a slow burn during the Obama years, which prompted a pendulum swing under Trump. Conservatives now have a set of priorities ranging from reeling in Title IX to rooting out bias from academia and teacher training.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced students into their homes and onto their computers for months of remote learning. In the summer of 2020, the killing of George Floyd sparked racial outrage throughout the country. In response, higher education institutions raced to affirm their anti-racism and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) bona fides.

The takeover runs deep — in just a handful of years of full-blown DEI capture of higher education, universities have churned out a generation of insubordinate anti-American bureaucrats, Orwellian tech overlords and a protester industrial complex. The ideological opponents of conservatives virtually all share one common trait: they were trained and equipped on American college campuses.

Colleges and universities across the country implemented racial quotas, dropped standardized testing requirements and added segregated graduation ceremonies all in the name of DEI.

“I think, looking at all the DEI programs in higher ed is extremely important and starting to deny funds to colleges, who do the DEI programs. That way they either have to scale them back as we’re seeing some state schools doing like Texas and Florida, they’re scaling them back to stay there and try to hide the program or there’s abolishing the program altogether. But either one is incredibly important,” founder of the 1776 Project PAC, Ryan Girdusky, told the Daily Caller.

By 2023, the downstream effects of DEI and remote learning brought communities to a boiling point.

In K-12 education, a grassroots movement was born. Parents had become exposed to what their children were learning at school as lessons took place in the living room via Zoom. Concerned guardians cried out against critical race theory (CRT) lessons teaching students to value each other on the basis of their skin color. Communities sought to prevent their kids from being exposed to literature that could confuse them about sexuality and gender.

But it was too late. In K-12 education, students have fallen grade levels behind in math, reading and civics. Numerous jurisdictions have implemented policies allowing students to use bathrooms and join sports teams on the basis of their gender identity, rather than sex. Other K-12 schools host student clubs on the basis of race and themselves have implemented DEI initiatives.

“The idea of deconstructing, decolonizing math and decolonizing science are coming out of these teachers colleges, to get teachers who are just promoting critical theory in all its forms into K through 12 education. So the teachers colleges are essential place to look at,” Girdusky said.

The Biden administration has pushed many of the efforts rankling conservatives. The Department of Education has finalized a rule that would modify Title IX to protect students from discrimination on the basis of gender identity, a change that would allow boys — identifying as girls — to enter the ladies’ restroom.

On the higher education front, DEI policies have thrown out merit, experience and qualification, all things the nation’s universities were once highly renowned for. Student groups and activities on campuses have been divided into different racial groups. And in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, college students protested Israel at universities across America, in some cases threatening the lives of Jewish students.

Former Harvard University President Claudine Gay, former University of Pennsylvania President Liz MaGill and MIT President Sally Kornbluth sat in front of Congress on Dec. 5, 2023, fumbling through attempts to condemn antisemitism and explain how their institutions had become a cesspool of hatred.

“Our schools can and should be the best in the world. And they’re not,” Morabito told the Daily Caller.

Gay was ousted from her position after conservative journalists and activists uncovered numerous instances of alleged plagiarism in her academic writings. One of those conservative education activists, Christopher Rufo, told the Caller he’d like to see the next education secretary pursue an aggressive anti-DEI campaign nationwide.

“I think the next education secretary should be very aggressive in withholding or even terminating expenditures to universities that don’t meet a basic standard of fairness, equal treatment and compliance with American civil rights law,” Rufo told the Daily Caller. “This would send shockwaves through the entire public and private university system and start getting some of these ideologues who have captured University bureaucracies to start thinking twice before they administer discriminatory and illegal programs, which they do flagrantly at the moment.”

He added the next education secretary should make it clear to universities that if their policies fall out of line with the administration’s priorities, funding will be stripped.

Transforming America’s education system to meet conservatives’ vision will require the right person running the Department of Education. Numerous current Republican elected officials and activists have interest in the job, if offered, the Daily Caller has learned.

“I think when the country calls you to service, you have to listen. And when the president is looking to assemble a team to advance these ideas, these principles and these policies, he’s going to need the best people he can get. And I think something like that would be an offer that would be very difficult, if not impossible to refuse,” Rufo told the Daily Caller about the education secretary job.

“Me, I would do it,” Tiffany Justice, the co-founder of Moms for Liberty, told the Daily Caller. “I think that there are a lot of other people that I’ve met over the past three years who would be willing to serve in the next administration for the purpose of putting the focus back on academic achievement and meritocracy across America.”

Moms for Liberty has grown into one of the most prominent grassroots organizations advocating for parental rights in the nation’s K-12 schools. Focused on school board races and policies enacted at the state level, Moms for Liberty has become known for its battle against age-inappropriate gender ideology lessons and the implementation of CRT.

Justice added that she has been working with a team of individuals through the parental rights movement that she thought would make good leaders in the education department for the administration, including Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, South Carolina Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, Arkansas Secretary of Education Jacob Oliva and Florida Rep. Byron Donalds’ wife Erica.

Grassroots activists aren’t the only candidates to lead a potential Trump Department of Education. A who’s-who of elected Republican officials have the support of education groups that spoke to the Daily Caller, and there were indications some might be interested in the job.

One education group listed several current and former government officials on their shortlist for the position, including former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, former Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, former New Mexico Secretary of Education Hannah Skandera and Louisiana Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley.

“From her perspective, it’s something that she is interested in,” a spokesperson for Reynolds told the Daily Caller.

“Is this satire?” said a former campaign aide for Sasse, who is still close with the now-President of the University of Florida.

Walters, who didn’t indicate whether he would accept the position himself, listed Heritage Foundation President Dr. Kevin Roberts, PragerU CEO Dennis Prager, Youngkin, former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Sanders as his ideal candidates.

“First, I will do everything I can to support and help get President Donald Trump reelected,” Walters told the Daily Caller about whether he would accept the education secretary role if offered.

“I am focused on my role to ensure Oklahoma schools are rid of woke indoctrination, liberal union strangleholds, and reawaken a love for our country. The focus must be on firing Joe Biden and ending the culture for hating America,” Walters continued.

Another Oklahoman, Gov. Kevin Stitt, is “open-minded” about the position, an operative in the state told the Caller.

“I don’t have a firm answer on a yes or no, that he would take it. I do know that his reason that he got into public policy was because of the vitriol he has for the Department of Education and his number one personal goal in life is to see it completely dissolved,” an adviser to Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts told the Daily Caller.

Though the Heritage Foundation doesn’t have a formal endorsement for who it would like to see in the administration, there are role models the organization thinks are good examples for the movement.

“I know we’ve had multiple conversations with a handful of the current state superintendents, who I wouldn’t on the record say these are people that we would recommend or who we’d like to see, but people like Ryan Walters in Oklahoma, Manny Diaz in Florida, Ellen Weaver in South Carolina,” Crystal Bonham, a senior advisor to Roberts in communications at the Heritage Foundation, told the Daily Caller.

“They’re all doing work that we have pretty much wholesale endorsed and someone with their kind of character and background that would be ideal, if not Dr. Roberts. Or Lindsay Burke, she’s phenomenal,” Bonham continued.

As for Youngkin, his camp suggested he is very focused on continuing his leadership in Virginia.

“He’s got a clock behind his desk, in his office, in the Patrick Henry building where the governor’s suites are. It’s a countdown clock, because it’s only four years, you can’t run for reelection. So you know, this would all be just speculation. I certainly haven’t heard it. And I don’t know of any conversations that have occurred, but I do know that that his focus is definitely on Virginia,” Zach Roday, a former political adviser to the governor, told the Daily Caller.

The governor’s spokesperson pointed to how proud Youngkin is of his education track record in a statement to the Daily Caller.

“He’s focused on doing that right here in Virginia during his remaining time as Governor,” Christian Martinez told the Daily Caller.

Others are looking back for the best path forward.

“Secretary DeVos would be fantastic — I can’t think of anyone better and more battle-tested for the job,” school choice activist Corey DeAngelis told the Daily Caller. “She would be able to continue the momentum she started when she was at the helm of the department last time. If she is not interested in stepping back from private life again, the next Secretary of Education should be someone who will show a similar commitment to students.”

DeVos provided the Caller with several priorities she would like to see in a second Trump administration, including school choice legislation and undoing changes to Title IX that the Biden administration is eyeing. DeVos did not indicate whether she’d return to her old job, or if she had discussed it with the Trump team.

Girdusky was unsure who he would like to see in the education secretary role, noting that many contenders have a focus on school choice — a topic he thinks should be a priority but not a hyperfocus.

What the next Secretary of Education does will be even more critical than who it is. While right-leaning education advocates have been able to make progress against DEI policies and gender ideology, leading activists had different takes on what the department should prioritize if Trump takes the White House.

But rather than use federal power to enact change to the nation’s education system, some think the best solution is to get rid of what they consider to be the very problem.

“We need to dismantle the Department of Education,” Justice told the Daily Caller.

“Over the past 40 years that the federal government has really inserted its tentacles into every crack and crevice of American public education. And we need to tear it out root and branch so we are working at Moms for Liberty to ensure that we have a lot of advocacy at the state level. And in the counties where local control is so incredibly important,” she continued.

Justice added she wants to rid education of influence from outside agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In addition to dismantling the Department of Education, Walters told the Caller that he wanted the potential education secretary to drive DEI, CRT and transgender ideology out of schools, while also working to take down teachers’ unions.

Above all, Laurie Todd-Smith, director of America First Policy Institute’s Center for Education Opportunity, told the Daily Caller that she hoped a Trump education secretary would close the nation’s learning loss gap that students suffered after the pandemic. Todd-Smith also stressed the importance of undoing the Biden administration’s changes to Title IX.

In Texas, the state legislature has laid out the blueprint for using the government to rid universities of race-based initiatives, like Girdusky, Rufo and others have advocated.

Introduced by Republican state Sen. Brandon Creighton in March 2023, Texas State Bill 17 quickly passed through the state legislature to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk, where it was signed into law in June 2023. Under the legislation, an institution is not permitted to spend money appropriated to the institution for a state fiscal year until the Board of Regents submits to the legislature and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board a report certifying that it has complied with restrictions on DEI.

The Texas law bans DEI offices and initiatives at state-funded higher education institutions. The law also prohibits institutions from considering diversity statements from job applicants and bans mandatory DEI training for staff.

Now, Texas universities are facing consequences because of the law.

In April, the University of Texas Dallas laid off nearly two dozen of its DEI faculty in an effort to comply with the law, CBS News reported. The University of Texas at Austin eliminated 60 jobs and its Division of Campus and Community Engagement (previously called the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.)

While Justice and Rufo have priorities focused on their expertise, some education activists have a two-pronged approach in mind.

Girdusky said he hoped to see the future education secretary prioritize both K-12 learning loss while tackling issues in higher education.

“But really what there is, is there’s a two-step priority, one is going to be higher ed and the other one’s going to be lower education K through 12. A huge priority has to be to go after the teacher’s colleges. Because a lot of the problems that we’re seeing as far as education goes comes from teachers and colleges,” Girdusky told the Daily Caller.

In the same vein as Girdusky, Morabito expressed that the future education secretary should withhold funds from institutions or K-12 schools that engage in divisive activities.

“The first and the most powerful is federal civil rights law. It is unlawful for any federally-funded program or activity to discriminate based on race or sex, or perceived national origin. So federal funding should not be going to anywhere that discriminates based on sex or race or discriminates against the Jewish students based on shared national origin or perceived ancestry,” Morabito told the Daily Caller.

As for what Trump plans to focus on in a potential second administration, Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, pointed the Caller to the former president’s already-released education plans.

Under the former president’s priorities for a second administration are several education focused initiatives. To tackle higher education, Trump says he will “fire the radical Left accreditors” and impose standards to remove all “DEI bureaucrats.”

Trump also released his 12-step plan for K-12 education, which would include passing legislation to prioritize “curriculum transparency and a form of universal school choice.” The priorities note that Trump would “keep men out of women’s sports,” an indication that he would undo any changes the Biden administration makes to Title IX.

Several education groups and activists that the Caller spoke with said they had not had any engagement with the Trump campaign about their vision for education.

Leavitt referred the Caller to a December 2023 statement from advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita on media speculation over transition team efforts. The statement, Leavitt said, makes it clear “that outside groups do not reflect official campaign policy or strategy.”

“People publicly discussing potential administration jobs for themselves or their friends are, in fact, hurting President Trump…and themselves. These are an unwelcomed distraction,” the statement from Wiles and LaCivita reads. “Second term policy priorities and staffing decisions will not – in no uncertain terms – be led by anonymous or thinly sourced speculation in mainstream media news stories.”

“I think it’s very important that we need an education secretary who is youthful, aggressive, intelligent, and ruthlessly determined to shatter the status quo. And so, establishment figures will no longer make the cut, and even Trump’s ambitious policy agenda on education, he’s going to need a leader who can step in day one, with the courage to get things done,” Rufo told the Daily Caller, also noting that he has a very good relationship with the former president’s policy team.

Girdusky said he asked the Trump campaign about the position around the turn of the new year.

“He had not gotten the nomination at the time and it just wasn’t the biggest priority at the time, which it was probably like, January when I spoke to them, maybe December even. So the nomination process hadn’t even come up. And I was just talking about the idea of education secretary or whatnot, and they didn’t have a list of names. It was a very informal conversation,” Girdusky told the Daily Caller.

Three prominent education groups that the Daily Caller spoke to had not had much communication with the Trump campaign about the issue. DeAngelis, Defense of Freedom Institute and Freedom Works’ education initiative “B.E.S.T’ all told the Daily Caller that they had not spoken with the campaign about their priorities or their short list.

Roberts, while in touch with the Trump campaign regarding Heritage’s transition project, has not spoken with the campaign about serving in the administration himself, a senior adviser told the Caller.

“Not at this point. They do talk fairly regularly. Most of that has to do with Project 2025 and kind of general, kind of getting ready for the transition period. So at this point, they haven’t yet talked about specifics in terms of if he’d be willing to take a cabinet position or if that’s even been offered,” an adviser told the Caller.

The same could be said for Justice.

“I’m throwing my hat in the ring now. How’s that?” she said.

AUTHOR

REAGAN REESE

White House correspondent.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Here Is What We Know About The Twelve Jurors Selected For Trump Trial

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All twelve jurors have been selected for former President Donald Trump’s trial relating to Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s allegations he falsified business records to hide a payment to pornstar Stormy Daniels.

The jurors include an investment banker, a security engineer with three children, a retired man from Lebanon who enjoys fly fishing, a speech therapist, a worker at an eyewear company, a woman from California who works in product development and a physical therapist, according to Politico. The panel is comprised of seven men and five women, according to NBC News.

The seven jurors sworn in Thursday join five who were selected on Tuesday, completing the panel that will weigh Bragg’s 34 count indictment against the former president. Six additional jurors are needed to serve as alternates, and Judge Juan Merchan said he is “hopeful” that selection will finish tomorrow, according to NBC News.

One alternate has already been selected, according to multiple reports. The alternate is a female asset manager who “likes to run, hang out with her friends and eat,” according to NBC News.

The jury’s foreperson, selected Tuesday, works in sales and is originally from Ireland, according to Politico. He’s married, likes “anything outdoorsy,” lives in West Harlem and reads The New York Times, Fox News and MSNBC, according to NBC News.

The second juror is a married investment banker who says he follows Trump’s posts on Truth Social, according to NBC News.

The third juror is a young corporate law attorney from Oregon who lives in Chelsea. He’s unmarried and says he gets news from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Google, according to CNN.

The fourth juror has three children and likes woodworking and metalworking, according to NBC. He’s a security engineer without any social media accounts, according to CNN.

The fifth juror is a young, female English teacher who lives with her boyfriend in Harlem, according to NBC News.

The sixth juror is a recent college graduate who works as a software engineer. She lives in Chelsea with three roommates and does not have strong feelings about Trump, according to CNN.

The seventh juror is a civil litigation attorney from North Carolina who lives on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. He has two kids and is married, according to CNN.

The eighth juror has two kids and used to be a wealth manager. He’s retired now and enjoys hobbies that include skiing, fly fishing and yoga, according to NBC News.

The ninth juror is an unmarried woman who lives alone, works as a speech therapist and said she likes reality TV podcasts, according to CNN.

The tenth juror, originally from Ohio, works in commerce and enjoys podcasts on behavioral psychology, according to CNN.

The eleventh juror, who Trump tried to remove after she said she did not like his “persona,” is a product development manager, according to CNN.

The twelfth juror is a female physical therapist who listens to sports and faith-based podcasts, according to NBC News.

Seven jurors were initially selected on Tuesday, though two were released earlier Thursday, according to reports. One said she did not believe she could be impartial after friends and colleagues asked her if she was a juror. Another was dismissed after prosecutors questioned the truthfulness of his answer on the jury selection questions.

Merchan directed the media Thursday not to report physical details about jurors or information about their employers.

AUTHOR

KATELYNN RICHARDSON

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: Trump Case Judge Directs Media Not To Report Certain Details About Jurors

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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‘Rather Despicable’: John Eastman Speaks Out After Bank Of America, USAA Shut Down His Accounts

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One of the left’s biggest political targets recently found himself “de-banked” with no warning and little avenue for recourse, the Daily Caller has learned.

John Eastman, once an attorney for former President Donald Trump, was de-banked twice in the span of several months by two prominent financial institutions, Bank of America and USAA, he told the Daily Caller. His accounts were closed as he faced substantial backlash for his work advising Trump around the time of the 2020 election.

Eastman said he had switched most of his banking from Bank of America to USAA, a company that provides financial services exclusively to military veterans as well as their families, due to the former’s “wokeness.” Both corporations are federally insured, and Bank of America was bailed out with billions of dollars in taxpayer funds during the global financial crisis.

Bank of America alerted Eastman in September of 2023 that it would be closing his accounts, a letter obtained by the Daily Caller shows. Shortly thereafter, USAA notified Eastman in November that his two bank accounts with the company would be closed, a separate letter shows.

“And then two months later, we get a similar letter from USAA saying that they’ve decided that they’re going to close your account and they did like three weeks later,” Eastman told the Daily Caller. “And so that was where all of our automatic payments were coming out of, all our automatic deposits. So it was a real pain to shift everything. We had to get a new bank account opened and shift everything over.”

Eastman was notified of his USAA accounts being closed on Nov. 20, 2023. A few weeks prior, a California judge made a preliminary decision saying that Eastman was culpable of ethics violations in a state bar disciplinary case, CNN reported.

USAA claimed in its letter that it was “exercising its right to no longer do banking business” with Eastman per its “Depository Agreement.”

“We may close your account for any reason without advance notice. We may require you to give us a minimum of seven (7) calendar days advance written notice when you intend to close your account by withdrawing your funds,” a section of the agreement reads.

USAA did not respond to the Daily Caller’s multiple requests for comment.

When Eastman inquired about the closures, the banks said it was their policy to not provide any more information on the matter, he told the Daily Caller. An audio recording of Eastman’s call to Bank of America, provided to the Daily Caller, reflects as much.

LISTEN: 

“De-banking” is a phenomenon in which financial institutions refuse financial service to the targets of political activism, who often end up being conservatives.

“What these banks are doing is they’re saying you’re either high risk, or we don’t want to do business with you, or whatever it is. There’s no methodology behind this. There’s no kind of reason that matches traditional indicators or traditional metrics that a bank would use to calculate your liquidity, your credit score, whatever it is. They’re using these non-financial factors, and then making these decisions and just like closing people’s accounts,” Eric Bledsoe, an expert on de-banking for the Foundation for Government Accountability, told the Daily Caller.

In typical de-banking situations, it is normal for the banks to withhold their reason for suddenly closing their clients’ accounts, Bledsoe added.

Eastman told the Daily Caller he was using the accounts he had set up with Bank of America and USAA for personal finances. He and his wife qualified for USAA bank accounts because his father-in-law served in the Navy in WWII and in the Marines in the Korean War, the attorney told the Daily Caller.

“We had Bank of America accounts for about 40 years. But just because of their wokeness we kind of quit a couple of years ago, using them much. They’ve got physical locations and therefore easy ATM, so we kept our accounts there, but we didn’t use much. And about four or five years ago, we opened USAA bank accounts and we were using those as our primaries,” Eastman said.

The Daily Caller reached out to the Bank of America for comment, giving the corporation multiple days to respond. Bank of America initially told the Caller it would answer, though about an hour before the deadline provided, the company decided not to comment.

“Just as a general policy, we don’t comment on client matters. So I don’t have a comment at this point on the situation,” Bill Haldin, from Bank of America media relations, told the Daily Caller after asking if the focus of the story was solely on Eastman.

Bledsoe spoke to the political nature of de-banking and how it can make Americans’ lives harder.

“I’m gravely concerned. It really is the kind of next step in [Environmental, Social and Governance]. So ESG across the board, it really is about like, re-directing capital away from the politically disfavored and to the politically favored at the moment, without going through the political process at all,” Bledsoe said.

Neither bank specified to Eastman whether the closing of his accounts was for political reasons, though he has his suspicions.

“I’m 99.9% confident,” he said. “What I don’t know is whether they didn’t want to do business with me, or whether they didn’t want to continue to be hassled by federal regulators for doing business with me. I don’t know which of those two it is, either one of them is rather despicable.”

Eastman’s confidence could, in part, be attributed to the litany of challenges he has faced following the 2020 presidential election.

Since Eastman argued that Vice President Mike Pence had the power to help deliver Trump the 2020 presidential election, the attorney has seen his life be uprooted by his opponents. Just days after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, Eastman resigned as a law professor from Fowler School of Law at Chapman University after the school faced pressure to oust him, Forbes reported. In a statement of his own, Eastman said he had “mixed feelings” about resigning, though the school said the pair had reached an agreement on the matter.

Then, at the end of that month, the University of Colorado’s Benson Center for Western Civilization banned Eastman from speaking at the institution despite being a visiting scholar, according to Forbes.

“The University of Colorado Boulder relieved John Eastman of duties related to outreach and speaking as a representative of the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization,” the institution said in a press release.

Nearly a year later, in June 2022, FBI agents seized Eastman’s phone as he was leaving a restaurant, the Associated Press reported. Eastman and his wife have also experienced death threats, graffiti threats in their neighborhood and have had spikes planted in their driveway, his friend Josh Hammer wrote in a column.

A number of red state attorneys general — including from Florida, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana and Montana — voiced their opposition to the de-banking trend after the Daily Caller laid out Eastman’s situation. Many of the state AGs pointed to politics as a potential reason Eastman’s accounts were closed.

“No American should lose their bank account because banks want to play politics. Time and time again, we are seeing banks target and cut off those they disagree with and refuse to explain why. That is unacceptable,” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird told the Daily Caller.

“De-banking contradicts the very character of our nation, as elites wrongfully use their power to punish their political opponents. Here’s the bottom line: If financial institutions are punishing consumers who don’t fall in line with their political beliefs, that could constitute a violation of both state and federal law,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey told the Daily Caller.

Now, Eastman is being prosecuted by Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis as part of her case against Trump. On March 27, a California judge ruled that Eastman should be disbarred due to his legal advice in the wake of the 2020 election. The case will now move to the state Supreme Court for a final decision.

“I just think this is a terrible trend. I think it’s harmful. I think it prohibits people from bringing their values and the public square into the marketplace. And they have every constitutional right under the Free Exercise clause to bring their values into the marketplace. And I think this is also I think this is something we’re just gonna have to fight against,” Sam Brownback, an attorney and former U.S. Senator whose Christian non-profit was de-banked, told the Daily Caller.

AUTHOR

REAGAN REESE

White House correspondent. Follow Reagan on Twitter.

RELATED ARTICLES:

‘It’s Dangerous’: Daily Caller Reporter Reagan Reese Rips ‘De-banking’ Of John Eastman, Christian Groups

In Defense of Dr. John Eastman, Esq. Who Questioned the 2020 Election – Part 1

In Defense of Dr. John C. Eastman, Esq. Who Questioned the 2020 Election – Part 2

Defending John Eastman — Part 3

Judge Says Fani Willis Must Ditch Nathan Wade Or Step Aside From Trump Case

RELATED VIDEO: Trump Attorney Debanked by Bank of America & USAA with Dr. John Eastman – OAN

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

This Video Builds A Rock Solid Case For Only Trump As The Commander-in-Chief

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We have written about why Donald J. Trump is the only real choice for America’s patriots to become the 47th President of the United States, here, here and here.

It appears that World Net Daily’s Bob Unruh agrees with us. In his April 15th, 2024 article titled “Stunning video builds case for only Trump as commander-in-chief”  Bob wrote,

A stunning new video has been delivered that makes the case for ONLY President Donald Trump as commander-in-chief.

The Gateway Pundit explains it is the “most powerful pro-Trump ad of the year” – “It is that good.”

It is from Claremont Institute chairman Tom Klingenstein, a philanthropist, public speaker, writer, and playwright.

He explains:

Now that President Trump is the Republican nominee for President in 2024, it’s time for Republicans, including those who doubt him or even can’t stand him to get behind him. The times demand it. We are in a war fighting an enemy of revolutionaries that kick and spit on America. I call our enemy the Woke regime or the Group quota regime. This war is a contest between those who love America and those who hate it. But we do not have a commander-in-chief. You can’t win a war without one. We shouldn’t much care whether our commander-in-chief is a real conservative, whether he is a role model for children, or says lots of silly things, or whether he is modest or dignified.

What we should care about is whether he knows we are in a war, knows who the enemy is, and knows how to win.

Trump does. His policies are important but not as important as the rest of him. Trump grasps the essential things. He understands the Group quota regime is evil and will not stop until it destroys America. He is a fighter, bold, brave, and decisive, who has confidence in himself and his country.

Trump never apologizes for America. He rightly believes America is the greatest country in history. Trump says, in effect, we have our culture. It’s exceptional, and that’s the way we want to keep it. And we won’t keep it if we usher in millions of immigrants with cultures different from our own. Trump knows his job is to protect Americans and just Americans. Protect them not just from enemies abroad, but from the woke globalists within. He knows that America does not need more diversity. It needs more cohesion. The woke radicals tell the Trump voters they are a threat to democracy. Think about that. They’re saying, You Trumpsters are a threat to democracy. The woke radicals also tell us ad nauseam that America is systemically racist. Trump knows this is deadly nonsense, and he says so. This charge of systemic racism bounces off Trump because he has no white guilt, or any guilt for that matter. Trump tells his supporters what they already know. They are not racist, and they do not have white privilege. The woke radicals shut up those who disagree. Trump will not be shut up. If they manage to put him in jail, he will still roar like a lion.

The woke radicals have the moral arrogance of fanatics. Trump, God bless him, knows we are all sinners. Trump rejects the utopian fanaticism of the woke radicals. He is a businessman who takes the world on its own terms and navigates by facts and common sense. Trump’s base knows firsthand the America that Trump wants to recover. They love him, and they know he loves them. They will fight for him because they know he will fight for them. Trump speaks to his supporters as fellow citizens without any condescension or poll-tested BS. Despite his billions, he is one of them, an outsider looking in, a man who takes catsup on his steak. And is as disgusted as they are with the anti-American elite.

This natural appeal has molded everyday patriotic Americans into an army. We cannot stop the left’s revolution and retake the nation without these men and women. Unlike most Conservatives, they will actually fight for America. But they follow Trump. Without him, they stay home. With him, they are united and determined. At his rallies, his audience invariably breaks into chants of USA, USA. In these moments, Trump and his audience mutually pledge to each other their fidelity and their sacred honor.

His enemies hate him with an indescribable fierceness. Another Hitler, they say. Elect him and he will be a dictator. We should take this hysteria as reason for hope.

The America-haters rightly fear that Trump and his party are on the threshold of a successful counter-revolution. Trump hates his enemies every bit as much as they hate him. His enemies are America’s enemies. Trump is the most towering figure of our time. He has changed politics, not just in America, but in the West. If we are to take back America, we need someone who is unmovable, who has proven that he can stand up against the immensely powerful army of woke modernity that will attack him with all its might. Someone who will go after the deep state without pity or compassion. And someone who has the conviction that America is still the last best hope of Earth. That someone is Trump. Trump, the politician, came out of the blue. An unconventional commander against an unconventional enemy. Almost inconceivable as President at any other time.

Trump fits this turbulent moment to a T. Is it too much to wonder whether the appearance of this most unconventional man is providential?

Lincoln spoke of Americans as the almost chosen people. Trump gives us hope that the God who has never forsaken his almost chosen people will not do so now.

Read full article.

WATCH: Claremont Institute chairman Tom Klingenstein on Trump’s Virtues – Part II.

The Bottom Line

In our column Comparing Two Democrats: Confederate Jefferson Davis and Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. we warned that America is in a Civil War 2.0.

American Civil War 2.0 is about destroying our Constitutional Republic and replacing it with a one world order. It also requires the enslaving of the American people.

It is yet to be seen if it will become a fully armed conflict, although we are witnessing groups like the pro-Hamas supporters calling for “the death of America” and their storming of the White House and violent marches across America waving the flag of the terrorist group Hamas and the burning of the American flag.

Unlike the Civil War of 1861, the American Civil War 2.0 is in essence not seceding from the United States but rather destroying it from within by a cabal of traitors.

Abraham Lincoln wrote, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

We know what President Donald J. Trump must do when inaugurated on January 20th, 2025.

He must drain the swamp from the schoolhouse to the White House, completely and totally.

©2024. Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

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‘About To Combust’: Republicans Have Golden Opportunity To End Spying On Americans — But It’s Tearing Them Apart

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Intelligence community abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) have gone from a niche issue for libertarian-minded politicos to a priority among the Republican Party base, thanks largely to former President Donald Trump.

Republicans have a chance to put an end to the law once and for all – or at least significantly reform it – but the party has spent months trying to reach a consensus on how to balance national security with the rights of Americans.

“It’s delicate right now. The place is about to combust,” a GOP source on Capitol Hill told the Daily Caller on Monday.

Under Section 702 of the FISA, the government has the authorization to gather foreigners’ communications who have been flagged in relation to national security matters. The communications can be gathered even if the subject was talking about, or with, Americans.

FISA was elevated from a relatively niche issue with the attention of privacy hawks in D.C. to a critical sticking point for Republicans after it was used to spy on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election season. Based on FISA-enabled surveillance, the national security state and corporate media were able to undercut Trump’s first term in office by perpetuating the “Russiagate” conspiracy theory, the former president’s allies have argued in the years since.

The surveillance bill is set to expire on April 19, and after punting negotiations in December, Republican lawmakers, including avowed Trump allies, are now forced to consider the contentious issue.

The GOP is divided into two broad camps over various proposed reforms, perhaps most notably a warrant requirement. National security hawks aligned with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence have expressed more opposition to the requirement and other privacy-minded reforms — members aligned with the Judiciary Committee are stressing that FISA must no longer be a tool that can be used to spy on Americans, like what happened with the Trump campaign.

In February, negotiations restarted on the legislation, a GOP source explained to the Daily Caller. At the time, the GOP source said, the rough agreement was that the Intelligence bill would be the base while the Judiciary would be given the opportunity to add amendments. The arrangement led to some disagreements over what the base of the bill should be, the source continued.

The battle has since gotten more heated, after Speaker Mike Johnson put forward a compromise reform bill: the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA).

“I don’t think [RISAA goes far enough] I think that these are a lot of papered over reforms that FBI was doing internally, or were claiming that they’re doing internally,” Republican Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs told the Caller.

“RISAA doesn’t go nearly far enough in protecting Americans from illegal spying by their own government. It is a sham reform, and House Republicans should not vote for any FISA reauthorization that lacks a warrant requirement. Speaker Johnson and the GOP majority have a real opportunity to end this madness, and they should take it,” Rep. Mike Lee told the Daily Caller in a statement.

Ahead of the renewal fight this week, Speaker Johnson put forward RISAA, a bill backed by Ohio Rep. Mike Turner and the intelligence committee. Privacy hawks across the political spectrum have said the legislation doesn’t go far enough.

“Speaker of the House Mike Johnson claims that RISAA reflects a compromise,” reads a joint statement from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Brennan Center for Justice and Freedomworks. “In reality, this bill is not a ‘compromise,’ and its 56 ‘reforms’ codify the unacceptable status quo.”

“Making 56 ineffective tweaks to a fundamentally broken law is not reforming it. Absent significant amendment, RISAA will do nothing to prevent the government’s repeated abuses of Section 702 to spy on Americans.”

“Any member of Congress who supports extending FISA without radical reforms should receive a ‘Deep State-approved’ logo to burnish for their reelection campaign,” longtime D.C. journalist Jim Bovard, who focused on privacy rights and civil liberties, told the Caller.

“If Congress cannot yank in the reins on the FBI and NSA after millions of confirmed violations of Americans’ rights, only a fool would expect Congress to ever give a damn about the Constitution.”

Much of the pressure that is mounting is being directed at Speaker Mike Johnson. Johnson has faced increasing criticism from the Trump wing of his conference, with Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene threatening to oust him from the speakership for helping pass a government funding bill, among other complaints.

The move to put forward RISAA has invited more criticism for Johnson from within his own conference.

“FISA is tricky right now. It’s expected that Mike Johnson will just roll over on this — like everything else he’s done,” a GOP source told the Daily Caller before the Speaker indicated that he would try to bring RISAA to the floor.

“Mike Johnson is a constitutional conservative who was fighting for the judiciary committee six months ago, and now when you look at his actions, since he’s become speaker, it kind of seems that he switched teams. They’re going to deny it and say ‘well you know he’s the speaker now,’” a senior GOP aide told the Daily Caller.

Turner’s office offered an unequivocal defense of the bill, stating it is “not an expansion of warrantless surveillance on American citizens.” Turner has consistently denied that his version of FISA reform constitutes a warrantless surveillance program against Americans.

Some Republicans have gone on the record to question Johnson’s personal record on privacy issues.

“House leadership, including @SpeakerJohnson and @RepJeffries, voted for a FISA 702 warrant requirement in 2018. Now they’re both opposing a warrant requirement. Why do the Intel Bros™️ get to tell House leadership what to do?” Lee tweeted Tuesday.

A failure on the GOP’s part to properly rein in FISA could send a bad signal to Republican voters, journalist Matt Taibbi told the Caller.

“If Republicans don’t vote for extensive FISA reform, it will mean they were never serious about getting to the bottom of the abuses in the Trump/Russia investigation. It would send a devastating message to Republican voters in particular,” he said.

“When I started working on the Russiagate story, I started hearing horror stories from Hill staffers, who apparently were surprised to learn how pervasive the misuse of FISA has been since passage of the FISA Amendments Act in ’08,” he continued. “The unmasking procedure has proved to be a joke with no real safeguards, and parallel structure (i.e. using intelligence illegally obtained from programs like this in ordinary criminal investigations) is probably far more common than we think.”

Johnson did previously vote to extend FISA surveillance in 2018, despite Trump’s opposition, but has fought along Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan to push back on FISA abuses more recently.

Trump has been a vocal critic of FISA abuses, due to the law being used to surveil his campaign during the 2016 election.

“‘House votes on controversial FISA ACT today.’ This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?” the then-president tweeted in Jan. 2018.

During the 2016 election, the FBI used a document complete with opposition research on the former president to earn the approval from a secret court that oversees FISA to secretly monitor Trump aide Carter Page, according to CNN. The document, the infamous Steele Dossier, included unverified claims that the Russian government had compromising personal and financial information on the eventual president.

The former president’s White House later put out a statement undercutting Trump, clarifying that the administration believed Section 702 “is vital to keeping the nation safe” while adding that renewing the bill “is a top priority of the administration.”

It was later revealed in 2023 through court documents that the FBI had been using data obtained through FISA improperly to search Americans, including some who attended the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and Black Lives Matter protests, Newsweek reported.

As a result of Trump’s vocal opposition, and the way FISA was used against his campaign, the issue has become pressing for many of his supporters.

The FISA debate last reared its head in December of 2023 when Congress was considering the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). An extension of Section 702 until April was added to the bill, and nearly 150 House Republicans voted for the package.

When the package passed in December with the inclusion of FISA extension, Trump’s supporters, who blame the legislation for spying on the former president, became enraged. Trump-aligned figures like Charlie Kirk and Kash Patel blasted House Republicans.

Some in Trump’s orbit are sounding the alarm this time around too: “We know that 702 was abused to spy on Americans and specifically to spy on Donald Trump,” former Trump administration official Ric Grenell told the Caller. “The current draft doesn’t fix the abuses and therefore the bad outweighs the good.”

Lawmakers who have aligned themselves with Trump, yet voted for the NDAA with FISA extension within it, include Kentucky Rep. James Comer, Speaker Johnson, Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace and Ohio Rep. Brad Wenstrup.

Mace, Comer, Boebert and Johnson’s offices explained to the Daily Caller why they chose to vote for the NDAA in 2023. All noted separate issues and funding that were folded in the NDAA that persuaded them to vote for the package, despite the inclusion of the FISA extension.

The NDAA has long been considered a “must-pass” bill by Congress for national security reasons. The urgency to pass the NDAA has resulted in controversial provisions being included before, such as in 2011, when President Barack Obama signed the 2012 NDAA into law and codified the indefinite detention of American citizens allegedly linked to terrorism.

Boebert’s office noted that she promised her voters she would get the Pueblo Jobs Act signed into law, and Comer’s office said that his district’s military base needed funding.

“Congressman Comer fully supports Representative Jim Jordan’s ongoing FISA reform efforts,” Comer’s spokesperson told the Daily Caller. “In 2023, he supported the National Defense Authorization Act because the legislation secured badly needed funding for his district military base Fort Campbell and delivered support to our men and women in uniform by repealing the COVID-19 vaccine mandate and providing a boost in pay.”

Mace’s office told the Daily Caller in a statement that the congresswoman did not support the inclusion of the FISA extension in the NDAA, despite her vote for the package in December 2023. The congresswoman’s spokesperson Gabrielle Lipsky noted that the bill included a “variety of priorities important to the thousands of active-duty service members she represents.”

“Rep. Mace did not support the inclusion of a FISA extension in the NDAA and does not support a FISA extension without significant reforms to section 702 to ensure the protection of Americans’ 4th Amendment rights,” Lipsky told the Daily Caller in the statement.

Still, 73 House Republicans, about one-third of the conference, voted against the NDAA.

Stefanik, Jackson and Wenstrup did not respond to questions regarding their previous support for the NDAA and how they would handle the upcoming Congressional vote.

Meanwhile, prominent civil liberties organizations and advocates on both ends of the political spectrum have made an effort to persuade Congress to change its approach to FISA.

“Demand Progress plays a leading role advocating for and organizing civil society in support of Congressional action to rein in warrantless surveillance,” Demand Progress, a left-wing civil liberties organization with a focus on internet issues told the Daily Caller in statement. “We have further driven tens of thousands of contacts to Congress opposing FISA reauthorization absent major new privacy protections for Americans against warrantless surveillance and have conducted exhaustive research documenting FISA abuse.”

“We will go and identify and work with those members to go and reach out and branch into other members of Congress and their offices where we can so like, I’ve met with all different kinds of, you know, different committees that have interests on this topic. We’re always talking with them about what this trade off is, and why it’s so important. We’re certainly pushing very hard as often as we can,” a member of the conservative group Americans for Prosperity told the Daily Caller.

For the time being, Republicans seem likelier to take up the intel committee’s version of reforms, which Turner’s office insisted to the Caller is sufficient to protect Americans.

“It’s the largest reform to FISA and the FBI in a generation. This bill contains over 50 reforms to prevent another Carter Page/Russia Hoax abuse from happening and drastically reduces FBI querying,” Jeff Naft, the communications director for Turner, told the Daily Caller in a statement.

AUTHOR

REAGAN REESE

White House correspondent. Follow Reagan on Twitter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

White House Announces Plan To Protect Bureaucrats From Being Fired By New Trump Admin

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President Joe Biden’s administration announced its plan on Thursday to protect bureaucrats from being fired by a potential second Trump administration.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) finalized a rule that protects employees in the civil service by preventing the removal of their status and protections involuntarily, according to a press release. Under the new rule, an administration wishing to shift federal employees to a new category making them easier to fire would have to go through an elongated process, a move meant to be more time-consuming for a future president, Politico reported.

“Career federal employees deliver critical services for Americans in every community,” OPM Director Kiran Ahuja said in a press release. “This final rule honors our 2.2 million career civil servants, helping ensure that people are hired and fired based on merit and that they can carry out their duties based on their expertise and not political loyalty. The Biden-Harris Administration is deeply committed to the federal workforce, as these professionals are vital to our national security, our health, our economic prosperity, and much more.”

The rule is widely viewed as a response to an executive order signed in 2020 by former President Donald Trump, Politico reported. The executive order targeted federal workers, removing protections from some employees and make it easier for the president to hire and fire them.

The executive order took some entrenched bureaucrats “in positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character” and put them in a different category considered “Schedule F,” making them easier to fire.

The OPM rule quotes this language directly, even referencing “Schedule F.”

The final rule advances “policy goals,” the press release states, by “clarifying that the phrase ‘confidential, policy determining, policymaking, or policy-advocating’ positions—a term of art to describe positions that lack civil service protections—means noncareer, political appointments. This rule prevents that exception from being misapplied to career civil servants.”

“Schedule F,” the OPM press release stated, would have rid employees of their civil service protections which ensure that employment decisions are “based on merit, not political considerations. ”

The final rule is set to be published in the Federal Register on Thursday, the press release stated.

“This rule is about making sure the American public can continue to count on federal workers to apply their skills and expertise in carrying out their jobs, no matter their personal political beliefs,” OPM Deputy Director Rob Shriver told reporters, according to Politico.

In addition to Trump’s executive order, conservatives have pushed the importance of remaking the federal bureaucracy, and Trump allies have indicated it could be a key priority in a second term. In 2023, a majority of political donations made by federal employees went to President Joe Biden and fellow Democrats, a Daily Caller News Foundation analysis found.

AUTHOR

REAGAN REESE

White House correspondent. Follow Reagan on Twitter.

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Swing-State Voters Overwhelmingly Trust Trump Over Biden On Pivotal Issues Ahead Of November Election: POLL

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Former President Donald Trump is leading President Joe Biden by large margins on key domestic issues across seven battleground states ahead of the November election, a poll released Tuesday evening found.

Trump is trouncing Biden by 20 points on handling of the economy, border security, inflation and the “mental and physical fitness needed to be President,” according to a Wall Street Journal survey among registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Inflation and illegal immigration have surged since Biden took office in January 2021, and questions concerning the president’s mental fitness continue to mount.

Swing-state voters also said they trust Trump 14 and nine points more than Biden to handle the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, respectively, according to the poll.

The only issues polled that Biden led Trump on were abortion and “protecting democracy.” Biden was trusted by 12 points more on the issue of abortion, as well as one point on protecting democracy, the survey found.

Trump also led Biden in the poll for a general election matchup by one point in Georgia; three points in Michigan and Pennsylvania; four points in Nevada; five points in Arizona; and six points in North Carolina. The two were tied in Wisconsin at 46%.

When independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “Justice for All Party” candidate Cornel West, Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Party candidate Lars Mapstead were included, Trump’s leads grew in North Carolina and Georgia, according to the poll.

The former president’s margins stayed the same in Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania with the third-party contenders on the ballot, while his lead dropped by one point in Michigan and Wisconsin fell to Biden.

Trump is currently leading Biden in the RealClearPolitics average for 2024 matchups in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia anywhere from 0.6 to 5.2 points.

The WSJ poll surveyed 4,200 registered voters across the swing states from March 17 to March 24 with a margin of error of plus or minus 4%.

Neither the Trump nor Biden campaigns immediately responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

AUTHOR

MARY LOU MASTERS

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Trump Campaign, RNC Announce $65.6 Million Fundraising Haul

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Former President Donald Trump’s campaign and affiliated groups announced on Wednesday they brought in over $65.6 million during the month of March.

The haul includes funds raised by the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and their affiliated entities, according to a press release. Trump’s fundraising apparatus, which has been lagging behind President Joe Biden’s, also announced topping $93.1 million in cash on hand going into April.

“Our campaign, working together with the RNC, has been steadily ramping up our fundraising efforts, and our March numbers are a testament to the overwhelming support for President Trump by voters all across the spectrum,” Susie Wiles, senior advisor to the Trump campaign, said in a statement. “Republicans may not be beneficiaries of the self interested largess from Hollywood and Silicon Valley elites, but President Trump is proud to be supported by donations from voters who are the backbone of this nation, which will fuel Republicans up and down the ballot.”

Biden and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) have not yet announced their March totals, but the campaign topped $25 million at a ritzy fundraiser in New York City on Thursday with help from former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. The Democrats ended February with a combined $97.5 million on hand, far out-pacing Trump and the RNC’s $44.8 million, according to Politico.

Trump has been faced with mounting legal fees throughout his 2024 campaign, which reportedly cost his fundraising apparatus over $50 million last year, according to Axios.

“President Donald J. Trump has again created a fundraising juggernaut among Republicans. While he has been the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party for less than a month, the RNC and Trump campaign are one unified operation and focused on victory,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement. “We’re raising funds and making strategic investments to get out the vote and protect the ballot. We are going to win BIG in just 31 weeks.”

Both Trump and Biden secured enough delegates to clinch their respective parties’ nominations with primary contests on March 12.

Neither Biden’s campaign nor the DNC immediately responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

AUTHOR

MARY LOU MASTERS

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: New Fundraising Haul Takes Biden War Chest Over Double Trump, RNC’s

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna Slams Biden Admin, Says Hispanic Voters Are Leaving Dems ‘In Droves’

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Republican Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna slammed the Biden administration Monday on Fox News over their attempts to gain back Hispanic voters, stating that they’re leaving the Democrat Party “in droves.”

Luna appeared on “The Ingraham Angle” and host Laura Ingraham asked Luna why she thought the White House social media page had left off a Spanish translation for the administration’s post regarding International Transgender Day of Visibility.

“No, not at all – in fact it was intentional,” Luna said. “This administration has been angling to get back the Hispanic voting block, which Laura I’ll remind you that Hispanic Americans, specifically of Mexican descent, are now the largest voting minority in the country. This whole issue of Trans Awareness Day over Easter would not bode well, especially in the community, of which I so proudly represent – which is largely Catholic and Christian. So when they do this, it’s intentional. Laura, they are losing the Hispanic American vote in droves. I’m happy to say, because of that I do believe Trump will be winning in November.”

Luna went on to say the incident is not the “first time” the administration has “disrespected” Hispanic Americans, reminding the Fox host of when First Lady Jill Biden stated that Hispanics were as “unique” as tacos and when President Joe Biden played Spanish-hit song “Despacito” while speaking at a Hispanic Heritage Month event.

“It’s not the first time – remember we had Jill Biden calling us breakfast tacos. You had President Biden during his election playing ‘Despacito.’ So it’s not the first time this administration, and this president, have really disrespected Hispanic Americans. But, again, the top three issues are inflation, jobs, and the economy and so really when voters are faced with this in November they’re going to be looking at the message of the Republican Party and of President Trump versus this administration,” Luna stated.

“Frankly, they are, and by they I mean this administration, is working with Big Tech to censor that message to Hispanic Americans,” she continued. “Remember, only a few months back they actually purchased up a majority of conservative Spanish media and radio in an effort to push this and sway this election.”

In 2022, Republican lawmakers attempted to block a Soros-funded news company led by former Democratic staffers called the Latino Media Network from purchasing 18 Spanish-language radio stations for roughly $60 million. They were unsuccessful and the purchase later went through.

Former President Donald Trump has been gaining on key Democrat voting blocs, including the Hispanic vote, according to polls. In a recent New York Times/Siena College poll, Trump showed a six-point lead over Biden among Hispanic voters, sitting at 46% of the vote. While the margin of error for the poll is 10 percentage points due to the sample size not being “large enough to assess small differences reliably,” other polls have also indicated Hispanic support leaning towards the former president for 2024.

AUTHOR

HAILEY GOMEZ

General assignment reporter.

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‘Let Them Eat Cake Moment’: Fox Guest Tears Into Biden’s Fundraiser Raising Millions As Americans Are ‘Suffering’

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Project 21 Chairman Horace Cooper tore into President Joe Biden’s recent star-studded fundraiser Friday on Fox News, calling out that Americans are “suffering” while the Democratic Party raises millions.

Cooper appeared on “Hannity” to discuss Biden’s record breaking fundraiser Thursday evening which raised $26 million, as he spoke alongside former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. However, Biden received backlash from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans as his event because it was the same day as slain New York Police Department officer Jonathan Diller’s wake, in which he only offered condolences to the family while speaking with Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Cooper called out the “moment” from Biden to boast about the fundraiser as America’s economic peril continues to affect millions of Americans. Cooper continued to call out Biden’s actions in comparison to Trump, stating that under the former president’s administration people had “prospered.”

“What we saw last night was the president’s ‘let them eat cake’ moment. Millions of Americans are suffering because of the mismanagement of this economy. I say this frequently. We’re seeing record numbers of foreclosures, people are having their cars repossessed, we are seeing a silent job loss because the reports are now showing that the actual growth in employment is in part-time jobs, not in full-time jobs. It is totally and completely unseemly, in this economic environment, for our president to say that we’re going to try to set the record for the amount raised. No money to help people buy eggs and bacon. No money to make sure that people can afford gasoline,” Cooper stated.

“When President Trump was in charge, millions of Americans, the majority of Americans, succeeded. They prospered. They were able to purchase cars. They were able to get homes. It is remarkable the divergence between the real priorities of this president that we have and his challenger, former President Trump, who was willing to take time and contribute to pay off the mortgage of that slain officer’s family. What a contrast.”

Biden’s reelection campaign held its fundraiser at the Radio City Music Hall Thursday evening, with celebrities including Queen Latifah, Lizzo, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, Lea Michele and late night host Stephen Colbert all scheduled to take the stage.

Following the event, Trump called out Biden over his response to Diller’s death, as the former president attended the slain officer’s wake Thursday afternoon. Nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman, who was also in attendance at the wake, stated that Trump was a “source of comfort” for Diller’s family as he addressed each family member individually to offer “his condolences.” Blakeman additionally stated that prior to Trump’s exit from the wake, over 200 guests in attendance had given the former president “a rousing ovation.”

Notably, Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul was reportedly denied entrance into the second day of Diller’s wake Friday, as video footage shows Hochul turning away after a man confronted her near the entrance.

AUTHOR

HAILEY GOMEZ

General assignment reporter.

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Immigration Overtakes Inflation As Top Voter Concern In 2024: POLL

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Immigration has overtaken inflation as the top concern for voters in 2024’s elections, according to a survey released on Monday by The Harris Poll for Harvard University’s Center for American Political Studies (CAPS).

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, along with Republican candidates nationwide, have sought to make illegal immigration and the United States’ international border with Mexico a top political issue, owing to the high number of illegal crossings by foreign nationals during President Joe Biden’s term. The Harvard CAPS-Harris poll showed a 36% plurality of respondents ranked immigration as the top issue facing the country, beating inflation and cost-of-living issues, which 33% reported as being the top issue.

“When people ask themselves the Reagan question: ‘Are you better off than you were four years ago?’, the answer increasingly is no,” said Mark Penn, co-director of the poll for Harris, according to Cision PR Newswire. “The sizable number of independent voters who are still undecided will determine this election, and they continue to be personally concerned about the border crisis and their grocery store prices.”

Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll for March 2024 by Daily Caller News Foundation on Scribd

Among respondents, 53% of Republicans and a 37% plurality of independent voters ranked immigration as the top issue, while a 26% plurality of Democrats ranked inflation as their top issue. Immigration was also identified as the top issue by pluralities of white voters (39%) and Hispanic voters (41%) as well as suburban voters (40%).

Additionally, 57% of respondents believed that Biden inadequately addressed immigration during his State of the Union address to Congress on March 7. A 46% plurality also indicated that Biden’s biggest failure while in office was that he “[c]reated an open borders policy and a historic flood of immigrants,” with that rating being 21% higher than his perceived failures on inflation.

The survey was conducted between March 20 and March 21 among 2,111 registered voters across the United States, with the margin of error being 3 percentage points.

The Biden and Trump presidential campaigns did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

AUTHOR

ARJUN SINGH

Contributor.

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All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Could Joe Biden Deliver A MAGA Tidal Wave 8 Years In The Making?

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Republicans have a not-so-secret weapon going into the 2024 election for the first time of the Trump era: a presidential nominee running circles around his opponent in the polls.

At the top of March, Trump posted his largest lead over Biden to date in either a New York Time/Siena or New York Times/CBS poll. He continues to trounce Biden in hypothetical matchups across most swing states. The 81-year-old president battles a low approval rating and growing concerns about his age.

All signs point to a major opportunity for Republicans, and GOP strategists told the Daily Caller the road could lead to a long-anticipated red wave in November.

“I think that’s absolutely true that his low job approval is helping the Republicans, it’s no question about it. And in fact, more than that, his low job approval is causing Americans to look back on the Trump presidency with some nostalgia,” a longtime GOP adviser in Kentucky and veteran of numerous campaigns, Scott Jennings, told the Daily Caller.

Though Jennings said Republicans are certainly benefitting from Biden’s low approval rating, he added that he thought it was too early to confidently predict a red wave.

“But the conditions are right. I guess it’s the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning. Tornado warning means a tornado has been spotted,” Jennings said. “A tornado watch is the conditions are right. And I think the conditions are right. So I’d say that’d put us in watch territory.”

Mark R. Weaver, a GOP strategist, told the Daily Caller that the 2024 election contains several parallels to the 1980 election, when former President Ronald Reagan won a staggering 44 states.

“History tells us that Jimmy Carter was in the White House. He had been elected, promising a different kind of presidency, after Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. But he was so inept at the job that Americans were very frustrated with his administration,” Weaver explained. “Inflation was high. Food prices were high. Gas Pump prices were high and actually rationed. They were American hostages being held in the Middle East and we couldn’t get them back. We were not respected around the world.”

Weaver added that Reagan asked voters ahead of the election if they were better off today than they were four years ago — a line, he added, that could help Trump propel himself over the finish line.

“So there’s some parallels here. I always like to say Donald Trump is not Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan is once in every three or four generation quality candidate,” Weaver continued. “So Donald Trump has far more weaknesses than Ronald Reagan did. Having said that, Joe Biden’s a lot like Jimmy Carter, because people are frustrated with how inept his administration is, and they are ready for a change and in this case, the change would be back to the future.”

“Trump will use that line and he’ll be referring to a time when he was president. And that could produce a red wave,” he concluded.

Republicans have been anticipating a red wave for the last eight years, but have instead been the victims of mirages. In 2016, though Trump beat out former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the presidency, and Republicans clinched both a Senate and House majority, the party lost seats in both chambers.

Even with the majority, the makeup of congress wasn’t particularly favorable to Trump. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell endorsed Trump after he secured the nomination in 2016, but is definitionally establishment. In fact, McConnell at the time said he didn’t believe Trump would change the GOP, but that Republicans would change Trump.

On the House side,  Speaker Paul Ryan said he would vote for Trump in 2016, but added that “it’s no secret that he and I have our differences.”

In addition to skeptical leadership, Trump entered the 2016 election as an insurgent force within the Republican Party, lacking much of the institutional control he has now. In 2024, his campaign is increasingly influential over the RNC, and he plays a kingmaker role in GOP primaries.

In 2018, with Trump in office, Republicans ceded ground to Democrats, who won a House majority. And in 2020, Biden led Trump in the polls as election day inched closer, eventually defeating him for the White House. Meanwhile, Democrats retained control of the House and gained several seats to win a 50-50 split in the Senate.

Two years into Biden’s presidency, Republicans believed they would finally get their red wave, but in many ways fell short. Though they won back the House, another underperformance resulted in Democrats holding the Senate by a 51-49 margin.

“The vaunted red wave never hit the shore in midterm elections,” a Washington Post headline read.

“The red wave that wasn’t: 5 takeaways from a disappointing night for the GOP,” a Politico headline said.

“GOP Pollster: Republicans Failed to Secure Red Wave in 2022 Midterms for Four Key Reasons,” the National Review wrote.

But now, down-ballot candidates across the country, particularly those with a “MAGA” agenda and endorsed by Trump, are predicting a red wave and crediting Biden for the help.

“President Trump is going to win the White House and Republicans are going to take back the Senate Majority. Joe Biden and Ruben Gallego’s policies have crushed hardworking Arizonans with crippling inflation: high prices at the gas pump, grocery store, and even when buying a home,” Republican Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake, a long-time Trump supporter, told the Daily Caller in a statement.

Republican Texas state Rep. Steve Toth, also endorsed by Trump, told the Daily Caller that a red wave has already begun to take Texas and he pointed to Biden’s handling of the economy and the southern border as reasons why.

“But when things get bad, not only do [Republicans] turn out, but it awakens the independents that are right leaning but yet haven’t decided what they want to be when they grow up. And I think we’re all feeling the effects right now of a really crappy economy and open borders in a tremendous way. It’s straining the economy. It’s straining the workforce. It’s straining everything. I mean we’re really coming apart at the seams right now. I think people feel it,” Toth told the Daily Caller.

Both Lake and Toth have been endorsed by Trump and have similar priorities to the former president. Both politicians told the Daily Caller that Republicans should prioritize building a border wall, which did not get done during Trump’s first term.

The signature legislative accomplishment of Trump’s first term was the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a law that was championed by Reaganite Republicans and perfectly in-line with longstanding beliefs in the party. Analysts at the time wrote that the prioritization of tax cuts over immigration may have been pushed by Congressional leadership.

“That means the president is going to have to decide, very soon, how he wants the fall policy debate to play out. Does he want Congress to spend the next few months battling over the budget and funding a border wall? Or does he want lawmakers to try to pass a tax cut? If he does not develop and sell a coherent policy choice to Congress when it returns to Washington in a couple of weeks, it is likely that the congressional GOP leadership will choose for him,” Tax Policy Center’s Howard Gleckman wrote in 2017.

“In some ways, it may already have. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), whose relationship with Trump has turned icy, has made no secret that he wants to clear the legislative decks to make room for a tax bill.”

“My first action as a Republican Senator would be to introduce legislation that: 1. Secures the border by finishing the wall 2. Baby bonuses for parents and extending the child tax credit 3. Extending President Trump’s tax cuts. President Trump and Senate Republicans will get America back on track,” Lake added.

Republican Texas state Rep. candidate David Covey, also endorsed by Trump, told the Daily Caller in a statement that his priority on securing the nation’s southern border helped him secure the support of the former president.

“My opponent, House Speaker Dade Phelan, was the only Republican in the Texas Legislature not to vote for SB4. His lack of leadership on border security is one of the many reasons why former President Donald Trump endorsed me in the race for Texas House District 21. Securing the border and protecting Texas families is my number one priority,” Covey told the Daily Caller.

Texas’ State Bill four [SB4] would allow local police to arrest migrants who cross into the state illegally. The law has been the subject of a lengthy legal battle. The Supreme Court recently made the decision to allow the local police to move forward with arresting migrants who cross into the state illegally.

Immigration is at the top of Americans’ priorities heading into the 2024 election while “government” and “economy in general” take second and third place, according to a February Gallup poll. And while Americans keep immigration and economy at the top of their concerns, a majority disapprove of how the president has handled those very issues.

Sixty-nine percent of Americans disapprove of how Biden has handled immigration while 68 percent disapprove of how the president has addressed inflation, a December Monmouth University poll shows.

“The Biden administration keeps touting their infrastructure investments and a host of positive economic indicators,” Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, previously said in a press release coupled with the poll. “Those data points may be factual, but most Americans are still smarting from higher prices caused by post-pandemic inflation. This seems to be what’s driving public opinion. There is political danger in pushing a message that basically tells people their take on their own situation is wrong.”

In addition to Biden’s low polling, the former president’s team is confident that is “America First” messaging will help propel Trump to victory in November.

“Americans are suffering from the failed policies of Crooked Joe Biden, and congressional Democrats are stifling Republicans’ attempts to deliver relief through legislation like the Lower Energy Costs Act and Secure the Border Act. Voters are ready for a change, and President Trump’s America First message will bring a rising tide that will lift all boats this November,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez told the Daily Caller.

Despite optimism from some on the right and from the former president’s supporters, some continue to hold their breath.

“With respect to the campaign for president, if the election were held tomorrow morning, Mr. Trump would probably win. Please keep in mind that, as we have noted before, the race will be very close (likely decided by fewer than 500,000 votes spread across seven States and, if you like specificity, about 40 counties in those seven States),” Mike McKenna, a former Trump advisor and longtime Republican operative, wrote in a memo provided to the Daily Caller.

“The race will also be volatile. So, it is entirely possible that a month from now or six months from now, Mr. Biden may have the upper hand,” McKenna added.

AUTHOR

REAGAN REESE

White House correspondent. Follow Reagan on Twitter.

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Judge Allows Trump And Co-Defendants To Appeal Fani Willis Ruling

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Judge Scott McAfee ruled Wednesday that former President Donald Trump and eight other co-defendants can seek review of his decision not to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

McAfee granted the certificate of immediate review sought by defendants, finding it “of such importance to the case that immediate review should be had.” The decision means defendants can appeal McAfee’s decision, which allowed Willis to stay on the case against Trump after special prosecutor Nathan Wade stepped down, despite finding an “appearance of impropriety” in their actions.

“The challenged order is not one of final judgment, and the State has informed the Court that it has complied with the order’s demands,” McAfee wrote. “Thus, unless directed otherwise by an appellate court, supersedeas shall only apply to the order being appealed.”

“The Court intends to continue addressing the many other unrelated pending pretrial motions, regardless of whether the petition is granted within 45 days of filing, and even if any subsequent appeal is expedited by the appellate court,” he continued.

Trump co-defendant Michael Roman filed the initial motion to disqualify Willis in January, alleging she financially benefited from appointing Wade, her romantic partner, when he took her vacations.

McAfee wrote in his ruling last week that there were “reasonable questions” about “whether the District Attorney and her hand-selected lead SADA testified untruthfully about the timing of their relationship.”

Wade and Willis maintained in their testimony that the relationship did not begin until after he was hired, though a long-time friend of Willis contradicted this, stating it began in 2019. They maintained Willis repaid Wade for vacation expenses in cash.

Wade’s former law partner Terrence Bradley also told Ashleigh Merchant, Roman’s attorney, that the relationship began before Wade was hired, according to text messages.

Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead defense counsel, said in a statement that McAfee’s decision to grant the certificate of immediate review was “highly significant.”

“It means the defense is permitted to apply to the Georgia Court of Appeals for pretrial review of the Judge’s order refusing to dismiss the case or disqualify Fulton County DA Willis,” Sadow said. “The defense is optimistic that appellate review will lead to the case being dismissed and the DA being disqualified.”

AUTHOR

KATELYNN RICHARDSON

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

‘Almost Unhinged’: Victor Davis Hanson Lays Out Issues With Media’s Coverage On Out-Of-Context ‘Bloodbath’ Remarks

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Hoover Institute senior fellow Victor Davis Hanson detailed issues Monday on Fox News with the media’s out-of-context coverage of former President Donald Trump’s “bloodbath” remarks.

Hanson appeared on “The Ingraham Angle” to discuss the coverage of Trump’s remarks made over the weekend that it would be a “bloodbath for the country” if Biden was reelected in reference to the threat he believes the Biden Administration poses to the auto industry. Fox host Laura Ingraham asked Hanson about the “seriousness” of the issues, adding that the media has continuously taken the former president’s words out of context and claimed that he was escalating violence. 

“It’s serious because it shows you that these people are in free fall,” Hanson said. “They are almost unhinged because they have tried to destroy Donald Trump through lawfare and indictments are not working. They tried to get him off the ballot. They tried to bankrupt him and ruin him psychologically, physically, and financially – that hasn’t worked. They look at the issues that are important to all of us, Laura, the border, crime, inflation, what happened in Afghanistan, two wars that broke out on the Biden watch, energy, and they can’t run on any of them because they have been an ungodly disaster.”

“Then they look at the candidate themselves, and he is not able to function as a normal 21st-century candidate,” he added. “They look at the vice president. So this frustration builds up. And they just lash out and they – they make it worse. They are like an addict – they don’t understand that the fixation is destroying them and destroying their popularity, their theme, and message. But they can’t stop, they’re so obsessed. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Following Trump’s remarks on Saturday at an Ohio campaign rally, coverage of the former president’s “bloodbath” line circulated online. Alongside the corporate media’s coverage, Biden’s campaign team posted a nine-second clip of the remark without providing context to viewers that the former president was referring to the auto industry.

Trump took to social media Monday to hit back against the backlash he received, clarifying the context of the comment.

“I was simply referring to imports allowed by Crooked Joe Biden, which are killing the automobile industry,” Trump wrote. “The United Auto Workers, but not their leadership, fully understand what I mean.”

AUTHOR

HAILEY GOMEZ

General assignment reporter.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Judge Says Fani Willis Must Ditch Nathan Wade Or Step Aside From Trump Case

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A judge declined Friday to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the case against former President Donald Trump.

Judge Scott McAfee found that the defendants had “failed to meet their burden of proving that the District Attorney acquired an actual conflict of interest in this case through her personal relationship and recurring travels with her lead prosecutor.” However, he said that the record “highlights a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team,” stating that Nathan Wade must either withdraw or Willis and her whole office can choose to step aside to solve the problem.

McAfee wrote that disqualifying Willis was not necessary “when a less drastic and sufficiently remedial option is available.”

“The Court therefore concludes that the prosecution of this case cannot proceed until the State selects one of two options,” he wrote. “The District Attorney may choose to step aside, along with the whole of her office, and refer the prosecution to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council for reassignment. See O.C.G.A. § 15-18-5. Alternatively, SADA Wade can withdraw, allowing the District Attorney, the Defendants, and the public to move forward without his presence or remuneration distracting from and potentially compromising the merits of this case.”

Trump co-defendant Michael Roman alleged in a Jan. 8 motion that Willis financially benefited from awarding her romantic partner Nathan Wade a lucrative contract to work as special prosecutor on the case when he took her on vacations using money earned from his position.

Willis and Wade both denied the relationship began before he was hired, though a long-time friend of Willis, Robin Yeartie, testified that it began in 2019. They claimed the expenses were split roughly equally, with Willis paying him back in cash.

McAfee wrote that an “odor of mendacity remains” about the testimony of Willis and Wade.

“The Court is not under an obligation to ferret out every instance of potential dishonesty from each witness or defendant ever presented in open court,” he wrote. “Yet reasonable questions about whether the District Attorney and her hand-selected lead SADA testified untruthfully about the timing of their relationship further underpin the finding of an appearance of impropriety and the need to make proportional efforts to cure it.”

Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead defense counsel, said in a statement that they will “use all legal options available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been brought in the first place.”

“While respecting the Court’s decision, we believe that the Court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade, including the financial benefits, testifying untruthfully about when their personal relationship began, as well as Willis’ extrajudicial MLK ‘church speech,’ where she played the race card and falsely accused the defendants and their counsel of racism,” Sadow said.

McAfee’s ruling addressed other grounds defendants used to call for disqualification, including Willis’ failure to disclose gifts from Wade on her financial disclosures and a church speech she gave in January blaming the allegations on race.

He called the speech “legally improper,” noting that this kind of public comment “creates dangerous waters for the District Attorney to wade further into.”

“The time may well have arrived for an order preventing the State from mentioning the case in any public forum to prevent prejudicial pretrial publicity, but that is not the motion presently before the Court,” he wrote.

As for witnesses, McAfee found Yeartie’s testimony raised doubts about the testimony of Willis and Wade but “lacked context and detail.” He found that he could not “place any stock in the testimony of Terrance Bradley,” Wade’s former law partner.

Texts revealed Bradley, who said on the witness stand that he “could not recall” details about their relationship, shared many details with defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, even suggesting witnesses she could subpoena to confirm them.

“His inconsistencies, demeanor, and generally non-responsive answers left far too brittle a foundation upon which to build any conclusions,” McAfee wrote.

McAfee issued a ruling Wednesday dismissing six of the counts in the indictment that did not offer defendants “enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently.”

AUTHOR

KATELYNN RICHARDSON

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.