Tag Archive for: Donald Trump

‘Con Job And A Disgrace’: Donald Trump Issues Video Response To Jan. 6 Report

/in , , , , , , , /by

Former President Donald Trump issued a video response to the release of the Jan. 6 report Friday, claiming the committee investigating the riot omitted evidence, made false statements and “did not produce a single shred of evidence” that he “intended” violence on the Capitol.

The House Select Committee released its final 845-page report Thursday, ending their 18-month investigation into the Jan. 6 riot. The committee cast blame on Trump as the “central cause” of the riot, and recommended he be banned from running for office in 2024. The Jan. 6 Committee recommended Monday that Trump be charged with obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the government, conspiracy to make a false statement and inciting or assisting an insurrection. The recommendation was directed at the Department of Justice, and the committee itself can not file charges.

In an exclusive video provided to the Daily Caller, Trump responded to the report, saying that for two years, “the American people have been besieged with lies from the partisan witch hunt known as the Unselect Committee on January 6.”

The former president said the committee omitted the part of his speech where he encouraged “protesters to make their voices heard peacefully and patriotically,” the part of his tweet where he told protesters to “go home with love and in peace” and where he called for “law and order.”

WATCH:

Trump claimed he urged the deployment of 10,000 to 20,000 National Guard troops days before the protests at the Capitol, but that “Nancy Pelosi and the D.C. mayor refused.”

“If they had listened to me, my recommendation, none of this would have happened, and you wouldn’t have heard about January 6 as you know it,” he added.

He then called the allegations from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson about him lunging for the steering wheel to get to the Capitol an “absurd and discredited story.”

“The committee barely discussed the catastrophic security failures at the Capitol, and they didn’t discuss the other thing, the reason why everybody went there: the election, which was a corrupt disaster. They did not discuss why the doors were flung wide open … and they didn’t discuss the role of federal informants,” he continued.

“The events of January 6 were not an insurrection. They were a protest that tragically got out of control, and which the left has been weaponizing ever since, to censor, spy on and persecute American citizens. The entire phony hoax is about taking away your speech, taking away your vote and taking away your freedom,” Trump said.

“The Unselect Committee will go down in history as a con job and a disgrace. They want to stop us from taking back our country, but they will fail, they will not win. We will make America great again,” he concluded.

AUTHOR

DIANA GLEBOVA

White House correspondent.

RELATED ARTICLE: Jan. 6 Committee Recommends Four Charges For Trump

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

Twitter Exec Pushed To Ban Matt Gaetz’ Account After Jan. 6

/in , , , , , , , , /by

Twitter’s former head of Trust and Safety, Yoel Roth, pushed internally for the company to ban Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots, despite messaging another employee that such a decision did not align with the company’s policies, according to the company’s internal documents published by author Michael Shellenberger Friday as part of Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s “Twitter Files.”

An employee, whose name was redacted, messaged Roth around noon on Jan. 7, 2021, asking “What’s the latest on Antifa claims?” — seemingly in reference to a Jan. 6, 2021, tweet by Gaetz alleging that members of the anarchist movement Antifa had “infiltrated Trump protestors who stormed Capitol” — and noting that another employee, identified only as “C,” was “yelling from the other room that we should just ban Gaetz,” Shellenberger reported. Roth responded that Twitter had employees “working on that.”

“It doesn’t quite fit anywhere (duh),” Roth said, prompting agreement from the unnamed employee before he continued, according to the messages posted by Shellenberger. “But I’m trying to talk safety into treating it as incitement … I think we’ll get over the line for removal as a conspiracy that incites violence … [then-head of Legal, Policy and Trust] Vijaya [Gadde] was directionally okay with it.”

Gaetz’ account was ultimately never banned, despite the internal discussions.

The discussion occurred roughly seven hours before Roth would inform a sales executive that Twitter was “changing [its] public interest approach for [Donald Trump’s] account to say any violation would result in a suspension,” Shellenberger reported. Twitter policy protects tweets from elected officials that would otherwise violate its rules under so-called “public-interest exceptions,” which allow tweets to remain live so that the public may be aware of and discuss the users’ “actions and statements.”

Gaetz later had a June 1, 2021 tweet that read “Now that we clearly see Antifa as terrorists, can we hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East?” hit with one such public-interest label for violating Twitter’s rules regarding the glorification of violence. At time of writing, Twitter users cannot share, like or comment on that tweet, but can still “quote tweet” it.

“This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence,” the label reads at time of writing. “However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”

Neither Twitter nor Gaetz’ office immediately responded to a Daily Caller News Foundation request for comment.

AUTHOR

JOHN HUGH DEMASTRI

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLES:

‘Wow!’ Twitter Ran Massive Election Interference Operation Against Candidates Running for Office, Elon Musk Confirms

Twitter Deleted Posts With Pics Of Trump’s Tweets In Them — Even If They Were Bashing Him

‘Slippery Slope’: Internal Docs Show Just One Twitter Employee Raising ‘Serious’ Free-Speech Concerns Over Trump Ban

In Joe Biden’s Woke America, Enemies Exploit Our Achilles Heel

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.

‘Slippery Slope’: Internal Docs Show Just One Twitter Employee Raising ‘Serious’ Free-Speech Concerns Over Trump Ban

/in , , , , , , , , /by

  • In the immediate aftermath of Jan. 6, a junior staffer at Twitter was the only employee that appeared to express “serious” concerns about the effect that banning then-President Donald Trump might have on users’ speech, according to author Michael Shellenberger Friday, citing internal documents provided by CEO Elon Musk.
  • The unnamed staffer’s comments stood in contrast to other employees, who, according to former head of trust and safety Yoel Roth, were not “happy” with Twitter’s position on Trump following the riots, Shellenberger reported.
  • “This now appears to be a fiat by an online platform CEO with a global presence that can gatekeep speech for the entire world – which seems unsustainable,” the staffer wrote, Shellenberger reported.

As Twitter executives sought a justification to ban then-President Donald Trump in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots, only one employee appears to have expressed “serious” concerns about the potential impact the move might have on users’ speech, author Michael Shellenberger tweeted Friday, citing internal Twitter documents provided by new CEO Elon Musk.

The employee, a junior staffer, posted a message in a lower-level channel on the company’s internal Slack messaging system, questioning the “one off” nature of the decision, which did not appear to match with Twitter’s public policies, according to Shellenberger. Twitter employees usually considered moderation decisions to be “one off” events when they were made at the discretion of Twitter employees, as opposed to following a particular policy, Shellenberger reported.

“This might be an unpopular opinion but one off ad hoc decisions like this that don’t appear rooted in policy are [in my opinion] a slippery slope and reflect an alternatively equally dictatorial problem,” the unnamed staffer wrote, according to Shellenberger. “This now appears to be a fiat by an online platform CEO with a global presence that can gatekeep speech for the entire world – which seems unsustainable.”

Roughly 40 minutes after the junior staffer posted their initial concerns, they sent a follow-up message, citing an article by The Washington Post’s Will Oremus, then a writer for tech publication OneZero, which noted that Facebook’s decision to indefinitely ban Trump “lacks a clear basis in any of Facebook’s previously stated policies, highlights for the millionth time that the dominant platforms are quite literally making up the rules of online speech as they go along,” Shellenberger reported.

“My concern is specifically surrounding the unarticulated logic of the decision by FB,” the staffer wrote, according to Shellenberger. “That space fills with the idea (conspiracy theory?) that all … internet moguls … sit around like kings casually deciding what people can and cannot see.”

While Twitter employees debated the decision to ban Trump, then-CEO Jack Dorsey was on vacation in French Polynesia, ultimately delegating a significant amount of the company’s actions during the crisis to former head of Trust and Safety Yoel Roth and former head of Legal, Policy and Trust Vijaya Gadde, Shellenberger reported. Dorsey sent staffers an email on Jan. 7 telling employees that the company needs to maintain consistent moderation policies, according to Shellenberger. (RELATED: Twitter’s Chief Censor Met Weekly With US Intelligence Officials While Trump Was In Office, Internal Comms Reveal)

“Jack’s emails have been _fine_… but ultimately, I think people want to hear from Vijaya, or Del, or someone closer to the specifics of this who can reassure them that the people who care about this are thinking deeply about these problems and aren’t happy with where we are,” Roth messaged an unidentified employee, according to Shellenberger. “A few engineers have reached out to me directly about it, and I’m chatting with them… but it’s so clear that they just want to know that _someone_ is doing something about this, and it’s not that we’re ignoring the issues here.”

The unnamed employee responded, arguing that some employees might not understand that “while it seems obvious and simple that we ‘should’ [permanently ban] his personal account,” the company would have to wrangle with the possibility of banning Trump’s official government account as well, a decision that required “thinking things through,” Shellenberger reported.

While the company had faced pressure to block or ban Trump in the past, it typically resisted those calls; the company’s Public Policy team posted a tweet in 2018 which argued banning world leaders for “controversial Tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate,” and would limit discussion of that leader without meaningfully silencing them, Shellenberger reported.

Twitter did not immediately respond to request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

AUTHOR

JOHN HUGH DEMASTRI

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: CAUGHT IN LIES: Latest Twitter Files Release Reveals Feds and Twitter Both Caught Lying, Hiding Evidence in Major Lawsuit; Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt Calls Them Onto the Carpet

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 Announces 2024 Presidential Run

/in , , , , , , /by

Former President Donald Trump officially launched his 2024 presidential campaign at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, making a run for the White House for the third consecutive time.

Trump announced his run after highlighting what he did in his first term, as well as inflation, the open border and record-breaking gas prices under the Biden administration.

“I am officially running for president of the United States, and we are going to make our country great again,” Trump said.

“Our country needs a truly great leader, and we need a truly great leader now. We need a leader that wrote ‘The Art of the Deal.’ We need a leader that can bring back our jobs, can bring back our manufacturing, can bring back our military, take care of our Vets. Our Vets have been abandoned!” Trump said, after noting that “America’s comeback starts right now.”

He officially filed his candidacy with the Federal Election Commission as a Republican for 2024.

Trump had teased the announcement the day before the midterms by saying he had a “very big announcement” set for Nov. 15, and had repeatedly hinted that he would run in 2024. Reports had ramped up about Trump’s impending announcement before the midterms, with sources suspecting that he would officially declare his campaign during his rally for Ohio’s J.D. Vance. Axios reported that the former president’s inner circle had marked Nov. 14 as the official launch date.

If he wins in 2024, Trump would be the first U.S. president since Grover Cleveland to win another four-year term after losing re-election.

After Republicans did not secure a red wave in the midterms, Republicans splintered on whether Trump should announce his candidacy while the results are still being tabulated.

“Every ounce of Republican energy, every last ounce needs to go into that Georgia race because it could potentially be what makes or breaks the Senate,” former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.

Some, including Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, have questioned whether Trump represents the future of the Republican Party, given that several of his handpicked candidates underperformed in the midterm elections.

Other Republicans, including Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik and Vance, have argued that Trump needs to be back in the White House to complete what he started in his firm term.

The former president has also launched verbal attacks on other potential Republican presidential candidates by taking credit for their electoral victories, calling Ron DeSantis an “average” governor and saying Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s name “sounds Chinese.” The outward criticism of DeSantis comes after the governor secured a major victory in Florida, defeating his opponent by nearly 20%.

Several polls show that a majority of voters prefer DeSantis over Trump, with the Florida governor leading Trump by 3% in a YouGov poll conducted after the midterms.

Trump’s announcement marks the first major presidential candidate to officially declare their bid for the 2024 election. President Joe Biden has insisted throughout his presidency that he intends to run for another term, but hedged his statement on Nov. 9, saying that it’s “ultimately a family decision.” 

Former Vice President Mike Pence has also said he’s potentially eyeing a 2024 presidential bid, telling ABC on Monday that he’s giving it a “prayerful consideration.”

AUTHOR

DIANA GLEBOVA

White House correspondent.

RELATED TWEET: 

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘We’re Going To Have Discussions About It’ 2024 Run, Biden Says While Addressing Midterm Results

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

‘Rotted At Its Core’: House Judiciary GOP Releases Massive 1,000-Page Report On Alleged FBI Misconduct

/in , , , , , , , /by

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee on Friday released a 1,050-page report on alleged FBI misconduct, based primarily on the testimony of whistleblowers within the agency.

The report, titled “FBI Whistleblowers: What Their Disclosures Indicate About The Politicization of the FBI And The Justice Department,” began by stating that the FBI “is broken” under the leadership of Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, Wray’s superior, while also blaming the “politicized bureaucracy” of the agency. It accused Garland and Wray of overseeing an agency that “altered and mischaracterized evidence to federal courts, circumvented safeguards, and exploited weaknesses in policies.”

The report identifies several key areas for oversight as Republicans are poised to take the House majority after the midterm elections. Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee and House Oversight Committee have already promised investigations into the FBI and intelligence community over the handling of the investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings and the surveilling of school board meetings, among other topics.

In the executive summary, the report quoted FBI whistleblowers who spoke to Republican staff on the committee, led by Ranking Member Jim Jordan of Ohio, claiming that the FBI was “rotted at its core” and maintained a “systemic culture of unaccountability” as well as being full of “rampant corruption, manipulation, and abuse.” It also alleged that the FBI may be inflating statistics on the incidence of violent extremism across the country, as well as diverting resources away from criminal investigations towards more politically-relevant areas.

Some of the allegations leveled in the report include the contention that the FBI “manufactured” a controversy about domestic violent extremism, by “orchestrating” the failed plot to kidnap Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, which was foiled in 2020. It also alleges that the Bureau attempted to minimize allegations of wrongdoing by Hunter Biden, who is currently being investigated for tax-related felonies by Delaware’s U.S. Attorney, David C. Weiss, a holdover from the Trump administration.

Other allegations include the “purging” of conservative employees who dissent from the FBI’s efforts to promote “diversity, equity and inclusion,” which the report terms as a “woke agenda.” Such programs in federal agencies have been heavily criticized by Republicans, who claim that the bias violates the freedom of conscience of conservative federal employees who may disagree with them.

One FBI employee alleged to the committee they were told by their FBI superiors “that child sexual abuse material investigations were no longer an FBI priority and should be referred to local law enforcement agencies.” Another claimed that an FBI program, codenamed “Operation Bronze Griffin,” was an illicit partnership between the FBI and Facebook, where the Bureau allegedly accepts private user information from Facebook, but without the user’s consent or legal process.

The report’s release comes at a time when the FBI is under heavy scrutiny from Republicans in Congress for a variety of reasons. The FBI’s raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, in August, prompted several allegations of improper procedure – including that the FBI took materials under attorney-client privilege – and the appointment of a Special Master to review the documents seized.

The bureau was also scrutinized after an alleged order issued by Garland to the FBI to surveil, under counterterrorism authority, parents being involved in school board meetings in Northern Virginia. Many parents have attended school board meetings to criticize the prevalence of contested concepts regarding race and gender in curricula, which has been supported by Republicans.

In response to a request for comment, the FBI wrote that “we follow the facts without regard for politics.  While outside opinions and criticism often come with the job, we will continue to follow the facts wherever they lead, do things by the book, and speak through our work.”

AUTHOR

ARJUN SINGH

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Robert Mueller, the FBI and Obama’s Culture of Corruption

PODCAST: FBI raid on innocent Trump supporter’s homes!

FBI Raids Project Veritas Over Ashley Biden’s Diary

Facebook Allegedly Gives The FBI Users’ Info Without Their Consent

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

EXCLUSIVE: Hungarian Foreign Minister Says Ukraine-Russia War Would Not Have Happened Under Trump

/in , , , , , , /by

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The foreign minister of Hungary, Péter Szijjártó, in part, blamed the current war between Ukraine and Russia on President Joe Biden in an exclusive interview Wednesday with the Daily Caller. He argued that if the 2020 election had played out differently, there would be no war.

Szijjártó sat down for an interview with the Caller after speaking at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) International Ministerial Conference and discussed a variety of different issues affecting the U.S. and Europe, including the war in Ukraine. Throughout the interview, Szijjártó made it clear he believes that if former President Donald Trump and former Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel were still in power, the war would not have started.

“The European economy is suffering. Europe is suffering. That is why the only solution for Europe is peace. But definitely, peace not will come with this behavior. What the U.S. administration has been showing. Why? Because in order to create peace, you would need to talk. You would need to communicate,” Szijjártó said during the interview. “And you know, I am usually under very heavy pressure and criticism of why I still talk to the Russians. But, you know, I mean, you cannot afford not to talk to them when you are almost hundred percent dependent on their energy sources and Russia is a reality in Europe, and Russia will remain a reality in Europe regardless of the outcome of this war.”

He continued:

So, you know, what we are definitely sure about is that if your presidential election had played out differently in 2020, this war would not have broken out. As much as I can be sure about things that didn’t happen, I am pretty sure that this would have been the case because we are currently, globally speaking, we are currently lacking leaders. President Trump was a real leader. Chancellor Merkel was a real leader. So what I know is that if Chancellor Merkel. And if President Trump had stayed in power, this war, I’m pretty sure, would not have been broken out. So that’s why what we hope is that there will be some American-Russian talks in this regard because don’t be misled. Don’t be misled. This is necessary to create peace. Russian-American talks.

On Monday, a group of 30 Democrats in Congress requested that the Biden administration seek negotiations with Putin. Several have since walked back their support.

Szijjártó echoed their concerns, however, mentioning the upcoming November G-20 summit in Indonesia, which Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to attend, as an opportunity for the two leaders to talk. The Hungarian minister’s suggestion comes despite claims that U.S. officials are making sure Biden does talk with Putin, per Politico. Biden himself previously told CNN’s Jake Tapper said he will not meet the Russian president except maybe to discuss American Britney Griner, who is serving a 9-year sentence in Russian prison.

“I do hope that those discussions, which are necessary to finish the war, will take place soon. And I don’t want to degrade anyone, but I am pretty certain that these negotiations must take place between the American and the Russian administration,” Szijjártó said. “And, you know, I hope that both of them will behave responsibly because I understand that there will be a G20 meeting. I understand that there is a chance that both of the presidents might be there. And to be honest, I think it would be very, very complicated to explain to the world from both perspectives, why they have not met, if they. If they are on the same place. So, you know, we in Hungary cannot do anything more than just wish, hope, and pray.”

“I want to underline that I really do believe and think that if he had stayed in power, this wouldn’t have broken out,” he added.

As of Oct. 3, the U.S. has spent 52 billion euros in military, financial and humanitarian aid in Ukraine, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Hungary has urged an immediate ceasefire and end to the conflict. 

The Daily Caller contacted the White House about Szijjártó’s comments to which they did not immediately respond.

AUTHOR

HENRY RODGERS

Senior congressional correspondent. Follow Henry Rodgers On Twitter

RELATED ARTICLES:

‘Easier Dealing With The Taliban’: Hungarian Officials Blast US Over Lack Of Help In Afghanistan Evacuation

Here’s Why Hungary Is Incentivizing Children, Marriage

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban To Speak At CPAC In Texas

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

‘Political Operation’: Trump DOJ Official Sounds Alarm Over Call To ‘Prosecute’ Social Media Users Spreading ‘Disinformation’

/in , , , , , , , , /by

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice under Donald Trump told the Daily Caller that the recent letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling for an investigation on social media users spreading “disinformation” about child sex-changes is part of the Biden DOJ’s “political operation.”

The Oct. 3 letter sent to Garland asks the DOJ to “take swift action to investigate and prosecute all organizations, individuals, and entities” that have spread “misleading information targeting individual physicians and hospitals” that perform irreversible sex-change surgeries for minors.

The letter, authored by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association, specifically states that a “few high-profile users on social media” are responsible for spreading the “disinformation” about child sex-change surgeries, which have resulted in “bomb threats.”

A spokesperson for Biden’s DOJ told the Daily Caller they “decline any additional comment” on if the DOJ plans to carry out the investigations on the “social media users” or anyone else mentioned in the letter.

Alexei Woltornist, a former spokesperson for Trump’s DOJ, told the Daily Caller that the letter “confirms that even those on the left view [the] DOJ as a political operation.”

“The behavior from the AMA is straight from the Soviet playbook. The legal system should be used to protect the rule of law, not to punish political enemies,” Woltornist continued.

When asked what the DOJ should do about the letter, Woltornist said, the “DOJ should be focused on restoring their credibility,” but that the perception that it’s a “political operation” can’t be reversed “with simple spin or messaging.”

High-profile journalists have vowed that they will continue exposing the hospitals responsible for allowing minors to have access to puberty blockers and irreversible genital surgeries.

The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, one of the loudest voices against gender ideology, has said “there is nothing they can threaten that would make me back down from this fight.”

Journalist Colin Wright tweeted that he “will not stop exposing the atrocities inflicted upon children in hospitals in the name if ‘gender affirming care.’”

“Call me a terrorist, investigate me, put me on a no-fly list — I don’t care. What’s happening is horrific and needs to end,” Wright added.

Journalist Christopher Rufo, who exposed the letter to the DOJ, said, “I have a message for Attorney General Merrick Garland: you can threaten us; you can mobilize the FBI against us; you can drag us out of our homes in a pre-dawn raid. But we are not going to stop reporting on radical gender surgeries on minors.”

AUTHOR

DIANA GLEBOVA

White House correspondent.

RELATED VIDEO: Spencer: The FBI’s Relentless Hunt for ‘Right-Wing Extremism’

RELATED ARTICLES:

47 New Biden Administration Defendants Named in Government–Big Tech Censorship Lawsuit

Journalists Vow To Continue Exposing Child Sex Change Procedures Despite Calls For DOJ To ‘Prosecute’ Them

Sex Change Surgeries Are Now Big Business – At A Huge Cost To Taxpayers And Young People

Federal Judge Rules Biden Admin’s LGBTQ Employee Protections Go Too Far

Masterpiece Cakeshop Owner Challenges Ruling On ‘Gender Transition’ Cake

Vanderbilt To Pause Gender Transition Surgeries On Minors Following Bombshell Report

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

Trump Turns To Supreme Court On Mar-A-Lago Raid

/in , , , , , , , , , /by

Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers requested the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling regarding the Mar-a-Lago raid, saying Tuesday that not allowing the Special Master to review all the seized documents “erodes public confidence in our system of justice.”

On Sept. 21, the 11th Circuit allowed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to keep looking at “classified” documents the FBI seized from Trump’s Florida residence in August, after the DOJ appealed their case.

Judge Aileen Cannon had previously put a pause on the DOJ’s review while a neutral Special Master was being appointed to review all documents, but after the appeals court’s ruling, the third party watchdog can only review materials not bearing classification markings.

The DOJ now has access to roughly 100 documents bearing classification markings, which Trump’s lawyers have claimed were declassified by the former president.

Trump’s request to the Supreme Court was specifically addressed to Justice Clarence Thomas, and asks for the Special Master to have access to the “classified” materials again, claiming that the 11th Circuit “lacked jurisdiction” to stay Cannon’s order.

“This unwarranted stay should be vacated as it impairs substantially the ongoing, time-sensitive work of the Special Master. Moreover, any limit on the comprehensive and transparent review of materials seized in the extraordinary raid of a President’s home erodes public confidence in our system of justice,” the application to the Supreme Court read.

The DOJ has claimed it needs to review the “classified” materials due to their potential of being national security risks. The 11th Circuit mentioned this concern in their ruling, stating, “It is self-evident that the public has a strong interest in ensuring that the storage of the classified records did not result in ‘exceptionally grave damage to the national security.’”

In the request to the Supreme Court, Trump’s lawyers state that the Special Master looking over all documents before the Biden administration’s DOJ has access is an “intermediary procedural step to conduct an orderly, transparent, and fair review of the seized materials.”

AUTHOR

DIANA GLEBOVA

White House correspondent.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Trump Lawyers Oppose DOJ’s Request To Review Classified Mar-A-Lago Documents

Trump sues CNN for defamation and seeks $475,000,000 in punitive damages 

RELATED TWEET:

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

Trump Sues CNN

/in , , , , , , , , /by

Former President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against CNN, claiming the outlet defamed him and did so out of fear he will run for president again in 2024.

The suit, which was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, argues CNN has tried to use its influence to smear Trump politically and prevent him from launching a bid for re-election.

The suit alleges Trump has been a “long-time critic” of CNN, “not because CNN does a bad job of reporting the news, but because CNN seeks to create the news.”

“CNN’s campaign of dissuasion in the form of libel and slander against the Plaintiff has only escalated in recent months as CNN fears the Plaintiff will run for president in 2024,” the suit reads. “As a part of its concerted effort to tilt the political balance to the Left, CNN has tried to taint the Plaintiff with a series of ever-more scandalous, false, and defamatory labels of ‘racist,’ ‘Russian lackey,’ ‘insurrectionist,’ and ultimately ‘Hitler.’”

Trump is seeking $475 million in punitive damages, according to the suit.

Trump notified the outlet in July of his intention to sue for “repeated defamatory statements.” Trump also warned he would sue other outlets he alleges have “defamed and defrauded the public” about the 2020 presidential election results.

“I have notified CNN of my intent to file a lawsuit over their repeated defamatory statements against me,” Trump said in July. “I will also be commencing actions against other media outlets who have defamed me and defrauded the public regarding the overwhelming evidence of fraud throughout the 2020 election. I will never stop fighting for the truth and for the future of our country.”

AUTHOR

BRIANNA LYMAN

News and commentary writer. Follow Brianna on Twitter

RELATED ARTICLE: Trump Scores Major Victory In Defamation Case

RELATED TWEET:

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

New Poll Delivers Some Alarming News For Democrats

/in , , , , , , , , , , , /by

Voters overwhelmingly trust Republicans to manage the economy, a new poll ahead of this year’s midterm elections suggests, while

Roughly 52% of voters said that they trust Republicans to manage the economy, compared to 38% for Democrats, while only 1% of respondents said they agreed with the proposals of both parties to manage it, according to a poll conducted by the Times and Siena College, which measured the relative strength of both parties in advance of the election scheduled on Nov. 8. The economy has been the most important issue to voters heading into the polls; in a July edition of the same NYT/Siena poll, 20% called it the “most important problem facing the country today,” while roughly 76% said that it would be “extremely important” to them as they vote.

Democrats have sought to focus their campaign narrative on social issues such as abortion in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s overturning by the Supreme Court, as well as gun regulations following mass shootings across the country over the summer.

However, efforts to place social issues at the forefront of voters’ minds do not appear to be working. The NYT/Sienna poll revealed that voters consider economic issues more important to their voting decision than social issues, by an 18-point margin.

The polls come at a time of bad economic news for the Biden administration before November’s election. The White House recently released an economic blueprint listing its various accomplishments, with President Joe Biden holding a series of events to highlight the “Inflation Reduction Act,” a massive spending package that his administration had proposed to the Democratic-controlled Congress.

The Consumer Price Index, an aggregate measure of inflation, increased by 0.1% from July to August, though tempered by reductions in the price of gasoline even as food costs rose, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The news poorly affected stock markets over the week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling by 1,600 points beginning Monday, closing for the week at 30,841.05 points.

There was some good news for Democrats, who currently control Congress and the White House. Between July and September, the number of voters who believe the country is “heading on the right track” increased modestly, from 27% to 50% for Democrats, and 9% to 27% for independents; however, 53% expressed disapproval of Biden’s performance in office.

The poll surveyed 1,399 registered voters nationwide from Sept. 6 to 14, 2022, its margin of sampling error was +/- 3.6 percentage points.

The White House and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had not responded to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

AUTHOR

ARJUN SINGH

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Three ‘October Surprises’ Loom Over The Midterms. Will They Sink The Dems – And America, Too?

Federal Court Upholds Texas Social Media Bill, Rules Corporations Do Not Have ‘Right’ To Censor

John Kerry, Who Owned 5 Homes And A Private Jet, Cautions Impoverished African Nations Against Natural Gas Projects

NBC Deletes Tweet Comparing Immigrants To ‘Trash’

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Judge Grants Request To Appoint ‘Special Master’ To Review Trump Raid Documents

/in , , , , , , , , , /by

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon decided Monday to grant a request to appoint a “special master” to review the documents taken from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago home in the FBI’s raid last month and determine if they were protected by legal privilege.

The Justice Department (DOJ) had reviewed materials seized in the raid and found some of them might be legally privileged. Trump’s attorneys asked Cannon for a “special master,” or third-party attorney, to review the documents contending it was not certain that the department identified all the possibly privileged documents.

Cannon granted Trump’s request, and also temporarily blocked the DOJ from further review of the seized documents.

“The Court hereby authorizes the appointment of a special master to review the seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorney/client and/or executive privilege,” Cannon wrote. “Furthermore, in natural conjunction with that appointment, and consistent with the value and sequence of special master procedures, the Court also temporarily enjoins the Government from reviewing and using the seized materials for investigative purposes pending completion of the special master’s review or further Court order.”

Cannon said the court was “unsure” of the DOJ’s claim that its review team had picked out any potentially privileged materials.

Trump’s legal team had argued that the DOJ was politically motivated and would “leak” documents covered by attorney-client privilege.

“Left unchecked, the DOJ will impugn, leak, and publicize selective aspects of their investigation with no recourse for [Trump] but to somehow trust the self-restraint of currently unchecked investigators,” his attorneys wrote.

However, the DOJ had attempted to block the appointment of a special master, citing national security concerns.

“This Order shall not impede the classification review and/or intelligence assessment” to be performed by the DOJ, Cannon wrote.

Cannon unsealed the most detailed list of property seized in the raid yet on Friday, ABC News reported.

AUTHOR

TREVOR SCHAKOHL

Legal reporter. Follow Trevor on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tschakohl

RELATED ARTICLES:

Politico’s new owner pledges ‘nonpartisan’ coverage — while privately praying for Trump’s re-election

MSNBC Host, Guests Melt Down Multiple Times Over Trump ‘Special Master’ Ruling

‘Massive Abuse Of Power’: Intel Committee Rep Vows To Use ‘Power Of The Purse’ To Get Transparency From Biden, DOJ

HANKINSON: It’s Time For Corporate Media To Tell The Truth About America’s Crime Problem

Britain’s Next Prime Minister: Thatcher 2.0?

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

DOJ’s Highly Redacted Trump Affidavit Details Reasons For Raid

/in , , , , , , , , /by

The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) redacted affidavit relating to the raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home was released on Friday. The document shows that the DOJ pointed to a number of classified materials already obtained from Trump’s home as reason for the August search warrant request.

Though much of the affidavit was redacted, unsealed portions of it revealed that the latest search came after the FBI reviewed 15 boxes that Trump turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in January, sparking further concern about other potential documents. Fourteen of these boxes had classification markings,” according to the affidavit.

The 14 boxes contained 184 documents – 25 of the documents had “top secret” markings, 92 were labeled “secret” and 67 had a “confidential” warning, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit also notes that the DOJ requested Trump secure the storage room at Mar-a-Lago, pointing out that the department sent a letter to “FPOTUS COUNSEL 1” on June 8, 2022. This letter “reiterated that the PREMISES are not authorized to store classified information and requested the preservation of the STORAGE ROOM and boxes that had been moved from the White House to the PREMISES.”

“As I previously indicated to you, Mar-a-Lago does not include a secure location authorized for the storage of classified information,” the letter reads, according to the affidavit. “As such, it appears that since the time classified documents [redacted] were removed from the secure facilities at the White House and moved to Mar-a-Lago on or around January 20, 2021, they have not been handled in an appropriate manner or stored in au appropriate location. Accordingly, we ask that the room at Mar-a-Lago where the documents had been stored be secured and that all of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago (along with any other items in that room) be preserved in that room in their current condition until farther notice.”

Multiple media organizations, including CNN and The New York Times, pushed for the affidavit – which would shed light on the reasoning behind the unprecedented raid – to be released because of intense public interest and the unparalleled nature of the situation.

Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart – who also signed off on the search warrant used in the FBI’s August 8 raid – ordered the DOJ to submit redactions to the affidavit after formally rejecting the department’s push to keep the document private. Reinhart approved the redactions on Thursday and noted the affidavit would be released by noon on Friday.

In the wake of the FBI’s search, Trump slammed the incident as being politically motivated. He encouraged the “immediate release of documents” relating to the search of his Florida home and, on August 22, filed a lawsuit asking for a “special master” to be appointed to independently oversee the review of various materials that had been taken.

The DOJ on Friday also released a document detailing its proposed redactions to the affidavit and reasons for the redactions – though notably the reasons for keeping portions of the affidavit under wraps were also redacted. In this document, the DOJ noted that the redactions are an effort to protect a “significant number of civilian witnesses.”

 

AUTHOR

SHELBY TALCOTT

Senior White House correspondent. Follow Shelby on Twitter

RELATED ARTICLES:

Trump responds after DOJ unseals affidavit related to Mar-A-Lago raid

‘Political Witch Hunt’: Mike Davis Alleges Biden Knew About The Mar-A-Lago Raid

‘I Did Nothing Wrong’: Trump Rages Over The ‘Sick And Demented People’ Who Raided His Home

FBI Agents Remove 11 Sets Of Classified Documents From Mar-a-Lago

‘It’s Almost Semi-Fascism’: Biden Kicks Off Midterm Rally By Slamming Trump-Allied Republicans

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

‘Kneel To God And No One Else’: Trump Slams Biden, J6 Trial At Arizona Rally

/in , , , , , , , /by

Former President Donald Trump held a rally Friday night at the Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley, Arizona, where he voiced his support for Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters. In his speech, Trump criticized President Joe Biden’s handling of the U.S. economy and the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, which Trump called “the greatest humiliation our country has ever seen.”

Trump then addressed January 6th last night in Prescott Valley, Arizona. Trump said of the recent investigation: “Where does it stop? Where does it end? Never forget: Everything this corrupt establishment is doing to me is all about preserving their power and control over the American people, for whatever reason. They want to damage me in any form so I can no longer represent you,” according to MSN.

In response to being accused of grabbing the steering wheel from a secret service agent on January 6th and throwing food in the White House, Trump stated during Friday’s rally, “And they know that wasn’t true too. But they don’t call back the secret service. You know the secret service wants to testify and say it wasn’t true, but they won’t let them testify because they don’t want to hear the answer.  It’s just a horrible thing that’s going on in our country. It’s sick, and the fake news media is totally complicit. These are very dishonest people, many of them.”

“We will never give in, we will never yield, we will never, ever, ever back down,” Trump said during his speech, according to FOX News. “As long as we are unified, the tyrants we are against do not stand a chance because we are Americans who kneel to God and no one else.”

“Rather than targeting Christians, conservatives, and Republicans, the Biden admin should go after street gangs,” Trump stated. “Instead of taking guns away from law-abiding Americans, they should take them away from career criminals and felons,” he continued.

Trump pointed out that we are just four months away from midterms, calling this “the most important election in America’s history.” He said, “If we do not get this done then it is going to be tragic.”

AUTHOR

MEG FOLEY

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLES:

‘Does Anyone Want Me To Run Again?’: Here’s What You Missed From Trump’s Rally In Wyoming

Here Are Just Some Of The Uprisings Over Government Incompetence Happening Around The World

North Carolina Town’s Entire Police Force Resigns, Citing ‘Hostile Work Environment’

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

Leaked Government Intel Report says Iran Plotting to Murder Trump Inside the U.S.

/in , , , , , , , , /by

Iran has been quite public about wanting to do this, but nonetheless the questions remain: Who leaked it? Why? What was the objective?

“Iran plotting to kill Donald Trump in assassination plot, intelligence leak says,” by Rachel Hagan, Mirror, July 15, 2022:

Iran is plotting to kill or capture Donald Trump and his former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, according to a leaked US government intelligence report.

The Middle East nation is seeking to avenge the United States for the death of Major General Qassim Soleimani, a powerful Iranian commander, at the hands of a US drone strike two years ago.

The astonishing claim came from the latest National Counterterrorism Centre report that said the Iranian regime is “waging a multi-pronged campaign against select US officials”.

It said this includes threats of lethal action, international legal manoeuvring, and the issuance of Iranian arrest warrants and sanctions….

“Since January 2021, Tehran has publicly expressed a willingness to conduct lethal operations inside the United States and has consistently identified former President Donald Trump, former secretary of state Michael Pompeo, and former General Kenneth McKenzie as among its priority targets for retribution,” the report says according to Yahoo News.

It continued that Iran would likely view the killing or prosecution of a US official like Trump as an equivalent in rank and stature to Soleimani “or responsible for his death as successful retaliatory actions.”

Yahoo states that the report is marked with “Not for Public Release” and “For Official Use Only.”…

AUTHOR

ROBERT SPENCER

RELATED ARTICLES:

Report: Iran Plots to Kill Trump

Trump Peace: IDF chief to make unprecedented official visit to Morocco

Hamas-linked CAIR tries to revive Ilhan Omar’s ‘Islamophobia’ bill

Uvalde and the Failure of Trust

EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.