August 2, 2022 at 04:44PM WHAT?! “Anyone Questioning, Challenging, PHOTOGRAPHING, Or RECORDING At Polling Places May Violate Federal Voting Rights Law” – Undercover Sheriff’s Deputies & Federal Thugs To Watch Arizona Primary Election For “Voter Intimidation” As Election Fraud Concerns Continue
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s office and the Biden Justice Department are watching conservatives on Arizona’s Election Day, allegedly to ensure the safety of voters.
Patriots independently investigating voter irregularities, ballot trafficking, and outright fraud will be scrutinized for “interfering with the right to vote peacefully.”
“Anyone questioning, challenging, photographing, or recording at polling places under the pretext that they’re uncovering illegal voting may violate federal voting rights law,” reported KTAR.
Are they taking these measures anywhere else in the country?
The Justice Department has assigned a prosecutor to take complaints and respond to any possible voting-rights abuses in Arizona’s Tuesday Primary. They will partner with the corrupt Soros-funded Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone to crack down on Republicans.
Penzone previously begged the Arizona Senate to stop auditing the Stolen 2020 Election, and he refused to comply with auditors. He will use his office to steal another election.
The Gateway Pundit already reported on the egregious election day “irregularities” that Patriots are seeing at the polls this morning.
PHOENIX – The Justice Department has assigned a federal prosecutor to respond to potential voting-rights complaints and violations in Arizona for Tuesday’s primary election.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Lokey will serve as the election officer for the federal bureau’s Arizona district in Phoenix. He will also consult with the Justice Department on any instances of election fraud and voter intimidation, the agency said.
“This is the first time we’ve done this before the primary election,” U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Friday.
“Just to try and set the tone that the federal government is partnering with state and local officials.
Lokey will be available by phone Tuesday at 602-514-7516.
Federal law protects against such crimes as intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes and marking ballots for voters against their wishes.
The department said that anyone questioning, challenging, photographing, or recording at polling places under the pretext that they’re uncovering illegal voting may violate federal voting rights law.
Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News in early June that his office would have “zero tolerance” for voting day disrupters and that plainclothes deputies will be checking polling places.
The FBI said special agents from the Phoenix office will also be taking reports on election day abuses at 623-466-1999 or online at https://tips.fbi.gov.
They will not even allow us to record or photograph illegal voting! This is clearly meant to stop anybody from busting the illegal ballot harvesting or trafficking discovered in Dinesh D’Souza’s “2000 Mules” documentary.
U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino, the top federal prosecutor in Arizona, was appointed by Joe Biden last October for this purpose.
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Deputies will also be in plainclothes, “watching for any issues that could interfere with the right to vote peacefully.” Penzone told KTAR that he will have “zero tolerance” for Patriots who want to ensure a free and fair election.
Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone expects to have a more robust law enforcement presence than usual on election day, but many will be plainclothes deputies watching for any issues that could interfere with the right to vote peacefully.
“If you’re at a polling place, you can pretty much work under the premise that there’s a plainclothes deputy not too far away keeping an eye on things, so you can come and feel safe,” he said.
The move comes after tensions following the 2020 election and not because of any specific threat.
Imagine that!
They’re using law enforcement to intimidate conservative voters under the guise of protecting the right to vote peacefully.
And this move comes after “tensions,” not the massive law violations or hundreds of thousands of illegal or questionable ballots that were discovered in the 2020 Election.
Right…
All Patriots need to get out and vote and pay attention to what they’re doing.
August 1, 2022 at 04:24PM LEAKED TO ROLLING STONES: Trump’s Lawyers Are Preparing Legal Defenses Against Criminal Charges
Donald Trump’s lawyers are preemptively preparing a legal defense against criminal charges from the Justice Department, as the former president’s lawyers are increasingly anxious that their client will be prosecuted for his role in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
Members of the ex-president’s legal team have already begun brainstorming strategy and potential defenses, according to three people familiar with the matter and written communications reviewed by Rolling Stone. Trump himself has been briefed on potential legal defenses on at least two occasions this summer, two of the sources say.
That effort intensified after former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s June testimony before the House committee investigating Jan. 6.
“Members of the Trump legal team are quietly preparing, in the event charges are brought,” says one person familiar with the situation. “It would be career malpractice not to. Do the [former] president’s attorneys believe everything Cassidy said? No. … Do they think the Department of Justice would be wise to charge him? No. But we’ve gotten to a point where if you don’t think criminal charges are at least somewhat likely, you are not serving the [former] president’s best interests.”
The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Official Trump representatives did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
In their preparations, Trump’s team has discussed strategies that involve shifting blame from Trump to his advisers for the efforts to overturn the election, per the three sources, reflecting a broader push to find a fall guy — or fall guys. “Trump got some terrible advice from attorneys who, some people would argue, should have or must have known better,” says one of the sources with knowledge of recent discussions in Trumpland. “An ‘advice of counsel’ defense would be a big one.”
Other potential strategies include defenses based on the First Amendment and the right to petition the government over a political grievance. Such arguments are viewed internally as potential defenses against charges related to the “fake elector” scheme.
Federal prosecutors have questioned aides to former Vice President Mike Pence about Trump’s involvement in his campaign’s effort to put forth slates of those fake electors, The Washington Postreported last week. After Trump lost the election in November, his campaign and supporters recruited the fake electors to proclaim Trump to be the recipient of their state’s electoral college votes. The effort aimed to provide an air of legal legitimacy to Trump’s election-fraud conspiracy theories, as well as to pressure officials in battleground states to declare him the winner. The effort failed, but it has since attracted the attention of prosecutors, not just at the Justice Department, but in the swing states where Republicans assembled slates of phony electors.
If the Justice Department does come with charges, Trump’s current team has acknowledged they would have to bring on more legal firepower to handle the historic legal defense. “You’d need to have a real heavyweight at the top [of the legal team] for something like that, but right now nobody knows who that would be,” one Trump adviser says.
Some of Trump’s higher-ranking legal and political counselors doubt Attorney General Merrick Garland would be willing to go through with charges. Biden’s pick for attorney general has been long regarded as a consummate institutionalist, wary of the unintended consequences or precedents that could come from criminally charging a former president.
“I do think criminal prosecutions are possible. Whether they are advisable is a more difficult consideration for the country,” Ty Cobb, a former top lawyer in Trump’s White House, toldRolling Stone in June. “Possible for Trump and [Mark] Meadows certainly. And for the others, including lawyers, who engaged fraudulently in formal proceedings or investigations.”
Criminal charges against a former president would mark the first time in American history that a former president has been prosecuted for crimes committed in office. A Nixon-era Justice Department memo, reiterated during the Clinton presidency, stated that presidents should not be charged while in office. But how the prosecution of a former president could take place legally remains unclear, given the lack of precedent, and would invite constitutional challenges ending up at the Supreme Court.
Trump also seems keenly aware of the blowback that could result from a federal indictment — and is telling supporters it could be politically advantageous. Early this year, the former president told fans at a Texas rally that if prosecutors go after him, “we are going to have in this country the biggest protest we have ever had … in Washington, D.C., in New York, in Atlanta, and elsewhere.”
Trump has repeated versions of that line to confidants and longtime pals, including at casual gatherings this summer, a person with direct knowledge of the matter says. “He says,” the source recalls, “it would make the crowd size at [Jan. 6] look small by comparison.”
August 1, 2022 at 07:01AM MUST SEE: GOP Rep. Dan Bishop DESTROYS DOJ Hack for Setting Up Lower Income White Men in Contrived and Paid For Fake Whitmer Plot (VIDEO)
In October 2020 press conference, the FBI announced it thwarted a plot by a so-called “right-wing militia” to kidnap and kill Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and overthrow the state government. The announcement was made purposely right before the 2020 election.
The Whitmer kidnapping plot was in the media 24/7 and used to bludgeon Trump with just a few weeks to go until Election Day.
The FBI used at least 12 informants in the Michigan Whitmer kidnapping case.
There were 6 defendants and 12 FBI informants identified as the case progressed.
The FBI planned the Whitmer attack, organized the attack, paid for the attack, and recruited local men to join in their planned attack.
It was another complete setup by Chris Wray’s FBI to frame and ruin innocent men.
The case, which we now know was comprised of virtually all FBI agents and informants, took another devastating hit in August.
Michael Hills, an attorney for Brandon Caserta, one of the six defendants, produced text messages showing an FBI field agent telling an informant to lie, frame an innocent man and delete text messages.
This is why federal prosecutors are refusing to hand over text messages and laptops from FBI informants in the Whitmer kidnapping case. The FBI actually hatched the plot. paid for the plot, ran the plot, and set up the innocent men in their immoral scheme.
Two men were found guilty in the FBI’s made-up kidnapping case in Michigan and two men were released due to a hung jury back in April.
Now the two men released by the hung jury are back in court.
Defendants Adam Fox and Barry Croft are facing trial for the second time.
The Stasi FBI will keep going after these innocent men until they get a guilty verdict.
It’s how the FBI rolls.
Just before the 2020 election, the FBI announced it had thwarted an alleged plot to kidnap the Michigan governor.
A jury found that the FBI had actually entrapped at least 2 of the defendants.
Is this how the DOJ carries out its operations? The American people deserve to know. pic.twitter.com/ZcjGtwKWtC
Finally — this past week a Republican lawmaker confronted the DOJ on their dirty tricks in the contrived Whitmer case.
Dan Bishop questioned Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen on the FBI’s illegal operation against innocent Americans.
Rep. Dan Bishop: “The FBI appears to have contrived the plot, used its informants to drive people into the plot, and provide logistical and financial support into what was in effect an FBI operation.”
Important Disclaimer: This is an opinion piece, yet a very well-informed opinion. it is not intended to harm, but to inform the public of this matter of high importance.
Recently “sealed” documents have been released which confirm what I suspected — in part — that Brandon Straka’s cooperation with federal authorities is potentially damaging to individuals by voluntarily providing information to the FBI & DOJ which the government considers “substantial”.
The newly unsealed filings do include a list of people Brandon Straka provided the DOJ with information about, including several "Stop the Steal" organizers and various right-wing social media personalities. pic.twitter.com/wslWAKI5Gz
— ?? Damien Jarrett ?? (@WalkAwayDamo) July 31, 2022
After hearing Brandon Straka’s Twitter “SPACES” audio presentation on Sunday July 31, 2022; based on my extensive experience dealing with the Department of Justice’s malicious tactics in building conspiracy cases, I feel compelled to inform the public (especially the individuals Straka has potentially implicated) about some very important concerns I now have:
Brandon Straka is a “mark”. Straka may have innocently, ignorantly, and now apparently naively cooperated with the government as part of his plea agreement. Based on the information I’ve collected and analyzed from his own legal case filing, in addition to his recent public pronouncements regarding document leaks, I can honestly say that Brandon Straka is way over his skies against a very formidable adversary. In my well-informed opinion, he’s clearly a victim of lawfare being perpetrated by the DOJ, and in street-lingo, he can best be categorized as a “mark” who was easy prey to help the DOJ without him even knowing it.
America-First/Conservatives are equally clueless and naive about who they are up against. There’s a reason why Trump supporters, and conservatives in general, get their tails kicked — because their adversary is brilliant, strategic, covert, devious, and malicious. Most importantly, they’ve spent decades deeply infiltrating every institution of our government & politics, and in this late stage of completing their marxist overthrow of our Republic, their strongest work-horses doing the heaviest lifting….are the conservatives.
Brandon Straka insists that he cooperated with the government, but everyone needs to understand that, in his own opinion, was innocent and harmless. He’s proudly proclaimed that although he spoke to the government, he ultimately told the government that he never witnessed anyone break the law. Straka’s comments indicate he is obviously — if not dangerously — clueless about how the government builds a conspiracy case. While he insists he helped individuals with his cooperation, he is clueless about how his testimony may have assisted the government “substantially” in building conspiracy charges against others.
Brandon Straka insists that the sealed documents must remain sealed because they contain sensitive information such as his home address. This is a major red flag, especially since the court is in the process of determining redactions before they are publicly released. In the spirit of full transparency, Straka should be insisting that all sealed documents be released after his home address is redacted.
Each individual identified in Straka’s sealed documents, as well as the information he provided about them should have access to that information for their defense. Essentially, Straka is insisting on protecting himself at the expense of each individual who may be in legal jeopardy as a result of his testimony.
If Brandon Straka has nothing to hide, and the information he provided regarding other individuals targeted by the DOJ was harmless, then why is he opposing unsealing the documents?
The primary reason why I am advocating for full release (with sensitive information such as home addresses redacted), is because the people he has given testimony about deserve to have that information provided to their attorneys for their defense. This isn’t about Brandon Straka, this is about the people he has potentially harmed to save himself. It is a FACT that the government found Straka’s information so “substantial” that he received leniency and favor. These facts are in the official court record, unsealed and unredacted.
For some strange reason, many justifiably sympathetic influencers unjustifiably refuse to accept the reality that Brandon Straka spoke to the people complicit in overthrowing our Republic 3 times. They also avoid addressing the questions that could help other lessor-known Americans defend themselves. Their judgement may be clouded by Straka’s ability to fund raise, attract social media followers, as well as their own self interest in selling books or pushing fund raising campaigns to his followers. I’m certainly not against fund raising or campaigning for financial support of the Jan 6 defendants, I’m just repulsed by those turning a blind eye to the questionable character of Brandon Straka, presently one of the least credible conduits for fund raising & follower-building.
For instance, so-called “Patriots” need to internalize the following fact: To save himself, Brandon Straka negotiated a plea agreement which included cooperating with the government on three occasions. We could argue whether or not it was justified, as he was fearful of going to jail, and we could also sympathize with Straka, that his character was too weak to withstand the overwhelming force of the government. Who is to blame for that scenario? The forceful overbearing government, or the weak character of Straka. 97% of Americans are too weak to withstand government force. This is a fact, as the government celebrates a 97% success rate in obtaining plea deals and convictions.
In my opinion, too many Americans are rallying in support of a known, admitted government cooperator. Even more alarming are the ones who turn a blind eye to asking important questions which Straka’s potential victims deserve answers. It is also my strong, well-informed opinion that most influencers are putting their own self interests before integrity and principle.
Since I published my original article 6 months ago, too many people have told me that I was harming Brandon, and that he has a huge following & tremendous talent to build his organization and following. Essentially, they’ve told me directly and indirectly that the benefits of covering up the details far out weigh the importance of learning the truth. Brandon represents huge fund raising and list-building potential, and therefore we need to keep the patriot cash register ringing.
Quite frankly, the Twitter “SPACE” was nauseating throughout the entire session. A group comprised of so-called leaders and influencers rallying to support a weakened, battered, and openly-homosexual hair dresser; pandering to christians by calling for prayers one moment, dropping F-bombs the next moment, introducing a porn-star boyfriend of a Jan 6’r who voluntarily pleaded guilty to receive a 60 day sentence; cussing one minute, giving “God Bless You’s” the next….it was actually confusing to understand what these people stand for. The Constitution? Biblical and Christian Principles? Sexual deviancy? Patriotism? Truth? Transparency in one breathe while calling for secret sealed documents in another? Making really good points 98% of the time while concealing 2% of the most important truth?
The entire session demonstrates the cluelessness of both Brandon Straka, as well as his supporters as to how the government builds conspiracy cases. Whereas the government had missing puzzle pieces that Brandon Straka was able to provide through his “cooperation”. He has no idea what they needed, or what they were looking for. To make my point, I will create a fictitious scenario to help illustrate the potential damage to other “unindicted co-conspirators”: What if Brandon testified to the FBI by stating, “I know XYZ person, and I never saw them break the law. All I know is that we got together for coffee & laughter on the morning of January 6th in the conference room of the Willard Hotel along with Rudy Giuliani, Roger Stone & General Flynn. BOOM! The government suspected that there was a meeting in the morning at the Willard, but didn’t know who was there, and they didn’t have any witness testimony to corroborate the details of the meeting. There are four elements to charge conspiracy, and Straka could have innocently, and unknowingly provided one missing element they need to wrap a bunch of innocent Americans into the criminal conspiracy charge.
One side bar note: Journalist Julie Kelly, who has done a fantastic job collecting information regarding January 6th for her books and articles, and who has done a great job bringing public awareness to the topic — for the expressed purpose of publishing books, made a stunning announcement as she exited the “SPACES” session. Whether she realized it or not, most Americans aren’t very understanding towards people who are too busy to partake in an important topic because they have a tennis appointment. As connected as Julie is to the January 6th defendants and their families, she has once again demonstrated how disconnected she is from middle America. Since day one, Julie has portrayed a willingness to dive deep into the legal system weaponized against the Jan 6th defendants, but her overflowing elitism is exceptionally repulsive. She should refrain from snubbing her nose at the less important, but at the very least, she should be more transparent about her fund raiser funneling schemes and book selling aspirations. Sadly, Julie Kelly has created an impression that she’s in the game to sell books, get on FoxNews, receive praise from the DC elite, and pushing millions via an Steve Bannon’s show to her favored & exclusive non-profits — who are selectively and unfairly distributing critically needed donations to select Jan 6th families and hand picked attorneys. In my opinion, when someone such as Julie Kelly does a “great job”, we all need to get our hackles up when if they leave a trail of improper conduct and intentions. If Steve Bannon only knew of the behind the scenes dynamics, he would certainly avoid the scrutiny which will undoubtedly and eventually come from the U.S. Government — they would LOVE to attach his name to it.
Openly bragging about a more-important tennis appointment to a group of desperate victims of the DOJ should alarm everyone. Many months ago I personally asked Julie Kelly to utilize her self-described influence in DC to get the U.S. Marshals to intervene and investigate mistreatment of the incarcerated detainees. Nothing came of it, and as far as I know, she hasn’t called for help from legislators and the U.S. Marshals to intervene and end the abuse of January 6th detainees in any of her main stream media interviews. There’s no money in ending the abuse. There’s no money in attorneys resolving the Jan 6th cases quickly. Instead, it appears she has focused on funneling millions of people to a non-profit she is intimately connected to (without disclaiming to the public her relationship), founded & run by a extremely controlling and polarizing individual who discriminately distributes 100’s of thousands in donations to those individuals, families and attorney who abide by her dictates. Dysfunctional at minimum; highly questionable to say the least, especially since the leader of the non-profit stated to me that she “didn’t need the little people” anymore, presumably since Julie Kelly has connected her to large media outlets and major donors contributing to the non-profit fund. It’s especially important to note that the fundraising effort was born after I dedicated many months around the clock to helping set up the same family support network we built during the Bundy trials for the defendants. Unfortunately I had a birds-eye view of some very disturbing and dramatic occurrences that I could no longer associate with, but everything I was concerned about is materializing in full view of the public; thankfully, without my name attached to it. It was very obvious to me that the organizations, fund raising mechanisms, attorney and book writers were settling in for the long haul. Of course, there isn’t as much money in resolving the January 6th cases expeditiously.
Since I was released from political imprisonment in October 2017 I’ve worked day & night to investigate the same criminals who wrongfully prosecuted the Bundy Defendants including myself who are now attempting to overthrow our republic. Through our experience, I learned exactly how the government builds conspiracy cases — simply, but clearly stated, I’m an expert in this subject matter. I’ve learned how the federal detention system works, and I’ve also learned how powerful a family support network is on the outside of our incarceration. Very importantly, I’ve also learned how the grifters siphoned millions off our backs as we struggled for freedom in the court system. Fortunately, we won 2 federal trials. Unfortunately for those attempting to deceive the public, I’ve learned how to spot grifters a mile away. Sadly, some of the “cooperators” in our Bundy Cases acted in the same exact suspicious manner that Brandon Straka is exhibiting.
As an investigative journalist facing 4 life sentences, I was involved in successfully prosecuting and winning 2 federal trials. Most federal attorneys do not have such a successful track record. I didn’t do it to sell books. I didn’t do it to maintain & fund raise from millions of followers — they were deleted from my social media accounts. I certainly didn’t do it to get on FoxNews — I’ve been blackballed by FoxNews because the establishment can never have me broadcast what I know about the true corruption within our system that I experienced first hand. Since my return to broadcasting, my viewers have come to know that I deliver 100% of the truth, not 80% so I can raise millions and sell books to a broader, information-deprived audience. My greatest success and wealth has been obtained holding my integrity intact without compromise, especially never intending to save myself, but always putting justice and my country first & above all else.
By continuing to promote and justify secrecy, Brandon Straka is making matters even worse for himself. He could end this painful segment of his journey by demanding an immediate unsealing and release of all documents in his case file. A motion could be filed tomorrow at his request through his attorney. Once the documents are revealed, Brandon Straka can rest well knowing that the people he has potentially harmed at least have a chance to defend themselves. Without knowing what he testified to, they can never have a fair chance at defending against his words.
Most importantly, Brandon Straka has a great opportunity to redeem himself for having received favor and leniency at the expense of everyone around him. He’s unquestionably betrayed his country and fellow Americans to save himself, but he has an opportunity to turn this around for the people he purports to lead. Absent full transparency, there shouldn’t be one person remaining in his circle of influence who can trust him.
July 30, 2022 at 08:29AM Alex Jones’ InfoWars conspiracy website parent files for bankruptcy
WARNING: EXTREMELY BIASED ARTICLE via NBC News
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ media company Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy on Friday, but his attorney said it should not disrupt the defamation damages trial underway in Texas, that seeks to force Jones to pay $150 million or more to the family of one of the children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School attack.
The trial in Austin, where Jones lives and Free Speech Systems is based, wrapped up its first week of testimony Friday and is expected to conclude next week. The bankruptcy filing was announced by Jones’ attorney Andino Reynal late in the day.
Reynal and attorneys for the family suing Jones told Judge Maya Guerra Gamble that the bankruptcy filing would not halt the lawsuit.
The company wants “to put this part of the odyssey behind us so that we have some numbers” set for damages, Reynal said.
Details of the bankruptcy filing were not immediately available.
It is not the first time a bankruptcy filing has come amid litigation against Jones by the Sandy Hook families. In April, Jones’ company Infowars and two more of his business entities filed for bankruptcy protection, which led to a trial delay. Free Speech Systems is the parent company of Infowars.
Courts in Texas and Connecticut have already found Jones liable for defamation for his portrayal of the Sandy Hook massacre as a hoax involving actors aimed at increasing gun control. In both states, judges issued default judgements against Jones without trials because he failed to respond to court orders and turn over documents.
Christopher Mattei, an attorney for the Sandy Hook families in the Connecticut case, issued a statement Friday evening blasting the bankruptcy filing.
“Just two days before jury selection is due to begin in Connecticut, Mr. Jones has once again fled like a coward to bankruptcy court in a transparent attempt to delay facing the families that he has spent years hurting,” Mattei said. “These families have an endless well of patience and remain determined to hold Mr. Jones accountable in a Connecticut court.”
The trial in Austin is to determine how much Jones should pay for defaming Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, was among the 20 children and six educators who were killed in the country’s deadliest school shooting.
They and other Sandy Hook families suing Jones say they have suffered years of harassment and threats resulting from Jones’ repeated false claims that the shooting was a hoax or didn’t happen.
Jones claimed in court records last year that he had a negative net worth of $20 million, but attorneys for Sandy Hook families have painted a different financial picture.
Court records show that Jones’ Infowars store, which sells nutritional supplements and survival gear, made more than $165 million between 2015 and 2018. Jones has also urged listeners on his Infowars program to donate money.
July 28, 2022 at 05:11PM RNC warning to Trump: If you run for president, we stop paying your legal bills, says official
Republican leaders who worry that Donald Trump could hurt their midterm chances by announcing a presidential run too soon are hoping he’ll be dissuaded from doing so by the prospect of losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal payments, according to an RNC official.
Since October 2021, the Republican National Committee has paid nearly $2 million to law firms representing Trump as part of his defense against personal litigation and government investigations.
But an RNC official told ABC News that as soon as Trump would announce he is running for president, the payments would stop because the party has a “neutrality policy” that prohibits it from taking sides in the presidential primary.
In January, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said, “The party has to stay neutral.”
“I’m not telling anybody to run or not to run in 2024,” she added. However she has since reaffirmed that Trump “still leads the party.”
RNC officials would not comment on the record for this story. Representatives for Trump also declined to comment.
This isn’t the first time that legal bills have been seen as possible leverage over Trump.
According to the book “Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show,” by ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl, in the final days of Trump’s presidency, Trump told McDaniel he was leaving the GOP and creating his own political party — only to back down after McDaniel made it clear to Trump that the party would stop paying his legal bills for his post-election challenges and take other steps that would cost him financially.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a “Save America” rally in support of Arizona GOP candidates on July 22, 2022, in Prescott Valley, Ariz.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Both Trump and McDaniel have denied the story.
According to the RNC’s most recent financial disclosure to the Federal Elections Commission, from October 2021 through June of this year, the RNC paid at least $1.73 million to three law firms representing Trump, including firms that are defending him in investigations into his personal family business in New York. Last month alone, the RNC paid $50,000 to a law firm representing Trump in June.
The latest tally tops the $1.6 million maximum figure that the Republican Party’s executive committee reportedly voted to cover for Trump’s personal legal bills during an RNC meeting last year, a figure that The Washington Post, which first reported on the agreement in December, wrote could increase further with the party executive committee’s approval.
The RNC reported payments to law firms representing Trump as recently as mid-June, indicating the party leadership’s unfettered support for the former president and heightening critics’ concerns about the party’s neutrality ahead of the 2024 presidential primary season.
“I don’t think there’s been any effort” by the RNC to remain neutral, longtime Republican donor and Canary LLC CEO Dan Eberhart told ABC News. “This is a symbiotic relationship.”
“The RNC needs Trump or Trump surrogates or Trump’s likeness to raise money, and Trump wants them to continue paying his bills and be as pro-Trump as possible,” Eberhart said. “So neither is in a hurry to cut the umbilical cord.”
The RNC has continued to fundraise off of Trump’s name in its emails to supporters, touting a so-called “Trump Life Membership,” boosting his social media platform, and, most recently, promoting Trump’s first visit to Washington, D.C., since January of last year. Other potential 2024 presidential candidates and key party figures like former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have not received the same spotlight as Trump, experts say.
Eberhart said the current relationship between Trump and the RNC is putting other potential 2024 presidential candidates at an “absolute disadvantage.”
“Other Republican candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president have good reason to worry that the party apparatus is rigged against them in its unwavering support for Trump,” echoed Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist at the progressive government-watchdog group Public Citizen.
Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel gives remarks to a packed room at the opening of the RNC’s new Hispanic Community Center in Suwanee, Ga., on June 29, 2022.
Ben Gray/AP
“By paying Trump’s extensive legal bills, the RNC is indirectly helping finance the Trump campaign,” Holman said. “And given the history of the RNC zealously defending Trump, other Republican candidates should expect that they are not just running against Trump, they are also running against the Republican Party.”
Eberhart said “it’s an open secret” within the Republican Party that “nobody wants Trump to announce his candidacy until after the midterms.”
“Everyone thinks it’ll scramble the midterms and we could potentially destroy the advantage we have” if Trump would announce too early, Eberhart said. “It makes Trump more relevant and gives the Dems potentially a way to reset the race.”
RNC spokesperson Emma Vaughn, who declined to comment on the RNC’s recent legal payments to firms representing Trump, had previously told ABC News that “as a leader of our party, defending President Trump and his record of achievement is critical to the GOP.”
“It is entirely appropriate for the RNC to continue assisting in fighting back against the Democrats’ never-ending witch hunt and attacks on him,” Vaughn told ABC News in January, in response to questions about the party’s earlier legal payments for Trump.
The Republican Party committee has described the legal payments for Trump as support for the former president against political attacks against him. But at least two of the three firms that have been paid on behalf of Trump are involved in legal work on behalf of the former president regarding investigations against his personal businesses by the New York attorney general and Manhattan district attorney.
Although both officials are Democrats, they have both said their probes are not politically motivated.
In all, the $1.7 million paid in total to the three firms includes more than $862,000 paid to NechelesLaw LLP, $516,000 paid to Fischetti & Malgieri LLP, and $350,000 paid to van der Veen, Hartshorn and Levin, the RNC’s disclosure filings show. The most recent payments are $50,440 to Fischetti & Malgieri LLP in mid-June and $186,182 to NechelesLaw LLP in May.
Former President Donald Trump delivers speaks at the America First Agenda Summit hosted by America First Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., on July 26, 2022.
Kyle Mazza/TheNEWS2 via ZUMA Press Wire
Neither NechelesLaw LLP, Fischetti & Malgieri LLP, or van der Veen, Hartshorn and Levin responded to ABC News’ requests for comment.
The RNC is reportedly not covering Trump’s legal bills related to the House special committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. But as previously reported by ABC News, Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America, and his presidential committee-turned-PAC Make America Great Again PAC have been footing legal bills for witnesses involved in legal battles related to the events of Jan. 6, which has raised concerns about witness coercion from Jan. 6 committee members and legal experts.
Holman, the watchdog group lobbyist, said regulations that would govern legal expense funds for executive branch officials and candidates have been proposed to the Office of Government Ethics. Among the proposals are regulations that would enforce contribution limits, prohibit certain funding sources, and require the full disclosure of where money comes from and how it is spent.
“Until OGE finalizes these rules, however, Trump and the RNC legally can do almost whatever they want to pay for Trump’s legal woes and largely evade meaningful disclosure of the sources and expenditures of these funds,” Holman said.
Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) said whistleblowers have disclosed FBI leadership is ‘pressuring’ agents to artificially pad domestic terrorism data.
The FBI is weaving a narrative that helps the Biden Regime while painting Trump supporters as terrorists.
Rep. Jordan sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray detailing new disclosures by insider whistleblowers.
“From recent protected disclosures, we have learned that FBI officials are pressuring agents to reclassify cases as ‘domestic violent extremism’ even if the cases do not meet the criteria for such a classification,” Jordan wrote in the letter. “Given the narrative pushed by the Biden administration that domestic violent extremism is the ‘greatest threat’ facing our country, revelation that the FBI may be artificially padding domestic terrorism data is scandalous.”
The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee says new whistleblower disclosures allege FBI officials are pressuring agents to “reclassify” cases as “domestic violent extremism” in order to appease the Biden administration’s push to focus on these cases.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sent a letter to FBI Director Chris Wray Wednesday after he says “brave whistleblowers” came forward with information about “disturbing conduct” at the agency.
During congressional hearings last year, Wray testified that investigations into domestic violence extremism have increased “significantly” and the FBI had “doubled the amount of domestic terrorism investigations,” Jordan notes.
The Biden administration unveiled a national strategy for countering domestic terrorism last year, with officials telling Fox News it’s designed to cut across the political spectrum while warning that White supremacy and “militia violent extremists” currently present the “most persistent and lethal threats.”
Jordan says this narrative by the administration is “misleading” due to new whistleblower accounts.
“We have received accusations that FBI agents are bolstering the number of cases of DVEs to satisfy their superiors. For example, one whistleblower explained that because agents are not finding enough DVE cases, they are encouraged and incentivized to reclassify cases as DVE cases even though there is minimal, circumstantial evidence to support the reclassification,” states Jordan.
Trump conduct, conversations part of Justice Dept. investigation
The Justice Department is investigating President Donald Trump’s actions as part of its criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to four people familiar with the matter.
Prosecutors who are questioning witnesses before a grand jury — including two top aides to Vice President Mike Pence — have asked in recent days about conversations with Trump, his lawyers, and others in his inner circle who sought to substitute Trump allies for certified electors from some states Joe Biden won, according to two people familiar with the matter. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
The prosecutors have asked hours of detailed questions about meetings Trump led in December 2020 and January 2021; his pressure campaign on Pence to overturn the election; and what instructions Trump gave his lawyers and advisers about fake electors and sending electors back to the states, the people said. Some of the questions focused directly on the extent of Trump’s involvement in the fake-elector effort led by his outside lawyers,including John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani, these people said.
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In addition, Justice Department investigators in April received phone records of key officials and aides in the Trump administration, including his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, according to two people familiar with the matter. That effort isanother indicator of how expansive the Jan. 6 probe had become, well before the high-profile, televised House hearings in June and July on the subject.
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol built their case over a series of eight public hearings. Here’s how they did it. (Video: Blair Guild/The Washington Post)
The Washington Post and other news organizations havepreviously written that the Justice Department is examining the conduct of Eastman, Giuliani and others in Trump’s orbit. But the degree of prosecutors’ interest in Trump’s actions has not been previously reported, nor has the review of senior Trump aides’ phone records.
A Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Justice Department spokesman and a lawyer for Meadows both declined to comment.
The revelations raise the stakes of an already politically fraught probe involving a former president, still central to his party’s fortunes,who has survived previous investigations and two impeachments. Long before the Jan. 6 investigation, Trump spent years railing against the Justice Department and the FBI; the investigation moving closer to him will probably intensify that antagonism.
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Federal criminal investigations are by design opaque, and probes involving political figures are among the most closely held secrets at the Justice Department. Many end without criminal charges. The lack of observable investigative activity involving Trump and his White House for more than a year after the Jan. 6 attack has fueled criticism, particularly from the left, that the Justice Department is not pursuing the case aggressively enough.
In trying to understand how and why Trump partisans and lawyers sought to change the outcome of the election, one person familiar with the probe said, investigators also want to understand, at a minimum, what Trump told his lawyers and senior officials to do. Any investigation surrounding the effort to undo the results of the election must navigate complex issues of First Amendment-protected political activity and when or whether a person’s speech could become part of an alleged conspiracy in support of a coup.
Many elements of the sprawling Jan. 6 criminal investigation have remained under wraps. But in recent weeks the public pace of the work has increased, with a fresh round of subpoenas, search warrants and interviews. Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, and lawyer, Greg Jacob, appeared before the grand jury in downtown Washington in recent days, according to the people familiar with the investigation. Both men declined to comment.
The Justice Department efforts are separate from the inquiry underway by the House committee, which has sought to portray Trump as responsible for inciting the Capitol riot and for being derelict in his duty for refusing to stop it. Both Short and Jacob have testified before the committee, telling lawmakers that Pence resisted Trump’s attempts to enlist him in the cause.
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Unlike the Justice Department, the House panel does not have the power to launch criminal investigations or charge anyone with wrongdoing.
The Justice Department probe began amid the smoke, blood and chaos at the Capitol and has led to criminal charges against more than 840 individuals, expanding to include an examination of events that occurred elsewhere in the days and weeks before the attack — including at the White House, in state capitols and at a D.C. hotel.
There are two principal tracks of the investigation that could ultimately lead to additional scrutiny of Trump, two people familiar with the situation said, also speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
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The first centers on seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct a government proceeding, the type of charges already filed against individuals who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 and on two leaders of far-right groups, Stewart Rhodes and Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, who did not breach the Capitol but were allegedly involved in planning the day’s events.
The second involves potential fraud associated with the false-electors scheme or with pressure Trump and his allies allegedly put on the Justice Department and others to falsely claim that the election was rigged and votes were fraudulently cast.
Recent subpoenas obtained by The Post show that two Arizona state legislators were ordered to turn over communications with “any member, employee, or agent of Donald J. Trump or any organization advocating in favor of the 2020 re-election of Donald J. Trump, including ‘Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.’ ”
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No former president has ever been charged with a crime in the country’s history. In cases when investigators found evidence suggesting a president engaged in criminal conduct, as with Richard M. Nixon and Bill Clinton, investigators and successive administrations concluded it was better to grant immunity or forgo prosecution. One goal was to avoid appearing to use government power to punish political enemies and assure the tradition of a peaceful transfer of power.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has vowed that the Jan. 6 investigation will follow the facts wherever they lead and saidthat no one is exempt or above scrutiny, while refusing to divulge information outside of court filings.
Garland told NBC News in a Tuesday interview that the department pursues justice “without fear or favor. We intend to hold everyone, anyone, who was criminally responsible for the events surrounding January 6th, for any attempt to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another, accountable — that’s what we do. We don’t pay any attention to other issues with respect to that.”
The Jan. 6 investigation is by some measures the largest ever undertaken by the Justice Department. While investigators in nearly every part of the country have been involved, the lion’s share of the work is being done by three offices: the U.S. attorney’s office in the District of Columbia, and the criminal and national security divisions at department headquarters.
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In the probe’s first year, prosecutors focused largely on the people who breached the Capitol, some of them violently, charging hundreds with interfering with or assaulting police or obstructing an official proceeding.
This year, the fake-elector scheme has become a major focus of the Justice Department inquiry. After Trump lost the election, lawyers and others close to him urged GOP officials in key states to submit alternate and illegitimate slates of electors to reject the results of the state vote totals. Those would-be electors were aided in their effort by Trump campaign officials and Giuliani, who said publicly that the rival slates were necessary and appropriate, and has been described as overseeing the strategy.
Last month, federal agents fanned out in multiple states to serve grand jury subpoenas, execute search warrants and interview witnesses — a significant escalation of overt investigative activity. As part of that effort, agents searched Eastman’s electronic devices, and conducted a search at the home of Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who enthusiastically embraced some of Trump’s last-ditch efforts to stop Biden from becoming president. Many of those who received subpoenas were told specifically to turn over their communications with Giuliani.
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The Justice Department inspector general is also an important player in the investigation, as it examines Clark’s role as a department official in allegedly furthering the efforts.
In a call on Dec. 27, 2020, witnesses have said, Trump told acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen that he wanted his Justice Department to say there was significant election fraud, and said he was poised to oust Rosen and replace him with Clark, who was willing to make that assertion.
Rosen told Trump that the Justice Department could not “flip a switch and change the election,” according to notes of the conversation cited by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“I don’t expect you to do that,” Trump responded, according to the notes. “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.”
The president urged Rosen to “just have a press conference.” Rosen refused. “We don’t see that,” he told Trump. “We’re not going to have a press conference.”
Jacqueline Alemany and Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report.
Several FBI whistleblowers say that the agency’s probe into Hunter Biden was internally sabotaged during the 2020 election in order to derail the investigation, after agents wrongfully deemed verified evidence as “disinformation” to ignore.
According to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), agents investigating Hunter “opened an assessment which was used by an FBI headquarters team to improperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation and caused investigative activity to cease,” adding that his office received “a significant number of protected communications from highly credible whistleblowers” regarding the investigation.
Grassley added that “verified and verifiable derogatory information on Hunter Biden was falsely labeled as disinformation,” according to the Washington Examiner.
FBI supervisory intelligence agent Brian Auten opened in August 2020 the assessment that was later used by the agency, according to the disclosures. One of the whistleblowers claimed the FBI assistant special agent in charge of the Washington field office, Timothy Thibault, shut down a line of inquiry into Hunter Biden in October 2020 despite some of the details being known to be true at the time.
A whistleblower also said Thibault “ordered closed” an “avenue of additional derogatory Hunter Biden reporting,” according to Grassley, even though “all of the reporting was either verified or verifiable via criminal search warrants.” The senator said Thibault “ordered the matter closed without providing a valid reason as required” and that FBI officials “subsequently attempted to improperly mark the matter in FBI systems so that it could not be opened in the future,” according to the disclosures.
The whistleblowers say investigators from FBI headquarters were “in communication with FBI agents responsible for the Hunter Biden information targeted by Mr. Auten’s assessment,” and that their findings on whether the claims were in fact disinformation were placed “in a restricted access sub-file” in September 2020, according to Grassley, who added that the disclosures “appear to indicate that there was a scheme in place among certain FBI officials to undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation.“
Grassley summarized the new allegations in a Monday letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
The Examiner notes that FBI agent Auten was involved in the Trump-Russia investigation, including interviewing Christopher Steele’s primary source, Igor Danchenko.
According to Grassley, the “volume and consistency” of the allegations regarding the handling of the Hunter Biden probe “substantiate their credibility.”
The assessment by Auten in August 2020 was opened the same month Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) received a briefing from the FBI “that purportedly related to our Biden investigation and a briefing for which the contents were later leaked in order to paint the investigation in a false light,” Grassley said. The senator said Senate Democrats asked for a briefing in July 2020 “from the very same FBI HQ team that discredited the derogatory Hunter Biden information.”
The FBI inquiry into Hunter Biden reportedly began as a tax investigation, then expanded into a scrutiny of potential money-laundering and foreign lobbying; the DOJ has declined to hand over investigative details. -Washington Examiner
Thibault, the FBI agent who allegedly quashed the Hunter probe, may have violated the Hatch act in 2020 after making posts on social media which were critical of then-president Donald Trump and former AG William Barr.
Also notable – Hunter had the numbers of several FBI agents in his iCloud contacts.
Joe Biden, top Democrats, and virtually the entire mainstream media dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian disinformation when bombshell allegations from the New York Post emerged weeks before the 2020 election. In March 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report claiming that figures tied to Russian intelligence promoted “misleading or unsubstantiated allegations” about Joe Biden.
Joe Biden, who told Americans last year, “You’re not going to get covid if you have these vaccinations,” has just tested positive for COVID after having had four vaccinations.
Oh dear.
Biden: “You’re not going to get Covid if you have these vaccinations”
“This morning, President Biden tested positive for COVID-19. He is fully vaccinated and twice boosted and experiencing very mild symptoms,” said a statement by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Biden has begun taking begun taking Paxlovid and will now work in isolation until he tests negative.
During a CNN town hall event last year, Biden told Americans, “You’re not going to get Covid if you have these vaccinations.”
“This continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
Back in January, Biden said, “This continues to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
Biden now has COVID after taking two vaccinations and two boosters, a total of four shots.
No doubt the media, which ran with the “100 per cent safe and effective” mantra for months before that proved to be completely untrue, will now go into overdrive claiming Biden would be seriously ill without the vaccines.
As we highlighted last month, quadruple-vaccinated Dr. Anthony Fauci also tested positive for COVID-19, before catching it again two weeks later.
Fauci subsequently acknowledged during an appearance on Fox News that while vaccines may protect from symptoms of the virus, they “don’t protect overly well” when it comes to transmission of COVID.
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