Archive for the ‘Donald Trump’ Category

Donald Trumps former lawyer Sidney Powell argues no reasonable person would believe her conspiracy theories – masslive.com

A former lawyer for Donald Trump who made several false claims of voter fraud in regard to the 2020 presidential election is now arguing that no reasonable person would have believed her conspiracy theories.

Lawyers for Sidney Powell make the argument in a court filing in hopes of getting a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit filed against her by Dominion Voting Systems dismissed, CNN reports. Dominion filed the lawsuit in January.

Even [assuming] that each of the statements alleged in the Complaint could be proved true or false, no reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of fact, the filing says, as reported by Business Insider.

Powell claimed that Dominion voting machines were rigged to switch votes for Trump to Joe Biden, his Democratic challenger, during the election. There is no evidence any vote-switching occurred in what experts have called the most secure election in U.S. history.

According to CNN, Powell was sharing her opinions on the election and that people were free to come to their own conclusions. Powell made several public and TV appearances pushing the false claims. She lost every lawsuit she filed in making the false claims, Buzzfeed reports.

Indeed, Plaintiffs themselves characterize the statements at issue as wild accusations and outlandish claims, the filing says. They are repeatedly labeled inherently improbable and even impossible. Such characterizations of the allegedly defamatory statements further support Defendants position that reasonable people would not accept such statements as fact but view them only as claims that await testing by the courts through the adversary process.

According to Buzzfeed, Powells lawyers want Dominions lawsuit or the case moved to Texas. Theyre also arguing that Powells claims were hyperbole and should be protected by the First Amendment.

But Buzzfeed reports that government filings show many people arrested during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol have cited Powells claims of a rigged voting system as a reason for believing the election was stolen from Trump.

Dominion has separate lawsuits against former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Mike Lindell, the My Pillow CEO. Conservative commentators Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, and Jeanine Pirro have been sued by election-technology company Smartmatic.

Go here to see the original:
Donald Trumps former lawyer Sidney Powell argues no reasonable person would believe her conspiracy theories - masslive.com

Donald Trump’s Harsh Reaction To Joe Biden’s Press Conference – The List

As The Sun reports, the White House news conference was Biden's first official one as president and was limited to 25 reporters. He even had a cheat sheet, noted observers.

During the press conference, the presidentconfirmed he has every intention of running for re-election in 2024, and commented on the United States Covid-19 vaccination roll-out. "No other country in the world has even come close, not even close, to what we are doing," Biden claimed (via BBC). Elsewhere, the President also hadharsh words for his predecessor, criticizing Trump's handling of the expanding humanitarian crisis on the southern border.

Speaking toLaura Ingraham onFox News, Trump hit back at Biden's comments, claiming his own administration'sborder policies were superior because they encouraged fewer people to show up at the U.S.-Mexico border (via The Sun). "By the time we finished what we were doing [on the border], very few people were coming up because they knew they weren't going to get through." He added,"We stopped 'catch and release' which was a disaster."

Read the original post:
Donald Trump's Harsh Reaction To Joe Biden's Press Conference - The List

Fox News host falsely announces Alejandro Mayorkas’s resignation while interviewing Donald Trump – Yahoo! Voices

During an interview with former President Donald Trump, Fox News host Harris Faulkner falsely told Trump and viewers that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas had resigned. Just seconds later, she apologized and said, "Forgive me, that has not happened."

HARRIS FAULKNER: Because it's just happened now and I want to double check this with our producers. The DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has resigned. Mr President--

DONALD TRUMP: Well, I'm not surprised. Good-- that's a big victory for our country.

HARRIS FAULKNER: Hold on. Let me-- let-- let me stop. Let me stop. Let me listen to my team one more time. Forgive me. Forgive me. That has not happened. But-- and I apologize--

DONALD TRUMP: OK.

HARRIS FAULKNER: Listening to the team and you.

DONALD TRUMP: Cross out that victory.

HARRIS FAULKNER: Right-- well-- and I want to tell everybody, you issued a statement last night and you called for that, though. And you're just talking about him just to clarify is somebody who you feel is not competent to handle what's going on. So let me clean up on aisle seven with my error. He has not resigned and let me move right to what you are calling for and others too. For him to move out of the way and possibly get somebody who can do the job. Your thoughts.

Go here to see the original:
Fox News host falsely announces Alejandro Mayorkas's resignation while interviewing Donald Trump - Yahoo! Voices

Prosecutors Are Lining Up Witnesses to Explain Donald Trumps Many Alleged Crimes to a Jury – Vanity Fair

As youve probably heard by now, Donald Trump is in a lot of legal trouble, which is unfortunate for him given the fact that legitimate lawyers want nothing to do with him and if it werent for the fact that the Republican Party had already decided to let him get away with inciting a violent insurrection, he almost certainly would have been found guilty at his second impeachment trial. (In fact, one of the attorneys on his dream team suggested the Department of Justice should arrest him if they thought he committed a crime.) Currently, the ex-president is the defendant in approximately 29 lawsuits, according to The Washington Post, though likely more worrisome to him are the criminal investigations hes at the center of, particularly the one being led by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. In the last several months, the D.A. has brought on the attorney who put John Gotti and other white-collar criminals behind bars, has reportedly been working to flip the Trump Organizations longtime CFO, and, most crucially, obtained Trumps much sought-after tax returns, documents that the Queens-born real estate developer has gone to such extreme lengths to keep secret that some people have gotten the impression they contain extremely incriminating information. Now, Vances office has taken the next step in its criminal investigation: finding people who can explain to a jury why Trump is a possible crook.

Reuters reports that investigators are combing through millions of pages of newly acquired records with an eye toward identifying witnesses who can bring the documents to life for a jury, according to people familiar with the matter. Some of the individuals expected to testify are already well known and likely include the 45th presidents former fixer, Michael Cohen, who has met with prosectors eight times. (In February 2019, Cohen told lawmakers that Trump regularly inflated and deflated his assets when it served his purposes, whether it was to reduce his tax bill or obtain loans. Last year, he said in an interview that Trump should go to prison for 360 years.) In addition, theres Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization employee who has described himself as Trumps eyes and ears at the company and would seemingly know if his boss had committed fraud, whether of the bank, insurance, or tax variety. But according to reporters Jason Szep and Peter Eisler, a growing universe of people, institutions, and agencies are being scrutinized by Vances team. Per Reuters:

Prosecutors are looking to gather information and testimony from bankers, bookkeepers, real estate consultants, and others close to the Trump Organization who could provide insights on its dealings, according to interviews and court filings. The process of identifying all witnesses and targets could take months. The next phase is identifying targets for subpoenas and testimony, said one person familiar with the case. Vances investigators need insiders who can provide the narrative behind any conflicting numbers on Trumps financial records and testify to Trumps knowledge and intent, said former prosecutors of white-collar fraud cases. Even in the most heavily document-dependent case, you need witnesses to tell the story, said Reed Brodsky, a longtime white-collar defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor.

Several potential key figures in Vances investigation are current or former employees of outside companiesfrom financial and real estate consultants to legal adviserswith inside knowledge of Trumps dealings, according to court filings and the two people familiar with the investigation. Some performed crucial roles for many years, such as Mazars accountant Donald Bender. His signature is on the tax returns of the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which was dissolved in 2018 after a probe by the New York attorney general found that the organization misused charitable funds. Trump was ordered to pay more than $2 million in damages.

In addition to real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield, which did years of work for the Trump Organization and appraised a property Trump used to obtain a tax easementa tool ProPublica described as a much-abused deduction exploited by wealthy investors that has cost the U.S. Treasury billions of dollarsVance has spoken to and requested records from Ladder Capital Corp. and Deutsche Bank AG, two of the former presidents biggest creditors. (Trump currently owes Deutsche Bank some $340 million and there is no love lost between him and the German lender, which could foreclose on the properties he used to personally guarantee his loans.) But according to Reuters, Vances investigation will likely rely heavily on Trumps closest associatespeople who can address the key question of what Trump was thinking when he made the financial claims now under scrutiny.

Only a core group of Trumps confidantes can address that state-of-mind question, which is critical to proving criminal intent. They include Weisselberg, 73, who began working for Trumps father, Fred, in 1973. Legal experts and a source familiar with the investigation say prosecutors apparent goal is to convince Weisselberg to cooperate. Also under scrutiny are Weisselbergs adult sons - one who has worked for the Trump Organization. The other son worked for Ladder Capital, though theres no evidence he was involved in Ladders loans to Trump.

Jennifer Weisselbergthe former wife of Allens older son, Barry Weisselbergtold Reuters that she has spoken with Vances office five times since November. The day after the first interview, she said, D.A. investigators visited her to retrieve tax and financial records for her and her former husband. She acknowledged that prosecutors have shown interest in an apartment in a Trump-owned building where she and her former husband lived rent-free for seven yearsan arrangement that could have legal implications if it represented compensation not properly reported in tax filings. Jennifer Weisselberg said she believed her father-in-law would never testify against Trump voluntarily. She envisions Allen Weisselberg flipping only if he or his sons are facing prosecution. But no one, she said, knows more about Trumps finances.

See the rest here:
Prosecutors Are Lining Up Witnesses to Explain Donald Trumps Many Alleged Crimes to a Jury - Vanity Fair

Another Trump Is Threatening to Run for Office – Vanity Fair

In a just world, the day Donald Trump walked out of the White House and boarded a plane headed for Mar-a-Lago would have been the last time we heard from the 45th president or his family ever again. At the very least, it would have been nice for Trump to have been banned from getting within 200 feet of the nuclear codes, on account of both the failed coup and his habit of saying things like this is a tough hurricane, one of the wettest weve ever seen, from the standpoint of water, one of many examples of obvious cognitive impairment. Unfortunately, not only is the guy who (1) sicced a fascist mob on the Capitol and (2) thinks the stock market is a person still eligible to hold office, his entire extended clan is as well. And some are actively threatening to inflict themselves on the U.S. government.

In an interview with Sean Hannity on Tuesday, Lara Trump, Eric Trumps wife and Donald Trumps daughter-in-law, said she is absolutely considering running for Senate in North Carolina. Like her father-in-law when he announced his candidacy for the White House, Lara has no experience whatsoever working in government, though she is skilled in whipping out right-wing talking points the Trump base eats up. In April 2019, she called German chancellor Angela Merkels decision to accept refugees the downfall of Germany and one of the worst things to ever happen to the country that started World War II. In 2020, she hit the campaign trail in support of her husbands father with far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who describes herself as a proud Islamophobe. Naturally, she actively took part in the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. More recently, it was reported that an animal-rescue charity linked to Lara spent nearly $2 million at Donald Trumps properties. (Charitable shadiness is a family affair for the Trumpsin 2019, Donalds charity was forced to shut down and pay $2 million for illegally using the foundations funds, while Eric, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump Jr. were required to undergo mandatory training to learn how not to rip off charities moving forward. In a statement at the time, an attorney for the Trump Foundation claimed the group had been trying to to dissolve and distribute its remaining assets since 2016, which is really neither here nor there. A 2017 Forbes report also alleged that Eric Trumps foundation had misappropriated money intended to benefit pediatric cancer. A spokesperson for Eric Trumps foundation insisted the charity had been transparent about where funds were going, and that relevant donors whose money was given to causes...were made aware the funds would be donated elsewhere.)

More recently, Lara was in the news complaining about how social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook suppress the voices of conservatives, hence Donald Trumps need to start his own platform where people can post without fear of the fact-checkers being all over them:

Lara, of course, is not the only Trump mulling a run for office. In addition to her father-in-laws threat to run again in 2024, her sister-in-law, Ivanka, has reportedly had her eyes on the White House since 2016. (In a storyline straight out of a horror film, Trump allies are said to be pushing him to dump Mike Pence if he runs for a second term and pick a woman as his running mate. Like, say, the daughter with whom he has a deeply creepy relationship.)

And speaking of the ex-first daughters political ambitions: over the weekend the Daily Beast suggested that Ivanka has been hard at work attempting to redeem and rebrand herself, given her current reputation as a rioter-praising poster child for nepotism who doesnt let the people guarding her life use the bathroom.

Unfortunately, not everyone thinks a rebrand is possible, for physiological reasons:

If you would like to receive the Levin Report in your inbox daily, clickhereto subscribe.

Excerpt from:
Another Trump Is Threatening to Run for Office - Vanity Fair