THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

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REUTERS

"Trump urges judge to deny New York attorney general's contempt request"


Reuters

April 20, 2022

NEW YORK, April 20 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump is urging a New York court to reject state Attorney General Letitia James' bid to hold him in contempt, saying he does not have documents she subpoenaed and accusing her of turning the dispute into a public spectacle.

James this month said Trump failed to honor a court order that he comply "in full" with her subpoena as part of a civil investigation into his business practices.


She asked the court to hold Trump in contempt and fine the businessman-turned-politician at least $10,000 per day until he complies.

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron scheduled an April 25 hearing over the contempt motion.

The state Supreme Court is a trial level court.

In a court filing late on Tuesday, Trump lawyer Alina Habba said the documents James was requesting were in the possession of the Trump Organization, his family company, which already "produced a significant number of documents" to the attorney general's office.

The attorney general's three-year investigation is focused on whether the Trump Organization - which manages hotels, golf courses and other real estate around the world - has misstated the values of its properties to obtain favorable loans and tax deductions.

James had told Trump he did not need to produce documents in the Trump Organization's possession as long as the company had already provided them and he stipulated that those documents could be used as if they were produced by him, according to a copy of the December 2021 subpoena.

Trump last month said he would comply "in full" with the subpoena seeking documents by March 31 but did not provide any documents by that deadline.

One of his lawyers called the subpoena "overbroad."

James replied that "the ship has long since sailed" for Trump to raise objections to the subpoena and asked Engoron to hold Trump in contempt.

The March 31 deadline was itself an extension from March 3 agreed to by James after Trump requested more time, according to James' office.

Habba wrote that James' office had rebuffed Trump's "attempts to engage in good-faith discussions to resolve the apparent issues" and was trying to "turn this matter into a public spectacle."

James' office declined to comment on Trump's filing.

Trump, a Republican, denies wrongdoing and has called the investigation politically motivated.

James is a Democrat.

James has said the investigation had found "significant evidence" that the Trump Organization's financial statements relied on misleading asset valuations.

She is seeking to compel Cushman & Wakefield, a real estate company that conducted appraisals for the Trump Organization, to hand over records.

Reporting by Luc Cohen and Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Will Dunham

https://www.reuters.com/legal/governmen ... 022-04-20/
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Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

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THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

"Durham focuses on Russian YotaPhones Clinton campaign lawyer linked to Trump"


Jerry Dunleavy

21 APRIL 2022

John Durham has revealed further details about the Trump-Russia collusion allegations that Michael Sussmann pushed to the CIA in 2017, scrutinizing claims surrounding Russian phones known as YotaPhones.

In early 2017 in a conversation with the CIA, the Democratic cybersecurity lawyer linked former President Donald Trump to these phones near the White House and elsewhere beginning in 2016.

The special counsel has rejected these allegations and said the CIA did too.


Sussmann was indicted last September for allegedly concealing his clients — Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and “Tech Executive-1,” known to be former Neustar executive Rodney Joffe — from FBI general counsel James Baker in September 2016 when he pushed since-debunked claims of a secret back channel between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank.

Durham says Sussmann similarly concealed his client, Joffe, when he met with the CIA on Feb. 9, 2017.

The special counsel released Friday a lightly redacted version of the CIA’s “memorandum for the record” written the day the agency met with Sussmann.

The CIA said Sussmann told them his contacts had gathered information “indicating that a Russian-made Yota phone had been seen by them connecting to WiFi from the Trump Tower in New York, as well as from a location in Michigan, at the same time that then-candidate Trump was believed to be at these locations” and that “the Yota phone was seen connecting to WiFi from the Executive Office of the President (the White House)” in December 2016.

The special counsel revealed Friday that the CIA concluded in early 2017 that the Alfa Bank and YotaPhone information was not “technically plausible,” was “user created," “contained gaps,” and “conflicted with [itself].”

Sussmann’s lawyers are objecting to the various statements their client allegedly made to the CIA in 2017 being introduced as evidence during the May trial, but Durham is insisting on it.


The special counsel argued that “regardless of whether this statement was true, partially true, or — as the Government contends — false and misleading, the statement is admissible because it provides crucial context for the defendant’s meeting and the other statements he made.”

The CIA said Sussmann told them he had met with Baker “on a similar, though unrelated, matter."

But Durham said that was “misleading” because information regarding the Alfa Bank allegations that he had pushed to the FBI was among the materials Sussmann provided to the CIA and thus was not unrelated.

During the February 2017 meeting, the CIA said Sussmann “provided both written documents and thumb drives which he claimed contained data related to potential Russian activities connected to then Presidential candidate/elect Trump.”

“Mr. Sussmann advised that he was not representing a particular client and the information he was volunteering to us was not privileged,” the CIA wrote.

“His contacts wished to provide information to the U.S. government through Mr. Sussmann, preferring anonymity citing a potential threat from the Russian Intelligence Services.”

The agency added that Sussmann “was up front" that his law firm supported the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign "but that such work was unrelated to his reasons for contacting the CIA.”

The CIA said Sussmann told them “the information his contact had collected (the content of the thumb drives) was ‘private collection’, suggesting that the data had been collected by his contacts as a matter of personal interest.”

Durham claimed Sussmann's CIA allegations showed his intent was to "deceive" the CIA "by prompting them to act on information without truthfully describing or disclosing the relevant background, including the fact that the FBI had already been made aware of the allegations."

The FBI, CIA, special counsel Robert Mueller, a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee investigation, and Durham’s team have all cast doubt on or shot down the Alfa Bank claims.

Durham also referenced Friday an earlier Jan. 31, 2017, meeting Sussmann had with “Former Employee-1” — who had worked at the CIA.

The special counsel provided a heavily redacted copy of an email that the former CIA employee sent to someone referred to as “Employee 14."

“Sussmann said that he represents a CLIENT who does not want to be known, but who had some interesting information about the presence and activity of a unique Russian made phone around President Trump,” the email reads.

“The activity started in April 2016 when then President elect Trump was working out of the Trump Tower on its Wi-Fi network.”

Trump was a candidate, not president-elect, at the time.

The email added that “after his move to the White House, the same phone surfaced on the EOB network (assume Executive Office Building).”

Durham wrote earlier this year that “the Special Counsel’s Office has identified no support for these allegations" related to the Russian phones.

The January 2017 email said “the CLIENT claims that only dozen or so of these phones are present in the U.S.” and that “the CLIENT claims that double screen YotaPhones are often given by Russian government officials as gifts.”

“The phone close to President Trump apparently surfaced in April 2016 at the Trump Tower Network, and also at Wi-Fi used at Trump’s apartment at Grand Central Park West," the email says.

"When Trump traveled to Michigan to interview a cabinet secretary the phone appeared with Trump."

The email claims Sussmann contended that “in December 2016 the phone disappeared from Trump Tower WiFi network and surfaced on EOB network.”

Sussmann said that from April 2016 through January 2017, the YotaPhone “made number of Wi-Fi calls to Moscow and St. Petersburg” and that “the calls made from Trump Tower WiFi Network” were Voice over Internet Protocol calls.

The special counsel said earlier this year that Sussmann “provided data which he claimed reflected purportedly suspicious DNS lookups by these entities of internet protocol addresses affiliated with a Russian mobile phone provider” during the CIA meeting that also “demonstrated that Trump and/or his associates were using supposedly rare, Russian-made wireless phones in the vicinity of the White House and other locations.”

Durham revealed this year he has evidence Joffe “exploited” domain name system internet traffic at Trump Tower, Trump’s Central Park West apartment building, and the Executive Office of the President.

The special counsel said Joffe exploited his company's access to data at a "high-ranking executive branch office" both before and after the 2016 election, meaning at least during the transition period.

The January 2017 email said Sussmann asserted that “his client did not want to provide this to the FBI.”

Sussmann allegedly said his client “would most likely go to the New York Times” if there was no interest at the CIA.

Durham pointed out that Sussmann had pushed Alfa Bank claims to that outlet, as well as to the FBI and elsewhere, in the lead-up to the 2016 election.

The Special Counsel's Office previously said Joffe tasked university researchers with mining internet data to establish “an inference” and “narrative” to tie Trump to Russia, which Durham says Joffe believed would please certain “VIPs” — referring to the Clinton campaign.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... fc02a12c5c
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Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

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REUTERS

"Republican Party is 'the MAGA party now,' Biden says after McCarthy audio's release"


By Reuters Staff

APRIL 22, 2022

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden took an unusually harsh swipe at his Republican opponents during Earth Day remarks on Friday, calling their party the “MAGA party,” a reference to former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

“This ain’t your father’s Republican Party,” Biden said during remarks in Seattle, as he described the difficulty in getting Republican support for his climate change and other goals in Congress.


“All you got to do is look at what’s being played this morning, about the tape that was released,” Biden said, without going into specifics.

The Democratic president was referring to an audiotape made public this week that showed Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, saying that Republican then-President Donald Trump should resign over the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.

McCarthy publicly zigzagged on Trump’s culpability for the Jan. 6 riot, saying the former president bore some responsibility for the violence -- then visiting him at his Mar-a-Lago resort home in Florida.

“All kidding aside, this is a MAGA party now,” Biden added.

“These guys are a different breed of cat.”

Republicans who “know better are afraid to act because they know they will be primaried,” Biden said, referring to primaries, or party nominating contests.

Republican officials who criticize Trump potentially risk drawing his ire or that of his supporters, and losing their positions in a primary to a challenger.

Reporting by Jeff Mason; writing by Heather Timmons; editing by Jonathan Oatis

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKCN2ME1Q6
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Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

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REUTERS

"Fact Check - Contrary to social media posts, recounts of the 2020 U.S. presidential election were not conducted ‘in 46 states’"


By Reuters Fact Check

APRIL 21, 2022

It is untrue that 46 of 50 U.S. states had recounts of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, despite social media claims spreading over a year after President Joe Biden’s inauguration.

In April 2022, posts shared online read: “SCREENSHOT BEFORE THIS GETS DELETED 46 of 50 states have now recounted and CONFIRMED that Biden lost the vote in their state."

"The media has not said ANYTHING about this and continues to ignore it.”


An iteration posted on Twitter has garnered at least 2,000 retweets.

Other examples are viewable on Facebook.

The posts echo a debunked narrative pedaled by former U.S. President Donald Trump and his allies that blame widespread voting fraud for his loss in the Nov. 3 election.

Biden received the most Electoral College votes, with 306 to Donald Trump’s 232, a result that was later certified by the U.S. congress.

He was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2021.

Recounts, backed by the Republican party and the Trump campaign, were conducted in counties in Wisconsin, Arizona and Texas and at a statewide level in Georgia.

In a recount, authorities repeat the process of tallying up votes.

Every state sets its own threshold for when to do a recount.

Some require one whenever an election is especially close.

ARIZONA

In Arizona, Biden’s victory in Maricopa County – the state’s most populous county and a critical territory to his narrow win over Trump – was confirmed by a hand recount and multiple post-election tests for accuracy that were pushed by Republicans.

WISCONSIN

Dane County and Milwaukee County, the two largest counties in key swing state Wisconsin also held recounts of presidential ballots.

Both confirmed that Biden had defeated Trump by more than 20,000 votes, Reuters reported on Nov. 29, 2020.

TEXAS

While Trump won in the state of Texas, on Sept. 2020 he demanded probes of the vote in four of the most populous counties in Texas: Harris, Dallas, Tarrant and Collin.

Trump lost the popular vote in three of the four.

By Dec. 31, 2021 local outlets reported that the an initial progress report of the phase 1 of the audit had so far not found any significant discrepancies.

Sam Taylor, Director of Communications of the Office of Texas Secretary of State, confirmed to Reuters via email that phase 2 of the audit is currently underway.

The published findings, Taylor added, “include results of the partial manual recounts in the four counties included in the audit” which “have long been required under Texas law after every election.”

GEORGIA

Georgia also conducted three different recounts of ballots of the presidential election, all of which confirmed Biden as the winner.

OTHERS

The battleground state of Pennsylvania conducted a so-called risk-limiting audit of the November 2020 election, and all counties also audited a sample of their votes as mandated by law.

Neither effort turned up widespread fraud to put in question Trump's loss to President Joe Biden in the state by 81,000 votes.

Reuters found no other evidence that “46 of 50 states have now recounted and CONFIRMED that Biden lost the vote in their state,” as the social media posts say.

VERDICT

False.

Recounts of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election were not conducted in 46 states as recently claimed on social media posts.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team.

https://www.reuters.com/article/factche ... SL2N2WJ1J9
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Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

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REUTERS

"U.S. Capitol riot panel plans at least eight public hearings in June"


By Reuters Staff

APRIL 28, 2022

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress’s official probe into the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters plans to hold at least eight public hearings in June, some during “prime time” television evening hours, its chairperson said on Thursday.

Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, who leads the House of Representatives Select Committee on Jan. 6, told reporters at the Capitol some of the hearings would take place during normal workday hours and some in the evening.

He had said earlier this week that the panel, which had planned public hearings in May, now planned hearings in June, before issuing a report in early autumn, which would be before the November mid-term elections.

The committee is trying to establish then-President Trump’s actions while thousands of his supporters attacked police, vandalized the Capitol and sent members of Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence running for their lives.

Congress had been meeting to formally certify Democrat Joe Biden’s defeat of the Republican Trump in the November 2020 presidential election.

More than 900 people, including many Trump White House aides, have been interviewed in the committee’s investigation.

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Andrea Ricci

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa- ... SKCN2MK22W
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Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

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REUTERS

"Biden lashes out at Republicans' 'extreme' MAGA agenda, touts deficit reduction"


By Jeff Mason and Jarrett Renshaw

May 4, 2022

WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden sharply criticized former President Donald Trump's "MAGA" movement as extreme on Wednesday while touting his Democratic administration's efforts to reduce the U.S. deficit, which rose under his Republican predecessor.

In what could be a preview of a midterm campaign speech, Biden took aim at what he dubbed "MAGA" Republicans who he charged with protecting billionaires at the expense of working class Americans while only paying lip-service to budget responsibility.

MAGA is a reference to Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again."

Biden and his fellow Democrats have come under fire from Republicans for a historic rise in inflation that some critics say stems from overspending in Washington amid the COVID-19 pandemic as well as global supply constraints.

Biden noted on Wednesday that the annual deficit is going down - thanks to increased revenue as the economy emerges from the pandemic and winding down of COVID emergency spending - something that never happened under Trump.

"The bottom line is the deficit went up every year under my predecessor, before the pandemic and during the pandemic."

"And it’s gone down both years since I’ve been here."

Biden took aim at Republican U.S. Senator Rick Scott's economic plan, saying it would raise taxes on 75 million Americans, most of whom make less than $100,000 a year.

Scott is leading Republican efforts to get Republicans elected to the Senate.

"Let me tell you about this Ultra-MAGA Agenda."

"It’s extreme, as most MAGA things are," he said.

"I don’t want to hear Republicans talk about deficits and their Ultra-MAGA Agenda."

"I want to hear about fairness."

"I want to hear about decency."

Scott's campaign staff did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Republican National Committee said nothing Biden had done reduced the deficit and said his legislative plans, if passed, would only increase it.

The United States has reported budget deficits every year since 2001.

Beginning in 2016, increases in spending on Social Security, healthcare and interest on federal debt have outpaced the growth of federal revenue.

In the past few years, the annual deficit has ballooned to around $3 trillion due to pandemic spending and loss of revenue.


In 2017, Republicans ushered in a massive tax-cut bill under Trump that by some estimates has added more than $1 trillion to the debt.

"The previous administration increased the deficit every year it was an office in part because of its reckless $2 trillion tax cut."

"I know you're tired of hearing me saying that but a $2-trillion tax cut that was not paid for," Biden said.

Supporters of Trump have noted that the economy under Trump saw historically low unemployment coupled with record highs in the stock market.

Biden noted that the budget deficit fell by more than $350 billion in his first year and is projected to fall by more than $1.5 trillion this year – the largest deficit reduction in a single year on record and a revision up from the $1.3 trillion projected in the president's budget released earlier this year, according to an administration official.

The Treasury Department also estimates that it will pay down the national debt this quarter for the first time since 2016.

Biden is still seeking a nearly $2-trillion bill to expand the social safety net and tackle climate change, but Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Manchin has effectively blocked it, citing spending concerns.

Reporting by Jeff Mason and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Nick Zieminski

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden- ... 022-05-04/
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Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

"Biden pushes ‘ultra-MAGA’ label on GOP as he defends record"


By ZEKE MILLER, CHRIS MEGERIAN and JOSH BOAK

10 MAY 2022

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned voters unhappy with soaring inflation and his stalled domestic agenda against turning power over to “ultra-MAGA” Republicans in the midterm elections as he increasingly tries to cast former President Donald Trump and his adherents as a political foil.

Speaking at the White House less than six months before the elections, Biden acknowledged that he could “taste” the country’s dissatisfaction with Washington, particularly over rising prices, but he sought to channel the anger against the GOP.

“Look, I know you’ve got to be frustrated,” he said.

“I know, I can taste it."


"Frustrated by high prices, by gridlock in Congress, by the time it takes to get anything done."

“The MAGA Republicans are counting on you to be as frustrated by the pace of progress, which they’ve done everything they can to slow down, that you will hand power over to them ... so they can enact their extreme agenda,” Biden said.

Biden’s branding of his opposition as “ultra-MAGA Republicans” — a reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan — has emerged as a White House trope in recent weeks as the White House hopes for a pre-midterms reset for Democrats, who face stiff headwinds heading into the November elections.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that “it’s the president’s phrase.”


It is a message seemingly aimed directly at the listless and divided base of Biden’s own party, as Democrats struggle to keep their voters motivated, as well as at some moderate voters who still recoil at the memory of Trump’s tumultuous tenure in office.

“Look, I think Biden needs to motivate his base ahead of the midterms."

"And nothing motivates Democrats like voting against Trump,” said GOP strategist Alex Conant.

“Trump’s not on the ballot this fall."

"But Biden is going to try to convince voters that he is.”


Biden, Conant argued, has little choice.

“They’re not going to run on his record."

"They’re not going to make big, bold policy promises,” he said, so that leaves villainizing the opponent “and the best way to do that is to tie him to Trump.”

For Democrats, who have unified control of Washington, running against the minority party is risky, as even Biden acknowledged that voters tend to blame those in control for the nation’s state of affairs.

But the White House believes Republicans have thrown them a lifeline, in the form of GOP Sen. Rick Scott’s 11-point plan, released in late February, that would impose a modest tax increase on many of the lowest-paid Americans, while opening the door for cutting Social Security and Medicare.

The plan, meant as a draft governing agenda for when the GOP retakes power, has been rejected by many Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

But that is not stopping Biden and Democrats from trying to tie Republicans to it more broadly.

Scott, R-Fla., is the chairman of the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm and a member of Senate GOP leadership.

“That’s a plan in writing and he’s in the leadership,” Biden said.

Biden argued that the potential tax hikes would make it even harder for families struggling with inflation to afford food, housing and transportation, as prices rise at the fastest pace in four decades.

“I want every American to know that I’m taking inflation very seriously, and it’s my top domestic priority,” Biden said.

Scott fired back in comments Tuesday, calling on Biden to resign, and deeming him “unfit” for the job.

“I have a plan."

"I mean, it’s real simple,” he told reporters.

“I put out my ideas and how we need to rescue this country."

"He doesn’t have a plan."

"And you didn’t hear any ideas today."

"I mean, he says he was going to come up with his ideas and fix inflation.”

In recent days, the White House has extended the “ultra-MAGA” label to broader criticism of Republicans on other matters, including the push to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion established in the Roe v. Wade decision of the Supreme Court.

Biden believes most general election voters haven’t yet tuned in to the midterms and are missing what it views as “extreme” positions taken by GOP candidates and lawmakers, particularly in primaries, according to two people familiar with the White House’s thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

They said the president’s new branding for Republicans is meant to spotlight candidates and policies that may energize the GOP’s grassroots but that he believes are out of step with the majority of voters, sharpening the choice facing voters this November.


Speaking Monday night at a Democratic fundraiser, Biden tested out the “ultra-MAGA” messaging with donors, referencing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ moves to restrict some textbooks from being used in the classroom and Scott’s plan to require regular congressional reauthorization of social safety net programs.

“This is not your father’s Republican Party,” Biden said.

"This is a MAGA party."

"This is the MAGA party."

"And the head of their Republican campaign committee, Senator Rick Scott, the Ultra-MAGA agenda he put forward, he raises taxes on 70 million people who make well less than $100,000.”


On Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was echoing Biden’s line as he pushed for Congress to enshrine abortion rights into law.

“Now the MAGA Republicans have taken over,” he said.

“If MAGA Republicans get their way, pregnant women can lose their lives because there will be no exception if the life of the mother is at risk.”

John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster who has worked for Biden, said it’s important to draw sharp contrasts with political opponents.

“Whether you’re in a governor’s race in Michigan or you’re in a Senate race in New Hampshire, those contrasts become really important, because it’s good for voters to know what each side stands for,” he said.

“You’re talking to swing voters, without a doubt, because at the end of the day, independents, swing voters, moderates can make or break a cycle for Democrats and Republicans.”

Speaking Tuesday, Biden, who ran for office aiming to heal the nation’s divisions, said, “I never expected the ultra-MAGA Republicans who seem to control the Republican Party now to have been able to control the Republican Party."

"I never anticipated that happening.”
___

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report.

https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm ... 067c56b64d
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Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

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REUTERS

"U.S. Capitol riot panel questions Republican lawmaker about tour of building"


By Jan Wolfe

May 19, 2022

WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. congressional committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol on Thursday said it wants to ask Republican U.S. Representative Barry Loudermilk about a tour it believes he led through the complex the day before the riot.

"Based on our review of evidence in the Select Committee’s possession, we believe you have information regarding a tour you led through parts of the Capitol complex on January 5, 2021," the panel's leaders told Loudermilk in a publicly released letter.


"Public reporting and witness accounts indicate some individuals and groups engaged in efforts to gather information about the layout of the U.S. Capitol, as well as the House and Senate office buildings, in advance of January 6, 2021," the committee's leaders said in the letter.

A spokesperson for Loudermilk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Loudermilk issued a news release in May 2021 stating that "no Republican Member of Congress led any kind of ‘reconnaissance’ tours through the Capitol."

In that news release, Loudermilk said Democratic lawmakers have acted unethically by publicly claiming that Republican colleagues gave "reconnaissance" tours before the Jan. 6 insurrection by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.

“My Republican colleagues and I will not sit by while Democrats accuse their colleagues of treason for political gain," Loudermilk said at the time.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, after the Republican president gave a fiery speech urging them to protest congressional certification of his defeat by Democrat Joe Biden in the November 2020 election.

The committee has conducted hundreds of interviews, including many with close Trump associates and former White House aides, about the Capitol riot and events leading up to it.

It plans to hold public hearings next month.

The Jan. 6 committee last week sent subpoenas to five House Republicans, including Representative Kevin McCarthy, the party's leader in the House, demanding that they sit for interviews.

All five lawmakers said they believed the committee's investigation is partisan and illegitimate but did not directly answer questions about whether they would comply with the subpoenas.

Reporting by Jan Wolfe; editing by Jonathan Oatis

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-cap ... 022-05-19/
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Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

"AP FACT CHECK: Trump distorts Obama-Biden aid to Ukraine"


By ROBERT BURNS, AAMER MADHANI and HOPE YEN

March 27, 2022

WASHINGTON (AP) — Casting himself as tough on Russia, former President Donald Trump lowballed the amount of U.S. military aid provided to Ukraine during the Obama-Biden administration and claimed that only he himself in recent history didn’t face a Russian invasion of another country.

Not true.

Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, meanwhile, made a suspect claim that all of Ukraine’s weapons now in use came from the Trump administration.


A look at the weekend claims and reality:

TRUMP, comparing military aid in his administration to that under President Barack Obama: “I was the one that sent the Javelins, not Obama."

"Obama sent blankets.” — rally Saturday in Commerce, Georgia.

PENCE: “The Obama-Biden administration only sent them meals and blankets.” — interview Friday on Fox News Channel.

THE FACTS: Trump and Pence are misrepresenting the amount of aid under Obama and Biden and glossing over their own delays in helping Ukraine.

While the Obama administration refused to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons in 2014 to fight Russian-backed separatists, it offered a range of other military and security aid — not just “blankets.”

The administration’s concern was that providing lethal weapons like Javelin anti-tank missiles might provoke Russian President Vladimir Putin to escalate the conflict in the separatist Donbas area of Ukraine near Russia’s border.


By March 2015, the Obama administration had provided more than $120 million in security aid for Ukraine and promised $75 million worth of equipment, including counter-mortar radars, night vision devices and medical supplies, according to the Defense Department.

The U.S. also pledged 230 Humvee vehicles.

The U.S. aid offer came after Putin in 2014 annexed Crimea and provided support for separatists in eastern cities.

Ultimately between 2014 and 2016, the Obama administration committed more than $600 million in security aid to Ukraine.

In the last year of the Obama administration, the U.S. established the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provided U.S. military equipment and training to help defend Ukraine against Russian aggression.

From 2016 to 2019, Congress appropriated $850 million for this initiative.

The Trump administration in 2017 agreed to provide lethal aid to Ukraine, later committing to sell $47 million in Javelins.

But two years later, Trump delayed the release of congressionally approved security assistance for Ukraine as part of an effort to pressure Ukraine to announce an investigation of his political rival, Joe Biden.


The matter was part of Trump’s 2020 impeachment trial.
___

TRUMP: “In fact, I stand as the only president of the 21st century on whose watch Russia and Putin did not invade any other country.” — Saturday rally.

THE FACTS: Trump is not the only one.

Putin, who served as Russia’s president from 2000 to 2008, and then as prime minister before returning to the presidency in 2012, did in fact invade Georgia in 2008 during George W. Bush’s second term.

He also moved in on Ukraine in 2014 on Obama’s watch.

It’s also true that Putin did not invade a country during Trump’s term.

But Bill Clinton, who finished his second term in January 2001, also never saw an invasion by Putin into another country.

Russia did attack Chechnya twice in the 1990s, but Chechnya is a region of Russia, not a country.

___

PENCE: “The Ukrainian soldiers are using the arms that our administration provided to them, and they were suspended by the Biden administration.” — Fox interview.

THE FACTS: That’s a stretch.

With both sides going through weapons and ammunition very quickly in the brutal Ukraine-Russia war, it’s dubious that the Javelins Ukraine received from the U.S. during the Trump years would be still on the shelf.

Trump did not provide Stinger anti-aircraft systems to the Ukrainians.

Including the $800 million package announced by Biden on March 16, the total designated military aid for Ukraine since Biden took office is about $2 billion.

The assistance, some of it drawn from $13.6 billion in military and humanitarian assistance recently approved by Congress to help Ukraine and its neighbors, has included a number of lethal weapons such as Stingers, Javelin anti-armor systems, Mi-17 helicopters, grenade launchers, Humvees, body armor and helmets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged the West to provide his country with warplanes and air defense missiles, stressing on Sunday that “it’s necessary not just for Ukraine’s freedom, but for the freedom of Europe.”
___

EDITOR’S NOTE — A look at the veracity of claims by political figures.
___

Find AP Fact Checks at http://apnews.com/APFactCheck

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... 028d6f357b
thelivyjr
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Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

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YAHOO NEWS

"Poll: Biden disapproval hits new high as more Americans say they would vote for Trump"


Andrew Romano

17 JUNE 2022

As inflation keeps rising and recession fears loom, a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows that Joe Biden is currently in the worst shape of his presidency.

The survey of 1,541 U.S. adults, which was conducted from June 10-13, found that if another presidential election were held today, more registered voters say they would cast ballots for Donald Trump (44%) than for Biden (42%) — even though the House Jan. 6 committee has spent the last week linking Trump to what it called a “seditious conspiracy” to overturn the 2020 election and laying the groundwork for possible criminal prosecution.


Since Biden took office, no previous Yahoo News/YouGov poll has shown him trailing Trump (though Biden’s most recent leads have been within the margin of error, like this one is for Trump).

One year ago, Biden led Trump by 9 percentage points. In 2020, Biden won the White House by more than 7 million votes.

Yet Biden’s job approval rating has been atrophying for much of the last year, and the new survey shows that it has never been weaker.

A full 56% of Americans now disapprove of the president’s performance — the highest share to date — while just 39% approve.

Three weeks ago, those numbers were 53% and 42%, respectively.

On average, Biden’s job approval scores are now a few points worse than Trump’s were at the parallel stage of his presidency.


Among all Americans, Trump (43%) now has a higher personal favorability rating than Biden (40%) as well.

Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of independents (64%) have an unfavorable opinion of Biden, and just 28% say they would vote for him over Trump.

The bad news for Biden comes as prices continue to increase at the fastest pace in 40 years, upending expectations and overshadowing other concerns.

According to the poll, 40% of registered voters (up from 33% last month) now say inflation is “the most important issue to you when thinking about this year’s election” — more than four times the number for any other issue.

Politically, this is crippling for Biden.

A full 61% of voters disapprove of the president’s handling of the economy (up from 58% last month), and Republicans now hold a 15-point advantage among voters on the question of which party would do a better job handling the economy (up from 11 points last month).

In recent days, a series of stories questioning whether Biden will run for reelection in 2024 — and quoting concerned Democratic sources — have surfaced in the press.

The concern isn’t limited to party officials.

Just 21% of Americans — down from 25% three weeks ago, and the lowest number to date — say Biden should run again.

But perhaps more strikingly, a greater share of 2020 Biden voters now say he shouldn’t run again (40%) than say he should (37%).


Last month, those numbers were reversed.

In contrast, a clear majority of Trump voters (57%) say Trump should mount another bid.

Just 21% say he shouldn’t.

And while 57% of independents say Trump shouldn’t try to make a comeback in 2024, far more — a full 76% — say the same about Biden.

______________

The Yahoo News survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,541 U.S. adults interviewed online from June 10 to 13, 2022.

This sample was weighted according to gender, age, race and education based on the American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, as well as 2020 presidential vote (or nonvote) and voter registration status.

Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S. adults.

The margin of error is approximately 2.9%.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 11dd87e504
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