THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

Post by thelivyjr »

REUTERS

"Georgia prosecutor requests special grand jury in Trump election probe"


By Rami Ayyub and Alexandra Ulmer

January 20, 2022

Jan 20 (Reuters) - The prosecutor for Georgia's biggest county on Thursday requested a special grand jury with subpoena power to aid her investigation into then-President Donald Trump's efforts to influence the U.S. state's 2020 election results.

In a letter to Fulton County's chief judge, first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, District Attorney Fani Willis wrote that multiple witnesses being probed have refused to cooperate absent a subpoena requiring their testimony.

"Therefore, I am hereby requesting ... that a special purpose grand jury be impaneled for the purpose of investigating the facts and circumstances relating directly or indirectly to possible attempts to disrupt the lawful administration of the 2020 elections in the State of Georgia," Willis wrote.

The investigation by Willis, a Democrat, is the most serious probe facing Trump in Georgia after he was recorded in a phone call pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the state's election results based on unfounded claims of voter fraud.

Willis specifically mentioned that Raffensperger, whom she described as an "essential witness," had indicated he would only take part in an interview once presented with a subpoena.

In a statement, Trump defended what he called his "perfect" phone call and repeated false allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

In a separate legal woe for the Trump family, the U.S. House of Representatives' panel investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol on Thursday requested an interview with Trump's daughter and former White House aide Ivanka Trump.

And earlier this week, New York state's attorney general accused Trump's family business of repeatedly misrepresenting the value of its assets to obtain financial benefits, citing what it said was significant new evidence of possible fraud.

Trump critics hope that his legal problems may ultimately stymie a potential presidential run in 2024.

"It begins," Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island tweeted after news of the Georgia request.

'FINDING' VOTES

In her letter, Willis said a special grand jury, which can subpoena witnesses, was needed because jurors can be impaneled for longer periods and focus exclusively on a single probe.

A spokesperson for the superior courts in Fulton County, which encompasses most of the state capital Atlanta, said there was no immediate timeline for a response to Willis' request.

During the Jan. 2, 2021 call, Trump urged Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, to "find" enough votes to overturn his Georgia loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

The transcript quotes Trump telling Raffensperger: "I just want to find 11,780 votes," which is the number Trump needed to win Georgia.

Legal experts have said Trump's phone calls may have violated at least three state election laws: conspiracy to commit election fraud, criminal solicitation to commit election fraud and intentional interference with performance of election duties.

The possible felony and misdemeanor violations are punishable by fines or imprisonment.

Reporting by Rami Ayyub and Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Jonathan Oatis and Cynthia Osterman.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/georgi ... 022-01-20/
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

Post by thelivyjr »

BUSINESS INSIDER

"The January 6 committee obtained a draft of post-insurrection White House remarks that said 'the election fight is over.' Trump gave a speech but left out that sentence."


oseddiq@insider.com (Oma Seddiq)

21 JANUARY 2022

The January 6 committee reportedly has a Trump White House document titled "Remarks on National Healing."

The document was drafted for delivery a day after the riot, and Trump gave nearly identical remarks.

A line in the document that Trump didn't say in his Twitter video is: "The election fight is over."


The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot has obtained a document from President Donald Trump's White House titled "Remarks on National Healing," according to a Politico report published Friday.

The document is part of a slew of executive-branch records that Trump's legal team tried to block the committee from getting access to, Politico reported.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied Trump's request to block the release of some of his presidential records, clearing the way for the committee to obtain them.

The document contains remarks that appear to have been scheduled for delivery a day after the Capitol riot.

It's unclear who wrote the document, Politico said.

On that day, January 7, 2021, Trump released a video on Twitter in which he gave remarks nearly identical to those in the document.

"Like all Americans, I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness, and mayhem," Trump said in the video, which has since been taken down because the social-media platform permanently suspended his account in the wake of the riot.

In the document, the remarks are: "Like all Americans, I was outraged and sickened by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem."

One line in the document that was not uttered by Trump in his Twitter video is: "The election fight is over."

"But as for THIS election, Congress has now certified the results," the document says, according to Politico.

"The election fight is over."

"A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th."

"My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power."

"This moment calls for healing and reconciliation."

What Trump did say was: "Now Congress has certified the results."

"A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th."

"My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power."

"This moment calls for healing and reconciliation."

A spokesperson for Trump's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Since leaving office, Trump has continued to push the debunked claim that the 2020 election was rigged and included widespread voter fraud.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

Post by thelivyjr »

THE GUARDIAN

"US prosecutors investigate Republicans who sent fake Trump electors to Congress"


Ed Pilkington in New York

26 JANUARY 2022

Federal prosecutors have launched an investigation into the attempt by Republicans in seven presidential battleground states won by Joe Biden in 2020 to subvert the election result by sending bogus slates of Donald Trump electors to Congress.

The ploy was one of the central tactics used by Trump loyalists as part of the “big lie” that he had defeated his Democratic challenger.

The fake slates of electors were forwarded to congressional leaders, who then came under pressure to delay certification of Biden’s victory on 6 January 2021, the day of the Capitol insurrection.

In an interview on CNN, the deputy attorney general, Lisa Monaco, revealed that the justice department has begun an investigation into what she called the “fraudulent elector certifications”.

She said the department had received referrals on the matter and “our prosecutors are looking at those”.

Monaco added: “We are going to follow the facts and the law wherever they lead to address conduct of any kind and at any level that is part of an assault on our democracy.”

Fake slates of Trump electors were sent to Congress from seven states in fact won by Biden – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Of those, two – New Mexico and Pennsylvania – added the caveat that the Trump electors should only be counted in the event of a disputed election.

The other five states sent signed statements to Washington giving the appearance that Trump had won despite clear and verified counts placing Biden on top.

Under America’s arcane presidential election system, US presidents are not chosen directly by voters but indirectly through electoral college votes meted out state by state.

Official certificates naming the electors for the winning candidate in each state are then sent to Washington to be certified, in this case on 6 January, when hundreds of violent Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to disrupt the process.

Earlier this month the pro-democracy group American Oversight obtained under freedom of information laws the bogus certificates from all seven states in which Republicans attempted to overturn the election result.

The certificate from Georgia, one of the most hotly contested states in 2020, reads: “We, the undersigned, being the duly elected and qualified electors for president and vice president of the United States of America from the state of Georgia …”

The fake statement then carries the names and signatures of 16 fake electors who claimed falsely to have cast their electoral college votes for Trump when in fact they had no legal standing to do so.

The move was in direct contravention to the actual vote in Georgia, confirmed in multiple counts, which Biden won by 11,779 votes.

Democratic attorneys general in at least two of the seven states – New Mexico and Michigan – have now asked federal prosecutors to examine whether drawing up the bogus certificates amounted to a crime.

Their referrals appear to have triggered the DoJ’s investigation.

The fact that Republicans left a paper trail by sending their phony certificates to both Congress and the National Archives suggest that they may now face legal peril.

The House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection has also recently begun to focus on the fake Trump electors, and particularly those who organized the plot.

A figure of special interest is Rudy Giuliani, who acted as a lawyer for the Trump campaign and who has been reported to have spearheaded the fake elector strategy.

The January 6 committee sent Giuliani a subpoena letter earlier this month specifically referring to his efforts instigating the ploy.

Another area of intense interest is the draft letter prepared in December 2020 by Jeffrey Clark, a relatively lowly justice department official, who tried to persuade Georgia and six other states won by Biden to call back their electors from Congress and consider replacing them with Trump electors.

The letter was never officially sent after the acting US attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, refused to play ball.

The fake electors tactic was also central to the election subversion strategy laid out for Trump by the conservative lawyer John Eastman.

In a now notorious two-page memo handed to Trump and the then vice-president, Mike Pence, in the Oval Office, Eastman argued that Pence could block the certification of Biden’s victory on 6 January.

Pence had the constitutional role of presiding over the joint session of Congress that would certify the election results – a process usually considered purely ceremonial.

But Eastman advised him that when he opened the electoral college ballot from Arizona he should announce that “he has multiple slates of electors, and so is going to defer decision on that”.

By “multiple slates”, Eastman was referring to the official slate of electors returned by Arizona in favor of Biden who won the state by 10,457 votes and the fake slate of Trump electors that is now under federal investigation.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

Post by thelivyjr »

REUTERS

"Ex-Trump Justice Dept official appears before U.S. House Jan. 6 committee"


By Patricia Zengerle and Sarah N. Lynch

February 2, 2022

WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - A former high-ranking Justice Department official appeared on Wednesday before the congressional committee probing the assault on the U.S. Capitol for questions about his bid to bolster former President Donald Trump's false claims of election fraud.

Jeffrey Bossert Clark was seen by TV cameras entering a room inside a U.S. House of Representatives office building where the select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack takes its depositions.

A committee spokesman declined to comment.

Clark's attorney Harry MacDougald declined to comment on Wednesday's deposition.

Clark is among a growing list of Trump supporters who have balked at requests to cooperate with the investigation, though the panel has scored some legal victories over Trump's efforts to keep certain government records under wraps.

The National Archives said it would be providing some of former Vice President Mike Pence's records to the committee.

The committee has so far interviewed about 400 witnesses, issued more than 60 subpoenas and obtained more than 50,000 pages of records.

Committee investigators on Wednesday also interviewed by video Stewart Rhodes, the detained leader of the right-wing Oath Keepers group, his attorney told CBS.

Rhodes was arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy last month.

Clark, who served as the acting head of the Justice Department's Civil Division, drafted a Dec. 28, 2020, letter to Georgia state lawmakers that falsely claimed the department had found "significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia."

The draft letter urged state legislators to convene a special session to overturn the election results there.

Clark tried to persuade former Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen and former Acting Deputy Attorney General Rich Donoghue to send the letter, but they refused.

Rosen and Donoghue later told U.S. Senate investigators that Clark also privately met with Trump to lobby the then-president to oust Rosen so Clark could be installed as acting attorney general, paving the way for him to send the letter and launch voter fraud investigations.

Clark in November declined to answer the committee's questions about his legal advice to Trump, saying such discussions were privileged.

The panel voted on Dec. 1, 2021, to seek contempt of Congress charges against Clark, but it has not sought a vote of the full House after Clark's attorney said his client intends to invoke his right against self-incrimination, protected by the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Sarah N. Lynch; Additional reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Scott Malone, Jonathan Oatis and Alistair Bell

https://www.reuters.com/legal/governmen ... 022-02-02/
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

Post by thelivyjr »

CNN

"January 6 committee member says Trump 'absolutely' tampering with witnesses"


By Chandelis Duster, CNN

2 FEBRUARY 2022

A member of the House panel investigating the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol on Wednesday accused former President Donald Trump of tampering with witnesses by vowing to pardon those involved in the riots if reelected in 2024.

Trump's comments over the weekend added fresh urgency to the committee's work as the prospect of Republican control of Congress in 2023 and a potential reelection bid by Trump threaten to derail the investigation into the riot.

"Absolutely," Rep. Pete Aguilar of California told CNN's Brianna Keilar on "New Day" when asked if Trump was tampering with witnesses by dangling pardons in front of January 6 defendants.

"And I think the question is more from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, you know where -- where are they?"

"Do they support this?"

"When is enough enough?"

The comments from Aguilar, a Democrat, come as the House panel continues to hone its investigation as it speaks with former members of the Trump administration and obtain documents related to the riots.

During a rally on Saturday, Trump complained that those charged in connection with the January 6 attack at the US Capitol are being treated unfairly and said: "If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6 fairly."

"And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons."

"Because they are being treated so unfairly," the former President said.

Trump also reiterated his vow to pardon the rioters on Tuesday night, saying in an interview that aired on Newsmax: "I would absolutely give them a pardon if things don't work out fairly."

The comments from the former President have garnered criticism among Republicans, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, while some Trump allies have lamented that the rioters should be pardoned.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, also disagreed with the former President's sentiments.

Robert Jenkins, who is an attorney for several January 6 riot defendants, including Anthony Antonio, said Wednesday his clients are aware of Trump's offers for potential pardons and that the former President's offers could impact the defendants' cooperation.

Jenkins also said he is not sure Trump's comments rise to the level of witness tampering but said the former President is putting his "fingers on the scales."

"This is not a situation where I think he's offering something of value to someone who is necessarily a witness but a potential defendant or an actual defendant," Jenkins told CNN's John Berman on "New Day."

"So, I don't think this would qualify as witness tampering."

"But he is certainly putting his fingers on the scales."

"I'll say that."

Aguilar also told Keilar the committee is "trying to be deliberate and thoughtful" in asking former Vice President Mike Pence to testify when asked about seeking his testimony.

"We're still taking witness testimony ... but we are making significant progress with or without that testimony," he said.

"We're not rushing to any, any decisions here."

"We are being respectful of the office."

"We're trying to get testimony from individuals who were around the former vice president."

He continued, "And we are still processing a lot of documents that the archives has sent."

"And obviously, in any interview we want to do, we want to be prepared."

"And that means we have to process the documents and get prepared for that -- for that witness."

Among the dozens of subpoenas for individuals and organizations the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot has issued, it has also spoken with members of Pence's office.

On Tuesday, CNN spotted Greg Jacobs, a top aide to Pence, leaving a meeting room on Capitol Hill used by the committee to conduct witness interviews.

A source familiar with the matter later confirmed Jacobs was scheduled to appear before the panel on Tuesday.

Marc Short, Pence's former chief of staff, sat for an interview with the committee last week.

The Justice Department has charged more than 700 people in connection with the attack on the Capitol.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

Post by thelivyjr »

REUTERS

"Republicans censure Cheney, Kinzinger, call Jan. 6 probe attack on 'legitimate political discourse'"


By Doina Chiacu

February 4, 2022

WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The Republican Party on Friday censured U.S. Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for joining Congress' investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack and Donald Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat, calling the probe an attack on "legitimate political discourse."

Cheney and Kinzinger are the only Republicans on the House of Representatives Jan. 6 select committee.

The panel is investigating who -- including people in Trump's circle -- had any role in planning or enabling the worst assault on the U.S. Capitol since the War of 1812.

The resolution censuring Cheney and Kinzinger, approved at a Republican National Committee meeting in Salt Lake City, accused them of "participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse."

Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol that day, smashing windows, assaulting police officers and sending lawmakers and then-Vice President Mike Pence running for their lives after Trump made a fiery speech repeating his false claims that his election defeat was the result of widespread fraud.

Friday's vote was dramatically different in tone from a statement the Republican National Committee released the day of the attack, when it said "these violent scenes we have witnessed do not represent acts of patriotism, but an attack on our country and its founding principles."

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Friday's resolution targeted the Jan. 6 committee probe, which has subpoenaed a range of politicians and Trump White House aides as it tries to piece together their role in events leading to the assault.

"Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger crossed a line."

"They chose to join Nancy Pelosi in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse that had nothing to do with violence at the Capitol," she said.

She said she "condemned violence on both sides of the aisle."

The resolution passed on a voice vote as 168 members of the RNC gathered for their winter meeting.

The yes votes were overwhelming, with a handful of nays, according to reporters at the meeting.

Cheney and Kinzinger voted to impeach Trump on a charge of incitement of insurrection, and they joined the seven Democrats on the panel investigating the attack.

The resolution said Cheney and Kinzinger have damaged Republican efforts to win back majorities in Congress.

The measure said the RNC will "immediately cease any and all support of them" as party members, but stops short of calling for their ouster from the party, as initially proposed.

The committee uses some of its funds to help support Republican candidates in their campaigns.

Trump, who retains a strong grip over his party as the Nov. 8 midterm congressional elections draw closer, has been on the warpath against Republicans who have taken a stand against him.

Republicans are trying to take control of both the House and the Senate from President Joe Biden's Democrats.

'PERSONS OF CONSCIENCE'

Both lawmakers issued statements in anticipation of Friday's vote.

"The leaders of the Republican Party have made themselves willing hostages to a man who admits he tried to overturn a presidential election and suggests he would pardon Jan. 6 defendants, some of whom have been charged with seditious conspiracy," Cheney said, referring to the hundreds of Trump supporters accused of various crimes in the violent attack.

Four people died on Jan. 6, and a Capitol Police officer died the next day.

About 140 police officers were injured, and four later died by suicide.

Cheney said she does not recognize those in her party who "abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump," who has endorsed her challenger in the Wyoming Republican primary.

Kinzinger, who is not seeking re-election, said he has been a conservative Republican since before Trump entered politics.

He vowed to continue "working to fight the political matrix that's led us to this point."

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, in an interview with Fox News, did not comment on the censure but criticized the House committee as purely political.

Not all Republicans are lining up against the two.

Republican Senator Mitt Romney praised Cheney and Kinzinger as honorable in a Twitter post on Friday.

"Shame falls on a party that would censure persons of conscience, who seek truth in the face of vitriol," he wrote.

At least 71 Republican members of Congress transferred money last year to the campaigns of congressional Republicans, including Cheney's, that supported booting Trump from office, a Reuters analysis found.

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy came to their defense late Thursday, writing on Twitter, "The RNC is censuring Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger because they are trying to find out what happened on January 6th - HUH?"

Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Steve Holland; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Aurora Ellis and Cynthia Osterman

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/loyal- ... 022-02-04/
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

Post by thelivyjr »

CNBC

"Jan. 6 riot panel subpoenas Trump aide Peter Navarro over alleged plot to delay certification of Biden’s win"


Dan Mangan @_DANMANGAN

PUBLISHED WED, FEB 9 2022

KEY POINTS

* The select House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot issued a subpoena to Peter Navarro, who had served as trade advisor to former President Donald Trump.

* The committee said it wants to question Navarro because of his own statements and independent reporting that indicated he was involved in efforts to delay Congress’s certification of the 2020 election, which was won by President Joe Biden.

* Those efforts to undo Biden’s win reportedly involved former top Trump White House aide Steve Bannon and others.


The select House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot issued a subpoena seeking testimony and records from Peter Navarro, who had served as trade advisor to former President Donald Trump.

The committee said Wednesday that it wants to question Navarro because of his own published statements and independent reporting that indicated he was involved in efforts to delay Congress’s certification of the 2020 election, which was won by President Joe Biden.

Those efforts to undo Biden’s win reportedly involved former top Trump White House aide Steve Bannon and others.

“In his book [“In Trump Time”], Mr. Navarro described this plan as the ‘Green Bay Sweep,’” the panel noted in a statement.

“In an interview, Mr. Navarro reportedly added that former President Trump was ‘on board with the strategy,’ as were ‘more than 100’ members of Congress."

"Mr. Navarro also released on his website a three-part report, dubbed the ‘Navarro Report,’ repeating many claims of purported fraud in the election that have been discredited in public reporting, by state officials, and courts,” the committee said.

The panel is probing not only the Jan. 6, 2021, invasion of the Capitol by Trump supporters, but also the events leading up to it, and the actions of the White House while the riot was occurring.

The riot for hours disrupted the confirmation of Biden’s victory by a joint session of Congress.

“Mr. Navarro appears to have information directly relevant to the Select Committee’s investigation into the causes of the January 6th attack on the Capitol,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the panel’s chairman.

“He hasn’t been shy about his role in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and has even discussed the former President’s support for those plans."

"More than 500 witnesses have provided information in our investigation, and we expect Mr. Navarro to do so as well,” Thompson said.

Navarro in a statement to CNBC noted that Trump had invoked executive privilege in response to the Jan. 6 inquiry and said that he, Navarro, did not have the power to waive that privilege as it applied to him.

In providing that statement, Navarro said that CNBC either had to publish its text in full, or not at all.

CNBC did not agree to that condition.

Bannon, in his refusal to comply with a subpoena from the committee, also had cited executive privilege.

Bannon later was charged with criminal contempt of Congress.

And Trump lost a court battle to prevent the House panel from receiving hundreds of pages of White House records.

During that legal fight, Trump had argued that the records were exempt from being surrendered on the grounds of executive privilege.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/09/jan-6-r ... s-win.html
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

Post by thelivyjr »

THE HILL

"John Durham sent a message to the attorney general and the country"


Opinion by Kevin R. Brock, opinion contributor

22 FEBRUARY 2022

John Durham has been a special prosecutor for almost a year and a half - not a long time, but plenty of time for a drumbeat to begin that he was showing little progress against his orders to examine the origins of the debunked Trump-Russia collusion narrative that convulsed a presidency.

His few indictments so far have been directed against peripheral players, feeding a fear among Donald Trump's supporters that elites higher up the stack are going to get away with their chicanery.

The problem for Durham is that these perceptions were providing the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) with increasing political top cover to shut down the special prosecutor's office as an unproductive, politics-driven exercise in futility that is wasting taxpayer dollars.

If Durham were to be terminated, the American people might not even push back much since no one had a clue whether his investigation was bearing meaningful fruit.


Attorney General Merrick Garland already had undercut Durham's investigation once by taking steps to rehabilitate the reputation of fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a key figure in the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion debacle.

The Biden DOJ is not friendly to the goals of Mr. Durham.

Durham couldn't hold a news conference or pen an op-ed touting progress; that's just not done by investigators in the middle of an investigation.

So, he turned to a readily available vehicle - a routine, fairly innocuous motion filed with the court - to embed an explosive message to the DOJ and the American people.

It landed like fireworks at a funeral.

No one saw it coming.


Tucked inside the court filing, John Durham laid out a good chunk of the case he's building, and it was stunning.

Durham revealed the outlines of a corrupt conspiracy by operatives linked to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

The exposed conspiracy allegedly made a contrived, fraudulent and shocking attempt to entice the FBI and CIA to use their powers against the rival Trump campaign and presidency.


This recent filing by Durham was designed to have two effects.

First, and most important, he has now made any decision by the president or attorney general to dump him much more difficult to undertake.

The last time a president fired a special prosecutor who was making significant progress, he lost his presidency.

Second, Durham has signaled to the American people that his investigation has legs, despite perceptions of plodding inertia.

He has provided hope that accountability in D.C. - rare as a MAGA sticker on a Prius - actually might happen.


Durham's filing triggered hyperbolic conjecture on the right and nervous silence on the left.

Don't be distracted by reactions driven by politics.

Look at the actual words Durham used; they're troubling enough on their own.

Those words are found in a section of the filed motion titled "Factual Background."

In it, Durham expands on information that led him to indict an attorney connected to the Hillary Clinton campaign, Michael Sussmann, for allegedly lying to the FBI.


According to Durham, Sussmann brought information to the FBI in September 2016 that he claimed proved a direct connection between candidate Trump and Russia to get the FBI to investigate.

But Durham says Sussmann falsely told the FBI that he was not presenting the information on behalf of any client when, in fact, he was billing the Clinton campaign for his time.

Sussmann's defense attorneys now argue, in effect, that even if he lied, the lie would not be material because the information was valid.

But the lie would be quite material, because Sussmann allegedly was asking the FBI to expend costly resources to investigate his claims.

If he concealed the clients on whose behalf he evidently was acting, as Durham charges, he would have fraudulently deprived the FBI of facts that would have helped the bureau decide whether it was worth investing taxpayer dollars on an investigation.

Knowing Sussmann's true affiliations was clearly information the FBI deserved to know.


In addition, despite the Sussmann attorneys' assertions that the information he possessed was bona fide, Durham makes an interesting case why it allegedly wasn't.

At this point in the Factual Background section, he expands on the role allegedly played by "Tech Executive 1," now known to be Rodney Joffe of Neustar, one of the country's most powerful tech companies you've probably never heard of.

Durham's description of Joffe's alleged activities does not paint him in a good light.

According to Durham, Joffe exploited Neustar data and other friendly sources to help him "establish ... an inference and narrative" tying Trump to Russia - and that he allegedly did so to please "VIPs" within the Clinton campaign and its law firm.

Sussmann happened to be Joffe's attorney as well.


Joffe, in this scenario, isn't an independent whistleblower; he's a partisan whistle maker.

Durham could only know all this if either Joffe told him or the sources Joffe approached for help disclosed those conversations to Durham's investigators.

Neither reality can be comforting to those involved.

Of all the points made in the Factual Background, Joffe's alleged efforts and their disclosure are the most damaging to those who may have participated in a burgeoning conspiracy.

It is particularly damaging because, if true, Joffe appears to have unethically and possibly illegally turned over proprietary government data to a civilian third party.

Plus, Durham makes a compelling argument that the data Joffe allegedly gave Sussmann for delivery to the FBI is incomplete and made to look more sinister than it really is.

In addition, Sussmann and Joffe allegedly withheld from the FBI important context that would have placed the sinister overtones in a more innocuous light.


Thanks to a routine court filing, the nation now knows the Durham investigation is no joke.

He has set a ladder against a formidable wall and is climbing it rung by rung, apparently gaining cooperators and locking in testimony before a federal grand jury.

There will be more squirming to come in powerful circles, but John Durham must be allowed to continue his important work.

Kevin R. Brock, former assistant director of intelligence for the FBI, was an FBI special agent for 24 years and principal deputy director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). He independently consults with private companies and public-safety agencies on strategic mission technologies.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... d=msedgntp
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

Post by thelivyjr »

REUTERS

"U.S. House panel hits Pro-Trump lawyers with subpoenas over U.S. Capitol riot"


By Patricia Zengerle and Jan Wolfe

March 1, 2022

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - The congressional committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol said on Tuesday it had issued subpoenas to six people who promoted false claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent and participated in, or encouraged, actions based on those false claims.

The individuals subpoenaed included Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who advised former President Donald Trump, and Christina Bobb, a reporter for the far-right One America News Network who also worked part-time for the Trump legal team, a statement from the House of Representatives panel said.

Subpoenas also were sent to Trump campaign attorney Kenneth Chesebro, Washington lobbyist and attorney Katherine Friess, Kurt Olsen, a private attorney who contacted Department of Justice officials on Trump's behalf; and Phillip Kline, the former attorney general of Kansas.

None of the six could immediately be reached for comment.

"The Select Committee is seeking information about attempts to disrupt or delay the certification of electoral votes and any efforts to corruptly change the outcome of the 2020 election," Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the Jan. 6 Select Committee, said in a statement.

"The six individuals we've subpoenaed today all have knowledge related to those matters and will help the Select Committee better understand all the various strategies employed to potentially affect the outcome of the election," Thompson said.

The committee is trying to establish the actions of Trump and his inner circle during the assault on the Capitol by thousands of his supporters.

They attacked police, vandalized the Capitol and sent members of Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence running for their lives as they gathered to certify Democrat Joe Biden's presidential election victory over Trump.

The Select Committee has so far interviewed more than 560 witnesses, issued more than 80 subpoenas and obtained more than 50,000 pages of records as it probes the causes of the assault on the Capitol, and the role played by Trump, who continues to push false claims that his election defeat by Biden was the result of fraud.

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Jan Wolfe; Editing by Tim Ahmann, Bernard Orr and Jonathan Oatis

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/commit ... 022-03-01/
thelivyjr
Site Admin
Posts: 73424
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:40 p

Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP

Post by thelivyjr »

REUTERS

"Analysis: U.S. House panel's push for Trump criminal charges may fall flat"


By Jan Wolfe

March 3, 2022

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - Former President Donald Trump appears unlikely to face federal criminal charges for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss despite a U.S. congressional committee's court filing accusing him of illegal conduct, according to legal experts.

"I'm not sure the Justice Department is even investigating this criminally," said Ankush Khardori, a former trial lawyer for the Justice Department's anti-fraud unit.


"That's the open question."

Republican businessman-turned-politican Trump may have committed multiple felonies in his effort to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden, a House of Representatives investigative committee stated in a court filing on Wednesday.

The Democratic-led committee was formed to investigate last year's Capitol attack by a mob of Trump supporters who tried to block formal congressional certification of Biden's victory.

The committee lacks the power to bring criminal charges on its own.

But the filing suggests that later this year it will formally urge the Justice Department to carry out a criminal investigation of Trump - a step known as a "criminal referral," said University of Minnesota law professor Alan Rozenshtein, a former Justice Department national security lawyer.

Rozenshtein called the filing "a preview for a criminal referral," adding: "It would be strange for the committee to take this step and then pull its punches."

The committee said in the filing that Trump potentially engaged in conspiracy to defraud the United States and may have obstructed an official proceeding.


Trump in a statement on Thursday accused the committee of being politically motivated and trying to prevent him from running for president again.

Justice Department officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The committee revealed the findings in a legal brief arguing that it should be allowed access to thousands of emails sent by John Eastman, a lawyer who advised Trump on a plan to try to invalidate election results in key states.

Eastman sued the committee in December, seeking to block a subpoena requesting that he turn over the emails.

While the filing is a major development, Garland has long appeared hesitant to charge Trump, and the committee's latest revelations may not change the attorney general's thinking, Rozenshtein said.


'NIGHTMARE SCENARIO'

"We've seen Garland proceed very cautiously - to the chagrin of many Democrats," said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

"It would be a monumental thing for our nation if the Justice Department charged a former president with a crime of undermining our democracy," Levinson added.

"There could be a lot of evidence, but the Justice Department is not going to do it unless they have crossed every 't' and dotted every 'i.'"

A "nightmare scenario" for Garland would be charging Trump and then failing to secure a conviction, Rozenshtein said.


"If you are going to prosecute a politician, especially someone like Trump, you want to do it on the strongest possible grounds," Rozenshtein said.

The Justice Department is investigating the Capitol riot and has charged about 750 people in connection with the violence.

"We will follows the facts wherever they lead," Garland said in a January speech marking the anniversary of the attack, adding that he "remains committed to holding all Jan. 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law."

Asked in February if the department had any concerns about bringing charges against a former president, Garland said he could not answer a hypothetical question and would not talk about whether or not it has ongoing investigations.

There is little indication that the department is focusing on Trump's inner circle, Khardori said.

"All the public indicators suggest there is not a concerted investigation into this part of what went into January 6 - the non-violent machinations," Khardori added.


Trump and his allies have made false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud.

Khardori said it appears that the Justice Department is letting prosecutors at the state level and congressional investigators take the lead in investigating Trump's efforts to stay in power.

Under U.S. law, crimes such as fraud and conspiracy require proof of criminal intent - known as "mens rea," or a guilty mind.

Demonstrating that Trump had such intent may be difficult, according to Rozenshtein.

"That doesn't mean that Trump can't be held liable, but it does add an interesting wrinkle that any prosecutor would need to think through," Rozenshtein said.

Reporting by Jan Wolfe in Washington; additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Will Dunham and Scott Malone

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-hou ... 022-03-03/
Post Reply