1945
"Joe Biden Just Proved How Stupid He Is"
Story by Barbara Joanna Lucas
18 JUNE 2023
Joe Biden and his classified document scandal - a surely self created crisis - could genuinely come back to haunt him: Special Counsel Robert Hur could have a rough time resisting going after President Joe Biden – maybe for legal, political, and plain old chutzpah reasons.
The historic 37-count federal indictment against former President Donald Trump for allegedly mishandling classified information establishes mostly a case for violation of the 1917 Espionage Act – 31 of those counts.
Most of the rest is about obstruction or conspiracy to obstruct.
So far, Joe Biden’s defenders have maintained the current president has, in contrast to Trump, been entirely cooperative with the investigators regarding his classified documents.
If Biden was cooperative, maybe no obstruction charges.
That would still leave the president wide open for potential violation of the Espionage Act.
Biden had classified documents in his garage, in the Penn Biden Center near D.C.’s Chinatown area (as Trump eagerly pointed out at the Tuesday Bedminster post-arraignment speech).
Some classified papers reportedly go back to his time in the Senate.
“Joe Biden had troves of classified documents from his time as vice president and even as a senator, which was completely and totally illegal,” Trump said.
Trump then cleverly went on to try to morph Biden’s document scandal with yet another Biden family scandal.
“Many of Biden’s classified documents were in Chinatown, D.C., Chinatown, which is shocking considering his family received so much money from China."
"I wonder how many times the friends of ours from China reviewed those documents, Chinatown, D.C.,” Trump said.
In All Fairness
Hur, a former Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Maryland, has been investigating Biden’s possession of classified documents since January.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur in part because he had appointed special counsel Jack Smith in November to investigate Trump for the classified documents and for Jan. 6.
It would have looked really bad not to have an independent probe of Biden for a nearly identical case.
Yet, a handful of folks on the right–such as former Trump Defense Department official Kash Patel–slammed Hur as a “swamp monster” and “government gangster,” who is “now in charge of the continued crime-scene cover-up.”
Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, noted Hur was formerly an assistant to FBI Director Christopher Wray, saying, “They’re all in on it.”
Other Republicans raised concerns that Hur was an assistant to Trump’s former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and played a role in appointing special counsel Robert Mueller to investigate the Russia hoax.
Count me doubtful on these points, and it’s not particularly a defense of Hur.
The simple fact is that based on history, special prosecutor positions involve plenty of ego and testosterone from the guys holding the job.
Whether it's Mueller, John Durham, Ken Starr, Lawrence Walsh, or others, these prosecutors won’t allow themselves to leave the post empty-handed.
That doesn’t mean fabricating a charge, mind you, but it does mean grasping for straws, making lemonade out of life’s lemons, etc.
Hur’s Maneuverability
To be clear, Hur can’t indict a sitting president under Justice Department guidelines.
But he could indict those in Biden’s inner circle that handled the documents.
He could even name Biden as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Hur would at some point issue a report–much like Mueller and Durham–and probably a scathing one.
Durham gained one low-level conviction obscured by two acquittals in his investigation, but his final report blasted the FBI’s conduct.
Mueller indicted a few of Trump’s allies such as Paul Manafort and Roger Stone for crimes unrelated to Russia collusion.
His report exonerated Trump of conspiring with Putin, but still attempted to make a sneaky case for obstruction of justice.
Hur’s report could determine that if Biden were not president, he would be indicted for violation of the Espionage Act, and maybe other crimes.
This just might put House Republicans in a pickle.
There are members eager to impeach Biden for an unproven bribery allegation.
If a prosecutor issues a finding that Biden committed a felony, that would be entirely logical and justifiable grounds to impeach by almost any standard.
However, if Republicans pulled the trigger to impeach Biden based on Hur’s report, it risks legitimizing the espionage charge in Smith’s against Trump.
So, it might be a double-edged sword on the partisan politics front.
Yes, you might argue, Trump was actually president when he took the documents with the authority to declassify.
The documents in Biden’s possession were mostly from his time as vice president and in the Senate – a time when he didn’t have declassification authority.
But try boiling that down to a 30-second sound bite in building a political case for impeachment.
At any rate, Hur is likely already feeling the heat to produce results on his end.
He is not going to want to be outdone by that other special counsel.
You bet Joe Biden wished he never took those documents.
Barbara Joanna Lucas is an opinion writer and researcher in Northern Virginia. She has been a healthcare professional, political blogger, is a proud dog mom, and news junkie.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... fda2&ei=19
THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
Raw Story
"Adam Schiff: New report 'confirms what I have been concerned about' in DOJ Trump probes"
Story by Brad Reed
19 JUNE 2023
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) on Monday reacted with alarm to a new report in the Washington Post showing that the Department of Justice and the FBI dragged their feet for more than a year in launching an investigation into former President Donald Trump's role in inciting the January 6th Capitol riots.
Writing on Twitter, Schiff, who was a member of the House Select Committee investigating the riots, said that the report had validated his fears about slow-walking probes of the former president.
"This Washington Post investigation confirms what I have been concerned about for almost two years: While the DOJ moved quickly to investigate the foot soldiers of the Jan 6 attack, it waited far too long to investigate leaders of the effort to overturn the election," said Schiff.
Schiff is not the only prominent Trump critic to slam the DOJ for not being quicker to probe Trump's efforts to illegally remain in power after losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
Andrew Weissmann, a former prosecutor who worked under special counsel Robert Mueller, delivered a scathing assessment of the DOJ's inaction on his Twitter account.
"The extent of the delay by DOJ was inexcusable," he wrote.
"Not appearing political is not a reason to fail to do one’s job."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 1843&ei=18
"Adam Schiff: New report 'confirms what I have been concerned about' in DOJ Trump probes"
Story by Brad Reed
19 JUNE 2023
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) on Monday reacted with alarm to a new report in the Washington Post showing that the Department of Justice and the FBI dragged their feet for more than a year in launching an investigation into former President Donald Trump's role in inciting the January 6th Capitol riots.
Writing on Twitter, Schiff, who was a member of the House Select Committee investigating the riots, said that the report had validated his fears about slow-walking probes of the former president.
"This Washington Post investigation confirms what I have been concerned about for almost two years: While the DOJ moved quickly to investigate the foot soldiers of the Jan 6 attack, it waited far too long to investigate leaders of the effort to overturn the election," said Schiff.
Schiff is not the only prominent Trump critic to slam the DOJ for not being quicker to probe Trump's efforts to illegally remain in power after losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
Andrew Weissmann, a former prosecutor who worked under special counsel Robert Mueller, delivered a scathing assessment of the DOJ's inaction on his Twitter account.
"The extent of the delay by DOJ was inexcusable," he wrote.
"Not appearing political is not a reason to fail to do one’s job."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 1843&ei=18
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
The Washington Examiner
"John Durham testimony: FBI's treatment of Hillary Clinton under microscope at hearing"
Story by Sarah Bedford
21 JUNE 2023
A House Judiciary Committee hearing focused on the FBI’s treatment of former President Donald Trump paid considerable attention to his former rival Hillary Clinton.
The hearing on Wednesday featured former special counsel John Durham as the sole witness on his report, released last month, about the origins of the Russia collusion investigation that began in 2016.
Durham had concluded that the FBI did not have any evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia at the time it opened a full investigation, nor did it ever obtain evidence despite years of digging.
But less high-profile sections of Durham’s report had presented previously unreported instances of misconduct related to the Clinton campaign, and those surfaced throughout his appearance in the House this week.
“The FBI’s investigative efforts were considerably more disciplined than was the case with respect to Mr. Trump,” Durham said of the approach to allegations leveled in 2016 against Clinton.
Overall, Durham said, the FBI’s treatment of Clinton was “not necessarily more favorable, just more disciplined” than the aggressive pursuit of Trump in 2016 by agents who openly discussed their disdain for him.
In one example, on which Durham faced questions from GOP lawmakers, the Department of Justice decided to warn the Clinton campaign that foreign nationals may have wanted to infiltrate her campaign while withholding that knowledge from the Trump campaign.
DOJ officials “required defensive briefings to be provided to Clinton and other officials or candidates who appeared to be the targets of foreign interference,” Durham wrote in his report.
“No defensive briefing was provided to Trump or anyone in the campaign concerning the information received from Australia that suggested there might be some type of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, either prior to or after these investigations were opened,” he wrote.
Speaking to the committee, Durham said “very little thought” appeared to have been given to the idea that Trump might also deserve a defensive briefing in light of the suggestion that Russians could be targeting his campaign.
The FBI opened its full investigation of Trump, dubbed Crossfire Hurricane, just days after receiving a tip from Australian diplomats that they’d heard an unpaid Trump adviser boasting in a bar about a vague offer of campaign assistance from Russia.
The Australian intelligence was unverified, and indeed proven later to be false, but nonetheless formed the basis for a full-blown criminal investigation.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) questioned Durham over the contrast between those bold steps and the FBI’s reluctance to act on intelligence about Clinton it received at virtually the same time.
“In the summer of 2016, did our government receive intelligence that suggested Secretary Clinton had approved a plan to tie President Trump to Russia?” Jordan asked.
“Yes,” replied Durham.
“Did [then-FBI Director James Comey] share it with the agents on the case, working the Crossfire Hurricane case?” Jordan later asked.
“No,” Durham replied.
In his report, Durham had detailed how the FBI received credible intelligence showing that Clinton approved a campaign plot to frame Trump for having suspicious ties to Russia, just before lawyers on her payroll began sharing campaign-funded opposition research with the FBI that did indeed allege suspicious ties between Trump and Russia.
The CIA took the intelligence seriously enough for its director to brief then-President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Comey, and other senior Obama administration officials.
The CIA put the intelligence into a memo referring the intelligence to the FBI for investigation.
But that intelligence never made it into applications the FBI filed to get surveillance warrants targeting a former Trump adviser, nor were the FBI agents working the Trump collusion investigation ever told of the intelligence even though it should have fundamentally altered how seriously the bureau took the collusion allegations.
Durham testified on Wednesday that the campaign plot, which was never investigated, was one of several instances of “disparate treatment” he uncovered during his investigation.
Another related to a potentially illegal contribution to the Clinton campaign on behalf of a foreign national “who was known to the FBI to have foreign intelligence and criminal connections,” Durham wrote in his report.
The FBI’s own confidential source made the donation; instead of investigating the foreign bribery effort in which the source was involved, the FBI advised the source to steer clear of the Clinton campaign for his or her “protection,” shut down any investigation into the matter, and never even documented the episode in FBI records, Durham wrote.
In another instance raised during the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, an analyst on former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team pushed to interview Charles Dolan, a Clinton-connected Democratic operative who provided some of the allegations for the false Steele dossier.
Dolan’s work with the Clinton family dates back decades.
After that analyst pushed in 2017 to open an investigation into Dolan, who himself had significant Russian ties and had been spending time in Russia, the analyst was reassigned to a different unit and told to drop the matter.
Dolan was never interviewed by the FBI despite contributing considerably to the document it was using to justify major parts of its investigation.
The focus on Clinton comes as House Republicans work to build a case, across multiple fronts, that the Justice Department has begun to implement a two-tiered system of justice.
They pushed that argument further this week when Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, struck a lenient plea deal with the Biden administration that spared him jail time for evading taxes and illegally obtaining a gun.
Hunter Biden had been under investigation for those and potentially other offenses for years.
However, the long-awaited charges dropped only weeks after House Republicans publicized separate whistleblower allegations, one from the IRS and one from the FBI, that investigators were stonewalling investigations of the president’s son.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 9728&ei=28
"John Durham testimony: FBI's treatment of Hillary Clinton under microscope at hearing"
Story by Sarah Bedford
21 JUNE 2023
A House Judiciary Committee hearing focused on the FBI’s treatment of former President Donald Trump paid considerable attention to his former rival Hillary Clinton.
The hearing on Wednesday featured former special counsel John Durham as the sole witness on his report, released last month, about the origins of the Russia collusion investigation that began in 2016.
Durham had concluded that the FBI did not have any evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia at the time it opened a full investigation, nor did it ever obtain evidence despite years of digging.
But less high-profile sections of Durham’s report had presented previously unreported instances of misconduct related to the Clinton campaign, and those surfaced throughout his appearance in the House this week.
“The FBI’s investigative efforts were considerably more disciplined than was the case with respect to Mr. Trump,” Durham said of the approach to allegations leveled in 2016 against Clinton.
Overall, Durham said, the FBI’s treatment of Clinton was “not necessarily more favorable, just more disciplined” than the aggressive pursuit of Trump in 2016 by agents who openly discussed their disdain for him.
In one example, on which Durham faced questions from GOP lawmakers, the Department of Justice decided to warn the Clinton campaign that foreign nationals may have wanted to infiltrate her campaign while withholding that knowledge from the Trump campaign.
DOJ officials “required defensive briefings to be provided to Clinton and other officials or candidates who appeared to be the targets of foreign interference,” Durham wrote in his report.
“No defensive briefing was provided to Trump or anyone in the campaign concerning the information received from Australia that suggested there might be some type of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, either prior to or after these investigations were opened,” he wrote.
Speaking to the committee, Durham said “very little thought” appeared to have been given to the idea that Trump might also deserve a defensive briefing in light of the suggestion that Russians could be targeting his campaign.
The FBI opened its full investigation of Trump, dubbed Crossfire Hurricane, just days after receiving a tip from Australian diplomats that they’d heard an unpaid Trump adviser boasting in a bar about a vague offer of campaign assistance from Russia.
The Australian intelligence was unverified, and indeed proven later to be false, but nonetheless formed the basis for a full-blown criminal investigation.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) questioned Durham over the contrast between those bold steps and the FBI’s reluctance to act on intelligence about Clinton it received at virtually the same time.
“In the summer of 2016, did our government receive intelligence that suggested Secretary Clinton had approved a plan to tie President Trump to Russia?” Jordan asked.
“Yes,” replied Durham.
“Did [then-FBI Director James Comey] share it with the agents on the case, working the Crossfire Hurricane case?” Jordan later asked.
“No,” Durham replied.
In his report, Durham had detailed how the FBI received credible intelligence showing that Clinton approved a campaign plot to frame Trump for having suspicious ties to Russia, just before lawyers on her payroll began sharing campaign-funded opposition research with the FBI that did indeed allege suspicious ties between Trump and Russia.
The CIA took the intelligence seriously enough for its director to brief then-President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Comey, and other senior Obama administration officials.
The CIA put the intelligence into a memo referring the intelligence to the FBI for investigation.
But that intelligence never made it into applications the FBI filed to get surveillance warrants targeting a former Trump adviser, nor were the FBI agents working the Trump collusion investigation ever told of the intelligence even though it should have fundamentally altered how seriously the bureau took the collusion allegations.
Durham testified on Wednesday that the campaign plot, which was never investigated, was one of several instances of “disparate treatment” he uncovered during his investigation.
Another related to a potentially illegal contribution to the Clinton campaign on behalf of a foreign national “who was known to the FBI to have foreign intelligence and criminal connections,” Durham wrote in his report.
The FBI’s own confidential source made the donation; instead of investigating the foreign bribery effort in which the source was involved, the FBI advised the source to steer clear of the Clinton campaign for his or her “protection,” shut down any investigation into the matter, and never even documented the episode in FBI records, Durham wrote.
In another instance raised during the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, an analyst on former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team pushed to interview Charles Dolan, a Clinton-connected Democratic operative who provided some of the allegations for the false Steele dossier.
Dolan’s work with the Clinton family dates back decades.
After that analyst pushed in 2017 to open an investigation into Dolan, who himself had significant Russian ties and had been spending time in Russia, the analyst was reassigned to a different unit and told to drop the matter.
Dolan was never interviewed by the FBI despite contributing considerably to the document it was using to justify major parts of its investigation.
The focus on Clinton comes as House Republicans work to build a case, across multiple fronts, that the Justice Department has begun to implement a two-tiered system of justice.
They pushed that argument further this week when Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, struck a lenient plea deal with the Biden administration that spared him jail time for evading taxes and illegally obtaining a gun.
Hunter Biden had been under investigation for those and potentially other offenses for years.
However, the long-awaited charges dropped only weeks after House Republicans publicized separate whistleblower allegations, one from the IRS and one from the FBI, that investigators were stonewalling investigations of the president’s son.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 9728&ei=28
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
GB News
"Joe Biden bizarrely stands up and wanders out of studio during live TV broadcast in latest gaffe"
Story by Jack Walters
30 JUNE 2023
Joe Biden was involved in a bizarre moment after he stood up and wandered out of a studio during a live TV broadcast.
The US President walked off set while cameras were still filming after appearing on MSNBC for an interview with Nicolle Wallace.
Biden, 80, sat down for an interview with the TV channel during a trip to New York to raise money for his re-election bid.
After being probed on the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision, January 6 and his predecessor Donald Trump, Biden was filmed slowly lifting himself from his seat.
He shook Wallace’s hand and proceeded to walk off behind the presenter while the 51-year-old was hinting about what to expect from the next segment of her Deadline: White House show.
Biden’s White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates labelled the moment a “power move”.
Trump’s three-time campaign aide Jason Miller said: “Bizarre moment Biden, 80, walks off at end of live MSNBC interview where he was asked about the Supreme Court, January 6, Trump and John McCain - but wasn't questioned about son Hunter, bribery claims or his health.”
Wallace, who previously served in the George W Bush administration and also as a senior adviser on John McCain’s unsuccessful campaign against Barack Obama in 2008, opted against asking the Commander-in-Chief about his son Hunter’s foreign business dealings and his health.
Biden made a separate gaffe earlier this week when he claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin was “losing the war in Iraq”.
Russia is currently at war with Ukraine following Putin’s decision to invade the ex-Soviet state last February.
During the US-led invasion of Iraq, Moscow provided Baghdad with intelligence about American plans in the Middle East.
Biden’s other notable blunders include calling Rishi Sunak “Mr President”, ending a speech by saying “God save the Queen” and asking if ex-Congresswoman Jackie Walorski was in the audience just weeks after she died in a car crash.
A recent NBC News opinion poll found more than two-thirds of Americans have concerns about the 46th President’s mental and physical fitness.
The number of people worried about his ability to serve a second-term include almost half of Democrats.
A separate opinion poll by YouGov even suggested Trump could become just the second Commander-in-Chief to serve two non-consecutive terms in the Oval Office as he opened up a four-point lead over his successor.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... def8&ei=45
"Joe Biden bizarrely stands up and wanders out of studio during live TV broadcast in latest gaffe"
Story by Jack Walters
30 JUNE 2023
Joe Biden was involved in a bizarre moment after he stood up and wandered out of a studio during a live TV broadcast.
The US President walked off set while cameras were still filming after appearing on MSNBC for an interview with Nicolle Wallace.
Biden, 80, sat down for an interview with the TV channel during a trip to New York to raise money for his re-election bid.
After being probed on the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision, January 6 and his predecessor Donald Trump, Biden was filmed slowly lifting himself from his seat.
He shook Wallace’s hand and proceeded to walk off behind the presenter while the 51-year-old was hinting about what to expect from the next segment of her Deadline: White House show.
Biden’s White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates labelled the moment a “power move”.
Trump’s three-time campaign aide Jason Miller said: “Bizarre moment Biden, 80, walks off at end of live MSNBC interview where he was asked about the Supreme Court, January 6, Trump and John McCain - but wasn't questioned about son Hunter, bribery claims or his health.”
Wallace, who previously served in the George W Bush administration and also as a senior adviser on John McCain’s unsuccessful campaign against Barack Obama in 2008, opted against asking the Commander-in-Chief about his son Hunter’s foreign business dealings and his health.
Biden made a separate gaffe earlier this week when he claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin was “losing the war in Iraq”.
Russia is currently at war with Ukraine following Putin’s decision to invade the ex-Soviet state last February.
During the US-led invasion of Iraq, Moscow provided Baghdad with intelligence about American plans in the Middle East.
Biden’s other notable blunders include calling Rishi Sunak “Mr President”, ending a speech by saying “God save the Queen” and asking if ex-Congresswoman Jackie Walorski was in the audience just weeks after she died in a car crash.
A recent NBC News opinion poll found more than two-thirds of Americans have concerns about the 46th President’s mental and physical fitness.
The number of people worried about his ability to serve a second-term include almost half of Democrats.
A separate opinion poll by YouGov even suggested Trump could become just the second Commander-in-Chief to serve two non-consecutive terms in the Oval Office as he opened up a four-point lead over his successor.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... def8&ei=45
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
1945
"The Second American Civil War Has Begun"
Story by Peter Suciu
14 JULY 2023
Thanks to the gangster epic "The Godfather" the saying, "It's not personal, it's strictly business" is part of our modern lexicon.
While perhaps gangsters in the movies may still live by that code, it appears that in the corridors of power in Washington, D.C., everything is increasingly very personal – and it could be argued it is interfering with the ability of the government to actually get anything done!
This includes the investigations into former President Donald Trump as well as President Joe Biden and his family.
This endless cycle of finger-pointing is continuing to tear the country apart.
We've become the Un-united States of America as a result.
And that means a sort of civil war has already broken out - but this time it is toxic politics creating chaos and not cannon fire.
Another Email on Hunter's Laptop
It was another film from the 1970s, "All the President's Men," that also introduced the phrase, "follow the money" into the mainstream consciousness, which is what some GOP lawmakers are arguing they are doing when it comes to Hunter Biden.
In addition, thanks to the Watergate scandal, every scandal now gets known as "X-gate" – but the ongoing Huntergate and Trumpgate are just proving to be a gateway to the end of our democracy, and both sides are very much to blame.
Fox News reported on Wednesday, "Republican lawmakers erupted Tuesday after learning about a 2015 email chain that predated President Biden's infamous 2015 trip to Ukraine, when a Burisma Holdings executive revealed the 'ultimate purpose' of Hunter Biden's involvement with the Ukrainian energy company."
The emails came from Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi to the younger Biden, who was serving as a board member.
It is certainly damning evidence that points to Hunter Biden riding on his father's coattails.
But is this really shocking or new?
We're less than a year and a half from Election Day, so couldn't this be an issue for voters to decide rather than more investigations into the shady business dealings of a drug addict?
Were Hunter Biden not the son of the sitting president, it is doubtful there would be an investigation.
Though it is true that Hunter Biden may not have been involved were he not the son of then-VP Joe Biden, a case could still be made this would be a nothing burger if Biden had lost in 2020.
Yet, he went on to defeat Donald Trump, so GOP lawmakers are seeing this as something that needs our full attention.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, (R-N.C), who sits on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, told Fox News, "The sequence of events that led to the firing of Viktor Shokin, and the subsequent comments by then-Vice President Biden, raise serious concerns as to what machinations were really at play — and were purposefully concealed from the American people."
"No matter how you slice Hunter Biden's involvement, it screams public corruption at the highest levels and must be fully investigated."
The sentiment was shared by Rep. Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana), also a committee member, who added, "The calm, judicious, steady reveal of incredibly condemning evidence that clearly incriminates the Biden crime family will eventually alarm even the most ardent supporters of this WH occupier."
"Our president is compromised, he should resign and be forever condemned, and the Democrat Party should begin rebuilding itself."
Corruption at the Highest Level?
To the Republican lawmakers, it would sound as if this is about rooting out corruption at the highest level – but that claim is also being made by their Democratic counterparts about former President Donald Trump, who is being investigated for what now seems like a million different things.
"Everything we are uncovering points to Hunter Biden using his name and his father's position to get rich," said Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.).
"It's bribery — and it is both wrong and illegal."
"House Democrats, the legacy media, and even top brass at the FBI and DOJ failed to do their job and investigate all the literal and figurative smoke that clouds Hunter Biden."
"House Republicans will do our job and uncover the truth."
One could absolutely agree with Timmons, but this is the same congressman who has supported calls for the funding of federal agencies involved in investigations and prosecution of Trump to be withheld.
Likewise, Rep. Higgins has long referred to Trump as "rPOTUS," short for the real President of the United States, on social media.
The congressman from Port Barre was among those who voted against confirming the results of the 2020 presidential election that Trump lost to Joe Biden.
Therefore should we be surprised that he's the one calling for Biden to resign?
In other words, it is hard to not see this as a personal attack on Biden when so many of the ranks in the GOP have lined up to support Trump.
Moreover, Trump's indictment over his retaining classified documents has had many in the Republican Party suggest that the Biden administration is "weaponizing" the judicial system!
Attacks on Trump Are No Better
According to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll from this spring found that about half of Americans believe the New York investigation into whether Donald Trump paid hush money to a adult star was politically motivated, even as a large majority found the allegations believable.
In other words, people don’t seem to care.
At the same time, the former president has been the subject of multiple investigations, including the U.S. Department of Justice's (DoJ's) efforts involving the classified documents found at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, the aforementioned New York City hush money payments, efforts by Trump in Fulton County, Georgia to overturn the 2020 election, and in New York State over allegations that the Trump Organization lied to lenders and insurers.
It is very hard not to see at least some aspects of the investigations as being completely politically motivated.
This is about making it impossible for Trump to return to the White House, a point not even hidden by his critics.
While former lawmakers such as Liz Cheney and Chris Christie have vowed to ensure that Trump isn't reelected, they're not actually weaponizing any investigation.
Christie is now hitting the campaign trail to tell voters why Trump shouldn't be reelected, and Cheney could likely do the same.
But these constant investigations – as well as calls for impeachment, which both sides have absolutely overplayed – won't heal the nation.
It won't unify the country.
Instead, it is literally tearing us apart.
Here are the facts.
The Biden family is certainly corrupt, led by a not-so-smooth-talking politician and serial liar.
Donald Trump has always been a shady businessman whose only "art of the deal" was to stomp on the little guy when possible and call it solid negotiations.
Did Hunter Biden get rich by riding his father's coattails?
That is almost certain.
Did Donald Trump break a whole bunch of laws, including bribery as well as retaining classified documents?
He absolutely did.
But do we need endless investigations into these cases?
Absolutely not, simply because it isn't business as usual anymore, and it has become entirely personal.
We can follow the money, but let's be honest too – how is it that everyone who goes to Washington like Mr. Smith returns home with far greater net worth?
These politicians make a salary of less than $200,000 a year but quickly become millionaires.
That's the money we should be following!
It is time to move on from these investigations, let the voters decide – and hopefully we can move past these two crime families.
Failing that, maybe our increasingly partisan lawmakers on both sides of the aisles should just have it out already.
Author Experience and Expertise
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... b36b&ei=61
"The Second American Civil War Has Begun"
Story by Peter Suciu
14 JULY 2023
Thanks to the gangster epic "The Godfather" the saying, "It's not personal, it's strictly business" is part of our modern lexicon.
While perhaps gangsters in the movies may still live by that code, it appears that in the corridors of power in Washington, D.C., everything is increasingly very personal – and it could be argued it is interfering with the ability of the government to actually get anything done!
This includes the investigations into former President Donald Trump as well as President Joe Biden and his family.
This endless cycle of finger-pointing is continuing to tear the country apart.
We've become the Un-united States of America as a result.
And that means a sort of civil war has already broken out - but this time it is toxic politics creating chaos and not cannon fire.
Another Email on Hunter's Laptop
It was another film from the 1970s, "All the President's Men," that also introduced the phrase, "follow the money" into the mainstream consciousness, which is what some GOP lawmakers are arguing they are doing when it comes to Hunter Biden.
In addition, thanks to the Watergate scandal, every scandal now gets known as "X-gate" – but the ongoing Huntergate and Trumpgate are just proving to be a gateway to the end of our democracy, and both sides are very much to blame.
Fox News reported on Wednesday, "Republican lawmakers erupted Tuesday after learning about a 2015 email chain that predated President Biden's infamous 2015 trip to Ukraine, when a Burisma Holdings executive revealed the 'ultimate purpose' of Hunter Biden's involvement with the Ukrainian energy company."
The emails came from Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi to the younger Biden, who was serving as a board member.
It is certainly damning evidence that points to Hunter Biden riding on his father's coattails.
But is this really shocking or new?
We're less than a year and a half from Election Day, so couldn't this be an issue for voters to decide rather than more investigations into the shady business dealings of a drug addict?
Were Hunter Biden not the son of the sitting president, it is doubtful there would be an investigation.
Though it is true that Hunter Biden may not have been involved were he not the son of then-VP Joe Biden, a case could still be made this would be a nothing burger if Biden had lost in 2020.
Yet, he went on to defeat Donald Trump, so GOP lawmakers are seeing this as something that needs our full attention.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, (R-N.C), who sits on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, told Fox News, "The sequence of events that led to the firing of Viktor Shokin, and the subsequent comments by then-Vice President Biden, raise serious concerns as to what machinations were really at play — and were purposefully concealed from the American people."
"No matter how you slice Hunter Biden's involvement, it screams public corruption at the highest levels and must be fully investigated."
The sentiment was shared by Rep. Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana), also a committee member, who added, "The calm, judicious, steady reveal of incredibly condemning evidence that clearly incriminates the Biden crime family will eventually alarm even the most ardent supporters of this WH occupier."
"Our president is compromised, he should resign and be forever condemned, and the Democrat Party should begin rebuilding itself."
Corruption at the Highest Level?
To the Republican lawmakers, it would sound as if this is about rooting out corruption at the highest level – but that claim is also being made by their Democratic counterparts about former President Donald Trump, who is being investigated for what now seems like a million different things.
"Everything we are uncovering points to Hunter Biden using his name and his father's position to get rich," said Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.).
"It's bribery — and it is both wrong and illegal."
"House Democrats, the legacy media, and even top brass at the FBI and DOJ failed to do their job and investigate all the literal and figurative smoke that clouds Hunter Biden."
"House Republicans will do our job and uncover the truth."
One could absolutely agree with Timmons, but this is the same congressman who has supported calls for the funding of federal agencies involved in investigations and prosecution of Trump to be withheld.
Likewise, Rep. Higgins has long referred to Trump as "rPOTUS," short for the real President of the United States, on social media.
The congressman from Port Barre was among those who voted against confirming the results of the 2020 presidential election that Trump lost to Joe Biden.
Therefore should we be surprised that he's the one calling for Biden to resign?
In other words, it is hard to not see this as a personal attack on Biden when so many of the ranks in the GOP have lined up to support Trump.
Moreover, Trump's indictment over his retaining classified documents has had many in the Republican Party suggest that the Biden administration is "weaponizing" the judicial system!
Attacks on Trump Are No Better
According to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll from this spring found that about half of Americans believe the New York investigation into whether Donald Trump paid hush money to a adult star was politically motivated, even as a large majority found the allegations believable.
In other words, people don’t seem to care.
At the same time, the former president has been the subject of multiple investigations, including the U.S. Department of Justice's (DoJ's) efforts involving the classified documents found at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, the aforementioned New York City hush money payments, efforts by Trump in Fulton County, Georgia to overturn the 2020 election, and in New York State over allegations that the Trump Organization lied to lenders and insurers.
It is very hard not to see at least some aspects of the investigations as being completely politically motivated.
This is about making it impossible for Trump to return to the White House, a point not even hidden by his critics.
While former lawmakers such as Liz Cheney and Chris Christie have vowed to ensure that Trump isn't reelected, they're not actually weaponizing any investigation.
Christie is now hitting the campaign trail to tell voters why Trump shouldn't be reelected, and Cheney could likely do the same.
But these constant investigations – as well as calls for impeachment, which both sides have absolutely overplayed – won't heal the nation.
It won't unify the country.
Instead, it is literally tearing us apart.
Here are the facts.
The Biden family is certainly corrupt, led by a not-so-smooth-talking politician and serial liar.
Donald Trump has always been a shady businessman whose only "art of the deal" was to stomp on the little guy when possible and call it solid negotiations.
Did Hunter Biden get rich by riding his father's coattails?
That is almost certain.
Did Donald Trump break a whole bunch of laws, including bribery as well as retaining classified documents?
He absolutely did.
But do we need endless investigations into these cases?
Absolutely not, simply because it isn't business as usual anymore, and it has become entirely personal.
We can follow the money, but let's be honest too – how is it that everyone who goes to Washington like Mr. Smith returns home with far greater net worth?
These politicians make a salary of less than $200,000 a year but quickly become millionaires.
That's the money we should be following!
It is time to move on from these investigations, let the voters decide – and hopefully we can move past these two crime families.
Failing that, maybe our increasingly partisan lawmakers on both sides of the aisles should just have it out already.
Author Experience and Expertise
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... b36b&ei=61
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
News Nation
"Americans lukewarm on Biden, Trump as 2024 nears, but one has slight edge: poll"
Story by Tara Suter
22 JULY 2023
(The Hill) – A recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll showed Americans aren’t enthusiastic about a potential 2024 matchup between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
When asked to choose between the two presidents in a hypothetical 2024 race, both politicians received support from less than 50% of registered U.S. voters surveyed, with Biden at 47% and Trump at 43%.
People who said they were not sure or would not vote made up 6% and 4%, respectively, of the respondents.
The poll also asked all respondents if they “approved” of Biden’s “handling” of the presidency, with only 40% saying they “strongly” or “somewhat” did so.
Only 38% said they had a “very” or “somewhat” favorable opinion of Trump.
Both presidents also received low perceptions of fitness for the highest office in the U.S.
Neither was deemed particularly “fit to serve another term as president,” with 27% of respondents saying Biden would be, and 36% saying Trump would.
The results come from a sample of 1,638 U.S. adults who took the online survey from July 13 to July 17, 2023. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.7%.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 6791&ei=58
"Americans lukewarm on Biden, Trump as 2024 nears, but one has slight edge: poll"
Story by Tara Suter
22 JULY 2023
(The Hill) – A recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll showed Americans aren’t enthusiastic about a potential 2024 matchup between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
When asked to choose between the two presidents in a hypothetical 2024 race, both politicians received support from less than 50% of registered U.S. voters surveyed, with Biden at 47% and Trump at 43%.
People who said they were not sure or would not vote made up 6% and 4%, respectively, of the respondents.
The poll also asked all respondents if they “approved” of Biden’s “handling” of the presidency, with only 40% saying they “strongly” or “somewhat” did so.
Only 38% said they had a “very” or “somewhat” favorable opinion of Trump.
Both presidents also received low perceptions of fitness for the highest office in the U.S.
Neither was deemed particularly “fit to serve another term as president,” with 27% of respondents saying Biden would be, and 36% saying Trump would.
The results come from a sample of 1,638 U.S. adults who took the online survey from July 13 to July 17, 2023. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.7%.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 6791&ei=58
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
HuffPost
"CNN Data Guru Flags A ‘Giant Warning Sign’ For Joe Biden"
Story by Lee Moran
1 AUGUST 2023
Donald Trump is in “a historically strong position” to win the GOP 2024 nomination and in “a better position to win the general election than at any point during the 2020 cycle and almost at any point during the 2016 cycle,” CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten said in a new analysis.
The former president — despite his mounting legal woes — is not only the frontrunner in the GOP primary by more than 30 percentage points but also “remains competitive in a potential rematch with President Joe Biden,” Enten noted.
The 2024 election will “probably come down to a few swing states,” he said.
And “one giant warning sign” for Biden was a June Quinnipiac University poll from Pennsylvania, which “barely voted for Trump in 2016 and for Biden in 2020.”
“Trump was up on Biden by 1 point in the Quinnipiac poll – a result within the margin of error, but nevertheless a remarkable achievement for the former president,” said Enten.
“Things can most certainly change,” Enten acknowledged.
“But for now, the chance that Trump is president in less than two years’ time is a very real possibility.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 3d05&ei=10
"CNN Data Guru Flags A ‘Giant Warning Sign’ For Joe Biden"
Story by Lee Moran
1 AUGUST 2023
Donald Trump is in “a historically strong position” to win the GOP 2024 nomination and in “a better position to win the general election than at any point during the 2020 cycle and almost at any point during the 2016 cycle,” CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten said in a new analysis.
The former president — despite his mounting legal woes — is not only the frontrunner in the GOP primary by more than 30 percentage points but also “remains competitive in a potential rematch with President Joe Biden,” Enten noted.
The 2024 election will “probably come down to a few swing states,” he said.
And “one giant warning sign” for Biden was a June Quinnipiac University poll from Pennsylvania, which “barely voted for Trump in 2016 and for Biden in 2020.”
“Trump was up on Biden by 1 point in the Quinnipiac poll – a result within the margin of error, but nevertheless a remarkable achievement for the former president,” said Enten.
“Things can most certainly change,” Enten acknowledged.
“But for now, the chance that Trump is president in less than two years’ time is a very real possibility.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 3d05&ei=10
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
POLITICO
""‘Whistling past the graveyard’: Dem fear grows over massive grassroots fundraising hit"
Story by Jessica Piper
5 AUGUST 2023
One of the best online fundraising days for Democrats this year was the day of Joe Biden’s campaign launch — but even that day’s haul was meager compared to his campaign kickoff four years ago.
That’s among the findings of an analysis of fundraising for the first half of the year through ActBlue, the party’s primary donation processor.
Small-dollar giving at the federal level totaled $312 million in the first half of 2023 — a drop-off of more than $30 million compared to this point in the 2020 cycle.
The platform also had 32 percent fewer donors in the second quarter this year compared to four years prior, although its total fundraising increased slightly due to several factors, including more recurring donors and greater giving to non-federal groups.
“Because small donors are a proxy for enthusiasm, if people aren’t concerned about the drop-off in contributions, then they just aren’t paying attention or whistling past the graveyard,” said Ari Rabin-Havt, who served as deputy campaign manager on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign.
“The impact is from top to bottom."
"You can see it in the ActBlue number, you can see it from the DNC down through every group."
"There has to be a quick examination among Democrats about what is creating this enthusiasm gap.”
The lack of grassroots engagement is a warning sign for Biden ahead of a tough election cycle, raising questions about whether the 80-year-old incumbent is exciting the Democratic base the way he will need to win a second term.
The new data also suggests that the threat of Donald Trump, once a huge driver of Democratic fundraising, is not motivating donors like it used to.
Online fundraising has been critical for Democrats over the last few cycles, allowing the party to keep control of the Senate in 2022 while powering Biden’s 2020 bid.
The party still far outraised their Republican counterparts on the corresponding WinRed platform.
Still, a decline in activity among Democratic grassroots supporters will almost assuredly force candidates up and down the ballot to spend more time fundraising, lean more heavily on big donors or make do with less.
Some progressive groups have already been laying off staff this year amid the ongoing cash crunch.
Donations are also down to party committees, such as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which both saw more than one-third drops in their total cash raised from small-dollar donors in the first half of the year compared to last cycle.
Democrats’ best fundraising days so far this year were largely end-of-month or end-or-quarter deadlines, according to a POLITICO analysis of data from ActBlue.
Those are the days when campaigns typically send extra fundraising appeals.
When Biden formally launched his campaign April 25, he received roughly 57,000 online donations across his official committee and Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising group, totaling nearly $2.9 million.
That was less than in 2019, when Biden took in more than $4 million dollars from online donations on the day of his campaign launch.
And yet, it was enough to make April 25 among the best federal fundraising days on ActBlue this year, with only the end-of-quarter deadlines in March and June seeing more money raised across the platform.
A Biden campaign official noted the now-president’s campaign had different day one goals compared to 2019, when getting a large number of day-one donors was a way to stand out in a crowded primary field.
The campaign has touted that around 30 percent of its donors did not give to Biden in 2020.
And the president’s small-dollar operation has also shown other positive signs, including less drop-off following the campaign launch.
In 2019, 60 percent of Biden’s first quarter online fundraising came in his first week.
But this time, first-week fundraising accounted for only 38 percent of his ActBlue fundraising through the end of June.
But the relative dearth of strong fundraising days outside of quarterly deadlines suggests that Democratic donors are less driven by political events now than they were in 2019, when Trump was still in office and a competitive Democratic primary led to frequent national spotlights for the party’s candidates.
In fact, the major Trump-related events this cycle — like his court appearances in April and June — have been dates where Republicans have won the fundraising game.
WinRed, the primary GOP fundraising platform, saw more donations those days than ActBlue.
That was primarily driven by Trump fundraising through that platform in those moments.
But other Republican groups have harnessed the former president’s indictment in fundraising appeals too.
The National Republican Congressional Committee’s best online fundraising day of the year in terms of total money raised came a few days after Trump’s second indictment, according to WinRed data.
“Villains raise money."
"And you have the ultimate villain in Donald Trump,” said Rabin-Havt.
“But it’s the third act of that villain at this point."
"That makes it harder."
"We are approaching nine years of him being the principal villain.”
Four years ago, Democratic presidential candidates raked in millions of dollars online after strong debate showings, with fundraising also driven by other campaign events and candidates’ calls for Trump’s first impeachment.
In 2021, concern about the events of Jan. 6 and Trump’s second impeachment drove up Democratic donations early in the cycle.
And just last year, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision on abortion sparked major online giving.
Some operatives in the digital fundraising space said they were not yet ready to hit the panic button, noting that summer months often are slower and that the Republican primary remains unsettled.
But even their optimism was colored with concern.
“We get to this point in the cycle, every two years and people act like the summer slump is something they just discovered."
"People don’t like donating in the summer because they’re with their families and on vacation,” said Mike Nellis, founder and CEO of Authentic, one of the party’s top digital fundraising agencies.
“That said, this is a particularly bad summer slump."
"If you’re not running with a particularly compelling headwind, it is hard to fundraise right now."
"If you’re not Adam Schiff and Jon Tester, who are two of my clients doing well right now, you’re sort of in a bind.”
Nellis attributed some of the decline to tactical matters.
The major email providers have cracked down on political spam and social media companies have made it harder for campaigns to target donors, forcing a greater reliance on bulk buy email vendors.
The current attempts to cull together an effective email list were akin, he said, to “sticking dynamite into a lake, hoping some fish will rise to the surface.”
Biden has run a lean campaign, and the many legal challenges facing Trump, while good for the ex-president in terms of fundraising, also mean that Trump is spending a lot.
Even with the Trump indictment boost, Republican groups have not escaped the lower small-dollar totals compared to the past few cycles, although WinRed’s shorter history makes it harder to do one-to-one comparisons.
And though there are far fewer events that seem to inspire big influxes, a few things have helped out some Democratic candidates.
Schiff, one of several Democrats running for Senate in California next year, received more than 56,000 donations via ActBlue over two days in June when he was censured by House Republicans over his role in investigating Trump.
Some groups have also seen event-driven jumps, albeit at a smaller scale.
The Tennessee Democratic Party’s federal account received more than 3,500 donations April 7, the day after two Black state lawmakers who had protested in favor of gun law reforms on the House floor were expelled from the legislature.
Prior to that, the state party had averaged seven donations per day.
Sam Stein contributed to this report.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 89f0&ei=32
""‘Whistling past the graveyard’: Dem fear grows over massive grassroots fundraising hit"
Story by Jessica Piper
5 AUGUST 2023
One of the best online fundraising days for Democrats this year was the day of Joe Biden’s campaign launch — but even that day’s haul was meager compared to his campaign kickoff four years ago.
That’s among the findings of an analysis of fundraising for the first half of the year through ActBlue, the party’s primary donation processor.
Small-dollar giving at the federal level totaled $312 million in the first half of 2023 — a drop-off of more than $30 million compared to this point in the 2020 cycle.
The platform also had 32 percent fewer donors in the second quarter this year compared to four years prior, although its total fundraising increased slightly due to several factors, including more recurring donors and greater giving to non-federal groups.
“Because small donors are a proxy for enthusiasm, if people aren’t concerned about the drop-off in contributions, then they just aren’t paying attention or whistling past the graveyard,” said Ari Rabin-Havt, who served as deputy campaign manager on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign.
“The impact is from top to bottom."
"You can see it in the ActBlue number, you can see it from the DNC down through every group."
"There has to be a quick examination among Democrats about what is creating this enthusiasm gap.”
The lack of grassroots engagement is a warning sign for Biden ahead of a tough election cycle, raising questions about whether the 80-year-old incumbent is exciting the Democratic base the way he will need to win a second term.
The new data also suggests that the threat of Donald Trump, once a huge driver of Democratic fundraising, is not motivating donors like it used to.
Online fundraising has been critical for Democrats over the last few cycles, allowing the party to keep control of the Senate in 2022 while powering Biden’s 2020 bid.
The party still far outraised their Republican counterparts on the corresponding WinRed platform.
Still, a decline in activity among Democratic grassroots supporters will almost assuredly force candidates up and down the ballot to spend more time fundraising, lean more heavily on big donors or make do with less.
Some progressive groups have already been laying off staff this year amid the ongoing cash crunch.
Donations are also down to party committees, such as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which both saw more than one-third drops in their total cash raised from small-dollar donors in the first half of the year compared to last cycle.
Democrats’ best fundraising days so far this year were largely end-of-month or end-or-quarter deadlines, according to a POLITICO analysis of data from ActBlue.
Those are the days when campaigns typically send extra fundraising appeals.
When Biden formally launched his campaign April 25, he received roughly 57,000 online donations across his official committee and Biden Victory Fund, a joint fundraising group, totaling nearly $2.9 million.
That was less than in 2019, when Biden took in more than $4 million dollars from online donations on the day of his campaign launch.
And yet, it was enough to make April 25 among the best federal fundraising days on ActBlue this year, with only the end-of-quarter deadlines in March and June seeing more money raised across the platform.
A Biden campaign official noted the now-president’s campaign had different day one goals compared to 2019, when getting a large number of day-one donors was a way to stand out in a crowded primary field.
The campaign has touted that around 30 percent of its donors did not give to Biden in 2020.
And the president’s small-dollar operation has also shown other positive signs, including less drop-off following the campaign launch.
In 2019, 60 percent of Biden’s first quarter online fundraising came in his first week.
But this time, first-week fundraising accounted for only 38 percent of his ActBlue fundraising through the end of June.
But the relative dearth of strong fundraising days outside of quarterly deadlines suggests that Democratic donors are less driven by political events now than they were in 2019, when Trump was still in office and a competitive Democratic primary led to frequent national spotlights for the party’s candidates.
In fact, the major Trump-related events this cycle — like his court appearances in April and June — have been dates where Republicans have won the fundraising game.
WinRed, the primary GOP fundraising platform, saw more donations those days than ActBlue.
That was primarily driven by Trump fundraising through that platform in those moments.
But other Republican groups have harnessed the former president’s indictment in fundraising appeals too.
The National Republican Congressional Committee’s best online fundraising day of the year in terms of total money raised came a few days after Trump’s second indictment, according to WinRed data.
“Villains raise money."
"And you have the ultimate villain in Donald Trump,” said Rabin-Havt.
“But it’s the third act of that villain at this point."
"That makes it harder."
"We are approaching nine years of him being the principal villain.”
Four years ago, Democratic presidential candidates raked in millions of dollars online after strong debate showings, with fundraising also driven by other campaign events and candidates’ calls for Trump’s first impeachment.
In 2021, concern about the events of Jan. 6 and Trump’s second impeachment drove up Democratic donations early in the cycle.
And just last year, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision on abortion sparked major online giving.
Some operatives in the digital fundraising space said they were not yet ready to hit the panic button, noting that summer months often are slower and that the Republican primary remains unsettled.
But even their optimism was colored with concern.
“We get to this point in the cycle, every two years and people act like the summer slump is something they just discovered."
"People don’t like donating in the summer because they’re with their families and on vacation,” said Mike Nellis, founder and CEO of Authentic, one of the party’s top digital fundraising agencies.
“That said, this is a particularly bad summer slump."
"If you’re not running with a particularly compelling headwind, it is hard to fundraise right now."
"If you’re not Adam Schiff and Jon Tester, who are two of my clients doing well right now, you’re sort of in a bind.”
Nellis attributed some of the decline to tactical matters.
The major email providers have cracked down on political spam and social media companies have made it harder for campaigns to target donors, forcing a greater reliance on bulk buy email vendors.
The current attempts to cull together an effective email list were akin, he said, to “sticking dynamite into a lake, hoping some fish will rise to the surface.”
Biden has run a lean campaign, and the many legal challenges facing Trump, while good for the ex-president in terms of fundraising, also mean that Trump is spending a lot.
Even with the Trump indictment boost, Republican groups have not escaped the lower small-dollar totals compared to the past few cycles, although WinRed’s shorter history makes it harder to do one-to-one comparisons.
And though there are far fewer events that seem to inspire big influxes, a few things have helped out some Democratic candidates.
Schiff, one of several Democrats running for Senate in California next year, received more than 56,000 donations via ActBlue over two days in June when he was censured by House Republicans over his role in investigating Trump.
Some groups have also seen event-driven jumps, albeit at a smaller scale.
The Tennessee Democratic Party’s federal account received more than 3,500 donations April 7, the day after two Black state lawmakers who had protested in favor of gun law reforms on the House floor were expelled from the legislature.
Prior to that, the state party had averaged seven donations per day.
Sam Stein contributed to this report.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 89f0&ei=32
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
America Insider
"CNN Host Stunned as Guest Suddenly Destroys Biden in 66 Seconds"
Story by David Rufful
9 AUGUST 2023
It appears that CNN isn’t able to defend Joe Biden any longer.
With over 20 years in the industry, veteran political commentator Scott Jennings had extensive involvement in four presidential efforts and he’s a regular contributor on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and an Adjunct Lecturer at Harvard.
Jennings appeared on CNN to reflect on Biden’s time in the White House, and his commentary appeared to stun everyone.
“I never imagined how quickly this would all unfold,” Jennings began.
“The person they sold on the campaign."
"The nice old moderate Grandpa who just wanted to help everybody get along and compromise is not what we got over the past year.”
“He has no mandate, really, to do much of anything,” he continued.
“It’s amazing that he got a couple of things done when the mandate was pretty clear: 50/50 Senate and near 50/50 House, and a pretty close presidential election.”
“The mandate was simply ‘replace Donald Trump and don’t do anything drastic or stupid,” Jennings said.
“And yet everything about this agenda is extremely drastic."
"And he’s been angrier than I think people expected, he’s been more divisive, he’s been more partisan.”
“You look at the issues."
"We built five years of coverage on Trump out of Russia, COVID, and democracy,” Jennings added.
“The president, in his press conference, invites Russia to invade the Ukraine."
"We have more [COVID] deaths under Biden than Trump."
"And now we have the president and the vice president question the legitimacy of the 2022 election?"
"Are we any better off on these issues that we crucified Trump over?”
“I think he has a lot of political problems,” he said.
“And an AP poll came out this morning, only 28 percent of Americans want the sitting president to run for re-election."
"And fewer than half of Democrats."
"This is a disaster,” Jennings concluded.
A Quinnipiac poll showed Biden’s approval crashing to 33 percent.
This is worst than the lowest rating ever received by President Donald Trump, according to Gallup.
There are a number of factors that have contributed to Biden’s low approval rating.
These include Biden’s handling of the economy, the ongoing crisis at the southern border, the disastrous withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, skyrocketing inflation, and his lack of competence and work ethic.
Biden is outpacing every president in U.S. history in vacation time at roughly 40% of his 2.5 years in office, which equals 367 days.
A poll conducted by Siena College in July 2023 found that Biden and Trump are tied in the 2024 White House, each with 43% support among registered voters.
The poll also found that 14% of registered voters were undecided.
The same poll by Siena College found Trump has 37% support among Republican primary voters, which is more than double the support of his closest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (16%).
According to FiveThirtyEight, a website that aggregates and analyzes political polls, Donald Trump is the clear frontrunner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
Other potential Republican candidates have far less support.
Former Vice President Mike Pence had 7% support, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had 6% support, and Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton had 5% support.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 7d65&ei=51
"CNN Host Stunned as Guest Suddenly Destroys Biden in 66 Seconds"
Story by David Rufful
9 AUGUST 2023
It appears that CNN isn’t able to defend Joe Biden any longer.
With over 20 years in the industry, veteran political commentator Scott Jennings had extensive involvement in four presidential efforts and he’s a regular contributor on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and an Adjunct Lecturer at Harvard.
Jennings appeared on CNN to reflect on Biden’s time in the White House, and his commentary appeared to stun everyone.
“I never imagined how quickly this would all unfold,” Jennings began.
“The person they sold on the campaign."
"The nice old moderate Grandpa who just wanted to help everybody get along and compromise is not what we got over the past year.”
“He has no mandate, really, to do much of anything,” he continued.
“It’s amazing that he got a couple of things done when the mandate was pretty clear: 50/50 Senate and near 50/50 House, and a pretty close presidential election.”
“The mandate was simply ‘replace Donald Trump and don’t do anything drastic or stupid,” Jennings said.
“And yet everything about this agenda is extremely drastic."
"And he’s been angrier than I think people expected, he’s been more divisive, he’s been more partisan.”
“You look at the issues."
"We built five years of coverage on Trump out of Russia, COVID, and democracy,” Jennings added.
“The president, in his press conference, invites Russia to invade the Ukraine."
"We have more [COVID] deaths under Biden than Trump."
"And now we have the president and the vice president question the legitimacy of the 2022 election?"
"Are we any better off on these issues that we crucified Trump over?”
“I think he has a lot of political problems,” he said.
“And an AP poll came out this morning, only 28 percent of Americans want the sitting president to run for re-election."
"And fewer than half of Democrats."
"This is a disaster,” Jennings concluded.
A Quinnipiac poll showed Biden’s approval crashing to 33 percent.
This is worst than the lowest rating ever received by President Donald Trump, according to Gallup.
There are a number of factors that have contributed to Biden’s low approval rating.
These include Biden’s handling of the economy, the ongoing crisis at the southern border, the disastrous withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, skyrocketing inflation, and his lack of competence and work ethic.
Biden is outpacing every president in U.S. history in vacation time at roughly 40% of his 2.5 years in office, which equals 367 days.
A poll conducted by Siena College in July 2023 found that Biden and Trump are tied in the 2024 White House, each with 43% support among registered voters.
The poll also found that 14% of registered voters were undecided.
The same poll by Siena College found Trump has 37% support among Republican primary voters, which is more than double the support of his closest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (16%).
According to FiveThirtyEight, a website that aggregates and analyzes political polls, Donald Trump is the clear frontrunner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
Other potential Republican candidates have far less support.
Former Vice President Mike Pence had 7% support, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had 6% support, and Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton had 5% support.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 7d65&ei=51
Re: THE MAGA-MAN DONALD TRUMP
America Insider
"Bombshell Report Reveals What January 6 Committee Did With the Evidence"
Story by Taylor Gold
13 AUGUST 2023
Evidence collected by the infamous “January 6 Committee” has conveniently gone “missing” and was allegedly destroyed, according to Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia.
With the criminal indictment of former President Donald Trump related to the events of January 6th, Americans are left asking one pivotal question: What are they hiding?
Last year, incoming Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) demanded that the “J6” committee preserve all of its records, evidence, and transcripts.
“The House select committee that investigated the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021 failed to adequately preserve documents, data and video depositions – including communications it had with the Biden White House that are still missing – according to the Republican lawmaker overseeing the GOP investigation into the committee’s work,” Fox News found.
“The now-disbanded ‘J6’ committee, which was run by Democrats and included only two GOP members, has also failed to provide any evidence that it looked into Capitol Hill security failures on the day of the riot, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight for the Committee on House Administration, told Fox News Digital,” the report added.
Rep. Loudermilk said, “Nothing was indexed."
"There was no table of contents index."
"Usually when you conduct this level of investigation, you use a database system and everything is digitized, indexed."
"We got nothing like that."
"We just got raw data,” he said.
“So it took us a long time going through it and one thing I started realizing is we don’t have anything much at all from the Blue Team [which was to have investigated security lapses].”
Trump faces 4 counts in the case as Smith was investigating whether Trump interfered with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election.
The criminal allegations include conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump supporters entered the U.S. Capitol during a joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College results in favor of Joe Biden.
If Trump wins the 2024 presidential election, he has vowed to fire Special Counsel Jack Smith who is leading the investigation into Trump’s alleged improper retention of classified records.
In March, some evidence from investigation into January 6th was provided by McCarthy to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Surveillance video showed police opening doors for Jacob Chansley, also known as the QAnon Shaman, and calmly walking along the officers as Chansley thanks them.
“Free Jacob Chansley,” billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk said.
“Chansley got 4 years in prison for a non-violent, police-escorted tour!?"
"Dave Chapelle was violently assaulted on stage by a guy with a knife."
"That guy got a $3000 fine & no prison time,” Musk added.
Mark Zuckerberg’s official fact-checkers on Facebook and Instagram have claimed it is false to argue police assisted Chansley.
“The Capitol Police literally opened the Senate chamber door for him on camera!” Musk shot back.
“But who are you going to believe, Instagram 'fact-checkers' or your own lying eyes!?”
“I imagine this will get fact checked even though I’m pointing out."
McCarthy was informed that several witnesses complained that testimony had been selectively edited by the J6 committee to distort or even reverse its meaning.
In November 2022, after Republicans won control of the House, McCarthy wrote a letter saying, “It is imperative that all information collected be preserved not just for institutional prerogatives but for transparency to the American people."
"The American people have a right to know that the allegations you have made are supported by the facts.”
Vice chair of the J6 Committee, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), vowed that they would, by law, preserve all of the committee’s materials, and that they would pass into the custody of the National Archives.
Rep. Loudermilk believes this didn’t happen as evidence has either gone missing or has been destroyed.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 4d4c&ei=27
"Bombshell Report Reveals What January 6 Committee Did With the Evidence"
Story by Taylor Gold
13 AUGUST 2023
Evidence collected by the infamous “January 6 Committee” has conveniently gone “missing” and was allegedly destroyed, according to Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia.
With the criminal indictment of former President Donald Trump related to the events of January 6th, Americans are left asking one pivotal question: What are they hiding?
Last year, incoming Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) demanded that the “J6” committee preserve all of its records, evidence, and transcripts.
“The House select committee that investigated the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021 failed to adequately preserve documents, data and video depositions – including communications it had with the Biden White House that are still missing – according to the Republican lawmaker overseeing the GOP investigation into the committee’s work,” Fox News found.
“The now-disbanded ‘J6’ committee, which was run by Democrats and included only two GOP members, has also failed to provide any evidence that it looked into Capitol Hill security failures on the day of the riot, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight for the Committee on House Administration, told Fox News Digital,” the report added.
Rep. Loudermilk said, “Nothing was indexed."
"There was no table of contents index."
"Usually when you conduct this level of investigation, you use a database system and everything is digitized, indexed."
"We got nothing like that."
"We just got raw data,” he said.
“So it took us a long time going through it and one thing I started realizing is we don’t have anything much at all from the Blue Team [which was to have investigated security lapses].”
Trump faces 4 counts in the case as Smith was investigating whether Trump interfered with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election.
The criminal allegations include conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump supporters entered the U.S. Capitol during a joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College results in favor of Joe Biden.
If Trump wins the 2024 presidential election, he has vowed to fire Special Counsel Jack Smith who is leading the investigation into Trump’s alleged improper retention of classified records.
In March, some evidence from investigation into January 6th was provided by McCarthy to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Surveillance video showed police opening doors for Jacob Chansley, also known as the QAnon Shaman, and calmly walking along the officers as Chansley thanks them.
“Free Jacob Chansley,” billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk said.
“Chansley got 4 years in prison for a non-violent, police-escorted tour!?"
"Dave Chapelle was violently assaulted on stage by a guy with a knife."
"That guy got a $3000 fine & no prison time,” Musk added.
Mark Zuckerberg’s official fact-checkers on Facebook and Instagram have claimed it is false to argue police assisted Chansley.
“The Capitol Police literally opened the Senate chamber door for him on camera!” Musk shot back.
“But who are you going to believe, Instagram 'fact-checkers' or your own lying eyes!?”
“I imagine this will get fact checked even though I’m pointing out."
McCarthy was informed that several witnesses complained that testimony had been selectively edited by the J6 committee to distort or even reverse its meaning.
In November 2022, after Republicans won control of the House, McCarthy wrote a letter saying, “It is imperative that all information collected be preserved not just for institutional prerogatives but for transparency to the American people."
"The American people have a right to know that the allegations you have made are supported by the facts.”
Vice chair of the J6 Committee, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), vowed that they would, by law, preserve all of the committee’s materials, and that they would pass into the custody of the National Archives.
Rep. Loudermilk believes this didn’t happen as evidence has either gone missing or has been destroyed.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 4d4c&ei=27