GOV/MIL Main "Second Impeachment" Thread

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State GOP votes to censure Burr over Trump vote

Posted February 15, 2021 2:21 p.m. EST
Updated February 15, 2021 11:34 p.m. EST

By Travis Fain, WRAL statehouse reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — In a unanimous vote Monday night, North Carolina Republican Party leaders censured U.S. Sen. Richard Burr for voting to convict former President Donald Trump over the weekend in his impeachment trial.

"The NCGOP agrees with the strong majority of Republicans in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate that the Democrat-led attempt to impeach a former president lies outside the United States Constitution," party leadership said in a statement issued shortly before 8:30 p.m., less than half an hour after the party's central committee began its meeting on the issue.

County level parties across the state will likely reprimand Burr, one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump, as well. The Wake County Republican Party said on its Facebook page Monday night that it did so Sunday, voting not just to censure Burr, but to ban the Winston-Salem Republican from the party's Raleigh office.

Well before the state party meeting Monday, committee members said they expected a lopsided vote.

"I really can't imagine any other outcome," Charles Hellwig, a Wake County Republican and vice chairman for the state party's 2nd Congressional District, said Monday afternoon.

"I would hope that it would be a unanimous vote," Republican National Committeewoman Kyshia Lineberger said. "Something that can be done, and then we can move past this."

The state party's censure announcement ran three paragraphs, with one dedicated to calling on Democrats to "set aside their divisive partisan agenda and focus on the American priorities of tackling the coronavirus pandemic, safely reopening schools and restarting the economy."

That statement was what central committee members voted on. There was no further censure resolution.

Burr, a three-term senator and former member of the U.S. House, said in his own brief written statement that this is, "truly a sad day for North Carolina Republicans."

"My party's leadership has chosen loyalty to one man over the core principles of the Republican Party and the founders of our great nation," he said.

It's not simply Burr's vote Saturday to convict former President Donald Trump on impeachment that drew the ire of party loyalists, though indeed that angered many. It's that Burr initially said the U.S. Senate's proceedings were unconstitutional, then voted to convict anyway as those proceedings closed.

"That really, I think, gets under the skin of everybody," Hellwig said.

North Carolina's other senator, Republican Thom Tillis, voted to acquit.

"Richard Burr is a great friend and a great senator who has a distinguished record of serving the people of North Carolina," Tillis said in a statement before Monday's censure vote. "He voted his conscience."

The censure is a formal reprimand and little else. It will not prevent Burr from running for office, though he has already said he won't seek re-election when his term ends next year. He explained his vote on impeachment in a statement released Saturday, saying he believed it was unconstitutional to impeach a president after he's left office, but since a majority of the Senate voted to proceed, "the question of constitutionality is now established precedent."

"As an impartial juror, my role is now to determine whether House managers have sufficiently made the case for the article of impeachment against President Trump," Burr said in his statement.

“The President promoted unfounded conspiracy theories to cast doubt on the integrity of a free and fair election because he did not like the results," Burr said. "As Congress met to certify the election results, the President directed his supporters to go to the Capitol to disrupt the lawful proceedings required by the Constitution. When the crowd became violent, the President used his office to first inflame the situation instead of immediately calling for an end to the assault."

Censures are rare at the state party level. WRAL News requested from the state party, but did not receive, a list of past censures. The most recent censure appears to be of former party chairman Hasan Harnett, who was reprimanded, then removed, from the party chairmanship in 2016.

Some have noted that immediate past chairman Robin Hayes, who is a former member of Congress, was not censured when he was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice or when he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in that case. Hayes was accused of laundering bribe money through the state party, and Trump pardoned him last month.

Lineberger said censure is "not an easy thing to do," and it's not a decision party leaders are making lightly. Asked whether Trump bore responsibility for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol – a key question in his impeachment trial and one Burr answered with a yes – Lineberger said that's for the former president to decide.

"I think that that is up to the president," she said. "I think that that's personal for him."
Tina Forsberg, another voting member of the state party's central committee, said it's the people who breached the Capitol who bear the responsibility.

The Wake County GOP's resolution says Burr violated "the sacred trust placed in him" by voting to convict Trump on "unsubstantiated and discredited allegations of promoting conspiracy theories and of inciting an insurrection."

It's not clear which conspiracy theories the resolution refers to. The president and his legal team have, at various times over the last three months, pressed a number of them.
 

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House Democrat Bennie Thompson Sues Trump and Giuliani; Accuses Former President and His Attorney of Conspiring With Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to Incite Capitol Riot

By Kristinn Taylor
Published February 16, 2021 at 10:16am

Former President Donald Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani were sued in federal court by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) over the January 6 Capitol riot. Thompson is suing Trump, Giuliani, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers in his personal capacity, accusing the defendants of conspiracy to incite the riot and violating the Ku Klux Klan Act. The lawsuit, filed by the NAACP, claims Thompson was hindered and impeded in performing his Congressional duties and suffered emotional duress. Thompson is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

Antifa-Breaks-Capitol-Window-Screen-Image-emmbeliever-Twitter-01062021-e1610001700411.jpg


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The suit comes three days after Trump was acquitted in the Senate impeachment trial over the riot. Thompson cites a Senate floor speech by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) right after the trial blaming Trump for the riot even though he voted to acquit him.

The 32 page lawsuit can be read at this link.

Excerpts:

INTRODUCTION
1. On and before January 6, 2021, the Defendants Donald J. Trump, Rudolph W. Giuliani, Proud Boys, and Oath Keepers conspired to incite an assembled crowd to march upon and enter the Capitol of the United States for the common purpose of disrupting, by the use of force, intimidation and threat, the approval by Congress of the count of votes cast by members of the Electoral College as required by Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution. In doing so, the Defendants each intended to prevent, and ultimately delayed, members of Congress from discharging their duty commanded by the United States Constitution to approve the results of the Electoral College in order to elect the next President and Vice President of the United States.

2. Plaintiff, the Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, Member of the United States House of Representatives, brings this action against the Defendants for conspiring to prevent him and other Members of Congress from discharging these official duties, in violation of 42 U.S.C.
§ 1985(1). Enacted as the “Ku Klux Klan Act” in 1871, Section 1985(1) was intended to protect against conspiracies, through violence and intimidation, that sought to prevent Members of Congress from discharging their official duties. The statute was enacted in response to violence and intimidation in which the Ku Klux Klan and other organizations were engaged during that time period.

3. The Defendants conspired to prevent, by force, intimidation and threats, the Plaintiff, as a Member of Congress, from discharging his official duties to approve the count of votes cast by members of the Electoral College following the presidential election held in
November 2020.

4. In furtherance of this common goal of preventing the timely approval of the Electoral College vote count, the Defendants acted in concert to incite and then carry out a riot at the Capitol by promoting an assembly of persons to engage in tumultuous and violent conduct or the threat of it that created grave danger of harm to the Plaintiff and to other Members of Congress.

…132. Minutes after voting to acquit Defendant Trump, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gave a speech on the floor of the Senate. Senator McConnell began by acknowledging Defendant Trump’s culpability: “There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president. And their having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories, and reckless hyperbole which the defeated President kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth.” However, like the other Senators who voted to acquit Defendant Trump, Senator McConnell did not believe that the impeachment process was constitutional. Senator McConnell went on to state that “President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office, as an ordinary citizen, unless the statute of limitations has run, still liable for everything he did while in office, didn’t get away with anything yet – yet. We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one.”
Violation of the Ku Klux Klan Act:

133. Plaintiff incorporates herein by reference the allegations contained in all preceding paragraphs.

134. Under the Ku Klux Klan Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1985(1), Defendants may not “conspire to prevent, by force, intimidation, or threat, any person … holding any office, trust, or place of confidence under the United States … from discharging any duties thereof; or to induce by like means any officer of the United States to leave any … place[] where his duties as an officer are required to be performed, or … to molest, interrupt, hinder, or impede him in the discharge of his official duties.”

135. Defendants Trump, Giuliani, Proud Boys, and Oath Keepers plotted, coordinated, and executed a common plan to prevent Congress from discharging its official duties in certifying the results of the presidential election.

136. In furtherance of this conspiracy, Defendants Trump and Giuliani engaged in a concerted campaign to misinform their supporters and the public, encouraging and promoting intimidation and violence in furtherance of their common plan to promote the re-election of Defendant Trump, even after the states had certified election results decisively showing he lost the election, and to disrupt the legally required process before Congress to supervise the counting of the Electoral College ballots and certify the results of that count.

137. As a result, Defendant Trump acted beyond the outer perimeter of his official duties and therefore is susceptible to suit in his personal capacity.

138. The activities alleged above were undertaken by all Defendants as co-conspirators for the purpose of seeking to prevent Plaintiff Thompson and other members of Congress from certifying that former Vice President Biden won the presidential election.

139. As a result of the acts set out in the above paragraphs committed in furtherance of this conspiracy, Plaintiff Thompson was hindered and impeded in the discharge of his official duties and suffered the deprivation of his right to be free from intimidation and threats in the discharge of his official duties, as explicitly protected under Ku Klux Klan Act. During the time when the Capitol was under attack, Plaintiff Thompson suffered emotional distress.

140. As a result, Plaintiff Thompson seeks an award of compensatory damages.

141. As the unlawful actions taken by the Defendants were malicious and in reckless disregard of federally protected rights, Plaintiff Thompson seeks an award of punitive damages to punish the Defendants for engaging in a concerted and continuing course of unlawful conduct
and to deter the Defendants and others from engaging in similar unlawful conduct in the future.
 

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MITCH McCONNELL DOUBLES DOWN: GOP Senate Leader Now Attacking Trump in Wall Street Journal OpEd – Pushes Criminal Charges

By Jim Hoft
Published February 16, 2021 at 12:48pm
mcconnell-trump-wsj-oped.jpg


Republican leader Mitch McConnell trashed President Trump following his second acquittal Saturday by the US Senate.

McConnell brutally trashed President Trump following his acquittal.


McConnell and the GOP elites (GOPe) worked against President Trump for years preventing him from passing his wildly popular agenda to protect America, its workers, and its citizens.

As reported earlier, McConnell did not hold back as he ripped Trump apart for a “disgraceful dereliction of duty” and attempting to “overturn the election.”

He claimed that the protesters stormed the Capitol because they had been “fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on earth,” and that Trump was “practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.”

And then Mitch McConnell suggested that President Trump can still be charged in the criminal justice system!

On Tuesday Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell doubled down on his outrageous remarks. McConnell continued to push for criminal charges against the former Republican president.

McConnell wrote in his oped that former officials are ‘still liable to be tried and punished in the ordinary tribunals of justice.’

McConnell is leading the charge to get Trump arrested and prosecuted.

McConnell is the leader of the Senate Republicans. They must support this.


Via The Wall Street Journal:
Jan. 6 was a shameful day. A mob bloodied law enforcement and besieged the first branch of government. American citizens tried to use terrorism to stop a democratic proceeding they disliked.
There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone. His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended.

I was as outraged as any member of Congress. But senators take our own oaths. Our job wasn’t to find some way, any way, to inflict a punishment. The Senate’s first and foundational duty was to protect the Constitution.
Some brilliant scholars believe the Senate can try and convict former officers. Others don’t. The text is unclear, and I don’t begrudge my colleagues their own conclusions. But after intense study, I concluded that Article II, Section 4 limits impeachment and conviction to current officers.

Everyone agrees that “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors” exhaust the valid grounds for conviction. It follows that the list of persons in that sentence—“the president, vice president, and all civil officers”—likewise exhausts its valid subjects…
…The Constitution presupposes that anyone convicted by the Senate must have an office from which to be removed. This doesn’t mean leaving office provides immunity from accountability. Former officials are ‘still liable to be tried and punished in the ordinary tribunals of justice.’ Criminal law and civil litigation ensure there is no so-called January exemption.

_____________________

[COMMENT: When does the Kentucky GOP censure ole Mitch?]
 
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WINNING: Trump Approval RISES Amongst Republicans Following Partisan Impeachment
trump
Polls continue to show that the majority of Republicans want President Trump to “play a major role in their party going forward.”

The numbers from a Morning Consult poll continue to rise, even following Capitol protests and impeachment:

Fifty-nine percent of Republican voters said they want Trump to play a major role in their party going forward. That’s up 18 percentage points from a Morning Consult poll conducted on Jan. 7, and an increase of 9 points from a follow-up poll on Jan. 25, before the impeachment trial began.

As Politico notes, “Republicans can’t quit Trump.”
 

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NAACP, House Homeland Security Committee chair sue Trump, Giuliani, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, alleging Capitol riot conspiracy
PUBLISHED TUE, FEB 16 202110:49 AM ESTUPDATED TUE, FEB 16 20212:34 PM EST

Dan Mangan@_DANMANGAN
SHAREShare Article via FacebookShare Article via TwitterShare Article via LinkedInShare Article via Email
KEY POINTS
  • The NAACP and Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, on Tuesday sued former President Donald Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and two right-wing extremist groups, alleging they conspired to incite the Capitol riot.
  • The lawsuit, which is expected to be joined by other Democratic lawmakers, cites the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act in accusing the defendants of conspiring to prevent Congress from confirming the election of Joe Biden as president.
  • That law was passed 15 years after the end of the Civil War in response to violence by the racist KKK and its intimidation of members of Congress from the South.
  • In addition to Trump and Giuliani, the defendants include the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers groups, whose members are known to have been among the thousands of people who invaded the Capitol on Jan. 6.
 

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Censure of Senator Willard Mitt Romney
Whereas; Senator Willard Mitt Romney has failed, and continues to fail, to represent the average conservative Utah Republican voter.

Whereas; Senator Willard Mitt Romney misrepresented himself as a Republican.

Whereas; Senator Willard Mitt Romney has prioritized his personal and political vendetta against President Donald J. Trump ahead of the Constitution of the United States, the interest of We, the People, and the advancement of the Republican Platform.

Whereas; President Donald J. Trump received 58.13% in Utah's 2020 General Election.

Whereas; Senator Willard Mitt Romney embarrassed the State of Utah when he was the only U.S. Republican Senator in 2019 to join the Democrats partisan vote to convict President Donald J. Trump.

Whereas; Senator Willard Mitt Romney voted against Senator Rand Paul’s motion regarding the unconstitutionality of impeaching a private citizen.

Whereas; Senator Willard Mitt Romney voted to continue the Un-Constitutional Impeachment Trial of President Donald J.Trump to allow witnesses after House Managers had previously failed to call any witness prior to their rushed impeachment vote in the House, thus Denying President Donald J. Trump Due Process Rights under the Constitution.

Whereas; Senator Willard Mitt Romney voted guilty in the 2021 Impeachment Trial of former President Donald J. Trump.

Whereas; Senator Willard Mitt Romney saw fit to intentionally violate the 1st, 4th, 5th, and 14th Amendment Rights of President Donald J. Trump.

Whereas, Senator Willard Mitt Romney used and uses his senatorial power and influence to undermine Republican President Donald J. Trump.

Whereas; Senator Willard Mitt Romney has condoned false and misleading statements that have led the 117th Congress of the United States to further conduct an illegal and unconstitutional 2nd Impeachment proceeding against President Donald J.Trump.

Whereas; Senator Willard Mitt Romney fails to ensure election integrity and continues to condemn those who do.

Whereas; the Utah Republican Party leadership has failed to issue a censure.

Therefore; be it resolved that;

We, the undersigned voters, censure Senator Willard Mitt Romney.


Michael James
Marcy Underdahl
Larry Meyers
Lisa Shepherd
Allen Arnoldsen
Don Guymon
Aaron Bullen
Cindy L Shepherd
Susan Kay Anderson
Charlotte Wakefield
Laura Ferry
Bradley Green
Maria Diosdado

and the list goes on and on
 

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February 15, 2021 - 08:08 PM EST

McConnell defends acquittal in WSJ op-ed but blasts Trump's 'unhinged falsehoods'

Video on website .27 min

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Monday defended the Senate's decision to acquit former President Trump but clarified that it "vindicated the Constitution, not Trump."

In his op-ed, McConnell echoed sentiments he shared after the Senate acquittal on Saturday, when he said Trump is "morally responsible" for the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6 and that he was "outraged" by Trump's actions.

"There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world's largest megaphone," McConnell wrote. "His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended."

But McConnell went on in the piece to argue that convicting Trump was not protected by the Constitution because he is a former official. McConnell added, however, that he respects the decision of the seven Republicans who voted to convict and their interpretation of the Constitution.

"I respect senators who reached the opposite answer. What deserve no respect are claims that constitutional concerns are trivialities that courageous senators would have ignored," he wrote.

The minority leader also responded to critics who say he could have scheduled the impeachment trial before the inauguration while Trump was still president, saying it would have been too rushed.

"The Senate's duty last week was clear. It wasn't to guarantee a specific punishment at any cost. Our job was to defend the Constitution and respect its limits," he concluded. "That is what our acquittal delivered."

The op-ed comes as McConnell faces criticism from liberals over his decision to acquit Trump despite also condemning his actions surrounding the Capitol riot.

McConnell suggested on Saturday that Trump could face criminal prosecution for his actions outside the Senate.

"President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office, as an ordinary citizen, unless the statute of limitations has run. ... didn't get away with anything yet," McConnell said after the vote.
 

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Ron Paul: Trump Acquitted (Again), But Trump Hatred Continues

TUESDAY, FEB 16, 2021 - 15:05
Authored by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,

Last week’s second impeachment trial of former President Trump should serve as a warning that something is very wrong in US politics. Far from a measured, well-investigated, rock-solid case against the former president, America was again abused with day after day of character assassination, innuendo, false claims, and even falsified “evidence.”

The trial wasn’t intended to win a conviction of Trump for “incitement” because the Democrats already knew that the votes were not there.

So, just as with the last impeachment trial, the goal was to fling as much dirt at Donald Trump as they could while the cameras were rolling.


Their hatred of Donald Trump is so deep and visceral that probably a psychologist would have been more beneficial to them than yet another impeachment trial.

It would be incorrect to say that the House managers’ case fell apart, because they had no case to begin with. They never had a case because they made no effort to develop a case. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court saw from the beginning that this was no legitimate impeachment trial and informed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that he would not preside. Without the Chief Justice, there was no Constitutional impeachment trial. So they put on a show trial instead.

As Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley kept asking, why didn’t the House schedule a single hearing to investigate what really happened up to and on the day of the Capitol melee on January 6th? They had weeks to do so. Professor Turley believes they might even have been able to make a decent case if they had tried.

Why did they not call witnesses? Were there no rioters who could be called to explain under oath how Trump’s speech had inspired them to enter the Capitol building to overturn the election?

Were they afraid that under cross-examination we might have found out more about Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows’ claim that Trump offered to deploy 10,000 National Guard troops in Washington before January 6th but that his offer was rebuked? What about reports that Capitol Hill Police were left without back-up and unprepared for what happened? House and Senate leadership is responsible for security at the Capitol and they obviously failed. Why?

The House and Senate Democrats (and a few Republicans) did not succeed in their ultimate goal: preventing Trump from ever running again for political office. But that doesn’t mean they are giving up. They are not about to give citizen Trump a moment of peace. They are intent on continuing their witch hunt but it looks less and less like any desire for justice. It looks like fear. They are afraid if he is allowed to run again he may be elected. So they cannot allow that vote to happen.

And they accuse Trump of undermining democracy.

There were a number of reasons to impeach and convict President Trump while he was in office. Bombing Syria on bogus grounds without authorization was one of them. But Democrats love war as much as Republicans so they weren’t about to uphold their Constitutional obligations.


Impeachment 2.0 may be over, but those blinded by hatred for Trump are not about to give up. They are irrational and obsessed. They are also dangerous.
 

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Aim Of Impeachment Was To Paint All Trump Voters As Criminals: Rep. Mike Johnson

TUESDAY, FEB 16, 2021 - 8:40
Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours)

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) says Democrats used the impeachment of former President Donald Trump as a tool to paint all of his supporters with the brush of Capitol breach-related criminality.

Johnson told Breitbart News in an interview on Feb. 14 that the ultimate aim of impeaching Trump a second time was to associate the 75 million Americans who voted for him with those individuals who on Jan. 6 broke the law.

“They really wanted to use impeachment as a vehicle because they wanted to equate all those tens of millions of Trump’s voters and all of his supporters and everybody who came to the rally, they wanted to equate all of those people with the couple hundred criminals who came in and ransacked the Capitol,” Johnson told the outlet.

The breach of the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (John Minchillo/AP Photo)

Asked about the future of impeachment, Johnson said it would increasingly become a tool of partisan spats.

You weaponized this. You turned it into a political weapon to be used by the majority party against a president they don’t like. You opened a Pandora’s box that we may never be able to close again,” Johnson said.

What [Democrats] tried to do [is] to raise ‘cancel culture’ now to a constitutional level,” Johnson said, echoing remarks made on Feb. 12 by David Schoen, one of the three attorneys representing Trump who accused Democrats of using impeachment as a tool to disqualify political opponents.

Former President Donald Trump’s defense attorney David Schoen speaks on the fourth day of the second impeachment trial against Trump at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Feb. 12, 2021. (congress.gov via Getty Images)

“In short, this unprecedented effort is not about Democrats opposing political violence. It is about Democrats trying to disqualify their political opposition. It is constitutional cancel culture,” Shoen said.

On Feb. 13, the Senate voted 57–43 to convict Trump, 10 votes shy of the 67 needed for conviction. The vote cleared Trump of the charge of “incitement of insurrection,” a charge that his lawyers denounced as a “monstrous lie” that didn’t reflect the reality of what happened on Jan. 6.

“An insurrection—unlike a riot—is an organized movement acting for the express purpose to overthrow and take possession of a government’s powers,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in filings, arguing that the former president’s speech “was not an act encouraging an organized movement to overthrow the United States government.”

Trump’s acquittal was widely seen as a foregone conclusion ahead of the trial after 45 Republicans voted to declare the proceeding unconstitutional.

In a statement following his acquittal, Trump denounced the impeachment effort and thanked his supporters.

This has been yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country,” Trump said.

“I also want to convey my gratitude to the millions of decent, hardworking, law-abiding, God-and-Country loving citizens who have bravely supported these important principles in these very difficult and challenging times.”

Follow Tom on Twitter: @OZImekTOM
 

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Trump Lawyer Believed ‘Very Fine People’ Hoax Until Trial Prep

Video on website .46 min
C-SPAN

JOEL B. POLLAK16 Feb 2021166

David Schoen, one of the attorneys who represented former President Donald Trump at his Senate impeachment trial, told an interviewer that he had believed the Charlottesville “very fine people” hoax until the day he prepared his argument.

The hoax is the claim, by Democrats and the mainstream media, that Trump called violent neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Virginia “very fine people” in remarks in 2017.

In fact, Trump said the neo-Nazis and white supremacists should be “condemned totally.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence debunked the hoax during his debate with Kamala Harris last year. However, House impeachment managers cited the hoax to claim that Trump condoned violence by his supporters.

In his arguments before the Senate, Schoen specifically demonstrated that the Charlottesville “very fine people” hoax was a lie:

Video on website 3:14 min
U.S. Senate

The hoax was one of several examples Schoen provided in which the House impeachment mangers had manipulated or falsified evidence.

However, Schoen told Jewish Insider that he had only learned it was a lie himself earlier that same day:
Schoen told JI he stayed up through the night and did not finish his remarks until an hour before he delivered them to the Senate.
He only became familiar with one of his main talking points — that the Democratic impeachment managers and the media had misrepresented Trump’s comments about the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville — while preparing his speech.

“I learned preparing this thing for that day — I really learned the day before, maybe even the morning of my talk — that it’s a much longer speech. He actually affirmatively denounced white supremacists, white nationalists and all of that a couple of times during his talk,” Schoen said. Until that point, he said, he had been dissatisfied with Trump’s response to Charlottesville.
One of Trump’s lawyers, Michael van der Veen, later referred to the “fine people hoax” in closing argument (video at top).
 

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DONALD TRUMP
Published 43 mins ago

Trump trashes Mitch McConnell in searing new statement
Trump, once aligned with the Kentucky Republican, termed him a 'dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack'

By Morgan Phillips | Fox News

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

Former President Trump released a scathing statement Tuesday afternoon targeting Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell.

Trump, once an ally of the Kentucky Republican, left no holds barred in his rebuke of McConnell, using terms harsher than those of most Democrats.

Naming McConnell a "dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack," Trump said that the GOP would "never again be respected or strong" with McConnell at its helm.

McConnell has said Trump bears responsibility for the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot and suggested he voted not to convict Trump on an impeachment count of inciting the riot only because he is no longer president.

He said that Democrats and Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "play McConnell like a fiddle" and blamed him for the GOP's Senate losses in Georgia for not offering big enough stimulus checks.

"In 'Mitch’s Senate,' over the last two election cycles, I single-handedly saved at least 12 Senate seats, more than eight in the 2020 cycle alone—and then came the Georgia disaster, where we should have won both U.S. Senate seats, but McConnell matched the Democrat offer of $2,000 stimulus checks with $600."

Trump also insisted that Republicans lost in Georgia because they hadn't maintained election integrity. "Many Republicans in Georgia voted Democrat, or just didn’t vote, because of their anguish at their inept Governor, Brian Kemp, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and the Republican Party, for not doing its job on Election Integrity during the 2020 Presidential race."

The former president repeated a claim sometimes proffered by McConnell's opponents that the senator is soft on China because he has business ties in the country. "McConnell has no credibility on China because of his family’s substantial Chinese business holdings. He does nothing on this tremendous economic and military threat," Trump wrote.

Trump and McConnell found themselves at odds in the aftermath of the 2020 election, when McConnell urged his colleagues to vote to certify the election for President Biden as Trump continued to assert that the election had been stolen from him.

Trump's full statement is below:

The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political "leaders" like Sen. Mitch McConnell at its helm. McConnell’s dedication to business as usual, status quo policies, together with his lack of political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality, has rapidly driven him from Majority Leader to Minority Leader, and it will only get worse. The Democrats and Chuck Schumer play McConnell like a fiddle—they’ve never had it so good—and they want to keep it that way! We know our America First agenda is a winner, not McConnell’s Beltway First agenda or Biden’s America Last.

In 2020, I received the most votes of any sitting President in history, almost 75,000,000. Every incumbent House Republican won for the first time in decades, and we flipped 15 seats, almost costing Nancy Pelosi her job. Republicans won majorities in at least 59 of the 98 partisan legislative chambers, and the Democrats failed to flip a single legislative chamber from red to blue. And in "Mitch’s Senate," over the last two election cycles, I single-handedly saved at least 12 Senate seats, more than eight in the 2020 cycle alone—and then came the Georgia disaster, where we should have won both U.S. Senate seats, but McConnell matched the Democrat offer of $2,000 stimulus checks with $600. How does that work? It became the Democrats’ principal advertisement, and a big winner for them it was. McConnell then put himself, one of the most unpopular politicians in the United States, into the advertisements. Many Republicans in Georgia voted Democrat, or just didn’t vote, because of their anguish at their inept Governor, Brian Kemp, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and the Republican Party, for not doing its job on Election Integrity during the 2020 Presidential race.

It was a complete election disaster in Georgia, and certain other swing states. McConnell did nothing, and will never do what needs to be done in order to secure a fair and just electoral system into the future. He doesn’t have what it takes, never did, and never will.

My only regret is that McConnell "begged" for my strong support and endorsement before the great people of Kentucky in the 2020 election, and I gave it to him. He went from one point down to 20 points up, and won. How quickly he forgets. Without my endorsement, McConnell would have lost, and lost badly. Now, his numbers are lower than ever before, he is destroying the Republican side of the Senate, and in so doing, seriously hurting our Country.

Likewise, McConnell has no credibility on China because of his family’s substantial Chinese business holdings. He does nothing on this tremendous economic and military threat.

Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again. He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country. Where necessary and appropriate, I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First. We want brilliant, strong, thoughtful, and compassionate leadership.

Prior to the pandemic, we produced the greatest economy and jobs numbers in the history of our Country, and likewise, our economic recovery after Covid was the best in the world. We cut taxes and regulations, rebuilt our military, took care of our Vets, became energy independent, built the wall and stopped the massive inflow of illegals into our Country, and so much more. And now, illegals are pouring in, pipelines are being stopped, taxes will be going up, and we will no longer be energy independent.

This is a big moment for our country, and we cannot let it pass by using third rate "leaders" to dictate our future!
 

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BREAKING: Trump Slams ‘Dour, Sullen, And Unsmiling Political Hack’ Mitch McConnell, Vows To Primary Establishment Republicans

"Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack" who will "never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country."
Gabriel Keane
by GABRIEL KEANE

February 16, 2021

BREAKING: Trump Slams ‘Dour, Sullen, And Unsmiling Political Hack’ Mitch McConnell, Vows To Primary Establishment Republicans


President Donald Trump released a powerful statement Tuesday morning that slams Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as a “dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack” who will “never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country,” stating that he will back primary challengers against the Senate minority leader “where necessary.”

“The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political ‘leaders’ like Sen. Mitch McConnell at its helm,” the statement reads. “McConnell’s dedication to business as usual, status quo policies, together with his lack of political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality, has rapidly driven him from Majority Leader to Minority Leader, and it will only get worse. The Democrats and Chuck Schumer play McConnell like a fiddle—they’ve never had it so good—and they want to keep it that way!”

President Trump adds, “We know our America First agenda is a winner, not McConnell’s Beltway First agenda or Biden’s America Last.”

“It was a complete election disaster in Georgia, and certain other swing states. McConnell did nothing, and will never do what needs to be done in order to secure a fair and just electoral system into the future. He doesn’t have what it takes, never did, and never will,” President Trump adds.

The statement continues, “My only regret is that McConnell ‘begged’ for my strong support and endorsement before the great people of Kentucky in the 2020 election, and I gave it to him. He went from one point down to 20 points up, and won. How quickly he forgets. Without my endorsement, McConnell would have lost, and lost badly. Now, his numbers are lower than ever before, he is destroying the Republican side of the Senate, and in so doing, seriously hurting our Country.”

“Likewise, McConnell has no credibility on China because of his family’s substantial Chinese business holdings,” President Trump says in reference to National File’s earlier reporting. He does nothing on this tremendous economic and military threat.”

“Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again,” President Trump says. “He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country. Where necessary and appropriate, I will back primary rivals who espouse Making America Great Again and our policy of America First. We want brilliant, strong, thoughtful, and compassionate leadership.”

“Prior to the pandemic, we produced the greatest economy and jobs numbers in the history of our Country, and likewise, our economic recovery after Covid was the best in the world,” the President boasts. “We cut taxes and regulations, rebuilt our military, took care of our Vets, became energy independent, built the wall and stopped the massive inflow of illegals into our Country, and so much more. And now, illegals are pouring in, pipelines are being stopped, taxes will be going up, and we will no longer be energy independent.”

The statement concludes, “This is a big moment for our country, and we cannot let it pass by using third rate ‘leaders’ to dictate our future!”
Trump-Slams-McConnell-full-statement-216x600.jpg
 

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Century "Ku Klux Klan Act"

Bennie Thompson accused Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and extremist groups the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers of violating the 1871 act by supporting efforts to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden as the new US president.

WorldAgence France-PresseUpdated: February 16, 2021 11:28 pm IST
Trump Sued For US Capitol Attack Under 19th Century 'Ku Klux Klan Act'

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington (File)


Washington:
A senior Democratic congressman sued former president Donald Trump Tuesday, accusing him of violating the 19th century "Ku Klux Klan Act" by supporting the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

Bennie Thompson accused Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and extremist groups the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers of violating the 1871 act by supporting efforts to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden as the new US president.

Thompson, who is Black and the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, cited a law originally created to protect the rights of African Americans after the Civil War and the end of slavery.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington two days after Trump was acquitted of supporting insurrection in an impeachment trial in the Senate.

While a majority of the Senate, 57 of the 100 members, voted for conviction, it fell short of the two-thirds majority required.

The act was designed to give the US president powers to oppose violently racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan which sprung up in the wake of the 1861-65 Civil War to oppose equal rights for Black Americans.

One seldom-invoked clause of the act, 1875, forbids conspiracy to obstruct federal officeholders from performing their jobs.

Thompson alleged that Trump, Giuliani and the two groups conspired "by force, intimidation and threats" to prevent him from discharging his official duty to carry out the certification of Biden's election win.

"The defendants acted in concert to incite and then carry out a riot at the Capitol by promoting an assembly of persons to engage in tumultuous and violent conduct or the threat of it that created grave danger of harm to the Plaintiff and to other Members of Congress," he said.
Comments(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 

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Hannity nukes ‘sanctimonious’ Mitch McConnell: ‘The time is now coming for new leadership’

Fox News host Sean Hannity torched Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on his show Monday night for condemning former President Trump after he was acquitted a second time during impeachment proceedings on Saturday.

McConnell voted to acquit Trump and then proceeded to lambast him over the events that occurred on Jan. 6. To many, it seemed that McConnell was trying to be both for and against the former president.

Video on website 9:58 min

McConnell declared in his speech that Trump is morally responsible for the riot that occurred. He voted to acquit allegedly because it is unconstitutional to impeach a president who is no longer in office.

McConnell wrote on Monday: “There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone.”

“His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended,” he claimed.

He also stated that he bore no ill will against the seven Republican senators who voted to impeach Trump and understood their position.

Hannity focused on “Republicans who have turned their backs on the former president,” during his show. He called out “sanctimonious” McConnell and the other seven Republicans in the Senate who stood with the Democrats in attempting to impeach Trump for allegedly inciting the riot on Capitol Hill.

“Where was John Thune [R-SD] and Mitch McConnell fighting against the biggest abuse of power corruption scandal in our history with Operation Crossfire Hurricane?” Hannity queried.

“They were missing in action. Where’s the sanctimonious Mitch McConnell, John Thune, demanding that Kamala Harris, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters — when is he going to give a speech on the Senate floor and hold those Democrats accountable for their incitement of insurrection and their insurrection-like language? The time is now coming for new leadership in the U.S. Senate.”

The Senate Republicans who stood against Trump whom Hannity is referring to are Sens. Richard Burr (NC), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Bill Cassidy (LA), Susan Collins (ME), Mitt Romney (UT), Ben Sasse (NE), and Pat Toomey (PA).

During the show, Hannity also showed a huge pro-Trump rally in Florida that took place on Presidents Day before stating, “I have a question, Mitch McConnell, John Thune. How come you never had this kind of enthusiasm at any of your events?”

Hannity pointed out that a number of Republicans are “way out of touch” with the GOP base. He also said that they are now facing massive backlash in their home states for trying to take Trump down. And he indicated a challenge to the current Republican leadership is fast approaching.

Three of the Republican senators who voted to impeach Trump have been formally censured by the Republican Party in their respective states: Richard Burr (NC), Pat Toomey (PA), and Bill Cassidy (LA).

Another three stand an excellent chance of being censured at home as well: Susan Collins (ME), Ben Sasse of (NE), and Mitt Romney (UT).
 

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“Don’t Let the Door Hit You Where the Good Lord Split You!” – Huckabee’s Message to Establishment Republicans

Todd Starnes
Feb 15, 2021

Before you read this I want to strongly urge you to sign up for Todd’s free newsletter. It’s your only life line to conservative news and commentary. We can no longer rely on social media.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said on the Todd Starnes Radio Show today that the seven Republican senators who voted to convict former President Trump should be ashamed and should consider another line of work.

He also made an interesting observation about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“I don’t think a lot of these people living in D.C. understand that they don’t really represent the general population of the conservative movement of the Republican Party,” Huckabee told Starnes. “Donald Trump does.”

Following is a partial transcript of the interview. Link to Audio on website 37:49 min
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Starnes: It’s almost as if Mitch McConnell is trying to sabotage the 2022 mid-term elections and beyond.

Huckabee: I don’t think a lot of these people living in D.C understand that they don’t really represent the general population of the conservative movement of the Republican Party. Donald Trump does.

And even people who are not all that fond of Donald Trump’s personality and his tweeting appreciate the stands he took — the things that he got done better than any president in our lifetime – and the fact that he was willing to fight back when these goons and the Democratic Party and the media piled on him and blamed him for everything and gave him credit for nothing.

This is a man who kept his promises – virtually all of them – and we ought to be deeply indebted, especially in light of COVID. Operation Warp Speed has made it possible for people to get a vaccine that otherwise they would have waited 4 to 10 years to have.

Huckabee: And I don’t hear anybody on the other side just saying, “President Trump, you know, we didn’t like a lot of things you did, but thank you for ginning up Operation Warp Speed and making it possible for these vaccines to get to the marketplace in time.”

Starnes: You know, Governor, it does seem to me and maybe you can weigh on this. You’ve been in Republican politics for a long time. I really think that if we’re going to change the culture of the party, it’s going to have to start from the ground up. In other words, local Republican Party precincts and then working our way up the food chain. What do you think about that?

Huckabee: Totally agree. This weekend, my monologue on Huckabee TV on TBN, I talked about that. When I hear people say, “Let’s form a third party,” I’m thinking, No, we’re not leaving. We’re in the majority we’re in the overwhelming majority.

And I will say what my pastor often says when people say they’re gonna leave the church, because they don’t like something. His response is, “Don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.”

His attitude is mine about the Republican Party.

Starnes: Amen.

Huckabee: There’s a small number of D.C. Swamp Rats that do not like what has happened – that we fought back against globalism, that we honestly think that America is a great country. We support Israel. We’re pro-life, we’re pro-family. We believe there are two genders. That’s the bulk of the Republican Party, and we think lower taxes are better.

And we don’t like the fact that the DC Swamp Rats basically surrender every time they have a chance, but they’re in the minority, and if they want to have a third party, they could do that. But frankly, they’re probably more comfortable just joining the Democrats because they vote that way a lot of the times anyhow. We saw seven of them do it Saturday,

So, we ought not to be going anywhere. We ought to say, let’s build a party. Let’s replace those that don’t like America first — that want to surrender to the media and to the Democrats and the far-left Socialists. We’re staying, and we’re going to build a bigger, better, more effective party and make sure we elect people who have the courage to stand and fight.
 

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Lessons Learned From Senate Trial Farce
It was instructive.

BY STEVEGRUBER.COM
FEBRUARY 15, 2021

Last week the US Senate held a farce, a charade, a masked ball. Senators came, GOP lawyers came, and Democrats came dressed up and pretended to be lawyers, but were exposed as a junior high school debate team on a lark.

What can we learn from this debacle?

1. Donald Trump isn’t going anywhere- Like him or not, he is a force of nature. The only thing that will stop him is death, and then his kids will take over. This is a reality because he has remade the majority of the Republican Party into a populist group that is loyal to himself and his populist nostrums. He will be on the stump in the 2022 midterms primarying his GOP political opponents like Liz Cheney. He will take some of those scalps and will take sole credit if Republicans take back the House. After that, who knows?

2. Democrats are driven by hysterical emotions, not much else- This impeachment was another football held out for Charlie Brown Democrats, with Mitch McConnell playing Lucy. It was a loser from the start, as the Democrats were never going to get 67 votes to convict in the Senate. But plowed on they did and then embarrassed themselves with sob sister stories, maudlin posturing, and crybaby antics. It’s as if Nancy Pelosi has a mentally disturbed blind spot when it comes to Trump, causing her to impeach. Inner smart Nancy tells her it’s a trap that will only get Trump exonerated again. However, insane hysterical rubber room Nancy is the Commissioner Dreyfus to Trump’s Clouseau. That Nancy tells her, between eye twitches, that Trump must be chased down to the gates of hell and then some, regardless of the cost to her party or the country. Republicans like Commissioner Dreyfus Nancy very much.

3. When you say you want witnesses, call witnesses- The Democrat climb down on witnesses was a serious ouch moment. All the GOP had to do was bluff them with a patently non-serious threat to call hundreds of witnesses and they folded like a cheap card table. Not ready for prime time at all.

4. Choose your lawyers carefully- The Democrats had their moments. Raskin, Neguse, Dean, and Lieu were occasionally persuasive. The others, meh. But on the other side it was a cornucopia of professional instability. You had Van der Veen, who was gang busters, really nailed the Democrats. You had Schoen, who was a bit pedantic, but generally good. And then you had Castor. Who let that guy near a camera? Didn’t they have some kind of rehearsal process and thus could see that Castor was not ready for the show? Couldn’t they see he was just winging it? Apparently not, because they let him play with the pros and the result was not beneficial to the former president. In fact, it was bizarre, rambling, and incoherent. But at least it provided entertainment, which is more than can be said for much of the trial.
 

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Utah GOP says it's OK with Romney impeachment vote, as voters circulate petition calling for censure

Petition states Romney "misrepresented himself as a Republican," failed to "represent the average conservative Utah Republican voter."

Updated: February 16, 2021 - 4:06pm

Utah Republican voters have launched a petition to censure GOP Sen. Mitt Romney for voting Saturday to convict former President Trump in his Senate impeachment trial for inciting the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot.

The petition states the first-term senator "misrepresented himself as a Republican" and failed to "represent the average conservative Utah Republican voter."

The online petition, first reported by The Salt lake Tribune, was created by voters, not Utah Republican officials.

Meanwhile, Utah Republican officials have issued a statement acknowledging Romney's vote and the one by fellow GOP Sen. Mike Lee, who voted to acquit Trump.

"Our senators have both been criticized for their vote," they said. "The difference between our own Utah Republicans showcase a diversity of thought."

The officials also said "disagreement is natural and healthy in a party that is based on principles — not persona."

The voter-backed petition urges Utah Republican leadership to censure Romney, an outspoken Trump critic.
 

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Kentucky County Demands Mitch McConnell Resign as GOP Leader of the US Senate Over Disgusting Attacks Against President Trump

By Jim Hoft
Published February 17, 2021 at 7:15am
IMG_3048-600x326.jpg

The Nelson County Republican Party wrote Senator Mitch McConnell on Tuesday demanding he immediately resign from his leadership position with the Republican Party’s caucus in the United States Senate.

This comes after McConnell’s comments on Saturday and an editorial in the Wall Street Journal attacking and smearing President Donald Trump.

Trump won Nelson County in Kentucky 67.5% to 30.9% in the 2020 election.
trump-nelson-county.jpg


Nelson County Chairman Don Thrasher pointed out McConnell’s “complete and total disdain for the will of your constituents” for the reason for the letter.
nelson-county-gop-mcconnell.jpg
 

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President Trump is Right – McConnell’s Family is Knee-Deep in China – He Has No Business Leading the Republican Party in the Senate

By Joe Hoft
Published February 17, 2021 at 7:45am
trump-mcconnell-2.jpg

President Trump is right – Mitch McConnell and his family have serious conflicts of interest based on their dealings with China alone.

Yesterday, President Trump responded to Senator McConnell’s recent outlandish attacks on President Trump. McConnell said all sorts of things since the election, showing he is more on the side of the corrupt and evil Democrats than on the side of Trump voters and working Americans.

The President had enough and hit back at the outspoken Senate Minority leader:


The President, who had his landslide election victory stolen by crooked Democrats, shared this in particular about McConnell’s ties with China:

McConnell-China.jpg

President Trump is right. McConnell’s family is knee-deep in China. World Tribune reported in 2018:
“In a panic” following the election victory of Donald Trump, China appointed the sister-in-law of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to the Bank of China’s board of directors, the author of a new book on the monetizing of political influence said.
Angela Chao was named to the Bank of China’s board of directors just 10 days after Trump’s victory, said Peter Schweizer, author of “Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends”.

Chao and McConnell’s father-in-law, James Chao, also sit on the board of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation which is the largest defense contractor in China.

“So when [Donald Trump] gets elected in 2016, China is in a panic. So one of the things that happens is, they appoint, really, the first American, or only the second foreigner to the Bank of China,” Schweizer said on the April 23 edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight.

“Now, the Bank of China is government-run, government-controlled, is sort of the backbone of the Chinese government’s economic diplomacy around the world. Ten days after Donald Trump is elected, they put Elaine Chao’s sister – Mitch McConnell’s sister-in-law – on the board of directors of the fourth largest bank in the world, which is run by the Chinese communist government. It’s a shocking development, and, again, unprecedented in American history that you would have senior political leaders have immediate family members that are sitting on the board of foreign government-owned businesses.”
Schweizer noted: “So Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, his wife Elaine Chao, who’s the transportation secretary in the Trump administration, her family has deep economic and financial ties to the Chinese government itself. They are in the shipping business, and they own something called the Foremost Group, and really, in 1993, Mitch McConnell, as a senator, travels to China with his father-in-law, James Chao, as guests of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation.”
The Bank of China has a huge building in the heart of Hong Kong known for its iconic lights at night:

Bank-of-China-Building-China-Hong-Kong.jpg

President Trump is absolutely correct again. Mitch McConnell has no business being the head of the Republican Party in the Senate. He is manipulative and shows absolutely no concern for the American people.
 

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Trump Attorney Michael van der Veen: “We had Them Like a Wounded Animal in the Corner, Dying. Their Case was Dying” (VIDEO)

By Jim Hoft
Published February 17, 2021 at 8:31am

van-der-veen.jpg

Attorney Michael Van Der Veen joined Rob Schmitt on Newsmax on Monday night to discuss the Trump legal team’s huge win on Saturday in the United States Senate.

Van der Veen, a successful personal injury attorney from Philadelphia, and the other Trump lawyers destroyed the House Democrats, their Harvard lawyers and Nancy Pelosi in their latest witch hunt against President Donald Trump.

Michael van der Veen compared the House Democrat’s case against President Trump to a rotting corpse in the corner.
Michael van der Veen: This was not like any trial this country has ever seen. I thought it was bereft of due process. It trampled all over the Constitution of the United States. It was an abomination. It was something I would expect to see come out of a third-world country… We had them like a wounded animal in the corner, dying. Their case was dying… They were trying to breathe life into the case and they couldn’t. And their case died in the corner… The real story here is why did they doctor the evidence? If their case was so strong why was it that they manipulated the video, recreated tweets that tried to purport to be something they weren’t?
Via Rob Schmitt Tonight:

View: https://youtu.be/sbIH9QjiKx4
10:39 min
 

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GOP Traitor Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s Family DISOWNS Him For Supporting Trump Impeachment: 11 Relatives Sign Handwritten Letter…”We were once so proud of your accomplishments!”

By Patty McMurray
Published February 17, 2021 at 2:16pm

100 Percent Fed Up reports – Republican lawmakers who supported President Trump’s impeachment are dealing with their decisions to side with unhinged Democrats, whose only goal was to prevent Trump from ever running for President again. Traitors like Rep. Liz Cheney are facing censure from the Republican Party in her home state of Wyoming, while others are like Rep Adam Kinzinger, the young Republican Representative from Illinois is facing backlash from his own family.

Kinzinger, who was first elected to the United States Congress during Barack Obama’s first term as president, recently voted to impeach Trump; he also voted to remove the popular, pro-Trump, freshman Rep. Majorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA) from all of her committee assignments.
Kinzinger took his dislike for Trump to a whole new level when he announced last week that he’d formed a new PAC to challenge Republicans who still support Trump.

traitor-740x493.jpeg

The Daily Mail reports – Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger has released a scathing handwritten letter he received from a number of his relatives, calling him a ‘disappointment to God’ and a stain on their family’s name for backing the impeachment of Donald Trump.

Kinzinger told the New York Times he received the disparaging note just two days after he called for Trump to be removed from office following the Capitol riots on January 6.

Penned by 11 members of his extended family, Kinzinger was accused in the letter of being in cahoots with ‘the devil’s army (Democrats and the fake news media)’ for publicly opposing the then-president and requesting the 25th Amendment be invoked against him.

‘Oh my, what a disappointment you are to me and to God!’ the letter, dated January 8, begins. ‘We were once so proud of your accomplishments! Instead, you go against your Christian principles and join the “devil’s army”.’

‘How do you call yourself a Christian when you join the “devil’s army” believing in abortion!’ the note continues. ‘We thought you were “smart” enough to see how the left is brainwashing so many.’

Kinzinger’s family then go on to accuse him, and ‘many other GOP members’, of being ‘brainwashed’ by Democrats and ‘falling for their socialism ideals’.
 

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AMAZING! President Trump is Now More Popular than Ronald Reagan Among Republicans

By Jim Hoft
Published February 17, 2021 at 3:12pm
trump-reagan-.jpg

A new Economist/YouGov poll found President Trump is now more popular than President Reagan with Republicans.

And, the poll was taken DURING the second failed impeachment by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.


Liz Cheney and Mitch McConnell hurt the most.

The Washington Examiner reported:

In the latest Economist/YouGov survey, 36% of Republicans called Trump the best. Just 18% called Reagan that, followed by 13% for President Abraham Lincoln and 11% for President George Washington.
In 2018, Republicans chose Reagan over Trump 36% to 10%.

The poll was conducted during Trump’s second Senate impeachment trial, during which seven Republicans voted to convict him, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who did not vote to impeach, blamed Trump for the Capitol riots.
It is further evidence that Trump remains the leader of the Republican Party in the eyes of Republicans. Another survey this week found that 75% want Trump to have a “prominent role” in the GOP.

In a blast at the “swamp” and establishment Republicans on Tuesday, Trump said that he will continue to speak out on GOP politics and will play a role in the 2022 elections.
 

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President Trump Will Join Sean Hannity Tonight in First Major Interview Since Failed Impeachment

By Jim Hoft
Published February 17, 2021 at 5:15pm
AEBCD632-64ED-4892-BE2A-EF4549C9E438.jpeg

President Trump will join Sean Hannity tonight at 9 PM Eastern in his first interview since the failed impeachment last weekend.

This also comes on the day of Rush Limbaugh’s passing.


1613606931303.png
There will be plenty to talk about.

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1362088152983367681
2:26 min
 

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced Monday that she will establish what she described as an “outside, independent 9/11-type Commission” to investigate last month’s deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol.

In her weekly letter to colleagues, Pelosi said the commission will “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021, domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex … and relating to the interference with the peaceful transfer of power.”

Pelosi’s announcement comes two days after the U.S. Senate voted to acquit former President Donald Trump over his conduct leading up to the riot during which five people died, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer. The Senate voted 57-43 to acquit the former president, with seven Republican senators voting in favor of conviction.

High profile Senate Democrats, including Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) have expressed support for a 9/11 commission to investigate the riot.

“There’s still more evidence that the American people need and deserve to hear and a 9/11 commission is a way to make sure that we secure the Capitol going forward,” Coons said. “And that we lay bare the record of just how responsible and how abjectly violating of his constitutional oath President Trump really was.”

McConnell told Republican senators shortly before the vote that he would vote to acquit Trump. In a blistering speech after the vote, the Kentucky Republican said the president was “practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day” but that the Senate’s hands were tied to do anything about it because Trump was out of office. The Senate, in an earlier vote, had deemed the trial constitutional.
“It was powerful to hear the 57 guilties and then it was puzzling to hear and see Mitch McConnell stand and say ‘not guilty’ and then, minutes later, stand again and say he was guilty of everything,” said Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa. “History will remember that statement of speaking out of two sides of his mouth,” she said.
 

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The Republican Establishment Is Engaging In Political Suicide.
Led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R – KY), the Republican establishment appears to be set on trying to somehow expunge President Trump and the Make America Great Again movement from the GOP.

History tells us that’s a horrible idea for Republicans, and an horrendous idea for the nation.

In 1988 President George HW Bush beat Democrat Michael Dukakis, after trailing late into the summer, to effectively secure Ronald Reagan’s third term.

Since then, the GOP establishment has done worse and worse:

1992 – George Bush Sr. loses to Bill Clinton after winning the First Gulf War.
1996 – President Clinton TROUNCES Senator Bob Dole. Dole received barely over 39 million votes nationwide.
2000 – President George W. Bush loses the popular vote and after weeks of litigation eeks out a win by 537 votes in Florida.
2004 – President Bush barely beats, by just over 2 percent, John Kerry – a candidate whose lack of charisma is only matched by his lack of achievement.
2008 – President Obama crushes Senator John McCain by almost 10 million votes.
2012 – President Obama soundly defeats now Senator Mitt Romney.
2016 – the MAGA revolution sweeps President Trump to victory with 63 million votes.
2020 – President Trump secures almost 75 million votes, the most of any incumbent in history. Joe Biden becomes president with the help of rampant violations of Article II of the Constitution resulting in an election with unchecked mail-in balloting.

In 2020, President Trump achieved historic highs for a Republican with African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Jewish Americans, and other voting blocks.

Why? Because Donald Trump stands for a strong America, for opportunity, for the forgotten man and woman who don’t want our jobs and money going overseas to

China. The MAGA movement is for less intervention and for more American manufacturing.

MAGA stands for fair trade and for treating our allies, such as Israel, like our allies and our enemies, such as Iran, like our enemies.

Without President Trump and his movement, the Republican Party is one of unnecessary wars, unfair trade, and unchecked elitism.

That is NOT a winning formula. That is a road to getting 40 – 60 million votes and losing the race for the White House every four years.

It is correct for Americans of all political views to condemn the violence that happened on January 6th at the U.S. Capitol.

Having said that, that tragic event should not cause the Republican Party to cut itself off from its base, and that is unquestionably the MAGA crowd who fill stadiums, work hard in their electoral precincts, and are motivated to go out and vote.

The GOP should acknowledge President Trump as its leader, the MAGA movement as its lifeblood, and work to grow that almost 75 million voters in order to be a force for generations to come.
 

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With impeachment over, some hope Trump faces criminal charges. Not so fast.

Despite the drumbeat for prosecution, such charges could backfire. If Trump were to beat the charges, it would be cited as vindication not just on the charges but on the second impeachment.

Jonathan Turley
Opinion columnist


With the acquittal of former President Donald Trump in the Senate, many are calling for criminal charges for everything from incitement to racketeering to bank fraud. Legal experts on CNN and MSNBC seemed to appear like crisis counselors after the acquittal to assure viewers that all was well because Trump can be clearly prosecuted and convicted.

The question is how serious a prosecution threat is Trump facing. The answer is that the basis for such charges has been wildly overstated and that, without additional evidence, Trump is not looking at a trip to the hoosegow any time soon. According to The Associated Press, the Justice Department is not pursuing Trump on the much discussed campaign finance allegations tied to payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

So let’s look at the two major threats of prosecution and what it would take for a credible prosecution.

Criminal incitement

For weeks, the airwaves have been packed with legal experts assuring hosts that Trump clearly committed not just impeachable but criminal incitement. For example, Harvard professor Laurence Tribe (who previously declared a long list of impeachable or criminal violations) announced the core elements of the crime satisfied: “This guy was inciting not just imminent lawless action, but the violent decapitation of a coordinate branch of the government.”

Such proclamations do better with MSNBC than the DDC (United States District Court for the District of Columbia). The public statements of Trump alone would not make for a credible case for criminal incitement under the controlling case law.

Nevertheless, District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine garnered widespread acclaim by announcing soon after the Jan. 6 riot that he was investigating Trump for a possible incitement charge.

Then nothing happened. That was strange given the insistence by legal experts that the crime was public and obvious on Jan. 6. Yet, more than a month have gone by without word of an interview for Trump, let alone a charge, on criminal incitement. Why?

The reason is that while the crime is not clear, the case law is. In Brandenburg v. Ohio, the Supreme Court ruled in 1969 that even calling for violence is protected under the First Amendment unless there is a threat of “imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action.”

Trump never called for violence and instead told his followers to go to the Capitol peacefully to “cheer” on those challenging the electoral votes. Such protests at capitals are common and, while reckless, Trump’s speech could as easily be interpreted as a call for protest rather than violence.

Notably, the Ku Klux Klan leader Clarence Brandenburg also referred to a planned march on Congress after declaring that “revengeance” could be taken for the betrayal of the president and Congress. The Supreme Court still overturned the conviction.

Rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.


The court has consistently rejected the type of arguments by Tribe and other legal experts as a threat to free speech in our society. In Hess v. Indiana, the court rejected the prosecution of a protester declaring an intention to take over the streets, holding that “at worst, (the words) amounted to nothing more than advocacy of illegal action at some indefinite future time.” In another case, NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., the court overturned a judgment against the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People after one official declared, “If we catch any of you going in any of them racist stores, we’re gonna break your damn neck.” That was ruled as the hyperbolic language of advocacy.

Acquitted:Shared identity and fear of Trump kept most Republicans in line
Trump could also point to the timeline:
►He ended his speech at 1:10 p.m.
►The first rioter entered the U.S. Capitol an hour later.
►According to CNN, Trump had a heated call with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who told him of the breach.
►Trump mistakenly called Utah Sen. Mike Lee instead of Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville. After Lee gave Tuberville his phone, he reportedly said that Trump did not appear to realize the extent of the rioting in the building.
►Just before 2:40 p.m., Trump called for his followers to be peaceful and to support police.

That would not make for a strong case for criminal incitement.

What would be needed? Prosecutors would need testimony showing that Trump knew of the high risk of violence and wanted it to occur. They would also seek evidence that Trump actively delayed deployment of reinforcements or sought to block efforts at preparation. What is clear is that the speech (and prior public statements) would not be enough to sustain a conviction.

Racketeering

Like Racine, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been lionized for opening criminal investigation into the phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger last month. Willis suggested that Trump’s pressuring of Raffensperger could constitute “solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration."

Again, the call itself does not clearly establish such crimes.

While often omitted in news accounts, the call was actually a settlement discussion between the Trump team and the Georgia team. There were a variety of lawyers present, not some backroom arm twisting. The Trump campaign alleged there were uncounted votes that surpassed the 11,779 deficit, and Trump asserted, "I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have."

Former prosecutor Daniel Goldman (who worked on the first Trump impeachment) tweeted that the smoking gun was the line by Trump, “ 'It’s gonna be costly to you.' I’ve charged extortion in mob cases with similar language."

In reality, the line was, “It’s going to be very costly in many ways,” which is very different.

That is also a common point in a settlement negotiation. However, as a criminal defense attorney for 30 years, I would be eager to see Goldman’s prosecution of someone on such a statement in a case like this.
So what would Willis need? She would need to show pressure outside of a settlement discussion in which both sides are expected to state their positions and demands strongly. That could take the form of Trump making or supporting threats, or making promises to Raffensperger to get him to violate the law. The call itself is not a smoking gun of criminality.

Trump's impeachments:Trump's two impeachments hold same lesson: Republicans can't be trusted with our democracy

That does not mean Trump does not face other threats. The most credible could come out of New York, where he is being investigated for bank and tax fraud predating his administration. While overreporting or underreporting assets is common in the real estate business, these tend to be crimes easy to prosecute before a jury. It is also difficult to argue selective prosecution in such cases.

Despite the drumbeat for prosecution, such charges could easily backfire. If Trump were to beat the charges at trial or on appeal, it would be cited as vindication not just on the charges but on the second impeachment. The former president could end up like the character of Big Jule in “Guys and Dolls” proudly proclaiming, “33 arrests, no convictions.” Indeed, absent new transformative evidence, prosecuting Trump on the cases in Washington or Georgia could result in a resounding victory just before the 2024 election.

They could make Big Jule’s record not just a criminal boast but a presidential slogan.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

HE’S BACK: Trump Will Be Interviewed By Fox News, OANN, And Newsmax TV Tonight [UPDATED WITH TIMES]

President Trump is launching a media frenzy after his first television appearance since leaving the White House.
Tom Pappert
by TOM PAPPERT
February 17, 2021

HE’S BACK: Trump Will Be Interviewed By Fox News, OANN, And Newsmax TV Tonight [UPDATED WITH TIMES]

After breaking his uncharacteristic post-presidency silence, President Donald Trump is now expected to appear on Fox News, OANN, and Newsmax TV tonight, following his appearance on Fox News, when he paid tribute to talk radio pioneer and legend Rush Limbaugh.

Washington Post reporter Josh Dawsey confirmed that President Trump released the information through a spokesman.

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Newsmax TV revealed that he will join Greg Kelly, one of the top Trump allies on the network, at 7 p.m. ET tonight “to discuss the passing of Rush Limbaugh and beyond.” The tweet has since been deleted, however, Kelly confirmed it to be true on his personal Twitter account.

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President Trump is also scheduled to be on at 7 p.m. ET on OANN.

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He is scheduled to appear on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program, which airs at 9 p.m. ET.
President Trump first appeared on Fox News via phone earlier today to mourn the passing of Limbaugh. National File reported:

When asked about how he felt Limbaugh supported or did not support his America First agenda, President Trump instead spoke to the character and intellect of the passed radio pioneer.

“Rush is irreplaceable, unique, and he had an audience that was massive, and you know he could do something, he would get up in the show, and would just talk,” said President Trump. “He wouldn’t take phone calls, where everybody would call in every two minutes, and that’s sort of easy to do. He would just talk for two hours, three hours, just talk. And that’s not an easy thing to do. I once asked him, do you study for the show? And he said, actually I study very hard, which a little bit surprised me.”
“He was a fantastic man, a fantastic talent, and people, whether they loved him or not, they respected him. They really did.”
President Trump also released a written statement on the passing of Limbaugh this afternoon.
photo_2021-02-17_13-48-05-600x504.jpg
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Turley: One of Raskin's Claims About Trump Was 'Breathtaking' and 'Chilling'
Cortney O'Brien
Cortney O'Brien

Posted: Feb 16, 2021 9:30 AM

Turley: One of Raskin's Claims About Trump Was 'Breathtaking' and 'Chilling'

Source: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley followed last week's impeachment trial against former President Trump very closely. Turley was the only witness called by Republicans to participate in the first trial against Trump in 2019, when the president faced charges after discussing the Bidens and corruption on a phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky. At the time, Turley explained that "impeachment has to be based on proof, not presumptions."

Turley found several more glaring holes in the Democrats' arguments last week as they tried to convict him on inciting an insurrection. One argument in particular Turley found to be "breathtaking" and "chilling" - when lead impeachment manager Jamie Raskin (MD) suggested that Trump was guilty because he refused to show up and testify.

“If you decline this invitation, we reserve any and all rights, including the right to establish at trial that your refusal to testify supports a strong adverse inference regarding your actions (and inaction) on January 6, 2021,” Rep. Raskin wrote to Trump, essentially arguing that the former president needed to testify or his silence equals guilt.

On his blog, Turley explained that Raskin was misleading senators because Trump's decision is not unprecedented:
"Presidents have historically not testified at impeachment trials. One reason is that, until now, only sitting presidents have been impeached and presidents balked at the prospect of being examined as head of the Executive Branch by the Legislative Branch. Moreover, it was likely viewed as undignified and frankly too risky. Indeed, most defense attorneys routinely discourage their clients from testifying in actual criminal cases because the risks outweigh any benefits.
Finally, Trump is arguing that this trial is unconstitutional and thus he would be even less likely to depart from tradition and appear as a witness."
Turley said that Raskin's statement "conflicts with one of the most precious and revered principles in American law that a refusal to testify should not be used against an accused party."

Earlier in the week, Turley was surprised to hear his name referenced by the Democrats as they were giving their presentation. Rep. Joe Neguse (CO) cited one of Turley's writings from 1999, “The Executive Function Theory, The Hamilton Affair, and Other Constitutional Mythologies," to argue that they have a right to impeach former officials.

Turley quickly and politely responded that while he appreciated the shoutout, his views on the matter have "evolved."

"There is nothing strange about such evolution in views of constitutional interpretation," he wrote. "Indeed, as scholars, we are ideally always evolving in our knowledge and our views. However, I still believe retroactive active trials have dialogic value and that this remains a close question. However, my default today is more textualist on the question."
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

“We Have to Get to the Bottom of What Happened” – President Trump Speaks Out on the 2020 Election in Newsmax Interview (VIDEO)

By Joe Hoft
Published February 17, 2021 at 8:16pm
donald-trump-kelly.jpg

Greg Kelly spoke with President Donald Trump on Wednesday night following the reported death of conservative legend Rush Limbaugh.

President Trump told Greg Kelly, “Rush Limbaugh thought we won the election. We did win the election. It was disgraceful what happened.”

Trump praised his friend Rush Limbaugh who was a devoted supporter. Trump also praised Greg Kelly for his success.

President Trump on Rush, “He would talk for three hours… He could talk. He wouldn’t repeat.”

On Joe Biden’s latest lie that President Trump did not have the vaccine, “He’s either not telling the truth or he’s totally off. We had the vaccine before he came into office. Could he be joking? Because frankly, it was a very dumb statement.”

Trump continued to condemn the stolen election and shared at the 8:40 mark below:
Bad things happened but you’ve covered that and you know it. And really bad and dishonest things happened and when they say ‘stop the steal’ they’re not just kidding. It’s a disgrace. It’s a disgrace. It’s like a third-world country with the elections. So we have to get that straightened out and I think get to the bottom of what happened. I also think going forward but we also have to go back, because we have to go back. I watched him last night on television and I think it’s a disgrace.”
View: https://youtu.be/wGXPE5qQ8jo
11:12 min
 

Housecarl

On TB every waking moment

“We Have to Get to the Bottom of What Happened” – President Trump Speaks Out on the 2020 Election in Newsmax Interview (VIDEO)

By Joe Hoft
Published February 17, 2021 at 8:16pm
donald-trump-kelly.jpg

Greg Kelly spoke with President Donald Trump on Wednesday night following the reported death of conservative legend Rush Limbaugh.

President Trump told Greg Kelly, “Rush Limbaugh thought we won the election. We did win the election. It was disgraceful what happened.”

Trump praised his friend Rush Limbaugh who was a devoted supporter. Trump also praised Greg Kelly for his success.

President Trump on Rush, “He would talk for three hours… He could talk. He wouldn’t repeat.”

On Joe Biden’s latest lie that President Trump did not have the vaccine, “He’s either not telling the truth or he’s totally off. We had the vaccine before he came into office. Could he be joking? Because frankly, it was a very dumb statement.”

Trump continued to condemn the stolen election and shared at the 8:40 mark below:

View: https://youtu.be/wGXPE5qQ8jo
11:12 min

And of course Youtube spiked the video because it "violated terms of service"......
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment
Rumble video 1:31 min
Rumble — Donald Trump And Greg Kelly Discuss 2024
__________________________________

Rumble video 1:42 min
Rumble — Donald Trump slams Biden over vaccine comments.
___________________________________

Trump Goes Live on Newsmax! 22:09 min
Trump Goes Live on Newsmax!
Rumble — Trump makes an appearance on Newsmax to speak on Rush Limbaugh, big tech, fake news and more

______________________
 
Last edited:

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Dirty Mitch McConnell Laughs Off President Trump’s Attacks – Plans on “Ignoring the President at All Costs”

By Jim Hoft
Published February 18, 2021 at 10:03am
trump-mcconnell-600x311.jpg

President Trump released a statement Tuesday blasting GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell.
McConnell really began viciously attacking President Trump over the weekend from the senate floor after he voted against convicting Trump in the impeachment trial.

McConnell suggested that Trump could still be charged with crimes and continued his attacks on Trump in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Trump had enough of the attacks and took the gloves off.

“Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again,” Trump said vowing to back “America First” primary candidates.

Trump also said that if Republicans are going to stay with McConnell “they will not win again.”
According to CNN Mitch McConnell “laughed off” Trump’s attacks and plans on “ignoring the president at all costs.”

CNN reported:
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had an instant reaction when seeing the lengthy attack he endured from former President Donald Trump.
He laughed about it, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The reaction underscores how McConnell plans to navigate the post-Trump era: Focus squarely on winning back the Senate majority — while ignoring the former President at all costs.

Indeed, amid their fallout following the deadly US Capitol riot at the hands of Trump supporters, McConnell has made the calculation that he’s done with the former President and is moving on, according to sources close to the GOP leader. And after Trump issued a blistering attack on McConnell, riddled with false statements and personal broadsides, the GOP leader has no plans to respond, the sources said.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

“Inappropriate Content”: YouTube Removes President Trump’s Interview with Greg Kelly from Newsmax on Rush Limbaugh and 2020 Election

By Jim Hoft
Published February 18, 2021 at 10:43am
trump-censored.jpg


Greg Kelly spoke with President Donald Trump on Wednesday night following the reported death of conservative legend Rush Limbaugh.

President Trump told Greg Kelly, “Rush Limbaugh thought we won the election. We did win the election. It was disgraceful what happened.”

Trump praised his friend Rush Limbaugh who was a devoted supporter. Trump also praised Greg Kelly for his success.

Trump continued to condemn the stolen election.

The Gateway Pundit posted the video of President Trump’s interview with Greg Kelly on YouTube.

We broke up the interview into two segments.

By Thursday morning YouTube took down Trump’s interview with Greg Kelly.
YouTube labeled it as “inappropriate content.”

youtube-remove-trump.jpg


Google and the tech giants run the world today. Don’t forget it.

We later uploaded the video to Rumble.

The video of the former president is allowed on Rumble.

Just wondering… Who elected the anti-American leftists at YouTube to run the world?
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Trump: "Biden Is Either Lying Or Mentally Gone"

THURSDAY, FEB 18, 2021 - 11:17
Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

Breaking a one month silence Wednesday, President Trump appeared on a number of cable news channels, hinting at a 2024 run, a potential launch of his own social media platform, and slamming Joe Biden for lying about the coronavirus vaccine rollout.


Appearing on Newsmax, Trump addressed Biden’s blatant lie Tuesday night about there being no available vaccine.

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1361870706687037442
.16 min

“I saw that he said there was no vaccine before he came into office and yet he got a shot before he came into office,” Trump said.

“So either he’s not telling the truth or he’s mentally gone. One or the other,” he added.
“He’s getting killed on this,” Trump continued, adding “Even the haters said, ‘Well wait a minute, this vaccine was announced long before.'”

“Could he be joking? Because, frankly, that was a very dumb statement,” Trump considered.

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1362199616226271234
1:20 min

Biden admitted Tuesday night that he wakes up every day and asks where the hell he is, since moving into the White House.

Elsewhere during the conversation, Trump admitted that he misses being the President, saying “Everything was happening great… It’s too bad.”

When asked if he is considering another run, Trump replied “I won’t say yet, but we have tremendous support.”

“It’s too early to say… but I see a lot of great polls out there,” he added.

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1362197780341612544
1:39 min

Referring to his rising popularity among conservatives, Trump declared “I’m the only one who gets impeached and my numbers go up. I mean figure that one out.”

Referring to social media, Trump proclaimed “We don’t want to go back to Twitter,” adding: “I understand it’s become very boring and millions are leaving.”

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1362195671080701953
1:37 min

Trump said his team is looking at different options for a social media return, and is “negotiating with a number of people,” but also intimated that he could build his own platform.

“We’re looking at a lot of different things,” Trump said.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Backlash: Six of seven GOP Senators voting to convict Trump have been rebuked in home states

Six of Senate Republicans' anti-Trump 7 have been repudiated by either state and local party officials or grassroots conservative voters.

Updated: February 18, 2021 - 12:33pm

Six of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict former President Trump in his impeachment trial have now been rebuked in their home states, either by party organizations or grassroots voters.

First among the anti-Trump 7 to be repudiated back home was Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy. The executive committee of the Louisiana GOP voted unanimously to censure Cassidy on the same day the Senate voted on the single article of impeachment the Democrat-controlled House passed shortly after the Jan. 6 breach of Capitol Building.

"Our constitution and our country is more important than any one person," Cassidy tweeted in defense of his vote to convict Trump.

York County, Pa., Republicans voted over the weekend to censure Sen. Pat Toomey. While Toomey will not be running for reelection, USA Today reported that the York County Republican Committee discouraged county Republicans from contributing financially to the senator in the future and called on Toomey to return 2020 campaign donations from committee members.

On Sunday, the Lincoln County Republican Party unanimously adopted a resolution to censure Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, who makes no secret of his disdain for Trump and his America First movement.

In an emergency vote on Monday night, the North Carolina Republican Party unanimously decided to censure Sen. Richard Burr, who voted to convict Trump after previously voting that it was unconstitutional for the Senate to try the ex-president.

"By what he did and by what he did not do, President Trump violated his oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution," Burr said after his vote.

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney – the only GOP senator to break ranks and vote to convict Trump in his 2020 impeachment trial – is facing backlash in his home state, where grassroots conservatives have launched an online petition to censure the 2012 GOP presidential nominee for failing to "represent the average conservative Utah Republican voter."

The state party organization, however, defended the contrasting votes of Utah's two GOP senators as a sign of intellectual vitality.

"The differences between our own Utah Republicans showcase a diversity of thought, in contrast to the danger of a party fixated on 'unanimity of thought,'" the Utah Republican Party said in a statement Monday.

In Alaska, where the state Republican Party was on record opposing the impeachment trial, Republicans in at least six state House districts have voted to censure GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Of the seven GOP senators who voted against Trump in the trial, Murkowski is the only one who is up for reelection in 2022.

"I stand my ground," Murkowski said in response to the censure votes. "If I had to take that vote again, I would vote to uphold my oath of office."

Maine Sen. Susan Collins is the only one of the seven GOP defectors to escape rebuke – for now. The state's GOP county chairpersons did not issue a statement after meeting remotely on Monday night. However, one county party chairperson told The Bangor Daily News that a state party meeting to address censure "is likely to come by the end of the month."
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

Trump tells OAN: 'the [MAGA] movement is very strong and it's getting stronger'

Former President Donald Trump called into OAN at the 7:00 hour on Wednesday night to share his remembrances of iconic, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh and to give a glimpse into his political ruminations since leaving office, and for the future.

As the Republican party faces turmoil, split between the establishment GOP and the MAGA wing of the party, Trump was asked about the future of the movement he has been so integrally part of.

"The whole conservative movement is going on at a very rapid clip," he said, "If you look at the last election we won so much."

"You look at what's going on with the House," he said, noting that "Georgia's Senate races should have been easily won."

He said that the reason there was such a surge of conservatives in the House during the 2020 general election, that brought more Republican representatives into congress than people thought possible, was "only because we had a very strong ticket at the very very top."

"We got almost 75 million votes," he said, "the movement is very strong and it's getting stronger." Trump noted that "we need strong leadership in the senate and we need strong leadership in the house."

On Tuesday, Trump issued a statement admonishing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying that "Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again. He will never do what needs to be done, or what is right for our Country," and threatening to work hard to primary GOP rivals who don't back the MAGA wing.

He said in the statement that "The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political 'leaders' like Sen. Mitch McConnell at its helm."

Trump was asked about the future of conservative media, and he replied "The future is great but there's not any one person that can replace Rush," saying that he didn't think 10 people could replace him.

Trump said he'd spoken to Sean Hannity, as well as others in conservative media, about the future of the form. "Your ratings are fantastic," he told the OANN host.

"Everyone understands that Rush is someone not just one person can replace," he said.

Trump spoke about his friendship with Rush Limbaugh, who died from lung cancer at the age of 70 on Wednesday, and giving Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was a great honor to the radio host. It was unconventional for Trump to give the award at the State of the Union address in 2020.

"The Republican were going wild and the Democrats weren't, but everyone in that room respected Rush."

"His audience was unlike anything there is," Trump said, "it's something that's just massive... He did something that very few people could do, he would just talk... that's not easy to do."

"He would just talk for two hours, three hours, and everybody would be listening and it was very unusual... You knew where he stood just by listening to the show," Trump said.

He said that Limbaugh was intent on surviving through the election, and that he and Limbaugh shared a perspective on the election results. "He fought very hard to make it through the election, he was very, very disappointed with what happened and had very strong opinions on it, like I do, like many people do, frankly."

"He made it through easily, he lived longer than people would have thought, he was tough, he was a great man, but he was tough."

Trump said that Limbaugh "was a very strong guy, a lot of people won't know that... we won't talk about scores... We played for a while, I got to know him when he was very healthy... I used to call him the bull" because he was such a powerhouse.
 

marsh

On TB every waking moment

1613682470095.png
David Schoen, lawyer for former President Donald Trump, walks from the Senate floor through the Senate Reception room on the fourth day of the Senate Impeachment trials of former President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Feb. 12, 2021. (Jabin Botsford/Getty Images)

Trump Impeachment Attorney Canceled by Law School, Civil Rights Law Group

February 17, 2021 13:19, Last Updated: February 17, 2021 17:51
By Ivan Pentchoukov

An attorney who represented President Donald Trump during the recent impeachment trial says a law school canceled a civil rights law course he was going to teach and he was suspended from a civil rights lawyer email discussion list.

“I was hoping to teach a civil rights course at a law school in the fall. We’ve been in talks about it, kind of planning it out. I wrote to them and I said, ‘I want you to know, I’m gonna be representing Donald Trump in the impeachment case. I don’t know if that impacts on your decision at all,’” David Schoen, one of the three attorneys who argued before the Senate, told The Epoch Times.

“And they said, you know, they appreciated my writing and, frankly, it would make some students and faculty uncomfortable, so I couldn’t do it.

“That was sad for me because I really want to go more and more into teaching. I like doing that,” Schoen said.

Schoen, an Alabama-based lawyer recognized for his civil rights litigation, declined to name the school that canceled his course. He likewise declined to name the legal organization behind the email list that suspended him.

“They actually spent 48 hours discussing this with their board and so on. And they decided that they needed to suspend me from the list,” Schoen said. “It’s a very important one to me. It’s very prominent civil rights lawyers and fine people.”

Schoen delivered an impassioned argument on the first day of the trial for why the Senate didn’t have jurisdiction to try a former president. At the conclusion of his remarks, he appeared to be choking back tears as he read an 1849 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow titled “The Building of the Ship.” Schoen told The Epoch Times that he chose the poem—and the quote from President Abraham Lincoln that preceded it—because he views the days of Lincoln as the closest parallel to the current division in the United States.

“I think we’re in a very perilous, divided time. The election itself showed that, but I think all of the rhetoric shows it also,” Schoen said.

Schoen brought his children, aged 15 to 25, into the process of preparing his impeachment trial remarks. His daughter was the one to suggest using Longfellow’s poem.

“I wrote my remarks myself. I wanted to share them with the kids and I wanted their feedback. They were very helpful to me. One of my sons was with me at the impeachment trial,” Schoen said.

Schoen isn’t the only attorney facing repercussions for defending the president.

Attorney Michael van der Veen said vandals broke the windows in his home and defaced the house with graffiti. Van der Veen has had to move his children to a secret location and hire armed guards to protect his home and workplace.

Schoen said that he’s used to threats after decades of practicing civil rights law.

“When I lived in Alabama, I lived behind an electric fence with two German shepherds and I had to carry a gun every place I went. I faced many threats for different kinds of reasons, over the years. But if you let that stop you, I suppose you’re in the wrong business,” Schoen said.

Schoen received the Pro Bono Publico Award from the American Bar Association (ABA) in 1995 for his civil rights work. The ABA handbook says (pdf) he was “recognized for his enormous contribution to bringing about change in schools, prisons, jails, foster care, police departments, and election ballot access in the South.”

The Senate acquitted Trump of the charge that he incited the mob that breached the Capitol on Jan. 6. Schoen said he spoke to the president after the acquittal. He said the president was “very upbeat, very gratified.”

During the trial, Schoen spoke to Trump two or three times per day. He said the president was always “very gracious,” “very supportive,” and “very much appreciated the presentations I made.”

Days after the acquittal, a top House Democrat and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) sued Trump over the Capitol breach, accusing the president of planning a conspiracy to attack the Capitol. Schoen said the lawsuit is “political theater.”

“I don’t think there’s any merit to it. I think it’s an abuse of the statute that it’s based on. And I think it’s just going to lead to further divisiveness,” he said.
 
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