donald trump
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A new report says Donald Trump was caught on tape personally pressuring electors in Michigan to not certify the 2020 presidential election.
A new recording of Donald Trump speaking to Michigan electors to get them not to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election was revealed to the public on Thursday (December 21). The call was made by then-President Trump and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on November 17, 2020, to Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, two Republican canvassers for Wayne County. Trump and McDaniel led off the conversation by saying the two would look “terrible” if they voted to certify the results after voicing opposition to the results in an earlier meeting.
“We’ve got to fight for our country,” Trump can be heard saying on the call. “We can’t let these people take our country away from us.” Later on in that same call, McDaniel implored Hartmann and Palmer to go home.”If you can go home tonight, do not sign it. … We will get you attorneys,” McDaniel said. Trump added, “We’ll take care of that,” also stating “Everyone knows Detroit is crooked as hell.”Palmer and Hartmann would go home without signing the official statement of votes for Wayne County and tried to rescind their votes in favor of certification claiming to have been pressured. Hartmann passed away in 2021, and Palmer has not returned any requests for comment.
The recording revelation comes as Trump is now facing four counts of criminal conspiracy for his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election which led to Joe Biden becoming Commander-In-Chief, with the events in Michigan a core part of the case brought against him in federal court. Trump is also facing twelve counts of attempting to overturn election results in Georgia. It also becomes more damning for McDaniel, who resides in Wayne County. Marshall Cohen, a reporter for CNN, stated that the tape could be a boon to Special Counsel Jack Smith. “If he doesn’t have it, he definitely wants to get it,” Cohen said Thursday night. “It could be a huge piece of additional evidence.”
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The former Kanye West publicist Trevian Kutti will need new lawyers after being dropped by her legal team following her recent Instagram posts.
On Monday (December 18), the legal team defending former Kanye West publicist Trevian Kutti filed a motion with the Fulton County Superior Court to withdraw as her counsel. The document notes that Kutti was advised of the move, and it doesn’t give an explicit reason as to why she was dropped. But it does come after Kutti posted a photo to her Instagram account showing her posing with the convicted January 6 rioter Jacob Chansley, notoriously known as the “QAnon Shaman”, with both holding up middle fingers.
In the caption, Kutti writes “Just like they lied on him THEY ARE LYING ON ME,” with the phrase “Cue the haters” superimposed on the photo. The photo was taken at AmFest 2023, an annual convention for the right-wing organization Turning Point USA which was held over the past weekend in Phoenix, Arizona. Chansley, known for his buffalo headdress, was one of the more prominent insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol building first and received one of the heftiest sentences by far among those convicted.
Kutti, who is on trial as a co-defendant of former President Donald Trump for their attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, has been unrepentant over her actions as four of the other 19 indicted by Fulton County have already accepted plea deals and will testify. She even went so far as to threaten election worker Ruby Freeman during an Instagram Live session she held to raise funds for her defense in November. “There’s a woman sitting somewhere who knows that I’m going to f**k her whole life up when this is done,” she said during the video. Such actions can be taken as a violation of her bond agreement.
The filing listed Darryl B. Cohen and the law firm Cohen Cooper Estep & Allen; Steven A. Greenberg and the law firm Greenberg Trial Lawyers; and Joshua G. Herman and the law firm Law Office of Joshua G. Herman as Kutti’s former barristers. She now has ten days to file an objection, prepare to defend herself in court, or seek new legal representation.
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The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump is disqualified from the Republican ballot for 2024 due to engaging in insurrection, prompting many online responses.In a striking decision, Donald Trump was disqualified from holding political office again by the top court of Colorado on Tuesday (December 19) due to his engaging in actions that led to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The decision means that the former president is ineligible to appear on the state’s ballot for the upcoming 2024 Republican primary elections for president. It also rules that voters cannot write Trump’s name in on that ballot.
“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” the four-justice majority wrote in the decision. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.” The majority decision cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment which disqualifies anyone engaging in insurrection against the Constitution. The three remaining justices dissented.
The monumental decision does not apply to the presidential ballot, but it has major ramifications for Trump’s current campaign. Representatives for Trump said that they would immediately appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, setting the stage for a decision that could not only impact the upcoming presidential election but other cases set before them such as whether he is immune from criminal prosecution for actions he committed while in office including his alleged involvement in the January 6 insurrection. The Colorado Supreme Court did state that they would uphold the decision until January 4 next year for the
The reactions to the ruling online ranged from observers and experts applauding the decision to those showing skepticism over the conservative-dominated Supreme Court’s majority (with three justices nominated by Trump during his term) upholding the Colorado court’s ruling. One Republican candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, issued a video stating that he would withdraw his name from the state’s GOP primary ballot in protest and demanded that Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis do the same in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
We’ve collected some of the responses from social media below.
1. Robert Reich
2. Joey Blue
A “Seinfeld” meme gets employed to imagine the real reactions of Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley and other GOP nominees to the news of the decision.
3. Alex Cole
4. Ragnarok Lobster
5. Jon_Davis
6. Elie Mystal
The Nation writer and lawyer chimed in initially with a witty reference to Trump’s past rage reactions.
7. Imani Gandy
The lawyer and journalist offered her perspective on why the public may not see the Supreme Court uphold the Colorado decision.
8. Tristan Snell
9. Neal Katyal
Katyal, who has argued several cases before the Supreme Court, offered his analysis of the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision and his opinion on how the Supreme Court could rule.
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Former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani, blamed former President Barack Obama for setting race relations in the United States back decades.
Rudy Giuliani leveled a claim against former President Barack Obama on his WABC radio show Sunday (Dec. 10), that he was responsible for the degradation of race relations in America. He began his tirade by stating that the Democratic Party is “the party of slavery.” The Republican politician then said, “These miserable anti-American leaders of the party of slavery have taken us back 40 or 50 years on race relations with Obama. It began with Obama.”
Giuliani would continue: “You think it’s accidental; I know it’s Marxist planned and executed over a long period,” he stated. “Open border is not coincidental. The open border comes right out of Karl Marx. It comes right out of [communist activist] Saul Alinsky, who, by the way, Saul Alinsky and his acolytes taught Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.”
The attacks by the 79-year-old on Obama are nothing new – he’s been a repeat offender in claiming that the 44th POTUS was never born in America, a racist smear that was constantly tossed out during Giuliani’s failed attempts at becoming the GOP’s choice for president and vice-president.He would also bring up the controversial former President Donald Trump in his rant, noting that he has been often called a racist. “Trump gets into a psychological illness I think they have about Trump,” Giuliani said. “Trump derangement syndrome is real – so obsessive.”
The embattled politician is currently dealing with a slew of problems due to his involvement with Trump, notably his having to pay two Black women election workers after being found guilty of defaming them during the 2020 election. That decision of how much is set to be announced soon by a jury. Giuliani is also trying to raise money for his legal defense related to Trump’s RICO case in Fulton County, Georgia.
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Donald Trump stated in a town hall meeting with Sean Hannity that he’d only be a dictator on “day one” if reelected president, raising more alarms among observers.
On Tuesday (Dec. 5), former President Donald Trump sat down with Fox News host Sean Hannity for a town hall meeting event that was taped at Davenport, Iowa. Hannity asked the Republican frontrunner about his remarks targeting rivals and vowing revenge by abusing his power if reelected to the White House. Hannity pressed him on the subject by asking, “Do you in any way have any plans whatsoever if reelected president to abuse power, to break the law, to use the government to go after people?”
“You mean like they’re using right now?” Trump replied.
Hannity asked him again “Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?” Hannity asked. Trump’s response was quick. “Except for day one,” he replied. “Meaning?” Hannity interjected. In a jesting manner, the twice-impeached president continued. “I love this guy,” he stated, “He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said: ‘No, no, no, other than day one.’ We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.” The assembled crowd cheered as Hannity rejoined, “That’s not retribution.”
The clip has further alarmed many who have been pointing out Trump’s increasingly authoritarian rhetoric in the past months, telling his supporters at rallies that he “is their retribution” and promising to seek revenge against President Joe Biden and his family if elected to another term. “When we get there, the Biden crime family will pay a price like other people are being forced to pay. And that price will be very, very substantial,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform Truth Social back in August. President Biden has stated that Trump is “determined to destroy American democracy” in a meeting with donors earlier on Tuesday.
“Donald Trump has been telling us exactly what he will do if he’s reelected, and tonight he said he will be a dictator on day one. Americans should believe him,” said Biden-Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez in a statement issued after the town hall meeting aired. The remarks come a day before the remaining Republican primary candidates are set to debate each other in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
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A lawyer who once represented T.I. is at the center of former president Donald Trump’s defense team for his election interference case in Georgia.
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As the criminal case against Donald Trump brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is underway, Steven Sadow, the leading defense lawyer is beginning to make his presence known. He argued before Judge Scott McAfee Friday (Dec. 1), that the court should consider throwing out the 13 felony charges against Trump, stating that his false claims concerning the 2020 presidential election he lost were protected by the First Amendment.
Sadow is best known as a litigator specializing in white-collar cases and representing high-profile figures. One of them, veteran Atlanta rapper and actor T.I., has heaped praise on Sadow in the past by referring to him as “probably the best criminal defense attorney of his time.” In addition, T.I. proclaimed him a person with a “slight hint of genius” after Sadow got him a plea deal with a one-year sentence for gun charges. Sadow was brought on to replace Drew Findling on the day that Donald Trump voluntarily surrendered to Fulton County authorities.
Steven Sadow has defended other notable clients such as Rick Ross (who name-drops him in his 2019 song “Turnpike Ike”), National Football League star Ray Lewis and recently represented Gunna, who was indicted along with Young Thug by Fulton County in a sweeping RICO case last year. Sadow has publicly stated that he’s not a Donald Trump supporter in a post made on X, formerly Twitter, back in 2017.
Sadow, 69, has been reserved about the current case, refusing to respond to press inquiries about his role on the defense team. But he appeared on an episode of the expediTIously with Tip “T.I.” Harris podcast last year to talk about his experiences as a defense attorney, stating his desire to limit the overreach of federal power against the people for being a lawyer. “They’ve got to be protected against the government,” he said.
In the hour-long show, T.I. asked him a pertinent question. “What are the intricacies of cooperation? Like, how do you arrive at that conclusion?”
“When I don’t think I can win,” Sadow replied. “If I don’t think my client’s got a chance of winning in the courtroom, and the risk of trial far, far exceeds the chances of me being successful, I won’t tell them to take the risk.”
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Kelsey Grammer expressed his support of former President Donald Trump in an interview with the BBC, which was cut short by publicists.
On Monday (December 4), Frasier star Kelsey Grammer sat for an interview with BBC Radio 4 journalist and host Justin Webb. Toward the end, Webb asked the actor and producer: “You mentioned Roseanne early on who had a great comeback but also was a Trump supporter. You were, at least you were, a Trump supporter, I’m fascinated to know if you still are?”
Grammer replied, “I am, and I’ll let that be the end of it.” According to Webb in a studio conversation after the interview aired, he revealed that publicists with Paramount+ UK stepped in and cut the interview short when he tried to inquire further. Representatives for the actor and Paramount+ UK didn’t respond to requests for comment.
“I have to say actually Kelsey Grammer himself was perfectly happy to go on talking about it. The Paramount Plus PR people, less happy that he talked about it at some length so we… They decided we’d had plenty of time for our interview,” Webb said. Grammer has been vocal about being a Republican in the past as well as his support for the twice-impeached former president, agreeing with some of his policies while remarking that he was a “brat”. The actor also voiced his support for the controversial Roseanne Barr, the sitcom star and fellow Trump supporter who was booted off of her reboot series on ABC after comparing former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to the character of Ari in 2001’s Planet of The Apes.
The 68-year-old Grammer was on the Today program as part of a promotional tour for the reboot of his widely popular Frasier series which ran from 1993 to 2004, where he reprises the role of finicky psychotherapist Frasier Crane. The new series also stars British actor Nicholas Lyndhurst, known for his role in the series Only Fools and Horses. Grammer touched upon working with Lyndhurst who had returned to acting after losing his son at 19 to a brain hemorrhage.
“It was Nic who reminded me that it was only three or four years ago, Archie was standing right next to Nic when I said ‘I think you should be part of the next Frasier.’,“ Grammer said in an emotional voice. “So we’ve always sensed that this was something that was right for us to be together.”
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Source: Fulton County Jail / Fulton County Sheriff’s Office
A Black Lives Matter group in Rhode Island swiftly debunked the claim by former President Donald Trump that they supported him via an alleged member.
On Wednesday (November 29), the Black Lives Matter Rhode Island Political Action Committee posted a statement via X, formerly known as Twitter in response to former President Donald Trump’s post on his Truth Social social media platform indicating the group endorsed him. In the process, it also distanced itself from someone who claimed to be a co-founder.
In that post, Trump praised Mark Fisher, a Black activist who recently appeared on a Fox News segment earlier in the month to throw his support behind the former president as a “great guy”, adding: “Very honored to have his and BLM’s support,” before reiterating a statement of how much he’s done for Black people since President Abraham Lincoln. Fisher first appeared on The Kim Iversen Show on YouTube, hosted by a personality who has expressed support for the insurrectionists of January 6th and is a COVID-19 vaccine skeptic. “I like Trump personally,” Fisher said at the time. “And I think right now who we have sitting in the Oval Office is just a deep disappointment. I deeply have disdain for him, and I really dislike the vice president as well.”
Black Lives Matter Rhode Island PAC, which Fisher claimed to be a founder of, sent out their rebuttal immediately. “In response to recent media coverage, we would like to clarify that Mark Fisher is not and has never been affiliated with our organization, the statement began. “The views expressed by Mr. Fisher in the referenced Fox News segment do not reflect the values or beliefs of BLM RH PAC.”
The PAC also offered further clarification in another post, saying that they are a different organization than Black Lives Matter Rhode Island. This was solidified by a further disavowal of the remarks made by Fisher by Gary Dantzler, the head of the group. “Mark Fisher stated he was one of the co-founders of BLM,” Dantzler said to the Providence Journal. “Absolutely not. He was a respected advocate for BLM. That’s it. And he was paid and somewhere he got fired and demoted.” He added that he was “really disgusted” by Fisher’s actions.
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The founder of a student group supporting former President Donald Trump was arrested and charged with assaulting his girlfriend with a gun in North Carolina before Thanksgiving.
According to reports, right-wing activist Ryan Fournier is facing misdemeanor charges handed down by a magistrate after being arrested in Johnston County, North Carolina last Tuesday(November 21). The information was disclosed through state public records. Fournier is accused of “grabbing her right arm and striking her in the forehead” with a 9mm Sauer handgun. It was reported that she suffered a minor injury after the incident. He would waive his right to a lawyer and post bond, being released later that evening. Fournier is slated to appear in court on December 18 and didn’t respond to requests for comment from the press.
Fournier, who currently resides in Salem, rose to prominence as a founder of Students For Trump along with John Lambert while attending Campbell University in 2016, a Christian institution in Bules Creek, North Carolina. The group factored significantly in the support for Trump during his run for president that year after his campaign asked them to help. At its height, Students For Trump had 250 chapters across the nation and a membership of over 5,000 volunteers. Fournier is currently the executive of Radical Alert, a conservative group claiming that “Radicals have taken over American college campuses,” with a following of one million on X, formerly Twitter.
The 27-year-old would be named as a conspirator in a scheme that Lambert perpetrated where he posed as a lawyer from a firm in Manhattan, New York. Lambert was charged with dispensing information he wasn’t licensed to share between 2016 and 2018, receiving $47,000 in exchange. He would be arrested in 2019, and sentenced to 13 months in prison in 2021. During a hearing in the trial, it was revealed that Fournier was cooperating with prosecutors.
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Kodak Black is the focus of a beef between two politicians in Florida, with one declaring him “out of control” recently.
Last Wednesday (Nov. 22), Kodak Black became the flashpoint for another politician’s political attack on a Florida state politician. Richard Ryles, who is running for the Palm Beach County Commission seat, took aim at his fellow Democrat and opponent in the race, state Senator Bobby Powell for honoring the rapper with a proclamation. Ryles aired out his grievances in a statement to The Palm Beach Post.
“As an African-American, our community is well known for its forgiving nature and faith in redemption,” Ryles said in the statement which was emailed to the media outlet. “As an African-American man, I do want to see a redeemed Bill Kapri [aka Kodak Black] in his future dealings. Nevertheless, his recent spate of arrests indicate that he has yet to find his moral North Star and may well be spinning out of control due to drug use.”
“Mr. Kapri’s past misdeeds are well known and very public, and to provide a proclamation by honoring him for the charitable giving of turkeys, in my opinion, was more harmful than helpful to his potential redemption as a citizen,” the candidate wrote further. Since being pardoned by Trump in one of his final acts as president in 2021, Kodak Black has been exhibiting erratic behavior, most notably in his appearance on the Drink Champs podcast in October where he looked to be highly unstable.
Ryles further criticized Powell’s move to honor Kodak Black, a celebrity who has been highly vocal in their support of former President Donald Trump. “As a leader within the Democratic Party, I would have thought that Senator Powell would have exercised greater caution than to allow photographs of he with Mr. Kapri outfitted in MAGA gear, head to toe,” Ryles statement continued. Powell would issue a rebuttal statement afterward. ”By Mr. Ryles’ elitist logic, a man is to be strictly judged by a single act, not the totality of his life,” he wrote. “There is no forgiveness, no second chances, no redemption, just ongoing punishment, the kind that brought us an overpopulation of Black men in prison with no future and no hope.”