Category Archives: Donald Trump

One of the ways Donald Trump has been spending his life post-presidency has been playing golf in his current home state of Florida. In fact, he recently made headlines for sporting golf gear that could potentially get him in legal trouble. The LIV Golf Invitational Series Tournament based in New Jersey showed Trump's official U.S. government seal on full display. A video was captured and is now going viral on Twitter.

The video depicts Trump standing next to a man who is singing 'God Bless America,' and seems confused about what to do during the patriotic song.One Twitter user pointed out that this isn't the first occurrence where Trump has been befuddled on what to do during the Irving Berlin song, posting a video during a former Celebration of America event. Another user concurred, tweeting: "He is always trying to figure out what he's supposed to do while 'God Bless America' is sung, no matter where he is."

One user considered that Trump may be confusing "God Bless America" with the "National Anthem." The tweetread,"He thinks it's the Star Spangled Banner! There is no formal 'God Bless America' song etiquette as it is not our national anthem. Stand if you are asked, it shows respect. Taking your hat or cap off is not necessary. Placing your hand over your heart is not necessary."

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Donald Trump's Awkward Reaction To A Patriotic Anthem Has Twitter In A Tizzy - The List

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Donald Trump Jnr has branded Henrik Stensons victory on his LIV Golf debut the greatest F/U in the history of golf.

The son of ex-President Trump gave his opinion on Twitter after Stensons stunning victory at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster - the New Jersey course owned by his father - which earned the Swede a total of $4.375million.

Stensons move to LIV last month was shrouded in controversy because he was removed from the position as Ryder Cup captain as a result of signing with the Saudi-backed series. Indeed, after wrapping up his wire-to-wire win on his LIV debut, the 46-year-old couldnt resist firing a shot at that decision, saying afterwards that he played like a captain.

Despite the furore around his decision to join LIV, it didnt seem to trouble Stenson too much, as he played his best golf in years, opening with a 7-under-par 64 and sealing his two-shot victory with back-to-back 69s, finishing the 54-hole tournament at 11-under.

Matthew Wolff and Dustin Johnson finished tied-2nd on 9-under-par, both banking $1,812,500, while Johnsons 4Aces won the team event again, just as they did in Portland, to split the $3million prize money with Patrick Reed, Talor Gooch and Pat Perez. Stenson, part of the Majesticks team, had to make do with second place there, splitting $1.5million with Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Sam Horsfield.

The Trump family have been vocal supporters of LIV Golf since the launch of the big money series. Donald Trump last week declared LIV Golf a great thing for Saudi Arabia and has encouraged players to take the money and join the breakaway series. Before the Bedmister event, the ex-President and another of his sons, Eric, played in the pro-am alongside Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau.

Trump is said to still be unhappy after this years PGA Championship was moved from Bedminster to Southern Hills following the US Capitol Hill riots on 6th January 2021, while Doral also lost its Tour event (the WGC-Cadillac Championship) after more than 50 years in 2016.

Last week LIV Golf announced huge expansion plans for next year, and more Trump-owned courses could be set to host events. As well as the Bedminster event that just finished, the inaugural season will visit Trump National Doral for the season finale in October. Reports over the weekend suggested that Trump's course in Ireland could host a LIV event in 2023.

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'Greatest F/U In The History Of Golf' - Donald Trump Jr On Stenson LIV Golf Win - Golf Monthly

In this Last Word segment, Lawrence O'Donnell lays out the cold hard truth that no one wants to hear. Donald Trump will likely never hear the sound of prison bars closing in on him. It would be unprecedented for a former president (with his large Secret Service detail) to be sentenced to serve time behind bars. At the most, he could end up with some sort of house confinement, effectively turning his USSS detail into both his protectors and his jailers.

But what is more likely to happen is that he will go completely broke fighting civil suits (like the one brought by Capitol Police officers) and paying any judgements awarded in these cases, which would be hundreds of millions of dollars. And, as Lawrence points out, for Don the Con, ending up penniless may be the far greater punishment. Either way, he will likely spend the rest of his days as Defendant Trump.

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Why Donald Trump will never go to prison but he may go broke - Boing Boing

Former President Donald Trump.Joe Maiorana/AP Photo

Donald Trump said it would be "very hard" not to run against Joe Biden in 2024.

The former president discussed when and if he would announce his candidacy while appearing on a talk show.

While not confirming whether or not he would run, Trump said: "in my mind, I've already made the decision."

Former President Donald Trump said it would be "very hard" for him to not run for president against Joe Biden in 2024, in the latest hint about his intent to run.

While appearing on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show on Friday, the former president was asked: "Knowing what you know and seeing what you see of Joe Biden, how do you not run in 2024?"

"Very hard for me not to run, to be honest," Trump responded.

"And also, the polls indicate that, from the Republican standpoint, it would be easy. And I think from, like I was up 11 points against Biden the other day. I don't think he's gonna run."

Trump went on to discuss poll numbers, and claimed that he now has "the best poll numbers now I've ever had."

Recent polls have consistently suggested that Trump would beat Biden in a potential match-up, according to polling data aggregator RealClearPolitics.

Trump's most likely contender in a Republican primary for 2024 would be rising star Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

Although he has beaten Trump in some conservative straw polls, others suggest Trump would win.

After discussing upcoming midterms, talk show host Sexton asked Trump if he was going to announce his candidacy when it would be.

Trump went on to muse over the benefits of announcing before or after midterms, and claimed: "if we do badly, they'll blame me no matter what even if I had nothing to do with it."

A detailed view of a golf bag belonging to Eric Trump reads "Trump 2024."Jonathan Ferrey/LIV Golf via Getty Images

Sources close to the president have previously suggested he is more likely to announce before midterms.

While remaining coy about whether or not he will run, the former president said that he had already made up his mind.

"I'll make a decision fairly soon. And my I must tell you and I think I can say this in my mind, I've already made the decision," the former president said.

Recent photographs from earlier this week showed Trump's son Eric's golf bag had "Trump 2024" emblazoned on it, in another hint that he intends to run for a third time.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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Donald Trump said it would be 'very hard for me not to run' against Joe ...

When Ivana Trump, Donald Trumps first wife, was buried last month near the first hole of Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, few immediately guessed that her graves location might also serve her ex-husbands long-held tax planning purposes.

Tax code in New Jersey exempts cemetery land from all taxes, rates, and assessments and her grave, as such, potentially has advantageous tax implications for a Trump family trust that owns the golf business, in a state where property and land taxes are notoriously high.

According to documents published by ProPublica, the Trump family trust previously sought to designate a nearby property in Hackettstown, New Jersey, as a non-profit cemetery company.

But Ivana Trump, who died earlier this month at 73 after a fall at her home in New York Citys Manhattan, is the first person known to have been buried at the golf course, where Donald Trump and his family spend a lot of time in the summers.

Under New Jerseys tax code, cemetery companies are not only exempt from real estate taxes, rates, and assessments or personal property taxes, but also business taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, and inheritance taxes, according to Insider.

Brooke Harrington, a professor of sociology at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, tweeted on Saturday that she had looked into claims that Ivana Trumps resting-place might also benefit her ex-husbands tax planning from beyond the grave.

As a tax researcher, I was skeptical of rumors Trump buried his ex-wife in that sad little plot of dirt on his Bedminster, NJ golf course just for tax breaks. So I checked the NJ tax code & folksits a trifecta of tax avoidance. Property, income & sales tax, all eliminated, Harrington wrote, after opinions accusing Trump of being primarily motivated by the possibility of a tax break began popping up on social media.

Harrington later tweeted the full New Jersey tax code for cemetery land. While there is no stipulation for the amount of human remains necessary in order to qualify for the break, sales of wreaths, larger evergreen arrangements, flowers and other similar items are taxable.

While saying she was surprised about the tax suggestions she also accused Donald Trump of burying his wife in little more than a paupers grave and as a result disgracing the three children they had together, Ivanka, Don Jr and Eric.

Previous reports have suggested that her former husband has planned to build different types of cemetery operations at the Bedminster golf course.

Last week it was the venue for the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf tournament and was the focus of protests by some families of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US, after Donald Trump previously joined opinions that the kingdom was behind the Al-Qaida plot to hijack passenger jets and crash them into World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon.

US public radio station NPR reported in 2012 under the online headline Fairway to Heaven that Trump planned to build himself a mausoleum on the property, prompting some local objections. That proposal was later expanded to a cemetery that could contain upwards of a 1,000 possible graves.

That plan was later dropped and replaced with a design for a 10-plot private family cemetery in the same spot, and refined again into a proposal for a commercial 284-plot cemetery, the station reported.

Ivana Trump was buried in a plot close to the first tee of the golf course, following her funeral in Manhattan on 20 July. Her resting place is currently marked with a rudimentary wreath of white flowers and an engraved granite stone.

However it is unlikely that the 1.5 acre plot would deliver tax exemptions to the entire Bedminster property any break only applies so long as the plot is less than 10 acres.

But every break counts, and the former president has previously designated the plot as a farm because some trees on the site are turned into mulch used for flower beds, according to the Washington Post.

Trumps notions to partially designate the golf course as a cemetery date to at least 2014. Plans then filed with local and state authorities listed a proposal for a pair of graveyards one for the family, another with 284 plots for sale. The Washington Post noted that buyers, presumably avid golfers, could pay for a kind of eternal membership to the club.

But Trump, true to form, had not at that time settled on a course of action. Robert Holtaway, a Bedminster town official, said he had doubts about the cemetery plans. It never made any sense to me. But, he added, we dont question motives. Were there as a land-use board.

Trump already has a plot at All Faiths Cemetery in Jamaica, Queens, close to his mother and father, but plans for his Bedminster mausoleum were suitably grandiose: 19 feet high, in stone, with obelisks, and planted smack in the middle of the course.

Trump has kept silent about his plans for how the Eternal Donald will be commemorated in the earthly realm. In 2007, then aged 60, he told the New York Post that the golden course mausoleum was a rational choice.

Its never something you like to think about, but it makes sense, he told the papers Page Six column. This is such beautiful land, and Bedminster is one of the richest places in the country.

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Will Ivana help Donald Trump with tax breaks from beyond the grave? - The Guardian US

1. Donald Trump doing 'tele-rally' for Tudor Dixon on primary eve  Detroit News
2. Betsy DeVos Is Still on Donald Trump's Side Mother Jones  Mother Jones
3. Donald Trump Slammed by MAGA Supporters After Tudor Dixon Endorsement  Newsweek
4. Trump Backs Tudor Dixon for Michigan Governor After Months of GOP Tumult  Business Insider
5. Former president Donald Trump endorses Tudor Dixon for governor  MLive.com
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Donald Trump doing 'tele-rally' for Tudor Dixon on primary eve - Detroit News

A detailed view of a golf bag belonging to Eric Trump reads "Trump 2024" as seen during the pro-am prior to the LIV Golf Invitational - Bedminster at Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster on July 28, 2022 in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Jonathan Ferrey | LIV Golf | Getty Images

Eric Trump is more than ready for his father Donald Trump to tee off in a third bid for the White House, even if the former president himself is holding off for now on a campaign announcement

Eric used a golf bag featuring the lettering "Trump 2024" under an American flag patch Thursday at Donald Trump's Bedminster, New Jersey, club, which was hosting a tournament of LIV Golf, the controversial pro tour backed by Saudi Arabia's public investment fund.

The younger Trump's cheeky public display of the logo at a pro-am competition comes as his father contemplates launching another run for the presidency sooner rather than later.

A spokeswoman for the Trump Organization, the family business that Eric Trump leads with his brother, Donald Jr., did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday on the bag lettering. Donald Trump's spokeswoman also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump and son Eric Trump react to his putt on the 14th green during the pro-am prior to the LIV Golf Invitational - Bedminster at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on July 28, 2022 in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Cliff Hawkins | Getty Images

Donald Trump reportedly is considering formally announcing before this November's midterm elections that he intends to run for president in 2024.

Trump, who lost a reelection effort to President Joe Biden, is said to be motivated at least in part, to blunt the rising popularity among Republicans of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who himself reportedly is eyeing a White House run in 2024.

But some GOP elected officials and candidates are worried that if Trump does announce he is running before November, it would hurt the party's chances of winning majorities in both chambers of Congress this year.

While retaining the support of many Republican voters, Trump remains a deeply controversial figure due to his refusal to accept the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential vote results, the subsequent Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, and other issues.

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On Wednesday, ABC News reported that a Republican National Committee official told that news outlet that the RNC would stop paying legal bills for Trump as soon as he announces he is a candidate, "because the party has a 'neutrality policy' that prohibits it from taking sides in the presidential primary."

ABC noted that since October, the RNC has paid almost $2 million to law firms that represent Trump in lawsuits filed against him, and investigations by government entities.

This weekend's event at Trump's New Jersey golf club has generated controversy on multiple fronts.

The Saudi-backed LIV Golf is challenging the PGA Tour's dominance in professional golf, which has led the PGA to suspend more than 20 players from its events for participating in LIV events without receiving releases for "conflicting event and media rights."

LIV Golf also has been accused of being yet another "sports-wash" effort by the Saudi Arabia to improve its international reputation, which has suffered for decades because of internal government repression and human rights abuses.

Trump, who is from New York City, has been strongly criticized in recent weeks by families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks for hosting the Saudi-backed event at his club.

Of the 19 hijackers of four planes that day, 15 were Saudi nationals. Two of the planes that were hijacked slammed into the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, which collapsed soon afterward. The Saudi government has long denied connection to the attacks.

"How much money to turn your back on your own country?" asked a woman in an ad created by 9/11 survivors and relatives and directed at Trump that began airing this week.

The ad also features a man saying, "This golf tournament is taking place 50 miles from Ground Zero."

When asked about that Thursday, Donald Trump replied, "Well, nobody's gotten to the bottom of 9/11, unfortunately, and they should have."

But six years ago, during his first White House run, Trump said on an appearance on Fox News' "Fox & Friends:" "Who blew up the World Trade Center? It wasn't the Iraqis, it was Saudi take a look at Saudi Arabia, open the documents."

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Trump in 2024: Eric Trump teases dad's third election run with golf bag at Saudi-backed tour event - CNBC

He spoke in lurid detail of cities overrun by violent crime. He railed against the media, deep state and liberal elites. And he touted his wall with a dire warning: Millions of illegal aliens are stampeding across our wide open borders, pouring into our country. Its an invasion.

Donald Trumps return to Washington this week was deja vu all over again. The former US presidents 90-minute speech at a luxury hotel was eerily reminiscent of the nativist-populist campaign that won him the White House in 2016. But while Trump himself never evolves, his audience this time around was different.

While the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a rightwing thinktank, was happy to indulge the garrulous showman at its inaugural summit, it also maintained a cold-eyed focus on the future. Over two days Trumps allies and alumni laid out a blueprint for a return to power and a second term more authoritarian, more extreme and more ruthless than the first.

The institute evidently untroubled by the associations of the phrase America First with Nazi sympathisers who wanted to keep the US out of the second world war has 150 staff, including nine former Trump administration cabinet officials and more than 50 former senior staff and officials. Familiar faces such as Kellyanne Conway, Larry Kudlow and Mark Meadows were feted at the conference.

The AFPI is led by Brooke Rollins, a former domestic policy adviser in the White House, who boasted how the 15-month-old organisation put boots on the ground in 32 states on issues from election integrity to school choice and patriotic education to health care transparency to taxes and spending to fatherhood initiatives to border security to big tech censorship.

The institute has sued Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for alleged censorship, she added, while fighting Joe Bidens vaccine mandates all the way to the supreme court and opposing his Build Back Better plan for climate and social spending.

Critics have described the AFPI as a grift for Trump hangers-on to make money but others perceive a White House in waiting, determined to avoid the mistakes of his uniquely turbulent presidency and, through 22 policy centres, guarantee the survival of Trumpism beyond Trump.

Conway, a former senior counselor to the president, told the Guardian: It certainly is a way to preserve the legacy and for some people its also a way to make sure that the entire body of work of the America First movement is all in one place. Its about policies and principles, not about personalities and politics.

She added: I actually believe, and Ive heard Brooke Rollins say more than once or twice, privately and publicly, that we have this in place in case President Trump runs again and, if he doesnt, then its in place for whomever runs again.

Whoever the Republican nominee is next time, whether its Trump or someone else, will run the way all of these Republican candidates for House and Senate and governor this time, with very few exceptions if any, are running on the America First agenda. They all are doing that this time.

The summit revelled in apocalyptic portrayals of Biden and Democrats posing an existential threat to the American way of life. It also described America First principles such as making the economy work for all, putting patients and doctors back in charge of healthcare, protecting the second amendment right to bear arms and giving parents more control over the education of their children.

The list of priorities included finish the wall, deliver peace through strength, make America energy independent, make it easy to vote and hard to cheat, fighting government corruption by draining the swamp.

Handouts of reading material offered another insight. A parent toolkit warned of the perils of wokeness, critical race theory and the 1619 Project, citing examples such as an elementary school in Philadelphia that forced fifth-grade students to simulate a black power rally. It offered advice on how to run for school boards.

An op-ed by Rollins about the supreme courts decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion quoted the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher during the Falklands war: Just rejoice at that news.

A document on school safety and gun violence emphasised fortifying schools, improving access to mental health services and understanding the relationship between culture and violence rather than limiting access to firearms. Another paper was entitled: Fatherlessness and its effects on American society.

During one panel discussion, Rick Perry, a former energy secretary, insisted that the next Republican administration would not be genuflecting at the altar of the religion of environmentalism, adding: We dont need to apologise to anybody for being for fossil fuels and how they have changed the world that we live in today, the flourishing of the world.

The gathering also heard about plans to follow through on what Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist, described as the deconstruction of the administrative state, centralising power in the presidency like other strongmen around the world.

In his speech on Tuesday, Trump said: We need to make it much easier to fire rogue bureaucrats who are deliberately undermining democracy or, at a minimum, just want to keep their jobs. Congress should pass historic reforms empowering the president to ensure that any bureaucrat who is corrupt, incompetent or unnecessary for the job can be told did you ever hear this? Youre fired. Get out. Youre fired. Have to do it. Deep state.

The comments followed recent in-depth media reporting about the dramatic scope and scale of planning for President Trump 2.0. The Axios website described how his aides are aiming to transform the federal government by replacing thousands of civil servants with loyalists to him and America First.

Axios wrote that the plan owes much to an executive order known as Schedule F that was secretly developed in the second half of Trumps presidency only to be thwarted by his election defeat.

The site added: The impact could go well beyond typical conservative targets such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Internal Revenue Service. Trump allies are working on plans that would potentially strip layers at the justice department including the FBI, and reaching into national security, intelligence, the state department and the Pentagon, sources close to the former president say.

The AFPI could prove central to this authoritarian vision. Newt Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, drew a comparison with the Heritage Foundation, a conservative thinktank that he said was crucial to the Ronald Reagan administration, to the extent that Reagan gave each cabinet secretary a copy of its experts report and told them to implement it.

The America First Policy Institute is going to do for the next few years what the Heritage Foundation did in 1979, 1980, Gingrich said. I think because of the experience over four years under President Trump, we have a seasoned enough cadre that, if we work at it methodically, we can actually have enormous impact on profoundly reshaping the federal government.

Trump remained the undisputed master of the AFPI universe in Washington, with some panelists expressing nostalgic yearning for what they perceived as the golden age of his presidency, seemingly oblivious to the revelations of the congressional committee investigating his role in the deadly January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.

Rollins described him as one of the greatest Americans of all time. Board chair Linda McMahon added: Our nation greatly misses President Trump and we need his voice and perspective more than ever. Senator Lindsey Graham opined that Trump was good for the Republican party and proclaimed: I hope he runs again.

But the thinktank is also seeking to trace an ideological thread in the chaos and carnage of the Trump years, laying the foundation for the future of America First after he has left the political stage or if the mantle passes to another Republican such as Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida.

Marc Lotter, chief communications officer at AFPI, said: Theres no question that President Trump is the visionary that put all this in place and started it but the voters will decide who should carry that leadership forward and, if theyre America First, then theyll have the benefit of our work.

He added: One of the differences between AFPI and many of our fellow folks in the conservative think space is we were actually the ones there doing it in the White House and so know what you need to do when you hit the ground running, whether it is in January 23, when America First retakes control of Congress, or in a state house or a governors office, or eventually in 25 in the White House. Thats what were preparing for.

Policy experts remain sceptical of the AFPI. Bill Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington, said: I looked at the website yesterday and I was astonished by the number of people who appear to be in salaried positions and also by the unimpressive and unoriginal quality of what they turned out on the policy front.

A small team of legislative assistants to a Republican congressman could have written papers with those titles in a week because theres nothing very original about being pro-patriotic and pro-family in the Republican party. Let me know if they come up with anything more impressive than that.

But Galston, a former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton, also noted the Axios report about Trump acolytes plans to purge disloyal civil servants. A second Trump term would be even more dangerous than the first because they now realise how unprepared they were to assume power, he added.

I dont think theyre going to make that same mistake again, and they now have a much clearer idea of what to do to institutionalise their power should they regain it. The next two and a half years will be a game for very high stakes in the United States.

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America First is laying plans to perpetuate Trumpism beyond Trump - The Guardian US

In the history of our country, no attorney general has ever prosecuted a former president in federal court for crimes committed while in office.

The Jan. 6 congressional hearings credibly present a damning narrative that then-President Donald Trump was the driving force behind a massive conspiracy to obstruct justice, interfere with the official Jan. 6 congressional proceedings and defraud the citizens of the United States of a fair election outcome.

While there appears to be little in the hearings that would undercut a successful criminal prosecution of the former president, neither do the hearings guarantee a successful prosecution.

Unlike congressional hearings, in a criminal prosecution, the former president will challenge all the evidence that prosecutors hope to present before a jury in a criminal trial. The process will test the credibility, biases and memories of witnesses. Federal rules of evidence may exclude certain key evidence or testimony disclosed in the Jan. 6 hearings. In every American courtroom, the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and the burden of proof is on the prosecution. No matter what we may think of Trumps actions on Jan. 6, the picture before 12 open-minded jurors may look quite different once the defense presents its case.

Some havecriticized the paceof the Department of Justices investigation, while others insist the public record alreadyclearly supportsan indictment and likely conviction of the former president. As to timing, it appears the investigation is proceeding in a deliberate fashion, careful and methodical. Out of fairness to prospective targets, the work of any federal investigation is confidential. Grand jury proceedings require confidentiality. The investigation will take as long as it takes. The attorney general will make a charging decision, whether it takes six weeks or six months, only after collecting and analyzing all the evidence, including the work of the Jan. 6 committee.

DOJ guidelines about the timing of a prosecution in proximity to an election are just that guidelines. To be sure, these guidelines are important to maintain a degree of uniformity among federal prosecutions and to protect the reputation of the department against charges of favoritism and bias. However, in the end, the attorney general has wide discretion, guided by what is in the interest of justice.

Whether Congress makes a criminal referral of former President Trump to the Justice Department will matter little in Garlands final decision. For example, Congress may decide that the facts support a referral yet may decline to do so because of concerns it will make their work look political. No one should expect the attorney general to blindly follow decisions or recommendations by the committee or to be constrained by regulations intended to guide decisions by line prosecutors in routine cases across the country.

Finally, the midterm elections will not dictate the timing or decision of the attorney general. Those on the Jan. 6 committee may feel a sense of urgency to complete its work given widely reported views that Republicans will retake control of the house and thendisband the committeeor undermine its work. Whatever happens this November, the department will continue its investigation and Garland will make a decision based on the evidence.

As to the strength of the governments case, only Garland and his highly experienced team of prosecutors can best assess which crimes they can prove have been committed, if any, by the former president and others. They have tools that private individuals and congressional committees do not have to gather evidence and compel testimony.

A primary reason to punish criminal acts is to discourage future behavior. Here the nature of possible offenses is serious and requires accountability. This is especially relevant here given growing signs that former President Trump againintends to run for office. Even if a future prosecution is unsuccessful, the investigation and trial would nevertheless likely provide a strong future deterrent.

There are other serious issues confronting our country today, from abortion and gun rights to the growing threat from China and the war in Ukraine. Our government leaders must focus on these internal and external challenges. A trial of former President Trump will dominate the news and captivate the attention of the public and likely our government leaders for months. President Gerald Fordpardonedformer President Richard Nixon for acts relating to the Watergate break-in, in part because Ford believed it was time for the nation to move on and heal. He thought it best to exercise the power of the sovereign to forgive transgressions by Nixon. President Biden has the power to do the same if he chooses, but granting a pardon is neither within the power of the attorney general nor within his discretion. The job of the attorney general is to prosecute wrongdoing no matter how popular or unpopular.

Merrick Garland enjoys a reputation of integrity and courage. I expect he will be fair in his charging decision with respect to former President Trump as he would with any other potential defendant. However, I suspect that here he will proceed with extra caution. If the government prosecutes a former president, the government should be especially confident of success.

Attorney General Garland will make his charging decision at a time of his choosing. He will not make this decision in a vacuum, nor rely solely on his own experiences. He will consult and listen to the views and recommendations of his senior team. He will weigh all of the evidence gathered by both the Jan. 6 committee and investigators at the Justice Department.

Whatever the decision, at some point Garland should explain how his decision advances the rule of law, and defend it to the American people, Congress and Justice Department personnel. He will have to explain his decision for history.

Alberto Gonzales was the 80th Attorney General of the United States and counsel to the president in the George W. Bush administration. He is now the Dean and Doyle Rogers Distinguished Professor of Law at Belmont University College of Law.

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What to expect from the DOJs investigation of Donald Trump - The Hill

President Biden has been proactively getting in Donald Trumps face in recent days.

Biden has been taunting his predecessor with slights, calling him the defeated former president of the United States.

Hes called him out by name, dubbing him a liar and saying he lacks courage.

Biden has even ripped Trumps patriotism and loyalty to the country, pointing to his actions on Jan. 6, 2021:You cant be pro-insurrection and pro-cop. You cant be pro-insurrection and pro-democracy. You cant be pro-insurrection and pro-American, Biden said in a virtual address Monday to the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives conference.

A day later, Biden took to Twitter, in a rare move, to rip Trump again: Call me old fashioned, but I dont think inciting a mob that attacks a police officer is respect for the law.

Earlier this month, Biden said while he couldnt offer a prediction on if Trump would be the Republican nominee in 2024, he said he would not be disappointed if he were to face off with Trump again in 2024.

After ending his COVID-19 isolation, Biden appeared to take another shot at Trump, noting the former president, who got COVID-19 before vaccines were available, had to be helicoptered to Walter Reed hospital.

The Trump insults are becoming more common, and they are no accident.

With the midterm elections inching closer, Biden is expected to play up the contrast between Democrats and Republicans and at times would be expected to use Trump as his foil.

The House Jan. 6 select committee hearings have offered Biden the perfect backdrop for the rash of new attacks, providing evidence of Trumps alleged involvement in the insurrection on the Capitol and his willingness to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

And it coincides with the hopes of Democratic campaigns that voters will come out and vote against the GOP because of Trump.

Why not compare and contrast the person who truly is the face of the Republican Party? said Democratic strategist Rodell Mollineau. Donald Trump is the face of the opposition, and its smart to remind Americans who he is.

Such strategies have not been entirely effective for Democrats. Just last year, Republican Glenn Youngkin won the Virginia gubernatorial race as Democrats sought to tie him to Trump.

But its still a solid strategy, say Democrats, given dealmaking with Republicans is largely over.

Hes gotten everything he can for now from Senate Republicans and Trump is making noise about announcing soon, so its the perfect time to drop the gloves and get back up in their faces, Democraticstrategist Eddie Valesaid. And then its also perfectly timed up on top of that with the Jan. 6 hearing putting the spotlight on Trumps insurrection to draw the direct contact between his danger and demagoguery and Bidens growing-rapidly-by-the-day achievements.

Though Biden received unwelcome news on Thursday in the form of a Commerce Department report showing the economy shrunk in the second quarter, it hasnt been a bad week for the president.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) struck a deal with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on what would be the most massive climate change bill in congressional history. If it passes, it would be a significant win at a time when Biden needed one.

Separately, Congress approved a bill to help U.S. production of semiconductors, and Biden is hoping the Senate may still pass a bill codifying same-sex marriage.

Bidens national polling average has lingered around 38 percent, and surveys show most Democrats dont want him to seek reelection in 2024.

Trump, who could launch a new presidential bid any day, has often lobbed attacks at Biden. He has criticized the president on everything from his mental acuity to his handling of economy.

Biden, in contrast, has avoided Trump insults for much of his presidency, not wanting to give attention to his predecessor.

Insults, when they came, were done mostly through veiled asides.

Finally, infrastructure week, Biden quipped in November, referring to an ongoing joke during the Trump administration about the inability to move infrastructure legislation through at that time.

But in recent days, it has been Biden punching first.

He needs to drop the tough guy act, Fox News host Jesse Watters said Wednesday on the networks show The Five.

Biden has positioned himself as the best person who can defeat Trump in 2024, a comment hes made both publicly and privately to aides and allies.

He truly believes hes the only one who can win, one ally said. And I believe hes 100 percent correct.

The ally acknowledged that one of Bidens weaknesses against someone like Trump is the notion that he lacks the stamina to take on the former president or other Republicans, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Democrats also want to elect someone they see as a fighter who isnt afraid to rip the GOP nominee to shreds.

So to have Biden out there taking on Trump without being lured into the fight is a good thing, the ally said. Why shouldnt he be the one to throw the first punches? Why wait for the bully?

At the same time, Democrats say Trumps grip around the base isnt what it used to be.

The Republican Party remains Trumps party, but its bad for their brand among swing voters and in general elections, said Ben LaBolt, a Democratic strategist who served as a spokesman to former President Obama. Theres only one candidate that proved themselves able to take on Donald Trump and win the last election Joe Biden and a tte--tte between the two of them continues to elevate Biden and the Democratic Party.

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Biden turns up the insults on Donald Trump - The Hill