Category Archives: Donald Trump

Donald Trump has claimed he has been investigated more than some of the country's most notorious figures combined, including gangster Al Capone, while claiming the Democrats have "weaponized" the judicial system.

In an interview with Sean Hannity, the Fox News host asked Trump if President Joe Biden has been "compromised" by recent revelations regarding emails sent from his son Hunter Biden's laptop, which were originally dismissed by large sections of the media.

In response, the former president suggested the New York Postwhich first reported on the content of the laptop which Hunter Biden left in a repair shop in Delaware, and which detailed his business dealings in China and Ukrainehas "enhanced their reputation" after The New York Times and The Washington Post authenticated some of the original claims, more than 18 months after story first appeared.

Trump added the dismissal of the Hunter Biden story, which was published just weeks before the 2020 Election, may have affected the outcome while once again pushing false claims the election was rigged, and hit out at the investigations against him over his attempts to overturn the results.

"What they're doing is they suppressed the vote, and they artificially suppressed the vote, and probably illegally suppressed the vote. And nobody wants to talk about it. But it's a very dangerous thing," Trump said.

"Now what they do is they use prosecutors... look, I've gotten through in five years more investigations than Al Capone, Jesse James, and Billy the Kid put together. If I fly over Democrat states in my aeroplane, I end up before a grand jury. It's a disgrace.

"The people of this country aren't going to take it," Trump added. "They've weaponized law enforcement, they've weaponized the AGs in the states, and the Attorney General, and the district attorneys. I mean, it's such a horrible thing that they're doing."

Despite being linked to a number of murders during his time as a prohibition-era mobster, Capone was only jailed over charges of tax fraud.

Hunter Biden is under a federal investigation over his finances, including claims of money laundering and alleged business dealings with foreign countries, including China, which he denies.

President Biden is not implicated in the investigation.

Trump is facing a number of criminal and civil investigations, but has not been charged or indicted in any of them.

These include allegations he committed a crime with his attempts to stop Congress certifying the election results in favor of Biden on January 6. Trump is also being investigated for alleged election interference in relation to a phone call he had with Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which the former president asked him to "find" 11,780 votes to overturn Biden's win in the state.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is also looking into allegations of tax fraud at The Trump Organization.

Elsewhere during the Hannity interview, Trump suggested former Attorney General Bill Barr refused to look into his baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election because he was worried about getting impeached.

Barr resigned as attorney general in December 2020 over Trump's false insistence the election was rigged, soon after revealing the Justice Department had found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

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Donald Trump Says He Has Faced More Investigations Than Al Capone - Newsweek

Donald Trump Jr. has suggested that New York subway cameras were intentionally disabled for political reasons to prevent a mass shooting from being recorded.

The eldest son of former President Donald Trump made the remarks on Twitter Wednesday, referring to New York Mayor Eric Adams' admission that cameras were not working when a shooter opened fire on commuters on Tuesday. Trump Jr.'s comments are the latest in a string of tweets accusing law enforcement of bending to politics as they responded to the shooting.

Following the shooting, reports emerged that security cameras at Sunset Park's 36th Street station, the scene of the attack, were not working and did not capture the incident. Adams confirmed to WCBS that there was "some form of malfunction with the camera system," which he said was under review.

The shooting presented a significant challenge for Adams, a Democrat, who has prioritized public safety in the nation's largest city, particularly on its public transit system.

"Why do the security cameras never seem to work when the reality of the crime isn't good for the leftist narrative???" Trump Jr. said on Twitter.

Fabien Levy, Adams' press secretary, told Newsweek in an email that collaboration between the New York Police Department, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and other agencies led to the arrest of the suspected shooter.

"It's sad that certain individuals want to politicize an attack on our city," said Levy.

Police on Wednesday arrested suspected shooter Frank James, who faces terrorism charges for the incident that left 10 people wounded.

Leading up to the shooting, James had posted videos to YouTube predicting a "civil war" between races. He also said that white people viewed Black people as being rightfully slaves. James in a video also criticized Adams, saying the mayor had contributed to his mental health problems and he had emerged from a facility with "more issues."

Trump Jr. on Wednesday retweeted a tweet from a writer for conservative blog RedState referencing James' videos saying "the media won't care a bit that he was motivated by left-wing talking points."

In another tweet, Trump Jr. suggested the attack wasn't described as "terror" because "the description wasn't good for the narrative."

He also took aim at the FBI, which was criticized by the former president and his allies for its investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia.

"Great work NYPD," wrote Trump Jr. "Despite the constant attacks from the leftist leaders of New York you guys still get it done... unlike the FBI leadership who seem far more interested in creating crimes and letting the actual bad guys go."

Twitter users responded to Trump Jr.'s tweet suggesting politics were behind the malfunctioning subway cameras by pointing to recently revealed text messages showing he sought to block certification of the 2020 election. Another Twitter user posted video of speeches given by Trump Jr. and his father before a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in 2020.

Another Twitter user pointed to Donald Trump's ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein was famously found dead in his New York jail cell and his death has been labeled a suicide.

However, conspiracy theories have continued to circulate that he was murdered by a powerful figure worried about potentially compromising information held by Epstein, who faced charges for running a sex trafficking operation.

A big driver behind the conspiracy theories was the two malfunctioning cameras outside his cell.

Update 4/14/22, 6 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and background.

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Donald Trump Jr. Blames Failed Security Cameras on 'Leftist Narrative' - Newsweek

A series of 13 studies with over 10,000 participants tested the change in Americans prejudice following the presidency of Donald Trump. The researchers found that explicit racial and religious prejudice increased amongst Trumps supporters, while prejudice decreased among those who opposed him. This research was published in Nature Human Behavior.

In recent decades, there has been a downward trend in prejudice toward racial and religious minorities. However, some studies suggest that racial and religious prejudice had a critical role in Trumps presidential victory. While some commentators have suggested that numerous trends following the 2016 elections (e.g., increases in reports of hate crimes, minorities reporting more discrimination) point toward a rise in racial and religious prejudice in America, others have argued that these increases may be a consequence of increased national attention to issues of prejudice. Other commentators from both sides of the political spectrum have suggested that even if there has been a rise in discrimination, it only reflects extremist fringe groups, rather than the broader American population.

In this work, Benjamin C. Ruisch and Melissa J. Ferguson examine whether a single counter-normative public figure, and his widespread acceptance by a large portion of the American people, can lead to large-scale changes in social norms and societal prejudices.

The authors tested two key predictions. First, that racial and religious prejudice significantly increased among Trump supporters but not other Americans. Second, that increase in prejudice reflected the increased acceptability of expressing prejudice (i.e., changes in social norms).

Studies 1-9 were multi-year longitudinal studies involving over 1000 participants, examining the the breadth and depth of changes in prejudice across various target groups and measure types. At Time 1, they included at least one measure of prejudice and various questions assessing views on social and political issues. Time 2 measures were nearly identical, and also included a question regarding support for Donald Trump.

The researchers included a wide range of measures on political ideology, political party identification, perceptions of the US economy, perceived threat and political knowledge/sophistication, as well as demographic characteristics such as age, gender, race, education and income. As well, they looked at environmental factors, including income inequality, racial diversity and voter turnout in participants home counties by extracting this information based on participants geographic location.

Study 9 included data from the VOTER survey conducted by the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group and YouGov. Responses on voting history, political attitudes, daily lives, social group memberships, health history and demographics from over 7500 participants who completed this survey in both 2016 and 2019 were included. These studies did not allow for the isolation of Trump support as a causal factor of changes in prejudice. However, they did allow the researchers to track changes before and after his political ascension, while statistically adjusting for over 80 possible predictors.

Using both correlational and experimental methodologies, Studies 10-13 included 1402 participants and were conducted for the purpose of providing support for a causal explanation.

Across Studies 1-9, Ruisch and Ferguson found that support for Donald Trump predicted a significant increase in prejudice towards a range of social, racial and religious minoritized groups. Those who generally opposed Trump, including liberals and conservatives, showed decreases in prejudice in the same time period. Studies 10-13 provided indirect support for the mechanism behind the shift in social norms.

Trump supporters perceived that expressing prejudice had become more acceptable since his election, and this perception predicted greater personal prejudice among them. As well, experimentally leading participants to feel that Trump supporters approved of his controversial rhetoric significantly increased Trump supporters personal expressions of prejudice .

The authors concluded, Together, this research suggests that the presidency of Donald Trump may have substantially reshaped the topography of prejudice in the United States.

The research, Changes in Americans prejudices during the presidency of Donald Trump, was authored by Benjamin C. Ruisch and Melissa J. Ferguson.

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Donald Trump's presidency associated with significant changes in the topography of prejudice in the United States - PsyPost

President Joe Biden's pollster says there's 'no indication' the president won't seek reelection in 2024, arguing that Democrats don't have an alternative who could beat former President Donald Trump.

"I think that a lot of us feel that if Trump runs, there's no one else that could beat Trump [other] than Joe Biden," John Anzalone told Politico's Ryan Lizzain an interview published on Friday.

As for whether or not Biden will actually run, Anzalone said there's "no indication that he won't run." Biden, who is already the oldest president in American history, has also refused to rule out a second term.

"I'd be very fortunate if I had that same man running against me," Biden recently told reporters.

Anzalone said the 2022 midterms are shaping up to be the "worst political environment" for Democrats of his lifetime. But the good news, Anzalone says, is that even with anemic approval ratings Biden is still leading Trump in a hypothetical 2024 rematch.

"You go head-to-head and Joe Biden's always ahead of him," Anzalone said. "Not by a lot one or two points. Even at his lowest approval rating, he still beats Donald Trump."

Trump is very publicly flirting with a 2024 run, even referring to himself as the 47th president. Some of his potential challengers for the GOP presidential nomination have pledged to not run if Trump decides to try to become the first president since Grover Cleveland to try to successfully reclaim the White House.

Biden's current numbers have sparked massive concerns among Democrats. According to the FiveThirtyEight's weighted average, the president has a 41.6% approval rating.

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Biden's pollster suggests that only Biden could beat Trump in 2024 - Business Insider

Donald Trump has suggested that he is perhaps the most honest human being ever created.

The former POTUS naturally didnt hold back when speaking of his character, prompting laughter from his followers.

At a rally in Selma, NC on Saturday the former president defended himself from the multiple investigations probing his tax affairs and his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

You know, youve been investigated years and years, millions and millions of pages of documents, they found nothing,' Mr. Trump said, supposedly quoting private remarks from a friend. You are the cleanest on Earth when you think about it.'

He continued: I think Im the most honest human being, perhaps, that God ever created. As laughter broke out from his supporters, Mr. Trump added: Perhaps.

His comments come hot on the heels of prosecutors in New York asking a court to hold Mr. Trump in contempt, claiming he is refusing to comply with an order to turn over documentsin her probe ofhis companys business dealings.

New York Attorney General Letitia James also requested that Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron fine the former president $10,000 for each day he allegedly fails to respect the ruling.

Trump was ordered by a judge in February to comply with subpoenas for documents, but James office says that rather than meet the March 31 deadline, he instead raised new objections.

The ship has long since sailed on Mr. Trumps ability to raise any such objections, AG lawyers said in papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court Thursday.

Mr. Trumps purported response violates the courts order; it is not full compliance or any degree of compliance, but simply more delay and obfuscation, the filing alleges. Mr. Trump should now be held in civil contempt and fined in an amount sufficient to coerce his compliance with the courts order and compensate [The Office of the Attorney General] for its fees and costs associated with this motion.

In a statement, James said the judges order for Trump to comply with her offices subpoena and hand over relevant documents had been crystal clear.

Instead of obeying a court order, Mr. Trump is trying to evade it, she said. We are seeking the courts immediate intervention because no one is above the law.

Trumps lawyer Alina Habba said, We are prepared to adamantly oppose the frivolous and baseless motion filed by the Attorney Generals office today.

Our client has consistently complied with the many discovery requests served by the Attorney Generals office over the years.

The former president also issued a lengthy statement, blasting James probe as a witch hunt and accusing her of serving as an operative for the Democrat Party in a political prosecution.

This Democrat prosecutorial misconduct began the second I came down the escalator in Trump Tower, and has continued in an attempt to silence a President who is leading in every single poll, Donald Trump said. Never before has this happened to another President, and it is an absolute violation of my civil rights.

Continued here:

Donald Trump says he is 'perhaps the most honest human' ever

I expected to discuss all sorts of things with political scientists in Chicago last week, but Ill be honest: When it came to current politics, people were mostly talking about the 2024 presidential nominations especially the Republican one. And folks I spoke with were split right down the middle: About half thought that former President Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee, and half threw up their hands and said they had no idea what would happen.

Im in that second group.

The argument that Trump has the nominationlocked up is pretty straightforward. No, we dont know for sure that hell be running in 2024, but he certainly is running for 2024 right now. That is, hes doing all the things that candidates for president do holding rallies, campaigning,raising moneyand, in his own fashion, putting together a policy platform. Sure, the platform begins and ends with complaining that people are unfair to Donald Trump, but thats pretty much all he did as presidentanyway.

Trump, the case continues, has strong support from primary votersand is liked by almost all of them. Thats usually a winning combination. Yes, a significant group of party actors, including many elected officials, appear to oppose him at least in theory. But only a very small subset of those who tell reporters off the record that Trump is a disaster for the party are willing to say sopublicly. Theres no reason to think that theyllbe any better at coordinating against him than they were in 2016, or that theyll be any better at convincing Republican voters to follow their lead.

Thats not all. In 2016, Trumps big vulnerability was that he had no apparent commitment to the normal Republican policy agenda. That shouldnt be a problem for him after four years in the White House. The first time around, Christian conservatives were skeptical; now, theyre among his strongest supporters. The most notable difference he had with Republican orthodoxy while in the White House was on foreign policy, and in 2024 a lot more party actors are on his side and few voters care about itanyway.

So why wouldnt he win?

I cant speak for everyonewho took thisposition. But for me, its less one big thing than many, many small ones. To begin with: I was wrong about 2016, and while I thinkI understand what happened, Id hesitatebefore making confident predictions aboutRepublican nomination politics again.

Beyond that? Ill note that while Republican voters by all accounts like Trump, thats not actually saying that much; most voters like politicians from their own party once they get to know them. Theres just no way to know how strong their attachment is to Trump how strong any voters attachment is to any politician until its put to the test. Well learn a little more about this when primaries resume in coming weeks. Should the candidates Trump endorsed do badly, its possible that the fear of opposing him will dissipate.

Then theres Trump himself. Yes, he certainly seems to want to be president again. But the idea that hes invincible among Republicans is far from proven. His 2016 nomination was a narrow one, aided by all sorts of odd events includinga fair amount of luck. He also has an electoral record now, and its not exactly an impressive one; after all, he lost re-election, and Republicans lost the House (in 2018) and the Senate (in 2020) while he was in office. His tantrum over losing the presidency and his false claims about fraud have widely been credited for the loss of two Senate seats in Georgia. Republicans may trust Trump more on policy than they once did, but they should have even less confidence that hell be a team player now. That could mean more opposition from party actors than last time.

That leaves the question of whether voters would listen if party actors tried to oppose Trump. They certainly didnt in 2016. Would it be different this time? It might depend on which party actors; if Fox News hosts and talk radio turned against Trump (or, perhaps, just strongly supported some other candidate) I could imagine it mattering.

And thats without getting into the possibility that Trumps various legal entanglements catch up to him. Or that hes less interested in being president again than he is in extracting money from Republican donors, a process that might be disrupted if he formally declared a run for office. Right now the nomination looks extremely valuable, given President Joe Bidens low approval ratings. Butthat could change, and if so Trump might shy away from the risk of a worse loss than he had in 2020.

Besides, were still almost two years from the first caucus or primary. At this point in the 1992 election cycle, incumbent president George H.W. Bush was so overwhelmingly popular that most high-profile Democrats passed on the race; by the time of the New Hampshire primary, Bush was so unpopular that a fringe candidate took 37% of the vote against him.

None of this is to say that Trump wont be the nominee. Its just a case for uncertainty. Perhaps Trumps triumph against all odds (and most expert opinion) in 2016 really does mean that the party is his as long as he wants it to be. Or perhaps it means that the party,the process or both are just a lot less predictable than I and others once believed. Which is true? Sorry. I have no idea.

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Is Donald Trump a Lock for the 2024 Nomination? - Bloomberg

Mentions of Donald Trump have been rare at the first few trials for people charged with storming the US Capitol, but that has changed: the latest Capitol riot defendant to go on trial is blaming his actions on the former president and his false claims about a stolen election.

Dustin Byron Thompson, an Ohio man charged with stealing a coat rack from the Capitol, doesnt deny that he joined the mob on 6 January 2021. But his lawyer vowed Tuesday to show that Trump abused his power to authorize the attack.

Describing Trump as a man without scruples or integrity, defense attorney Samuel Shamansky said the former president engaged in a sinister plot to encourage Thompson and other supporters to do his dirty work.

Its Donald Trump himself spewing the lies and using his position to authorize this assault, Shamansky told jurors Tuesday during the trials opening statements.Justice department prosecutor Jennifer Rozzoni said Thompson knew he was breaking the law that day.

He chose to be a part of the mayhem and chaos, she said.

Thompsons lawyer sought subpoenas to call Trump and Rudolph Giuliani as witnesses at his trial this week. A judge rejected that request but ruled that jurors can hear recordings of speeches that Trump and Giuliani delivered at a rally before the riot.

Thompsons jury trial is the third among hundreds of Capitol riot prosecutions. The first two ended with jurors convicting both defendants on all counts with which they were charged.

In a February court filing, Shamansky said he wanted to argue at trial that Thompson was acting at the direction of Trump and his various conspirators. The lawyer asked to subpoena others from Trumps inner circle, including former White House strategist Steve Bannon, former White House senior adviser Stephen Miller and former Trump lawyers John Eastman and Sidney Powell.

Prosecutors said Thompson cant show that Trump or Giuliani had the authority to empower him to break the law. They also noted that video of the rally speeches perfectly captures the tone, delivery and context of the statements to the extent they are marginally relevant to proof of Thompsons intent on 6 January.

Thompsons lawyer argued that Trump would testify that he and others orchestrated a carefully crafted plot to call into question the integrity of the 2020 presidential election. Shamansky claimed that Giuliani incited rioters by encouraging them to engage in trial by combat and that Trump provoked the mob by saying that if you dont fight like hell, youre not going to have a country anymore.

Shamansky said Thompson, who lost his job during the pandemic, became an avid consumer of the conspiracy theories and lies about a stolen election.This is the garbage that Dustin Thompson is listening to day after day after day, Shamansky said. He goes down this rabbit hole. He listens to this echo chamber. And he acts accordingly.

US district Judge Reggie Walton ruled in March that any in-person testimony by Trump or Giuliani could confuse and mislead jurors.

More than 770 people have been charged with federal crimes arising from 6 January. Over 250 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. Thompson is the fifth person to be tried on riot-related charges.

Thompson has a co-defendant, Robert Lyon, who pleaded guilty to riot-related charges in March.

Thompson, then 36, and Lyon, then 27, drove from Columbus, Ohio, to Silver Spring, Maryland, stayed overnight at a hotel and then took an Uber ride into Washington DC on the morning of 6 January. After Donald Trumps speech, Thompson and Lyon headed over to the Capitol.

Thompson was wearing a Trump 2020 winter hat and a bulletproof vest when he entered the Capitol and went to the Senate parliamentarians office, where he stole two bottles of liquor and a coat rack worth up to $500, according to prosecutors.

Thompson is charged with six counts: obstructing Congress joint session to certify the electoral college vote, theft of government property, entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

Lyon pleaded guilty to theft of government property and disorderly conduct. Both counts are misdemeanors punishable by a maximum of one year imprisonment. Walton is scheduled to sentence Lyon on 3 June.

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Capitol riot defendant blames actions on Trump and false election claims - The Guardian

Members of the Houses Jan. 6 committee are apparently split over whether to refer Donald Trump to the Justice Department, even though many if not all of the committee members appear to have concluded that the former president engaged in a criminal conspiracy.

Its absolutely clear that what President Trump was doing what a number of people around him were doing that they knew it was unlawful, Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said last weekend. They did it anyway. (Trump of course denies he has done anything wrong.)

There doesnt seem to be much doubt among the committee members about whether Trump committed federal crimes.

Indeed, the committee made that case in federal court recently, when it argued in a filing that it has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States.

The evidence was enough to convince U.S. District Judge David Carter, who wrote that the Court finds it more likely than not that President Trump corruptly attempted to obstruct the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021.

Referring to Trumps legal henchman John Eastman as part of a civil lawsuit seeking to block the House committee from obtaining big lie-related emails sent from and to Eastman, Carter wrote: Dr. Eastman and President Trump launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election, an action unprecedented in American history.

Their campaign was not confined to the ivory tower it was a coup in search of a legal theory, the judge continued. The plan spurred violent attacks on the seat of our nations government, led to the deaths of several law enforcement officers, and deepened public distrust in our political process.

Despite all of this, members of the select committee probing the Capitol insurrection are reportedly worried that actually making a criminal referral might not be prudent. According to The New York Times, some members worry that even a largely symbolic referral would backfire by politically tainting the Justice Departments expanding investigation into the Jan. 6 assault and what led up to it.

You may have seen this movie before. Again and again during Trumps campaign, his presidency and now his post-presidency weve seen responsible figures determine that something must be done about Trumps behavior. And then, inevitably, they decide to let someone else do it.

Theyve rationalized their timidity as political prudence, but the result has been a pandemic of buck-passing.

In the 2016 campaign, Trumps Republican rivals mostly refused to take him on until it was too late, all the while hoping that someone else would do the hard work for them. After his election, congressional Republicans fell into line. They rationalized that appeasement as a matter of tactical savvy. I told myself I gotta have a relationship with this guy to help him get his mind right, former House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told political reporter Tim Alberta.

And we saw the same pattern with Roberts Mueller probe, which documented Trumps obstruction of justice at great length but declined to recommend either impeachment or criminal indictment.

To the end, though, Mueller hoped that someone else would take action. During congressional hearings, he was asked point-blank by lawmakers, "Could you charge the president with a crime after he left office?"

And Mueller responded with an unequivocal "yes." He also specifically affirmed that the president could be charged with obstruction of justice after leaving office.

But that never happened.

Like other establishment figures who were rolled over by Trump, Mueller was held hostage by his excessive faith in guardrails.

In the end, as Andrew Weissmann, a member of Muellers team, wrote in his inside account, Where Law Ends, Mueller was so worried about overstepping his role that he opted instead to issue a mealy-mouthed report that documented all the ways Trump had obstructed justice but refused to do much of anything about it.

Like other establishment figures who were rolled over by Trump, Mueller was held hostage by his excessive faith in guardrails, institutional integrity and the virtues of staying in ones lane.

They brought cucumber sandwiches to a gunfight, and the outcome was never in doubt.

Even after Jan. 6, members of Trumps own party continued to engage in wish-casting. Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky declared: "There is no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.

"A mob was assaulting the Capitol in his name," he said. "These criminals were carrying his banners, hanging his flags and screaming their loyalty to him."

But McConnell voted against a Senate impeachment conviction, because, he argued, Congress had no power to convict and disqualify a former officeholder who is now a private citizen.

Once again, he held out hope somebody else might hold Trump accountable. President Trump, insisted McConnell, is still liable for everything he did while he was in office, as an ordinary citizen, unless the statute of limitations is run, still liable for everything he did while in office, didn't get away with anything yet yet. But that was more than a year ago, and no one else has taken action.

So now it is up the select committee and the Justice Department, which both seem to be caught in a cycle of hand-wringing. They worry about the taint of a referral and agonize over fears that Trump and the GOP will discredit any investigation as a partisan witch hunt.

But heres a reality check: No matter what they do, no matter how cautiously they act, Trump will react with bad faith and demagoguery.

The Justice Department could hire an avatar of respectability and integrity to handle the prosecution (see: Robert Mueller) and it wouldnt matter. Whatever it does, Trump will let loose the dogs of disinformation, deceit and obstruction.

Knowing it cant control the reaction, maybe the select committee should just do the right thing and finally, finally end the cycle of timidity, self-deterrence and buck-passing.

Originally posted here:

Trump should be charged for Jan 6. Don't let the House pass the buck. - MSNBC

Every time a president moves into the White House, the new occupant tweaks the place to their own personal style and preferences. Gerald Ford brought in striped couches. George W. Bush had the walls of the Oval Office painted ecru. Barack Obama replaced much of the 19th-century still lifes, pastorals and portraits that dominate[d] thepublic rooms with bold, abstract art works. The latest transition, however, apparently required more extensive modifications than simply swapping some color schemes here and art choices there. Thats because, according to Joe Bidens sister, they basically needed to rid the place of Donald Trumps demon spirit.

In a new memoir published Tuesday, Valerie Biden Owens, the sister and closest confidante of the 46th president, wrote that as part of the team decorating the Oval Office, she wanted everything Trump had touched out of there. That meant getting rid of the former guys chosen portrait of 19th-century populist president and ethnic cleanser Andrew Jackson and replacing it with one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as adding busts of MLK, Cesar Chavez, RFK, Rosa Parksall of which reflected Joes understanding and reverence for the soul of this nation. Biden Owens said that she wanted to ditch the Resolute desk Trump used and bring in FDRs in its place, but was unable to do so as the latter resides at FDRs family home in Hyde Park. Thus, the desk Trump had sat behind remained. Still, the fact that the desk was used by both JFK and Obama made her feel better about her brother having to sign documents behind a piece of furniture where the worst president in history also conducted business. So that was certainly good enough, and went a long way toward exorcising from my mind the repugnant image of its previous occupant, she wrote.

Speaking of exorcisms and Biden Owenss thoughts on Trump, the presidents sister, like many Americans, appears to view the last inhabitant of the Oval Office as being on par with the devil, a characterization some people might say is unfair to Satan. In her book, Biden Owens said, If ever there was a force of anti-empathy in the world, it is Donald Trump. He is a bully, pure and simplea narcissistic, incompetent, and incomplete man. He is the embodiment of resentment. His power comes from tapping into our baser instincts. She observed that Trump, appealed to our lowest common denominator and didn't just represent policy failure or erratic personal behaviors; he represented something darker, more primal, more insinuating, striking deeper into the heart of what made us who we are. Biden Owens was initially hesitant about her brother running, she said, because she could see the campaign Trump would run. It was as vivid as a movie. Brutal. Crass. Classless. And every time I saw that movie, I would feel sick. (Incidentally, she wasnt wrong. Among other things, Trump suggested his 2020 opponent was taking performance-enhancing drugs, and during the first presidential debatethe one where we later found out Trump showed up after secretly testing positive for COVID-19the then president interrupted Biden talking about his deceased son to call the one whos still alive a deadbeat.) He had the mind not of a President, but of a vengeful dictator, and running against him felt almost degrading, Biden Owens wrote.

Elsewhere, Biden Owens said she wasnt surprised in the slightest that Trump chose not to attend her brothers inauguration because, essentially, hes a little bitch. A small man does not rise to the occasion, she wrote.

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Joe Bidens Sister Had to Exorcise the White House of Trumps Demon Spirit - Vanity Fair

Ask people what they remember most about the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and many responses would likely show that people continue to be astonished that such a terrible thing could have happened in our nation.

But one person remains fixated on something else: the size of the crowd that gathered at the Ellipse, the park between the White House and the National Mall. It was the site of a rally by those who believed, despite exactly no evidence supporting such claims, that Democrat Joe Biden had stolen the November 2020 election from then-President Donald J. Trump.

Here was Trump, in a recent interview with The Washington Post: The crowd was far bigger than I even thought. I believe it was the largest crowd Ive ever spoken to. I dont know what that means, but you see very few pictures. They dont want to show pictures, the fake news doesnt want to show pictures. But this was a tremendous crowd.

There he goes again, focusing on something that might boost his always-delicate ego, but completely missing the point.

In that same interview, the former president strongly hinted that hed be likely to run again in 2024, with one important caveat: his health. You always have to talk about health. You look like youre in good health, but tomorrow, you get a letter from a doctor saying, Come see me again. Thats not good when they use the word again, he said.

One could read that statement as a forecast of Trumps anticipated way out. Trump repeatedly talks of running, hints of running, raises money for another campaign, but then, at the very last minute, uses his health as a reason to bail.

The last thing Trump would want is to be seen as a two-time loser. But not only that, its entirely possible that when he launched his bid for the presidency with his famed ride down an escalator at Trump Tower on June 16, 2015, he did so with no thought of actually winning, but instead with an eye on boosting his brand. He went on to win not only the Republican Partys presidential nomination, but ultimately the presidency.

Its easy to imagine that what Trump most wants going forward is what would be best for the bottom line of the Trump organization and his various business ventures.

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For Donald Trump, its all about his businesses success (Editorial) - MassLive.com