Category Archives: Donald Trump

Who knew that the pairing of New Jersey Generals owner Donald Trump and running back Herschel Walker would haunt us almost 20 years later?Illustration: Getty

It was only last month that the world was reminded and presented with sickening details of Ric Flairs alleged sexual assault of a flight attendant on WWEs infamous Flight From Hell in 2002.

So, cancel culture being what it is, thats the last wed ever hear about Flair in a public setting, right?

Oh, you thought cancel culture was real? Ha! You must have also thought that Flair and Dusty Rhodes really hated each other all those years.

Of course Flair is back in the news already, and of course hes finding comfort hanging out with another alleged sexual predator, former President Donald J. Trump. Both of those too-tanned egotists will be part of a faded-star-studded fundraiser for former USFL running back and current U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker who we learned this week is definitely not a Nazi sympathizer because his campaign explicitly had to say so.

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Doug Flutie, of course, played with Walker for the New Jersey Generals, the team owned by Trump before like so many of The Donalds ventures they went out of business. More recently, Flutie has been on television helping Frank Thomas sell Nugenix, the thing that isnt quite a steroid, isnt quite a dick pill, and isnt quite something you should probably put in your body. He should be right at home with a bunch of people who have suggested hydroxychloroquine, bleach, and horse dewormer as potential coronavirus cures!

And then theres Tom Glavine. Hes only seemingly connected to Walker through the post-career athlete charity circuit, which is a good thing. Hes also a rich white guy who grew up playing hockey and then became a pro baseball player, so its not stunning that the leftys politics would veer right. Still, it takes a special kind of person, and not a good kind of special, to be like, Mar-A-Lago fundraiser? And Im on the dais? Sign me up!

For just a thousand bucks, you can have dinner in the same room as all of these has-beens, and also share air with a lot of people who, uh, youre not gonna want to share air with in the middle of this pandemic. But we never said any of this was a good idea. Quite the opposite, just like pivoting away from swastikas by cozying up to sex pests.

See the rest here:

Weird flex to pivot from swastikagate to cozying up with alleged sex predators, but you do you, Herschel - Deadspin

Jon Stewart thinks former President Donald Trump has a real shot at returning to the White House if he runs again in 2024.

I think hes got it, hes got a very good chance. And theyre smarter about it, Stewart told The New Yorker editor David Remnick during a virtual interview Sunday as part of The New Yorker Festival.

Stewart likened the deadly Jan. 6 riot in which a mob of violent Trump supporters, incited by the ex-president and his enablers, stormed the U.S. Capitol in a futile bid to overturn the 2020 election to the television special which all the TV networks were focused on.

Former reality personality Trump, who has yet to formally declare his candidacy, is brilliant at understanding what will drive the television narratives, said Stewart, whose new Apple TV+ show The Problem With Jon Stewart debuted last month.

But although a future Trump run would all be about Jan. 6 and Stop the Steal, Stewart predicted, he said what Republicans really learned from this exercise was there are really specific pivot points within the American electoral system, and those pivot points are generally the administration of elections run by partisans, but not ideologues.

Stewart suggested the replacement of said election officials with ideologues could lead to a right-wing administrative coup and bring about an early-stage minority rule. The actual danger of what happened is that it exposed a fragility at a level that is not flashy, or sexy, or known, he added.

Last month, Stewart admitted misjudging Trump before the 2016 election, saying it was ridiculousness and shamelessness that actually made him dangerous.

More here:

Jon Stewart Explains Why Donald Trump Has Very Good Chance Of Winning In 2024 - HuffPost

Make your vote count for local government

Election Day for local government and school board races is Tuesday, Nov. 2. Many decisions profoundly affecting our lives will be made by those we choose by our vote.

Learn about your candidates through your newspaper and virtual candidate forums online.

Find your polling place at VOTE411.org. Read what some candidates have to say about the issues at Find Your Races on VOTE411.org. The non-partisan questions were posed by the League of Women Voters.

Call your County Election Office to get a Mail-in Ballot or apply online at KSvotes.org. You can mail your ballot or hand carry it to your Election Office. Also, check with your County Election Office for Advance Voting hours, beginning Oct. 13.

Have your government-issued Photo ID when you go to vote. For a list of acceptable IDs, visit lwvk.org. To get a free Kansas photo ID, go to http://www.gotvoterid.com.

If you do not have your ID with you at the polls or are not on the voter rolls as registered, you must be offered a Provisional Ballot. Contact your Election Office immediately after Nov. 2 to see what you can do to increase the chances of your Provisional Ballot being counted.

Make a plan now to exercise your right to vote!

Jacqueline Lightcap andMartha Pint, co-presidents of the League of Women Voters of Kansas, Topeka

Kansas Attorney General and wannabe governor Derek Schmidt is a conspiracy theorist and still believes Trumps Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen and fraudulent. He hasnt denounced the January 6 insurrection when criminals invaded and tried to destroy the the U.S. Capitol and hoped to kill officials viewed as Trumps enemies.

His most notorious stunt was joining with other crackpot attorneys general to sign a brief in support of a wacky Texas lawsuit designed to overturn the presidential election. This puts Derek in league with insurrectionists and seditionists. God help Kansas if such a traitor to the U.S Constitution becomes governor.

Prayer is needed that enough voters will emerge from their stupor and brainwashed state to flush Schmidts gubernatorial wishes down the election toilet. Sadly, Kansans have an abysmal record of supporting and voting for crooks and incompetents. Think Trump, Brownback, Kobach, Wagle, Masterson and Ryckman. Go figure!

Richard Schutz, Topeka

Logic, persuasion, facts I thought all that was rational would turn around this nations march toward total insanity. But now I know, there are a significant number of my countrys citizens who want a king to rule them, where the only fair election is not just when the king gets a majority of the votes, but when the king gets all of the votes.

These same citizens want a white country. We will all agree with each other, we will all be fundamentalist Christians, schools will teach what the king tells them to teach, we will no longer need elections.

When Donald Trump won in 2016, I was confident that ethical Republicans would save my country. What happened instead was that Republicans did speak up were lone voices who were quickly silenced. I thought elected Republicans would join forces and defeat this terrible scourge called Donald Trump.

What we have instead are elected Republicans who have been reduced to sniveling, groveling mere remnants of what they used to be or what I naively thought they were. Read page 291 of Michael Wolffs excellent book, "Landslide,"which chronicles the final days of the Trump presidency.

Most of the congressional Republicans have been co-opted. They think their own re-election is whats important. Democracy is no longer a value. Freedom to disagree, to be different, to care for others is being violently stripped away.

We will all be subjects of the king. What he tells us will be truth, even if some of our eyes are telling us otherwise. Too many of our peers already believe the would-be king. Others of us see him for what he strives to be: a dictator.

Terry Larson, Topeka

For the first time in quite a while I decided to go out to eat by myself for lunch. I chose one of my favorite places in southwest Topeka. The atmosphere was great, and the server was friendly and helpful. After all, I chose a salad and soup, so who can go wrong with that?

As I sat there in the air conditioning eating my salad, I thought of people during this pandemicwho are currently struggling with food insecurity. I have a friend who receives food assistance,and her main food supply for the month is when she goes shopping at the beginning of the month.

She told me that she usually eats the fresh items first and then when I asked if she had any food left at the end of the month she said, "Oh I have some lasagna and Chinese food in the freezer I can thaw." When we go out to eat, she keeps half her sandwich to take home for supper that evening.

For many of us to think of not having enough food to eat or not having access to proper nutritious food is something we just don't think about. The Topeka Rescue Mission has done an incredible job of helping those with food needs with Operation Food Secure.

My goal and I would propose a goal for each of us is to pick a local nonprofit organization to donate to or to volunteer at this fall and winter season. Let's not judge when someone in front of us in line is using a food card to pay for their groceries. And finally, let's offer up a prayer of thanksgiving for the food we get to eat each day. After all, we have so much.

Rebecca Lyn Phillips, Topeka

I wonder if any of you have had to file for unemployment, change insurance, get forms filled out for retirement, keep you household bills/repairs up to date--without any help from a wife or secretary, on an income of less than $50,000? This alone is a full-time job, so who has 45 hoursa week to work?

Sales tax, property tax, FCC tax, delivery tax, shipping charge, FED income tax ...

The piles of paperwork get bigger each day. The proof of who you are and are you really youmakes life almost impossible. One computer key punched in wrong can destroy your credit, your bank account, your incomeand change how many children you have, how much tax you oweor prove that you already paid someone, after they took your money.

The simplest things take months to get done. Life sure was simple when all you had were Wheaties or Cheerios to decide from now 365 flavors of cereal, and everyone is confused.

Do I wonder why there is more stress, depression, strokes, heart attacks andPTSD? If the system wasn't causing this then there wouldn't be a strain on the amount of doctors and nurses, medications and working-class taxpayers.

America was built on pride of buying your home, keeping it maintained, raising good children, paying your bills, working hard andbeing a good Christian. All I see now are people having expectations of a free ride, no pride in who they are, no ambition as to working, as others have, to get these things.

Congress, how about learning how your choices aren't working.The history class teaches checks and balances, have you heard of it?

Joyce Stuckey, Topeka

Read more:

A call to vote, Derek Schmidt's career turn, gratitude and fear of Trump. Readers have a lot to say. - The Topeka Capital-Journal

Oct. 15 (UPI) -- In complying with a Supreme Court order, President Joe Biden's administration says within a few weeks it will reinstate an immigration policy created by former President Donald Trump that forces migrants at the border to stay in Mexico, or another country, until their case is heard.

Biden and the Homeland Security Department had originally scrapped Trump's Migrant Protection Protocols, or the "Remain in Mexico" order. But the Supreme Court ruled in August that they had to reinstate it.

Thursday, the government said it disagrees, but is complying with, the high court's decision -- and that it should be back in effect by mid-November.

"[We are] taking necessary steps to comply with the court order, which requires us to reimplement [the policy] in good faith," the Homeland Security Department said, according to NBC News.

"We are working to do so, despite our appeal of the court's order, including, for example, by issuing contracts to rebuild temporary immigration-hearing facilities near the Southwest border."

The "Remain in Mexico" plan would require having the complete asylum case process done within six months, using temporary courts in tent facilities located at Texas border crossings.

The department said the government of Mexico must agree to accept the asylum seekers before the policy is restarted.

Originally posted here:

DHS says it will restart Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' policy next month - UPI News

In a party where Trumps enemies tend to see their political careers abruptly ended, Raffenspergers approach is being closely watched by Republicans within the state and outside.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger speaks during a news conference on Nov. 11, 2020, in Atlanta. | Brynn Anderson/AP Photo

The last internal poll I saw said that 87 percent of Republican primary voters felt like the election was stolen, said former Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.). With those kinds of numbers, I dont see Brad getting through the primary.

If Raffensperger isnt Trumps top GOP nemesis, hes close to it. The Georgia secretary of state refused Trumps requests to alter the states vote count and feuded with the former president over Trumps baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. At one point, Raffenspergers office secretly recorded Trump trying to persuade the secretary of state to find votes to make him the winner a potential crime by Trump that local prosecutors are now investigating.

As a result, Trump has showered him with criticism for nearly a year, going so far as to call Raffensperger an enemy of the people.

Trumps obsession with Raffensperger shows no sign of fading. In July, the former president sent him a letter asking yet again to decertify the results of the 2020 election. As recently as two weeks ago, during a Georgia rally, Trump called Raffensperger incompetent and strange.

When Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.) a staunch Trump ally announced earlier this year hed challenge Raffensperger in the primary, Trump immediately endorsed him.

Trump also had Hice give brief remarks at the September rally where the former president also trashed Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and state Attorney General Chris Carr all Republicans who rebuffed Trumps calls to overturn the election results.

Duncan, who has been critical of Trump, decided against running for another term and instead wrote a book about the future of the party. Kemp and Carr are seeking reelection next year along with Raffensperger, but have largely ignored the presidents attacks.

Raffensperger has taken a different tack.

After Trump used his rally to mock-endorse Democrat Stacey Abrams who is expected to mount her second campaign for Georgia governor after refusing to formally concede her last race for the office three years ago Raffensperger wrote a USA Today op-ed comparing Trump to Abrams.

Next month hell publish a book called Integrity Counts, billed by Simon & Schuster as Raffenspergers inspiring story of commitment to the integrity of American democracy.

Were out there setting the record straight. No. 1 is that President Trump did not carry the state of Georgia, Raffensperger told POLITICO, pointing to multiple recounts, reviews and investigations that confirmed the accuracy of the Georgia results.

Seth Bringman, a spokesperson for Abrams, swiped at Raffensperger for comparing her 2018 loss to Trumps, saying that Abrams succeeded in court to count more Georgians votes, with reputable attorneys presenting coherent arguments, and the courts agreed and counted those votes. It surprises us that Raffensperger equates counting eligible votes based on fact with throwing out the will of the people based on the Big Lie.

Raffenspergers op-ed, Bringman said, amounts to attacking Stacey and pushing election subversion in a sad attempt to win the votes of the insurrectionist wing in his upcoming primary.

Raffenspergers frontal assault on Trump is widely viewed as a doomed strategy in a state where Trump dominates the GOP and majorities of Republicans believe the 2020 election was stolen a January poll showed only 45 percent of Republicans supported the secretary of state.

That survey was taken just after Republican incumbents lost their two U.S. Senate runoff races on Jan. 5. Both senators called on Raffensperger to resign at Trumps insistence after he lost Georgia in November.

Speaking of Raffenspergers confrontational approach toward Trump, Westmoreland said, its probably not helpful in a primary. Republican voters think the election was stolen. But he also said many Republicans were troubled with Trumps rally comment that Abrams might be better than having your existing governor.

While Raffensperger acknowledges the difficulties he faces going forward, he said he has no choice but to speak out. He also did not fault Kemp or Carr for failing to denounce Trumps efforts to overturn the election.

It's a conundrum on how to respond to some statements [from Trump] when they're over the top, or they're said pejoratively, Raffensperger said. If the former president has endorsed Stacey Abrams, I would think that would be shocking for most Republicans.

Raffensperger said he has faith that voters will reward him for running a race with integrity and that they understand that I'll make the hard, difficult calls of standing up because it's easy to follow your integrity. It may not be fun. But the decision was easy, because it was based on the law, based on the Constitution, and based on the truth.

Trump is expected to return to the state before the 2022 primaries, and hes certain to trash Raffensperger again. Raffensperger said hes comfortable continuing to push back against Trump if the situation warrants.

I think it's always important to speak the truth, he said. I think it's always important to do that respectfully.

See the rest here:

Georgia election official takes the fight to Trump - POLITICO

It was just like old times. On Wednesday alone, Donald Trump issued pronouncements on a potential war with China, what Congress should do about the debt ceiling, false claims of a stolen election and his Fox News ally the great Sean Hannity.

But how many people noticed?

Cast into the social media wilderness, the former US president releases statements by email these days, clogging the inboxes of reporters whose attention has turned elsewhere. The era when a single tweet from Trump could electrify cable news, rattle financial markets and unnerve foreign capitals is long gone.

His post-presidential online engagement is in freefall, the Axios website reported this week, citing data from SocialFlow, an optimization platform that measures clicks from posts referred from its network of publishers.

Clicks to content about Trump dropped 37% in August and September compared with June and July, according to the findings. This represented a 50% decline since March. The decline has been inexorable since the blockbuster event of Trumps impeachment trial in February.

In short the former guy, as Joe Biden calls him, who once brutally colonized social media feeds, is fading fast, a victim of the rapid news cycle he once reigned over.

Monika McDermott, a political science professor at Fordham University in New York, said: His online presence has definitely declined due to a variety of factors. First of all, he was better on Twitter because he was punchy. He was of the moment: people followed him and got constant updates. Any other platform is very difficult for him to navigate with his style and personality.

In addition to that, hes lost his position as president of the United States, and he doesnt have a concrete election yet that hes actually running for. The attention has been siphoned away by the current administration and whats going on in the country and the Delta variant and all kinds of other things. Hes become to some extent irrelevant to the general populace, even though hes still very relevant to his still very loyal followers.

Trump had more than 88 million followers on Twitter and used it as his social media megaphone, stoking division, insulting opponents and perpetrating crimes against spelling.

But Twitter joined several other social media platforms in banning him after a mob of his supporters attacked the US Capitol on 6 January. Twitter said his tweets had violated its policy barring glorification of violence and were highly likely to encourage people to replicate what happened in the deadly insurrection.

From that moment Trumps ability to dominate the online agenda went into a precipitous decline. He subsequently launched his own platform, a glorified blog that bit the dust after a month. He continues to email statements via his Save America political action committee but they are often lengthy and seldom trouble cable news chyron writers.

Michael DAntonio, a political commentator and author of The Truth About Trump, observed: Its almost like the difference between a text message and a telephone call. People generally dont want to talk on the phone any more but they will respond to a text if youre economical in what you write and direct.

Such failed ventures only serve to demonstrate how Trump and Twitter were perfect for each other, a loss that he increasingly appears to understand. Earlier this month he filed a court motion asking a federal judge in Florida to force Twitter to reinstate his account potentially putting him back at the centre of attention.

DAntonio added: For five or six years there were hundreds, if not thousands, of people in journalism tuned to his Twitter output and poised to respond with articles or calls to other sources because he was so good at using the form. He just seemed to excel at writing what were essentially tabloid headlines every day that I connect to his lifelong obsession with the tabloids that arose because of [Rupert] Murdoch and the [New York] Post.

He met his perfect medium in social media, especially Twitter. It connected him with an audience that wasnt interested in reading more than a couple of sentences about something and actually they were primed for disinformation delivered via social media because people were just eager for the snappy retort.

The shift means that a striking disconnect has emerged over the past nine months. Trump, ensconced at his estates in Florida or New Jersey, has been largely irrelevant to substantive policy debates about the Afghanistan withdrawal and Bidens infrastructure bill and social spending plans. Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader in the Senate, appears to be paying him little heed.

In addition, the former president struggles to break through and make news, and when he does it is usually because of a damaging revelation from a book or official investigation about his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Axios cited data from NewsWhip showing there were 26% fewer stories about him during August and September than in March and April. And the stories were averaging 28% less engagement on social media.

Yet Trump is still widely acknowledged as the unofficial leader of the Republican party and his big lie about a stolen election has all but become party orthodoxy. He continues to be given a platform by conservative broadcasters such as Fox News, Newsmax and the One America News Network. Should he decide to run for president again in 2024, he would instantly be the Republican frontrunner.

John Zogby, a pollster and author, said: Im in upstate New York. Im seeing hundreds of signs for local and judicial races but also Honk if youre with Trump. The famous Fuck Biden shrines are mainly rural but theyre real.

Trump is running for president. Hes got his network and that includes talk radio and cable. Hell breathe more life into Newsmax and the One America News Network. Hell find his way because his base wants him.

From the start, Trumps digital power was been augmented by an analogue soapbox: campaign rallies that offer diehard fans the chance to be in his presence in a communion of grievance. On Saturday night he is likely to draw a huge crowd for a rally in Iowa, the first state to have a say in party primary contests.

Tara Setmayer, a former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill, said: Were no longer married to our Twitter feeds and cellphones and we can actually enjoy Sunday brunch now because Donald Trump isnt tweeting something insane. However, the undercurrent of his presence is still a threat to our politics.

Despite the fact that he isnt so ubiquitous on social media platforms, hes still out there and he still has a rightwing media ecosystem that continues to promote his ilk and thats problematic.

Trump would be eligible to return to Facebook in 2023, when his two-year suspension has run its course, just in time for a White House bid. At that point Twitter could also face overwhelming pressure to reinstate him or face the accusation that it is tipping the scales against one candidate in a presidential election.

Setmayer, a senior adviser to the Lincoln Project, which worked for Trumps defeat last year, noted that Twitter could have a further incentive to bring him back. I dont know how much they will be able to justify keeping Trump off if he decides to run again from a business perspective, given how many users left as a result of them banning Trump. Engagement was down, their stock went down.

Twitter is still trying to figure out how to make their platform profitable so if you take off one of your most prolific, engaging accounts, it hurts their bottom line. It may be a different reality that faces Twitter at the time when they need to make their decision, unfortunately.

Read more:

The silence of Donald Trump: how Twitters ban is cramping his style - The Guardian

After a GOP donor accused Corey Lewandowski of sexual misconduct late last month, the former top aide and confidant to ex-President Donald Trump didnt just lose his cushy job leading a pro-Trump super PAC. He was also fenced off sociallyquietly blacklisted at several Trump properties and clubs, MAGA events, and private social gatherings, especially if alcohol is served, The Daily Beast has learned.

The temporary directive, which three people familiar with the matter said came with Trumps personal blessing, was handed down shortly after a big Republican donor accused Lewandowski of sexually assaulting and harassing her over the course of an evening at a late-September charity function. In recent days, two of these sources said, Trump has made a point of telling close associates and Republican allies that they should avoid inviting Lewandowski to public events or parties, particularly if alcohol is flowing or if the event is held at one of the ex-presidents prized private clubs.

Others close to Trump have already told subordinates, as well as fellow players in the party and in the conservative movement more broadly, to remove Lewandowski (at least for now) from invitations and emails for upcoming GOP and MAGA festivities, according to two sources familiar with the situation. The message was also delivered in texts and an email viewed by The Daily Beast.

One text message instructed fellow Trump associates to simply turn Lewandowski away, or alert security, if he showed up to events in the foreseeable future.

Although the news of blackballing the once-top Trump adviser rocketed across MAGAworld, Lewandowskiwho has long been loathed throughout prominent MAGA and GOP circles, as well as within Trumps own familyapparently had not been informed until contacted for this article.

As it became clear that the sexual misconduct allegations were fatal to his then-position leading the only Trump-endorsed super PAC, Lewandowski began demanding a hefty six-figure payout in exchange for quietly departing his leadership role.

That rankled the notoriously tight-fisted Trump, who has in the last two weeks privately expressed how disappointed he was by Lewandowskis attempt to use his alleged transgression to shake loose some cash for himself on the way out the door, according to several people familiar with the former presidents reaction.

Corey Lewandowski and Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign.

Joe Skipper/Reuters

Lewandowskis request wasnt without precedent, however. He had previously successfully negotiated a plush monthly severance after his dismissal from Trumps 2016 presidential campaignan ousting which also stemmed from an allegation of assaulting a woman.

The Daily Beast reported last week that the attempted shakedown had immediately and categorically failed, with the other members of Lewandowskis months-old super PAC, called Make America Great Again Action, abandoning that group to start a new one, Make America Great Again, Again!

A press release emphasized that the new group is now the ONLY Trump-approved super PAC.

The three sources said that, during his brief super PAC tenure, Lewandowski had boasted that he controlled which candidates Trump would endorse, claiming or spinning this to political candidates, politicians, party operatives, and donors.

He told tons of people that, one source said. Bragged.

A Lewandowski representative called the claim false.

Corey says the only person who makes decisions about Donald Trumps endorsements is Donald Trump, the representative told The Daily Beast.

In the days since this latest Lewandowski-related scandal broke, some of his remaining friends have had difficulty reaching him over the phone or otherwise, according to two other sources whove tried. On Friday, the Lewandowski representative provided a statement saying that the beleaguered operative had not been told he is no longer welcome in MAGAland.

Neither Mr. Lewandowski nor anyone on his legal team has received any communication consistent with the claim that he has been asked not to go to any Trump property. Absolutely none, the statement said.

Trumps spokesperson did not provide comment for this story. The Daily Beast reached out to Trumps adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who help their father operate the family business empire, but received no comment. A man who answered a call to a phone number for Eric Trumpwhich Eric has previously answereddenied being Eric Trump. Asked about Lewandowski, the man hung up.

Still, Lewandowskis exile has delighted many of his Republican enemies, which are plentiful.

For years, Lewandowski has been despised inside Donald Trumps inner sanctum. Ivanka Trump and Don Jr., for instance, have repeatedly trash-talked him, including to Trump directly, and a number of advisers have suspected him of leaking on them to the press, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter say.

Despite all of this, Trump has, for the most part, held on to Corey. Various people close to Trump, even those who loathe Lewandowski, predicted that the former aides expulsion from MAGAworld may not last long. In private conversations over the last two weeks, the former president left the door open for Lewandowski, with Trump saying he wasnt sure if every recent allegation sounded credible, according to two people familiar with the situation.

The [former] president mentioned that with good behavior, Corey could be OK, one of these sources recounted. Like he was talking about somebody on parole.

Trump, of course, has himself been accused of a range of sexual misconduct by at least 26 women. The allegations run a spectrum from unwanted verbal advances to infidelity to assault to outright rape. Two of the ex-presidents accusersformer Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos and writer E. Jean Carrollare pursuing active defamation suits after Trump denied their allegations of sexual assault and rape, respectively.

Lewandowski rode out accusations from at least two other women before the current scandal toppled him. The recent allegations were brought by Trashelle Odom, a major donor to Lewandowskis own super PAC, who two weeks ago came forward on Politico to detail a series of unwanted advances at a charity event late last month in Las Vegas.

Odom described an evening of unrelenting pursuit, saying Lewandowski had grabbed her leg and rear end, spoken to her obscenely, described his genitalia, and suggestively showed her his hotel room key. Politico cited a number of other event attendees who corroborated her account.

In her statement to Politico, Odom said she had decided to speak out because Lewandowski needs to be held accountable.

I want other women to know that you can be heard, too, and together we can stop terrible things like this from happening, Odoms statement said.

Asked whether Lewandowski has had any recent contact with the former president, either directly or through an intermediary, or if he plans to visit any Trump properties in the near future, his representative declined to comment.

More here:

Corey Lewandowski in Exile: Banned at Trump Properties - The Daily Beast

In this Sept. 25, 2021, file photo, former President Donald Trump prepares to take the stage during his Save America rally in Perry, Ga. AP Photo/Ben Gray, File

Babbitt was fatally shot on January 6 as she and other rioters attempted to enter the Capitol.

A DOJ investigation cleared the Capitol Police officer who killed Babbitt of any wrongdoing.

In a video, Trump called for a "fair and nonpartisan" investigation into Babbitt's death.

Former President Donald Trump recorded a video where he wished deceased Capitol rioter Ashli Babbit happy birthday and called for the Department of Justice to reopen its investigation into her death.

The video was reportedly played at the Texas Loves Ashli Babbitt rally on Sunday, which was held by family and supporters in Freeport, Texas, according to a broadcast from News2Share's Ford Fischer, who confirmed to Insider that he attended and filmed the rally in person.

Babbitt, an Air Force veteran and endorser of QAnon conspiracy theories, was shot by a US Capitol Police officer when she and other rioters tried to enter a door that led to the House of Representatives on January 6, which Trump said in the video was a "horrible day."

"Together, we grieve her terrible loss. There was no reason Ashli should've lost her life that day. We must all demand justice for Ashli and her family, so on this solemn occasion as we celebrate her life, we renew our call for a fair and nonpartisan investigation into the death of Ashli Babbitt," Trump said in the video.

The DOJ conducted an investigation into Babbitt's death and concluded in April that the unnamed Capitol Police officer who fatally shot her acted in self-defense and defense of other officers and members of Congress.

The officer was formally exonerated in August, according to a Capitol Police department memo obtained by NBC News.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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In a video, former President Donald Trump wished Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt a happy birthday and called for the DOJ to reopen their investigation...

Former President Donald Trump holds a Save America rally in Perry, Ga., in September. Trump is unlikely to take falling off the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans in stride. Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images hide caption

Former President Donald Trump holds a Save America rally in Perry, Ga., in September. Trump is unlikely to take falling off the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans in stride.

Former President Donald Trump has reportedly long been obsessed with the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans specifically, his place on it. So, he's unlikely to be pleased with its latest iteration which doesn't include him at all.

It's the first time in 25 years that Trump hasn't made the annual list, which debuted in 1982.

Forbes reports that while the former president, who ranked No. 339 in 2020, is worth an estimated $2.5 billion, "he is down $600 million since the start of the pandemic."

The magazine says that while many sectors thrived as a result of COVID-19, "big-city properties which make up the bulk of Trump's fortune have languished."

For the fourth year in a row, Trump nemesis Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon who flew into space aboard his Blue Origin company's rocket this year, topped the list, with an estimated net wealth of $201 billion. Another space pioneer, Elon Musk, is runner up with $190.5 billion almost three times his net wealth a year ago, thanks largely to the increased market value of his auto and alternative energy company, Tesla. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg comes in third, and Bill Gates, former CEO of Microsoft, is at No. 4.

As for Trump, if the past is any example, he is unlikely to take lightly the news that he's off the famous list.

In 1985, Trump "invented a fake persona to lie about a transfer of wealth from his father," according to Forbes. "Forbes fell for that ruse taking Fred Trump off the list and listing Donald alone. But five years later, we published an explosive story, uncovering the trouble brewing inside Trump's empire," the magazine said.

Beginning in 1996, Trump secured a spot among the 400 and remained there for 25 years. However, Forbes says, "things took a turn for the worse the year he won the presidency. After five years of dropping in the rankings, he's now off the list entirely."

But the magazine says it didn't have to be that way. Senior editor Dan Alexander writes: "If Trump is looking for someone to blame, he can start with himself. Five years ago, he had a golden opportunity to diversify his fortune. Fresh off the 2016 election, federal ethics officials were pushing Trump to divest his real estate assets. That would have allowed him to reinvest the proceeds into broad-based index funds and assume office free of conflicts of interest."

If, according to Forbes, Trump had "managed to avoid capital gains taxes" and instead taken his $3.5 billion when he became president and reinvested it in the S&P 500, it would have been worth about $7 billion by September, keeping him comfortably on the list at No. 133.

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Thanks partly to the pandemic, Donald Trump has dropped off the Forbes 400 list - NPR

Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham on Sunday said that she believes former President Donald Trump will run for his old job in 2024 and hire "people of the January 6 mind."

During an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Grisham told host Chuck Todd that she was initially skeptical of another presidential bid by the former president.

"At first, I really didn't think he'd run again," she said. "I honestly thought this was a lot of his bluster, which he's good at doing. He was doubling down. He'll never admit to losing. I thought he was going to just kind of raise some money so he could pay off legal bills."

She added: "I think now, because his base is reacting to him the way that it is, and polls are showing that he's very much the leader of the Republican Party ... but also on this current attack on democracy with regard to election integrity, I think he is going to run again. That's why I'm speaking out the way that I am."

Grisham, who was former first lady Melania Trump's chief of staff and press secretary at the time of herresignationon Jan. 6, recently released a tell-all memoir, "I'll Take Your Questions Now," which chronicles her time in the Trump White House.

In the interview with Todd, Grisham laid out her case of why the former president should not return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

"I don't want him to run again," she said. "I think people aren't remembering that if he does run again in 2024, he'll have no guardrails because he'll never have to worry about reelection, so he will do whatever he wants."

She emphasized: "He will hire whomever he wants, and I think that includes people of the January 6 mind."

Grisham went on to reference an earlier segment of the program that featured Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, where Todd and the lawmaker spoke of Trump's election pressure on the Department of Justice.

"Earlier, your guest [Whitehouse] was talking about the DOJ and it being weaponized," she said. "Imagine who he [Trump] could put into the DOJ in 2024 knowing he's got no consequences there."

Grisham, who moved to Kansas at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year and traveled back and forth from Washington, DC, until she left the White House over the administration's response to the Jan. 6 riot, recently told New York Magazine's Olivia Nuzzi that she was skeptical of a possible "rebrand" due to her old ties to the Trumps.

"I don't think I can rebrand. I think this will follow me forever," Grisham said of her time in the White House. "I believe that I was part of something unusually evil, and I hope that it was a one-time lesson for our country and that I can be a part of making sure that at least that evil doesn't come back now."

Grisham, who said in a recent CNN interview thatshe didn't vote for Trump in the 2020 election, warned that a new Trump White House term would be defined by "revenge."

During an interview with Insiderlast Friday, Grisham said that she struggled with anxiety and had to be "deprogrammed" after her resignation.

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Grisham: Trump will run for president in 2024, hire 'people of the Jan. 6 mind' - Business Insider