Raw Story

Several of President Donald Trump's recent judicial nominees have displayed a "disqualifying" pattern of behavior that has alarmed a legal expert.

In hearing after hearing, Democrats have asked Trump's judicial nominees: Who won the 2020 general election? Yet several nominees have refused to explicitly say that former President Joe Biden won the election, and have instead deflected, according to Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor.

Weissmann said on a new episode of the "Court of History" podcast on Wednesday that the nominees' refusal to say Biden won the election should be "disqualifying" at least.

"There is no credible evidence," Weissmann said. "There's right-wing conspiracy talk, but there is no credible evidence of any material fraud in the 2020 election. And that to me would have been a perfectly legitimate thing to say."

Trump has routinely claimed that the election was rigged against him, even though his lawyers failed to prove that in more than 60 court cases, and some of whom have been disbarred for their involvement in Trump's efforts to overturn the results.

Weissmann noted that the nominees who refuse to acknowledge that there was no material evidence of fraud in the 2020 general election pose a significant danger to the American judiciary going forward.

"This is so dangerous that you have people who have lifetime appointments, if they are confirmed, who are going to be operating if they're consistent with how they're behaving in their confirmation hearing, as they will be on the bench. That is corrupting one of the few checks and balances that are still functioning in this country right now."

The Texas Senate race has officially been set, between notoriously scandal-plagued state Attorney General Ken Paxton on the Republican side and Presbyterian minister and state legislator James Talarico on the Democratic side.

But already, Texas Republicans are sounding off a message of fear, NBC News reported, because of the impending money problems the race will cause for them.

"Paxton, with Trump’s endorsement, handily defeated four-term Sen. John Cornyn in the runoff. Democrats largely viewed Paxton as the weaker candidate because of his many controversies. But his fundraising struggles are also raising alarm bells among Republicans," said the report. "'Economically, it’s a disaster. Texas is extremely expensive,' said a GOP consultant working on Senate races, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about party resources."

Republicans already spent over $100 million in the primary, with much of it going to the unsuccessful attempt to prop up Cornyn — but that's just the beginning, the report said.

"So far, Paxton’s fundraising has paled in comparison with that of the Democratic nominee, state Rep. James Talarico, who has raised more than $40 million — though he spent most of it in a hotly contested primary. But Talarico is expected to raise millions more; he pulled in $600,000 in just two hours following Paxton’s win, according to Talarico’s campaign. The haul was first reported by Politico," said the report. "Paxton has raised $7.6 million, and his campaign had $2.3 million left to spend as of May 6."

A deeply expensive contest in Texas could further strain resources on the National Republican Senatorial Committee and GOP megadonors, who might otherwise put that funding toward more obvious tossup races like Georgia and Maine.

"George Seay, one of Cornyn’s longtime friends and donors, declined to comment when NBC News asked him whether he would also donate to boost Paxton," noted the report. "But he said that Paxton as the nominee meant the state was now 'definitely in play' and a tougher climb for Republicans to win. 'Is Paxton going to raise a lot of money? Probably not,' Seay said, though he said that wasn’t necessarily a death knell."

President Donald Trump scrapped a rare trip to Camp David on Tuesday after returning from a three-hour medical exam at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, with bad weather cited as the reason for the last-minute change.

Trump was scheduled to travel to the presidential retreat in rural Maryland on Wednesday to hold his 12th cabinet meeting since taking office, but the White House announced the gathering would instead be held at the White House. Trump typically flies to Camp David by helicopter, making heavy rain a potential factor in grounding.

The cancellation came hours after Trump posted on Truth Social that he had "just finished" his "6-month physical" at Walter Reed, adding that "Everything checked out PERFECTLY."

The 79-year-old president — who turns 80 next month — spent more than three hours at the military medical center for what the White House described as preventive medical and dental checkups. It was his fourth publicly disclosed exam since returning to office.

The White House did not release detailed results. Spokesperson Davis Ingle said Trump "remains in excellent health" and called him "the sharpest and most accessible President in American history."

Wednesday's cabinet meeting had been expected to cover economic wins, fraud task force updates, and foreign policy — but Iran was likely to dominate the agenda. The U.S. conducted strikes on targets in southern Iran late Monday, prompting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to threaten American military bases in the Middle East.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that nuclear talks with Tehran were still ongoing but could take "a few days" to finalize.

"The president expressed his desire to make sure he's either going to make a good deal or no deal," Rubio told reporters in India.

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) interrupted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing Tuesday to tell the Texas Republican she felt "personally aggrieved" by his lecturing — only to have Cruz fire back by invoking the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, snapping, "You're not Dianne Feinstein."

The blowup came after Cruz delivered a lengthy monologue at a hearing on the Supreme Court's Louisiana v. Callais ruling — a 6-3 decision gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act — accusing Democrats of believing Black candidates can only win in gerrymandered districts.

"The Democrats are fond of telling this story that is, and I wish I could find a kinder way to say it, a flat-out lie," Cruz said, rattling off Black Republican lawmakers elected in majority-white districts: Sen. Tim Scott, Reps. Burgess Owens, Byron Donalds, John James, and Wesley Hunt.

"In the Democrats' world, you're not Black if you're not a liberal Democrat," Cruz declared. "There is an arrogance to African American voters."

The Texas Republican then accused Democrats of being the real gerrymandering offenders, demanding to know how many Republicans represent New England in the U.S. House.

"Zero. Zero," Cruz said. "They've drawn every district in a naked gerrymander, and yet they're very upset that their illegal pursuit of power has now been stopped by the Supreme Court."

That's when Hirono cut in.

"Point of personal privilege," she said. "I feel personally aggrieved to sit here and to be lectured by my colleague from Texas."

Hirono then reached back more than a decade to invoke a now-famous clash between Cruz and Feinstein, who memorably told a freshman Cruz during a 2013 hearing on gun safety that she was "not a sixth grader."

"This reminds me of the time when he was first elected to the Senate, and the Judiciary Committee had a hearing on gun safety, and he felt a need to lecture Dianne Feinstein," Hirono said. "And she said to him, something along the lines of, 'I did not sit here on this committee for however many years she did, only to be lectured by you.'"

"And that is how I feel," Hirono continued. "So why don't you just stop lecturing the rest of us? Just because you think you are the smartest person in the world doesn't mean the rest of us agree with that."

Cruz didn't let it go.

"I knew Dianne Feinstein. I served with Dianne Feinstein," he shot back. "And you're not Dianne Feinstein."

The Department of Justice has issued an order permanently barring the United States from pursuing any tax claims or other legal actions against President Donald Trump, his family, his trusts, and his companies, according to a Justice Department document signed Tuesday by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

The order, issued in connection with the settlement of Trump v. Internal Revenue Service, stated, "The United States RELEASES, WAIVES, ACQUITS, and FOREVER DISCHARGES" the plaintiffs and is "FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing, any and all claims, counterclaims, causes of action, appeals, or requests for any relief" against Trump or related parties.

The settlement agreement had already created what the DOJ calls Trump's "Anti-Weaponization Fund," a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded pot to compensate people who claim they were politically targeted by previous administrations.

The barred claims include anything that "have been or could have been asserted" against the plaintiffs arising from three categories: matters raised or that could have been raised in the case or pending agency claims; "Lawfare and/or Weaponization"; or "any matters currently pending or that could be pending (including tax returns filed before the Effective Date) before Defendants or other agencies or departments."

The order was first flagged by CBS News reporter Scott MacFarlane.

During testimony on Tuesday, Blanche defended the $1.776 billion fund and was accused of still acting as Trump's personal attorney.

MeidasTouch wrote in reaction, "Trump's personal attorney is at it again."

A controversial Democratic candidate in Texas has proclaimed she would use Immigration and Customs Enforcement centers for a new purpose — to round up "American Zionists."

According to the San Antonio Current, Maureen Galindo, a sex therapist running for Texas' newly-redrawn 35th Congressional District consisting of eastern San Antonio and the exurbs around it, posted to Instagram that she will "turn Karnes ICE Detention Center into a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking." She added that "it will also be a castration processing center for pedophiles, which will probably be most of the Zionists.”

In her Instagram post, which spanned several pages and ranted against "billionaire Zionists that control San Antonio," she also accused her Democratic primary opponent, Bexar County Sheriff's Deputy Johnny Garcia, of "want[ing] Mexicans and Jews in warehouses." She has previously claimed, with no evidence, that Garcia is part of a human trafficking operation on behalf of Zionists.

Galindo has repeatedly faced accusations of being antisemitic, which she denies, claiming that she supports "the Indigenous Jews (The Semites) of the Middle East" over "the Fake Jews" committing genocide against them.

All of this comes as mainstream Democratic figures in Texas and around the country line up behind Garcia's candidacy.

It also comes as a mysterious PAC with ties to the GOP has worked behind the scenes to boost Galindo to voters in the 35th District, which has been made significantly more Republican-leaning as a result of Texas lawmakers' MAGA-ordered mid-decade redistricting.