Raw Story

The live band at the Republican National Convention took over to fill an awkward moment when House Speaker Mike Johnson's teleprompter malfunctioned.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is now my honor to Introduce the Attorney General, and there goes the teleprompter," said Johnson (R-LA), who froze for a moment before the band took over, and the crowd laughed.

The playlist included "We're an American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad, "I Want You to Want Me" by Cheap Trick, "China Grove" and "Taking' It to the Streets" by The Doobie Brothers.

Another was "Roll with the Changes" by REO Speedwagon.

The band extended Cheap Trick's less than four-minute hit with numerous instrumental riffs to fill time for more than 10 minutes. The band performed for more than 30 minutes.

The live band at the Republican National Convention filled in when Speaker Mike Johnson's teleprompter malfunctioned. (Dave Levinthal/Raw Story)

Johnson had just announced that former President Donald J Trump "received a majority of the votes entitled to be cast at the convention, has been selected as the Republican Party nominee for President of the United States."

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre blasted right-wing claims that women were not qualified for Secret Service work following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

At Monday's White House briefing, Jean-Pierre was asked about right-wing figures who blamed the shooting on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.

"There's been a lot of right-wing chatter about the female agents guarding the former President, specifically whether women are up to the job," a reporter told the press secretary. "People are noting that they're smaller, that they weren't able to cover the President, but, I mean, this is a talking point that is circulating."

"That's ridiculous," Jean-Pierre asserted. "I understand why you're asking the question. The sentiments coming from that about women and not being able to do the job, that's ridiculous."

"These men and women put their lives on the line," she continued. "What they're doing is brave. And we should not discount that. We should not discount that, if it's a man or if it's a woman. And to have that sentiment out there is unfair, and it's ridiculous."

EXCLUSIVE: Trump's 'secretary of retribution' has a 'target list' of 350 people he wants arrested

Jean-Pierre noted that President Joe Biden had ordered an independent review following the shooting.

"And so getting into these types of speculation is just ridiculous," she said.

On Sunday, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told Fox News that a "DEI initiative person" at the Secret Service was to blame for not protecting Trump.

Watch the video below or at this link.

Karine Jean-Pierre rips right-wing smear on women Secret Service agents www.youtube.com

Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Donald Trump's documents case on Monday morning ahead of the Republican convention, declaring that special counsel Jack Smith was not constitutionally appointed.

Legal analysts were quick to explain that no judge had ever done what Cannon had done and that the case had been litigated extensively, with considerable case law from Richard Nixon to, most recently, Hunter Biden's special counsel.

National security lawyer Bradley Moss, for one, fears that the case could go all the way to the Supreme Court, and they could rewrite the decades of precedent.

Former senior Justice Department prosecutor Andrew Weissmann also made note of the Supreme Court connection and lamented that the Cannon decision was "so predictable, after the Justice [Clarence] Thomas concurrence."

Read Also: A criminologist explains why Judge Cannon must step away from Trump trial immediately

Thomas was the lone dissenter who went further in the immunity case than other justices, saying that the documents case should be dismissed because of Smith's appointment.

“If there is no law establishing the office that the special counsel occupies, then he cannot proceed with this prosecution,” Thomas said. “A private citizen cannot criminally prosecute anyone, let alone a former president.”

Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, suggested, "This argument is unlikely to get five votes in the Supreme Court. But the delay will push any resolution of this case well past this year’s presidential election."

MSNBC legal analyst Adam Klasfeld explained that Cannon "noticed" Thomas' ruling, it appears.

"Justice Thomas all but invited Judge Cannon to find Jack Smith was unconstitutionally appointed as special counsel," he wrote. "Her ruling, doing so, cites that concurrence at least three times."

"To me, the only question is whether the Special Counsel also asks for the case to be reassigned on remand," said law school professor Steve Vladeck.

"Wow. She just (temporarily) immunized Trump from engaging in espionage," explained Andrew C. Laufer, a New York civil rights attorney. "I guess this is the price for a SCOTUS seat. If there's any doubt over what is at stake this November, doubt no more."

Law school professor Anthony Michal Kreis suggested, "If I'm Jack Smith and the DOJ, I might consider handing the Mar-A-Lago case to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, re-indict, and hope it gets assigned to a more competent judge than Cannon."

"Maybe the DOJ makes Smith an AUSA and says, 'have at it,'" he continued. "Might be quicker and long-term strategically sound. I'm not sure how feasible it is, but I can't see the downsides of trying to work around Judge Cannon than taking up an appeal on an order that is jurisprudential garbage."

Former President Donald Trump is gleeful at the ruling that dismissed the classified documents case, Fox News' Bret Baier reported on Monday morning.

The case was dismissed by District Judge Aileen Cannon, a far-right jurist herself appointed by Trump, who has generated controversy for months over a series of decisions that appear calculated to tilt the trial in her favor.

She relied on a Supreme Court concurrence from Justice Clarence Thomas to rule that special counsel Jack Smith was illegally appointed, an unprecedented decision that stands against years of legal understanding of how the special counsel regulations work.

Trump, according to Baier, is "thrilled and really praising Judge Cannon."

ALSO READ: Exclusive: Possible VP pick Marco Rubio nervous Trump will mess up convention

Legal experts have slammed the ruling, saying that it gives Smith grounds to go to the appeals court and have her removed and the case reinstated.

Nevertheless, it appears impossible that the matter can be resolved before the election; the case was already on indefinite hold while Cannon resolved a huge pile of pretrial motions she has been accused of sitting on for months.

Watch the video below or at the link here.

Donald Trump Jr., son of the former president and convicted felon, celebrated the future of American Democracy Monday when a judge his father appointed tossed a case involving classified documents stored in a Florida social club bathroom.

His MAGA followers responded with calls for retribution.

"Documents case dismissed!" Trump Jr. told his X followers. "Another example of weaponized injustice down the tubes."

Trump Jr. made this claim moments after Judge Aileen Cannon ruled special counsel Jack Smith had not been properly appointed to bring Espionage Act violation charges against Trump in Florida's federal court.

The Trump-appointee's timing stunned critics, who note it arrived opening day of the Republican National Convention where Trump is predicted to win his party's nomination.

Two days after a gunman aimed a semi-automatic rifle at the presumed Republican nominee's head, Trump's son celebrated victory against a liberal "henchman" whose work the former president's son said he wanted to "eliminate."

"Merrick Garland, Jack Smith, and their Democrat henchman take another L," Trump Jr. wrote. "If we eliminate this nonsense once and for all this incredible country still stands a chance! Can’t stop winning!!!"

EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s ‘secretary of retribution’ has a ‘target list’ of 350 people he wants arrested

Trump Jr. followers responded with angry messages calling for Smith to face criminal prosecution, declarations of war and the resurfacing of the conspiracy theory that the Justice department had plans to assassinate Trump.

One follower replied with an image of Trump with laser red eyes and the message "THIS IS WAR."

"Trump and we the people are unstoppable!" replied X user Thomas Paine Band. "Jack Smith needs to be prosecuted!"

"Now it's time to lock Jack Smith up," wrote @AmericanRebel.

"Jack Smith was hired as a DOJ hitman to take out Trump," wrote @SaveLibertyUS. "Jack Smith has always been a hitman. He was hired as a hitman before. He was hired as a hitman to destroy Trump.

"When Attorney General Merrick Garland, top DOJ officials, and Joe Biden’s handlers met to plan their next assault on the former president they all agreed on one thing. They needed to destroy President Trump completely and ensure that he never makes it to Election Day."

Video released Thursday by state troopers in Maryland shows the police response to a crash involving Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, with one officer reportedly sharing a witness's shocked statement that, “He was flying, and she wanted to merge, and he just smashed her.”

In the video, obtained by The Washington Post, a Maryland State Trooper is recorded on body camera saying: “The black car is, it’s actually, I think the senator of Pennsylvania — the real big, tall guy. ... He just ran into that red car."

The officer then shared a statement from a witness who said Fetterman was speeding and collided with the sedan as she tried to merge.

A first responder is also recorded on camera telling chuckling officers that he saw Fetterman in his classic shorts and sweatshirt combination, and said, "Good morning, senator."

“In 20 years of doing this, I’ve never had a politician," the first responder can be heard saying.

Fetterman and his wife Gisele were taken to the hospital after the crash, in which the senator was driving a Chevrolet Traverse when he rear-ended a Chevrolet Impala in northern Maryland near the Pennsylvania and West Virginia border. The Fettermans were driving in Hancock, Maryland, when the crash happened around 8 a.m.

"'John was treated for a bruised shoulder and they were discharged that afternoon," said a spokesperson, adding that both of them were "doing well" and "happy" after they returned to their home in Braddock, Pennsylvania.

Fetterman, a former mayor and lieutenant governor who was elected to the Senate in 2022, has struggled with health issues since suffering a stroke during the primaries.

The illness left him with impaired auditory processing capabilities, although he has since improved considerably.