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Trump’s ‘revenge’ meltdown plans leak for White House Correspondents’ Dinner: report
President Donald Trump is preparing to throw a scripted tantrum at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this year, reported The Daily Beast on Wednesday.
"Donald Trump will launch a 'revenge' attack on the White House media when he confronts them in person at a Washington dinner on Saturday night — then flee before there can be revenge," said the report. "He is expected to target publications that he has accused of writing negatively about his administration and his war with Iran, in particular, according to sources."
This would track with his recent rants on Truth Social, where he has accused of the media of rigging reports about the Iran war to make it look like it's going worse than it actually is.
After he is done with his speech, said the report, he is skipping on the rest of the ceremony — in large part because he doesn't want to stick around for an award being given to a story that revealed his closeness to deceased financier and accused child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
"Trump will leave the White House Correspondents’ Association event after making his speech, so he will miss the presentation of press awards — one of which would be certain to embarrass him," said the report. "He has told aides he has no intention of still being in the International Ballroom at the Washington Hilton when the Wall Street Journal is honored with the Katherine Graham award for its scoop about a bawdy letter Trump allegedly wrote for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday card."
The president sued WSJ over that reporting, alleging that the birthday letter was not authentic. This month, a federal judge tossed out that suit.
‘Massive cover up’ fears raised as House panel splits on clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell
Ghislaine Maxwell's condition to testify under oath — but only under the condition of clemency — has split House Oversight and Government Reform Committee members over whether President Donald Trump should grant her that pardon, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) told Politico on Wednesday.
Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirator, was deposed by the committee and invoked her Fifth Amendment right to decline to answer the group's questions. Trump is the only one with the power to pardon her, something he has not yet ruled out.
Comer told Politico that he did not favor a pardon for Maxwell, a former confidant to the late financier and convicted child sex offender. When asked whether striking a deal with Maxwell could provide useful testimony, Comer did not share who on the panel supported granting her clemency.
"A lot of people do," Comer said.
"My committee’s split on that," Comer said. "I don’t speak for my committee."
"I think it looks bad," he added. "Honestly, other than Epstein, the worst person in this whole investigation is Maxwell."
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) said that Democrats on the committee collectively oppose a pardon for Maxwell.
"That would be a huge step backwards, and, quite frankly, so disrespectful to the survivors," he said in an interview. "She is a known abuser. She is a known liar."
"If the DOJ or Oversight Republicans are out there trying to negotiate some sort of pardon that is... not only a huge slap in the face to this investigation, to anyone, to the American public," Garcia said. "It’s a part of a massive cover up."
‘Wah, wah, wah:’ AOC scoffs at GOP whining over gerrymandering
WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, had strong words for Republicans complaining about the gerrymandering in Virginia that voters approved on Tuesday, with strong support from her party.
"Wah, wah, wah," Ocasio-Cortez told Raw Story on Wednesday, mimicking a whining baby and laughing in response to a question from reporter Matt Laslo. "Democrats have attempted and asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering, and for 10 years, Republicans have said, 'no.'"
Laslo was asking Ocasio-Cortez to respond to complaints from the GOP that it would be unconstitutional for Democrats to have a 10-1 congressional majority in Virginia, which the gerrymandering ballot measure would make possible. A Virginia circuit court judge blocked the vote-approved redistricting on Wednesday, however.
Still, Ocasio-Cortez saw no problem with Democrats supporting gerrymandering after years of opposing it when done on the Republican side. For AOC, the GOP "wanted to start this," and the Democrats are just fighting back.
"What they're mad at is they're accustomed to a Democrat Party that rolls over, doesn't fight and takes everything sitting down," Ocasio-Cortez said. "What they're mad at right now is that we are here in a new day."
She mentioned Republican gerrymandering in North Carolina and Texas, where Democrats lost seats. Trump's call for Texas Republicans to gerrymander arguably kicked off what's now seen as a redistricting arms race.
"We have been asking the Democratic Party to stand up and fight, and now they did," AOC continued. "Now the Republican Party doesn't like the fact that they are fighting against someone who actually will stand up for the American people."
Ocasio-Cortez said she would "welcome" working with the Republicans to pass a ban on partisan gerrymandering.
"We have the bill right here to end this all today," she said, smiling. "But they don't want to because they like pursuing and continuing to enact an unfair electoral landscape."
MAGA lawmaker accuses Mike Johnson of ‘brainwashing’ him with intelligence briefing
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), endorsed by Donald Trump, explained that he was supporting Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-LA) ouster because the lawmaker had betrayed Republicans' principles on a foreign surveillance law.
On Monday, Massie told podcast host Charlie Kirk that Johnson had orchestrated a "brainwashing session" in the form of a classified briefing to push through the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
"It was like a brainwashing session," Massie asserted. "And here's the thing, Charlie, when you go into a [sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF)], remember most congressmen are used to having two things with them that allow them to verify something if they're being told a lie.
"Number one, they usually have their smartphone with them. And their staff," he continued. "Those two things you are deprived of.
ALSO READ: Revealed: What government officials privately shared about Trump not disclosing finances
"So if you are deprived of those two things and any connection to anybody for three or four hours, you kind of start believing what they're saying, and you think, well, maybe they'll let me out of this SCIF if I just nod my head and succumb to the pressure."
However, the "brainwashing session" did not convince Massie to support the bill.
"I slept on it three nights, and then I came to the GOP conference at the beginning of this past week, and I stood up in front of everybody, and I told Mike Johnson he needed to resign and that I was co-sponsoring Marjorie Taylor Greene's motion to vacate," he recalled.
The House passed the FISA reauthorization bill earlier this month after an initial failure. The 273-147 bipartisan vote came with 59 Republicans and 88 Democrats opposing it. Trump had urged Republicans to kill the legislation.
President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on Saturday.
‘Old and tired and mad’: Trump’s demeanor in court detailed by Rachel Maddow
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, inside Manhattan’s Criminal Courthouse on Monday, declared that Donald Trump appeared “old and tired and mad” as she delivered observations about the ex-president on trial for 34 counts of falsification of business records in the alleged pursuit of election interference to protect his 2016 presidential run.
Trump “seems considerably older, and he seems annoyed. Resigned, maybe, angry. He seems like a man who’s miserable to be here,” the journalist told MSNBC viewers Monday afternoon.
“I’m no body language expert,” she conceded, “and this is just my observation. He seemed old and tired and mad.”
The New York Times’ Susanne Craig, inside the courthouse Monday morning, reported: “Trump is struggling to stay awake. His eyes were closed for a short period. He was jolted awake when Todd Blanche, his lawyer, nudged him while sliding a note in front of him.”
The Biden campaign was only too happy to pick up and report Craig’s observation, adding “feeble.”
Former Obama senior advisor David Axelrod, pointing to his piece at The Atlantic, wrote of Trump: “He has charmed & conned, schemed & marauded his way through life. He was bred that way. But the weariness & vulnerability captured in courtroom images betray a growing sense in Trump that he could wind up as the thing his old man most reviled:
A loser.”Watch Maddow's video below.
Kremlin-linked Truth Social investor linked to dangerous ‘sex pills’ operation: report
A Russian entrepreneur who loaned millions to Donald Trump's social media platform was behind a series of websites that pushed potentially dangerous "sex pills" that sparked warnings from health regulators about dangerous ingredients, according to a report.
The product, called VMax, promised improved sexual function for those who take it and sparked warnings from the FDA that its ingredients could cause serious health defects.
The sites where the product was sold have been traced to 40-year-old Anton Postolnikov, who reportedly has family links to the Kremlin, according to The Daily Beast which reported he has a history of "success in niche online businesses such as providing financial services to porn stars and camgirls."
Postolnikov, who has donated to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is suspected by the U.S. government of making nearly $23 million in 2021 from alleged insider trading on Truth Social, the social media platform owned by Trump. Although he hasn't been charged in the case, the FBI's investigation found he participated in the scheme, according to the Beast's report.
Also read: 'Old and tired and mad': Trump’s demeanor in court detailed by Rachel Maddow
"Before his alleged foray into Florida high finance, Postolnikov was involved in the selling of Vimax, which was sold via offshore companies in the U.S., Cyprus, and Mauritius, according to the products’ websites," the Beast reported.
"New Century Beauty LLC, the company which was described as owner and operator of vimaxtrialoffer.com on the site, is registered at the California address of Postolnikov’s mother, Lyudmila Postolnikova, aged 73. Izef LLC which listed Postolnikov as an administrator, handled sales of Vimax for a period, according to archived snapshots of the sales websites," The Beast's report stated.
The sex pills were marketed as being a "100% natural product," but the FDA says they contain the Ingredient tadalafil, which could lower blood pressure and negatively interact with other drugs. But according to Andrei Octav Moise, whose company trademarked the product, the FDA only examined counterfeit versions of the product.
“The FDA did indeed find knockoffs of Vimax sold by a Chinese company without any authorization from nor relationship to the Vimax brand. Essentially the knockoff products did contain illegal substances and were investigated by the FDA who ultimately held that they were not authentic Vimax products and had nothing to do with Vimax per se,” he said according to The Beast.
U.S. prosecutors are looking at Postolnikov over the way he structured the loan to Truth Social through an obscure entity called “ES Family Trust.”
"Wire transfer documents show that Trump Media received $2 million from Paxum Bank and another $6 million from ES Family Trust. Documents obtained by the authors show that the trustee for ES Family Trust is Angel Pacheco, who reportedly listed himself as an employee of Paxum Bank on LinkedIn."
Read the full report over at The Daily Beast.
Insider describes ‘stunning’ moment judge made Trump ‘meekly’ sit down like a ‘little boy’
Donald Trump hasn't listened to anyone telling him to sit down since he was sent to boarding school, but that streak ended with Judge Juan Merchan the other day, according to a man who was in the room at the time that it happened.
During an appearance on MSNBC, columnist and longtime Washington insider Jonathan Alter set the scene for what happened when Merchan instructed Trump to have a seat. It has been reported that Trump was "fuming" after being made to sit like a dog would.
The host asked Alter how the event might affect Trump's "psyche."
ALSO READ: Revealed: What government officials privately shared about Trump not disclosing finances
"In the final minutes of the trial on Friday as Donald Trump was standing to leave the courtroom, the judge firmly told Donald Trump, 'Sir, can you please have a seat?' That moment has come to represent the stripping of control from a man who used to be the most powerful person in the United States, some could argue in the world. How could you -- how does this impact Donald Trump's psyche?" she asked Alter.
"Well, first of all, I was in the courtroom when it happened and it was a stunning, dramatic moment," he said. "You know, you have a former president of the United States who since the time he was a little boy never listen to anything -- anyone about anything. He was sent to military academy for being disobedient. Ever since, he has never sat down when someone told him to. In this case, he had to. He sat down meekly, like the obedient little boy he never was, and it was quite striking and I think it symbolizes that he is not the most powerful person in that courtroom."
"That honor," accord to Alter, "belongs to his honor, Judge Juan Merchan, who the country is becoming increasingly familiar with."
"And he is going to make Donald Trump face the music."
‘They want him killed’: Alan Dershowitz says Trump would be murdered in prison
Law professor Alan Dershowitz predicted that Donald Trump would be murdered in prison if he is stripped of his Secret Service protections.
Dershowitz made the remarks to Newsmax after Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) introduced a bill to revoke Secret Service benefits if the former president is convicted of a crime.
"So he would not have Secret Service if he's behind bars," a Newsmax host told Dershowitz.
"Well, that's ridiculous," the law professor replied. "That means that they want him killed, because he's obviously a target. We live in an age where everybody is in danger."
"Look, Bobby Kennedy ought to be getting Secret Service protection, but certainly Donald Trump needs to get a Secret Service protection," he insisted.
ALSO READ: A criminologist explains why keeping Trump from the White House is all that matters
In the end, Dershowitz predicted Trump would never serve jail time.
"The judge is going to bluff and fine and threaten, but he's not going to throw Donald Trump in jail," he explained. "That would be a guaranteed victory."
"It would even get people like me, perhaps, to vote for him if he was thrown in jail on an unconstitutional charge," Dershowitz added. "So I don't think it's going to happen."
Watch the video below from Newsmax or at the link.
Letitia James may start ‘seizing Trump’s properties’ as he sits in criminal trial: expert
As Donald Trump sits in criminal court facing 34 felony charges for purported financial records violations stemming from an attempt to bury a story about an alleged affair with an adult film actress, he may also face a separate prosecutor seizing his real estate holdings, according to a legal expert.
Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner published a "Justice Matters" video on Saturday in which he covers a recent filing by New York A.G. Letitia James, who sued Trump in a civil case for business fraud based on his chronic exaggeration of assets to get better loan terms. Specifically, the ex-prosecutor noted how James recently urged state Judge Arthur Engoron to reject the $175 million bond that Trump has posted in his civil fraud case, citing trustworthiness and competency concerns with the institution that agreed to bond him.
For Kirschner, this tells us a good amount about what might happen in the future as these cases move forward.
ALSO READ: Revealed: What government officials privately shared about Trump not disclosing finances
Kirschner first covers the three reasons James gives for doubting the validity of the bond, including that the company purportedly doesn't have the financial backing to provide such a large bond, and then goes on to explain what will happen if the judge agrees with her and Trump does nothing to cure the problem.
"At this rate, it looks like there is a fair chance that while Donald Trump is in that New York courtroom being prosecuted for 34 felony crimes, Attorney General Tish James might be up the street seizing Trump's properties," he said. "And I'm OK with that."
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Trump’s ‘revenge’ meltdown plans leak for White House Correspondents’ Dinner: report
President Donald Trump is preparing to throw a scripted tantrum at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this year, reported The Daily Beast on Wednesday.
"Donald Trump will launch a 'revenge' attack on the White House media when he confronts them in person at a Washington dinner on Saturday night — then flee before there can be revenge," said the report. "He is expected to target publications that he has accused of writing negatively about his administration and his war with Iran, in particular, according to sources."
This would track with his recent rants on Truth Social, where he has accused of the media of rigging reports about the Iran war to make it look like it's going worse than it actually is.
After he is done with his speech, said the report, he is skipping on the rest of the ceremony — in large part because he doesn't want to stick around for an award being given to a story that revealed his closeness to deceased financier and accused child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
"Trump will leave the White House Correspondents’ Association event after making his speech, so he will miss the presentation of press awards — one of which would be certain to embarrass him," said the report. "He has told aides he has no intention of still being in the International Ballroom at the Washington Hilton when the Wall Street Journal is honored with the Katherine Graham award for its scoop about a bawdy letter Trump allegedly wrote for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday card."
The president sued WSJ over that reporting, alleging that the birthday letter was not authentic. This month, a federal judge tossed out that suit.
‘Massive cover up’ fears raised as House panel splits on clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell
Ghislaine Maxwell's condition to testify under oath — but only under the condition of clemency — has split House Oversight and Government Reform Committee members over whether President Donald Trump should grant her that pardon, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) told Politico on Wednesday.
Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirator, was deposed by the committee and invoked her Fifth Amendment right to decline to answer the group's questions. Trump is the only one with the power to pardon her, something he has not yet ruled out.
Comer told Politico that he did not favor a pardon for Maxwell, a former confidant to the late financier and convicted child sex offender. When asked whether striking a deal with Maxwell could provide useful testimony, Comer did not share who on the panel supported granting her clemency.
"A lot of people do," Comer said.
"My committee’s split on that," Comer said. "I don’t speak for my committee."
"I think it looks bad," he added. "Honestly, other than Epstein, the worst person in this whole investigation is Maxwell."
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) said that Democrats on the committee collectively oppose a pardon for Maxwell.
"That would be a huge step backwards, and, quite frankly, so disrespectful to the survivors," he said in an interview. "She is a known abuser. She is a known liar."
"If the DOJ or Oversight Republicans are out there trying to negotiate some sort of pardon that is... not only a huge slap in the face to this investigation, to anyone, to the American public," Garcia said. "It’s a part of a massive cover up."
‘Wah, wah, wah:’ AOC scoffs at GOP whining over gerrymandering
WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, had strong words for Republicans complaining about the gerrymandering in Virginia that voters approved on Tuesday, with strong support from her party.
"Wah, wah, wah," Ocasio-Cortez told Raw Story on Wednesday, mimicking a whining baby and laughing in response to a question from reporter Matt Laslo. "Democrats have attempted and asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering, and for 10 years, Republicans have said, 'no.'"
Laslo was asking Ocasio-Cortez to respond to complaints from the GOP that it would be unconstitutional for Democrats to have a 10-1 congressional majority in Virginia, which the gerrymandering ballot measure would make possible. A Virginia circuit court judge blocked the vote-approved redistricting on Wednesday, however.
Still, Ocasio-Cortez saw no problem with Democrats supporting gerrymandering after years of opposing it when done on the Republican side. For AOC, the GOP "wanted to start this," and the Democrats are just fighting back.
"What they're mad at is they're accustomed to a Democrat Party that rolls over, doesn't fight and takes everything sitting down," Ocasio-Cortez said. "What they're mad at right now is that we are here in a new day."
She mentioned Republican gerrymandering in North Carolina and Texas, where Democrats lost seats. Trump's call for Texas Republicans to gerrymander arguably kicked off what's now seen as a redistricting arms race.
"We have been asking the Democratic Party to stand up and fight, and now they did," AOC continued. "Now the Republican Party doesn't like the fact that they are fighting against someone who actually will stand up for the American people."
Ocasio-Cortez said she would "welcome" working with the Republicans to pass a ban on partisan gerrymandering.
"We have the bill right here to end this all today," she said, smiling. "But they don't want to because they like pursuing and continuing to enact an unfair electoral landscape."
