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.
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"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.
‘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.
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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.
GOP operative loses appeal of conviction for funneling Russian money to Trump campaign
A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of a Republican operative who had been pardoned by Donald Trump in the waning days of his presidency.
The District of Columbia Circuit Court rejected an appeal by Jesse Benton, a former senior aide to Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul, of his November 2022 conviction for orchestrating a scheme to conceal a $100,000 donation from a Russian national to his GOP consulting firm — and pocketing most of it.
Russian businessman Roman Vasilenko wired the money under his own name to the consulting firm, but Benton kept $75,000 for himself and gave $25,000 under his name to the presidential campaign for Trump, who posed for a photo with Vasilenko. Benton then filed a false report with the Federal Election Commission to conceal the source of the funds, the court found.
The Trump campaign was not aware of the true source of that donation.
Benton had appealed the conviction, saying Trump's 2020 pardon should have prevented the jury from hearing about his previous election crimes before convicting him of the newer charges.
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However, prosecutors argued that the unusual manner in which Trump handed out pardons by sidestepping the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney should have allowed them to present evidence of Benton's previous conviction for bribing an Iowa politician to switch his endorsement in 2011 to Ron Paul's long-shot presidential campaign.
The 45-year-old Benton, who is married to Ron Paul's granddaughter, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for that straw donor scheme.
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