National News
‘Worrisome’: Ex-staffer warns new Trump administration would be stripped of key restraint
Donald Trump's second administration will find itself unable to rely on a key restraint that prevented the former president from pursuing bad federal policy during his first term, a one-time staffer warned Wednesday.
Former Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews appeared on CNN to share her fears that Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, will surround himself with easily swayed staffers should he regain the White House in 2025.
"It's going to be a bunch of yes men and women who will do and say what he pleases," Matthews warned. "It's extremely worrisome because I think that competency and experience are gonna be out the window."
Matthews issued this warning on the heels of a Time Magazine exposé detailing the actions Trump hopes to take as commander in chief, among them prosecuting President Joe Biden, mass deportations and government pregnancy monitoring.
The former press secretary suggested the threat Trump presents would not be evaded should he lose the presidential election on Nov. 5.
"We know with Donald Trump that an election is only fair if he wins," Matthews said. "It almost sounded like a threat of political violence if he loses."
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Matthews then argued future "yes" staffers will not be able to rely on a key tactic Trump's former White House team successfully used to dissuade him from pursuing bad policy: raising the specter of reelection.
The argument will be rendered moot by presidential term limits, she explained.
"If he is elected president again, that won't be a concern," Matthews said. "You're not really going to be able to steer him off of some of these bad policies."
Finally, Matthews expressed her outrage that Trump has suggested pardons for people convicted on criminal charges related to the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021.
"He calls them hostages and patriots," Matthews said. "It's really just disgusting to me."
‘Extreme position’: Democrats hit back as MTG blasts alliance with Mike Johnson
WASHINGTON — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Tom Massie (R-KY) announced on Wednesday from the U.S. Capitol that they will continue to file a motion to remove Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) from his post.
Massie told reporters that Johnson aligned himself with Democratic votes on the omnibus spending bill, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reauthorization, and the national security bill that funded Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan military aid.
He and Greene characterized them as the three "betrayals" to the GOP.
The votes passed with overwhelming support from Democrats along with several Republicans.
"He is a lost ball in tall weeds. ... He's in over his head," Massie said about Johnson, according to Jake Sherman at Punchbowl News.
Johnson was voted in after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was removed by members of his own party. Before Johnson was chosen, nearly 20 votes were cast for other candidates for the new speaker.
House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA) told Raw Story she wasn't aware of the know what the intention of the far-right flank of the House Republicans.
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She disputed Greene's claim that the Democrats were a "uniparty" united with Johnson after her party's leaders declared Tuesday that they would vote to table any motion to remove him from Greene.
"We are not a party that is endorsing Donald Trump; that is moved to the most extreme position in opposition to what the American people want us to do here," said Clark. "So, our goal here is to get back to governing. And this particular motion to vacate — we will table. But that is not a statement of unity with anything this House GOP is doing."
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) agreed, saying that Democrats were certainly not aligned with the MAGA Republicans.
"Donald Trump Republicans campaign on overturning Roe v. Wade. Republicans overturn Roe v. Wade. Donald Trump bragged about it," Lieu told Raw Story as a way of contrasting the two parties.
He explained that if the Democrats flip the House and keep the Senate, they will pass legislation that would codify reproductive healthcare rights in American law.
"So, the two parties are clearly not the same," Lieu continued. "Marjorie Taylor Greene can make up whatever she wants. But to say that somehow the two parties are the same is factually wrong."
He agreed with Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY), who said that the caucus would vote to table the motion to vacate Johnson from the speakership.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) confirmed that it likely "won't take that many Democrats" to table the motion and ultimately save Johnson.
"Do we want to wait another three weeks, maybe a month, to find another speaker? Who the hell is that going to be?" she said to Raw Story.
"I don't think anyone wants it. I don't think there are the votes for it," she continued. "So, we'll have another period of completely dysfunctional government."
Trump scrambles for cash as huge legal fees leave little for battleground campaign: report
If fundraising or other means of getting cash falters, Donald Trump is close to running out of funds to pay his legal bills as his New York hush money criminal trial continues, according to a new report.
Trump is racking up significant legal bills as the trial, where he's accused of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to adult movie star Stormy Daniels, enters into its second week. He's also facing three other indictments that could result in trials beginning this year.
Newsweek reported that Trump has been paying his lawyers using the Save America PAC, which has doled out more than $62 million for legal fees since January 2023. At the end of March, the PAC had around $4 million in cash — after spending $5.4 million on legal bills in the previous month.
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Speaking to Newsweek, University of Nottingham political science professor Todd Landman said that while "it is not clear that he will run out of money," Trump will be paying "substantial legal fees" in the coming weeks.
"Trump is managing four legal cases at present, each of which incurs legal fees for preparation of his defense, filing motions, and in the case of the Manhattan trial, representing him at trial four days a week," he said.
"The Manhattan trial is expected to run for five to six weeks in total, which continues this week, where there will be more witnesses for the prosecution and a separate hearing on whether he has violated his gag order," Landman continued. The judge ruled Tuesday that violations had occurred, but has another meeting scheduled to look into extra accusations.
"He has retained multiple lawyers to defend him, which means that he will have to pay substantial legal fees. It is not clear that he will run out of money, as he has been successful in securing a number of large donations from supporters," Landman said.
"However, there are legal constraints on using some of his political organizations and thus [he] needs to keep campaign finance separate from personal legal defense spending. On top of his legal fees, he has outstanding civil judgments against him pending appeal."
Funneling so much cash to legal fees could also drastically effect Trump's campaign, said another University of Nottingham professor, Christopher Phelps.
"The key question is whether he can do so while also running an effective ground operation in the battleground states, which requires a lot of advertising and personnel," he said.
