War, Politics Plus DDT Trial Day 20

Foreign Events:

First, Israel threw Al Jazeera out of the country; then it seized an Associated Press camera and broadcasting equipment, accusing the news organization of giving images to Al Jazeera. Hours later the government said it will return the equipment after blocking AP’s live video of Gaza and facing increased criticism of interfering with independent journalism. The Biden administration, journalism organizations, and an Israeli opposition leader condemned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and pressured it to reverse the decision. Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, said the defense ministry will review news outlets’ positioning of Gaza’s live video. AP had not been formally warned that the camera’s positioning was an issue but had been told to stop transmitting.

One of thousands of AP customers, Al Jazeera receives live video from AP and other news organizations. AP follows Israel’s censorship rules prohibiting broadcasts of security problems such as details of troop movements, but the live video generally shows smoke rising over the territory. During the 2021 Israel-Hamas war, Israel destroyed the building housing AP’s Gaza office, claiming, with no evidence, that Hamas used the building for military purposes.

Since January, members of Israel’s police and military have been telling far-right activists and settlers where they can find aid trucks delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza so that they can block and vandalize the convoys. Trucks are looted and set on fire. Settlers claim they’re keeping supplies from getting to Hamas.

U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood told the UN that Russia likely launched a counter space weapon on May 16 close enough to be capable of attacking and destroying a nearby orbiting U.S. government satellite. The first such launch since 2022 occurred while the U.S. and its allies are highly concerned about Russia’s efforts to develop a nuclear space weapon to destroy commercial and government satellites. Woodward says the launch debunks Russia’s claims that it is seeking outer space security.

DDT Disasters:

The Boeing 757 belonging to Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) clipped the rear elevator of an unoccupied parked corporate jet at Palm Beach International Airport. Whether DDT was on the plane at the time is unknown. His plane was arriving from Atlantic City International Airport; DDT held a campaign rally on May 12 nearby at Wildwood (NJ).

In Florida, a new loophole in the law is hiding Jared Kushner’s family ties to Surfside; billionaire Charles Kushner and other top real estate developers can put “thousands of dollars” into 2024 candidates in the oceanfront village of 5,000. Voters won’t be able to see the source of donations until after the election. While his father-in-law hopes to be in the White House, Jared Kushner plans to build a $500 million hotel with DDT’s former aide Richard Grenell on prime Belgrade real estate on the site of the former Yugoslav defense ministry given to Kushner. The U.S. backed NATO forces in 1999 to bomb the complex during Serbian war with Kosovo. House Democrats including Jamie Raskin (MD) and Robert Garcia (CA) are speaking out against Kushner’s $3 billion European deals with money from Saudi Arabia.

Congressional Conflagrations:

House Democrats want an investigation into the allegation that lawmakers were drinking alcohol and acting “pretty ugly” during a hearing last Thursday to mark up a bill declaring contempt of Congress for AG Merrick Garland. Republicans who attended DDT’s criminal trial as surrogates postponed the hearing until evening about Garland’s refusal to give Republicans the tapes of Robert Hur’s interviews with President Joe Biden regarding his possession of classified documents. The surrogates were in New York for publicity by attacking people, statements which a gag order blocked DDT from making. James Comer (R-KY), chair of the Oversight Committee, was unable to control Republicans insulting Democratic members. Raskin, the committee’s ranking member, wants to initiate the investigation into those accused of behavior “embarrassing to our institution.” Axios reported that a House Republican described the hearing as “embarrassing” and “a four-alarm dumpster fire.”

Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) wants Congress to “shut down” the U.S. economy over the southern border and falsely accuses Biden of Marxist “socialist policies.” She introduced her request in an interview with Fox host Maria Bartimono. According to Spartz, Biden has a “failed policy … with its supply chain … and subsidizing corporations very close to the government in trying to control financial markets.” Spartz continued to ramble on with her unfounded complaints. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) plans to reintroduce the bill rejected earlier this year by Republicans who want to campaign on the premise that Democrats aren’t trying to solve border security.

Despite the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest for war crimes, Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) plans to invite the PM to speak to Congress. He’s waiting for Schumer to join him in the invitation but will do it himself if Schumer doesn’t go along with the plan. Schumer said he thinks “Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel.” Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) said he would help the ICC serve the warrant if Netanyahu addresses Congress. Because the U.S. did not sign the Rome Statute to empower the ICC to prosecute individuals for war crimes, the country is not obligated to arrest the prime minister.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said filibuster reform is possible if Democrats hold the Senate. He pointed out that members possibly not returning next year, Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kirsten Sinema (I-AZ), joined Republicans in supporting the “no-effort obstruction, as opposed to the talking filibuster,” but those who remain want the Senate to work again. Arizona’s moderate Democrat Mark Kelly, a former astronaut, said:

“I’ve been here just over three years, and I’ve never seen an organization with rules like the United States Senate. If NASA had these rules, the rocket ship would never leave the launchpad. So as changes to the rules come up, I’ll evaluate it based on the merits.”

Willis, McAfee Winners:

Republicans hoped that they could get rid of the Fulton County (GA) RICO case by voting out DA Fani Willis who started the case and Judge Scott McAfee who has been hearing it. Voters in the heavily Democratic district thwarted the GOP by electing the two of them in Tuesday’s primary. They run in the November election and keep their offices at least until the end of the year.

DDT Trial Day 20: In a move surprising no one, DDT did not testify in the New York criminal trial, and the defense has rested. Judge Juan Merchan released the jury until Tuesday, May 28 when they will hear the summations. He added that they will “hear my jury charge” and begin “deliberations at some point on Wednesday.”

Merchan spent the afternoon hearing requests and complaints from both sides, including debates of his language in discussing the specific crimes DDT is charged with and describing laws that DDT is accused of violating. The judge rejected requests from DDT’s lawyers to direct the jury that hush-money payments aren’t inherently illegal and others regarding political bias against Trump.

On Tuesday morning, DDT ally Robert Costello continued his testimony, arguing that he was Michael Cohen’s lawyer but finally admitting that Cohen had never signed a retainer. The DDT camp had sent Costello to reign in Cohen; instead, Cohen related the entire story about Stormy Daniels’ payoff and coverup. Under oath, Costello called Cohen a liar for saying he had never signed a retainer or agreed to retain Costello, something for which he has no proof. Prosecution accused Costello of working with DDT’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani when they tried to keep Cohen loyal to DDT, and Costello again became adversarial and sarcastic. Costello had trouble supporting his lies with his email to his law partner put into evidence:

“Our issue is to get Cohen on the right page without giving him the appearance that we are following instructions from Giuliani or the President.”

Not all Congressional Republicans plan to support DDT even if he is convicted of business fraud. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), whose bipartisan bill was killed by DDT in a campaign scam, would only say, “I want to be able to have people that are role models.” He added that “the policy issues are going to matter significantly.”

With a bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing, Rep. Byron Donalds told Fox host Maria Bartiromo that after “examining Biden, he believes the president is receiving a secret medication making him appear to be sharp-witted and completely “coherent.” Donalds is on DDT’s vice-presidential shortlist. Caught in agreeing to debates with Biden, DDT is now demanding a drug test for Biden before the events, and another VP wannabe, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) predicted that Biden will be “jacked up for those debates,” that “he was high as a kite” at his State of the Union address in March. Rep. Greg Murphy, a urologist, told Bartiromo that Biden was drugged, that Murphy had “a little bit of good knowledge that that had captained—that that had happened.” Bartiromo said, “You’ll show me what?” DDT sycophants repeated DDT’s lies about drugged Biden 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Today’s News, DDT Trial Day 19

International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan stated he is seeking arrest warrants against both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and three Hamas leaders for alleged war crimes. He accused both Netanyahu and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant of “willful killing or Murder as a war crime,” and for “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime.” The Hamas warrants are for Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ leader in Gaza; Mohammed Deif, leader of Hamas’ military wing; and Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s political leader. Khan isn’t charging Israel’s military leadership.

The Supreme Court refused to take up a challenge to Maryland’s ban on assault-style weapons, leaving the law in place. Challengers asked the high court to take the case before the 4^th Circuit Court ruled on the law. The appeals court has already upheld the law once, and the Supreme Court refused to review that decision.

In another Justice Samuel Alito ethical issues, he sold his stock in Anheuser-Busch during the hate campaign connected to a boycott of Budweiser Light, possibly participating. The event was a protest against trans woman Dylan Mulvaney promotion of the product. Alito bought stock in the rival brewing company Coors owned by a conservative donors.

Republicans, including Deposed Donald Trump (DDT), continue to claim that Democrats are a failure in southern border policy, but they have turned down any bills to solve the problem. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wrote to his colleagues that he plans to bring up the bipartisan border deal negotiated early this year back to the floor for another vote. A primary creator of the bill was Oklahoma GOP’s James Lankford with Democratic Chris Murphy (CT) and unaffiliated Kyrsten Sinema (AZ). In his letter, Schumer stated:

“The former President made clear he would rather preserve the issue for his campaign than solve the issue in a bipartisan fashion. On cue, many of our [Republican] colleagues abruptly reversed course on their prior support, announcing their new-found opposition to the bipartisan proposal.”

Republicans, however, claim they are sticking with DDT and won’t vote for it. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) supported the bipartisan border discussions until DDT opposed it; now he claims that Schumer wants to distract from Biden’s border crisis.

Nevada abortion-rights supporters state they have enough signatures to put a ballot measure on the ballot to add these rights into the state’s constitution. The 200,000 signatures are almost double the 102,362 mandated for qualification.

Even a Republican, Sen. Mike Rounds (SD), is asking South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for a correction in her book. He denied that he had asked DDT to drop out of the presidential race in October 2016 after the Access Hollywood tape about DDT’s bragging about sexually assaulting women went public. Noem, who wants to be DDT’s vice-president, had called DDT’s comments “repulsive.”

John F. Kennedy Jr. doesn’t own the home address that he uses as his voting location. It is in foreclosure for nonpayment and missing JFK’s name in resident searches. JFK used the same Westchester County residence for his New Hampshire presidential nomination petitions in 2024 and eight other elections between 2008 and 2018. The owner is the wife of a longtime friend of JFK. Kennedy’s brother Doug said that Kennedy stays there when he is in New York.

After two months, the ship causing the Baltimore bridge to collapse, the Dali, has been refloated and is being taken back to port guided by tugboats.

DDT Trial Day 19: Prosecution for the criminal trial rested in the late morning after four weeks of testimony, 20 witnesses, and over 200 exhibits. The defense then put on its case, briefly turning the courtroom into chaos. Judge Juan Merchan admonished the second witness, Michael Cohen’s former legal adviser Robert Costello, for improper decorum when he was testifying about Cohen’s state of mind as federal investigators were closing in on him in 2018. Merchan sent the jury out of the room and cleared the press. No explanation was given when they were permitted to return a few minutes later. The press heard Merchan say to Costello:

“If you don’t like my ruling, you don’t say, ‘Jeez.’  You don’t give me a side eye. You don’t roll your eyes. You understand that?”

Merchan also pointed out that Costello can’t strike anything, that the only person able to do that is the judge. Part of the judge’s directions to Costello was not to answer when an objection is sustained. The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell stated that Costello turned as red as a “strawberry.”

Costello, a DDT ally, said several times that Cohen said DDT didn’t know about the payment to Stormy Daniels. Cohen said that he had never hired Costello but had talked with him length, giving an attorney-client privilege. Merchan told prosecutors they could cross-examine Costello on two prior inconsistent statements but would not allow “a trial within a trial” about how the pressure campaign about Costello trying to strong-arm him into his service affected Cohen. 

While the jurors and press were not in the room, Merchan called Costello’s behavior “contemptuous” and told him, “If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand. I will strike his entire testimony. Do you understand me?” Costello asked to respond, and Merchan refused, saying, “This is not a conversation.”

Cohen also admitted that he lied about paying the technology company Red Finch $50,000 to tilt an online poll about famous businesspeople in DDT’s favor and kept $30,000 because his annual bonus had been reduced by two-thirds. Prosecution’s biggest win of the day, however, may have been in Cohen’s cross-examination about communication between DDT and his bodyguard Keith Schiller about the hush money payment. The defense declared that Cohen was lying about DDT’s awareness of the $130,000 paid to Daniels, but prosecution brought a photo supporting the time of the call when Schiller handed the phone to DDT. Although the defense lawyer fought to keep the photograph from evidence, he lost.

Earlier in the day, court officials asked Alan Dershowitz, a Fox legal analyst who defended DDT during his first impeachment, to return to his seat after he audibly told Norm Eisen, a CNN legal analyst, that he wasn’t at the trial for political reasons during an argument.

In an interview with Fox outside the courthouse, Trump’s legal spokeswoman Alina Habba said: “We know he wants to testify. He is willing, he is able, he is nothing to hide at all. He’s absolutely ready to tell the truth.” Still, she said, “he’s got to listen to his attorneys.” Third Way, a center-left group, has a five-figure digital ad buy trying to drive DDT into testifying that runs near where DDT will be. It calls him a “coward” if he doesn’t testify.

An increasing number of surrogates, DDT’s term, wearing Trumpy navy suits and red ties reciting DDT’s smears against the trial appears at the trial. DDT’s lawyer Todd Blanche erroneously calls them “members of the public. Instead of waiting hours to get into the courtroom, however, they travel with DDT, some of them in his motorcade, and enter the courthouse in a nonpublic entrance on a usually closed street. They go to the 15^th floor in an elevator unavailable to the public to a “holding room” for those in DDT’s traveling party. Once inside the courtroom, they sit in DDT’s reserved 16 seats in the gallery’s front two rows. The ”public” is banned from using phones for the purpose of security, but not the surrogates. One of them, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) explained they were there to circumvent the gag order against DDT, an illegal act. On Monday, protesters gathered to shout them down, calling them “liar” and “traitor.”

Although Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) was not present on May 20, he appeared last week and received massive criticism for deserting his responsibility in leading he House.

The day ended with DDT’s attorneys again asking for a dismissal of the case, based only on Cohen’s testimony and DDT raging in the hallway. Costello is due to return on Tuesday. DDT said that Merchan can earn back “respect” if he dismisses the case. Merchan stated that closing arguments may begin on May 28 after the Memorial Day weekend. That gives DDT a long time to complain about not campaigning while he doesn’t campaign in his free time.  

In the new YouGov poll, 52 percent believe that DDT did “falsify documents to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star,” up from 48 percent last month and 45 percent in March. Only 22 percent say he didn’t, and one-fourth don’t know. Almost half are following the trial at least somewhat closely. Only 14 percent of people think DDT didn’t have sex with Stormy Daniels, and only 17 percent don’t believe that he made a deal with National Inquiry to buy and kill bad stories about him.

House Campaigns for DDT on Trial Day 18

“Don’t confuse ‘SCOTUS slaps down a wackadoodle 5th Circuit decision’ with ‘SCOTUS is more moderate than its critics claim.’  Not as radical as the 5th Circuit’ is not the same as ‘moderate.'”

That was the analysis from Steve Vladeck, University of Texas School of Law professor, about Thursday’s Supreme Court 7-2 ruling against payday lenders’ attempts to overturn the independent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) funding mechanism. Only Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented to the decision, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, from three other conservatives and three liberals who ruled that the Federal Reserve’s earnings used for the CFPB duties “satisfies” the Constitution’s appropriations clause. The CFPB protects consumers from financial predatory and abusive practices, providing over $20 billion in consumer relief in over four million consumer complaints.

The decision also applied to other agencies and the financial regulatory system as a whole, maintaining stability in financial markets. The Chamber of Commerce and other business interests supported the payday lenders, but mortgage bankers and other financial sectors regulated by the CFPB opposed the lenders that would unsettle the markets, rejecting conservatives’ wish to destroy the agency.

Thomas wrote that “appropriation is simply a law that authorizes expenditures from a specified source of public money for designated purposes. The law was created as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, the landmark 2010 law rewriting the rules of finance. In a concurring opinion with her two liberal justices and two conservatives, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the CFPB appropriations have continued since “the late 18^th century.”

After Robert Hur presented his 345-report about classified documents found in President Joe Biden’s home and office claiming he had “memory” issues, the GOP House members wanted tapes of the interviews, not satisfied with the transcripts. Fed up with their demands, Biden has declared executive privilege the committees form obtaining audio recordings. With a threat that House Republicans would declare AG Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress, the White House counsel responded to the House’s demand to give them the audio. White House Counsel Ed Siskel wrote:

“Demanding such sensitive and constitutionally-protected law enforcement materials from the Executive Branch because you want to manipulate them for potential political gain is inappropriate. The Committees’ needs are plainly insufficient to outweigh the deleterious effects that productions of the recordings would have on the integrity and effectiveness of similar law enforcement investigations in the future.”

Part of Siskel’s letter was more blunt:

“The absence of a legitimate need for the audio recordings lays bare your likely goal—to chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes.”

Two House committees voted on party lines to hold Garland in contempt for not giving them the tapes, the Judiciary Committee (18-14) and the Oversight Committee (24-20) after a four-hour contentious meeting. Garland had asked Biden to declare executive privilege for fear that turning over tapes would chill future investigative witnesses.

The Oversight Committee’s markup meeting in the evening was even more chaotic, beginning with Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (GA) and Luna’s constant interruption of Ranking Member Jamie Raskin’s (D-MD) opening remarks. Dan Goldman (D-NY) told Chair Jamie Comer (R-KY) to get Greene “under control.” Greene didn’t restrict herself to Rankin; she insulted Jasmine Crockett’s (D-TX) “fake eyelashes.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) asked for the personal comment to be removed, but the committee ruled that the attack was allowed, Crockett responded:

“I’m just curious, just to better understand your ruling: If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody’s bleach blonde bad built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?”

The GOP has obviously lost control—and a respectful environment in the House.

GOP House members wanted to unconstitutionally remove foreign policy from the president when they approved a bill 224-187 to reverse Biden’s pause on one shipment of offensive weapons to Israel. The bill is largely DOA in the Senate where party leaders don’t plan to consider it with 16 Democrats joining Republicans. The decision was awkward for Republicans because Biden started a $1 billion arms said to Israel before the vote.

Opposing Democrats are tired of Republicans attempting to expose divisions on Israel and move to align with Biden who threatens a veto. Jewish Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman from New York expressed weariness “of the Republicans using Israel and antisemitism as a political pawn.”

In campaigning, Republicans use the fight against crime while supporting DDT’s crimes. Their lauding “National Police Week” is part of their messaging while they claim that Democrats want to “defund the police.” Republicans don’t talk about their repeated plans to cut funding for police, shown by their proposal to cut the federal government’s primary grant program for local police departments. Asked about these plans, Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) said that he hadn’t “looked into the details of the RSC budget” and added that “there’s lots of nuances.”

The Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint against the Ardeigh Impact Corporation, a GOP shell company masking millions of big donors’ money put into politics. The only evidence of the “dark money” nonprofit’s existence are donations reported to the FEC and its articles of incorporation, registered in the “opaque state of Delaware.” Although organized as a nonprofit with limited election activity, it appears to be “a straw donor to funnel over $2.5 million to multiple super PACs.” The group’s organizers include the professional strategist who ran Dr. Mehmet Oz’s failed 2022 Senate campaign.

VP Kamala Harris has accepted proposed debate dates of July 23 or August 13 by CBS News. DDT will need to pick a running mate by the RNC convention in the middle of July. Meanwhile, Fox hosts are in a rage about the neglect of their network for presidential debates.

DDT Trial Day 18: Thursday’s trial concentrated on cross-examination of DDT’s former lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen as DDT’s lawyers attempted to picture him as lacking credibility. The plan more cross-examination on Monday because DDT supposedly attends his son’s graduation on Friday. He also has a fundraiser in Minnesota at 5:00 pm.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche told Judge Juan Merchan that he plans to finish the cross-examination on Monday before the morning break. Before the defense rests, it may have DDT and another mystery witness but said they would be finished by the end of the day. The witness might be a campaign finance expert, but Merchan has limited the testimony to basic information regarding background on the Federal Election Commission and campaign finance definitions.

Watchers may have differences of opinion whether the defense successfully badgered Cohen, but both sides would likely agree that DDT’s lawyers failed to make Cohen explode, their attempt throughout the cross-examination. Even when Todd Blanche yelled into the microphone that Cohen is a liar, the witness didn’t counterattack.   

Merchan said that if testimony concludes Monday, he will hold a charge conference to discuss instructions for the jury. In that case, the summation can begin on Tuesday.  

More action was outside the courthouse as almost a dozen Republicans left a GOP-led vote in Washington to campaign for DDT in DDT’s mandated loyalty test. Several of those in New York for the day are members of the House Oversight Committee, forced to reschedule its planned markup of Garland’s contempt vote for 8:00 in the evening. Those in New York included Andy Biggs (AZ), Lauren Boebert (CO), Michael Cloud (TX), Eli Crane (AZ), Anna Paulina Luna (FL), Ralph Norman (SC), Andy Ogles (TN), Mike Waltz (FL), and Bob Good (VVA), whose primary opponent also was present.

Matt Gaetz (FL), a member of the Judiciary Committee, used the Proud Boys language of “standing back, and standing by” in a social media post with a photo of the group behind DDT in a hallway outside the courtroom. The group leading the January 6, 2021 insurrection used the term in a directive by DDT during a 2020 debate about them. Asked if Gaetz intentionally used the Proud Boys’ terminology, his spokesman said, “the tweet speaks for itself.”

When some House Republicans entering and exited during the testimony disrupted the proceedings, Prosecutors complained. The judge advised Blanche to keep Trump’s supporters seated while the trial was in session, but Blanche protested:

“I don’t have any control over that. I mean, they are members of the public.”

DDT’s gag order blocks him from attacking anyone in DA Alvin Bragg’s office except for the DA. When DDT referred to prosecutor Matthew Colangelo, he may have violated the order which could lead to jail. The judge had warned DDT earlier that another violation could lead to that penalty. DDT accused the “lead person from the DOJ” of “running the trial,” meaning “Biden’s office is running the trial.” The day before, DDT’s ally Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) used the same complaints as DDT.

On Rightwing Watch, Kyle Mantyla wrote about Rick Green’s biblical criteria for political leadership in Exodus 18, attempting to argue that Biden was not fit to be president. On Flashpoint, the Christian nationalist pseudo-historian founder of Patriot Academy said:

“We’ve got to start loving truth again. And if you look at Exodus 18, it tells us the kind of leaders we need to choose: ‘Able men such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness.’”

Green tried to explain how Biden failed all four:

“He’s not capable. He certainly doesn’t fear God. He certainly is not a man of truth, and he loves to covet, or take bribes as other translations [put it].”

As Mantyla explained, “if anyone ‘just absolutely fails all four’ of these biblical standards, it is Trump.”

Elections, Day Off of Trial

In an amazing decision, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated Louisiana’s legislative-approved majority-Black district in the congressional map. A 5^th Circuit Court panel of three judges appointed by former Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) had changed the map to only one minority congressional district of six in the state, calling the GOP map “racial gerrymandering.” The decision creates two majority-Black districts in a state with over 40 percent minority race. Last year, the high court blocked Alabama from its dilution of Black voters.

Tuesday’s primaries in three states—Maryland, Nebraska, and West Virginia—showed Nikki Haley, not even in the presidential race, receiving continued support. DDT picked up 88 percent of the vote in deep-red West Virginia, but pockets in other states such as 23 percent in Douglas County (NE), hub of an electoral vote, should concern DDT, who has done nothing to win over Haley voters. Nebraska and Maryland each gave DDT 80 percent, and his weakness in the suburbs was a contrast to President Joe Biden’s waning problem with the Israel/Palestine protest vote.

Taken over by MAGAites, Nebraska’s GOP refused to endorse any of the five Republican congressional incumbents, three House members and two senators. All five incumbents won their primaries over farther-right candidates. Biden won over 90 percent of the primary against Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) who dropped out of the race.

In two Maryland primaries, money didn’t count. Democratic Rep. David Trone used much of his money from Total Wine running for the U.S. Senate but lost to Angela Alsobrooks after outspending her 10-1. State Sen. Sarah Elfred also defeated Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who outspend her 3-1. Much of her money came from AIPAC’s (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) PAC.

In West Virginia, Derrick Evans became another January 6 insurrectionist to lose an election. He campaigned on his storming the U.S. Capitol, taunting police officers, and writing texts assuring people he thought his actions were illegal. At his trial, he pled guilty to a felony count of obstructing or impeding officers during a civil disorder before he became a Republican congressional candidate. His campaign argued his role in the attack should defeat the incumbent in the primary and send him back to the Capitol. HuffPo described candidates in six other states attacking the Capitol who lost their elections in 2022 although Wisconsin elected Derrick Van Orden.  

A slowing inflation rate for April drove the stock market to a record high as the consumer price index rose only 0.3 percent, 3.4 percent for the past 12 months. Rents and gas prices provided over 70 percent of the increase. The Federal Reserve delayed plans to cut interest rates this month; the first rate cut may be in September. With a record number of jobs under President Joe Biden, unemployment rate stayed under 4 percent and avoided a recession.

After Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) took yesterday off to pontificate outside the New York courthouse his support for DDT’s adultery and criminal behavior, the House passed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization for five years by 387-26. The Senate passed its version by 88-4 last Friday after the House extended the deadline for a week and left Washington for a four-day weekend. With the budget and the national security package passed—almost eight months late—the next deadline for must-pass bills is October 1 when the next budget is due. This hiatus gives the House a few months to fight the culture war with bills that won’t pass the Senate until its August vacation.

The day after Johnson supported DDT’s crimes, he spoke about making “crimes criminal again” and promoted the Riverside County (CA) sheriff once belonging to the Oath Keepers, an ultra-right extremist antigovernment group called “instrumental” in the January 6 insurrection.

DDT repeatedly begged President Joe Biden for presidential debates, and Biden finally consented to two: the first one at CNN in Atlanta on June 27 and the second one on ABC the day before the 23^rd anniversary of 9/11 on September 10. . Both events forgo the Commission on Presidential Debate’s schedule. Details need to be worked out, but Biden has stipulated that CNN will have no audience. When DDT agreed to the first debate, he posted on Truth Social that Biden is “the WORST debater I have ever faced — He can’t put two sentences together!” Four years ago, DDT promised to “DESTROY” Biden, raising expectations for an addled old man, but after the debate most polling agreed that Biden won. Four years later, DDT is becoming the addled old man, according to the many mistakes in his rallies.  

A vice-presidential debate will probably be scheduled in July.

According to a Bloomberg News editorial, DDT’s plans would endanger the economy if he is elected. The board argued that DDT’s “economic agenda seems to be dedicated to raising prices.” They cited “tariffs of 60 percent on Chinese-made products and 10 percent on other imports” as well as “devaluing” the U.S. dollar and a hands-on policy with the U.S. Federal Reserve. The editorial summarized:

In a meeting of the House Homeland Security Committee, Robert Garcia (D-CA) ridiculed his conservative colleagues for their support of police officers while literally hugging insurrectionists at the D.C. jail who they “treated like heroes.” He gave some statistics about the group of rioters they visited: 17 of the 20 charged were arrested for assaulting police and six of them “already pleaded guilty.” In a report, “some of the most disturbing acts of violence at the US Capitol” were carried out by DC jail inmates. It cited how “one convicted felon helped lead the assault on police guarding the Capitol’s external security perimeter [that] paved the way for thousands of rioters to storm the Capitol grounds.”

House Republicans haven’t stopped investigating the insurrection, searching for different answers than the Democratic-dominated House found almost two years ago. The GOP leader, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (GA), had led a tour of the Capitol on January 5, 2021, supposedly not permitted, in which participants photographed hallways, tunnels, door, and other forms of entrance and egress. After a year, the report couldn’t even undermine the former investigative results, but Loudermilk won’t quit. The special committee is now demanding Cassidy Hutchinson to give them communications with key January 6 figures, including former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), and those with her book deal—“potential publication … or related compensation.” The letter also wants communications “on employment after the White House; the 25th Amendment, which covers removing a president from power; and her itinerary for a trip to the Florida’s Gulf Coast in early 2021.” Republicans may not understand that the more she tells, the more problems they have.

DDT Trial: On the Wednesday one-day break, DDT’s first criminal trial has reached the end of its first month with 16 days. The group of DDT’s surrogates marching into the proceedings in the middle of Michael Cohen’s testimony on Tuesday to sit in the front of the courtroom may not have benefited the defendant. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reported that Judge Juan Merchan “looked visibly annoyed.” She said she had not “seen a large group of people come in and sit at the front of the courtroom while the witness is on the stand testifying” in this trial. They may not succeed in their goal, which Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) described “to overcome this gag order.”

At least four far-right GOP senators who played surrogates and supported DDT’s illegal activities wore red ties in solidarity, perhaps not noticing that DDT sometimes changes his tie color to yellow and blue. Other Republicans senators expressed disgust, and Lisa Murkowski (AK) asked:

“Do we have something to do around here other than watch a stupid porn trial? I mean, this is ridiculous.”

Another annoyance during Tuesday’s trial was Fox’s host Laura Ingraham’s use of binoculars in her attempt to view evidence shown to legal counsel before it was presented to the jury. Several times, she ignored court officers telling her not to use them, and they kept repeating the request:  

“Ma’am! You can’t use binoculars. No binoculars, ma’am. Ma’am. Hello!'”

Daily Beast reported that Ingraham “let out a surprised huff and threw the binoculars down.” Earlier in the trial last month, she told her viewers that Stormy Daniels was trying “to extract some money” from DDT who “was apparently trying to get that episode behind him.” Legal analyst Bradley Moss shared her remarks on X and asked whether she was “admitting that Trump had the affair? Because Trump certainly hasn’t admitted that.”

For the past two days, DDT has tried to look like he doesn’t care what Cohen has to say. Tomorrow, he has another day to face Cohen before he has Friday off, ostensibly to attend the high school graduation ceremony of his son. Will he sit with Barron’s mother, Melania? How long will he stay before he flies off to his fundraiser in Minnesota? And will he whine again to the press about not having time to campaign when he uses all his free days searching for donations—like the one on Wednesday in Lexington (KY)?  

DDT also filed another appeal to have his gag order removed, this one to the New York Court of Appeals after the mid-level appellate court turned him down.

Updates, DDT Trial Day 16

Several past stories have updates:

Gaza: Israel not only increased its attacks against Rafah in southern Gaza but also returned to strikes against northern Gaza, including Jabaliya, the biggest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. About 500,000 people have fled Rafah on Israeli orders of evacuation. Much has been written about the tragedies in Gaza—the killings, including many women and children; the starvation; the destruction of homes and institutions; the complete lack of healthcare; basically the devastation of a civilization in the 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip. Little has been written, however, about the Israeli sexual assaults on Palestinian men and boys as documented in photos of torture while they are detained.  

Egypt has joined South Africa’s December 2023 case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza after Israelis seized the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, eliminated humanitarian aid, and issued new evacuation orders for the city and north of Gaza. Colombia and Turkey have also asked to join the case. Egypt’s involvement is especially important because of its connection with Israel in a 1979 treaty.

Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) “intuition” that “a lot of illegals voting in federal elections” that clash with illegal voting data: A Brennen Center study found 30 suspected, not confirmed, noncitizen votes out of 23.5 million (0.0001 percent of the votes) in the 2016 election. The libertarian Cato Institute agrees. The ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation has a database of voter fraud back to the 1980s; it reports about 50 cases of non-citizens voting, many of them legal residents. The conservative bill requires proof of citizenship, but 5 to 7 percent of people in the U.S., millions of voters, don’t have “the most common types of documents used to prove citizenship.”

Another story about South Dakota Kristi Noem’s book: the French government questioned her claim that she “decided to cancel” a meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron because “the day before we were to meet, he made what I considered a very pro-Hamas and anti-Israel comment to the press.” A representative from the Élysée Palace has no record of a scheduled meeting or an invitation to Noem, and she said, “This anecdote shouldn’t have been in the book.”

Paul Manafort’s participation in the 2024 RNC presidential candidate conference: after backlash from the convicted felon allegedly being involved in DDT’s 2024 campaign, Manafort said he will not help manage the event, complaining about “the media” trying to use him “as a distraction.” 

Consumer fees: A judge appointed by former Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) ruled that people must pay price-gouging credit card late fees as high as $41 despite a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) cap of $8 going into effect on May 14. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) stated that “”banks make billions in profits charging excessive late fees.” An appeal would go to the 5^th Circuit Court with 19 DD-appointed judges of 26.

Polling:   Last month, New York Times/Siena College poll found 78 percent of women voters felt offended by what Trump has said, 43 percent recently offended. An anonymous GOP senator tried to spin the survey by saying that some of these offended women didn’t believe the allegations from Daniels’ testimony or the media reports.

DDT Trial Day 16:

Judge Juan Merchan ruled against prosecutors by refusing their request to enter Allen Weisselberg’s severance agreement from the Trump Organization into evidence. The company had agreed to give the former CFO $750,000 only if he doesn’t “cooperate” with investigators. Pleading guilty in a separate DDT case, he is serving five months in Rikers.

The judge did permit this tweet from 2018 to be admitted:

“Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are …”   

The last witness convicted of perjury, DDT’s former lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen, has one sin for the MAGA base—not staying loyal to DDT, the one vital criterion for DDT’s base. He again displayed his disloyalty in his testimony that DDT’s covered up Stormy Daniels’ payoff from his fear that the story would end his political career along with his bragging about sexual assault in the Access Hollywood tape. In another coverup lie, DDT continually claimed that he lied to protect his wife. Cohen said DDT told him in 2015:

“Be prepared. There’s going to be a lot of women coming forward.”

Cohen testified that DDT “was polling very, very low with women” at that time and told Cohen, “This is a disaster.” About the payment, DDT told Cohen, “Just do it” and that Cohen would get repaid. Cohen reported that DDT snapped:

“Get control of it! Just get past the election. If I win, it’ll have no relevance when I’m president. And if I lose, I don’t really care.”

About Melanie Trump leaving DDT because of his relationships, DDT said:

“Don’t worry. How long do you think I’ll be on the market for? Not long.”

Cohen used his own money for the payoff because Weisselberg didn’t want the payment connected to the business and testified about his disappointments after he paid the money: DDT’s cutting his 2016 bonus by two-thirds and not providing any place for him in the White House, including chief of staff. Experssing his anger about the bonus to Allen Weisselberg before New Year’s Day, the Trump Organization CFO said he would “take care” of the bonus “when we come back.” The $420,000 that Cohen received covered Daniels’ payoff, taxes, fees for the home-equity line of credit on his apartment to pay the $130,000, and the adjusted bonus.

Although DDT promised to repay David Pecker for Karen McDougal’s and a doorman’s stories about sexual relationships, he reneged, leaving Cohen to “fix” the situation. Earlier, Cohen taped DDT promising to make the payment; a tape between DDT and Cohen was played in evidence.

Critics predicted emotional outbursts from Cohen, but he delivered his testimony supporting former witnesses’ statements in dry tones. DDT occupied himself during Cohen’s testimony preparing a speech that he read at the press conference at the end of the day after the trial. To avoid violating the gag order, DDT read commentary from GOP legislators and pundits bashing the trial.  More direct-examination and cross-examination are scheduled for Tuesday. Unable to successfully beat up on Stormy Daniels last week, the defense will likely try the same on Cohen.

After the media pointed out that no family member or supporters appeared at the trial, a few of them appeared. Possibly designated family member, DDT’s son Eric, was present as well as lawmakers currying favor. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) repeatedly bemoaned the courtroom being “depressing,” causing DDT “mental anguish.” Auditioning for vice-president, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) claimed that Merchan’s daughter is “raising money” for DDT’s opponents although a case against her was dismissed.

Justice Clarence Thomas is carrying his complaints to court personnel at an 11^th Circuit Court conference in a speech lamenting what he calls “nastiness” and “lies” that he and his wife experience—serious documented ethics accusations. The 11^th Circuit Court hears federal cases from Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. The New York Times reported:

“It amounted to some of the most extensive public remarks he has made since revelations that he failed to disclose years of lavish trips from wealthy conservatives, like the Texas real estate magnate Harlan Crow, including on private jets and a superyacht.”

More reporting about Thomas includes the expensive recreational vehicle given him, and ProPublica’s lists of free gifts from “benefactors who share the ideology that drives his jurisprudence … likely in the millions” of dollars: “at least 38 destination vacations, including a previously unreported voyage on a yacht around the Bahamas; 26 private jet flights, plus an additional eight by helicopter; a dozen VIP passes to professional and college sporting events, typically perched in the skybox; two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica; and one standing invitation to an uber-exclusive golf club overlooking the Atlantic coast.” Thanks to these undisclosed favors, he lived the life of a wealthy man.

In Thomas’ speech, however, he didn’t define which claims are “lies.”

North Dakota’s Gov. Doug Burgum has recently been rising to the top of DDT’s vice-presidential choice because, as DDT says, he’s “rich.” At DDT’s Saturday rally, Burgum compared working with DDT to “a beautiful breeze at your back” before denigrating President Joe Biden as a “gale force wind in your face.” Later he said about DDT, “We don’t negotiate with terrorists,” referring to President Joe Biden’s attempt to stop Israeli genocide in Gaza. Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) reminded Burgum:

“Trump didn’t just negotiate with terrorists; he invited the Taliban to Camp David on the anniversary of 9/11 and had his Secretary of State sign a surrender agreement with them.”

DDT met the Taliban at Camp David, a presidential getaway formerly used for meetings with respected leaders of other countries.

Gaza Conflict, DDT Trial Day 15

More misrepresentations from Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) who held a press conference outside the court trial of Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) on Thursday: He blamed Hillarycare for the DOJ inquiry into his hospital chain which paid $1.7 billion as a settlement although Hillary Clinton was only the president’s wife in the 1990s, the time of the probe. Lawsuits were first filed in 1993 by then-employees of Columbia/HCA alleging questionable Medicare billing practices, and Scott resigned in 1997 because growing evidence revealed two sets of books, one for the government and another the real expenses. In 2010, the Miami Herald reported that federal investigators “found that Scott took part in business practices at Columbia/HCA that were later found to be illegal—specifically, that Scott and other executives offered financial incentives to doctors in exchange for patient referrals, in violation of federal law, according to lawsuits the Justice Department filed against the company in 2001.” Scott also told his voters in 2010:

“I’ve made mistakes in my life. And mistakes were certainly made at Columbia/HCA.”

Clarification about Scott’s using the Fifth Amendment in not answering questions during a deposition: Scott refused to answer questions in a 2000 civil suit regarding between his former company Columbia/HCA and a communications company accusing the healthcare company of breaching a contract.

Israeli War:

Although the biggest weapons provider to Israel, the U.S. isn’t the only country suspending shipments: Canada and the Netherlands halted arms shipments, concerned that weapons violate international humanitarian law. Israel repeatedly claims it doesn’t target civilians, but most of the 34,000+ dead Gazans are caused by  Israeli bombardments and ground offensives are civilians. Justification by Israelis for eradicating hospitals, schools, homes, and people is always that Hamas are hiding where they bomb.

In Germany, defense export approvals for Israel rose almost ten times in 2023 compared to 2022 after Hamas’ October 7 attack, prompting Israel’s war but dropped by 90 percent with the war’s international criticism. Italian law prevents arms exports to countries waging war and violating international human rights. Britain does not directly supply arms to Israel but instead licenses companies to sell, usually components into U.S. supply chains like those for F-35 jets.

The UN general assembly voted 143 to nine with 25 abstentions to support the Palestinian bid for full membership, highlighting Israel’s global isolation and alarm about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war in Gaza. The U.S. voted against the resolution and promised to use its vote on the security council to oppose the UN majority vote. Other opposition came from Argentina, Czechia, Hungary, Israel, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and Papua New Guinea. UK abstained. The vote doesn’t give Palestine full membership, voting rights, and membership in the security council but permits sitting with other members, introducing proposals and amendments, elections to official posts and on committees, and speaking on Middle East issues and on behalf of groups of nations in the assembly. Furious, Israel called on the U.S. to cut funding to the UN, and GOP senators announced legislation for Israel’s wishes.

The Israeli assault against over 1.2 million Gazans in Rafah has intensified, and its war cabinet voted for a “measured expansion.” Rafah has no fuel, transportation, or safe evacuation for almost all the people in Rafah.

Hamas agreed to a ceasefire agreement, Israel refused it, and negotiators search for a scapegoat, or “dead cat” as Secretary of State James A. Baker III called his attempts to negotiate in 1991. With each player, he threatened to “leave the dead cat” at their door so they would be blamed if the deal fell apart. Hamas released photos of hostages, Netanyahu mounted airstrikes and sent tanks into Rafah, and Biden froze a shipment of offensive bombs. The proposal is a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages by both Hamas and Israel, permit Gazans to return to the northern Gaza Strip, and expansively increase humanitarian aid.

Snags were the number of hostages and the length of the ceasefire. Israel moved the ceasefire goal posts to only long enough to get Israelis returned. Hamas insists on an eventual end to the war, Israel refuses to guarantee, and U.S. negotiators call for a “sustainable calm” during the ceasefire without a definition of the term. On Thursday, U.S. main negotiator, William Burns, left Cairo with no deal. Hamas is no longer the threat it was, but Netanyahu says he won’t quit until every one of them is destroyed. Biden wants Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic recognition of Israel, impossible during the war. The question is who finds the dead cat at their doorstep and how many pay the price.

DDT Trial Day 15:

Judge Juan Merchan denied defense a subpoena for Mark Pomerantz, former prosecutor in DA Alvin Bragg’s office who worked on DDT’s probe before resigning in frustration after thinking that no charges were unlikely to be brought. The judge called the subpoena “impermissibly broad” and that DDT’s team made procedural errors resulting in quashing the subpoena.

The most exciting part on Friday may have been the announcement that DDT’s former lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen will be a witness next week. The defense will attempt to prove that he’s lying about DDT’s $130,000 payoff to Daniels because he’s already been found guilty of perjury, but earlier witnesses have corroborated Cohen’s statements.

Friday’s highlights:

Cross-examination of prosecution witness Madeleine Westerhout: Defense persuaded her to state that DDT may have multitasked without paying attention to what he signed, hopefully undercutting the prosecution’s position that he knew he was signing $35,000 checks to Cohen for payoff to Daniels marked as business transactions. Showing affection for DDT, she may be cooperating with the defense who tried to use her to introduce a travel schedule from the 2016 DDT campaign, but the judge refused its introduction because she could not remember the schedule.    

Telephone messages tracked by Bragg’s paralegal: Jaden Jarmel-Schneider presented DDT’s attacks on Cohen in late 2018 while DDT continued to support convicted Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager. Summary charts correlated allegedly falsified business records, the indictment charge, and Cohen’s calls to other key figures in the case such as David Pecker, who bought Karen McDougal’s story to kill it, and Allen Weisselberg, former Trump Organization CFO.

Other telephone communications: Paralegal Georgia Longstreet provided text messages between National Enquirer editor, Dylan Howard, and Gina Rodriguez, Daniels’s then manager, who threatened to have Daniels go public with her story if she didn’t get paid on the day before Cohen gave Daniels’s attorney $130,000 from a shell company. Verizon’s Jennie Tomalin and AT&T’s Daniel Dixon showed call logs for both landline and cell phone records. DDT’s two tweets in May 2018, showed proof of Cohen’s payoff, falsely labeled “retainer”:

“Mr. [Michael] Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA.”

The second tweet:

“These agreements are very common among celebrities and people of wealth. In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. [Stephanie] Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair.”

[Note: DDT told the press that he was being unfairly prosecuted for “paying a lawyer and mark[ing] it down as a legal expense. Some accountant, I didn’t know, marked it down as a legal expense. That’s exactly what it was, and you get indicted over that? So check it out. Legal expense. It’s called legal expense.”]

Michael Cohen: DDT’s lawyer Todd Blanche asked for a gag order on him because of his offensive TikTok posts. Merchan again asked Cohen to stop his comments about the case but refused a gag order for him.

Weisselberg’s settlement agreement: Prosecution wants to introduce it because of a veiled threat he would lose his severance pay from the Trump Organization if he testifies in the case. Defense wants it blocked because Weisselberg isn’t a witness. Merchan didn’t rule yet.

The judge dismissed court early on Friday. Prosecution said that they had only two more witnesses and might rest its case by the end of next week, a short one because Merchan gave DDT the day off to attend the graduation of his son, Barron. Or DDT may skip it for his fundraiser in Minnesota.

The basis of DDT’s criminal trial is that he falsified business records to make payments for the Daniels’ coverup and thus influence the election’s outcome. Bloomberg News’ Jason Leopold reported that the has business records from First Republic Bank, showing Cohen opening an account to pay off Daniels. Gary Farro, who set up the account, already testified about the account.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s new book, Going Forward, has been out for three days, and Amazon blocked reviewers because of “unusual reviewing activity,” averaging one star. Noem has failed in increasingly attempting to defend the book, lying about a meeting with Kim Jong-Un and her killing animals. This one-star review is irresistible:

“My cat loved this book. He says Cricket was asking for it.” 

Global Conflicts, GOP Stupidity Plus DDT’s Trial

Hamas agreed to a ceasefire with Israeli in negotiations worked out by Egypt and Qatar, but a unanimous vote by Israel’s war cabinet rejected it and attacked Gaza’s southern city of Rafah where over half the two million people of the Gaza Strip tried to take shelter. An Israeli lawmaker said, “Killing Palestinians is more important for the Israeli government than saving Israelis.” According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, the Rafah operation was intended to apply military pressure on Hamas for the release of hostages. Of the 1.4 million Palestinians in Rafah, 600,000 are children—almost all of them sick, injured, or malnourished. Israel has a pattern of sending Gazans into areas which are then attacked.

Detailed information about Gaza as of Monday. Tuesday may bring more coherent information from the Middle East.

Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-UT) discussion with Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed that the congressional push to ban TikTok is to erase U.S. access to unfiltered news about Israeli’s assault on Gaza. Romney asked about the lack of communicating “realities” in Gaza and suggested that banning TikTok would quiet outrage about Israeli atrocities. Right-wing lawmakers and pundits propose that students protest Israel’s actions because of TikTok, but students aren’t alone in opposition to Israel’s slaughter of Palestinian civilians and massive destruction in Gaza.

Called a “dark day for the media,” Israel closed local offices for Qatar-funded Al Jazeera, a satellite news network and one of the few international media sources for Gaza news. Netanyahu posted that the news source is a threat to national security after a unanimous vote by his cabinet. Orders confiscated broadcast equipment, cut off the channel from cable and satellite companies, and blocked its websites. The law allows Israel’s shutdown for 45 days with a possible renewal, preventing news about Gaza for three months.

Israeli authorities allegedly targeted several Al Jazeera’s journalists including two killed in Gaza in the past six months and cracked down on protesters against the Gaza war, moving the country from a democracy to an authoritarian government. Foreign journalists are blocked from entering Gaza to cover the conflict.

For the first time since the Israeli war began on October 7, President Joe Biden paused a shipment of U.S. ammunition to Israel. In February, Biden asked Israel to use ammunition only in accord with international law and received a letter of assurances in March. Recently, Netanyahu repeatedly threatened to invade Rafah whether or not he has a deal with Hamas. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Netanyahu that “a major military operation” in Rafah would lead to public opposition by the U.S., negatively impacting U.S.-Israel relations. White House spokesman John Kirby said that Biden “is sincere” about changes to U.S. policy if Israel moves ahead with a ground operation in Rafea.

A February national security memorandum set May 8 as the deadline to report to Congress about whether countries receiving U.S. weapons and munitions are using them consistent with international humanitarian and human rights laws. During the past six months, the Biden administration has authorized over 100 arms sales to Israel including tank and artillery ammunition, 2000- and 500-pound bombs, rockets, and small arms. An Israeli provision for receiving these shipments is “credible and reliable written assurances” that it will “facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede” the transport and delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance and U.S.-supported world efforts to provide that assistance. The memo does not apply to air defense systems such as the iron dome missile defense and other “nonlethal” supplies for only defensive purposes.

Since the memorandum, Biden and his officials have condemned Israeli’s military campaign in Gaza. During his State of the Union, Biden stated that most of the 30,000 Palestinians killed at that time were not Hamas but still expressed his “ironclad” support for Israel’s war. Verified deaths are up to about 35,000.

Russia plans nuclear drills against Ukraine’s Western allies after comments about deeper involvement in the war against Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron doesn’t exclude sending troops to Ukraine, and UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Kyiv’s forces will be able to use British long-range weapons to strike targets inside Russia. Ukraine’s shortage of troops and ammunition has kept its army on the 600-mile front line but hits targets deep inside Russia which keeps attacking Ukraine’s power grid.  

While the world is on fire, House Republicans are concerned about household appliances. After reluctantly providing aid to Ukraine, they have returned to protecting gas stoves because of conspiracy theories about Democrats trying to ban them. The GOP will debate Debbie Lesko’s (R-AZ) “Hands off Our Home Appliance Act” to block any bans not “technically feasible or economically justified” and if they do not result in “significant conservation of energy.” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) bragged that “Republicans are protecting your home appliances.” The agenda also includes “Liberty in Laundry Act,” “Clothes Dryers Reliability Act,” the “Refrigerator Freedom Act,” the “Affordable Air Conditioning Act, and the “Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act”—all supposedly to block energy efficiency and climate change.

Although no ban for gas stoves was ever intended, a study found that 650,000 children developed asthma because of them. Yet Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), White House physician fired for his use of drugs while supposedly caring for DDT and inappropriate management of medications, posted:

 “I’ll NEVER give up my gas stove. If the maniacs in the White House come for my stove, they can pry it from my cold dead hands. COME AND TAKE IT!!”

To Axios’ Andrew Solender’s report, “Appliance Week is BACK in the House!” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) replied, “Israel aid, Ukraine aid, Humanitarian aid, Kitchenaid.”

Possibly searching for an out from her claim to oust MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) as Speaker, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) met with one of her two allies, Thom Massie (R-KY), and Johnson for two hours on Monday. They plan to meet at 12:30 pm on Tuesday. Greene later told reporters the huddle will take place at 12:30 p.m. Last week, Greene vehemently declared she would move forward to present her motion to vacate Johnson because he isn’t anti-Democrat.

In an anti-DDT move, former Republican Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan announced in an op-ed that he would back Biden in November’s election and criticized other GOP voters who “fall in line” with him. Duncan described DDT as “a man who has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character,” listing the current hush money trial as a reason for not supporting him. Another reason by Duncan is DDT’s promoting “unfounded conspiracy theories that led to the horrific events of Jan. 6, 2021.” Duncan concluded:

“This November, I am voting for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass.”

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has ruled that candidates for federal office can raise unlimited funds for groups supporting ballot measures, possibly giving Biden an edge in soliciting money for abortion-rights measures in battleground states.

DDT Trial Day 12: Judge Juan Merchan began the day by charging DDT another $1,000 for contempt in violating his gag order in discussing the jury, dismissing the other three complaints from prosecutors because they were not “beyond a reasonable doubt.” The judge regretfully said that continued violations could result in jail. Later DDT declared that “our constitution is much more important than jail” although he has not violated the order since the first time Merchan threatened him with jail. DDT is fundraising by describing himself as a “victim.”  

In the hearing last Thursday, DDT’s attorneys complained that DDT couldn’t respond to Biden when he “mocked President Trump” about “stormy weather” at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, but Merchan reminded the defense that Biden wasn’t listed on the gag order. (Note that the lawyers always falsely call DDT “President Trump” although he no longer has that title.)

Following Merchan’s contempt of court ruling, the prosecution brought star witnesses—the documents about DDT paying $130,000 to Stormy Daniels. Two Trump Organization employees, former controller Jeffrey McConney and accounts payable supervisor Deborah Tarasoff, described the process for making payments. MConney said Allen Weisselberg, former Trump Organization CFO, told him to reimburse DDT’s former lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen in 2017 with 12, checks each for $35,000s.

Cohen’s invoices listed the checks as “retainer agreement” although he had no retainer. McConney stated that all the payments to Cohen were listed as “legal expenses,” but he never saw a retainer agreement. Invoices were also not sent to the legal department. Checks started from DDT’s revocable trust before the final three-fourths originated from DDT’s personal account with only DDT as the authorized signatory. Tarasoff said that DDT signed all checks with a black Sharpie and testified that checks above $10,000 needed approval by DDT or one of his sons. DDT wrote “void” on all checks he didn’t want to pay. McConney said that a lawyer would need to report payment for legal services as taxable income but not for a reimbursement.

The trial adjourned early and will resume on Tuesday. Prosecution stated that its case may require another two weeks.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s killing of dog, goat, and horses continues, perhaps because she keeps trying to justify her actions. Her latest response is to kill Biden’s dog Commander, now removed from the White House and relocated after biting Secret Service agents.

Ongoing Stories, DDT’s Trial

Trump wins again. Two judges appointed by Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) in a 5^th Circuit Court three-judge panel rejected Louisiana’s recently redrawn congressional district map, approved by the state legislature, creating a second majority Black district as ordered by the Supreme Court. Overturning “an impermissible racial gerrymander,” the decision leaves the state without a settled congressional map six months before the general election. The appeals court convenes on May 6 to discuss the remedial process.

After bird flu virus was found in milk and dairy herds, the U.S. government is checking ground beef in nine states for the virus. The USDA found traces of the flu in an asymptomatic dairy cow lung tissue that was on the way to slaughter. Colombia has restricted U.S. beef imports from states where infected cows were found.

President Joe Biden continues to issue executive orders, including strengthening an environmental law that DDT gutted in 2020. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA ensures communities can weigh in on nearby projects or those that impact them such as factory farms and fossil fuel power plants. The new rule also includes new climate and environmental justice requirements.

Congressional members are trying to erase Biden’s new rules, starting returning to inconvenience for people requesting refunds from airlines. Four lawmakers—Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), and Rep. Rick Larson (D-WA)—receiving donations from airlines added language to a bill to reimpose the onerous procedures for refunding despite objections from federal regulators.  Their success would save money for airlines by paying refunds only to the group of passengers who have sufficient time and patience for an arduous process. Lobbyists for airlines stated that the ability to request a refund doesn’t mean automatic refunds.

Four Southern states—Alabama, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia—are suing the Biden administration over the president’s new rule banning anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in education. The rule was based on the 2020 Bostock v. Clayton Co. ruling that discrimination for sexual orientation or gender identity includes sex. Some forms of discriminatory policies in the new rule are outing LGBTQ+ students to their parents and banning students from using bathrooms correspond with their gender. Students facing discrimination would have recourse in federal courts.

Another Biden rule updates federal workplace guidelines after 25 years to protect employee gender identity, blocking repeatedly misgendering employees and denying them a bathroom consistent with their gender identity, both considered workplace harassment. The rule uses legal standards for a protected characteristic: race, religion, color, national origin, disability, age, genetic information, and sex. The last category includes pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Without legal standing, the guidance provides a standard for EEOC interpretation and enforces anti-bias laws.

After filing a motion 39 days ago, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is still threatening an ousting of Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA), calling him a “Democratic speaker,” and the top three House Democrats said their caucus would table this move if Greene goes through with it. Many Democrats object to protecting Johnson, but very few Republicans want another Speaker battle. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told his caucus members to vote their own conscience. Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (CA) said the vote would be a procedural one against a motion to vacate, not a vote to support Johnson.

Greene says she’ll move ahead with the vote to vacate Johnson. Thus far she has supports from Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Paul Gossar (R-AZ), but other hardline conservatives warn that they shouldn’t throw the House into chaos. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) said that “it’s not the time.” Greene accuses Johnson of cutting a deal with the Democrats, which he denies.  She has four choices: force a vote, continue the threats but not follow through, find more allies, or concede defeat. They all look like they lead to her failure.

Absent Monday, Greene missed votes, avoided reporters looking for her, and didn’t respond to request on comments about the Democrats’ caucus meeting results.

The conservative One America News Network (OAN) has settled with Michael Cohen in his defamation lawsuit after OAN accused DDT’s former lawyer/fixer of having an affair of Stormy Daniels, the crux of the New York criminal case against DDT. He is accused of election interference for paying her money to not tell anyone about his relationship with her. A few weeks ago, OAN settled a defamation from Smartmatic after allegedly publishing lies about the voting system company. Last summer, OAN settled a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems and since then a defamation lawsuit from two Georgia election workers targeted by DDT, Rudy Giuliani, and other conspiracy theorists.

OAN retracted and then pulled the article about Cohen and Daniels alleging Daniels’ former attorney, Michael Avenatti, claimed the two of them had an affair. The report accused the couple of having “cooked up” Trump’s hush-money scandal as part of a pre-election extortion scheme. None of the article was true—no affair and no claim from Avenatti. Cohen hired the same lawyer representing Dominion Voting Systems in its suit against Fox that cost the network $787.5 million. OAN still faces another lawsuit from Dominion.

References in South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s book about killing a 14-month-old puppy, a goat, and three horses within a few weeks have brought outrage from the right wing, including Fox’s Jason Chaffetz, a former GOP member of Congress, and Joe Concha, a media analyst. Jeffrey Blehar wrote in the right-wing National Review, “Let’s Get a Warrant for Kristi Noem’s Backyard.” Republicans also reject Noem for a potential vice-presidential candidate; only 14 percent see her as a good choice. They are against her by a 2:1 margin—42 percent to 21 percent. At least her book No Going Back is selling well: Amazon lists it as #1 even a week before it comes out.

After Hunter Biden threatened to sue Fox, the network pulled its six-part series of a mock trial about hypothetical criminal charges against him. First posted on Fox’s streaming service in October 2022, the series was removed the day after Biden’s legal team made the threat “out of an abundance of caution in the interim,” according to Fox News Media. Hunter Biden’s legal team has been pressuring Fox to retract stories and segments of unsubstantiated claims that he helped funnel millions of dollars in bribes to the president from Ukrainian interests. He would need to prove that the material it aired was false and the network acted with such reckless disregard for the facts that it should have known. The source of the bribery allegations is a now-indicted FBI informant, Alexander Smirnov, who pled guilty to lying about his statements. Smirnov’s indictment said his claims were “a fabrication, an amalgam of otherwise unremarkable business meetings and contacts.”

DDT Trial Day 9: The day began with Judge Juan Merchan fining DDT $9,000 for nine violations of his gag order, ordering him to remove the posts, and warning him that he could be jailed for willfully violating court orders again. Posts were removed 45 minutes before the deadline. A hearing for four other alleged violations is on May 2.

Prosecutors then continued their questioning of Gary Farro, the banker who worked with DDT’s former lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen to pay Stormy Daniels a $130,000 hush money payment, the basis for DDT’s indictment in this case. After winning the trial, DDT secretly reimbursed Cohen in a series of monthly checks falsely labeled “legal services rendered in 2017,” according to DA Alvin Bragg.  

  The next witness was Robert Browning who testified about C-SPAN archives before prosecutors played video clips from 2016 and 2017 in which DDT praised Cohen as a “very talented lawyer” and denied sexual assaults against the women who accused him. Phillip Thompson testified about the authenticity of transcripts from DDT’s October 22 deposition from E. Jean Carroll’s defamation trial against him. 

In the afternoon, Keith Anderson, an L.A.-based attorney who formerly represented both Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, testified. To stay quiet about her affair with DDT, McDougal was paid $150,000 for a National Inquirer article that David Pecker never intended to publish. Davidson described his exchanges, including text messages, with then-chief content officer Dylan Howard for American Media Inc when he made the $150,000 deal with AMI for McDougal’s story and $130,000 for Daniels’ hush money.

During his comments outside the courtroom to the press, DDT called for Merchan to both recuse himself and dismiss the case. He again complained about not being able to campaign because of the trial. Last Wednesday, DDT used his day off to play golf, and on the Monday before the trial resumed, he met with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to ask him to fundraise for DDT. On this Wednesday, he plans to campaign in Wisconsin.

Eric Trump became the first DDT family member to appear at his criminal trial, but a reporter said that DDT didn’t look any better for Eric’s presence, describing DDT as “extremely sullen/sleepy.” MSNBC Xed that DDT’s behavior was again consistent with being asleep:

“Trump’s eyes were closed for extended periods and his head has at times jerked in a way consistent with sleeping.”

MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin said that DDT’s lawyers try to keep him awake by never leaving his side and giving him papers to look through, but his eyes are typically closed during court. DDT can no longer complain about not being able to attend the graduation of his son Barron on May 17. Merchan said the court was ahead of schedule, and they could take the day off. Court resumes Thursday.

The Cult of DDT after SOTU

This week, Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) showed his worship for another fellow dictator when he hosted far-right Hungarian autocratic president Viktor Orbán at Mar-a-Lago. They have similar philosophies: hostility toward immigrants, disdain for press freedom, exclusion of LGBTQ+ people, and ways to permanently stay as president. To his audience at Mar-a-Lago, DDT exclaimed:

“There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán, he’s fantastic… He says, ‘This is the way it’s gonna be,’ and that’s the end of it. He’s the boss.”

Campaigning in Georgia this weekend, DDT again accused E. Jean Carroll of lying, which could take him back to court; described the press as “criminals”: and made fun of President Joe Biden’s stutter while again attacking immigrants.

As measles broke out in 15 states and people still die of Covid, DDT joined the anti-vaccine movement, promising he “will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate.” DDT’s administration started Operation Warp Speed to promote two effective and safe Covid vaccines and took credit last week for the Covid vaccine on Truth Social.  

In a Fox interview, DDT said that he wants Israel to “finish the problem” in Gaza, approving srael’s genocide thus far killing over 30,000 people in five months and creating one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in the 21^st century.

Facing a serious cash problem, DDT met with wealthy Elon Musk and a few wealthy GOP donors with the hopes that he’s get an infusion for his 2024 campaign. After the meeting was made public, Musk Xed to over 100 million followers that he was “not donating money to either candidate for US President” but didn’t specify who he meant. Musk’s views are, however, definitely anti-Biden.

In his 2016 campaign, DDT said, “No puppet. No puppet. You’re the puppet” after Hillary Clinton accused him of being Russian President Vladimir Putin’s puppet. He continues blaming his opposition for his own characteristics, accusing Biden of a “conspiracy to overthrow the United States of America.” Criticizing Biden’s southern border policies, DDT said:

 “Biden and his accomplices want to collapse the American system, nullify the will of the actual American voters and establish a new base of power that gives them control for generations.”

Former Fox host Tucker Carlson and other far-right extremists copied DDT’s position on immigration, declaring Democrats want migrants to vote for them as part of their “election fraud” myth. Yet Biden endorsed the conservative package of border reforms that DDT killed, and naturalization requires many years.

Accused of racism, DDT calls his critics racist. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said he had a “meltdown” in negotiations, and DDT said Pelosi had a “meltdown.” Called out for his political operation cooperating with Russian operatives, DDT charges Democrats with colluding with Russia. When DDT is told that Russia supported his candidacy, DDT said Russia supports Democrats. Prosecutors who declare DDT committed crimes are blamed by DDT of committing crimes.

According to AI photos from MAGAites, DDT has lots of Black friends A sample created by Mark Kaye. 

Another image shows him on a porch with Black men and the caption with the falsehood that he stopped his motorcade to pose.

Joan Brickner, columnist for the Fargo (ND) Forum newspaper, wrote about DDT’s fake award for being a “champion of Black America” at a South Carolina event with a “mostly white audience of the Black Conservative Foundation.” She wrote:

“This is a man sued for failing to rent to Black people. This is a man who took out a full-page ad in The New York Times to promote executing the Central Park Five, Black and Latino men who had been convicted of raping a white woman—men later cleared, having nothing to do with it, after years of imprisonment. This is a man who has said neo-Nazis and KKK members in Charlottesville included ‘fine people.'”

Brickner listed more recent insults against the Black community, including his enthusiastic endorsement of Mark Robinson, the Black GOP North Carolina candidate who denigrated minorities and said that Blacks should pay reparations to whites for fighting for them in the Civil War.

Other Legal Issues:

DDT lost—again. A British judge ordered DDT to pay $382,000 in legal fees to a company he unsuccessfully sued about the “Steele Dossier” which reported on his activities in Russia including sex parties. Orbis Business Intelligence is asking for $760,000, and DDT still owes The New York Times another $400,000.

Another three lawsuits have been approved in relationship with January 6 attack. The plea of immunity could cause them to be overturned, depending on the Supreme Court decision about whether DDT could do anything he wanted in the White House with no impunity.

E. Jean Carroll – Sexual Assault/Defamation:

After failing to obtain a delay from the judge and still owing Carroll $5 million from the first court settlement, DDT posted a $91.63 million bond paid to Carroll if DDT loses his appeal. Chubb Group LLC Switzerland-based insurance company worth $225 billion is the parent company of Federal Insurance Company posting the bond, but court records aren’t clear what collateral DDT used. According to the environmental non-profit group Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Chubb’s business in 54 countries, includes several major U.S. adversaries, “insur[es] oil and gas extraction and transport in Russia, fueling Russia’s war on Ukraine.” DDT appointed Chubb’s CEO Evan Greenberg to his committee for trade policy and negotiations in 2018.

Judge Lewis Kaplan offered Carroll the opportunity to object to DDT’s method of paying the bond through a third party. After DDT accused Carroll of lying in a weekend campaign speech, she could sue him again.

New York – Business Fraud Costs:

Former CFO for the Trump Organization Allen Weisselberg pled guilty to two counts of perjury which may cause problems for DDT’s lawyers by violating professional ethics for their silence while their witness lied in court. Their licenses may be at risk.

New York – Business Fraud/Hush Money to Stormy Daniels to Interfere with 2016 Election:

DDT is appealing the judge’s gag orders although he has complied with others and arguing about whether the Access Hollywood tape about DDT grabbing “p*ssy” is submissible. He calls it “inflammatory”; the prosecution calls it the “catalyst” to the case. DDT’s lawyers may also be afraid of testimony from his former lawyer/fixer Michael Cohen because they adamantly rejected him as a witness, threatening Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg with  “serious legal and ethical consequences.” Other DDT objections are prosecutors arguing that he tried to improperly “influence” the 2016 election by paying Stormy Daniels and presenting DDT’s work with David Pecker and American Media, Inc. in 2015 and 2016 to pay off other women. Details here.  

Georgia – RICO Conspiracy to Overturn Election:

The Fulton County Board of Ethics has dropped complaints against DA Fani Willis, determining it did not have jurisdiction over her as a state constitutional officer. A GOP-led state Senate committee, however, is investigating Willis’ relationship with Nathan Wade regarding whether Willis misused taxpayer funds. Legal proceedings are on hold until the judge rules about the alleged conflict of interest. The state Supreme Court has removed the committee’s ability to disqualify Willis.

Florida – DDT’s Taking Classified Documents:

Judge Aileen Cannon has set March 14 for a hearing to address DDT’s motion”to dismiss counts 1-32 on unconstitutional vagueness claims” and his former aide Walt Nauta’s motion to “dismiss superseding indictment on the Presidential Records Act [PRA].” The hearing also considers special counsel Jack Smith’s filing against DDT’s argument that classified documents are his “personal” records and his presidential immunity. She accepted two amicus briefs from DDT’s allies, Stephen Miller’s anti-immigrant organization America First Legal defending “personal” records and Ed Meese, Ronald Reagan’s AG who helped cover up the Iran-Contra scandal. Meese argues that Smith was not appropriately appointed because he wasn’t confirmed by the Senate. Recently, three different special counsels have led probes without confirmation by the Senate.

Supreme Court Decisions for DDT:

Hopefully, the Supreme Court will deliver a decision about the question of immunity by the time they leave at the end of June.

 

A week ago, DDT rejected everyone who doesn’t agree with him in claiming that the MAGA movement is “96% maybe 100%” of the GOP. He added:

“We’re getting rid of the Romneys of the world. We wanna get Romneys and those out.”

Within three days, DDT declared he was going “to unify this country and unify this party.”

A classic performance by Seth Meyers describing DDT in his segment, “A Closer Look.” He begins:

“Well, here we are, you guys. Donald Trump is now the presumptive GOP nominee for president again for a third time, despite the fact that he’s a twice-impeached, four-time criminal indictee and racist, who’s been found liable for fraud and sexual abuse, banned from doing business in the state of New York for three years, owes over half a billion dollars in fine, took millions from foreign governments while he was president, tried to extort a foreign country to interfere in an election in 2020, and encouraged another to help him win in 2016.”

DDT is rejecting the bill making TikTok illegal in the U.S. after a meeting with conservative hedge fund owner Jeff Yass, who has a $33 billion stake in the social platform. Republicans strongly support the bill, and DDT’s “adviser” Steve Bannon has said that DDT has been bought. My questions: can DDT expect a big donation from Yass and will DDT’s rejection sink the bill?

DDT Adds Delegates, Has No Other Wins

Nikki Haley achieved her first victory in the GOP primaries/caucuses when she won Sunday’s Washington, D.C. primary by 63 percent over 33 percent for Deposed Donald Trump (DDT), taking all 19 delegates at the RNC convention. DDT had threatened lobbyists, saying they will have no access to the White House if they don’t show up to vote.

On Saturday, DDT added delegates in three caucuses: Missouri (54), Idaho (32), and Michigan (51 with Tuesday primary).  Haley got four delegates from the Michigan primary. Some districts weren’t represented because of confusion about Michigan’s party leadership, and Missouri caucuses locked out late-comers. Last year, Idaho tried to save money by moving all primaries to the same date in May but accidentally eliminated the presidential primary. The state held its first presidential caucus since 2012.

This week, “Super Tuesday” has Democratic primaries in 15 states and caucuses in Iowa and American Samoa. Iowa’s Democratic “caucus” consists of mail-in cards obtained by request from the DNC. Republicans have Alaska and Utah party-run presidential preference votes and caucuses with 13 primaries in the remaining states. North Dakota holds its caucus on March 5, the day before Super Tuesday.

For the third time, DDT called Barack Obama as the current president causing problems with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Virginia rally this weekend went silent. The mixup occurred the day after President Joe Biden mistakenly said the U.S. was dropping humanitarian aid into Ukraine, not Gaza.

Haley accused DDT of turning the RNC into his personal piggybank by trying to place his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as its co-chair and use its money to pay DDT’s legal fees. One of the group’s 168 members wants to block her takeover and is circulating two nonbinding resolutions for the March 8 meeting, one calling for neutrality and the other rejecting 2024 candidates’ legal fees. Resigning Chair Ronna McDaniel said in November 2022 that the RNC would stop paying for DDT’s bills when he becomes a presidential candidate.

DDT plans to use local police in what he calls the “largest deportation operation in American history” if he moves back into the White House. Steve Bannon, DDT’s adviser, has good advice for voters: “Mass deportations are going to start, if you don’t like that, then don’t vote for President Trump.” esse Watters’ guest on Fox who ranted the myth about dangers of immigrants “coming to kill your whole family” is a criminal. James Lee, actually James DePaola, was arrested in 2016—again—for violently threatening his wife for making a grilled cheese sandwich too cheesy.

DDT is lying about immigrants, which has no crime wave, and the crime rate, which has dropped since Joe Biden became president. To attack Biden, DDT and other Republicans use the isolated instance of a Venezuelan migrant killing a Georgia nursing student for the crime problems. He also accused Biden of encouraging migrants to illegally enter the U.S. and vote in the fall election. DDT is campaigning on lies.

Those who like “gossip” about the rich and famous might want to pick up a copy of American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden by New York Times White House correspondent Katie Rogers.

Some of DDT’s financial woes may come from problems in the commercial real estate. Last year, prices slumped 22 percent, according to Fortune. In 2015, 40 Wall St. was valued at $540 million but fell by 2024 to $270 million.

Other Legal Issues:

In another lawsuit, DDT is accused of intentionally devaluing his media company Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) which owns and operates his Truth Social platform. TMTG’s merger with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Digital World Acquisition, has been approved with DDT’s co-owners allege that he sought to “drastically dilute the company shares and distribute them among his family members.

E. Jean Carroll – Sexual Assault/Defamation:

DDT bragged about having over $600 million in liquid assets, but he can’t even afford to pay $83 million for a civil lawsuit, according to his lawyers. The judge refused his request to avoid the March 9 deadline for payment or a bond.

New York – Business Fraud Costs:

A New York civil trial ruling about DDT inflated evalation of his properties also brought out DDT’s lies as his lawyers used an 1,800-page filing to describe his inability to pay the $454 million. The judge turned down an alternative that he would post a $100 million bond for the debt due by March 25. A New York appellate court agreed with the judge but reversed the order that DDT’s two sons couldn’t run his businesses. A charity GoFundMe site set up by the wife of a multi-millionaire has raised over $1.4 million but slowed down in the past few days. New York AG Letitia James said that if DDT lacks the funds for the bond she will “ask the judge to seize his assets.”

DDT won’t pay his own bills while he complains that other NATO countries don’t pay their bills—meaning that they pay under two percent of the countries’ GDPs for defense. The invitation is that Russia should do anything it wants to those countries. DDT even stiffed 253 contractors for $70 million on just one Atlantic City property.

New York – Business Fraud/Hush Money to Stormy Daniels to Interfere with 2016 Election:

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has requested a limited gag order on DDT, similar to the one for his federal election interference case in Washington, D.C., and asked that the Access Hollywood tape be played for the jury as a “highly relevant” motive for the hush money payment. He also asked that jurors’ identities be shielded and requested a ban on evidence or arguments about DDT’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen about the accusation of perjury during DDT’s civil fraud trial in October. DDT’s attorneys are trying to block Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, and Karen McDougal, with whom DDT also had an affair, from testifying. The trial begins on March 25.

Washington, D.C. – DDT Overturning the Election:

The prosecution has found a Twitter account from Kenneth Chesebro’s pseudonym Badger Pundit recommending that DDT convince legislators to appointment electors for a rigged election. Chesebro has taken a plea in the Georgia RICO case. The Supreme Court is blocking the trial about DDT’s trying to overturn the election by delaying a decision regarding the question of DDT’s immunity.

Georgia – RICO Conspiracy to Overturn Election:

The hearing from co-defendants attempting to disqualify Fulton County DA Fani Willis has finished after she defended herself from a conflict of interest concerned her alleged relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. Texts show that Wade’s former law partner Terrence Bradley texted co-defendants’ lawyer about the relationship beginning before Willis hired Wade but wouldn’t testify about it on the stand. Bradley also didn’t support his earlier statements that Wade spent large amounts of money on Willis for travel. The judge plans to deliver his ruling within two weeks.

DDT’s former chief-of-staff Mark Meadows lost his attempt in the 11^th Circuit Court to move his election interference case to a federal court by refusing his petition for the entire court to review the loss from a three-judge panel. Meadows still asserts that trying to overturn the Georgia election was part of his official duties. Last year, he accepted immunity from special counsel Jack Smith for testifying about events before and on the January 6 insurrection.

Hackers into Fulton County government has demanded a ransom for not publishing the information with two separate deadlines, but officials question whether the cyberattack was real and didn’t pay the extortionists.

Florida – DDT’s Taking Classified Documents:

DDT’s pet judge Aileen Cannon may delay the trial because of complex legal issues that experts say don’t exist. Smith asked for July 8 if it is postponed from May 20, but DDT’s lawyers recommended August 12. DDT wants the trial after the 2024 election, hoping for a victory to close the case. Willis has asked for the RICO trial to begin in August. Another question is whether she will seal records of witnesses to protect them as Smith wants. Cannon granted Smith’s motion “to withhold from Defendants Nauta and De Oliveira personally all classified discovery produced to date” and denied DDT’s motion for additional classified documents to be shown to his lawyers.

In one filing, Smith pointed out that DDT asked his lawyer to respond to a grand jury subpoena demanding the return of classified documents by lying, telling the FBI that he didn’t have any and then said the attorney should “hide or destroy documents.” DDT’s “defense” is typically “I have the right to take stuff.” He also used special counsel Robert Hur’s report exonerating President Joe Biden from wrong-doing in handling classified documents to show that DDT’s handling “was significantly more aggravated/willful than Joe Biden’s.”

The DOJ has told Cannon she cannot apply the “60-day rule” blocking a trial in the two months before the election because DDT has already been indicted and the case is being litigated.  Cannon plans to hold multiple hearings for about a dozen DDT pretrial motions, and  filed.  Smith’s responses to Cannon’s delays and other decisions are here.   

The 14th Amendment; DDT’s Name on State Ballots:

The Supreme Court has announced it will announce decisions on March 4 but didn’t say which ones.