The Donald Trump Score Card

Send the snails to Texas. Or a Trump rally. Either way, the brain worms will starve to death there.

 

Nebraska Republicans fire chairman at tumultuous convention

excerpt:

"KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska Republicans fired their longtime party chairman at a tumultuous state convention that highlighted divisions within the party driven by activists who support former President Donald Trump and want to take the party further to the right.

After convention delegates voted to remove Chairman Dan Welch on Saturday, most of the other state party leaders, including Executive Director Taylor Gage, resigned, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

Republicans were sharply divided during this spring's gubernatorial primary battle between two conservative candidates: the eventual winner, Jim Pillen, and businessman Charles Herbster, who was endorsed by Trump. The race to replace Gov. Pete Ricketts, who couldn't run because of term limits, became more controversial after eight young women accused Herbster of groping them."

 

Trump waives executive privilege (that he doesn't have).


Steve Bannon says he's willing to testify before January 6 committee after Trump waives claims of executive privilege - CNNPolitics

 

Trump associates' ties to extremists probed by Jan. 6 panel

excerpt:

"Top leaders and members of the Oath Keepers and another far-right group — the Proud Boys — have been charged with seditious conspiracy in the most serious cases the Justice Department has brought so far in the Jan. 6 attack.

Neither federal prosecutors nor House investigators have alleged that anyone in the Trump White House was in communication with extremist groups in the run-up to Jan. 6.

But at least two men close to Trump — longtime friend Roger Stone and his former national security adviser Michael Flynn — have known contacts with far-right groups and extremists who, in some cases, are alleged to have been involved in Jan. 6.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, also told the House committee that she heard the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers mentioned leading up to the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington on Jan. 6. But no further details about that have been revealed.

Cassie Miller, a Southern Poverty Law Center senior research analyst who has provided the committee with information about extremists, said she expects lawmakers to build on that testimony and possibly reveal more information about connections between people close to Trump and groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.

“Right now, things are very blurry,” Miller said."

 

The desperation of Trump trying to make himself and Bannon look good when Bannon is up against the wall facing a criminal contempt trial.


Steve Bannon says he's willing to testify before January 6 committee after Trump waives claims of executive privilege - CNNPolitics

excerpt:

“When you first received the Subpoena to testify and provide documents, I invoked Executive Privilege. However, I watched how unfairly you and others have been treated, having to spend vast amounts of money on legal fees, and all of the trauma you must be going through for the love of your Country, and out of respect for the Office of the President,” Trump wrote in a Saturday letter to Bannon, which was also obtained by CNN.

“Therefore, if you reach an agreement on a time and place for your testimony, I will waive Executive Privilege for you, which allows you to go in and testify truthfully and fairly” Trump added, as he went on to decry the committee of “Thugs and Hacks.”

 

The big win the January 6 committee has already scored - CNNPolitics

excerpt:

"Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a member of the panel, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on Sunday that excerpts of videotaped testimony from Cipollone – who was at or near Trump’s side in the West Wing and, according to other witnesses, pushed back on his lawless instincts – would feature as the committee plans at least one hearing this week.

“He was able to provide information on basically all of the critical issues that we’re looking at, and including the President’s, what I would call, dereliction of duty on the day of January 6,” Lofgren said referring to Friday’s testimony. A source familiar with Cipollone’s interview told CNN’s Pamela Brown that that the former White House counsel, testifying under a subpoena, did invoke executive privilege on some questions – to shield certain information or conversations with the then-President from Congress under the separation of powers doctrine."

 

End of Trump-Musk bromance.


Opinion: The end of the Trump-Musk bromance - CNN

excerpt:

"It wasn’t that long ago that the Trump-Musk relationship was warm, complete with public displays of affection. In January 2020, Trump likened Musk to Thomas Edison, gushing that he’s “one of our great geniuses … and we want to cherish those people.”

The star-crossed billionaires chatted on the phone in May 2020 during the Covid-19 crisis, bonding over their shared desire to end shutdowns that saved lives in order to let businesses reopen. Then Trump threw caution to the wind when he tweeted his love for Musk’s idea to reopen his California Tesla plant despite Covid-19 restrictions. That prompted a smitten Musk to tweet in response, “Thank you!”

After that, we didn’t hear much about the pair. Maybe Trump was too busy lying about the 2020 election results and plotting his effort to overturn the vote."

 

Opinion: The end of the Trump-Musk bromance - CNN

excerpt:

"But then Musk did something that, if this were a rom-com movie, would have caused the entire audience to gasp with the sudden awareness that trouble is brewing.

The mercurial Musk tweeted last month that when it comes to the 2024 presidential race, he was leaning toward supporting Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis – not Trump."

 

The G.O.P.’s ‘Wildest Dream’

excerpt:

"The G.O.P.’s ‘wildest dream’

Latino voters have recently shifted toward the Republican Party. Most still vote for Democrats, but the margin has shrunk.

One sign of the shift is in Texas’ majority-Latino 34th Congressional District, which recently elected Mayra Flores, a conservative Republican, to serve out the remaining term of a Democrat who resigned in March. To put Flores’s election in context of the larger shift, today’s newsletter talks with Jennifer Medina, a Times reporter who writes about national politics and profiled Flores this week.

Ian: How did you meet Flores?

Jennifer: I met her almost a year and a half ago when I went to the Rio Grande Valley, in South Texas, to try to understand why Latino voters there swung toward Donald Trump in 2020. I came across a whole group of women who drove a lot of the change. They’d organized “Trump Trains” and done Hispanic outreach for the Republican Party. A lot of them, including Flores, were married to Border Patrol agents and used that as the source of their energy and support for Trump.

Flores won her special election last month pretty easily, despite being a first-time candidate running in a historically Democratic district. She seems to symbolize Republican hopes that Latinos will increasingly support the party. How was she received in Washington?

She was treated like a rock star. After her swearing-in, she did a press conference with Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans. The placard on the lectern said “Historic.” Republicans have been criticized for being anti-immigrant, obviously, and here’s a woman who not only is an immigrant but who worked in the fields alongside her parents as a farmworker.

Flores has described herself as Democrats’ worst nightmare, but she was also Republicans’ wildest dream. She’s the first Mexican-born woman in Congress, and the Republican Party completely embraced her."

 

Capitol police officer who was brutally beaten during Jan 6. riot says Trump 'should never be allowed near the White House again'

excerpt:

"Although I experienced firsthand the brutal onslaught of the insurrectionists, I was shocked to hear Ms. Hutchinson explain the extent to which former President Donald Trump incited the people who almost killed me," Gonell wrote, referring to recent testimony by Cassidy Hutchinson during the House investigative committee hearings about the attack.

Hutchinson testified under oath that Trump was furiously throwing things — including his lunch — following conversations with Attorney General Bill Barr that there was no widespread evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 election. Under penalty of perjury, she said he was furious armed supporters weren't allowed at his rally, defended rioters chanting "hang Mike Pence" saying the vice president deserved it, and said the rioters "weren't doing anything wrong."

Gonell described himself as enraged by Hutchinson's testimony and the former president's disregard "for everyone but himself" while his armed supporters scaled fences, smashed glass and attacked Capitol police to disrupt the certification of the election.

"I was sure I was going to die that day, trampled by the hordes of President Trump's supporters trying to stop the official transfer of power on his behalf."

 

Capitol police officer who was brutally beaten during Jan 6. riot says Trump 'should never be allowed near the White House again'

excerpt:

"With our lives in peril, I would have been justified in using lethal force. But I didn't want to spark a massacre. Over the course of the five-hour struggle, my hands were bloodied from being smashed by a stolen police baton," the Iraq war veteran wrote. "My right foot and left shoulder were so damaged that I needed multiple surgeries to repair them. My head was hit with such force with a pipe that I no doubt would have sustained brain damage if not for my helmet."

As a result of the injuries he sustained during the attack, Gonell said he continues to live with chronic pain and was told by his doctor he should no longer serve on the police force.

"The physical and emotional damage I sustained on Jan. 6 not only cut short my career, it has upended my life. Five of my colleagues in law enforcement died and more than 850 rioters were arrested. So many families have been ruined because of one man's lust for power."

 

Capitol police officer who was brutally beaten during Jan 6. riot says Trump 'should never be allowed near the White House again'

excerpt:

"While Gonell applauded Hutchinson and those who have come forward to testify about the attack so far, he described the behavior of Republicans who downplay the significance of the insurrection and refuse to provide testimony under oath as "galling."

"The enabling of Mr. Trump needs to stop now. He should not only be banned from running for any other government office, he should never be allowed near the White House again," Gonell wrote. "I believe he betrayed his oath to defend the Constitution, and it was to the detriment of me, my colleagues, and all Americans, whom he was supposed to protect.""

 

Steve Bannon's defense accused of lying to a judge – in after midnight DOJ court filing: report
Bob Brigham
July 11, 2022

Steve Bannon's defense accused of lying to a judge – in after midnight DOJ court filing: report

excerpt:

"The U.S. Department of Justice dropped an after-midnight bombshell on former Donald Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon early Monday morning.

Attorney Luppe Luppen said, "DOJ coming in hot with a filing after midnight saying the FBI interviewed a Trump lawyer and determined Bannon’s counsel lied to the J6 Committee."

"On June 29, 2022, former President Donald Trump's attorney, who sent the letter on which the defendant claimed his noncompliance was based, confirmed what his correspondence has already established: that the former president never invoked executive privilege over any particular information or materials; that the former president's counsel never asked or was asked to attend the defendant's deposition before the select committee, that the defendant's attorney misrepresented to the committee what the former president's counsel had told the defendant's attorney; and that the letter provided no basis for total noncompliance," the DOJ argued.

Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti wrote, "This is consistent with my view of Bannon's ploy. It's a gimmick intended to help his defense in his upcoming criminal trial on the 18th.""

 

Ethridge was a youth pastor.


Police arrested a Colorado pastor for his participation in the Capitol riot after a Bible college colleague tipped off the FBI

excerpt:

"Police on Friday indicted a Colorado youth pastor who participated in the Capitol riot on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges, according to a Justice Department release.

The FBI was able to identify the pastor, Tyler Ethridge, after a Bible college colleague tipped them off, saying he had bragged about his participation in the riot last year on social media.

According to the DOJ release, the Bible college attendee, who was not named in supporting court documents released by the Justice Department, told the FBI that Ethridge was "telling everyone" on Facebook about being "on scaffolding outside Nancy Pelosi's office and inside the chamber."

Video captured on the day of the event shows him acknowledging the risk to his job.

"I'm probably going to lose my job as a pastor after this," he said, according to court documents."

 

House GOP marches into deeper blue terrain as Dem prospects fade

excerpt:

"This kind of pivot in a House battleground — which Biden won by 7 points just two years ago — isn’t an anomaly. Recent GOP polling in roughly a dozen swing districts offers a bleak portrait of how President Joe Biden’s anemic approval ratings are threatening to doom battle-tested swing-seat incumbents — and nudge once-safe districts into the middle of the danger zone.

“I literally laughed out loud,” Army veteran Jesse Jensen, one of Schrier’s GOP opponents, said of the first time he saw the ad. "She is claiming — because she finally looked at some polling and realized that he's unpopular — that she's this independent-minded free spirit that is fighting the administration. And she's been a rubber stamp for him every single step of the way.”

With just four months until the midterms, Democrats were already on the defensive in at least 30 highly competitive districts. But Biden’s toxicity has given the GOP optimism about seriously contesting a fresh crop of about a dozen seats that the president won in 2020 by 9 points or more — from western Rhode Island to California’s Central Valley to the suburbs of Arizona’s capital."

 

"Flag poles can't hurt anybody...."

 

LOL!

 

LOL!

 

Cipallone is said to have given serious info to the committee, more than just telling the about meetings concerning the plan to overturn the election. He warned them about other illegalities. If Bannon does likewise after Trump "waived" the executive privilege --which he did not have as he did not work at the White House during that time -- then the case is signed sealed and delivered. (please see discography of Stevie Wonder)