Both Ornato and Engel, who remain active Secret Service agents, have said they are willing to testify under oath to dispute Hutchinson’s narrative, even as they have refused to speak publicly about it. The unnamed driver, the agency has signaled, is also denying her account.
“Ornato is a red herring,” the source said, noting that he was in his office at the time and not at the rally.
“There are three people in that vehicle: Bobby Engel, President Trump and the limo driver,” the source said, and both agents are “saying that did not happen.”
So what does this mean? It means that Hutchinson's testimony about the Limo situation was not hearsay. It was literally "double" hearsay. She heard it from someone who apparently heard it from someone else. While legal experts suggests there are "exceptions" to the hearsay rules in a court proceeding, I rather seriously doubt that "double hearsay" testimony would be allowed at anytime, especially when first hand accounts dispute that "double hearsay".
How bad are things going for this commission when they resort to calling a special session to provide testimony from a double hearsay witness that testifies to something disputed by the first hand accounts (first hand accounts that they had already interviewed)?
Well desperate comes to mind...
Not that this will change the minds of anyone on the left. You could tell them that Trump grew horns, turned into Satan, killed several small children, then went back to being Trump before anyone saw it... and they would believe it. No proof necessary. Not even a common sense reason to believe it. Just anly bad allegation about Trump is all they need as proof. They are that gullible.
110 comments:
Hate America =Brittney Griner pleads guilty to drug charges in Russia.
Judge Karma presided.
Your impression is wrong, Ch. Here's part of the transcript of Hutchinson's testimony.
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: When I returned to the White House, I walked upstairs towards the chief of staff's office, and I noticed Mr. Ornato lingering outside of the office. Once we had made eye contact, he quickly waved me to go into his office, which was just across the hall from mine. When I went in, he shut the door, and I noticed Bobby Engel, who was the head of Mr. Trump's security detail, sitting in a chair, just looking somewhat discombobulated and a little lost.
I looked at Tony and he had said, did you f'ing hear what happened in the beast? I said, no, Tony, I — I just got back. What happened? Tony proceeded to tell me that when the president got in the beast, he was under the impression from Mr. Meadows that the off the record movement to the Capitol was still possible and likely to happen, but that Bobby had more information.
So, once the president had gotten into the vehicle with Bobby, he thought that they were going up to the Capitol. And when Bobby had relayed to him we're not, we don't have the assets to do it, it's not secure, we're going back to the West Wing, the president had a very strong, a very angry response to that.
Tony described him as being irate. The president said something to the effect of I'm the f'ing president, take me up to the Capitol now, to which Bobby responded, sir, we have to go back to the West Wing. The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, said, sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel.
We're going back to the West Wing. We're not going to the Capitol. Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel. And Mr. — when Mr. Ornato had recounted this story to me, he had motioned towards his clavicles.
LIZ CHENEY: And was Mr. Engel in the room as Mr. Ornato told you this story?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: He was.
LIZ CHENEY: Did Mr. Engel correct or disagree with any part of this story from Mr. Ornato?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: Mr. Engel did not correct or disagree with any part of the story.
LIZ CHENEY: Did Mr. Engel or Mr. Ornato ever after that tell you that what Mr. Ornato had just said was untrue?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: Neither Mr. Ornato nor Mr. Engel told me ever that it was untrue.
LIZ CHENEY: And despite this altercation, this physical altercation during the ride back to the White House, President Trump still demanded to go to the Capitol. Here's what Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary at the time, wrote in her personal notes and told the committee about President Trump's desire to go to the Capitol after returning to the White House. [Begin videotape]
UNKNOWN: When you wrote POUTS wanted to walk to the Capitol, was that based solely on what the president said during his speech or anything that he or anybody else said afterwards?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY: So, to the best of my recollection, I believe when we got back to the White House he said he wanted to physically walk with the marchers. And according to my notes, he then said, you'd be fine with just writing the piece, but — so that's my recollection. He wanted to be a part of the March in some fashion.
UNKNOWN: Alright. And just for the record, the piece refers to the Presidential limousine?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY: Yes. [End videotape]
Ornato was not in the limosine, but Engel, who WAS in the limo, did not dispute Ornato's description of what Engel had just finished telling him had happened, and both were quite upset.
Ornato was not in the limosine, but Engel, who WAS in the limo, did not dispute Ornato's description of what Engel had just finished telling him had happened, and both were quite upset.
Engle was in the limo and Engle "is" disputing the accounts. Not only that, but the commission already has his sworn testimony which did not allege what Hutchison stated. Moreover, Oranoto is even disputing that he told Hutchinson this.
Again... Ornato was not there in the Limo.
Oh... and he is suggesting that he did not tell her what she testified to.
Hutchinson did not claim that Engle told him the story and Hutchinson did not testify that Engle (or anyone else confirmed it). She only said that Ornato stated as much. Double Hearsay.
Let's be clear here Reverend...
The version of events she told did not actually happen.
You can spin it three ways to Sunday, but at the end of the day it is double hearsay and wrong.
LOL You can't spin it to say there was a claim that Ornato was in the limo when no such claim was ever made.
Hutchinson testified under oath.
It would be or will be interesting to hear the testimonies of any others who testified or will testify UNDER OATH (and threat of perjuring themselves) that what she said is not true.
Well Reverend...
They already testified to the committee under oath...
apparently their version of events did not warrant them to be paraded out in a public hearing.
You keep acting as if Hutchinson is more credible because they interviewed her on television. The same perjury and such apply to testimony given under any circumstances.
In other words...
They "all" testified under oath.
Heads UP
Dutch Farmers are Protesting.
The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka announced it is bankrupt.
Collapse of thier Agriculture because of cuts in synthetic fertilizer
The Green Liberal New World Order is failing around the Globe 🌎
Bidenomics has failed Americans and more are poorer.
You know, of course, that when confronted by a credible seeming witness, people have been known to revise their previous testimonies.
The buzz has it that quite a few secret service agents were repeating a story similar to Hutchinson's. Perhaps they will be persuaded to tell under oath what they heard and from whom they heard it.
Hutchinson's testimony makes it clear that Trump is guilty as hell.
LIZ CHENEY: And was Mr. Engel in the room as Mr. Ornato told you this story?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: He was.
LIZ CHENEY: Did Mr. Engel correct or disagree with any part of this story from Mr. Ornato?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: Mr. Engel did not correct or disagree with any part of the story.
LIZ CHENEY: Did Mr. Engel or Mr. Ornato ever after that tell you that what Mr. Ornato had just said was untrue?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: Neither Mr. Ornato nor Mr. Engel told me ever that it was untrue.
You think Liz Cheney had some very good reason to nail that down?
The buzz has it that quite a few secret service agents were repeating a story similar to Hutchinson's. Perhaps they will be persuaded to tell under oath what they heard and from whom they heard it.
Oh...
I see...
The "Buzz" huh?
but yet, none of the people in the Limo are part of that "Buzz" are they?
Give it up Reverend...
The more you hang on to this the more desperate you look.
: Did Mr. Engel or Mr. Ornato ever after that tell you that what Mr. Ornato had just said was untrue?
You mean the story that neither Ornato or Engle testify under oath to?
The story that Ornato says he never told to Hutchinson?
Is that the story, Reverend?
Jammie, you believe in rumor, hearsay and what ever "buzz" is.
500,000 plus Fully Automatic Firearms are legally in the possession of Americans.
Freedom must be forcefully defended.
Now you will please supply a transcript of those two testimonies?
Trump said and did obviously awful and dangerous things—racist and cruel and achingly dumb and downright evil things. But on top of that, he is a uniquely tiresome individual, easily the sorest loser, the most prodigious liar, and the most interminable victim ever to occupy the White House. He is, quite possibly, the biggest crybaby ever to toddle across history’s stage, from his inaugural-crowd hemorrhage on day one right down to his bitter, ketchup-flinging end.
Alky sees his reflection =uniquely tiresome individual,
lol
KETCHUP FLINGING
lol
Good Move as Bidenomics crashed.
Bill Gates just won legal approval to buy 2,100 acres of North Dakota farmland worth $13.5M.
Produce the food and livestock to feed Americans.
THE HILL:
...in the context of the broader charges accumulating against Trump — including the explosive allegation that he sent an armed crowd to the Capitol to block the peaceful transfer of power — the Secret Service dispute is largely a diversion.
“It’s really important to remember for people to focus on what is legally significant, and not get distracted by the drama of stories about things like throwing plates of ketchup or whether the former president actually tried to grab the steering wheel and assault the head of the Secret Service crew,” said Catherine Ross, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University Law School.
“None of that is material to the question of whether he should be indicted and whether he could be convicted.”
Hutchinson is not the only one under scrutiny. In the days since her testimony, a number of Republicans have also emerged to question the credibility of Ornato.
One aide to former Vice President Mike Pence pointed to Ornato refuting a Washington Post account of a conversation in which Pence national security adviser Keith Kellogg warned against Ornato acting to remove the vice president from the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“Those of us who worked w/ Tony know where his loyalties lie,” Olivia Troye, a former Pence adviser and high-profile critic of Trump, wrote in sharing the article. “He should testify under oath.”
Alyssa Farah, a former White House director of strategic communications, also complained that Ornato denied a conversation in which she said she urged him to warn the press before chemical irritants were used to clear a park near the White House in 2020.
“There seems to be a major thread here… Tony Ornato likes to lie,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) one of two Republican members of the committee, said on Twitter, pointing to Farah’s tweet.
Trump said and did obviously awful and dangerous things—racist and cruel and achingly dumb and downright evil things. But on top of that, he is a uniquely tiresome individual, easily the sorest loser, the most prodigious liar, and the most interminable victim ever to occupy the White House. He is, quite possibly, the biggest crybaby ever to toddle across history’s stage, from his inaugural-crowd hemorrhage on day one right down to his bitter, ketchup-flinging end.
Members of the select committee are also downplaying the disagreement over the SUV episode, racing to Hutchinson’s defense and pointing to the numerous, damning first-hand accounts she also delivered during last week’s hearing.
“The committee is not going to stand by and watch her character be assassinated by anonymous sources and by men who are claiming executive privilege,” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chair of the select committee, told ABC News’s Jonathan Karl over the weekend. “And so we look forward very much to additional testimony under oath on a whole range of issues.”
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), another member of the investigative panel, delivered a similar message.
“She has nothing to gain by stepping forward and telling the truth. And Trump World has everything to lose by the truth,” Lofren told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
Lofgren said Ornato has already talked to the committee behind closed doors under oath. And “if he wants to come back and clarify his prior information, he will also be under oath.”
“I think it’s a mistake to focus on whether or not he was lying to Ms. Hutchinson when he relayed that story,” she quickly added. “The fact is the president knew his crowd was armed”....
Hutchinson’s legal team has said she stands by her account, emphasizing that she provided testimony under oath — four times behind closed doors, and then again publicly last week.
“Ms. Hutchinson testified, under oath, and recounted what she was told,” her lawyer, Jody Hunt, wrote on Twitter last week. “Those with knowledge of the episode also should testify under oath.”
But Steve Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas in Austin, said: “Don’t be distracted by claims of ‘hearsay’. That goes to whether evidence can be admitted in court, not Congress.
“The key is that Hutchinson testified under oath. If she was lying, she faces felony charges. The same can’t be said for those trying to discredit her testimony.”
Most observers thought the case for Trump facing felony charges increased after Tuesday’s hearing – particularly regarding Hutchinson’s testimony that Trump knew the crowd he sent to the Capitol was armed. Cheney’s disclosure that the committee believes Trump has tried to intimidate witnesses – including Hutchinson, according to Punchbowl News – also excited comment about possible charges.
‘Things might get real, real bad’: key takeaways from latest January 6 hearing
Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor, said the new evidence against Trump was “devastating for inciting, aiding and abetting violent insurrection”.
Tribe also said: “Whatever anybody says about [Department of Justice] reluctance to indict Trump – reluctance I abhor – failing to indict Mark Meadows along with Jeffrey Clark, John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell would be a travesty.”
ketchup flinging end
lol
I'm being censored again for the coward Ch.
Alky sees his reflection =uniquely tiresome individual,
She had not witnessed anything.
Confirmed.
By Jammie
I've been censored again by the coward Ch.
I DARE you to restore the long article in two parts I just posted. I DARE you.
The uniquely tiresome Alky confirmed that Congress will allow anyone to say anything as long as it sticks to the narrative.
This is much more important because he will verify what you don't believe.
The testimony from Cipollone is expected to be a transcribed interview and recorded on camera, the source said, and the former top White House lawyer is expected to only answer questions on a narrow subset of topics and conversations with the former president.
Among the topics Cipollone could discuss include how he told Donald Trump that pressuring Mike Pence, the vice-president, to refuse to certify Joe Biden’s election win was unlawful, and Trump’s plot to coerce the justice department into falsely saying the 2020 election was corrupt.
Trump’s White House counsel Pat Cipollone agrees to testify to January 6 panel – as it happened
The closed-door deposition, to that end, could amount to a chance for the panel to corroborate testimony by the former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified that Cipollone repeatedly warned that Trump’s ideas to overturn the 2020 election violated the law.
Sedition
I double d, triple d, quadruple d DARE you!
Now you will please supply a transcript of those two testimonies?
Well Reverend...
That would be up to the committee... If it backed Hutchinson's claim, I would think they would have already released it.
Makes you wonder why the committee is hiding that from the public?
Don't you wonder why they are hiding them?
HERE'S THE ARTICLE CH DIDN'T WANT YOU TO SEE.
“It’s really important to remember for people to focus on what is legally significant, and not get distracted by the drama of stories about things like throwing plates of ketchup or whether the former president actually tried to grab the steering wheel and assault the head of the Secret Service crew,” said Catherine Ross, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University Law School.
“None of that is material to the question of whether he should be indicted and whether he could be convicted.”
Hutchinson is not the only one under scrutiny. In the days since her testimony, a number of Republicans have also emerged to question the credibility of Ornato.
One aide to former Vice President Mike Pence pointed to Ornato refuting a Washington Post account of a conversation in which Pence national security adviser Keith Kellogg warned against Ornato acting to remove the vice president from the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“Those of us who worked w/ Tony know where his loyalties lie,” Olivia Troye, a former Pence adviser and high-profile critic of Trump, wrote in sharing the article. “He should testify under oath.”
Alyssa Farah, a former White House director of strategic communications, also complained that Ornato denied a conversation in which she said she urged him to warn the press before chemical irritants were used to clear a park near the White House in 2020.
“There seems to be a major thread here… Tony Ornato likes to lie,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) one of two Republican members of the committee, said on Twitter, pointing to Farah’s tweet.
Two Secret Service Sources Speak Out
On July 1, CNN reported that it had made contact with “two Secret Service sources who say they heard about the incident” involving Trump in the Suburban “from multiple agents, including the driver of the presidential SUV where it occurred.”
The reporting said that the details of the moments in the Suburban differed among multiple accounts from Secret Service agents. However, the idea that Trump was involved in an angry confrontation was found to be consistent among the agents’ accounts:
“He had sort of lunged forward — it was unclear from the conversations I had that he actually made physical contact, but he might have. I don’t know,” the source said. “Nobody said Trump assaulted him; they said he tried to lunge over the seat — for what reason, nobody had any idea.”
The employee said he’d heard about the incident multiple times as far back as February 2021 from other agents, including some who were part of the presidential protective detail during that time period but none of whom were involved in the incident.
The article continued by providing information about a third source that CNN had cited in previous reporting. That third source, identified as a “Secret Service official,” had “denied that Trump grabbed at the steering wheel or lunged toward an agent on his detail, and that Ornato denied telling Hutchinson the same.” However, that same official “did not dispute that Trump directed his agents to take him to the Capitol,” which again, was perhaps the larger story of the day.
CNN also reported that “Ornato has a close relationship with Trump and his team” after previously serving “as head of his protective detail and then being granted an unusual leave from his Secret Service duties to be detailed to the White House as deputy chief of staff for operations.”
Additional Details
CBS News reported that the Secret Service had already “provided dozens of hours of testimony to the Jan. 6 committee” and that both Ornato and Engel also previously provided testimony behind closed doors:
According to the source close to the agency, both Ornato and Engel have appeared before the committee on the record and behind closed doors, at the committee’s request. Those sessions were recorded, but not used in Tuesday’s hearing.
On June 29, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., tweeted about the baseless rumor involving Hutchinson, “If it is true the Secret Service denies the allegations against President Trump of lunging and assaulting officers, then the story is really passing along gossip that did not bear fruit.”
The keywords from Graham’s tweet appeared to be “if it is true.” Graham was referring to one of his previous tweets where he promoted a Fox News article. The article’s headline read, “Tony Ornato did not brief Cassidy Hutchinson that Trump tried to lunge at Secret Service agent: sources.” The story contained no information about the Secret Service having “officially debunked” Hutchinson’s testimony, as Adams’ tweet claimed.
In sum, no, in the final week of June, the Secret Service had not “officially debunked” Hutchinson’s testimony. While it’s certainly possible that people associated with the Secret Service might in the future call into question Hutchinson’s testimony while under oath, Adams’ tweet was posted in the early morning hours on the day following Hutchinson’s testimony. At that point, there was no direct evidence that the Secret Service had “officially debunked” anything.
Two Secret Service Sources Speak Out
On July 1, CNN reported that it had made contact with “two Secret Service sources who say they heard about the incident” involving Trump in the Suburban “from multiple agents, including the driver of the presidential SUV where it occurred.”
The reporting said that the details of the moments in the Suburban differed among multiple accounts from Secret Service agents. However, the idea that Trump was involved in an angry confrontation was found to be consistent among the agents’ accounts:
“He had sort of lunged forward — it was unclear from the conversations I had that he actually made physical contact, but he might have. I don’t know,” the source said. “Nobody said Trump assaulted him; they said he tried to lunge over the seat — for what reason, nobody had any idea.”
The employee said he’d heard about the incident multiple times as far back as February 2021 from other agents, including some who were part of the presidential protective detail during that time period but none of whom were involved in the incident.
The article continued by providing information about a third source that CNN had cited in previous reporting. That third source, identified as a “Secret Service official,” had “denied that Trump grabbed at the steering wheel or lunged toward an agent on his detail, and that Ornato denied telling Hutchinson the same.” However, that same official “did not dispute that Trump directed his agents to take him to the Capitol,” which again, was perhaps the larger story of the day.
CNN also reported that “Ornato has a close relationship with Trump and his team” after previously serving “as head of his protective detail and then being granted an unusual leave from his Secret Service duties to be detailed to the White House as deputy chief of staff for operations.”
Additional Details
CBS News reported that the Secret Service had already “provided dozens of hours of testimony to the Jan. 6 committee” and that both Ornato and Engel also previously provided testimony behind closed doors:
According to the source close to the agency, both Ornato and Engel have appeared before the committee on the record and behind closed doors, at the committee’s request. Those sessions were recorded, but not used in Tuesday’s hearing.
On June 29, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., tweeted about the baseless rumor involving Hutchinson, “If it is true the Secret Service denies the allegations against President Trump of lunging and assaulting officers, then the story is really passing along gossip that did not bear fruit.”
The keywords from Graham’s tweet appeared to be “if it is true.” Graham was referring to one of his previous tweets where he promoted a Fox News article. The article’s headline read, “Tony Ornato did not brief Cassidy Hutchinson that Trump tried to lunge at Secret Service agent: sources.” The story contained no information about the Secret Service having “officially debunked” Hutchinson’s testimony, as Adams’ tweet claimed.
In sum, no, in the final week of June, the Secret Service had not “officially debunked” Hutchinson’s testimony. While it’s certainly possible that people associated with the Secret Service might in the future call into question Hutchinson’s testimony while under oath, Adams’ tweet was posted in the early morning hours on the day following Hutchinson’s testimony. At that point, there was no direct evidence that the Secret Service had “officially debunked” anything.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/secret-service-debunked-hutchinson/
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/secret-service-debunked-hutchinson/
You are the most gullible person I have ever met in my life.
Well, here it is, folks. The article twice deleted by Ch who DESPERATELY didn't want you to see it.
“It’s really important to remember for people to focus on what is legally significant, and not get distracted by the drama of stories about things like throwing plates of ketchup or whether the former president actually tried to grab the steering wheel and assault the head of the Secret Service crew,” said Catherine Ross, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University Law School.
“None of that is material to the question of whether he should be indicted and whether he could be convicted.”
Hutchinson is not the only one under scrutiny. In the days since her testimony, a number of Republicans have also emerged to question the credibility of Ornato.
One aide to former Vice President Mike Pence pointed to Ornato refuting a Washington Post account of a conversation in which Pence national security adviser Keith Kellogg warned against Ornato acting to remove the vice president from the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“Those of us who worked w/ Tony know where his loyalties lie,” Olivia Troye, a former Pence adviser and high-profile critic of Trump, wrote in sharing the article. “He should testify under oath.”
Alyssa Farah, a former White House director of strategic communications, also complained that Ornato denied a conversation in which she said she urged him to warn the press before chemical irritants were used to clear a park near the White House in 2020.
“There seems to be a major thread here… Tony Ornato likes to lie,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) one of two Republican members of the committee, said on Twitter, pointing to Farah’s tweet.
Honest, decent, truthful Rev. said...
Now you will please supply a transcript of those two testimonies?
Excellent !!!
Please have the committee release those transcripts
along with the 14,000 hours of unreleased video
as well as complete details of the FBI involvement
and Pelosi's failures to secure the capitol
PLEASE
now that would be a real search for the truth
then we could move on to Hunter and the "big guy"
AND HERE'S THE REST OF IT
Members of the select committee are also downplaying the disagreement over the SUV episode, racing to Hutchinson’s defense and pointing to the numerous, damning first-hand accounts she also delivered during last week’s hearing.
“The committee is not going to stand by and watch her character be assassinated by anonymous sources and by men who are claiming executive privilege,” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chair of the select committee, told ABC News’s Jonathan Karl over the weekend. “And so we look forward very much to additional testimony under oath on a whole range of issues.”
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), another member of the investigative panel, delivered a similar message.
“She has nothing to gain by stepping forward and telling the truth. And Trump World has everything to lose by the truth,” Lofren told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
Lofgren said Ornato has already talked to the committee behind closed doors under oath. And “if he wants to come back and clarify his prior information, he will also be under oath.”
“I think it’s a mistake to focus on whether or not he was lying to Ms. Hutchinson when he relayed that story,” she quickly added. “The fact is the president knew his crowd was armed”….
Hutchinson’s legal team has said she stands by her account, emphasizing that she provided testimony under oath — four times behind closed doors, and then again publicly last week.
“Ms. Hutchinson testified, under oath, and recounted what she was told,” her lawyer, Jody Hunt, wrote on Twitter last week.
“Those with knowledge of the episode also should testify under oath.”
Those who already testified can request that the committee release their testimonies, or they can return and revise their testimonies.
“There seems to be a major thread here… Tony Ornato likes to lie,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.)
So the person who told Hutchinson this story...
Is a major threat because he is a liar?
I guess we should take her testimony even less seriously...
Hey Reverend...
Can you explain why less than 1% of the public believes that Jan 6th is a top two midterm issue?
I mean... I like to toss out these threads just to see how crazy you and the nursing home resident get about all of it.
Like the total meltdown you are having because almost nobody believes Hutchinson's account of events anymore.
No one is deleting anything, you pathetic stupid old man
Damn you’re fucking STUPID
Uncensored Roger
We heard a story that you beat up your wife...
Must be true if people who were not there are the ones telling that story!
What YOU say is irrelevant because you were there.
It was an accusation in a divorce civil hearing.
I was never charged as a criminal because I never hit her.
Go ahead and claim that I committed a crime. Then I will see you in court in Seattle next year.
Nobody believes her???
Until Tuesday, we had both publicly stated that the Department of Justice had insufficient evidence to indict former President Trump for his conduct on Jan. 6. Our conclusion, which we each came to independently, was largely grounded in First Amendment concerns about criminalizing purely political speech.
But Tuesday’s explosive testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, changed our minds. In particular, Hutchinson testified to hearing Trump order that the magnetometers (metal detectors) used to keep armed people away from the president be removed: “I don’t fucking care that they have weapons, they’re not here to hurt me. They’re not here to hurt me. Take the fucking mags [magnetometers] away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here; let the people in and take the mags away.”
Admittedly, Hutchinson is only one witness, and it is true that some of her testimony would, in the context of a criminal trial, constitute hearsay. But Hutchinson—unlike many of her detractors who have contested certain details of her testimony—testified under oath and, contrary to the sneering commentary of the House Judiciary Committee GOP Twitter account, not all of Hutchinson’s second-hand remarks were introduced to establish the truth of the matter asserted. Even much of that portion of her testimony that did constitute hearsay might still be admissible under the relevant evidentiary rules.
These utterances by Trump (as alleged by Hutchinson) were not political speech. They serve as additional proof of intent and context, and—crucially—a material act to increase the likelihood of violence. This easily distinguishes Trump’s speech at the rally from other kinds of core political speech that should never be criminalized.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/cassidy-hutchinsons-testimony-changed-our-minds-about-indicting-donald-trump
They aren’t going to let you out your loony bin
https://www.lawfareblog.com/guns-insurrections-and-magnetometers-sidelight-cassidy-hutchinsons-testimony
I can go anywhere I want alone.
Go ahead and claim that I committed a crime.
Not making any "claims" Roger...
Just reminding you that not all "stories" are true and that "stories" that get passed along are no more or less likely to be true just because they spread.
You will notice that I never suggested the Reverend engaged in sex with minors either... even though there have been plenty of suggestions and stories.
Just because stories exist and spread... doesn't make them true.
Biden voice message to Hunter.
First Person Criminals
You know how to avoid being caught
During his term, Biden has ended one major war, vastly reduced US involvement in others, and worked actively to prevent a regional imperial war of aggression from metastasizing into a global conflict. He has reduced airstrikes, civilian deaths, and US military deaths.
There is no other president in the past 40 years, or arguably the past 70, with a better record on restraining military involvement.
Whether or not you like Biden, if you care about reducing war and violence, it’s important to acknowledge these accomplishments.
If antiwar voices don’t seem to notice, or care when wars end, politicians are reasonably going to conclude that their concerns about violence aren’t serious, principled, or informed. If there is no political benefit to restraint, politicians will not engage in restraint.
Biden has given the antiwar movement a series of solid victories. People who care about reducing military violence need to take yes for an answer. If they don’t, it is likely that they will go back to hearing a series of “nos.” And that means more people around the globe will needlessly die.
That may be his legacy.
Last time I checked....
We were not at war with the Taliban... in fact we were simply there in Afghanistan and there was little or no fighting there under Trump.
We simply turned over the country as well as billions in military equipment to the Taliban.
I believe somewhere in the vicinity of 75% of the public believes we botched that... even as your idiot source suggests it was a victory.
Oh... and it seems as though we are now actually fighting a proxy war with Russia, which likely could have been avoided.
Today the "Go ahead and claim that I committed a crime. Then I will see you in court in Seattle next year." Roger
547 time he said he would sue one of us.
Actually he has never sued any of us.
"Oh... and it seems as though we are now actually fighting a proxy war with Russia, which likely could have been avoided."
Yes, totally avoidable.
BIDEN , SAID we are at "War".
Roger said we should spend an unlimited amount of US Treasury in Ukraine.
Roger, I know it is hard for you to admit just how spectacularly wrong you are on so very, very much.
But again, your prediction is wrong.
Bidenomics is in fact a 🔥 Dumpster.
Trump Savings Rate when he left office
19.90%
Biden today 4.3%
The Most Pathetic MEN in America
July 7, 2022 at 4:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 48 Comments
Mark Leibovich:
“Trump said and did obviously awful and dangerous things—racist and cruel and achingly dumb and downright evil things. But on top of that, he is a uniquely tiresome individual, easily the sorest loser, the most prodigious liar, and the most interminable victim ever to occupy the White House. He is, quite possibly, the biggest crybaby ever to toddle across history’s stage, from his inaugural-crowd hemorrhage on day one right down to his bitter, ketchup-flinging end. Seriously, what public figure in the history of the world comes close? I’m genuinely asking.
BUT
“Better objects of our scrutiny—and far more compelling to me—are the slavishly devoted Republicans whom Trump drew to his side. It’s been said before, but can never be emphasized enough: Without the complicity of the Republican Party, Donald Trump would be just a glorified geriatric Fox-watching golfer.
“I’ve interviewed scores of these collaborators, trying to understand why they did what they did and how they could live with it.
"These were the McCarthys and the Grahams and all the other busy parasitic suck-ups who made the Trump era work for them, who humored and indulged him all the way down to the last, exhausted strains of American democracy.”
John McCain Wouldn’t Recognize the Republican Party
July 7, 2022 at 3:58 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 27 Comments
Cindy McCain said the Republican Party has lost its way and that her late husband, former Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), would be pushing back if he were still alive, The Hill reports.
Said McCain: “I don’t believe my husband would recognize it.”
Faith in American System Drops
July 7, 2022 at 3:56 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 18 Comments
A new Monmouth poll finds just 36% of the public describes the American system of government as basically sound.
THANKS IN LARGE MEASURE TO JUST ONE INDIVIDUAL. TRUMP.
We are now fighting an American
terrorist Taliban, and we must win against them.
Why hasn't Ornato DEMANDED to go before the committee and set the record straight.
Or before the press?
Why hasn't Bobby Engel?
Or the limo driver?
Because the truth will out. Too many agents have heard what really happened.
_____
Why hasn't Trump DEMANDED to go before the committee and deny that he ordered the metal dectors turned off so armed supporters could come onto the Ellipse where he could work them up and send them marching to the Capitol to "fight like hell"?
Same reason. Too many people heard him say it.
Democrats Reach Agreement on Tax Hike for Wealthy
July 7, 2022 at 2:47 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 58 Comments
“Senate Democrats have reached an agreement to raise taxes on some high earners whom they say are abusing a loophole to slash their tax bills,”
NBC News reports.
“The lawmakers, the sources said, plan to close the tax break for those earning more than $400,000 a year, requiring them to pay 3.8 percent in taxes on certain income from pass-through businesses, in what is effectively a slimmed-down package after the Build Back Better Act stalled last year.”
_______
Trump didn't keep his campaign promise to have the wealthy pay more in taxes "because they should," so Democrats are going to keep that promise for him.
Get ready to laugh.
The British Trump
July 7, 2022 at 5:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 0 Comments
Jonathan Last:
I never fully bought the idea that Boris Johnson was the UK’s version of Trump.
For one thing, he’s smart.
For another thing, he was semi-competent at the the basics of governing.
And for a third thing, Johnson never seemed like he was intent on blowing up NATO because he was a Russian cat’s paw.
Certainly, the similarities to Trump were too obvious to ignore.
Both old men with extravagantly engineered hair.
Both populist avengers who played to the working man while privately reviling the rubes.
Both interested in using raw executive power in ways rarely contemplated.
Both tabloid darlings.
Both guys so corrupt that their scandals had scandals.
And another similarity was Johnson’s unwillingness to yield power even as his government collapsed around him.
But for all of their similarities,
there are three very large differences between Boris and Donald that are worth talking about because they highlight how particularly dangerous Trump was/is to American democracy.
______
Better click on this at politicalwire.com
YOU NEED TO KNOW.
wHOOPS! Sorry, but you'll have to pay Bulwarks to read the rest.
It’s a question that gets asked virtually every time a Donald Trump aide steps forward to testify: Just how forthcoming — and even motivated — will they be? Most often, the answer is “not as much as Trump’s critics would like.” But then we come across the likes of Cassidy Hutchinson, whose explosive testimony has spurred a new era in the Jan. 6 committee’s work.
Hutchinson’s testimony has also spurred a new round of this guessing game when it comes to former White House counsel Pat Cipollone. Hutchinson said Cipollone had warned in advance that Trump’s Jan. 6 strategy could lead to criminal charges — a claim that, if confirmed, could be instrumental in proving Trump corruptly sought to overturn the election. Cipollone has now reached an agreement with the committee to testify behind closed doors and on camera on Friday.
I expect Cipollone to emerge as a similarly explosive and willing whistleblower, like John Dean during the Watergate hearings.
It won't change your mind Scott.
But millions will.
Kputz is hiding
Former President Donald Trump has backed off considering a presidential run announcement in July, a Republican strategist who spoke with two of Trump's advisors told Insider.
News that Trump was considering a run as early as July was first reported by The New York Times, though NBC News had reported a month earlier that Trump was weighing an announcement on July 4. The holiday came and went without Trump declaring his third candidacy for the White House.
Trump has been teasing a run for months and continues to hold enormous sway over the GOP. He initially wanted to announce his candidacy as early as last year, after the Biden administration's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, a top GOP strategist told Insider.
Trump's advisers are urging him to delay an announcement until 2023, but a chief perspective for Trump would be that of of his wife, Melania Trump, according to the GOP strategist who spoke to Trump's advisors.
But
Trump is reportedly considering making his presidential announcement in Florida to show Gov. Ron DeSantis — a rising star in the Republican Party — "who the boss is," according to Rolling Stone.
Trump, who is now a Florida resident, left his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach in June for his perennial relocation to his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey. He continues to hold rallies across the US, to host eager GOP candidates at his properties, and to endorse candidates for the midterms.
That makes sense about him
Georgia 🇬🇪
A Georgia judge has ruled that Republican lawmakers, including Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and State Sen. William Ligon, must testify before a panel focused on Atlanta’s investigation of former President Trump.
But, the judge sets parameters regarding the questions that can be asked of them.
Why is this important: This sets a precedent for all other lawmakers trying to fight the special grand jury subpoenas from the Fulton County DA focused on the wide-ranging investigation into former President Trump and the efforts of his allies to quash the 2020 elections.
The British Trump
I never fully bought the idea that Boris Johnson was the U.K.’s version of Donald Trump. For one thing, he’s smart. For another thing, he was semi-competent at the the basics of governing.1 And for a third thing, Johnson never seemed like he was intent on blowing up NATO because he was a Russian cat’s paw.
Trump is reportedly considering making his presidential announcement in Florida to show Gov. Ron DeSantis — a rising star in the Republican Party — "who the boss is," according to Rolling Stone.
At the end of the day...
I would look for a Trump/DeSantis 2024 ticket
With Trump a for sure one termer (since he already served a term) - it would put DeSantis in position to be the 2028 frontrunner and he could probably run as an ex-facto incumbent.
You really think the GOP is stupid enough to run Trump again for prez?
You really think the GOP is THAT lacking of a soul?
You really think the GOP is stupid enough to run Trump again for prez?
He beats all the Democrats in pretty much every poll...
Not sure why it would be "stupid" to run him again.
When you compare the economy, inflation, world affairs, security, crime, immigration, etc...
There is literally not one single thing that is better now under Biden than it was under Trump.
And if you truly believe that people will choose to live in these economic conditions and watch the world blow up... just to avoid the "mean tweets" and such...
Well...
I guess I should ask you?
Are Americans that dumb to vote against their own self interest?
There are not enough of you with the sort of raw hatred that you and Roger have against Trump to make that sort of difference...
All that being said,
Much, much, much better chance of Trump running in 2024 than Biden.
Btw Reverend...
For someone who believes that running against Trump is sure win for the Democrats... you sure want so very very very badly to see something happen that would disqualify him prior to 2024 from running?
What are you truly afraid of?
The police officer who killed just a drug addicted black man
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced Derek Chauvin to 21 years in prison for violating George Floyd’s civil rights.
The former Minneapolis police officer is already serving a 22-and-a-half year sentence on state charges of murder and manslaughter over Floyds killing in May 2020.
The federal sentence announced on Thursday will run concurrently and will see Chauvin, 46, moved to a federal prison.
US district judge Paul Magnuson’s sentence came after Chauvin had agreed to a plea deal that called for a sentence ranging from 20 to 25 years.
Federal prosecutors had sought the top end of that range, arguing that Chauvin, who is white, killed Floyd in cold blood when he pinned the Black man to the pavement outside a Minneapolis corner store on 25 May 2020, for more than nine minutes as Floyd pleaded that he could not breathe.
Biden mishandled the SPR,so i agree with
Tucker Carlson however didn’t hold back, and he said that he thought that Biden should be impeached for what he had done–noting how unprecedented Biden’s action has been in the history of releases from the SPR and how much it is endangering our interests.
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2022/07/07/bidens-latest-action-on-oil-has-gop-demanding-answers-and-tucker-calling-for-impeachment-n590437
Lmao
Since the COVID-19 vaccines have been a disappointment from a public health standpoint in stopping the continuing spread of new variants of the disease, why is Big Pharma as well as its government allies in the FDA, CDC, and NIH still pushing them?
As Deep Throat whispered to Bob Woodward during the Watergate scandal (“Follow the money”), so, too, the American public should be demanding the same of its political leaders: Follow the COVID money to determine why we continue to spend a fortune on something that seems to have only a relatively limited benefit.
But our elected officials are embarrassingly quiet on answering the basic question of who exactly is benefiting from the constant rounds of shots being foisted on or recommended to the American public?
Maybe the silence comes from the fact that the pharmaceutical industry spends more on lobbying than any other industry group. In 2020 big pharma spent over $300 million lobbying officeholders and government officials. It clearly pays off. The research to develop the COVID-19 vaccines was nearly all funded by taxpayers. The distribution of the vaccines, once developed, was further funded nearly entirely by taxpayers. The record-keeping and reporting on the vaccines is also at the expense of taxpayers, and the new repurposed Pfizer drug Paxlovid, used to treat COVID, has been paid for by taxpayers.
Blogger C.H. Truth said...
Btw Reverend...
For someone who believes that running against Trump is sure win for the Democrats... you sure want so very very very badly to see something happen that would disqualify him prior to 2024 from running?
What are you truly afraid of?
Borrowing from F Gump, He’s not smart man”.
Scott the first indictment will come from Georgia 🇬🇪
These developments are having a noticeably negative impact on Trump's psyche.!!!!
On Thursday morning, Trump defended his exhortative conversations with Raffensperger and repeated his Big Lie that the election was a hoax.
"BOTH of my phone calls to Georgia were PERFECT. I had an absolute right to make them &, in fact, the story on the one call was given a retraction, or apology, by the Washington Post because they were given terribly false information about it, & when they heard the actual call, they realized that their story was wrong. Thank you to the W.P. I, as does anyone else (just look at the Democrats!), have the absolute right to challenge the results of an Election," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This one, CORRUPT, RIGGED, & STOLEN!"
You actually believe
Truth Social. "This one, CORRUPT, RIGGED, & STOLEN!"
Roger...
Got a counter on the sidebar for your prediction.
If you are wrong...
I think I will need to delete all your comments till he is in jail!
Sound fair?
Since you are that confident!
Something is wrong,
U.S. Secret Service Director James Murray will retire after serving in the high-ranking post for three years, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden said in a statement on Thursday.
“Jim embodies the meaning of service over self, and protected the families of U.S. Presidents like they were part of his own,” the statement said. “We are incredibly grateful for his service to our country and our family.”
Murray will begin a new position as chief security officer at Snap Inc., the company that owns Snapchat, at the beginning of August, a company spokesperson said. The Washington Post earlier reported the move. Murray will report directly to Snap CEO and co-founder Evan Spiegel.
The retirement comes shortly after former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony to the House Jan. 6 committee investigating the attack on the Capitol, in which she highlighted the numerous dealings that Anthony Ornato, a senior Secret Service official whom President Donald Trump named deputy chief of staff in December 2019, had with Trump and other White House aides as the insurrection played out.
After Hutchinson’s explosive testimony, during which she said Ornato had told her that Trump lunged toward the steering wheel of his detail’s SUV on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to be driven to the Capitol, Ornato expressed willingness to contradict the testimony.
Hutchinson’s testimony caused the Jan. 6 committee to raise sharp doubts about the credibility of Ornato, who served for a year as a political appointee in the White House. In a January interview with the committee, according to a person who described the exchanges, Ornato recounted various recollections of Jan. 6. that led panel members to question his version of events.
Murray’s decision to allow Ornato to serve as a political adviser to the president “crossed a major line” for the Secret Service since agents are “sworn to be above politics,” Carol Leonnig, a Washington Post reporter and author of “Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service,” wrote on Twitter. The book also describes Murray and Ornato as good friends.
Ornato’s political appointment was “approved by current director James Murray at Trump’s urging, a decision that infuriated current and former agents,” Leonnig wrote in her tweet.
When asked at the daily White House press briefing whether Murray’s departure was related to the revelations from the Jan. 6 committee’s hearings, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre denied any connection.
“This has been in talks for several months,” she said, noting that conversations around the director’s retirement had been ongoing since April.
Your argument is getting weaker.
For someone who believes that running against Trump is sure win for the Democrats... you sure want so very very very badly to see something happen that would disqualify him prior to 2024 from running?
What are you truly afraid of?
___________
I know anti Trump people who don't want Trump prosecuted because they fear it could set off civil war in this country.
My own position is, If Trump is not guilty of attempted sedition, attempted rebellion, an attempted coup, an attempt to abrogate the Constituion he swore to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic --if Trump has not himself now become a domestic enemy of our democratic way of life, then no one ever could be, and we may as well not pretend allegiance to the Constitution.
I think Trump will be indicted because he MUST be indicted, tried because he MUST be tried, found guilty because he MUST be found guilty, and will be severely punished because there is no crime more threatening to our nation's well being than what he has done.
I think before the GOP might DARE to nominate him, things will have progressed to such a state that they will know better than to do that.
Regardless, if we have to have civil war in defense of democracy, so be it.
Biden is Commander in Chief, and all members of our armed forces have sworn allegiance to our Constitutional process.
Hillary 2024
Or maybe Liz Cheney.
Or possibly Michelle, although she's a cheap Chicago whore.
I wonder if he will be subpoened by the House January 6th committee.
In recent weeks, its agents have become central characters in the House committee investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, with sometimes explosive testimony bringing unwanted attention to the agency.
Ornato recounted various recollections of Jan. 6. that led panel members to question his version of events.
Murray’s decision to allow Ornato to serve as a political adviser to the president “crossed a major line” for the Secret Service agents .
This is the guy who you should be afraid of if he wins 🏆
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s lead over Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke narrowed to 6 points last month, according to a poll conducted by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. That’s a smaller gap than when Republican George W. Bush ousted Democrat Ann Richards in 1994 with a 7.6-point win.
Abbott’s unfavorability ratings are also the highest they’ve ever been at 44%, according to the poll, which was conducted after the deadliest school shooting in state history and almost entirely before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion.
Beto O’Rourke is another Bill Clinton because he is from a Republican state and is a moderate very talented speaker 🔊
The Irish-messican is who we should be afraid of?
Good one Alky, you’ll never that asylum on your own 2 feet
LOL
Zippered up in body bag
O'Rourke may not have Latin roots but he is fluent in Spanish
My own position is, If Trump is not guilty of attempted sedition, attempted rebellion, an attempted coup, an attempt to abrogate the Constituion he swore to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic --if Trump has not himself now become a domestic enemy of our democratic way of life, then no one ever could be, and we may as well not pretend allegiance to the Constitution.
If you say so...
Ahem...
Democrats need fresh, bold leadership for the 2024 presidential race. That can’t be Biden. He fits.
LOL
From Alky’s poll
General Outlook & The Economy
The economy is occupying an increasing share of voters’ attention in the most recent survey. In June polling, 43% of Texans cited an economic concern as the most important problem facing the country, up from 35% in April, while 34% cited an economic concern as the most important problem facing the state, a rare instance in which immigration and border security don’t easily top the list of state concerns (immigration received 11%, border security 14%).
In a trifecta of historically bad results in the UT time series, 73% say that the national economy is worse than last year, 58% say that the Texas economy is worse than last year, and 53% say that they are worse off economically compared to last year — after recent years also registered historically poor economic evaluations in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Inflation is clearly on voters’ minds, with 68% saying that the price of gas is having a major impact on their household finances and another 59% saying the same of food, with smaller though significant shares of Texans saying that the cost of these as well as utilities, housing, and healthcare are having either a major or minor impact on their finances.
PERCENTAGE
PRICE INCREASES HAVING A MAJOR IMPACT ON HOUSEHOLD FINANCES (JUNE 2022)
The Margin of Error for this Graphic is +/- 2.89%. Share saying price increases are having a 'Major impact.'
68%
59%
44%
31%
31%
15%
Gas
Food
Utilities
Housing
Healthcare
Education
0
20
40
60
80
Source: June 2022 University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll
These evaluations culminate in 76% of Texas voters saying that the country is on the wrong track, a sharp 10-point increase over April polling, and 59% saying that Texas is on the wrong track, up 8 points over April polling. Both results represent high marks in the time series going back to 2009.
You got a winner Beto
Idiot
Treason is a unique offense in our constitutional order—the only crime expressly defined by the Constitution, and applying only to Americans who have betrayed the allegiance they are presumed to owe the United States. While the Constitution’s Framers shared the centuries-old view that all citizens owed a duty of loyalty to their home nation, they included the Treason Clause not so much to underscore the seriousness of such a betrayal, but to guard against the historic use of treason prosecutions by repressive governments to silence otherwise legitimate political opposition.
Regarding the Jan 6 hearings, methinks there's a lot more yet to come.
And that's another reason why
I think Trump will be indicted because he MUST be indicted, tried because he MUST be tried, found guilty because he MUST be found guilty, and will be severely punished because there is no crime more threatening to our nation's well being than what he has done.
I think before the GOP might DARE to nominate him, things will have progressed to such a state that they will know better than to do that.
Regardless, if we have to have civil war in defense of democracy, so be it.
Biden is Commander in Chief, and all members of our armed forces have sworn allegiance to our Constitutional process.
Even if you take the dimmest possible view of all this, it makes DeSantis a sharp-elbowed partisan rather than a clear and present danger to American democracy, and none of it is remotely comparable to what Trump tried to do after the 2020 election.
The move to strip Disney of its special tax status after it criticized one of the education bills is more problematic, a clear instance of retaliation for unwelcome public advocacy. As a “woke” corporation enjoying a special favor from the government of Florida, though, Disney made for a uniquely enticing target for lawmakers hoping to send a signal that companies should stick to their knitting.
DeSantis may be Trumpy in notable respects, but, importantly, he doesn’t exhibit any of Trump’s character flaws.
He is tough on reporters, but he hasn’t engaged in any taunting or gratuitous insults.
He is a sharp political player, which isn’t unusual of powerful governors, but isn’t fundamentally driven by personal vendettas.
He hasn’t governed via tweet, with seat-of-the-pants edicts quickly reversed or forgotten when he’s talked out of them.
He is a voracious consumer of information and isn’t prone to ill-informed riffs.
He hasn’t shown a chronic inability to distinguish between his personal interest and the public interest.
He pays close attention to his voters, but is willing to pursue policies that aren’t driven by his base, such as higher teacher pay and robust environmental protection.
And, of course, he has never once lost an election to Joe Biden, and cast about for any reason to deny the result out of ego and pique.
In all the ways that should matter, in short, DeSantis is better than Trump, and compared to the former president, he is reassuringly normal. In a better world, this would win him some grudging praise from unexpected quarters. Instead, because he’s a conservative Republican with some chance to be his party’s presidential nominee, he is ipso facto considered a threat to the republic.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/07/07/desantis-trump-democracy-00044494
IOW he is a smart Trump and a great threat 👏
Regarding the Jan 6 hearings, methinks there's a lot more yet to come.
Since they went from almost 2-1 support to 2-1 saying they should move on... and went from a majority believing it was a fair commission to a large majority now believing it is partisan...
and the entire thing is now no longer even marginally important to 99% of Americans...
What more do you want them to do?
Perhaps they have done enough already!
I saw this earlier I wondered if it was illegal
July 07, 2022
Former FBI Director James Comey and his top deputy Andy McCabe faced rare, intensive IRS audits after investigating former President Donald Trump, according to The New York Times.
Comey, whom Trump fired in 2017 while he oversaw the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, and McCabe, who was similarly terminated after investigating Trump over the Coney firing, were selected for a "random" audit known as an "autopsy without the benefit of death," according to the report. Out of about 153 million individual tax returns filed in 2017, only about 5,000 people are selected for this type of invasive audit each year.
Comey and McCabe, along with their spouses, defied the odds, being selected for the audit after being fired. The two men were selected for an IRS research program that uses "compliance research examinations" to try to catch tax cheats. Unlike typical audits, these audits force individuals to produce bank records, copies of checks, receipts and letters effectively recreating their finances for the year in question. The process takes months and often costs thousands in accountant fees.
"Your federal income tax return for the year shown above was selected at random for a compliance research examination," the IRS said in letters to both men. "We must examine randomly selected tax returns to better understand tax compliance and improve fairness of the tax system. We'll give you the opportunity to explain any errors we may find during the examination."
The "minuscule chances" of the top two FBI officials being selected at random raised questions about whether Trump appointees in the government or at the IRS purposely targeted them, noted Times reported Michael Schmidt.
"Lightning strikes, and that's unusual, and that's what it's like being picked for one of these audits," former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told the outlet. "The question is: Does lightning then strike again in the same area? Does it happen? Some people may see that in their lives, but most will not — so you don't need to be an anti-Trumper to look at this and think it's suspicious."
A Trump spokeswoman denied any knowledge of the audits.
IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, a Trump appointee who remains on the job, declined an interview with the Times but said in a statement that he was not involved in any audit.
"Commissioner Rettig is not involved in individual audits or taxpayer cases; those are handled by career civil servants," the statement said. "As I.R.S. commissioner, he has never been in contact with the White House — in either administration — on I.R.S. enforcement or individual taxpayer matters. He has been committed to running the I.R.S. in an impartial, unbiased manner from top to bottom."
The IRS did not specifically comment on the cases but says it forwards any allegations of wrongdoing it receives to the Treasury Department for "further review."
It is illegal under federal law for nearly anyone in the executive branch to request an IRS audit of a specific individual's taxes.
Comey's audit, which lasted over a year, actually found that he and his wife overpaid their federal income taxes and they received a $347 refund, according to the Times.
"I don't know whether anything improper happened, but after learning how unusual this audit was and how badly Trump wanted to hurt me during that time, it made sense to try to figure it out," Comey told the Times. "Maybe it's a coincidence or maybe somebody misused the I.R.S. to get at a political enemy. Given the role Trump wants to continue to play in our country, we should know the answer to that question."
McCabe said his audit found that he and his wife owed a small amount of money, which they paid.
"The revenue agent I dealt with was professional and responsive," McCabe told the outlet. "Nevertheless, I have significant questions about how or why I was selected for this."
Months before McCabe's audit, Trump publicly questioned McCabe's finances, repeating a false claim about donations that his wife received when she ran for a Virginia state Senate seat.
"Was Andy McCabe ever forced to pay back the $700,000 illegally given to him and his wife, for his wife's political campaign, by Crooked Hillary Clinton while Hillary was under FBI investigation, and McCabe was the head of the FBI??? Just askin'?" Trump tweeted in September 2020.
McCabe was fired by Trump Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2018, which cost him his pension shortly before he was set to retire. The Justice Department in October 2021, under new Attorney General Merrick Garland, reinstated his pension and cleansed his personnel record. He was informed his audit was completed last month.
McCabe claimed he was directly targeted for the audit.
"There was no penalties, there was no fines or anything like that, it was really pretty minimal thing in the end. But it's nerve-wracking, you know, it's really, it's really, kind of, you know – it's scary, really, to be … targeted like that," he told CNN. "I don't know what happened here. And like I said, I think they handled the business okay, you know, the person I dealt with was fine, but the question remains, how was I selected for this?"
McCabe called for an investigation into the audits.
"It just defies logic to think that there wasn't some other factor involved," he said.
"No coincidence, for sure. Odds are 30,000 to 1," tweeted Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe, warning that "this kind of political targeting is a serious federal crime.
IRS policy as well as a 1998 law require agency employees to report political interference to TIGTA. That law also makes it illegal for the White House to ask the agency to stop, start or modify an audit.
Both White House interference and failing to report that interference is punishable by up to five years in prison.
He started out as a Trump ally when his four-year term began in 2018, shielding the former president’s tax returns from public view in the face of a House Democratic lawsuit. But Rettig has proved a willing partner for the Biden administration, as well, supporting its efforts to close the gap between what taxpayers owe and what they pay, and implementing expansive new stimulus measures.
The IRS commissioner’s term is to expire in November, and Biden administration officials had already begun interviewing potential candidates for his replacement before this week’s news, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Rettig has expressed openness to a second term, said one other person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for the same reason.
Asked Thursday if the president is confident in Rettig’s leadership, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre repeatedly refused to answer, telling reporters at her briefing: “He is going to be up in November, so I will leave it there.” Jean-Pierre said the White House otherwise does not comment “on enforcement actions taken by the IRS.”
Trump was a mobster.
For 2017 tax year returns, the return for which Comey was audited, only 5,000 Americans were chosen. For 2018 tax year returns, the year for which McCabe was audited, 8,000 were chosen. More than 150 million Americans filed taxes in each of those years.
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