Tag: trump rallies
Trump Flack Sues To Stop Select Committee From Obtaining Bank Records

Trump Flack Sues To Stop Select Committee From Obtaining Bank Records

The spokesperson for former President Donald Trump, Taylor Budowich—who investigators say helped fundraising efforts for the rally at the Ellipse in Washington on January 6—has launched a bid to stop investigators from reviewing his financial records.

His lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Washington, D.C., and revealed that Budowich has so far turned over more than 1,700 pages of records to the January 6 select committee.

The 21-page complaint named all committee members, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Budowich’s bank, J.P. Morgan Chase. The Trump spokesman claims he has already fielded questions from investigators related to the “planning of a peaceful, lawful rally” this December for more than four hours. However, the scrutiny of his finances, he says, is a step too far.

In November, the January 6 select committee issued its first subpoena to Budowich, noting their inquiry was related to his alleged funneling of $200,000 from an undisclosed “source or sources” to promote the rally near the Capitol. Budowich, investigators say, “facilitated the transfer” of those funds with Women for America First VIP adviser Caroline Wren. Wren was subpoenaed by the committee this September. She has been cooperating with the committee and reportedly sat for a deposition in mid-December for several hours.

Investigators have requested information from Wren about her alleged communication with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows—now awaiting possible indictment by the DOJ for contempt of Congress—and the committee has sought information about reports that Wren “parked funds” flagged for January 6 with a variety of nonprofits.

Though he has balked over the demand to J.P Morgan, it is still unclear if the bank has actually supplied the committee with the records. A bank spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment but in the lawsuit, Budowich’s attorney says the financial institution, on December 21 gave Budowich until Christmas Eve to stop the review. Budowich also claimed both the bank and the select committee refused to extend his deadline.

As of Monday morning, Budowich’s legal docket in D.C. has been quiet and it is unclear if his attempt to block the committee with a temporary restraining order will be a success.

In a statement after hitting the committee with his lawsuit, the Trump spokesman said: “Democracy is under attack. However, not by the people who illegally entered the Capitol on Janiuary 6, 2021, but instead by a committee whose members walk freely in its halls every day.”

That rhetoric, and a sizeable portion of Budowich’s legal complaint, echo other sentiments that have sprouted from almost a dozen figures the committee has sized up as it digs into the insurrection on Jan. 6.

For instance, Budowich claims the committee lacks legislative merit and is part of an “unconstitutional attempt to usurp the Executive Branch’s authority to enforce the law.” But that theory has been shot down by a federal appeals court in Washington. And as for Trump, even he is in the middle of testing those waters now. Just before the holidays and as a filing deadline loomed, the former president appealed an earlier ruling from the courts that permitted scrutiny of his presidential records as it relates to the attack. The next move there is up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Budowich argues too that the request to J.P. Morgan by the committee violated his First Amendment right because it was too hasty.

The Trump spokesman, who is also the sole owner of the for-profit Conservative Strategies, Inc. organization, claims he gave the committee “sufficient” information on his bank statements from about mid-December 2020 to Jan. 31, 2021.

A committee spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.

The probe has been actively pursuing mountains of information for months. Investigators have interviewed nearly 300 people so far and just this month, the body finally began to issue notices to prominent Trump allies and sitting U.S. lawmakers who amplified Trump’s lies about voter fraud in the 2020 election. A request for voluntary cooperation was issued to Rep. Scott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican. He lashed out, refusing to comply. And Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio was also asked to meet with investigators voluntarily to disclose information about his discussions with Trump on Jan. 6.

Jordan did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

In the past, Jordan has said he spoke to Trump after the riot was over. His story changed when he told Politico that he “definitely” spoke to Trump multiple times but did not recall the timeframe. One of those calls, he conceded, occurred when he was in a secure lockdown area with other lawmakers as the Capitol was under siege. In July, when pressed by reporters about whether he would cooperate with the committee, Jordan said “If they call me, I got nothing to hide.”

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

Donald Trump

Trump's 'Cancel Christmas' Remarks Went Viral -- And The Response Raged

A pre-election video of President Donald Trump on the campaign trail falsely claiming Christmas will be "canceled" if Joe Biden wins the White House went viral again. But this time many said Trump and his Republican cohorts are the ones who canceled Christmas after the President refused to sign the COVID relief bill and GOP lawmakers refused to support more money for Americans desperate for help.

"The Christmas season will be canceled," Trump told Nevada supporters back in October, as the video posted by Vox's Aaron Rupar shows.

"If he comes in, Carson City will become a ghost town," Trump lied, "and the Christmas season will be canceled."


Here's what many are saying in response:





Joe Biden

Biden Plans Safe Inaugural As Trump Keeps Hosting ‘Superspreaders’

President-elect Joe Biden is planning to implement public safety measures for his Jan. 20 inauguration, in light of the raging coronavirus pandemic — a stark contrast to Donald Trump, who has continued to host potential superspreader events even as cases spike across the country.

Biden's inaugural committee issued a statement on Tuesday outlining initial plans for the event, urging "Americans to stay home, refrain from travel, and limit gatherings during the inauguration."

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Trump Bashes Kemp At Georgia Rally For Refusing To Void Election Result

Trump Bashes Kemp At Georgia Rally For Refusing To Void Election Result

President Donald Trump on Saturday morning called Georgia's Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to pressure him to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the state, and hours later at a rally in support of GOP lawmakers Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue—who are campaigning ahead of January 5 runoffs that will decide which party controls the U.S. Senate—slammed Kemp for refusing to support his authoritarian scheme to retain power.

Two unnamed sources familiar with the conversation told the Washington Post that Trump urged Kemp "to call a special session of the state legislature for lawmakers to override the results and appoint electors who would back the president at the Electoral College.""Trump also asked the governor to demand an audit of signatures on mail ballots, something Kemp has previously noted he has no power to do," the Post reported. "Kemp declined the president's entreaty."

Also on Saturday, Mike Lindell, the right-wing CEO of My Pillow who helped bail out Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, "brazenly [laid] out Trump's last-ditch plan to steal the election," as relayed by Aaron Rupar.


In response to the news that Trump asked Kemp to persuade the state legislature to reverse the results of the 2020 election, journalist Seth Abramson asked for "lawyers who specialize in little-used federal criminal statutes like Sedition to explain to me why a federal official openly seeking to conspire with another federal official to overthrow a democratically elected government isn't a crime."



Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, told the Post that "if Trump invoked his federal authority in his conversation Saturday with Kemp, or made the call from the Oval Office, he could have violated criminal provisions of the Hatch Act, which prohibits government officials from political activity in their official roles."

During Saturday night's rally, the crowd applauded when Trump said, "Your governor should be ashamed of himself," in an attempt to malign Kemp for not going along with his coup attempt.


The Postreported that "as the large crowd chanted 'Stop the Steal'—what's become a rallying cry for Republicans unwilling to accept Democrat Joe Biden's victory in last month's presidential election—Trump responded that 'Your governor could stop it very easily if he knew what the hell he was doing.'"

Post reporter Amber Phillips argued that some of Trump's rhetoric about being the victim of a rigged election could paradoxically dampen GOP participation in Georgia's upcoming runoff races, the outcomes of which will have significant implications for the future of U.S. politics.

"Trump's voter-fraud claims," she said, "are threatening to depress turnout among some Republican voters" who may feel less inclined to go to the polls if they believe the results are predetermined.

The Post's Dave Weigel shared on social media an image from the lie-filled rally, during which the GOP screened "a compilation of OAN and Newsmax videos making election fraud claims."


Trump still implored the audience to vote next month, however, saying it is possible to be upset about and challenge the results of the presidential election while supporting Loeffler and Perdue at the same time. "At stake in this election is control of the U.S. Senate, and that really means control of this country," Trump said.

Weigel, who is on-the-ground in Georgia this weekend, noted on Twitter that he and "every reporter [he] talked to has found" that most Trump voters believe not only that the president won but that "he'll still win the challenges and get a second term."

Moreover, according to Weigel, "none of these voters plan to skip the Jan. 5 runoff."