Tag: eric trump
Eric Trump: Jack Smith 'Planted' Folders At Mar-a-Lago (When He Was Overseas)

Eric Trump: Jack Smith 'Planted' Folders At Mar-a-Lago (When He Was Overseas)

Eric Trump is using a series of right-wing media appearances to baselessly accuse former special counsel Jack Smith of “planting” evidence that the FBI uncovered during its search of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and residence.

MAGA figures have baselessly accused the FBI of planting evidence since the agency executed its warrant in August 2022. But Eric Trump’s version of the conspiracy theory introduces a glaring new flaw: Smith was prosecuting war crimes overseas at the time of that search and didn’t take over the federal probe of the then-former president’s handling of classified documents until more than three months later.

Trump, who is overseeing his father’s business holdings alongside his brother, Don Jr., theoretically holds no position in the administration. But he has been on a tour of right-wing media in recent days making the case that the politically motivated indictments of Trump enemies are justified and promoting his new memoir, which positions the Mar-a-Lago search as proof that “America itself was under siege.”

The FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022, after developing evidence countering a Trump lawyer’s statement that all classified documents that had been stored on the premises were turned over in response to a subpoena. The agents reportedly “left with 26 boxes, including 11 sets of material marked as classified, comprising scores of additional documents. One set had the highest level of classification, top secret/sensitive compartmented information.” Trump ultimately faced 32 counts of willful retention of national defense information, among other federal charges, but the case was dismissed by a Trump-appointed judge.

Trumpists have proposed two different versions of a baseless theory that the FBI had “planted” evidence. First, Trump and his right-wing media allies suggested immediately after the search that the FBI might have brought classified documents to Mar-a-Lago to frame Trump for possessing them improperly (a judge ultimately protected him from having to try to prove the charge in court). Then, after the Justice Department included a photo of documents with classification markings seized in that search in an August 30, 2022, filing, Trump’s supporters suggested that it was somehow improper for agents to take the documents out of the boxes in which they were stored and lay them on the floor so that the folders with classified markings could be seen in the photos. (Classified documents were reportedly found at Mar-A-Lago in locations including “a shower, an office, a bedroom and a ballroom.”)

Eric Trump, in three separate interviews with right-wing media figures, seemed to toggle between which interpretation he was trying to get across — but in either case, he specifically blamed Smith.

“These are the biggest criminals in the world, back to Jack Smith — he was planting classified folders on my father’s office at Mar-a-Lago,” he told Steve Bannon on October 7.

“And then in the aftermath, we find out that Jack Smith was planting classified folders, you know, on the carpet,” he said to Megyn Kelly on October 10. “You remember those perfectly orchestrated photo shoots where everything's fanned out? Like my father just leaves classified folders just perfectly fanned out on a beautiful carpet in the middle of his office.”

“Jack Smith, he dug so deep that we found out that he was actually planting classified folders in Mar-a-Lago,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on October 14.

Whichever argument Eric Trump is trying to make, his specific claim that Smith “was planting classified folders” during the August 8, 2022, search, is obviously and absurdly false. Smith did not become special counsel and take over the classified documents case until November 22, 2022. At the time of the Mar-a-Lago search, he was working in the Netherlands as chief prosecutor for a special court investigating war crimes stemming from the 1990s war in Kosovo.

But as we’ve seen over the past few weeks, Republicans are unconcerned with how thin the allegations are as long as they can be used to target their political foes — and Smith is clearly one such target.

In Trump's Hands, Absolute Power Brings Inevitable Catastrophe

In Trump's Hands, Absolute Power Brings Inevitable Catastrophe

Everyone should have known what was about to happen when Donald Trump announced huge global tariffs under the slogan "Make America Wealthy Again." Like "Make America Healthy Again," which accompanied the return of deadly measles, the cheery tagline for Trump's trade war foretold ruin — which has arrived at warp speed.

Within hours, the global markets wiped out trillions of dollars in wealth from the balance sheets of retirement accounts and pension plans as well as banks and corporations. What looms ahead is not the "boom" that Trump has predicted but rather a shrinking economy with both stagnating employment and rising prices. Which is precisely the opposite of what he promised voters last year.

Over the weekend, as markets continued to plunge both here and abroad, the president told reporters that tariffs are "a very beautiful thing" while observing that "sometimes you have to take medicine." Or inject a fatal dose of bleach into your veins.

To anyone who has observed Trump closely over the course of his career, this catastrophe was predictable as soon as he gained the unchecked sway he now wields in Washington. He is not a "stable genius" with superior genetic endowment, but a spoiled scion of middling intelligence at best. He is not a brilliant negotiator who can conclude the Ukraine war in a single day or bring the Chinese government to heel, but a failed businessman who wrecked his father's real estate company with bad deals and excessive debt.

Having escaped any accountability for the national destruction incurred during his first presidential term — from the mismanaged pandemic that cost a million lives to the violent coup attempt of January 6, 2021 — he has returned to the White House with even greater arrogance, courtesy of the Supreme Court. Secure in power, he is delivering an extremely painful lesson in the consequences of ignorance and incompetence run amok.

Those dismal qualities were instantly on display in every aspect of the tariff rollout, as neither the president nor his phalanx of flunkies could offer any plausible rationale of his actions beyond sloganeering.

Why is the United States seeking to punish its traditional allies in Europe? Why are we penalizing our best trading partners in Canada and Mexico? Why are we imposing trade barriers on tiny countries like Lesotho and remote islands uninhabited by human beings? (We may yet see how brilliantly Trump negotiates with penguins.) And how did Trump formulate the cardboard list of nations and tariffs he brandished as a prop at his "Liberation Day" announcement?

The White House could offer no coherent response to these puzzling questions, which drew contradictory answers from everyone around Trump, as well as the president himself, or no answers at all. That list resembles something composed on ChatGPT, like a cheating high schooler's homework.

The true purpose of tariffs, according to one of the president's blustering sons, is to assert a muscular dealmaking stance against every nation that supposedly bullied us in the past.

"I wouldn't want to be the last country that tries to negotiate a trade deal with @realDonaldTrump," wrote Eric Trump on X. "The first to negotiate will win — the last will absolutely lose. I have seen this movie my entire life..."

What Eric actually has seen over his entire life is Daddy negotiating ignominious bankruptcy deals with bankers, but never mind. At roughly the same moment that he and others uttered those tough reassurances, the White House press secretary declared that "this is not a negotiation" because the tariffs "are part of a national emergency response" to nations that have harmed American workers for decades. Trump himself shows no sign of preparing to negotiate anything.

The "national emergency" lie is what undergirds Trump's legal authority, for he would otherwise need Congress to approve the tariff program. But before rubberstamping this madness, congressional leaders might insist that he explain its ultimate purpose, which only raises another set of baffling contradictions.

You see, sometimes Trump suggests that his aim is to collect trillions of dollars in revenue from imports, supposedly enough money to replace the income tax. Simple math proves that to be impossible — and unlike the income tax, whose impact is progressive, tariffs impose a far greater burden on middle-class and poor families.

At other times, he claims his objective is to rapidly expand domestic production by replacing goods from abroad. That too is futile, because many important crops can't be grown in sufficient quantity in the United States because our industries rely on global supply chains, and because factories take years to build. If we somehow could substitute U.S. products for all our imports, the tariffs wouldn't raise any revenue at all.

Meanwhile, Trump is torching another of his favorite slogans. As investor Steve Rattner explained on MSNBC's Morning Joe, the current projections show our markets plunging faster and our gross domestic product shrinking more than in other developed countries.

So much for "America First."

Joe Conason is founder and editor-in-chief of The National Memo. He is also editor-at-large of Type Investigations, a nonprofit investigative reporting organization formerly known as The Investigative Fund. He is the author of several books, including The Raw Deal: How The Bush Republicans Plan To Destroy Social Security and the Legacy of the New Deal. His latest book is The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism.

Reprinted with permission from Creators Syndicate.

Trump To Address Extremist 'Prophets' Who Say He's 'Anointed To Be King'

Trump To Address Extremist 'Prophets' Who Say He's 'Anointed To Be King'

Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to address a group of extreme right-wing media “prophets” and pastors who have claimed that “demonic forces” are behind the popularity of the Harris campaign, declared that Trump is “anointed to be king,” and said that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz “go to churches that are synagogues of Satan” because they are Baptist and Lutheran.

The 11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting, scheduled for October 21 in North Carolina, is apparently being organized by Clay Clark, co-founder of the ReAwaken Tour, which holds events across the country that have featured QAnon influencers, pro-Trump prophets,” Christian nationalists, and figures who have praised Hitler. Clark has promoted numerous conspiracy theories, including that Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, may have been replaced by a clone created by the Chinese government and that the U.S. government created or worsened Hurricane Helene through “weather manipulation.”

Clark revealed in a recent interview that Eric Trump had asked him to organize the event because “we need to get together the nonwackadoodles.” “That was the phrase Eric used, ‘nonwackadoodles,’” said Clark, “the serious faith leaders, the people that are actually committed to saving this country. And he said, ‘Clay, we need to get them together, my father needs to be able to address this community.’” He added that the event is “an invitation-only thing” and “we're vetting everybody very carefully.”

Clark claimed in an interview with Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec (who also stated during the interview that he will attend the event) that “of the faith leaders and the pastors that are committed to coming to this event — which is an invite-only, you can’t buy a ticket — so far, we have over 300 million YouTube subscribers represented in the audience, so that means we have some of the biggest, needle-moving pastors and faith leaders that are coming from all across America to hear directly from Donald J. Trump.”

Although a list of attendees does not seem to be publicly available, Clark has suggested multiple pro-Trump “prophets” and outlets will be in attendance and even speaking alongside Trump. Promoting the event, Clark said that “some of America's leading pastors will be in attendance — people like Jonathan Cahn, Mark Driscoll, Robin Bullock. I mean, it's going to be incredible. Steve Shultz, ElijahStreams.” Clark also noted in a separate interview that “prophet” Amanda Grace would be in attendance.

The figures Clark mentions as planning to attend notably stem from an influential “prophetic” charismatic Christian movement that has been mobilizing supporters ahead of the election and reportedly believes reelecting Trump is part of a spiritual war against demons.

Here are some of the extreme media figures and supposed “nonwackadoodles” that Trump will be addressing, according to Clark:

  • Jonathan Cahn is a “doomsday prophet” and author who has claimed that the Bible predicted Trump’s 2016 election and suggested that progressive cultural change is a result of ancient gods influencing cultural shifts. Cahn has claimed that an ancient goddess is “seeking to possess an entire generation” into supporting LGBTQ rights and compared abortion to “child sacrifice.” He also recently spoke at the “Million Women” worship rally in Washington D.C., where he used a sledgehammer to hit a “pagan altar to ‘Ishtar,’ an ancient Messopotiamian goddess whom he claims is behind ‘the sexual immorality that that enslaves this culture,’” per Rolling Stone. In an interview with Posobiec, Clark confirmed that Cahn is “going to be one of the speakers.”
  • Robin Bullock is a pastor and self-proclaimed “prophet” who has said that “Trump was anointed to be king twice,” claiming that Trump has “been president this whole time” and “heaven recognizes him as president.” Bullock also bizarrely claimed to have traveled into the future and prevented an assassination attempt against Trump. He has also claimed that he “watched [God] create the world one time,” predicted that the “glory” of God “will invade the halls of Congress” and “demon-possessed congressmen are going to manifest,” and said that there are “witches and warlocks employed” at the U.N. “advising government officials.”
  • Amanda Grace is a self-proclaimed “prophet” who shares her prophetic visions, which she claims come from God, on YouTube and other streaming platforms. Grace has said that the “Lord warned” her that an assassination against Trump would happen and likened Trump to David avoiding assassination in the Bible. She has also pushed bizarre rhetoric, warning of highly technologically advanced “mermaids and water people” spreading “wickedness” and calling for “hand-to-hand combat.”
  • Steve Shultz is the host of ElijahStreams, an online streaming outlet that hosts “prophets” and “prophetic guests” who have pushed extreme rhetoric on the program, including guests who attributed the Maui wildfires to “demonic attack” by a fire-breathing dragon upset over the legality of abortion and who invoked QAnon conspiracy theories. Shultz himself has pushed conspiracy theories, including linking the 2024 solar eclipse to CERN’s Large Hadron Collider restarting and a comet supposedly passing on the same day, claiming it was an “occultic opportunity” for them “to open up a gateway for Satan to come out.”
  • Mark Driscoll is a right-wing pastor who previously resigned from a pastorship after being accused of bullying and mismanagement of church funds. He recently suggested that “demonic forces” are “driving the surge” behind the popularity of the Harris/Walz campaign. He also attacked Harris for being Baptist and Walz for being Lutheran, declaring that “they go to churches that are synagogues of Satan.”

Eric Trump has promoted the 11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting to several prophetic media figures, including on ElijahStreams and in an interview with Amanda Grace, during which Trump said Clark had been “the backbone of so much of this event.”

Since Donald Trump left office, he and his family and allies have increasingly engaged with and embraced extreme prophetic media, including figures who have asserted that Trump has been “anointed” by God. Clark even bragged last year that “Trump’s inner circle is embracing the prophets.”

Members of Trump's “inner circle” also appeared at another event organized by Clark on October 18. The two-day event is also supposed to feature right-wing commentators who have pushed the conspiracy theory that Hurricane Helene was a controlled or manipulated weather event.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters

Eric Trump

Eric Trump Suggests Democrats Are Plotting To Assassinate His Father

Eric Trump, the son of former President Donald Trump, said that he would "take a bullet" for Secret Service agents after his father was shot at a rally earlier this month.

During a Sunday interview on Fox News, host Maria Bartiromo asked Trump if he had requested more security for his father.

"Maria, I'm going to try to bite my tongue as much as humanly possible on this one, but it's obviously a sore subject," Trump said. "You know, first of all, I love the men and women of the Secret Service."

"They were with me for almost five years, and I would take a bullet for them just as fast as they would take a bullet for me," he continued. Some of them are dear friends, personal friends, and they are incredible people."

Trump said the agents on the ground with his father "did their job, and they did it incredibly well."

"The director of the Secret Service should resign in absolute disgrace," he insisted. "The fact that the Biden administration could allow a former president and very likely a future president to take a bullet through the ear, and there's no accountability, and the person's still in their job, just shows how disgraceful and inept the administration is."

The president's son suggested Democrats were behind a plot to kill his father.

"I said that the Democrats would stop at absolutely nothing," he explained. "And I've said on this show before, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried something even worse, alluding to exactly what happened just over a week ago from today."

"And I'm not a tinfoil hat-wearing guy," he added. "In fact, I'm probably a little bit more centrist than a lot of people would otherwise understand."

"But I've seen the way that they've attacked him. I've seen the way that they've tried to get him, and they would stop at absolutely nothing."

Watch the video below from Fox News or at the link.

Eric Trrump says he would 'take a bullet' for the Secret Service

via Fox News

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

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