NBC News has confirmed multiple law enforcement agencies are preparing for a possible Trump indictment in the hush money investigation of a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels.
Numerous agencies are reportedly involved, including the New York Police Department, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Secret Service, and other court-related agencies.
Cohen appeared on Good Morning America after his grand jury testimony, telling host George Stephanopolous that prosecutors had all the information they needed: "I promise you and I promise the American people that all the information that is needed in order to create the indictment to get a prosecution and a conviction is in the hands of the district attorney."
Law enforcement are right to be concerned. After all, we have seen the lengths Donald Trump and his followers will go to trying to protect him and/or his reputation and power. He might be a con man, but he has motivated many to violence in the recent past.
In September he was asked about the classified documents case and he ominously warned, “I think if it happened, I think you’d have problems in this country the likes of which perhaps we’ve never seen before. I don’t think the people of the United States would stand for it.”
When asked what “problems” he meant, he said: “I think they’d have big problems. Big problems. I just don’t think they’d stand for it. They will not sit still and stand for this ultimate of hoaxes.”
At CPAC 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland, Trump surrogate Steve Bannon openly went after Fox News, presumably because they have “shadow banned” Donald Trump and they see a media opportunity to gain audience.
\u201cBannon goes after Fox: They don\u2019t respect you, read the depositions\u201d
Nikki Haley gave it her all, but chants of “We love Trump” echoed in the hallway and she greeted attendees.
\u201cChants of \u201cWe love Trump\u201d as @NikkiHaley leaves CPAC and takes photos\u201d
— Elizabeth Landers (@Elizabeth Landers)
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The full CPAC experience is taking place in the hallway near media row.
\u201cBoebert at CPAC says every one of the former twitter executives who testified before Congress committed perjury. Guy then yells out, \u201cHang em!\u201d\u201d
— Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Ron Filipkowski \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6)
1677875374
Haley drew tepid applause while leaning into transphobia, a key theme of this year’s CPAC. The party of freedom is very upset about people living freely.
\u201cI think it's really funny that Nikki Haley built her career marketing herself as a high level stateswoman and has now been dragged down to the same "they're banning gas stoves and like gender pronouns" bs of the people she was trying to differentiate herself from\u201d
Mike Pompeo is low key calling Trump a loser here and admitting Trump lost in 2020. Not sure how well that will go over with this den of deniers.
\u201cPotential GOP presidential candidate Mike Pompeo, who declared in November 2020 that there would be a \u201csecond Trump administration\u201d even after the election was called for Biden, seems to acknowledge Trump\u2019s loss at CPAC:\n\n\u201cWe lost three elections in a row.\u201d\u201d
Pompeo tries to put sunlight between himself and Trump, but can’t quite find the courage to say his name.
\u201cPotential GOP presidential candidate Mike Pompeo signals some new distance from Donald Trump:\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t become the left, following celebrity leaders with their own brand of identity politics; those with fragile egos who refuse to acknowledge reality."\u201d
\u201cEnergy for Haley and Pompeo speeches was pretty low; a reporter asked me \u201cwas that what it was like when Jeb was here?\u201d More than just not filling the room, many lines being tested out that didn\u2019t land.\u201d
Thank our lucky stars the left doesn’t have anything this cringey.
Nick Fuentes tried to steal the spotlight again this year. Matt Schlapp gets not credit here, his speaker line-up is full of folks who never miss an opportunity to deliver a screed against George Soros, which have always been based in anti-Semitism at their core.
Don Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle delivered their list of grievances to dozens of admirers.
\u201cThe turnout for Don Jr. \n\nHis speech so far has mostly been complaining about how his tech startups failure and bad jokes about disabled people bagging groceries.\u201d
On Thursday, the Department of Justice announced Ruben Verastigui has been sentenced to 151 months in prison on a federal charge of receipt of child pornography.
A Washington, D.C., resident, 29-year-old Ruben Verastigui has spent his entire career in conservative circles, including as an aide to the Trump re-election campaign and stints as a digital strategist for the Senate Republican Conference and the Republican National Committee.
Ruben took pictures for the RNC.pic.twitter.com/r1LTsHIK4X
The Department of Justice detailed the evidence against Ruben Verastigui, and this case is extremely disturbing.
[Warning: Graphic description of the DOJ’s case is listed below]
According to the government’s evidence, from April 2020 through Feb. 2021, Verastigui was active in an online group devoted to trading child pornography and discussing child sexual abuse. Verastigui shared child pornography videos with another member of the group and made numerous comments about sexually abusing children. Verastigui indicated his preference for babies, saying they were his “absolute favorite,” and solicited another group member for videos of babies being raped. The other group member promptly sent Verastigui a video of a baby being raped, to which Verastigui responded enthusiastically. The other group member then sent Verastigui numerous other videos of child pornography.
Verastigui is just one of numerous Republican staffers to face child pornography charges in recent years. Chase Tristan Epsy, a lawyer for Alabama Gov. Kay Ivy, was arrested in 2021 for soliciting a minor.
When Mike Huckabee\u2019s \u201cfriend Josh Duggar admitted to molesting 5 young girls, including 2 of his\u2026sisters, the former\u2026Governor wasn\u2019t quite so harsh. According to Huckabee, \u2018Josh\u2019s actions... (were) \u2018inexcusable,\u2019 but that doesn\u2019t mean \u2018unforgivable.\u2019\u201d 1/https://thedailyedge.substack.com/p/gop-gang-of-pedophiles\u00a0\u2026
— Jennifer Cohn \u270d\ud83c\udffb \ud83d\udce2 (@Jennifer Cohn \u270d\ud83c\udffb \ud83d\udce2)
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As usual, it seems the howls of Republicans are pure projection.
Whoever was writing the script for yesterday was working overtime: As KBJ was getting confirmed, a judge on her old court was sentencing a former RNC and Senate GOP aide for, yes, trading child porn.pic.twitter.com/zaDqILNdiu
It’s a day that ends in “y,” so that means Ted Cruz has found a new way to debase and humiliate himself. He’s like a deep sea diver looking for the bottom of the sea of humiliation and folks, I’m not sure he’s ever going to find that bottom. He just keeps sinking and sinking and sinking.
Let’s take a look back at some of the more humiliating events we’ve witnessed in the career of Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz and then take the highly scientific poll: Which of these is Cruz’s most cringeworthy moment?
“Here’s the thing you have to understand about Ted Cruz. I like Ted Cruz more than most of my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz.” — Al Franken, in Al Franken: Giant of the Senate.
Let’s get started with the most recent entrant: Cruz’s appearance on Tucker Carlson’s
White Power Hour last Thursday night. In case you missed it, Cruz asked to appear on the show to clear up his previous comments in which he called the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol a “terrorist attack,” something Carlson took great offense to and slammed Cruz for on his Wednesday night show. Please watch and tell me if you have ever heard a more slimy answer in your life. It’s incredible that Cruz sat there smiling and groveling after Carlson called him a liar on national television.
Ouch! Thank you, sir! May I have another? That was remarkably uncomfortable. Imagine having to grovel to Carlson and then being so very, very bad at it.
Let’s go further back in Cruz’s career and reflect on some other utterly cringeworthy moments. It is truly going to be hard to pick a “winner” from these options. In no particular order, here they are:
That time he went off on “the libz” from the state of Washington for banning dancing during COVID-19—except in this case, “WA” stood for Western Australia. Wrong country, pal! After quick viral mocking, Cruz deleted this tweet, but not before half the Internet took a screenshot.
.
Ope! “WA” is Western Australia, pal.
Next up, we have an incident that was about as big of a Texas-sized fuck up as I have ever seen. In February 2021, a cold front descended on the lower Midwest and into Texas, causing one of the biggest crises in the history of Texas. An estimated
210 Texans died, and the entire state was frozen solid and suffering. So what did Cruz do? He slunk off to the Ritz Carlton resort in Cancun, Mexico. Worse than that, after he was flat-out busted on social media, he had the audacity to blame his daughters. And if it couldn’t get any worse, it was revealed he left the family dog, Snowflake, home alone.
How in the hell did he survive that without resigning? It’s going to be hard to beat that, but we press on.
Let us now recall the time he was falling behind in the 2016 Republican primaries to a two-bit wannabe mobster and television personality and became so desperate that he announced Carly Fiorina as his running mate for a primary he would never come close to winning. Worse, his own pick seemed to hate his guts. Later she revealed that yes,
she really does.
“I have to say I’m very disappointed in Ted. I’ve been very disappointed in Ted for some time now,” she responded. “I tried to help Ted’s candidacy because I thought it would be tragic and terrible if Donald Trump were the Republican party’s nominee. Turns out I was right about Donald Trump. And sadly, it appears, I was wrong about Ted Cruz.”
Nonetheless, we were treated to perhaps the single most awkward hand-hold of all time. A very “
I’m in charge—no, I’m in charge!” vibe.
If you didn’t think that campaign appearance could get anymore cringeworthy, think again. He went on to accidentally hit his wife in the face, not once, but twice in the most awkward family hugs we’ve ever witnessed.
That naturally leads us into another sweet family moment.
Can’t you just feel the love?
Since we are in the 2016 timeline, let’s revisit more of his presidential desperation. I need you to brace yourselves for this one, okay? Know that up front, because I’m about to revisit the booger incident.
Sure it is possible that was something other than a booger, but goodness, I’m gagging at the mere memory of this cringeworthy moment. I’m sorry I had to do that to you, really.
Next up we have the time Cruz’s official Twitter account quite noticeably liked a porn video on Twitter.
While that is hilarious all by itself, let us now listen to Cruz explain that it was merely a mistake by a low-level staffer. Because, you know, unnamed, low-level staffers all have the keys to the social media accounts of powerful U.S. senators.
Ted, Ted, Ted, Ted, Ted. Yes, I bet he did identify this staffer. Mmhhmm. His name probably rhymes with Red Ooze.
How about that time Cruz sought and received an endorsement from a congressman who was so shamelessly racist that even his fellow Republicans stripped of him of his committee assignments and eventually ran him out of Congress?
Ted was “beyond honored” to receive that endorsement. Do you know how racist you have to be for Republicans to act? And I guess he thought he could make that vanish, but my colleague Gabe Ortíz didn’t forget.
How about the 2013 Senate debate about the Affordable Care Act, when Cruz filibustered with the cutesy act of reading Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham?
Gosh, isn’t he clever? Eight years later, he would sell autographed copies of the Dr. Seuss classic to “own the libz” again and rail against “cancel culture,” all because the Dr. Seuss Foundation announced they would no longer publish six books that contain racist imagery. And nothing sets Cruz off more than refusing to publish children’s books with harmful, racist imagery.
And last, but not least, there was this 2016 moment: a broken Cruz phone-banking for Donald Trump, even after Donald Trump publicly called Cruz’s wife ugly and hinted in a Republican primary debate that Cruz’s father, an immigrant from Cuba, had a hand in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Before we get to the poll, I’d like to mention that it was difficult to pare this list down because there are a remarkable number of Ted Cruz moments. I asked my colleagues to refresh my memory on some of these cringeworthy memories and we came up with a list of terrible, no good, purely awful Cruz moments. Barb Morrill reminds us of something we cannot overlook: Cruz has long faced accusations that he could be the Zodiac Killer. There were many other moments that didn’t make the poll, but do deserve an honorable mention. They include:
On Wednesday, two Washington Post reporters witnessed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Karens) chasing and "aggressively confronting" Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calling her a "terrorist sympathizer." It was another in a growing catalog of incidents of Greene harassing and bullying AOC.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has suggested the House Ethics Committee should open an investigation into Greene's actions as there is increasing evidence that Greene seems singularly obsessed with Ocasio-Cortez, repeatedly publicly challenging her to a debate over the Green New Deal, where she no doubt intends to bully rather than debate facts.
CNN reporters Em Steck and Andrew Kaczynski haveuncovered a since-deleted video showing the now congresswoman visiting the U.S. Capitol in 2019, before she was elected to Congress.
Just when you think you're done laughing at the totally humiliating ending of Rudy Giuliani's career as Donald Trump's personal attorney, it keeps getting more embarrassing for Giuliani and the Trump campaign.
Like most of Trump's unqualified appointees in government, apparently the Trump campaign didn't closely screen who they were putting in front of worldwide cameras in the parking of the Four Seasons Total Landscaping lot. Which I still can't even believe I'm typing, but that was a real thing that happened.
To recap, on Saturday Donald Trump announced via Twitter that his lawyers would be having a press conference at the upscale Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia. That tweet was quickly replaced with one saying the location was the Four Seasons Total Landscaping company in Philadelphia, located in an industrial area next to the Fantasy Island adult store and a crematorium.
As if that weren't bad enough, Politicoreports New Jersey political reporters instantly recognized one of Rudy Giuliani's key "witnesses" as Darryl Brooks, a New Jersey man who went to prison in 1988 after a sex offender conviction. He was convicted of exposing himself to two girls, ages 7 and 11 years old.
Brooks ran for Congress in 2004 as the Green Party candidate in New Jersey's 12th District, along with a slew of other campaign runs since as a libertarian and Poor People's Campaign candidate.
At the Four Seasons Total Humiliation event, Brooks claimed to have moved to Philadelphia two years ago, but Politico was not able to verify that. Brooks has run for office several times in New Jersey and elected officials there were surprised to see him.
"I started watching it and all of a sudden I was like, 'there's New Jersey's perennial candidate claiming to live in Philadelphia and Giuliani claiming him to be a poll watcher and Philadelphia resident," Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora said in a phone interview.
New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman's office also recognized Brooks. Chief of Staff James Gee added context, noting that Brooks had worked his way into being a poll watcher for the Clinton campaign in 2016.
"Yeah, I know Daryl. It's so fitting that he would be there," Gee said. Gee said he believed Brooks was hired for Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016. "People don't pay attention to who they hire. They're just trying to get bodies, particularly if it's a white organizer," said Gee, who's Black. "And this time apparently, I guess he was on the Republican side of the watchers."
The campaign has never fully explained why they chose this location, but the most obvious answer is someone from the campaign just straight-up screwed up and they all went with it to save face. Take a look at some of the Trump supporters who turned out at the landscaping company next to the adult store and across the street from the crematorium.
Outside the press conference here a man in his underpants (dressed as sleepy Joe) shouts “George Soros” at Biden su… https://t.co/nW6uRWiswA
Federal courts reporter Robert Snell of The Detroit News has been reporting on Tuesday's hearing to determine whether three accused Michigan terrorists—Kaleb Franks, Brandon Caserta, and Daniel Harris—should be released on bond pending trial. FBI Special Agent Richard Trask outlined new details about the terrorist conspiracy, including the fact the group discussed "taking out" another governor in addition to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer: Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.
Where would they get the idea to target both Whitmer and Northam? Where indeed.
Two of the 13 accused men, Harris and Morrison, are former United States Marines.
Given the number of conspirators, the vast amount of evidence the FBI compiled, the growing threat of far-right extremism, the encouragement of the current occupant of the White House, and the disturbingly close connections to law enforcement like Sheriff Dar Leaf of Barry County, Michigan, and elected officials, it is likely these charges are just the beginning of this conspiracy, not the end.
The FBI made a shocking announcement on Thursday, saying they'd disrupted a violent plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. From The Detroit News:
"Several members talked about murdering 'tyrants' or 'taking' a sitting governor," an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. "The group decided they needed to increase their numbers and encouraged each other to talk to their neighbors and spread their message."
The FBI affidavit named six men who were involved in the plot: Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbing, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, and Brandon Caserta. FBI agents raided Ty Garbing's home on Wednesday night.
The group wasn't just planning to kidnap Whitmer; they also discussed killing police officers, which prompted one of the militia members they contacted to do the right thing and reach out to law enforcement. Like a lot of extremists, Fox and the other men named in the affidavit were openly plotting and operating on Facebook.
The FBI affidavit is quite damning. Not only did this group plan to kidnap Gov. Whitmer, they also discussed straight up murdering her, blowing up a bridge to slow police response. They met secretly in a basement, accessible through a trap door hidden by a rug. The confidential informant was at the meeting and wore a wire as they discussed their domestic terrorism plots. They also purchased a taser to use in the kidnapping, surveilled the governor's home on several occasions and more.
In late June, Fox posted on Facebook a video in which he complained about the state's judicial system and COVID-19 restrictions on gyms operating in Michigan. "Fox referred to Governor Whitmer as 'this tyrant b----,' and stated, 'I don't know, boys, we gotta do something," according to the court affidavit. "You guys link with me on our other location system, give me some ideas of what we can do."
Whitmer has faced several challenges from right-wing extremists in the state during the pandemic after she implemented a statewide mask mandate. Michigan's Republican-packed Supreme Court recently tossed out a law mandating mask coverage, saying the governor did not have the authority to issue it without the approval of the Republican-led state legislature.
You may recall gun-toting extremists flouted the mask mandate when they turned up at the Michigan Capitol building to protest the lockdown at the height of the pandemic this spring.
Make no mistake about it, these extremists have been encouraged by Donald Trump.
Michigan has long had militia extremists. Oklahoma City terrorists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols reportedly attended Michigan militia meetings before carrying out the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995.
After Steve Bannon's arrest on Thursday, Donald Trump tried to put a Grand Canyon-sized gap between himself and the "We Build The Wall" border scheme. Bannon, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato, and Timothy Shea were indicted on counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The federal indictment says the crew pilfered "hundreds of thousands of dollars" and a Bannon-controlled nonprofit received more than $1 million in funds.
The federal government is seeking to take possession of the fraudulently purchased items, like the flashy boat Kolfage purchased and used in recent "Trumptilla" boat parades. Incredibly enough, Bannon and Kolfage recorded a video promoting their scam fund and folks, you are not going to believe this—Bannon actually jokes they are filming in Saint-Tropez in southern France before adding: "We are on the million dollar yacht of Brian Kolfage. Brian Kolfage, he took all that money from Build The Wall." Kolfage then lets out an awkward laugh. Watch them joke about the fraud below. You cannot make this up.
Folks, this really happened. https://t.co/EviEJCGvs7
After you collect yourself, watch the video below this because it just keeps getting better. First up, let's revisit Trump's statement trying to put daylight between himself and the We Build The Wall project. He repeatedly says he "didn't like it" and thought it was "showboating and maybe looking for funds." In a stumbling response, he repeatedly said he never approved of the project and Bannon aside, that he didn't know anyone involved. As you'll see below, most of the folks involved in the project said otherwise.
Let's listen to former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has been described as a "racist traveling con man" because of his history of helping cities enact racist laws and then billing them to represent them in court cases they inevitably lose.
Donald Trump responds to Steve Bannon's federal indictment related to border wall scamwww.youtube.com
Kobach is legal counsel for We Build The Wall, because of course he is, and he recorded an "interview" with Jennifer Lawrence, who is also listed on the We Build The Wall website as the communications director for the organization. Listen to Kobach describe his conversation with Donald Trump and brag that Trump said: "I want the media to know this project has my blessing."
It should be noted that just before Bannon's arrest on Thursday morning by federal postal inspectors on a yacht off the coast of Connecticut, federal investigators were also serving a warrant on Lawrence and another associate, Dustin Stockton. The pair told CNN that "heavily armed federal agents" served the warrant and confiscated their cell phones.
No doubt, Kobach must be sweating. Going after lower-level employees is a sure sign they're angling for bigger fish. And while Kobach bragged about Trump's full-throated approval, he wasn't alone. Lexi Churchill of ProPublicafound other examples claiming Trump's full endorsement. Amanda Shea, wife of the recently indicted Timothy Shea, shared a photo of the crew with Donald Trump in August 2019, with a caption saying: "A summer of winning came to a high note in the Hamptons. I had the absolute pleasure and honor of spending time with President Trump who had a lot of questions about the wall We The People built through We Build The Wall. He was impressed, but more importantly, incredibly personable and easy to talk to. I forgot that I was speaking with one of the most powerful men in the world."
And wherever a right-wing grift exists, you know Junior isn't far behind. Of course he promoted the wall and congratulated Kolfage on "[t]his is private enterprise at its finest. Doing it better, faster, cheaper than anything else. What you guys are doing is amazing."
On Thursday morning, the news cycle exploded with yet another member of Donald Trump's inner circle facing federal charges, bringing the total to six Trump confidantes who've faced charges since 2016. This time it is Steve Bannon, who joins Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Rick Gates, and Michael Flynn in the Trump Indictment Club. Bannon was the Trump campaign's chief executive officer in 2016. He later followed Trump to the White House as chief strategist, a position he left in August 2017 to return to Breitbart News and attach himself to a series of grifts, including the one he is now facing charges for, which involved soliciting donations for a privately built border wall and then, according to prosecutors, fraudulently creating sham invoices and shell companies to enrich himself and other collaborators. It's quite similar to what the NRA was doing, as well. Makes you wonder if any other campaigns might have similar setups? Curious, indeed.
But back to Trump responding to the Bannon news. During an appearance with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, Donald Trump took a few questions and tried to put a Grand Canyon-sized gap between himself and Steve Bannon, a man he apparently barely knows now. Let's break down his responses here, because he gave a couple of rather implausible responses.
First up, he details how very "sad" it is that Bannon is facing charges, and the he pivots to a curious statement that is rather telling. In the clip below, Trump says, "I think it is surprising. But, this is something that by reading social media, by reading whatever it is, by speaking to Mike and Mike and all of them, I didn't like that project." Now why would Trump mention "social media"? Because on July 12, 2020, Trump tweeted:
I disagreed with doing this very small (tiny) section of wall, in a tricky area, by a private group which raised mo… https://t.co/sBLrSPf3Sn
Let's be clear here: By the time he sent that tweet, Trump was no doubt well aware that Bannon's wall project was under investigation. Bannon himself reportedly learned of the investigation in
October 2019 and he and the other defendants took steps to further conceal the fraud. There can be little doubt that Trump knew and many are speculating that is precisely why Attorney General Bill Barr moved in June to fire Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney leading the investigation.
And let's take a moment to pause and reflect on Donald Trump saying he didn't like the privately funded border wall project because it was "showboating" and my goodness, if there is one thing Donald Trump hates, it's showboaters.
Thank you very much to our beautiful “boaters.” I will never let you down! https://t.co/Ot5Ffnjj9G
Speaking of boats, Bannon's partner in this scam was Brian Kolfage, who created the GoFundMe account to privately build a border wall. Kolfage was a proud member of the Trump boating community, using a boat that he bought with the
funds scammed from the border wall project.
Oh, dear! Next thing you know someone might start demanding they see his birth certificate or college transcripts.
Lastly, there was one question about how he feels about six of his former top advisers facing felony charges since he took office and you guessed it, he had nothing but Obama, Obama, Obama in response.
Reporter Geoff Bennett: Respectfully, sir, it isn't just Steven Bannon, it's Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen. What's it say about your judgment, that these are the kinds of people … Donald Trump: Well, I have no idea — Reporter Geoff Bennet: And a culture of — lawlessness. Donald Trump: Yeah, yeah. There was great lawlessness in the Obama administration. They spied on our campaign illegally. If you look at all the things and all the scandals they had, they had tremendous lawlessness. I was not involved in the project. I had no idea who was. I can tell you, I didn't know—the three people talked about were people I did not know. I don't believe I even met them.
On Wednesday night, Democrats held their ninth debate on the way to picking a nominee to take on Donald Trump this fall. Based on social media reactions, it was crystal clear Elizabeth Warren won the night—and it started in the first two minutes when she went straight at Mike Bloomberg with a punch he never saw coming: “I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians, and no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump.”
You can watch that clip again below, but with that remark, Warren was out of the gate and she never relented.
Time after time, Warren took Bloomberg to task for his harmful, racist policies as New York City’s mayor, his defense of racist bank lending practices, and his use of nondisclosure agreements to protect himself and others at his company who have discriminated, sexually harassed, or worse. Warren struck so many blows against Bloomberg that toward the end of the debate, someone edited Bloomberg’s Wikipedia page to note the date of his death and the cause of death: Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Even as people are still talking about the strength of Warren’s debate performance, particularly against Bloomberg, she’s not sitting back. In fact, she went on another offensive in Las Vegas, this time taking direct aim at billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson, who has been one of the biggest Republican Party donors in history. Adelson is reportedly donating $100 million to Donald Trump and Republicans this year alone. Along with the Robert and Rebekah Mercer and Charles Koch, Adelson and his billionaire counterparts essentially own the Republican Party at every level. They finance Republicans from your local city council all the way to the White House, and they do it because it benefits them financially. Republican policies, which are often written and directed by the aforementioned, directly benefit these billionaires.
Look no further than the tax cut Republicans voted on in the middle of the night. The 2017 tax bill gave billions in tax cuts to the uber-wealthy, forcing cuts to services meant for those who need assistance the most. Although Republicans always feign surprise that the tax cuts didn’t pay for themselves, make no mistake about it: For them, the resulting cuts in services are a benefit, not a glitch. As Republican activist Grover Norquist once said of the federal government, “I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”
So how did Warren go after Adelson this morning? By taking out a full-page ad in the The Las Vegas Review-Journal, the largest newspaper in Las Vegas, which Sheldon Adelson purchased in 2016. In the ad, Elizabeth Warren made the case for her wealth tax, noting Adelson would have to pay $2.3 billion in taxes in the first year alone. Warren’s ad further notes how this money would be reinvested to help everyday Americans by canceling student loan debt, investing in childcare to help working parents, and much more. Nevada reporter Jon Ralston, who was a panelist in Wednesday night’s debate, noted Warren’s “chutzpah” for taking aim at Adelson in his own hometown and in the pages of his own newspaper.
The day after the debate, Elizabeth Warren bought a full page ad in Sheldon Adelson’s newspaper saying Sheldon Adelson will pay $2.3 billion the first year of her wealth tax. I think that’s called chutzpah. pic.twitter.com/dV7O3G8MJu
Every single day, Rep. Duncan Hunter finds a new way to disgrace himself. You’d think a criminal indictment would humble the California Republican, but no. He took to Fox News to make a public defense of the charges that he used $250,000 in campaign funds on items like a family trip to Italy, flying his pet rabbit across the country, sporting events, and most grotesquely, buying shoes and clothing and then disguising those as donations to the Wounded Warriors Foundation.
So, what was his primary defense? That he himself disclosed this inappropriate spending (he didn’t), that these are Justice Department Democrats out to get him (they aren’t) and that his wife is to blame for all of it (she isn’t.) From CBS News:
They pleaded not guilty in federal court in San Diego Thursday afternoon. Hunter blames “pure politics” and the “Democrats’ arm of law enforcement” of the Justice Department for the charges against him. In the Fox interview, Hunter said his wife has long handled the finances, and worked as his campaign manager.
“When I went away to Iraq in 2003, the first time, I gave her power of attorney,” Hunter told Fox News. “She handled my finances throughout my entire military career and that continued on when I got into Congress. … She was also the campaign manager so whatever she did, that’ll be looked at too, I’m sure, but I didn’t do it.”
No wonder they reportedly sat four seats apart in the courtroom this week as they heard the charges. Something tells me these two will be meeting again in a different courtroom in the not-too-distant future—a divorce court.
Of course, there is another big problem with Hunter blaming his wife, Margaret: his own campaign treasurer repeatedly warned him directly about the illegal use of funds, and it is all documented in the 47-page indictment.
“Duncan Hunter facilitated the theft of campaign funds by directing his Treasurer to obtain a Campaign credit card for Margaret at a time when she had no official role with the Campaign and received no official salary, knowing that she would spend campaign funds for the Hunters’ personal benefit.”
“Duncan Hunter installed Margaret Hunter as his paid Campaign Manager despite the protests of his Treasurer and with full knowledge of her long history of misuse of campaign funds, in part because as they discussed the Hunters ‘need[ed] the extra money’ that would come from her salary.”
“Duncan Hunter facilitated the theft of campaign funds by ignoring his campaign staff’s multiple warnings about Margaret’s improper use of campaign funds, accusing campaign staff of disloyalty by ‘trying to create some kind of paper trail on me’ when they raised concerns about improper spending, and continually refusing to remove her access to campaign funds.”
It’s clear this man doesn’t have the necessary character to represent the people of California’s 50th Congressional District. If he’s convicted, the United States Marines would seem to have little choice other than a court martial and dishonorable discharge. It’s a sad ending for anyone who served this country.
Ope! “WA” is Western Australia, pal.
