US Politics

[Tracker]

Brookings report concludes: Donald Trump at "serious" risk of indictment. The 60-page report identifies five areas where criminal charges against the former president are likely

A report from the Brookings Institute this week concluded that former President Donald Trump is at "serious" risk of indictment for a number of alleged crimes, including tax dodging, falsifying records and a variety of business-related fraud.

The 60-page report, released Monday, came just days before criminal indictments against Trump Organization and its longtime finance chief were unsealed Thursday. Both the company and CFO Allen Weisselberg were accused of staging a 15-year-long scheme to avoid payroll taxes for top executives through the use of off-the-books corporate benefits.

Brookings describes the report's four authors as "experts with a broad array of backgrounds as scholars, practitioners, former prosecutors, and defense lawyers, who have served under state or federal administrations headed by leaders of both political parties, and who have substantial relevant experience with the particular investigating offices here." They include Georgetown Law School professor and Deputy Attorney General under George H.W. Bush, Donald Ayer; former federal prosecutor Danya Perry; experienced criminal litigator John Cuti and senior Brookings fellow Norman Eisen, who served as counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee during the process of President Trump's first impeachment trial.

To reach their conclusions, the authors write that they consulted "court filings, media reports, congressional transcripts, and other sources," which were public but had never been compiled in the same place.

In particular, the report finds that Trump's potential criminal liability stems from alleged improperly recorded "business" expenses, including a $130,000 payout to Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen, as reimbursement for a hush-money payment to adult film star Stephanie Clifford, a.k.a "Stormy Daniels." The tax-free corporate benefits given to top Trump Organization officials also figure heavily into the analysis of the former commander-in-chief's criminal liability, the authors conclude. 

The report identifies five areas where Trump is most at risk of prosecution:

Falsifying business records
Tax Fraud
Insurance Fraud
"Scheme to defraud"
Enterprise Fraud

Brookings report concludes: Donald Trump at "serious" risk of indictment | Salon.com

[HardCoreBlue]

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

Brookings report concludes: Donald Trump at "serious" risk of indictment. The 60-page report identifies five areas where criminal charges against the former president are likely

A report from the Brookings Institute this week concluded that former President Donald Trump is at "serious" risk of indictment for a number of alleged crimes, including tax dodging, falsifying records and a variety of business-related fraud.

The 60-page report, released Monday, came just days before criminal indictments against Trump Organization and its longtime finance chief were unsealed Thursday. Both the company and CFO Allen Weisselberg were accused of staging a 15-year-long scheme to avoid payroll taxes for top executives through the use of off-the-books corporate benefits.

Brookings describes the report's four authors as "experts with a broad array of backgrounds as scholars, practitioners, former prosecutors, and defense lawyers, who have served under state or federal administrations headed by leaders of both political parties, and who have substantial relevant experience with the particular investigating offices here." They include Georgetown Law School professor and Deputy Attorney General under George H.W. Bush, Donald Ayer; former federal prosecutor Danya Perry; experienced criminal litigator John Cuti and senior Brookings fellow Norman Eisen, who served as counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee during the process of President Trump's first impeachment trial.

To reach their conclusions, the authors write that they consulted "court filings, media reports, congressional transcripts, and other sources," which were public but had never been compiled in the same place.

In particular, the report finds that Trump's potential criminal liability stems from alleged improperly recorded "business" expenses, including a $130,000 payout to Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen, as reimbursement for a hush-money payment to adult film star Stephanie Clifford, a.k.a "Stormy Daniels." The tax-free corporate benefits given to top Trump Organization officials also figure heavily into the analysis of the former commander-in-chief's criminal liability, the authors conclude. 

The report identifies five areas where Trump is most at risk of prosecution:

Falsifying business records
Tax Fraud
Insurance Fraud
"Scheme to defraud"
Enterprise Fraud

Brookings report concludes: Donald Trump at "serious" risk of indictment | Salon.com

Will this be just another case for Teflon Don to overcome?

[Tracker]

White Supremacists March Unhindered in Front of Philadelphia City Hall

Published Jul. 04, 2021 9:27AM ET 

-Andrew Kelly via Reuters
Local residents jeered a group of men marching in front of the Philadelphia City Hall late Saturday wearing white face coverings and the insignia for the white supremacist group Patriot Front. Local media reported that there were dozens of the men, all wearing khaki pants, blue shirts, tan hats, and white face coverings. Some were waving flags or carrying shields. Some residents scuffled with the men as they tried to chase them away, and a journalist had his cellphone snatched as he took photos. The Texas-based Patriot Front group is described by the Anti-Defamation League as “a white supremacist group whose members maintain that their ancestors conquered America and bequeathed it solely to them.” Police were not seen intervening and no arrests were reported.

 

[Tracker]

Roger Stone's aide is throwing Women for America First 'under the bus'

   
Roger Stone associate Kristin Davis is behind a new column blaming Women for America First for being behind the organizing of the "Stop the Steal" rally and saying that Stone had nothing to do with it, reporter Nancy Levin discovered Sunday.

Writing in a conspiracy theory publication, Davis explained that all Stone did was stand outside his hotel with an entourage waiting for a car to pick them up.

"I booked Roger to speak at the Rally to Save America the night prior and was led to believe by Women for America First that he was supposed to speak the following afternoon on January 6th, at a rally they organized which featured President Donald J. Trump. After a completely peaceful rally on January 5th, which attracted thousands of brave American patriots, we woke up the next morning expecting to attend the rally at the Ellipse," the column read.

"However, despite Women for America First promoting Stone as a speaker and insisting that they were sending a transport for Mr. Stone and our team to the Willard Hotel, the escort never came," the piece continued. "As we were waiting, the staff at the Hotel Willard asked anyone congregating in the lobby to stay out of the cold to step outside in order to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines set forth by the Mayor of Washington, D.C. A simple walk outside, which lasted mere minutes, is the first part of the dishonest conspiracy theory by the mainstream media and Democrat (sic) elected officials that Mr. Stone was somehow organizing the insurrection, or had some sort of advance knowledge of what was going to happen later that day."

Raw Story has never reported that Stone was part of the organizing of the event, but those members of the Oath Keepers militia who were working as the security for Stone are accused of being linked to the plotting of violence.

Roger Stone's aide is throwing Women for America First 'under the bus' - Alternet.org

Justice Department filings showed Jessica Watkins saying to allies that the task "sounds like a sweet gig," meaning the guarding of Stone.

"Looks like we might be security for Roger Stone, if we end up rolling with the Oath keepers(sic)," Watkins texted Donovan Ray Crowl on Jan. 1. Crowl texted back later that day saying, it "should be fun."

Crowl was cited for believing that there would be a "literal war" in the United States on Jan. 6.

Crowl's lawyer said in the court documents that his client wasn't doing anything other than security on Jan. 6, but other messages prosecutors got showed that the Oath Keepers were coordinating with "30-40" people during the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Watkins and Crowl were both indicted on charges of conspiracy, conspiracy to injure an officer and destruction of government property.

Stone appears to be denying that he and the security had discussed anything outside of their work for him.

Women for America First was behind the rally, according to permits requested from the Parks Service.

[Tracker]

GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Ripped For Reprehensible New Claim About COVID-19


Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s latest comments about the coronavirus drew fierce backlash on Monday.

In a threaded “message from America to the swamp” that she posted on Twitter, the Georgia Republican bombastically declared that “no one cares” about the more transmissible delta variant of COVID-19 that is now making its way across the United States “or any other variant.”

“All voters are over Covid,” the QAnon conspiracy theory-endorsing lawmaker claimed, even though around 11,000 new infections are being recorded daily.

 No one cares about the Delta Variant or any other variant.

They are over covid & there is no amount of fear based screaming from the media that will ever force Americans to shut down again. Forced masks and vaccines will cause Dems to lose big. All voters are over covid.

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) July 6, 2021
Elsewhere in the thread, Greene said Fox News was part of the “fake news media” and told people who “don’t like America or our flag” to “get the hell out of our GREAT country & go live in some other shithole Socialist or Communist country.”

Greene has previously likened House mask mandates to the Holocaust and praised people who refuse to receive a coronavirus vaccine, which scientists worldwide have said is key to thwarting the pandemic.

 

[Tracker]

189 People Dead in 500+ Shootings Over Fourth of July Weekend

Karen Ducey/Getty News
Over the Fourth of July weekend, there were more than 500 shootings across the United States taking the lives of at least 189 people. The Gun Violence Archive has compiled data on the number of shooting incidents over a 72-hour period between Friday and Sunday. In New York alone, there were 26 victims of 21 shootings. In Chicago, 95 people were shot, 16 of them fatally. Of those killed, one was Chrys Carvajal, a member of the Illinois Army National Guard. There were also several mass shootings over the holiday weekend. Eight people were injured in a shooting in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday. Four children were shot in Virginia on Friday afternoon; all are expected to recover. A 17-year-old died after a shooting in Ohio that injured 12 others at a block party.

In a tweet, the Gun Violence Archive stated that by its count, there have been more than 20 mass shootings in July alone.

[Tracker]

Trump reportedly 'shocked' his former chief of staff with refusal to stop praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler
   
Back in 2017, the inventor of Godwin's Law made it clear that comparing someone to a Nazi, when they are literally praising the Nazis, was completely fair. That came during the sequence of events at Charlottesville, where violent white supremacists marched to Nazi slogans and one deliberately killed peaceful protester Heather Heyer by driving over her with a car. Trump responded by a statement that there were "very fine people" on both sides of the events, then he doubled-down on that statement with a claim that he was only supporting the Nazis in their praise for a Confederate traitor.

In 2018, Trump explicitly declared "I'm a nationalist," in a speech ostensibly supporting Ted Cruz. "You know, they have a word," said Trump. "It sort of became old-fashioned. It's called a nationalist. And I say really, we're not supposed to use that word. You know what I am? I am a nationalist. Use that word."

So when The Guardian published an account on Wednesday morning that Trump defended Hitler while on a tour of military cemeteries … is anyone really surprised?

"Hitler," said Trump, "did a lot of good things."

The pro-Hitler conversation is from a book titled Frankly, We Did Win This Election, by Wall Street Journal reported Michael Bender which is slated for publication next week.

On a 2018 trip to Europe in which Trump was supposed to go to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery to visit the graves of 2,300 Americans who were killed in World War I. Instead, Trump skipped out on the visit, claiming it was too wet, while actually telling his advisers that he had no interest in visiting soldiers who were "losers" and "suckers."

During that visit, it was already known that then chief of staff John Kelly tried to explain the circumstances of both World Wars, to explain how the actions taken after World War I contributed to the rise of the Nazis, and how that led to World War II. Trump responded by saying that he "didn't understand why the United States would intervene on the side of the Allies."

But the new book goes further. It explains how Trump "stunned" Kelly by his direct support of Hitler. Kelly reputedly told Trump that he was wrong to support the murderous dictator, "but Trump was undeterred." Instead, Trump kept pointing to how Hitler supposedly pulled Germany out of its economic slump in the 1930s.

Trump reportedly 'shocked' his former chief of staff with refusal to stop praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler - Alternet.org

(This is further proof that even a diaper can hold only so much poop, and then start leaking out)

[bustamente]

Trump has decided to make a fool out of himself yet again by suing Twitter, Facebook and You Tube, proving once again there is a stupid lawyer right around the corner who wants to work for free

[Tracker]

23 minutes ago, bustamente said:

Trump has decided to make a fool out of himself yet again by suing Twitter, Facebook and You Tube, proving once again there is a stupid lawyer right around the corner who wants to work for free

In legalese there is something referred to by the acronym "SLAP" otherwise known as a strategically leveraged lawsuit. The aim is to not win, but to publicly defend self and hope that the suit will intimidate the defendant. Judges do have the option of throwing the suit out of court immediately as frivolous and even awarding punitive damages to the defendant. However, the GOP has stacked the courts as much as they could with toadies, so who knows what will happen.

Edited July 7, 2021 by Tracker

[JCon]

45 minutes ago, bustamente said:

Trump has decided to make a fool out of himself yet again by suing Twitter, Facebook and You Tube, proving once again there is a stupid lawyer right around the corner who wants to work for free

It's all to raise money. There are no serious lawyers involved. He'll just keep grifting the alt-right morons. 

[HardCoreBlue]

44 minutes ago, JCon said:

It's all to raise money. There are no serious lawyers involved. He'll just keep grifting the alt-right morons. 

And just to make my head spin even more, I'd add grifters using other grifters to grift, i.e., the Kelly's, Bolton's etc etc of the world. 

What a complete gong show.

[JCon]

Could you even imagine the depositions? No way Trump sits down and discusses his role in the terrorist insurrection. 

[Tracker]

2 hours ago, JCon said:

It's all to raise money. There are no serious lawyers involved. He'll just keep grifting the alt-right morons. 

More than the money that he is leaching from his supporters, which is important, Trump has a desperate need to see himself as having been cheated out of his rightful place in the winner's circle of the White House. From all reports, Trump's father was a demanding, impossible to please authoritarian Nazi sympathizer. 
Any son who has had a father-figure like Trump's, is riddled with self-doubt and a visceral need to refuse to admit any failing whatsoever. Any less than perfect victory is a confirmation that he is not good enough and never will be, and the sadistic nature of the father is adopted by the son.  Make no mistake- if sending one or all of his children and associates to jail will keep him out of jail, he will absolutely do it.

[Tracker]

 

The Big Lie at the Big Box Store: Sears, Kmart Sold Shirts Proclaiming Insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt an 'American Patriot'

The big box retailers pulled the products from their online marketplaces after being called out on Twitter six months to the day of the Capitol riots.

In the six months since the insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, there have been countless lies told by the right wing about the events and intent of that day, but perhaps the biggest is that the shooting of Ashli Babbitt as she attempted to breach the Speaker’s Lobby through a smashed window somehow rendered the military veteran turned QAnon conspiracist a martyr.

To be sure, Babbitt’s death was senseless—senseless because it was in service to the irrational, inane, yet persistent lie that Donald Trump is somehow the duly elected president of the United States. (Spoiler alert: He’s not.) However, that hasn’t stopped fellow conspiracists from praising Babbitt as a “patriot”—and now, American retailers seeking to profit from the third-party retailer market are getting caught in the crosshairs.

As the nation and media reflected on the insurrection and ongoing investigation on Tuesday, Aaron Rupar, associate editor of politics & policy at Vox made another discovery at two of the country’s most recognizable retail brands. Sears and Kmart, both American big box pioneers now under the same ownership, were each selling “Ashli Babbitt ‘American Patriot’” t-shirts in their online marketplaces.

Sears, Kmart Sold Shirts Proclaiming Insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt an 'American Patriot' (theroot.com)

[TrueBlue4ever]

American Patriot? I think this tag line is more appropriate:

[JCon]

10 hours ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

American Patriot? I think this tag line is more appropriate:

Wait it's just tourists.... wait it's antifa... wait her emails... 

F***, the alt-right are exhausting in their stupidity. 

[blue_gold_84]

[HardCoreBlue]

13 hours ago, Tracker said:

 

The Big Lie at the Big Box Store: Sears, Kmart Sold Shirts Proclaiming Insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt an 'American Patriot'

The big box retailers pulled the products from their online marketplaces after being called out on Twitter six months to the day of the Capitol riots.

In the six months since the insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, there have been countless lies told by the right wing about the events and intent of that day, but perhaps the biggest is that the shooting of Ashli Babbitt as she attempted to breach the Speaker’s Lobby through a smashed window somehow rendered the military veteran turned QAnon conspiracist a martyr.

To be sure, Babbitt’s death was senseless—senseless because it was in service to the irrational, inane, yet persistent lie that Donald Trump is somehow the duly elected president of the United States. (Spoiler alert: He’s not.) However, that hasn’t stopped fellow conspiracists from praising Babbitt as a “patriot”—and now, American retailers seeking to profit from the third-party retailer market are getting caught in the crosshairs.

As the nation and media reflected on the insurrection and ongoing investigation on Tuesday, Aaron Rupar, associate editor of politics & policy at Vox made another discovery at two of the country’s most recognizable retail brands. Sears and Kmart, both American big box pioneers now under the same ownership, were each selling “Ashli Babbitt ‘American Patriot’” t-shirts in their online marketplaces.

Sears, Kmart Sold Shirts Proclaiming Insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt an 'American Patriot' (theroot.com)

Politics is just business. It's a grift. The smell of money creates policy and legislation.

All political parties are led by big business and their dark money to make more money for the 1%.

We're hooped.

[Tracker]

Republicans want "18 more months of chaos" — followed by the end of democracy.  Rep. Chip Roy said it out loud, but the GOP's plan is no secret: Bring democracy to a standstill, then end it.

Today's Republican Party is a fascist, criminal, sociopathic, anti-democratic, white supremacist, theocratic, plutocratic and cultlike organization. Its leaders (and followers) have repeatedly and publicly shown the world that they embrace such values and behavior.

In response, the Democratic Party, the mainstream news media and too many average Americans have responded to the Age of Trump and its horrors by trying to convince themselves that the Republican Party and larger right-wing movement are something other than what they have shown themselves to be.

And of course there is the fetish of "bipartisanship." Under its sway, the Democratic Party's leadership and too many among the mainstream news media and commentariat have convinced themselves that compromise with Republicans, no matter how radicalized and extremist they have become, is something virtuous in itself.

If the road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions, that truism is especially correct here. President Biden and the Democrats have attempted to work with an opposition that has at almost every moment shown itself to be an enemy of democracy, up to and including its support for Trump's ongoing coup attempt and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

As I have previously written, "white identity politics and white rage are more important than pocketbook issues for many of today's Republican voters." The only meaningful way Biden and the Democrats can fight back must begin with "acknowledging that this crisis of democracy is existential" and acting accordingly:

This means not cooperating with the Republicans on any policies in the name of "bipartisanship." Protecting American democracy should be the Democrats' No. 1 priority. To work with Republicans is to legitimize them as responsible partners in government, when in reality today's Republican Party is an extremist, anti-democratic and white supremacist criminal organization.

Today's Republican Party is ultimately incapable of being a partner in responsible governance. It rejects basic principles of democracy and compromise towards a shared goal of serving the public good. Instead, the right-wing movement's primary goals are chaos, obstruction and destruction, with the aim of delegitimizing the very idea of democracy itself — except as a meaningless term used to describe one-party Republican rule.

Republican leaders, officials and other spokespeople know this is the strategy and have repeatedly admitted to it. Leaked video footage of Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, saying precisely that is only the latest example. As reported by Common Dreams:

Newly leaked video footage of a recent event hosted by the right-wing group Patriot Voices shows Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas openly admitting that his party wants "18 more months of chaos and the inability to get stuff done" as President Joe Biden, a bipartisan group of senators, and congressional Democrats work to pass climate and infrastructure legislation.

"Honestly, right now, for the next 18 months, our job is to do everything we can to slow all of that down to get to December of 2022," Roy says in the clip, referring to the month after that year's midterm elections. Republicans need to flip just a handful of seats to take back the House and Senate.

"I don't vote for anything in the House of Representatives right now," Roy says in response to an audience member's question about the sweeping infrastructure and safety-net package that Democrats are planning to pass unilaterally alongside a White House-backed bipartisan deal.

Republicans want "18 more months of chaos" — followed by the end of democracy | Salon.com

 

As Indivisible co-director Ezra Levin noted on Twitter, "Chip Roy got caught saying it out loud, but to be clear this has been [Mitch] McConnell's plan all along."

[17to85]

3 hours ago, blue_gold_84 said:

I laughed, guess I'm going to hell

[Bubba Zanetti]

10 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

I laughed, guess I'm going to hell

Regina?

[HardCoreBlue]

8 minutes ago, Bubba Zanetti said:

Regina?

Hey Regina's not bad sports wise, not only do they have a CFL team with less Grey Cups than us, they also have a NHL tea . . . Wait a sec.

[Bubba Zanetti]

10 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Hey Regina's not bad sports wise, not only do they have a CFL team with less Grey Cups than us, they also have a NHL tea . . . Wait a sec.

I will not sit here and listen to you disparage Canada's QUEEN city.

[bustamente]

The exiled King will not be happy with this better watch out Stone because he will be reinstated August 13

 

[Mark F]

5 hours ago, Tracker said:

As Indivisible co-director Ezra Levin noted on Twitter, "Chip Roy got caught saying it out loud, but to be clear this has been [Mitch] McConnell's plan all along."

and clueless  biden wants to work with them. 

he wont get a single supreme court judge. gutted green stimulus for them.

the guy is as big a dud as obama.

Edited July 8, 2021 by Mark F