Donald Trump news and discussions

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Trump attorney to testify Friday in MaraLago classified documents investigation after losing appeal
Source: CNN

Former President Donald Trump’s defense attorney Evan Corcoran is scheduled to testify Friday before the grand jury investigating classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago after a new order from a federal appeals court, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

The US DC Circuit Court of Appeals said that Corcoran must provide additional testimony and turn over documents about the former president as part of the criminal investigation into possible mishandling of classified documents.

The source said Trump’s side is unlikely to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The announcement from a panel of three judges in the appeals court – less than a day after Trump sought to put Corcoran’s testimony on hold – adds momentum to the special counsel investigation as it seeks to secure evidence that could make or break a federal criminal case against Trump.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/22/politics ... index.html

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As indictment looms, Trump criticizes calls for peace
Source: Washington Post

Donald Trump’s history of suggestive allusions to endorsing violence by his supporters is well-chronicled. But rarely have his comments been this unvarnished at such a fraught time.

With his potential indictment looming in Manhattan, the former president on Thursday criticized those who have called for his supporters to remain peaceful.

“EVERYBODY KNOWS I’M 100% INNOCENT, INCLUDING BRAGG,” Trump said on Truth Social, referring to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. “BUT HE DOESN’T CARE. HE IS JUST CARRYING OUT THE PLANS OF THE RADICAL LEFT LUNATICS. OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED, AS THEY TELL US TO BE PEACEFUL!”

While not explicitly urging his supporters to get violent, the seeming message here is that a peaceful response might be insufficient. To label it a dog whistle would be an understatement. Trump is standing next to a tinderbox and casually lighting a match.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... lls-peace/

[weatheriscool]

Trump Already Has a Plan to Get Revenge on Alvin Bragg

March 23, 2023 at 8:24 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 16 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2023/03/23/tr ... vin-bragg/

"SNIP.........

“Trump and his inner orbit are already drawing up ways to take revenge on Alvin Bragg, aiming to punish the Manhattan district attorney for his investigation into the former president, according to two sources familiar with the matter and two other people close to Trump,” Rolling Stone reports.

“For months, Trump and several of his political and policy advisers have outlined legal strategies for how they could use the Justice Department to pursue certain prosecutors and DAs… Bragg had already been near the top of Trump’s wish list of potential targets for a while. But as the Manhattan DA’s criminal investigation into the Trump and the Stormy Daniels hush-money scheme accelerated and reached the point of likely indictment, Bragg’s name started coming up even more frequently in these conversations with Trump.”

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White powder discovered in Manhattan DA's office in envelope marked 'Alvin'
Source: New York Daily News

Officials were investigating white powder found in the Manhattan district attorney’s office Friday as tensions rose over a possible criminal indictment against Donald Trump.

The unknown substance was discovered in the DA’s mail room at 80 Centre St, where a grand jury has been hearing evidence against the former president since January, a court official told the Daily News.

The white powder was in an envelope marked “Alvin,” according to the NYPD. Someone opened the mail at around 1 p.m. but was not exposed, police said. The NYPD’s Department of Environmental Protection Police and Emergency Service Unit were on scene investigating, police said.

Trump has taken direct at aim at Bragg in multiple social media posts this week, calling him an “animal,” which New York civil rights leaders criticized as racist. In one Truth Social post this week, Trump shared an article with a photo of him standing with a baseball bat next to a picture of Bragg.

Read more: https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny ... story.html

[weatheriscool]

Marist poll By 56% to 41%, respondents said Trump investigations are fair and not a "witch hunt.

The survey of more than 1,300 adults also found that despite the love for him among Republicans, Trump remains highly disliked, continues to struggle mightily with independents – and 6 in 10 Americans don't want him to be president again.


But most Americans don't agree with him. By a 56%-to-41% margin respondents said the investigations are fair and not a "witch hunt."

[weatheriscool]

Mike Pence must testify about conversations he had with Donald Trump leading up to January 6
Source: CNN Politics

CNN — A federal judge has decided that former Vice President Mike Pence must testify to a grand jury about conversations he had with Donald Trump leading up to January 6, 2021, according to multiple sources familiar with a recent federal court ruling. But the judge said – in a ruling that remains under seal – that Pence can still decline to answer questions related to his actions on January 6 itself, when he was serving as president of the Senate for the certification of the 2020 presidential election, according to one of the sources.

Pence still has the ability to appeal. Trump has repeatedly lost executive privilege assertions he’s tried to make in the special counsel’s investigation. It’s another win for special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating the Trump-aligned effort to subvert the 2020 election. Smith subpoenaed Pence for testimony and documents earlier this year.

Days after news broke of the subpoena, Pence and his advisers indicated that the former vice president would challenge the subpoena under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, which shields lawmakers from certain law enforcement actions connected to their legislative duties.

“I am going to fight the Biden DOJ subpoena for me to appear before the grand jury because I believe it’s unconstitutional and unprecedented,” Pence said at an event in February. He has suggested that – because he was also serving as president of the Senate during the January 6 certification vote – the constitutional clause covered the conduct that investigators are looking at. The challenge in court has played out in secret, in front of Judge James Boasberg, who recently became chief judge of DC’s federal district court.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/28/politics ... index.html

[weatheriscool]

Former National Enquirer CEO testified before Trump grand jury

David Pecker was the witness at today's grand jury hearing in the Trump hush money probe, NBC News confirmed. He is the former CEO of American Media and publisher of National Enquirer. This would be his second appearance before the grand jury.

Pecker was granted immunity in the federal case regarding Cohen.

American Media, which publishes the National Enquirer, was referenced in court papers in the Cohen case, along with a $150,000 payment made to ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal, who alleges she had an affair with Trump more than a decade ago.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald ... -rcna76525

[weatheriscool]

NY grand jury investigating Trump will break for most of April, court source says
Source: CNN Politics

New York CNN — The Manhattan grand jury hearing the hush money case involving former President Donald Trump is currently scheduled to break after April 5 and restart later in the month, a court administration source told CNN. It is not immediately clear whether the grand jury will hear the Trump case again before April 5.

If the grand jury does not hear the case again for several weeks, it will pause what had been a wave of anticipation that a former president could be indicted for the first time in American history. Trump himself incorrectly predicted he would be arrested last week amid news reports about security preparations being made in the event of an indictment.

Grand jury proceedings are secret and subject to change. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into Trump had appeared to be nearing a conclusion earlier this month after the former president was invited to testify before the grand jury.

Since then, two more witnesses have testified, including lawyer Robert Costello, who appeared on Trump’s behalf. On Monday, the grand jury heard testimony from David Pecker, the former chairman of the publisher of the National Enquirer who played a key role in the hush money payment.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/29/politics ... pril-break

[weatheriscool]

This thread will be about non-election or investigation stuff about Trump. The guys nuts.


Trump Asks Advisers for 'Battle Plans' to 'Attack Mexico' if Reelected
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... 234705804/

No paywall
https://archive.is/lLC9b

DONALD TRUMP IS asking for a plan to wage war in Mexico, and the Republican Party is eager to give it to him.

As he campaigns for a second White House term, Trump has been asking policy advisers for a range of military options aimed at taking on Mexican drug cartels, including strikes that are not sanctioned by Mexico’s government, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

“‘Attacking Mexico,’ or whatever you’d like to call it, is something that President Trump has said he wants ‘battle plans’ drawn for,” says one of the sources. “He’s complained about missed opportunities of his first term, and there are a lot of people around him who want fewer missed opportunities in a second Trump presidency.”

Trump lieutenants have briefed him on several options that include unilateral military strikes and troop deployments on a sovereign U.S. partner and neighbor, the sources say. One such proposal that Trump has been briefed on this year is an October white paper from the Center for Renewing America, an increasingly influential think tank staffed largely by Trumpist wonks, MAGA loyalists, and veterans of his administration.

The policy paper — titled “It’s Time to Wage War on Transnational Drug Cartels” — outlines possible justifications and procedures for the next Republican commander-in-chief to “formally” declare “war against the cartels,” in response to “the mounting bodies of dead Americans from fentanyl poisonings.”

[wjfox]

We already have numerous threads relating to U.S. politics - I don't think we need another. I've merged the two Trump threads into one.

[weatheriscool]

Grand Jury Votes to Indict Donald Trump in New York: Live Updates
Source: New York Times

A Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Donald J. Trump on Thursday for his role in paying hush money to a porn star, according to four people with knowledge of the matter, a historic development that will shake up the 2024 presidential race and forever mark him as the nation's first former president to face criminal charges.

The felony indictment, filed under seal by the Manhattan district attorney's office, will likely be announced in the coming days. By then, prosecutors working for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, will have asked Mr. Trump to surrender and to face arraignment on charges that remain unknown for now.

Mr. Trump has for decades avoided criminal charges despite persistent scrutiny and repeated investigations, creating an aura of legal invincibility that the vote to indict now threatens to puncture. His actions surrounding his 2020 electoral defeat are now the focus of a separate federal investigation, and a Georgia prosecutor is in the final stages of an investigation into Mr. Trump's attempts to reverse the election results in that state.

But unlike the investigations that arose from his time in the White House, this case is built around a tawdry episode that predates Mr. Trump's presidency. The reality star turned presidential candidate who shocked the political establishment by winning the White House now faces a reckoning for a hush money payment that buried a sex scandal in the final days of the 2016 campaign.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/03/30 ... plications

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CNN: Donald Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury on more than 30 counts related to business fraud
Donald Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury on more than 30 counts related to business fraud


By Kara Scannell, John Miller, Jeremy Herb and Devan Cole, CNN
Updated 8:12 PM EDT, Thu March 30, 2023

CNN — Donald Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud in an indictment from a Manhattan grand jury, according to two sources familiar with the case – the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges.

The indictment has been filed under seal and will be announced in the coming days. The charges are not publicly known at this time. Trump will likely be arraigned in court early next week, according to his defense attorney, Joe Tacopina.

The DA’s office has been investigating the former president in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential election. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will reach out to Trump’s attorneys to discuss his surrender to face an arraignment.

The decision is sure to send shockwaves across the country, pushing the American political system – which has never seen one of its ex-leaders confronted with criminal charges, let alone while running again for president – into uncharted waters.

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https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/30/politics ... indictment

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He will use this in his favor and they will follow.

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

Manhattan DA unleashes on Jim Jordan with stern warning: You may not 'interfere' with Trump prosecut

Manhattan DA unleashes on Jim Jordan with stern warning: You may not 'interfere' with Trump prosecution

After a Manhattan grand jury indicted Donald Trump late Thursday afternoon on reportedly 34 felony charges, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg took one more step to preserve the rule of law: Friday morning, via his General Counsel, he sent the top three Republican House Chairmen attempting to interfere in his office’s investigation and prosecution of Donald Trump a stern warning.

The letter, addressed to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, Oversight Chairman James Comer, and Administration Chairman Bryan Steil spans six-pages. Its letterhead does not say District Attorney’s Office, but “District Attorney,” and has Bragg’s name in the upper corner, although it is signed by Bragg’s General Counsel, Leslie B. Dubeck. Politico has published the full letter.

It clearly states Bragg is drawing a red line: “What neither Mr. Trump nor Congress may do is interfere with the ordinary course of proceedings in New York State.”

The letter also accuses the trio of “an improper and dangerous usurpation” and “attempted interference with an ongoing state criminal investigation.” And it warns them against “unlawful political interference.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 1517f&ei=6