Former President Donald Trump’s bond in the Georgia election interference case has been set at $200,000, according to court documents the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Tamar Hallerman posted on social media.

Trump and 18 co-defendants were indicted last week on allegations they conspired to overturn the results of Georgia’s 2020 election results.

The indictment alleges that Trump or his associates sought to "undo his defeat including beseeching Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to find enough votes for him to win the battleground state; harassing an election worker who faced false claims of fraud; and attempting to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of voters and appoint a new slate of electoral college electors favorable to Trump," The Associated Press reports.

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His lawyers had been expected to meet with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis today.

Social media users slammed Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) over the far-right congresswoman’s suggestion that President Joe Biden isn’t giving adequate attention to the Maui fires.

Authorities on Sunday confirmed that the Lahaina, Hawaii blaze has killed 93 people and left at least 2,200 buildings damaged or destroyed, The Associated Press reports. The blaze has caused an estimated $6 billion in property damage.

“3000 destroyed homes. 80 people dead. Where’s Joe Biden? On vacation of course,” she added.

“There is no bottom for this president.”

The Biden administration on Thursday declared the region a natural disaster area and pledged assistance.

"I want to say a word about the devastating wildfires that have claimed at least 36 lives in Maui, in Hawaii," Biden said at a Thursday event in Salt Lake City. "We have just approved a major disaster declaration of — for Hawaii, which will get aid into the hands of the people desperately needing help now. They've lost — anyone who's lost a loved one, whose home has been damaged or destroyed is going to get help immediately."

Biden said, "we're working as quickly as possible" to fight the fires and evacuate everyone.

He also told the press pool on Sunday, "we're looking into" a trip to Maui.

“There is a total crisis in Maui,” Boebert wrote Saturday on her social media account.

Journalist Ed Krassenstein linked to a CNN report in which Biden pledges to help. “Yes he has,” Krassenstein wrote.

“Boebert is completely clueless,” the group Rocky Mountain Progressives wrote, noting further, “President Biden has already declared Maui a disaster area and is sending emergency supplies and the National Guard. Boebert is trying to use the victims of the Maui victims to her advantage.”

Democratic activist Delilah Asterales, who goes by the handle @HawaiiDelilah on social media replied to Boebert’s post saying: “Maui is my home. You don't speak for me. @Potus immediately declared a 'major disaster' in Hawaii & ordered all available federal assets to help with response. The head of FEMA is ON THE GROUND in Lahaina with Gov Green to determine immediate & long term needs. You are despicable.”

Asterales added: “A word to voters in Colorado's 3rd District: @AdamForColoradois running to unseat Boebert. I don't know him but I am pretty sure he will not embarrass you or exploit the pain of us in Maui in order to attack Joe Biden. Now is a good time to support him.”

Hawaii Governor Josh Green said in a statement Saturday: “We have the support from every level of government, especially given President Biden’s approval of our disaster declaration request today.”

Honolulu resident Gary Chun posted a comment in solidarity with those in his state: "Rep. Boebert, we in Hawai'i look forward to you and your House Republican colleagues to expedite help to the Maui community affected by this tragedy ... as soon as you get your head out of your ʻākea. Mahalo."

A former federal prosecutor warned Georgia's 2020 election case could make life much harder for special counsel Jack Smith.

During an appearance on MSNBC’s “Yasmin Vossoughian Reports” Sunday, Brandon Fox said a potential Fulton County prosecution against Trump would be viewed as political, and suggested that District Attorney Fani Willis could do more to get justice by turning over evidence to the special counsel’s office.

It is within her power for Willis to do both of these things.

Fox’s comments came in response to a question from the host over whether Fox thought the Fulton County indictment would happen early this week.

“All indications are that's going to be the case, and I just question why this is necessary, because it's going to complicate DOJ’s efforts greatly,” Fox said. “It's going to look like it's a political prosecution. DOJ is trying to stay above the fray, above politics but it's based on substantially similar conduct being prosecuted by Jack Smith's office.”

Trump has already claimed that all prosecutions against him are political.

Fox cited the DOJ’s “Petite Policy,” which provides guidelines that aim to protect criminal defendants from unnecessary harassment from multiple prosecutions, and which Fox said “addresses whether charges should be brought by different jurisdictions for substantially the same conduct. So, again, I question whether this is something that is good for the prosecutors in this case.”

Vossoughian said: “So, this is the first time I'm hearing this, and I think it's interesting. So, do you think that finding Willis if in fact this indictment comes to fruition on Tuesday, should drop this case, that she should not be pursuing it?”

“I don't think that she should be pursuing it against Donald Trump for the reasons I just described,” Fox said.

“If she believes, and I assume she does see, as many people do, that he committed a crime, what she should be doing is providing that evidence to Jack Smith’s office and letting him go with this. But by doing what she's doing, if she's going to be prosecuting Donald Trump – and again, go ahead with others as long as it's not going to complicate the federal case – she's creating potential new witness statements that Donald Trump's attorneys can use in cross-examining those witnesses” and fueling “allegations that it's going to look like these are all political prosecutions, and there's piling on, and that's why the DOJ has policies in place to not make it look like you're piling on and look like you're doing justice instead.”

Michigan's attorney general is also investigating the fake electors piece of the 2020 election overthrow attempts. It's unknown if that will directly link Trump or only his campaign. Thus far, she has only indicted the 16 so-called "fake electors."

Watch the video below or at the link here.

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Legal experts on Sunday suggested that if true, CNN’s bombshell report on the Georgia election interference probe presents major legal problems for Donald Trump.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is in possession of electronic messages linking Trump’s legal team to a Coffee County voting system breach in early January 2021, sources told the cable news outlet.

Willis this week is expected to indict Trump, among a dozen or more others, in connection with efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.

“Holy (expletive,” former federal prosecutor Victor Shi wrote on his social media account.

“DA Fanni Willis & her team have copies of text messages & emails DIRECTLY linking Donald Trump’s legal team to the voting system breach in Coffee County, Georgia. Yet another reminder that Donald Trump’s team attempted to steal the election. They’re about to find out.”

Shi added: “TLDR: Trump’s team is screwed. Indictments may drop as early as this week. Buckle up and get ready for the ride. Stay tuned…”

Georgia State law professor and political scientist Anthony Michael Kreis wrote on his social media account that “This is damning stuff and the kind of evidence built for Georgia RICO. This shows a pattern of unlawful activity all over the state.”

Conservative activist Erick Erickson echoed Kreis’ remark.

“*IF* this is as presented,” Erickson writes, “it builds a RICO case under Georgia’s laws where they can take similar patterns in other states together when what happened in Georgia to show a pattern of conduct in a conspiracy.”

Washington attorney Aaron Parnas said the report suggests indictments are imminent.

“This is significant news,” Parnas said. “District Attorney Fani Willis is in possession of text messages that show Trump's team was behind the breach of voting systems in Coffee County.

“Indictments are likely coming very soon.”

The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 election conspiracy case shut down the former president’s legal team’s argument that Trump should be given more leeway to share evidence that will be used against him when his case goes to trial, legal analyst Lisa Rubin said.

Rubin during an appearance on MSNBC told host Alicia Menendez that Trump lawyer John Lauro argued unsuccessfully that the special counsel’s vast resources made his client a “David” in a battle against a legal Goliath.

Judge Tanya Chutkan largely rendered a split decision over the special counsel’s request for a protective order. Chutkan ruled that the protective order will only cover material that’s been designated as sensitive by the Justice Department, but sided with prosecutors in ruling that witness interviews and recordings be included as sensitive.

“So the people who can see documents that are marked as sensitive, Alicia, are people who are employed by Trump's team,” Rubin said.

“That was a point of contention today because John Lauro, one of President Trump's lawyers essentially said, ‘We are the David in this fight and the Department of Justice in the special counsel's office with 60 lawyers at their disposal, they are the Goliath and we are going to need volunteer lawyers, people that we don't pay, to get through all of that discovery.’"

“That didn't go anywhere with Judge Chutkan, she said by your definition, Mr. Lauro, people who are unindicted co-conspirators in this case could look at sensitive materials.

“So Judge Chutkan was really putting the screws to the Trump team today.”

Watch the video below or at the link here.

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A legal expert on Friday said a Georgia case unrelated to Donald Trump could be a “tell” for a prosecutor investigating the former president over allegations he tried to overturn the Peach State’s 2020 election.

“IMPORTANT tell re coming Georgia indictment of Trump,” Norm Eisen wrote on his social media account.

Eisen suggested that a Fulton County Grand Jury’s indictment of eight suspected gang members in a pandemic unemployment insurance conspiracy scam under the state’s Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act could be a ‘warm up’ for a case against Trump, perhaps under the same law.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office announced the indictment Wednesday.

“Guess what she just did,” Eisen said.

“Fani Willis is one of the most experienced RICO prosecutors in the country & so she knows to warm up a grand jury with another RICO case first before you bring them the big 1,” Eisen added.

CNN reports that Willis is likely to indict at least 12 people in connection with the 2020 elections case.

Donald Trump’s newest lawyer has turned to making disingenuous political arguments in his client’s legal case, an approach that appears to be aimed more at the former president’s base than a jury, MSNBC columnist Glenn Kirschner writes.

John Lauro, a former federal prosecutor who is now leading Trump’s legal team, during Trump’s Aug. 3 arraignment in Washington D.C., made one comment in particular that Kirschner found insincere.

Lauro during the arraignment told Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya that “We expect to vigorously address every single issue in this matter on behalf of Mr. Trump and on behalf of the American people.”

Kirschner, himself a former federal prosecutor, argues that it’s improper for a defense lawyer to claim they represent anyone other than their client in an adversarial legal system in which prosecutors represent the community at large.

“Wait a minute — on behalf of the American people?” Kirschner writes.

“The sole and exclusive responsibility of criminal defense attorneys is to zealously represent the interests of their clients. They neither raise issues on behalf of nor represent the interests of the American people. That is literally the job of the prosecutor.”

Kirschner believes Lauro’s statement that he’s representing “the American people” signals to Trump’s supporters that he’s really advocating for them.

Kirschner writes that “Attorneys have a duty of candor to the court and a responsibility not to say anything publicly that could undermine or derail a fair trial. If Trump’s attorneys take those obligations seriously, then they should stop mimicking their client’s dangerous propaganda and focus on actual legal defenses and legitimate lawyering.”

Read the full article right here.

Willis is likely to indict a number of Trump’s associates in addition to the former president, according to the report, which cites three sources who have spoken with prosecutors.

“It really seems like they’re coming for everyone,” a lawyer who has spoken with prosecutors in connection with the investigation told Rolling Stone.

“Based on what I know, Willis and her team do not seem to be stopping at Donald Trump. The scope for this [likely coming indictment] is probably going to be a hell of a lot wider than that… and round up a significant number of people.”

Rolling Stone’s Adam Rawnsley writes that, “Some of Trump’s own lawyers, as well as other attorneys retained by his election-denying allies, are already preparing for the very real possibility that Trump will have plenty of company in an upcoming indictment. Lawyers have already outlined legal strategies, memos, and other material that factor in their expectation that an array of these Trump subordinates will face charges alongside him, according to two people familiar with the situation.”

According to the report, Trump’s allies are basing their speculation on several factors, including the subject matters of witness interviews and the DA’s requests, which include “granular details of what certain Trump allies were doing in the weeks following Election Day 2020.”

Willis is considering using Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute, which would extend her authority to charge others in connection with a criminal conspiracy, according to the report.

Rawnsley writes that a RICO prosecution offers “broader authority to define and charge criminal conspiracies than in other states, potentially spelling trouble for Trump campaign alumni involved in the attempt to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election.”

One of the main benefits a RICO prosecution offers is the ability to bring in evidentiary statements that would otherwise be considered “hearsay,” former federal prosecutor Mitchell Epner told Rolling Stone.

“One of the most important things under any conspiracy statute is that any statement made by any conspirator in furtherance of the conspiracy is admissible evidence against all conspirators. In other words, it’s not hearsay,” Epner said.

“In this instance, every defendant could be confronted by the stupidest things that Rudy Giuliani said.”

Read the full article here.

Progressives on Tuesday night lauded Ohio after Buckeye State voters decisively rejected an effort to raise the threshold for amending the state’s constitution ahead of a November referendum that would guarantee reproductive rights in the state’s constitution.

Ohio Issue 1 would have raised the threshold for passing constitutional amendments from a simple majority (50 percent plus 1) to 60 percent.

“Ohio Issue 1 defeated!” legal scholar Laurence Tribe wrote on his social media account. “The pro-democracy forces won!!

“Partly because the anti-democracy position was joined at the hip with Dobbs and misogyny. Reproductive freedom is driving self-government. Women’s rights are human rights. Liberty is indivisible.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said on her social media account: “This HELL NO vote is win for liberty!”

She added: “The GOP ignored warnings signs as polls showed nearly 60% of voters were against the measure and nearly 60% support abortion access.”

“The GOP loses when they go after democracy and women’s right, but they keep (expletive) around and finding out.”

Actor and political activist George Takei in a social media post called the election result a “political earthquake.”

“Ohio is creating a political earthquake today felt across the nation,” he wrote. “GOP: Your extremism and anti-democratic scheming are going down to crushing defeat. And it’s going to get worse for you from here.”

Mary Trump, the former president’s outspoken niece, wrote “Thank you, Ohio. Democracy lives to fight another day. ❤️”

A spokesperson for a group opposing Issue 1 called the measure a “deceptive power grab” aimed at diminishing the power of the state’s voters, The Associated Press reports.

“Tonight is a major victory for democracy in Ohio,” One Person One Vote’s Dennis Willard said at a watch party, according to the report.

“The majority still rules in Ohio.”

The judge in Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 election conspiracy case is likely to issue a gag order in response to the former president’s incendiary rhetoric, a legal expert said Monday.

Retired California Superior Court Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell, during an appearance on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins,” said one of the former president’s social media posts in particular was “clearly a threat.”

Cordell’s comments came in response to a question from Collins over whether Trump’s all-caps Truth Social post on Friday in which hewrote "IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!" would likely influence Judge Tanya Chutkan’s decision over whether to issue a protective order.

“I don't know necessarily that that quote impacts the protective order, but that certainly would get me thinking if I were the trial judge about a gag order in this case,” Cordell said.

“It's clearly a threat, and a good trial judge doesn't just look at the law, you use common sense.”

Cordell said the timing of Trump’s post, the day after he was arraigned, would also likely figure into how a judge would look at the rhetoric.

Cordell said she believes a gag order is likely and that “my guess is Trump would violate it in a heartbeat and then we'll see what the judge does in terms of consequences for violating yet another court order.”

Seeking clarification, Collins asked: “So you think there will be a gag order here? At least you think that there should be?”

“I absolutely can see it coming because this man cannot shut up. He's a ‘chatty Charlie’ and he's going to just talk and talk and he really doesn't care about rules that say you can speak or cannot speak,” Cordell said.

“So this is where the test of a good trial judge comes about. If you're going to have a fair trial, it's going to be by the rules set by that person in the black robe. And if the rules are you do not talk about this other than in the court, because it's not punishment it's to ensure fair trial. If that doesn't happen, there have to be immediate consequences to violating a court order.

“Only in that way can everyone have respect for the system.”

Watch the video below or click here.

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Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said Friday that Sen. Tommy Tuberville's (R-Ala.) political stunt that’s halted military promotions has flipped conventional assumptions about which political party more strongly supports the military.

Kinzinger during an appearance on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins” said he believes that Democrats are now the more “hawkish” party.

Kinzinger’s comments followed Collins asking him “did you ever think that the defense secretary would have to issue new guidance on how Pentagon leadership is going to work because of a member of your party?”

“No, and I'll tell you what I never expected is that basically the Democrats would be the pro-military party, and that they would almost be the more hawkish party than Republicans are and that's what's happened, it's been this weird switch,” Kinzinger said.

“And for Tommy, the senator, I'll call him I guess respectively to do this is really damaging the military, not just in terms of the promotions, but it's politicizing the last bastion of government that shouldn't be politicized.”

Kinzinger lamented the politicization of the armed forces.

“We've already politicized the Supreme Court. We politicize obviously, Congress, the presidency, the FBI now. Everything is politicized, except the military, and…people like him, people like (Sen.) Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) that go out and they tweet these ads about how great the Russian army is because they have like these manly ads. The Russian army is getting crushed on the battlefield,” Kinzinger said.

“I have disagreements with some of the things that Pentagon does. I spend a lot of my time in the military doing computer-based training that I don't need to. That doesn't mean we're not the most lethal force. And that doesn't mean we play politics with a political issue simply because it's going to give you attention.”

Watch the video below or click here.

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Donald Trump on Thursday during his Jan. 6 election conspiracy case arraignment was admonished by a magistrate judge not to commit any crimes while he awaits trial.

Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya specifically told Trump that it is a crime to "influence a juror or try to threaten or bribe a witness or retaliate against anyone" connected to the case, which Trump told the judge he understood.

Several legal and political experts believe he may have already crossed that line and are calling for the former president’s pretrial detention.

Trump posted on Friday that “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”

Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner wrote on his social media account that “In case you wonder why I’ve been saying that there’s clear and convincing evidence that Trump belongs in pretrial detention . . . here is yet additional proof.”

Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann didn’t mention pretrial detention but said in a post that “This is the kind of thing that DOJ alerts the court to with respect to any defendant out on bail (in this case, in 3 criminal cases, and also is a threat in civil cases like E Jean Carroll). Not addressing this will only cause it to metastasize with undue deadly risks.”

Former Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.) on his social media account suggested that Trump’s pretrial detention is likely.

“If as the judge has admonished, a president is not a king, the odds are pretty significant of Trump facing a pretrial detention moment based on his inevitable violation of the conditions of his current freedom,” Jolly wrote.

Conservative activist George Conway posted on his social media account that “It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that this guy talks or posts himself into some form of pretrial detention.”

Wrote veteran journalist Andrew Feinberg: “This certainly sounds like a threat against prosecutors and/or witnesses.”

Former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham on Friday assailed Donald Trump over social media posts in which the former president disparages prosecutors and his potential jury pool in Washington D.C., among others.

Grisham during an appearance on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” suggested that the former president’s posts were a form of “intimidation” that she called “chilling.”

Trump on Friday posted in all caps on his Truth Social website “"IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!"

“I think it's chilling, you know, legally, it doesn't seem like it's very smart, but how is that not intimidation?” Grisham said.

“And who or what other people are going to take a message from that, as we've seen and heard, people really believe that Donald Trump sent them to the Capitol and people really felt like, you know, hours later, when he said to stop, they listened."

“And so I just don't understand, does somebody have to get hurt before people take this kind of online intimidation seriously? The people, and I know he's pointing out the prosecutors, but, you know, as somebody who gets death threats every other day, you know, it makes me nervous. It should make anybody who's ever spoken out against him nervous and that's a lot of people.”

Watch the video below or click the link right here.

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New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on Friday shot down the suggestion that Donald Trump is running for president as way to avoid legal accountability, calling it a narcissistic endeavor.

Sununu during an appearance on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins” said Trump’s candidacy was about nothing more than “a lot of ego and narcissism.”

His remarks followed Collins’ question over whether Trump was “running to protect himself from his mounting legal challenges.”

“Honestly, does that play into it? No, I don't think so,” Sununu said.

“I think it's just a whole lot of ego. I think it's a whole lot of an empty suit ego at this point. He's up in the polls. He wants to kind of garner public opinion to his side because that's what he lives on. That's his. That's what he thrives on. That's the gas in his tank, so to say, but it's not about the future of this country. It's sure not about the future of this party. So I don't know, I guess everyone has their own their own theories on it. But for me, it just looks like a lot of ego and narcissism was not a lot behind it.”

Watch the video below or click here.

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Just two days after saying that if elected president he’d consider appointing conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead a federal public health agency, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis walked those comments back on Friday.

The Republican presidential candidate on Wednesday told OutKick’s Clay Travis that Kennedy’s views on COVID protocols and vaccines would fit his vision in forming in a new administration, and suggested selecting Kennedy to lead the CDC or FDA after Travis asked him if he’d consider the longshot Democratic presidential candidate as a running mate.

“If you’re president, sic him on the FDA if he’d be willing to serve. Or sic him on CDC,” DeSantis said.

“In terms of being veep, if there’s 70 percent of the issues that he may be averse to our base on, that just creates an issue.”

But DeSantis on Friday in an interview with Newsmax said that his comments were taken out of context and that a Kennedy appointment is now off the table.

“Well that’s actually not what I said about heading those agencies, we’re going to have a medical doctor and we’ll have a PhD at those agencies but I've also promised to bring a reckoning to all the medical bureaucracy for how they handled COVID,” DeSantis said.

“And so someone like RFK Jr., he's been right on Fauci and has identified the problems with the COVID lockdown. So I want to have a taskforce that's got bipartisan support, that can go in hold these people accountable, because this can never happen to our country again, what they did by closing schools, closing businesses doing all that, that laid waste to communities across this country. They have never been held accountable, so we need accountability."

“So that was the issue that I said I consider.”

Watch the video below or click the link.

At least two lawmakers on Friday hit back at Samuel Alito over the Supreme Court justice’s suggestion that that the nation’s highest court is above congressional scrutiny.

“What a surprise, guy who is supposed to enforce checks and balances thinks checks shouldn’t apply to him. Too bad!” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted after Alito was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article suggesting that Congress has no oversight role over the Supreme Court.

“Corruption and abuse of power must be stopped, no matter the source. In fact, the court should be *most* subject to scrutiny, bc it is unelected & life appointed.”

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Ca.) tweeted: “Dear Justice Alito: You’re on the Supreme Court in part because Congress expanded the Court to 9 Justices.”

“Congress can impeach Justices and can in many cases strip the Court of jurisdiction. Congress has always regulated you and will continue to do so. You are not above the law.”

Alito said to the WSJ in comments that inspired the blowback that, “Congress did not create the Supreme Court”—the Constitution did.”

“I know this is a controversial view, but I’m willing to say it,” he says. “No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period.”

David B. Rivkin Jr. and James Taranto write for the WSJ that “The political branches have other weapons they could deploy against the court. The Constitution doesn’t specify the number of justices, so Congress could pack the court by enacting legislation to expand its size. Last week a pair of leftist law professors issued an ‘open letter’ urging President Biden to ‘restrain MAGA justices’ by applying their rulings as narrowly as possible. The day the court decided Biden v. Nebraska, striking down Mr. Biden’s student-loan forgiveness plan, the president announced that he was undertaking legally questionable alternatives.”

Alito warned that erosion of confidence in the Supreme Court could have unintended consequences.

“If we’re viewed as illegitimate, then disregard of our decisions becomes more acceptable and more popular. So you can have a revival of the massive resistance that occurred in the South after Brown.”

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney and Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann on Thursday suggested that bringing Donald Trump to court ahead of the 2024 election is weighing heavily on special counsel Jack Smith.

Weissmann during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight” was responding to a question from Wagner over the extent to which the timeframe of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ decision on whether to indict Trump in the investigation of the former president on allegations he interfered with the 2020 election in Georgia was impacting Smith’s decision.

“How firm do you think the thinking is? Should we suppose that this sort of deadline that Jack Smith needs to get this done before the Fulton County DA Fani Willis releases her potential indictment? How serious of a time a deadline is that do you think to the special counsel’s office?” Wagner asked Weissmann.

“So I think that the deadline that that he might be thinking about is in part Fani Willis, but more so if you're thinking that the American public should have the benefit of the trial and seeing the evidence, whether you were able to prove the case or not, that that should happen before the election,” Weissmann said.

“I think that is what's weighing on Jack Smith and his prosecutors, and I think that's the reason that they will be going as fast as they can to bring this to a conclusion because it's already going to be a very tight timeframe to be able to accomplish that goal, and so I think that's the reason that we're seeing them act so quickly, and so it's not surprising to me given just how much is on Jack Smith’s plate and how quickly he is operating that we're hearing about additional leads and additional matters for him to follow up on, because he has really done a Herculean job, when you think about how recently he was appointed, and how much he has accomplished since that time.”

Watch the video below or click the link.

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Despite a series of embarrassments over the ongoing investigations of Hunter Biden, Republicans are continuing their push to find politically damaging information about the president’s son, Vanity Fair reports.

Molly Jong-Fast writes for Vanity Fair that “You’d think that House Republicans might have slowed their roll after the man they pushed as their star whistleblower against Hunter Biden, Gal Luft—an Israeli-American dual citizen who claimed to have compromising information on President Joe Biden and his son—was charged with serious crimes last November."

"Or especially when, per the recently unsealed indictment, it became clear that those crimes included being an unregistered foreign agent for China, trafficking arms, breaking international sanctions, and making false statements to federal officials.”

But Jong-Fast writes that House Republicans are doing the exact opposite “Instead, charging full speed ahead in defense of their missing whistleblower during last week’s ultra-mortifying House Judiciary Oversight hearing.

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) told Jong-Fast that the GOP’s obsession with culture wars has injected “stupidity” into today’s Republican party, warning that this development could have consequences.

“No one or nothing in America is safe from the sheer stupidity of modern Republican politics,” Torres said, adding that the GOP have “become monomaniacally anti-woke culture warriors whose ever-lengthening list of targets include acronyms like DEI and ESG, Barbie, gas stoves, Hunter Biden, trans people.”

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Ca.) said the dynamics of today’s GOP politics has turned the traditional structure of governance on its head.

“Typically the Speaker of the House sets a party’s agenda in Congress. But there is no functional leader of the House Republican Party,” Swalwell told Jong-Fast.

“Instead, it’s made up of an ensemble cast of chaos agents providing a comedy of errors each week Congress is in session.”

But whether Democrats can take advantage of GOP stupidity is an open question, Jong-Fast writes, noting that Rep. Ro Khanna said in an emailed statement to Vanity Fair that “from attacking the Trump-appointment head of the FBI to jamming through amendments restricting abortion access and targeting transgender service members in the defense bill, last week was a reminder of growing extremism in the House.”

“Democrats need to do more to call this out and highlight how out of touch the current agenda is with what Americans actually care about. There should be less time spent on conspiracy theories and regressive, unpopular policies and more time spent on bringing back manufacturing and lowering the cost of gas and food.”

Read the article here.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Tuesday called the special counsel’s target letter to Donald Trump in connection with efforts to overturn the 2020 election “outrageous” and suggested the so-called deep state represents the “most dangerous thing happening in our country.”

Greene during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” responded to Trump’s announcement that he received a target letter from special counsel Jack Smith.

Trump on Tuesday morning in a post on his Truth Social website called the latest development in his ongoing legal woes: “HORRIFYING NEWS."

“It’s outrageous, I can't believe that this is going on,” Greene said. “This has been happening for eight years to President Trump and every single time over and over, he's been proven innocent and the American people will not tolerate this.”

The far-right congresswoman then took aim at the special counsel.

“I mean, look at Jack Smith,” Greene said. “He's such a lousy attorney. He's got overturned cases, mistrials and judicial rebukes and he has his target set on President Trump. And it's all to basically change the 2024 election.”

Asked if she believes the investigation is a form of election interference, Greene said, “I do, I absolutely do."

“It's the same thing we saw with the Hunter Biden laptop. They want to control the narrative in the news, and they believe that they can paint President Trump guilty of some kind of seditious conspiracy. They believe they can convince the American people that they can't elect President Trump and that they have to reelect Joe Biden.”

Ingraham asked Greene her assessment of what populist conservatives call the deep state.

“How significant is this problem of that entrenched bureaucracy of career civil servants working and burrowed in against any – I don't care if it's Trump or DeSantis, or someone else. – Working against his or her agenda in the future? How critical is this that this be finally tackled once and for all?” Ingraham asked.

“It’s the most dangerous thing happening in our country,” Greene said.

“I listened to everything you just laid out and I want you to know it should be a lesson for every single person in Washington. Everything you said is exactly how people in my district feel at home. It's how the American people feel. They don't want the career, establishment Washington, federal employees coming up with the policies and making the decisions on their behalf.”

Watch the video below or click here.

A federal judge on Friday ordered failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, along with her attorney Alan Dershowitz and fellow right-wing fringe candidate Mark Finchem, to pay a $122,000 fine for their pursuit of a “frivolous” lawsuit to overturn the 2022 election, The Messenger reports.

Lake has filed multiple lawsuits in connection with the 2022 election, of which one lists Finchem, a member of the extremist Oath Keepers who lost his bid to become Arizona’s Secretary of State, as a co-plaintiff, the report said.

Adam Klasfeld writes for The Messenger that, “After Lake and Finchem’s lawsuits failed, the fallout over their efforts began.”

Klasfeld notes that a federal judge in December described the allegations that were the basis for lawsuits filed by Lake, Finchem and Dershowitz as “false, misleading and unsupported.”

Dershowitz has since distanced himself from Lake’s lawsuits, according to the report, noting that the former Harvard professor claimed he isn’t an election denier but that his signature appears on the complaint in connection with a narrow constitutional issue.

U.S. District Judge John J. Tuchi reduced Dershowitz’s fine but didn’t completely buy the former O.J. Simpson lawyer’s argument.

“Mr. Dershowitz’s involvement in this case was indeed limited and he made an effort — albeit a misguided one — to communicate his limited role,” Tuchi’s ruling states.

“He did so apparently after discussing the issue with other attorneys and scholars. He therefore claims, with some credibility, to have committed nothing more than an ‘honest mistake.’”

Read the full article here.

Local GOP officials said they weren’t notified that white supremacist Nick Fuentes was invited to speak before an Arizona College Republicans event scheduled for later this month, Arizona Mirror reports.

One invited speaker claims organizers lied to her to secure her acceptance to appear at the event, the report said. Jake Angeli-Chansley, the Jan. 6 rioter also known as the QAnon Shaman who also accepted an invitation to appear before the group, earlier in the day expressed disgust after learning Fuentes was scheduled to appear at the event.

The annual convention for the College Republicans United groups scheduled to be held in Prescott is being organized by the group’s Arizona State University chapter.

The group is known to support Fuentes and has previously hosted white nationalist speakers.

The Maricopa County Republican Committee issued a statement Monday distancing itself from the event but didn’t specifically mention Fuentes.

“The #MCRC never authorized, sponsored, or promoted the upcoming July 30 College Republicans United convention,” the group tweeted.

“Any placement of "MCRC" or "Maricopa GOP" etc on anything associated with the CRU event is unauthorized. Thank you.”

The Pima County Republican Party issued a similar statement.

“The Pima County Republican Party” holds true to the values of the Republican party, upholds the principles of the Constitution, The Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the laws of the state of Arizona and that of our country,” the statement said.

The role of Maricopa, Pima and Yavapai Republican parties surfaced Monday morning when Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer shared a flier promoting the event on social media.

For Donald Trump to have any chance at winning the 2024 presidential election, he has to win swing states such as Nevada. But he has a funny way of endearing himself to their voters.

The former president’s comments over the weekend to a Nevada news outlet are unlikely to garner new fans in the Silver State.

Trump said Nevada is “disgraceful” when asked about its elections that have been trending Democrat in recent decades in an interview Saturday with the Nevada Globe during the former president’s Las Vegas campaign stop.

Trump was asked how he plans to win the state after losing it in the last presidential election. No Republican presidential candidate has won the Silver State since 2000.

The Globe noted that Nevada’s Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo won election despite losing its two largest counties (Clark County by six points and Washoe County by two points).

“You lost Nevada twice. How do you win Nevada?” the outlet asked Trump.

Trump disputed the premise of the question before trashing Nevada.

“I think I won the last time. I think I won both times, by a lot,” he said.

“This is a state that is disgraceful.”

Trump said his campaign sued Nevada alleging “they robbed the vote a level.”

“We had a lawsuit that was so good and the judge didn’t want to see it. He didn’t even want to see it.

“We had a lawsuit that was, in my opinion, conclusive.”

Trump blamed former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, his longtime ally who lost a U..S Senate bid in 2022 in Nevada. Laxalt now backs Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his former Naval training officer roommate, in the 2024 presidential race.

“But, you know, we have guys like Laxalt. Laxalt was a very weak candidate. He was pathetic,” Trump said.

“I helped Laxalt do the best he could. I guess his grandfather was strong. His father was good. But, I guess the chain got weaker and weaker.

“But, Adam Laxalt is a stiff and he didn’t do the job. He was a lawyer. He was working for a lot of different people on trying to do the vote thing, but he wasn’t the right guy.

“We have great people working now. We have great lawyers working.”

Read the full article here.

Katie Hobbs hit back after a reporter from a far-right outlet hounded the Arizona governor at her gym, video posted on social media shows.

The Gateway Pundit reporter is heard shouting questions based on baseless conspiracies about her 2022 election victory over Kari Lake at the governor as she is seen walking swiftly down a hallway.

The reporter, who identifies himself as Jordan Conradson, hounds Hobbs as she walks through hallways at the gym accompanied by security.

“I have some questions about the election in Arizona,” he’s heard in the video asking Hobbs.

Conradson asks Hobbs to respond to unsubstantiated allegations that Maricopa County improperly conducted “secret” tests on voting equipment.

He later asks her to respond to the suggestion that mail-in votes were cast improperly.

An annoyed Hobbs at the end of the video tells him:

“Give it a (expletive) rest, Jordan. I’m at the gym.”

Gateway Pundit describes the meeting between Hobbs and Conradson as a chance encounter and calls the governor a “potty mouth.”

Watch the video below or click the link.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ flagging presidential campaign hasn’t yet developed a coherent strategy, New York Times senior political correspondent Maggie Haberman said Friday.

“There is a lot about the DeSantis candidacy that is contradictory,” Haberman said during an appearance on “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.”

Haberman noted that DeSantis’ comments during a recent Fox News interview in which the Florida governor acknowledges Republicans need to appeal to centrists, is at odds with his effort to appeal to Donald Trump’s MAGA base.

“At the end of the day people do want to win though and you know, you can't win with just Republicans voters,” DeSantis said in the interview, a portion of which Blitzer played video from during the panel discussion.

“I think we showed in Florida, if you want a big victory, you got to win independent voters, you’ve got to win people who haven't voted for our party in the last several cycles. I've shown I can do that, and I think we can do it nationally.”

Haberman noted several aspects of DeSantis’ campaign that do not appear to be “linear.”

“He deplores pollsters and yet he's quoting polls in that same interview that you talked about,” Haberman said.

“He talks about electability, and yet he's taking positions that are running harder and harder to the right, which helps him in a place like Iowa, but that is not necessarily helpful in a place like New Hampshire, and as you point out, not helpful in places like the suburbs.”

Haberman also noted a video produced by a pro-DeSantis super PAC that’s been widely condemned as homophobic, even by some in his own party.

“His campaign tweeted out a video that the campaign didn't even make that was decried as homophobic pretty broadly and he defended that video even though he had an opportunity not to,” Haberman said.

“There's a wide swath of voters in the general election that could be troubling to so yes, I think he is he is doing things that are not linear, and it's not entirely clear what the point is sometimes day to day.”

Watch the video below or click the link here.

CNNIUS 07 07 2023 18 29 29www.youtube.com

A former Georgia election director whose role in the aftermath of the 2020 election is under investigation has been hired to run a special election in another county, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Misty Hampton in her previous role as election director in Coffee County allowed tech experts hired by former Donald Trump attorney Sidney Powell to copy confidential election data in January, 2021, the report said.

The data was later distributed through a file-sharing website to advance conspiracy theories.

Hampton’s hiring to run a Treutlen County special election has drawn scrutiny from other elections officials, according to the report.

The AJC’s Mark Niesse writes that, “Investigators for the secretary of state’s office took Treutlen County’s elections server in April after learning Hampton had managed special elections there in spring 2021. It’s unknown whether Hampton allowed outside access to elections equipment in Treutlen as she did in Coffee.”

A spokesman for the secretary of state’s office confirmed to the AJC that the Treutlen County server investigation is ongoing.

“This office takes elections security seriously and wants to preserve public trust,” Mike Hassinger told the outlet.

Treutlen County Manager T.J. Hudson told the AJC he hadn’t sought the County Commission’s approval before hiring Hampton. She is being paid $20,000 for the temporary job, the report said.

“You have to have a certified person to run elections in the county. We didn’t have anybody that we could reach out to. I reached out to her,” Hudson told commissioners during a June 5 meeting. “There have not been any problems.”

Read the full article here.

Calls for U.S. attacks on Mexican drug cartels, recently discussed in secret if at all, have become a loudly expressed talking point for Republicans who are trying to exploit the violent rhetoric for political gain, columnist Jean Guerrero wrote for The Miami Herald Thursday.

Guerrero notes that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent promises to deploy the military against drug cartels, along with his support for executing smugglers and his assertion that “you absolutely can use deadly force,” typify a new tone DeSantis and other Republican presidential candidates have struck in recent months that makes “Build the Wall” seem quaint by comparison.

Guerrero writes that “Republican politicians are now expressing their bloodlust in public. As ‘Build the Wall’ loses its edge, ‘Bomb the Mexicans’ is becoming mainstream in the GOP.”

DeSantis isn’t alone, Guerrero writes, noting that Donald Trump has called for attacking the cartels “just like we took down ISIS.”

Guerrero contends that Republicans aren’t making a good faith argument, and that their rhetoric has more to do with racism than finding solutions to the ongoing opioid crisis.

Guerrero writes that “The idea exploits the grief of tens of thousands of Americans who’ve lost loved ones to fentanyl, sometimes made in Mexico with chemicals from China. Republican bills in Congress seek to authorize military force in Mexico. Other legislation would designate cartels in Mexico as foreign terrorist organizations or classify fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.”

“No politician has proposed bombing the U.S. corporations behind thousands of opioid-related deaths, but why would they? To rally American support for state violence, bloodmongers need racism.”

Guerrero notes that Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) has warned that such proposals could serve to lay the groundwork for a potential Mexican invasion.

Guerrero writes that “If Americans understood the economic realities of what drives drug trafficking and migration from the region — including the role U.S. corporations play in propping up corrupt local elites — they wouldn’t be advocating for more bloodshed. But Republican politicians aren’t interested in finding solutions for reducing migrants or for families harmed by opioid addiction. They’re into political gain, by any means necessary.”

Read the full article here.

Former FBI agent Pete Strzok on Wednesday trolled Donald Trump over sensitive classified documents the former president stored at Mar-a-Lago that have landed him in legal jeopardy.

Trump is facing federal charges on allegations he mishandled the classified documents he retained after his presidency. Trump has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to all charges in a historic 38-count indictment.

Strzok tweeted a screenshot showing unverified photos taken from the social media site Post that he says cast serious doubt on the claim of the president’s defenders that the documents were secure.

The photos are from a Dec. 8, 2021, gathering at the Trump’s Florida property in which the former president endorsed Anna Paulina Luna’s congressional run.

That’s the same day Trump aide Walt Nauta found boxes of classified documents spilled on the floor and stored haphazardly in photos released by the Department of Justice.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Mar-a-Lago was secure,” Strzok tweeted sarcastically, adding “Here’s a nighttime photo of the open outer door to the storage area *on the same day* Nauta found the boxes w/ spilled docs.”

Strzok then twists the knife.

“What was going on that night?" he wrote on Wednesday. "A big party for Trump to endorse Anna Paulina “Mole Named ‘One-Eye’” Luna.”

A prominent legal analyst on Tuesday called on law enforcement to hold Donald Trump accountable for the Jan. 6 insurrection and subsequent actions, citing the recent arrest of a Jan. 6 defendant found heavily armed near former President Barack Obama’s Washington D.C. home.

NBC News legal analyst Glenn Kirschner in a YouTube video said President Joe Biden had been asked by world leaders why Trump hadn’t yet been held to account for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Taylor Taranto, 37 of Seattle, had two guns, 400 rounds of ammunition, and a machete in his van that he appeared to be living in when he was arrested Thursday, NBC News reports.

“Yesterday leaders from around the world you know, the heads of democracies around the globe, are asking President Biden why? Why hasn't Donald Trump been held accountable for the insurrection?” Kirschner said.

“We don't know what President Biden tells them in reply, but Donald Trump's continued, supremely dangerous conduct going unaddressed by our law enforcement authorities is so infuriating.”

Kirschner said Trump poses an ongoing threat to public safety and American democracy.

“I am sick and tired of Donald Trump endangering our communities, endangering our society and endangering American democracy with nothing being done to address the danger,” Kirschner said.

Kirschner in the video notes that Trump on his Truth Social website posted Barack Obama’s Washington D.C. home address, which Taranto reposted.

Kirschner in a description of the video described the posting of Obama’s address as “a staggering show of disregard for the safety of another former president.”

Taranto traveled to the nation’s Capital on the invitation of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca.), who offered Jan. 6 defendants an opportunity to view security footage from the insurrection for use in their defense.

“It's so disheartening, it's so corrosive to the rule of law. It's the antithesis of justice,” Kirschner said of Trump’s actions.

“And justice matters.”

Watch the video below or click here.

Trump's danger continues: he posts Obama's home address; armed Trump supporter heads to the addressyoutu.be

The leader of a far-right anti-government group sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy in connection with Jan. 6 warned Donald Trump that the former president is about to get “railroaded” by prosecutors, The Washington Times reports.

Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes told the outlet he believes special counsel Jack Smith will use the same playbook that was used to put him behind bars in an interview at the Central Detention Facility in Washington.

Rhodes believes Smith is working to turn Trump’s inner circle against him to silence potential witnesses who could exonerate the former president.

“They’re going to do the same thing to President Trump that they did to me,” said Rhodes, who is being kept in isolation according to the report.

Trump is facing a 37-count federal indictment on allegations he mishandled classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and a separate 34-count felony indictment in Manhattan over alleged hush money payments to Stormy Daniels.

He is also being investigated separately by Smith over his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection and in Fulton County, Georgia for interfering with the 2020 election in that state.

Rhodes, who founded the Oath Keepers in 2009, is a a Yale Law School graduate and former Army paratrooper.

He along with Oath Keepers Florida Chapter leader Kelly Meggs were convicted in November of seditious conspiracy at the end of a two-month federal trial.

They are among 11 Jan. 6 defendants who so far have been charged with seditious conspiracy, of which eight have been convicted or pleaded guilty. The three others were convicted of less serious felony charges.

“You’re going to get railroaded. You’re going to be found guilty if you try to go to trial. So everyone’s been demoralized and more likely to take a plea deal, and agree to ‘test-a-lie’ against President Trump.”

Read the full article here.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Friday slammed John Roberts after the Supreme Court’s Chief Justice complained about criticism over the court’s string of decisions that have overturned decades of precedent and roiled progressives since conservatives took a 6-3 majority.

AOC called out Roberts after Fox News tweeted an image featuring a quote from Roberts describing criticism of the court’s ruling as “disturbing.”

“It has become a disturbing feature of some recent opinions to criticize the decisions with which they disagree,” Roberts said.

Fox News tweeted that Roberts “calls out Democrats demonizing the Supreme Court opinions they don't like.”

AOC wasn’t having it.

She referenced recent reporting from ProPublica that raised ethical questions over Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito accepting gifts and vacations from wealthy donors.

“What’s actually disturbing is the feature of the Roberts Court to accept lavish gifts from billionaires, hide that fact, & then rule in their favor,” the progressive congresswoman tweeted.

“It would be an insult to democracy to respect this conduct. Legitimacy is not a birthright - it is earned. They are destroying it”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) echoed AOC’s sentiments.

“The hypocrisy is clear,” Schumer tweeted.

“As justices accept lavish, six-figure gifts, they don’t dare to help Americans saddled with student loan debt, instead siding with the powerful, big-monied interests.”

Donald Trump on Tuesday falsely claimed he’s the first person to be prosecuted under the Espionage Act in a social media post.

“This case is about THE PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT, affirmed by the CLINTON SOCKS CASE! Has nothing to do with the made up tale of the Espionage Act of 1917, which has never even been used!” the former president wrote on his Truth Social website.

Trump isn’t even the only person charged under the Espionage Act in recent months. Airman Jack Teixeira was charged under the act just over two months ago.

The Espionage Act, first passed in 1917 at the urging of former President Woodrow Wilson with the intention of shutting down dissent, has been used to prosecute spies and leakers, The New York Times reports.

Other high-profile defendants charged under the Espionage include Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in the 1950s, who were charged on allegations they provided nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union, and former CIA Aldrich Ames, who was charged for unmasking informants to the Soviet Union, and former FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who received a life sentence for sharing secrets with the Russians.

The former president without evidence also alleged that special counsel Jack Smith and federal law enforcement agencies leaked audio from the former president’s Bedminster golf club.

“Why did Deranged Jack Smith and the DOJ/FBI leak a tape to Fake News CNN, phony spin and all? Will they be prosecuted for this illegal act? Pure SCUM!” Trump wrote.