Donald Trump Announces 2016 White House Bid

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'Baked Alaska' pleads guilty to misdemeanor for role in U.S. Capitol riot
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Kanishka Singh
Publishing date:Jul 22, 2022 • 11 hours ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation

WASHINGTON — The far-right media personality known as “Baked Alaska” pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday to a single misdemeanor charge stemming from his role in the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.


Anthime “Tim” Gionet, 34, also admitted in an “statement of offense” filed with his guilty plea in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to being part of the mob that entered the Capitol without authorization and occupied the building for hours.

The riot left more than 140 police officers injured and disrupted congressional certification of the November 2020 presidential election victory of Democrat Joe Biden over Trump, who led Republicans in falsely claiming he lost due to widespread fraud and urged supporters to “stop the steal.” The attack on the Capitol also led to several deaths.

Gionet, a banned YouTube prankster and former BuzzFeed social media strategist calling himself Baked Alaska, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawfully “parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.”


The misdemeanor offense carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a fine up to $5,000. Sentencing was set for Jan. 12. He remains free on personal recognizance.

In his statement, Gionet acknowledged egging on other rioters to “come in” and “make yourself at home,” as well as livestreaming the event for 27 minutes in real time over the video platform DLive and joining in various chants.

Gionet also filmed himself pretending to make a call from a Senate conference room and propped his feet up on a table in another Senate office, admonishing others “not to break anything,” before eventually being ushered to an exit by law enforcement whom he cursed as “oath-breakers,” the statement said.

More than 850 people have been charged with taking part in the Jan. 6 riot, with more than 325 guilty pleas so far.

As part of his plea deal with federal prosecutors, Gionet agreed to allow federal agents still investigating the events of Jan. 6 to interview him and review his social media accounts for statements and postings surrounding that day.
 

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Donald Trump and Mike Pence back in Washington for rival speeches
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jill Colvin
Publishing date:Jul 26, 2022 • 18 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation

WASHINGTON — Former U.S. President Donald Trump is returning to Washington on Tuesday for the first time since leaving office, delivering a speech hours after former Vice President Mike Pence, a potential 2024 rival, who called on the Republican Party to stop looking backward.


Trump’s appearance in the nation’s capital — his first trip back since Jan. 20, 2021, when President Joe Biden was sworn into office — comes as some who are mulling White House bids have been increasingly willing to challenge him directly. They include Pence, who on Tuesday outlined his “Freedom Agenda ” not far from where Trump was to speak before an allied think tank that has been crafting an agenda for a possible second term.

While Trump still often complains about the election he falsely claims was stolen from him a year and a half ago, Pence said, “Some people may choose to focus on the past, but elections are about the future.”

“I believe conservatives must focus on the future to win back America,” Pence said before the Young America’s Foundation, a student conservative group. “We can’t afford to take our eyes off the road in front of us because what’s at stake is the very survival of our way of life.”


The former White House partners are making dueling appearances again after campaigning for rival candidates in Arizona on Friday. Their separate speeches come amid news that Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, has testified before a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Short was at the Capitol that day as Pence fled an angry mob of rioters who called for his hanging after Trump wrongly insisted Pence had the power to overturn to the election results.

Asked about the growing divide between Trump and himself, a man who was once the former president’s most loyal sidekick, Pence said the two don’t differ on issues.

“But we may differ on focus. I truly do believe that elections are about the future and that it’s absolutely essential, at a time when so many Americans are hurting and so many families are struggling, that we don’t give way to the temptation to look back,” he said.


On Tuesday, Simon & Schuster announced the title of Pence’s upcoming book, “So Help Me God,” which will be published in November. The publisher said the book is the “most robust defence of the Trump record of anyone who served in the administration,” but also “chronicles President Trump’s severing of their relationship on January 6, 2021, when Pence kept his oath to the Constitution.”

Allies have urged Trump to spend more time talking about his vision for the future and less time relitigating the 2020 election as he prepares to announce an expected 2024 White House campaign.

He has spent much of his time since leaving office spreading lies about his loss to sow doubt about Biden’s victory. Indeed, even as the House Jan. 6 committee was laying bare his desperate attempts to remain in power and his refusal to call off a violent mob of his supporters as they tried to halt the peaceful transition of power, Trump has continued to try to pressure officials to overturn Biden’s win, despite there being no legal means to decertify it.


In his speech Tuesday, Trump planned to focus on public safety, said his spokesperson, Taylor Budowich.

Republican Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said he’d be among several GOP senators planning to attend Trump’s speech.

“You’re going to hear the same thing that you hear at all the other speeches,” Tuberville told reporters at the Capitol. “But, you know, go down there and listen, as a lot of us will.”

The nonprofit America First Policy Institute, which is holding the two-day America First Agenda Summit, is composed of former Trump administration officials and allies and is widely seen as an “administration in waiting” that could quickly move to the West Wing if Trump should run again and win.

Beyond the summit, staff at the America First Policy Institute have been laying their own groundwork for the future, “making sure we do have the policies, personnel and process nailed down for every key agency when we do take the White House back,” said Brooke Rollins, president of the America First Policy Institute.

The group is one of several Trump-allied organizations that have continued to push his polices in his absence, including America First Legal, dedicated to fighting Biden’s agenda through the court system, the Center for Renewing America and the Conservative Partnership Institute.

AP writer Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
 

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Donald Trump ignores Republican calls to avoid repeating false election claims in speech
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
David Morgan and Eric Beech
Publishing date:Jul 26, 2022 • 10 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the America First Agenda Summit, at the Marriott Marquis hotel on
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump ignored pressure from some fellow Republicans to avoid repeating his false claims about a stolen 2020 election on Tuesday, insisting that he won his second bid for the White House and would not allow his perceived enemies to bar a return.

In his first speech in Washington since leaving office 18 months ago, the former U.S. president stopped short of declaring his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election but predicted Republicans would retake the Senate, House of Representatives and the White House.

“I ran the first time and I won. Then I ran a second time and I did much better … and you know what? That’s going to be the story for a long time, what a disgrace it was. But we may just have to do it again,” Trump said in a 93-minute speech to the conservative America First Policy Institute.



Mike Pence, who was vice president under Trump and may seek the White House in 2024, distanced himself from Trump’s repeated election falsehoods, saying at a separate event earlier in the U.S. capital that conservatives needed to focus on the future to win.

“I don’t know that the president and I differ on issues. But we may differ on focus. I truly do believe that elections are about the future,” Pence said across town at the Heritage Foundation think tank.

“In order to win, conservatives need to do more than criticize and complain. We must unite our movement behind a bold, optimistic agenda,” he said.

Trump used his speech to paint a picture of an America plagued by crime, violence, drugs and invasions of illegal migrants. He predicted a future federal government controlled by Republicans that he said should impose the death penalty on drug dealers, use the National Guard to stop violence in states and cities and relocate the urban homeless to tent encampments on the outskirts of U.S. cities.


Last week the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol depicted Trump as ignoring pleas of family and aides to intervene as he watched his supporters on live TV attack the seat of Congress for hours in a failed bid to stop certification of his loss.

Trump dismissed the panel as “hacks and thugs.”

“They really want to damage me so I can no longer go back to work for you. And I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Trump said.

Trump remains the leading figure in the Republican Party. But while he flirts with a 2024 presidential run, his standing has weakened slightly, with some 40% of Republicans saying he is at least partly to blame for the Jan. 6 riot compared with 33% in a poll conducted as the hearings got under way six weeks ago, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.


The Jan. 6 committee is trying to build a case that Trump’s efforts to overturn his defeat by Democrat Joe Biden in November 2020 constitute dereliction of duty and illegal conduct, rendering him unfit to return to the White House.

Waning popularity could encourage potential rivals to run, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is among those maneuvering for possible Republican primary challenges in 2024.

Signs of new momentum have emerged in a U.S. Justice Department probe into the Capitol assault and an alleged scheme by Trump allies to overturn the election with fake electors.

Former top Pence aide Marc Short last week became the highest profile official to appear before a federal grand jury investigating the two issues.
 

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Donald Trump ignores Republican calls to avoid repeating false election claims in speech
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
David Morgan and Eric Beech
Publishing date:Jul 26, 2022 • 10 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the America First Agenda Summit, at the Marriott Marquis hotel on
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump ignored pressure from some fellow Republicans to avoid repeating his false claims about a stolen 2020 election on Tuesday, insisting that he won his second bid for the White House and would not allow his perceived enemies to bar a return.

In his first speech in Washington since leaving office 18 months ago, the former U.S. president stopped short of declaring his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election but predicted Republicans would retake the Senate, House of Representatives and the White House.

“I ran the first time and I won. Then I ran a second time and I did much better … and you know what? That’s going to be the story for a long time, what a disgrace it was. But we may just have to do it again,” Trump said in a 93-minute speech to the conservative America First Policy Institute.



Mike Pence, who was vice president under Trump and may seek the White House in 2024, distanced himself from Trump’s repeated election falsehoods, saying at a separate event earlier in the U.S. capital that conservatives needed to focus on the future to win.

“I don’t know that the president and I differ on issues. But we may differ on focus. I truly do believe that elections are about the future,” Pence said across town at the Heritage Foundation think tank.

“In order to win, conservatives need to do more than criticize and complain. We must unite our movement behind a bold, optimistic agenda,” he said.

Trump used his speech to paint a picture of an America plagued by crime, violence, drugs and invasions of illegal migrants. He predicted a future federal government controlled by Republicans that he said should impose the death penalty on drug dealers, use the National Guard to stop violence in states and cities and relocate the urban homeless to tent encampments on the outskirts of U.S. cities.


Last week the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol depicted Trump as ignoring pleas of family and aides to intervene as he watched his supporters on live TV attack the seat of Congress for hours in a failed bid to stop certification of his loss.

Trump dismissed the panel as “hacks and thugs.”

“They really want to damage me so I can no longer go back to work for you. And I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Trump said.

Trump remains the leading figure in the Republican Party. But while he flirts with a 2024 presidential run, his standing has weakened slightly, with some 40% of Republicans saying he is at least partly to blame for the Jan. 6 riot compared with 33% in a poll conducted as the hearings got under way six weeks ago, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.


The Jan. 6 committee is trying to build a case that Trump’s efforts to overturn his defeat by Democrat Joe Biden in November 2020 constitute dereliction of duty and illegal conduct, rendering him unfit to return to the White House.

Waning popularity could encourage potential rivals to run, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is among those maneuvering for possible Republican primary challenges in 2024.

Signs of new momentum have emerged in a U.S. Justice Department probe into the Capitol assault and an alleged scheme by Trump allies to overturn the election with fake electors.

Former top Pence aide Marc Short last week became the highest profile official to appear before a federal grand jury investigating the two issues.
If they truly had something on him, Trump would have been indicted by a Grand Jury instead of made for prime time TV pageant of bullshit.
 

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Trump uses presidential seal at New Jersey golf club amid ethics complaints
Author of the article:Washington Post
Washington Post
Mariana Alfaro, Rick Maese and Ellen Francis, The Washington Post
Publishing date:Jul 29, 2022 • 1 day ago • 2 minute read • 21 Comments

Former president Donald Trump was spotted using the presidential seal on multiple items during the LIV Golf tournament at his Bedminster, N.J., golf course.


The seal was plastered on towels, golf carts and other items as the former president participated at the pro-am of the Saudi-sponsored tournament Thursday.

It is against federal law to use the presidential and vice-presidential seals in ways that could convey “a false impression of sponsorship or approval by the Government of the United States.”

While violating this law could result in imprisonment of “not more than six months,” a fine, or both, these punishments are rarely doled out.

This is not the first time the display of the seal has been reported at Trump properties. The logo appeared on a marker at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Fla. in an Instagram post earlier this year, according to Forbes. WNYC and ProPublica reported in 2018 that the Trump Organization ordered golf course markers with the emblem on them.


Last year, a Washington D.C.-based watchdog group accused his Bedminster golf club of profiting from using images of the presidential seal.

“Unlawful use of the presidential seal for commercial purposes is no trivial matter, especially when it involves a former president who is actively challenging the legitimacy of the current president,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said when it filed the 2021 complaint.

As Trump teed off Thursday at the latest LIV Golf Invitational Series tournament, the event was closed to the public but open to media.

This week marks the third event of the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series, which Trump has joined forces with in Bedminster in the face of criticism, and its second in the United States.

The former president was asked whether he had any regrets that the golf club was hosting a LIV Golf event rather than a tournament sanctioned by the U.S. Golf Association or PGA Tour.

“No, no regrets. That’s their problem,” he said. “This course blows every other course away.”

Asked by a reporter whether he intended to announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election, he said: “You’re going to be so happy . . . We’ll let you know pretty soon.”
 

taxslave

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Donald Trump ignores Republican calls to avoid repeating false election claims in speech
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
David Morgan and Eric Beech
Publishing date:Jul 26, 2022 • 10 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the America First Agenda Summit, at the Marriott Marquis hotel on
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump ignored pressure from some fellow Republicans to avoid repeating his false claims about a stolen 2020 election on Tuesday, insisting that he won his second bid for the White House and would not allow his perceived enemies to bar a return.

In his first speech in Washington since leaving office 18 months ago, the former U.S. president stopped short of declaring his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election but predicted Republicans would retake the Senate, House of Representatives and the White House.

“I ran the first time and I won. Then I ran a second time and I did much better … and you know what? That’s going to be the story for a long time, what a disgrace it was. But we may just have to do it again,” Trump said in a 93-minute speech to the conservative America First Policy Institute.



Mike Pence, who was vice president under Trump and may seek the White House in 2024, distanced himself from Trump’s repeated election falsehoods, saying at a separate event earlier in the U.S. capital that conservatives needed to focus on the future to win.

“I don’t know that the president and I differ on issues. But we may differ on focus. I truly do believe that elections are about the future,” Pence said across town at the Heritage Foundation think tank.

“In order to win, conservatives need to do more than criticize and complain. We must unite our movement behind a bold, optimistic agenda,” he said.

Trump used his speech to paint a picture of an America plagued by crime, violence, drugs and invasions of illegal migrants. He predicted a future federal government controlled by Republicans that he said should impose the death penalty on drug dealers, use the National Guard to stop violence in states and cities and relocate the urban homeless to tent encampments on the outskirts of U.S. cities.


Last week the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol depicted Trump as ignoring pleas of family and aides to intervene as he watched his supporters on live TV attack the seat of Congress for hours in a failed bid to stop certification of his loss.

Trump dismissed the panel as “hacks and thugs.”

“They really want to damage me so I can no longer go back to work for you. And I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Trump said.

Trump remains the leading figure in the Republican Party. But while he flirts with a 2024 presidential run, his standing has weakened slightly, with some 40% of Republicans saying he is at least partly to blame for the Jan. 6 riot compared with 33% in a poll conducted as the hearings got under way six weeks ago, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.


The Jan. 6 committee is trying to build a case that Trump’s efforts to overturn his defeat by Democrat Joe Biden in November 2020 constitute dereliction of duty and illegal conduct, rendering him unfit to return to the White House.

Waning popularity could encourage potential rivals to run, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is among those maneuvering for possible Republican primary challenges in 2024.


Former top Pence aide Marc Short last week became the highest profile official to appear before a federal grand jury investigating the two issues.
Signs of new momentum have emerged in a U.S. Justice Department probe into the Capitol assault and an alleged scheme by Trump allies to overturn the election with fake electors.
Which would be difficult as the Deumbocraps already signed most of the fake electors.
 

spaminator

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Dick Cheney calls Trump a 'coward' in ad for daughter Liz
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Meg Kinnard
Publishing date:Aug 04, 2022 • 15 hours ago • 3 minute read • 38 Comments

Former Vice President Dick Cheney excoriated Donald Trump in a new campaign video for his daughter Rep. Liz Cheney, calling the former president a “coward” and saying there has never been anyone who is a “greater threat to our republic.”


The video was released Thursday by Rep. Cheney’s reelection campaign, two weeks before a Republican primary election in Wyoming that the three-term congresswoman is bracing to lose. Echoing the criticism his daughter has made of Trump, Dick Cheney denounced him as a danger to the country through his relentless lies about the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

“In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney said. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him.

“He is a coward,” Dick Cheney said. “A real man wouldn’t lie to his supporters. He lost his election, and he lost big. I know it, he knows it, and deep down, I think most Republicans know it.”


A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the video.

Trump has made defeating Liz Cheney a top goal since she joined nine other House Republicans in voting to impeach him for inciting the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol. She further infuriated him by becoming vice chair of the House committee investigating the riot.

Trump has endorsed lawyer Harriet Hageman in Cheney’s primary. As the congresswoman has focused her energy on digging in to Trump’s role surrounding the Jan. 6 violence, Hageman has barnstormed the state, courting small, rural crowds in the traditional mold of Wyoming politicking, an approach more like the one Cheney herself used to top a crowded Republican primary field to win the state’s lone House seat in 2016.


Dick Cheney, who served eight years as President George W. Bush’s vice president, has made no secret of his disdain for Trump and the members of his own party who, particularly in the wake of the Capitol riot, shied away from efforts to remove Trump from office.

In January, Dick Cheney and his daughter were the only two Republicans to attend a pro forma session of the House on the anniversary of riot at the Capitol, sitting together in the front row on the Republican side of the chamber.

“Well, it’s not a leadership that resembles any of the folks I knew when I was here for 10 years,” Dick Cheney said after that gathering, noting the absence of other Republicans in the chamber of which he was a member in the 1980s.

Liz Cheney has faced other fallout from her vote to impeach Trump and join the Jan. 6 House committee. Several months after the impeachment vote, the House GOP dumped her from the No. 3 leadership post for her persistent repudiation of Trump’s election claims. Federal and state election officials and Trump’s attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the 2020 election was tainted.

Asked if he was disappointed by the move, Dick Cheney replied: “My daughter can take care of herself.”

In the new video, the former vice president lauds his daughter for “standing up for the truth, doing what’s right, honoring her oath to the constitution, when so many in our party are too scared to do so.”

“There is nothing more important she will ever do than lead the effort to make sure that Donald Trump is never again near the Oval Office, and she will succeed,” Cheney said. “I proudly voted for my daughter. I hope you will, too.”
 

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Dick Cheney calls Trump a 'coward' in ad for daughter Liz
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Meg Kinnard
Publishing date:Aug 04, 2022 • 15 hours ago • 3 minute read • 38 Comments

Former Vice President Dick Cheney excoriated Donald Trump in a new campaign video for his daughter Rep. Liz Cheney, calling the former president a “coward” and saying there has never been anyone who is a “greater threat to our republic.”

“In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney said. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him.
"And I should know," Cheney continued. "I did my best to be as great a threat to our republic as I possibly could, but DAMN! he's good!"
 
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spaminator

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Alaska officers violated policy in 'white privilege' traffic stop
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Publishing date:Aug 04, 2022 • 1 day ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Two Anchorage police officers violated department policy during a traffic stop last month when a woman in town for a rally by former President Donald Trump showed them a “white privilege card” instead of a driver’s licence and was not ticketed, an Alaska newspaper reported.


However, it’s not clear what policy was violated or what disciplinary actions the two officers faced, if any, because the department is treating it as a confidential personnel matter, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

Mimi Israelah said in a Facebook post that she was pulled over for weaving at 3:43 a.m. on July 9 while driving to a pizzeria in Anchorage after arriving on an early-morning flight from California for Trump’s rally.

She couldn’t find her driver’s licence, she wrote on Facebook in a now-deleted post.

“When I saw my White Privilege card, I gave to him if it’s ok,” she wrote. “He laughed and called his partner. It’s their first time to see a White Privileged (sic) card,” she said.



The top of the novelty card reads: “White Privilege Card Trumps Everything.”

Israelah in her Twitter biography describes herself as Pinay, or a woman of Filipino origin.

A video apparently taken by Israelah of the encounter has been reposted on Twitter. Two officers are seen standing outside her car window. She asks one, “You like my White Privilege card?” One officer says, “That’s hilarious.”

Anchorage police officers identified in the incident were Nicholas Bowe and Charles Worland.

Deputy Chief Sean Case said some people who saw the post had negative reactions to it, and believed it was inappropriate. “We recognize that,” he said.

Israelah was not cited during the stop. She did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.


Anchorage municipal code requires that all drivers carry their licence at all times when operating a vehicle. Police spokesperson Sunny Guerin said police can do a computer check to determine if a person has a valid driver’s licence.

Police Sgt. Jeremy Conkling, president of the police union, said officers have discretion and generally don’t write citations for minor offences, like not having a physical licence present.

“Especially in this circumstance, where you had a very, very low-level minor offence and the officers are really just focused on trying to find DUIs – I’m not at all surprised they didn’t write a citation. I don’t know that a lot of officers would have written that citation, if any,” Conkling said.


However, Celeste Hodge Growden, president of the Alaska Black Caucus, said she wonders if the lack of citation was tied to the novelty card.

“Is it because the white privilege card was effective?” she asked.

Worland and Bowe were placed on administrative during the 11-day investigation, Case said. Police would not provide additional information about the internal investigation, including which policies were violated and what, if any, repercussions the officers faced.

“The investigation regarding the incident is completed and is a part of confidential personnel files that will not be released publicly,” Guerin said.

Another police spokesperson said both officers remain employed by the department.

Hodge Growden said she wants the police department to accept accountability for what happened and be transparent about any disciplinary actions the officers faced. This could have been a teachable moment, she said.
 

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Feds seek 8-year prison term for off-duty cop who stormed Capitol
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Michael Kunzelman
Publishing date:Aug 05, 2022 • 22 hours ago • 3 minute read • Join the conversation

Federal prosecutors are recommending an eight-year prison sentence for an off-duty Virginia police officer who was convicted by a jury of storming the U.S. Capitol to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.


Former Rocky Mount Police Sgt. Thomas Robertson used his law enforcement training to block police officers who were trying to protect the Capitol from a mob’s attack on Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutors said in a court filing Thursday supporting their sentencing recommendation.

“Instead of using his training and power to promote the public good, he attempted to overthrow the government,” they wrote.

An eight-year prison sentence would be the longest among hundreds of Capitol riot cases. The lengthiest so far is seven years and three months for Guy Reffitt, a Texas man who attacked the Capitol while armed with a holstered handgun.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper is scheduled to sentence Robertson next Thursday. Prosecutors also asked the judge to sentence Robertson to three years of supervised release after any prison term.


Robertson’s attorney, Mark Rollins, is seeking a sentence below a sentencing guidelines range of 27 to 33 months of imprisonment. Prosecutors estimate a sentencing guidelines range of 87 months to 108 months, but Cooper isn’t bound by any of those estimates or recommendations.

Robertson didn’t testify at his trial before a jury convicted him in April of all six counts in his indictment, including charges that he interfered with police officers at the Capitol and that he entered a restricted area with a dangerous weapon, a large wooden stick.

Robertson’s lawyers said the U.S. Army veteran was using the stick to help him walk because he has a limp from getting shot in the right thigh while working as a private contractor for the U.S. Defense Department in Afghanistan in 2011.


In their sentencing memo, prosecutors accused Robertson of lying about his military service. Robertson identified himself on his resume as a U.S. Army Ranger school graduate, but his official military records don’t support that claim, prosecutors said. They said Robertson also lied to a reporter about receiving a Purple Heart.

Robertson’s jury trial was the second for a Capitol riot case. Reffitt’s was the first. Jurors have unanimously convicted seven riot defendants of all charges in their respective indictments.

Robertson traveled to Washington, D.C., on the morning of Jan. 6 with co-worker Jacob Fracker and a third man, a neighbor. Fracker also was an off-duty Rocky Mount police officer. He was scheduled to be tried alongside Robertson before he pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and agreed to cooperate with authorities.


Fracker testified at Robertson’s trial that he initially believed that he was merely trespassing when he entered the Capitol building. But he ultimately pleaded guilty to conspiring with Robertson to obstruct Congress.

Robertson’s lawyers conceded that he broke the law when he entered the Capitol during the riot. They encouraged jurors to convict Robertson of misdemeanor offenses but acquit him of felony charges.

Jurors saw some of Robertson’s posts on social media before and after the Capitol riot. In a Facebook post on Nov. 7, 2020, Robertson said “being disenfranchised by fraud is my hard line.”

“I’ve spent most of my adult life fighting a counter insurgency. (I’m) about to become part of one, and a very effective one,” he wrote.


In a letter addressed to the judge, Robertson said he takes full responsibility for his actions on Jan. 6 and “any poor decisions I made.” He blamed the vitriolic content of his social media posts on a mix of stress, alcohol abuse and “submersion in deep ‘rabbit holes’ of election conspiracy theory.”

“I sat around at night drinking too much and reacting to articles and sites given to me by Facebook” algorithms, he wrote.

The town fired Robertson and Fracker after the riot. Rocky Mount is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Roanoke and has roughly 5,000 residents.

Robertson has been jailed since Cooper ruled last year that he violated the terms of his pretrial release by possessing firearms.

Roughly 850 people have been charged with federal crimes for their conduct on Jan. 6. Over 350 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanor offenses, and over 220 have been sentenced so far.
 

spaminator

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Alaska cops in hot water for letting woman go after she flashed ‘white privilege’ card
Author of the article:Denette Wilford
Publishing date:Aug 05, 2022 • 19 hours ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation
Trump-loving Mimi Israelah holding up sign of Donald Trumps face.
Trump-loving Mimi Israelah holding up sign of Donald Trumps face. PHOTO BY MIMI ISRAELAH /Facebook
A woman showed police officers in Alaska her “white privilege” card instead of her driver’s licence during a traffic stop and they let her go without a citation.



The Anchorage cops are now in trouble because they violated department policy, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

It’s unclear what policy was violated or what disciplinary action was taken against the two officers, if any, but it’s being treated as a confidential personnel matter, officials said.

While Deputy Chief Sean Case said the department always has room for changes or addition to their training, the incident involving Mimi Israelah did not lead to any policy updates, the outlet reported.


Israelah was stopped by officers on July 7, according to her since-deleted Facebook post in which she took a selfie holding up a “white privilege card” with one of the officers smiling outside the car.

The Filipina noted she was stopped after picking up pizza and couldn’t find her driver’s license, so she instead showed police the card she bought from a novelty website.


The card reads: “White Privilege Card Trumps Everything.”

Mimi Israelah at Trump rally. (Facebook)
Mimi Israelah at Trump rally. (Facebook) PHOTO BY MIMI ISRAELAH /Facebook
In a video apparently taken by Israelah and reposted on Twitter, she asks the officers if they like the card, and one responds, “That’s hilarious.”

The cops claimed that Israelah showed no signs of impairment and was free to go on her way.

“We recognize that the post, what was contained in that post, caused a bit of a public uproar, and there were a lot of people that saw that and did not like that post and had negative reactions to that — thought it was an inappropriate post — and we recognize that,” Case said.
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'DARK TIMES': Trump says FBI conducted search at his Mar-a-Lago estate
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Eric Tucker
Publishing date:Aug 08, 2022 • 7 hours ago • 3 minute read • 19 Comments
Supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump stand outside his residence in Mar-A-Lago, Florida on August 8, 2022.
Supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump stand outside his residence in Mar-A-Lago, Florida on August 8, 2022. PHOTO BY GIORGIO VIERA /AFP via Getty Images
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI searched former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as part of an investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence, people familiar with the matter said Monday. Trump disclosed the action in a lengthy statement, asserting that agents had broken into his safe in a search he decried as evidence of “dark times for our nation.”

The search, which the FBI and Justice Department did not immediately confirm, marks a dramatic escalation in law enforcement scrutiny of Trump and comes amid a separate but intensifying probe into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump and his allies immediately sought to cast the search as part of a Democratic-driven effort to keep him from winning another term in 2024, even though the Biden White House said it had no prior knowledge of it and the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, was appointed by Trump five years ago and served as a high-ranking official in a Republican-led Justice Department.

“After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,” Trump said in his statement.

He added: “These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents. Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before.”

Justice Department spokesperson Dena Iverson declined to comment on the search, including about whether Attorney General Merrick Garland had personally authorized the search.

Trump did not elaborate on the basis for the search, but the Justice Department has been investigating the potential mishandling of classified information after the National Archives and Records Administration said it had retrieved from Mar-a-Lago 15 boxes of records containing classified information earlier this year.

The National Archives referred the matter to the Justice Department. Trump has previously maintained that presidential records were turned over “in an ordinary and routine process.”

There are multiple federal laws governing the handling of classified records and sensitive government documents, including statutes that make it a crime to remove such material and retain it at an unauthorized location.

Two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said the search happened earlier Monday and confirmed that agents were also looking to see if Trump had additional presidential records or any classified documents at the estate.

Though a search warrant does not suggest that criminal charges are near or even expected, federal officials looking to obtain one must first demonstrate to a judge that they have probable cause that a crime occurred.

In his first public remarks since news of the search surfaced, Trump made no mention of it Monday evening during a tele-town hall on behalf of Leora Levy, the Connecticut Republican he has endorsed in Tuesday’s U.S. Senate primary to pick a general election opponent against Democratic U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Trump gave his public backing to Levy late last week, calling her on Monday the best pick “to replace Connecticut’s joke of a senator.”

But in a social media post Monday night, he was much more unguarded, calling the search a “weaponization of the Justice System, and attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024.”

During the 2016 presidential election, Trump sought to exploit an FBI investigation into his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, over whether she mishandled classified information through a private email server she used as Secretary of State. Then-FBI Director James Comey concluded that Clinton had sent and received classified information but the FBI did not recommend criminal charges because it determined that Clinton had not intended to break the law.

Trump lambasted that decision and then stepped up its criticism of the FBI as agents began investigating whether his campaign had colluded with Russia to tip the 2016 election. He fired Comey during that probe, and though he appointed Wray months later, he routinely criticized him too while he was still president.

The probe is hardly the only legal headache confronting Trump. A separate investigation related to efforts by Trump and his allies to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election — which led to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol — has also been intensifying in Washington.

And a district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, is investigating whether Trump and his close associates sought to interfere in that state’s election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden.
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