‘Big Lie’ Testimony from Thomas

False Claims – Virginia Thomas clung to false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), chairman of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, told reporters after the wife of the Supreme Court justice testified before the panel Thursday, the Associated Press reports. 

Thomas answered some of the questions from investigators, who chiefly wanted to know about texts between her and alleged coup plotter attorney John Eastman in early January 2021, as she “sought to portray herself as among many Americans” who believe former President Trump’s Big Lie.

•••

Your Comments are welcome, whether you are left or right. If you consider yourself liberal, add your comments to the box in this column. If you are conservative, please go to the comment box in the right column. Or email editors@thehustings.news and tell us how you lean, politically, in the subject line.

--TL

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…meanwhile…

(FRI 9/30/22)

UPDATE: House Passes CR -- The House passed the continuing resolution extending the current fiscal year budget beyond its Friday midnight expiration, to December 16. President Biden will have signed it ASAP.

Here are the 10 House Republicans who joined all the Democrats in the House of Representatives to pass the bill, according to The Hill: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, Garret Graves of Louisiana, Chris Jacobs of New York, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, Hal Rogers of Kentucky, Fred Upton of Michigan and Steve Womack of Arkansas.

•••

New Sanctions on Russia as Putin Claims Four Territories – The White House announced a new round of sanctions on Russian government and military officials and their families, per The Hill, in response to President Vladimir Putin’s forced annexation through sham referenda of four regions of Ukraine. The sanctions by the Treasury, Commerce and State departments target the governor of Russia’s Central Bank and former Putin advisor Elvira Sakhipzadovna Nabiullina, more than 100 members of Russia’s Duma, members of the country’s National Security Council, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, among others. In addition, 57 entities will be restricted from obtaining key technologies and other materials. 

Meanwhile: Ukrainian military forces say they have surrounded enemy troops in Lyman, hub of the Russian military in Donetsk, one of four eastern and southeastern regions Putin claimed in a ceremony Friday, according to the Daily Beast, which calls it Putin’s most humiliating defeat by Ukraine yet. It “could be one of the most serious Russian military losses of the war so far,” according to the report.

•••

House’s Turn – The Senate Thursday passed a continuing resolution funding the federal government at current levels through December 16, and now it’s the House’s turn. Failure to do so before midnight Friday, the end of the fed’s fiscal year, would shut down key Social Service, IRS services and national parks, The Washington Post notes.

•••

Cannon v. Dearie – Federal Judge Aileen Cannon Thursday overruled Special Master Raymond Dearie’s order that Donald J. Trump’s attorneys clarify whether they believe the former president’s claims that the FBI lied in its seizure of government documents at Mar-a-Lago August 8 (WaPo again).

Upshot: Dearie’s ruling last week would have forced Trump’s lawyers to deny his claims that more than 100 documents in the seizure were not classified or face potential perjury. As the judge who appointed Dearie the special master in Mar-a-Lagogate, Cannon has the power to do that. Trump’s appointment of Dearie as lame duck after he lost the 2020 election is paying off for him, and is continuing to slow the case well past the midterms and toward a possible GOP takeover of House and Senate majority rule.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Impeach Biden?

Impeachment Talk – Bumper sticker began to appear on cars parked near Capitol Hill by January 21, 1993: “Impeach Clinton.” Yes, the bumper sticker referred to the newly inaugurated president, William Jefferson Clinton, who as it turned out would be impeached nearly six years later. 

Twenty-plus years earlier, “impeach” became a household word in this country -- a word that took on extra meaning during Donald J. Trump's two impeachments -- and so it’s not surprising that the word comes up from hardcore members of the opposition party to any president in his (or her, if/when that happens) first term. 

In his CNN newsletter, The Point! Thursday, Chris Cilizza writes, “Republicans are already talking about it.” This assumes, of course, that the GOP will gain the majority in the House next year, and maybe the Senate, which Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) admits could go four votes either way (and not enough to overcome filibusters). 

Cilizza says Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) made a little-noted statement on NBC News’ Meet the Press last Sunday that should get much more attention. 

“I believe there’s pressure on the Republicans to push that forward and have that vote,” she told Chuck Todd.

--TL

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Preserving Democracy

Electoral Count Heads for Reform – Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have endorsed the Electoral Court Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, (per The Washington Post), designed to prevent the sort of scheme that sparked the January 6 Capitol attack. The Senate is expected to easily pass the bill this week, co-sponsored by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Manchin (D-WV). It is similar to a House bill passed earlier in the week, and so Congress has ample time before the November midterm elections – and potential flip of the House – to fix the Electoral College Act of 1887.

•••

Scroll down using the far-right track bar to read pundit Ken Zino’s left-column preview of the now-delayed House Select Committee hearing on the Capitol attacks, “Where’s the Beef?”

Comment in the box in the left or right columns, or email editors@thehustings.news.

_____

…meanwhile…

(THU 9/29/22)

Senate Votes to Fund Fed to December 16 – The Senate passed a continuing resolution to fund the federal government past its midnight Friday fiscal year deadline and on to December 16, The Washington Post reports. The vote was 72-25. The CR includes $12.4 billion for military and diplomatic assistance to Ukraine, and $18.8 billion for domestic disaster recovery efforts.

•••

Ginni Thomas Testifies – Virginia Thomas “was seen on Thursday appearing to testify behind closed doors” before the House 1/6 panel, NPR reports. The appearance of the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas “stretched” into Thursday afternoon. She offered no comments to reporters afterward. 

House Select Committee member Pete Aguilar (D-CA), declined to comment on her voluntary appearance, but said the panel will later share information Thomas provided that’s relevant to the public. The ninth and likely final public hearing by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol was postponed from Wednesday because of Hurricane Ian’s impending impact on Florida. No make-up date has been announced.

•••

CR Vote Teed Up for Friday – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has filed cloture, pushing Republicans to keep negotiating to fund the federal government through December 16, ahead of the end of the fiscal year midnight Friday, Punchbowl News reports. Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) were still trying to work to set the time for the vote on the continuing resolution. 

Democratic and Republican leaders believe they will reach a deal possibly as early as Thursday, though these CRs historically have pushed up to the deadline – and you can count on senators like Ted Cruz (R-TX) to disrupt the timing as much as possible.

Let the campaigning commence: Whenever the CR is passed, Congress goes on recess as the calendar turns to October, when the Senate is in session only the second and third full weeks, after Columbus Day, and the House is out until after the November 8 midterm elections. The Supreme Court is back in session Monday, October 3.

•••

Sham Signing Ceremony – Russian President Vladimir Putin formally seizes four regions of Ukraine where sham referendums were held early this week. The signing ceremony to be held Friday at the Grand Kremlin Palace claims the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia for Putin’s Mother Russia, The Washington Post reports.

Meanwhile: The Pentagon Wednesday announced more long-range rocket artillery systems headed for Ukraine. That’s the good news – this is the artillery that has been so effective at pushing back Russian troops. The not-so-good news is that these systems are not yet built, meaning we’re expecting years of Ukraine’s fight for democracy against Russia.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

...meanwhile... (WED 9/28/22)

Senate to Pass CR – The Senate is expected to pass a continuing resolution funding the federal government beyond Friday and prevent a partial shutdown, to December 16, including $13.7 billion in additional aid to Ukraine (per NPR). Republicans have rejected White House requests for $22.4 billion in emergency COVID relief and $4.5 billion for monkeypox treatments, however. The Senate moved the CR forward with a 72-23 procedural vote Tuesday.

McConnell v. Manchin: “Manch gets Mitched” reads the Politico story heading describing how Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) had tried to attach legislation to overhaul energy project permitting to the spending stopgap bill. 

Manchin had a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to provide the vote needed to pass the Inflation Reduction Act in exchange for heavy Democratic support for the energy permitting legislation.

Upshot: “Energy permitting legislation” would seem a sure-thing for Republican support. But Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) reportedly torpedoed his caucus’ support because Manchin traded his vote on the Inflation Reduction Act for sufficient Democratic backing on the permitting provision -- McConnell’s “spite” trumps bipartisan comity once again. Manchin may have the opportunity to attach the provision to the annual defense bill, or lame-duck government spending, Politico says.

•••

Leave Russia – Americans already in Russia are urged to leave, and any U.S. citizens planning to travel there should cancel plans, the U.S. Embassy there says, as President Vladimir Putin calls up 300,000 reservists to join the attack on Ukraine (per The Hill).

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

DeSantis, Biden Pledge Cooperation

Hurricane Ian – Winds were clocked at 155 mph Wednesday morning, NPR reports, nearing Category 5 status as the storm headed from the coast of Cuba toward the Gulf Coast of Florida, and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Biden pledged “close cooperation,” Politico reports. More than 2 million residents were ordered to leave home.

“That doesn’t mean you need to go all across God’s creation to evacuate,” DeSantis said. “Just get to the higher ground and get into a safe structure.”

Please direct comments on the latest news in the right or left columns, or email editors@thehustings.news.

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Where’s the Beef? 1/6 Hearing Curtain Raiser

By Ken Zino

With the republic facing another public hearing by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol Wednesday, let’s take a look at the fast-breaking developments last week of Donald J. Trump versus the United States of America. Part of the committees’ remit is “to strengthen the security and resilience of the United States and American democratic institutions against violence, domestic terrorism, and domestic violent extremism.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta in a stinging rebuke of Judge Aileen Cannon’s contrary decision, agreed with the Justice Department to let the FBI reclaim access and use 100 classified documents (and “papers physically attached to them”) taken from Trump’s residence in Florida while conducting a legal search. The Trump-appointed (just after the 2020 election) Cannon had ruled that DOJ was not to present “the seized materials to a grand jury and (use) the content of the documents to conduct witness interviews as part of a criminal investigation.” 

Trump’s preposterous argument that he de-classified the documents, either verbally or non-verbally was not addressed by his attorneys (mindful of their own futures if they advised Trump otherwise since there are clear procedures for de-classification?) was rejected completely in the appellate court ruling that said the law should not give Trump special treatment no matter what he was or is. So damaging was the ruling apparently to Cannon’s future career that she cancelled her stay against the use of the documents on the very evening the Court of Appeals issued the reproach.

Then came the special master that the Cannon ruling specified … as part of her egregious opinion in favor of the legally imperiled Trump and his attorneys. Enter special master Raymond J. Dearie, semi-retired judge from the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He was proposed by Trump’s attorneys and DOJ agreed that he read and sort through 11,000 records or documents that left the White House and turned up in the long-delayed August 8 search of Mar-a-Lago, after more than a year of DOJ maneuvering to get the National Security documents returned.

Dearie, who clearly is tired of all the lies and false arguments floating about in Trump-land in effect said, “Where’s the beef?” Dearie issued an order after the appellate court ruling asking Trump’s lawyers to let him know if there were any discrepancies between the documents that were kept at Mar-a-Lago and those the FBI said it had hauled away. He was countering false allegations that the FBI planted documents. Where’s your evidence, Trump? 

This whole sordid affair would be farce if it solely existed on a Broadway stage: Mari Lago Magic Wand Madness Review and the Art of the Steal. The absurd jokes and steady laughter start as the curtain rises. A president can declassify simply by thinking about it, Trump told Sean Hannity. Guffaw. And the FBI in its legal search was really looking for the deleted e-mails of Hillary Clinton. Guffaw, guffaw. If they are deleted how would Trump have possession of them? Guffaw, guffaw, guffaw. If Trump had them, he certainly would have used them during the last 18 months when he illegally removed presidential records from the White House. Right? Guffaw. Guffaw, guffaw, guffaw. 

Enter stage left, the New York attorney general with fraud charges, looking to fine Trump $250 million and stop him from doing business ever again in the state. Another “witch hunt” claim is not enough. Trump counters by appearing at his own rallies as a QAnon true believer and booster. Wait, there’s a last-minute script change. It’s Trump and company who are the Satan-worshipping pedophiles in our midst sucking the blood of our children so they won’t live to defend our democracy. 

Curtain for the Mari Lago Magic Wand Madness Review and Art of the Steal?

As grim as Trump’s legal prospects look, there’s also the prospect of conspiracy charges over the 1/6 mob’s effort to have Mike Pence hanged, and ongoing election interference charges in Georgia. Perhaps now, finally, the GOP establishment has had enough. Nonetheless, all the investigations and potential charges haven’t significantly changed people’s views of him, a New York Times/Siena College poll found.

I’m not looking forward to a sequel. Let’s hope the backers -- the institutions and people who support American democracy -- turn off the money and shut Trump and the Art of the Steal down. The show’s over. 

_____

…meanwhile…

(TUE 9/27/22)

1/6 HEARING DELAYED -- The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol has delayed its ninth, and potentially last, public hearing originally scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday, because of Hurricane Ian brewing off the Florida coast, NPR reports. The make-up date and time is to be announced later.

•••

Continuing Resolution Update – The White House has asked for a continuing resolution extending the fiscal year past Friday with $47 billion in short-term spending, including $13.7 billion for additional aid to Ukraine, Government Executive reports (govexec.com). The CR also would include $22.4 billion in short-term COVID needs, $4.5 billion for monkeypox vaccinations, testing and treatments, and $6.5 billion to help tribes and territories deal with natural disasters and extreme weather events. 

Bipartisan support: The additional aid to Ukraine has sufficient bipartisan support in the Senate, NPR’s Morning Edition says, where 60 votes are needed for passage. That’s at least 10 Republicans as well as all the Democrats, of course. We’ll be watching to see which MAGA-leaning Republican senators support the vote.

•••

Cost of College Debt Forgiveness – President Biden’s plan to cancel student debt will cost $420 billion, of which $20 billion is the extension of a pause on student loan payments, according to the Congressional Budget Office, per The Washington Post. The number is roughly equal to the cost of the $1,400 stimulus checks mailed to Americans for pandemic relief at the beginning of the Biden administration. 

Upshot: Cancelling student debt always was going to be a major issue for the midterm elections, with Republican candidates objecting to shifting the student loan payments from former students and their families to taxpayers.

•••

Jury Selection for Oath Keepers Trial – A federal trial for the far-right Oath Keepers for allegedly helping organize the January 6 Capitol insurrection begins Tuesday, NPR reports. Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and his co-defendants are accused of spending months recruiting, training and conspiring to use force to prevent the transfer of power from Donald J. Trump to Joe Biden, according to Morning Edition. The alleged plot included storing guns in Washington, D.C., for a quick reaction force to rush into the city on January 6, if necessary.

•••

Fake Disinformation Accounts for War in Ukraine – Facebook and Instagram owner Meta was used for hundreds of fake social media accounts and sham news websites that attempted to advance Russia’s cause in its invasion of Ukraine, the Associated Press reports. The scheme involved more than 60 websites designed to mimic legitimate news outlets, including the United Kingdom’s Guardian and Germany’s Der Spiegel that spread Kremlin talking points about President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Meta said Tuesday.

Note: The Guardian is among news outlets aggregated by our daily coverage. We always go directly to theguardian.com, not via social media.

•••

On Italy’s Right-Turn – Italy’s new coalition government, led by far-right Brothers of Italy candidate Giorgia Meloni, who becomes the prime minister replacing technocrat Mario Draghi, “threatens to fragment the European Union when unity is more urgent than ever,” Nicholas Lokker and Jason C. Moyer write for The Wilson Center (wilsoncenter.org). While Meloni’s new coalition government has been described as Italy’s most conservative since World War II, the new prime minister has repeatedly expressed support for Ukraine to maintain its democracy in its fight against Russian aggression.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

_____________________________________

What's Up This Week (MON 9/26/22)

Hearing IX – Potentially the last public hearing of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is scheduled for this Wednesday beginning 1 p.m. Eastern time. 

“It is possible that it’s the last,” committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) told NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday. “But as we continue to work, we wouldn’t rule out the possibility of an additional public hearing.”

The 1/6 panel may be running out of time as the GOP probably retakes the House of Representatives in the November 8 midterms. 

Meanwhile, the committee also will interview conservative activist and Supreme Court justice-spouse Virginia Thomas, who exchanged emails with John Eastman, the attorney seen as instrumental in planning alleged Trump White House attempts to reverse the election results. 

“Eastman is the architect of the scheme that one federal judge has described as criminal, and we’d like to learn more about it,” Lofgren said.

Left-column preview: Be sure to read pundit Ken Zino’s Hearing IX “Curtain Raiser” in the left column.

•••

Senate and House Schedules – Both chambers are off Monday, with the Senate returning Tuesday, as Rosh Hashana concludes, through Friday. The House is in session Wednesday through Friday. 

Critical CR: Both the House and Senate must pass a continuing resolution this week to avoid partial shutdown of the federal government. The fiscal year ends Friday. 

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

On the Right

The midterm elections are quickly approaching. If the Republican Party retakes the House of Representatives, there will be precious little time for the Justice Department to follow up on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection’s findings. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) already has made it clear a flip of his chamber means an investigation of the investigators. 

In today’s left column, pundit Ken Zino lays out the current state of the cases against former President Trump. 

What do you think? Comment in the box below or email editors@thehustings.news.

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It’s About Hillary’s Emails

Donald J. Trump still hasn’t explained why he took more than 11,000 government documents, including more than 100 confidential papers, that the FBI found at Mar-a-Lago August 8. He does have a theory of why the FBI searched his Florida estate in the first place.

“There’s also a lot of speculation because of what they did, the severity of the FBI coming and raiding Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said in an “exclusive” interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News. “Were they looking for the Hillary Clinton emails that were deleted but they are around someplace? They may have thought that it was in there!”

The ex-president also repeated on Hannity his claim that he declassified the documents seized by the FBI: "There doesn't have to be a process ... I declassified everything..." even by thinking about it. To repeat, Trump's attorneys avoided repeating this explanation in court so to avoid potential perjury.

Comment in the box below or email editors@thehustings.news.

_____

…meanwhile…

Russia Holds Sham Referendums in Ukraine – ‘Voting’ held by Russia in parts of four eastern and southeastern regions of Ukraine began Friday and continues through Tuesday, NPR reports. The “referendums” to hand parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia over to Russia are illegal under Ukrainian and international law. President Biden has called the referendums a “sham,” and locals, many of whom are reported leaving ahead of the “voting” have described to Morning Editionthe same sort of “voting” in Crimea eight years ago by armed soldiers going door-to-door with paper ballots.

Thread of anti-democratic threats: Voter suppression can come in many forms, whether door-to-door balloting by armed soldiers or false claims of a “stolen election”
 and legislation that could allow state legislators to overturn the popular vote. 

Note: No reaction, yet, from Donald J. Trump, the former president who last February called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “genius” and “savvy.” … “He used the word ‘independent’ and “we’re gonna go in and we’re gonna help keep peace.’”

•••

Preventing a Shutdown? – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) took preliminary steps Thursday toward passing a continuing resolution (CR) to prevent a partial shutdown of the federal government when the fiscal year ends next Friday, September 30, CQ Roll Call reports. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters the House is ready to take up consideration of the CR next week under its “same-day rule” authority. The CR would kick that funding can down to December 16.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

_____________________________________

(THU 9/22/22)

Go, DOJ – It’s back on, the Justice Department’s review of more than 100 classified documents among 11,000 federal government papers seized by the FBI from Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and private club. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Federal District Judge Aileen Cannon’s ruling for the appointment of a special master, NPR’s Morning Editionreports. The higher court did not buy Trump’s argument that he de-classified the documents – either verbally or non-verbally, a point his attorneys have not argued – and instead ruled that the law should not give Trump special treatment. 

Trump’s court score: 1-3. Cannon, appointed by Trump after he lost the 2020 election, granted the former president’s request for a special master. That special master, Judge Raymond Dearie, was favored by Trump’s attorneys for the role, but indicated earlier this week he would allow DOJ to resume reviewing the records. Two of the three judges on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals also were Trump appointees and ruled unanimously in favor of the Justice Department (the third was appointed by President Obama), NPR says. 

Dearie’s not done: The special master will continue to review documents seized that are not marked “confidential.”

•••

1/6 Panel to Interview Ginni Thomas – Conservative activist, Trump supporter and wife of a Supreme Court justice, Virginia Thomas has agreed to sit for an interview with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, CNN reported late Wednesday (hat tip to Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay, who has suggested the House panel’s full name should be repeated often). 

“I can confirm that Ginni Thomas has agreed to participate in a voluntary interview with the committee,” her attorney, Mark Paoletta, said in a statement (per The New York Times). 

The House committee requested an interview with Thomas in June, after texts between the wife of SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas and Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and especially conservative attorney John Eastman came to light. The texts were exchanged on and around January 6, 2021.

The House Select Committee is scheduled to hold its final public hearing Wednesday, September 28.

•••

DOJ Investigates MyPillow Guy – The pillow company CEO’s name, Mike Lindell, will become better-known. The Hillreports that the Justice Department is investigating Lindell over potential identity theft and damage to a protected computer in connection with a breach of Mesa County, Colorado’s voting system. The FBI seized the MyPillow Guy’s – er, Lindell’s – mobile phone last week at a Hardee’s drive-through in Mankato, Minnesota. 

•••

To Prevent Another 1/6 – The House Wednesday passed the Presidential Election Reform Act, 229-203, written to update the 1887 Electoral Count Act that allowed challenges to the 2020 presidential election in Congress on January 6, 2021, NPR reports. The House bill was written by 1/6 Select Committee members Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). Nine Republicans joined all Democrats to pass the bill.

The 38-page bill would make it more difficult for members of Congress to stop the otherwise ceremonial Electoral College count, according to NPR’s Morning Edition. A “similar but not identical” bill that a bipartisan group of senators, led Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Susan Collins (R-ME), have been working on this year.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

Cases Against Trump

As Donald J. Trump continues to tease his fans with a possible run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, there are at least five potential legal cases against him in addition to the New York state civil case announced by Attorney Gen. Letitia James on Wednesday (scroll down with the far-right bar to read the center column news story). Those five other cases, according to Reuters, are …

•A New York state criminal investigation on tax fraud charges, related to the civil case. James said her office is working with investigators to share evidence.

•Mar-a-Lagogate. The Department of Justice may now continue to examine confidential documents seized from Trump’s Florida residence on August 8 (see …meanwhile…).

•Defamation case by former Elle magazine writer E. Jean Carroll, who sued in 2019 after Trump denied her rape allegations and countered that she was trying to sell books. In a letter made public Tuesday, Carroll’s attorney said she also intends to sue Trump for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

•The House Select Committee’s investigations into whether Trump instigated the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

•Georgia’s election tampering probe – re: the former president’s call asking to find 11,780 more votes.

Considering Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) recent warning that any criminal indictment of Trump would unleash 1/6-style riots across the country by his followers, the New York civil case may prove the most effective in stymieing the former president’s 2024 campaign dreams. As legal scholars constantly debate what it would mean to the U.S. – Trump’s political enemies as well as his MAGA followers – to potentially see him handcuffed, the relief New York Attorney Gen. James seeks would effectively shut down his businesses, including real estate deals, and potentially cost him $250 million in damages, while exposing details of his true wealth. 

What do you think? Comment in the box below or email editors@thehustings.news.

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DeSantis Sued Over Flights

Venezuelan immigrants in the U.S. legally as they seek asylum have filed a class action lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and other state officials, NPR reports, for flying them from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard under false pretenses. Calling the two flights a “pre-meditated political stunt,” some of the immigrants say they were “terrified” after being lured on to the airplanes with promises of food and shoes. DeSantis’ office says the flights were “done on a voluntary basis,” according to CNN.

Your thoughts on these flights, Vladimir Putin’s “partial military call-up,” and no cake for eating by Donald J. Trump’s attorneys in Mar-a-Lagogate are welcome in the Comment box below or by email to editors@thehustings.news.

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NY AG Sues Trump for “Massive Fraud”

(WED 9/21/22)

New York State Attorney General Letitia James (center, above) announced a $250-million-plus civil suit against ex-President Trump, his family and his company. The suit seeks to permanently bar Donald J. Trump, sons Don Jr. and Eric, and daughter Ivanka from doing business in the state, James announced in a press conference Wednesday. 

The former president also would be barred for five years from entering any commercial real estate acquisition in the state and from applying for any loans from New York-registered financial institutions.

The suit alleges Trump falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars over the years. The investigation covered 2011-2021. Of her many examples of alleged over-value, one included the former president’s own apartment at Trump Tower Manhattan, which was listed at 30,000 square-feet, roughly three times its actual size. As a result, the likely value of $127 million was inflated to $317 million in 2012, still more than any apartment sold in Manhattan.

Mar-a-Lago revenue should have been valued at less than $25 million per year, and no higher than $75 million per year – Trump valued his Florida residence and private club at $739 million, she said. No word on the value of Trump’s golden escalator.

The suit also includes these remedies:

• An independent monitor to oversee compliance, financial reporting, valuations and disclosure to tax authorities for no less than five years. 

•Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)-compliant audited statements, showing Trump’s net worth, for five years.

•Replacement of current trustees of Donald Trump’s revocable trust with independent trustees.

The suit also seeks to permanently bar former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg and controller Jeffrey McConney from serving in financial control of any New York corporation or similar entity in the state. James said former Trump fixer Michael Cohen’s testimony before Congress sparked her office’s investigation. Such alleged white-collar fraud is not “victimless” crime, she said.

“When the well-connected break the law it reduces resources to working people, to regular people, to small businesses and to taxpayers,” James remarked. 

“Claiming you have money that you do not have is not the Art of the Deal. It is the art of the steal.”

•••

Biden Speaks to UN – President Biden did not have to alter his speech much, before the 77th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in light of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bellicose statement about extending his attack on Ukraine.

“This war is about extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state,” Biden said, “plain and simple. And Ukraine’s right to exist as a people. Whoever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe, that should make your blood run cold.”

Biden equated the fight for Ukraine’s sovereignty as a democratic nation with the struggle to maintain democracy everywhere, including the U.S.

“The only country standing in the way of that is Russia,” he said. While Biden was expected to alter his remarks after Putin announced his “partial military call up” CNN reports the president’s speech written before that announcement held up.

Extending the UN Permanent Security Council: Biden noted that 141 nations share the United States’ condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He called on the UN to expand its permanent Security Council, which since its inception consists of China, France, the Russian Federation (previously Soviet Union), the United Kingdom and the U.S. Currently, any single country among these five may veto a UN resolution.

Global food security: Biden also announced $2.9 billion in federal funding to strengthen global food security. He disputed Putin’s statement that current global food insecurity is the result of Western sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. 

“Our sanctions explicitly allow Russia the ability to export food and fertilizer,” Biden said.

•••

Putin’s Not Bluffing? – Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial military call-up” mobilizing up to 300,000 reservists – falling just short of a draft -- to hold its border with Ukraine, the AP and NPR report. This has set Russians “scrambling” to buy airline tickets out of their country. In his seven-minute address Wednesday, Putin “also warned the West he isn’t bluffing about using all the means at his proposal to protect Russia’s territory,” a veiled reference to the country’s nuclear capability. 

But Russian nukes, as always, are held in-check by Western nations’ capabilities, Sergey Radchenko, professor of Russian history at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, told NPR’s Morning Edition, so Putin’s claim his sabre-rattling is not a bluff hints it is indeed a bluff. And U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink tweeted that Russia is showing “weakness” and “failure” after its escalation of the war. She vowed that the U.S. will never recognize Russia’s scheme to claim Ukrainian territory.

Radchenko said plans announced Tuesday by eastern and southern regions of Ukraine currently controlled by Russia to hold votes on becoming an integral part of Russia – which Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy has called a “sham” – is a ploy for Putin to claim that it is Ukraine doing the invading when the country tries to take back those territories.

Biden’s UN Speech: Coming up Wednesday morning, President Biden speaks before the United Nations General Assembly (which Putin will not attend, despite Russia’s membership). The White House is scrambling to rewrite Biden’s speech in light of Putin’s announcement from Moscow, MSNBC’s Morning Joe reports.

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No Cake in Mar-a-Lagogate – Special Master Raymond Dearie, the candidate of the two candidates named by Donald J. Trump’s attorneys who was agreed to by the Justice Department, “appeared skeptical” about the former president’s claim he “declassified” classified documents recovered in the FBI’s August 8 search of Mar-a-Lago, as Time put it Wednesday morning. On Tuesday, Judge Dearie told Trump’s attorneys “You can’t have your cake and eat it.” 

Upshot: Trump’s attorneys have avoided arguing that Trump had declassified the documents for fear of breaching ethics standards with an untruth.

--Edited by Todd Lassa

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COMMENTS: editors@thehustings.news

The Right on Putin

No question that “traditional” Republicans, especially the never-Trumpers, are with President Biden on U.S. support for Ukraine and against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military invasion of the country. After all, when 57 House Republicans and 11 GOP senators voted against last April’s $11.7-billion package of additional aid to Ukraine, that left 155 House Republicans and 39 GOP senators who voted in-favor. 

But the MAGA wing that still dominates the party remains ambivalent, at best, toward Zelenskyy, who as Ukraine’s newly elected president in 2019 was asked by then-President Trump in his “perfect call” to help find dirt on future First Son Hunter Biden. More recently, just last August, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbån, the sole NATO nation ally to Putin and a fierce critic of Zelenskyy addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas. 

The MAGA-right have been relatively quiet on Putin since. We want to know your take, especially from those of you on the right. What are your thoughts on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bellicose speech announcing a “partial military call-up”? Is it time for all American conservatives to back Ukraine against Russia?

While we’ve got you here, what about the special master, Judge Raymond Dearie’s indication he will not carry the water for former President Trump on classified documents seized from Mar-a-Lago? 

Hit the Comment box below or email editors@thehustings.news.

--TL

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