#House January 6 Committee

[saywhat-politics]

Pam Bondi's SHADY PAST Called Out During EXPLOSIVE Hearing

Really American host Tony Hinderman breaks down Pam Bondi's testimony in front of the House turning into a real side show!

[lauraannegilman]

Read this. Yes, it’s long. READ IT. More to the point, share this. Particularly with any undecided voters you may know. Talk with them about it.

———-

From Dr. Richardson.

“I stand corrected. I thought this year’s October surprise was the reality that Trump’s mental state had slipped so badly he could not campaign in any coherent way.

It turns out that the 2024 October surprise was the Trump campaign’s fascist rally at Madison Square Garden, a rally so extreme that Republicans running for office have been denouncing it all over social media tonight.

There was never any question that this rally was going to be anything but an attempt to inflame Trump’s base. The plan for a rally at Madison Square Garden itself deliberately evoked its predecessor: a Nazi rally at the old Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939. About 18,000 people showed up for that “true Americanism” event, held on a stage that featured a huge portrait of George Washington in his Continental Army uniform flanked by swastikas.

Like that earlier event, Trump’s rally was supposed to demonstrate power and inspire his base to violence.

Apparently in anticipation of the rally, Trump on Friday night replaced his signature blue suit and red tie with the black and gold of the neofascist Proud Boys. That extremist group was central to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and has been rebuilding to support Trump again in 2024.

On Saturday the Trump campaign released a list of 29 people set to be on the stage at the rally. Notably, the list was all MAGA Republicans, including vice presidential nominee Ohio senator J.D. Vance, House speaker Mike Johnson (LA), Representative Elise Stefanik (NY), Representative Byron Donalds (FL), Trump backer Elon Musk, Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., right-wing host Tucker Carlson, Trump sons Don Jr. and Eric, and Eric’s wife, Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump.

Libbey Dean of NewsNation noted that none of the seven Republicans running in New York’s competitive House races were on the list. When asked why not, according to Dean, Trump senior advisor Jason Miller said: “The demand, the request for people to speak, is quite extensive.” Asked if the campaign had turned down anyone who asked to speak, Miller said no.

Meanwhile, the decision of the owners of the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post not to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris seems to have sparked a backlash. As Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer noted, “in a strange way the papers did perform a public service: showing American voters what life under a dictator would feel like.”

Early on October 26, the Washington Post itself went after Trump backer billionaire Elon Musk with a major story highlighting the information that Musk, an immigrant from South Africa, had worked illegally when he started his career in the U.S. Musk “did not have the legal right to work” in the U.S. when he started his first successful company. As part of the Trump campaign, Musk has emphasized his opposition to undocumented immigrants.

The New York Times has tended to downplay Trump’s outrageous statements, but on Saturday it ran a round-up of Trump’s threats in the center of the front page, above the fold. It noted that Trump has vowed to expand presidential power, prosecute his political opponents, and crack down on immigration with mass deportations and detention camps. It went on to list his determination to undermine the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), use the U.S. military against Mexican drug cartels “in potential violation of international law,” and use federal troops against U.S. citizens. It added that he plans to “upend trade” with sweeping new tariffs that will raise consumer prices, and to rein in regulatory agencies.

“To help achieve these and other goals,” the paper concluded, “his advisers are vetting lawyers seen as more likely to embrace aggressive legal theories about the scope of his power.”

On Sunday the front page of the New York Times opinion section read, in giant capital letters: “DONALD TRUMP/ SAYS HE WILL PROSECUTE HIS ENEMIES/ ORDER MASS DEPORTATIONS/ USE SOLDIERS AGAINST CITIZENS/ ABANDON ALLIES/ PLAY POLITICS WITH DISASTERS/ BELIEVE HIM.” And then, inside the section, the paper provided the receipts: Trump’s own words outlining his fascist plans. “BELIEVE HIM,” the paper said.

On CNN’s State of the Union this morning, host Jake Tapper refused to permit Trump’s running mate, Ohio senator J.D. Vance, to gaslight viewers. Vance angrily denied that Trump has repeatedly called for using the U.S. military against Americans, but Tapper came with receipts that proved the very things Vance denied.

Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden began in the early afternoon. The hateful performances of the early participants set the tone for the rally. Early on, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who goes by Kill Tony, delivered a steamingly racist set. He said, for example: “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico.” He went on: “And these Latinos, they love making babies too. Just know that. They do. They do. There’s no pulling out. They don’t do that. They come inside. Just like they did to our country.” Hinchcliffe also talked about Black people carving watermelons instead of pumpkins.

The speakers who followed Hinchcliffe called Vice President Kamala Harris “the Antichrist” and “the devil.” They called former secretary of state Hillary Clinton “a sick son of a b*tch,” and they railed against “f*cking illegals.” They insulted Latinos generally, Black Americans, Palestinians and Jews. Trump advisor Stephen Miller’s claim that “America is for Americans and Americans only” directly echoed the statement of Adolf Hitler that "Germany is for Germans and Germans only.”

Trump took the stage about two hours late, prompting people to stream toward the exits before he finished speaking. He hit his usual highlights, notably undermining Vance’s argument from earlier in the day by saying that, indeed, he believes fellow Americans are “the enemy within.”

But Trump perhaps gave away the game with his inflammatory language and with an aside, seemingly aimed at House speaker Johnson. “I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact, he and I have a secret, we will tell you what it is when the race is over,” Trump said.

It seems possible—probable, even—that Trump was alluding to putting in play the plan his people tried in 2020. That plan was to create enough chaos over the certification of electoral votes in the states to throw the election into the House of Representatives. There, each state delegation gets a single vote, so if the Republicans have control of more states than the Democrats, Trump could pull out a victory even if he had dramatically lost the popular vote.

Since he has made virtually no effort to win votes in 2024, this seems his likely plan.

But to do that, he needs at least a plausibly close election, or at least to convince his supporters that the election has been stolen from him. Tonight’s rally badly hurt that plan.

As Hinchcliffe was talking about Puerto Rico as a floating island of garbage, Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris was at a Puerto Rican restaurant in Philadelphia talking about her plan to spread her opportunity economy to Puerto Rico. She has called for strengthening Puerto Rico’s energy grid and making it easier to get permits to build there.

After the “floating island of garbage” comment, Puerto Rican superstar musician Bad Bunny, who has more than 45 million followers on Instagram, posted Harris’s plan for Puerto Rico, and his spokesperson said he is endorsing Harris.

Puerto Rican singer and actor Ricky Martin shared a clip from Hinchcliffe’s set with his 16 million followers. His caption read: “This is what they think of us.” Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, who has 250 million Instagram followers, posted Harris’s plan. Later, singer-songwriter and actress Ariana Grande posted that she had voted for Harris. Grande has 376 million followers on Instagram. Singer Luis Fonsi, who has 16 million followers, also called out the “constant hate.”

The headlines were brutal. “MAGA speakers unleash ugly rhetoric at Trump's MSG rally,” read Axios. Politico wrote: “Trump’s New York homecoming sparks backlash over racist and vulgar remarks.” “Racist Remarks and Insults Mark Trump’s Madison Square Garden Rally,” the New York Times announced. “Speakers at Trump rally make racist comments, hurl insults,” read CNN.

But the biggest sign of the damage the rally did was the frantic backpedaling from Republicans in tight elections, who distanced themselves as fast as they could from the insults against Puerto Ricans, especially. The Trump campaign itself tried to distance itself from the “floating island of garbage” quotation, only to be met with comments pointing out that Hinchcliffe’s set had been vetted and uploaded to the teleprompters.

As the clips spread like wildfire, political writer Charlotte Clymer pointed out that almost 6 million Puerto Ricans live in the states—about a million in Florida, half a million in Pennsylvania, 100,000 in Georgia, 100,000 in Michigan, 100,000 in North Carolina, 45,000 in Arizona, and 40,000 in Nevada—and that over half of them voted in 2020.

In 1939, as about 18,000 American Nazis rallied inside Madison Square Garden, newspapers reported that a crowd of about 100,000 anti-Nazis gathered outside to protest. It took 1,700 police officers, the largest number of officers ever before detailed for a single event, to hold them back from storming the venue.”

Source and verification links:

[richdadpoor]

Website for Donald Trump's Legal Defense Fund Is Hacked

Screenshot: Lucas Ropek/Patriot Legal Defense Fund The website for former President Donald Trump’s legal defense fund appears to have been hacked and defaced over the weekend. As of the writing of this blog, the defacement is still live on the site and has not been taken down. The Patriot Legal Defense Fund is a fundraising effort launched approximately a week ago by high-level members of the…

[contemplatingoutlander]

"Donald, this is not the Soviet Union. You can’t change the truth and you cannot silence us."

--Liz Cheney (Jan. 3, 2025)

Unfortunately, trump does want to "change the truth"--and he has succeeded for millions of his gullible MAGA followers.

The Soviet Union might no longer exist, but Trump wants to turn us into the next worst thing--Putin's Russia.

Looking on X at the MAGA hate to Cheney's response, there is still all sorts of disinformation about the January 6th committee, including information taken out of context by the GOP and Trump, and outright lies. Here's an AP fact check to refute all of that.

Below the cut are the full transcripts of Cheney's response to Trump, and Trump's original post railing against Cheney's receiving the Presidential Citizens Medal.

[edited]

LIZ CHENEY: Donald, this is not the Soviet Union. You can’t change the truth and you cannot silence us. Remember all your lies about the voting machines, the election workers, your countless allegations of fraud that never happened? Many of your lawyers have been sanctioned, disciplined or disbarred, the courts ruled against you, and dozens of your own White House, administration, and campaign aides testified against you. Remember how you sent a mob to our Capitol and then watched the violence on television and refused for hours to instruct the mob to leave? Remember how your former Vice President prevented you from overturning our Republic? We remember. And now, as you take office again, the American people need to reject your latest malicious falsehoods and stand as the guardrails of our Constitutional Republic — to protect the America we love from you.

DONALD TRUMP: Biden gave Liz Cheney a Medal yesterday, even though she has proven to be totally corrupt. She, “Bennie” Thompson, and the rest of the Unselect Committee, destroyed and deleted all evidence from their crooked investigation of January 6th. Cheney has the distinction of losing her Congressional seat by the largest margin in History! The people of Wyoming understood how bad for our Country she was, but Biden rewarded her only because she hated “TRUMP.” She’s a Warmonger of low intelligence. All she wants to do is kill people in “Endless Wars,” with no gain other than to defense companies. Liz Cheney, Cryin’ Adam Kinzinger, Bennie Thompson, and the rest of these dishonest Thugs have gotten away with horrible things under the pretense of January 6th. Nancy Pelosi refused to accept the help which was offered for security. She is responsible, and admitted as much, for all to see, on her daughter’s tape. They have destroyed the lives of many people, and are rewarded by getting Biden Fake Medals. This is not America. January 20th cannot come fast enough. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Donald Trump Truth Social 01:25 PM EST 01/03/25

[collapsedsquid]

The most visible means of weaponizing the state is through targeted prosecution. Virtually all elected autocratic governments deploy justice ministries, public prosecutors’ offices, and tax and intelligence agencies to investigate and prosecute rival politicians, media companies, editors, journalists, business leaders, universities, and other critics. In traditional dictatorships, critics are often charged with crimes such as sedition, treason, or plotting insurrection, but contemporary autocrats tend to prosecute critics for more mundane offenses, such as corruption, tax evasion, defamation, and even minor violations of arcane rules. If investigators look hard enough, they can usually find petty infractions such as unreported income on tax returns or noncompliance with rarely enforced regulations. Trump has repeatedly declared his intention to prosecute his rivals, including former Republican Representative Liz Cheney and other lawmakers who served on the House committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. In December 2024, House Republicans called for an FBI investigation into Cheney. The first Trump administration’s efforts to weaponize the Justice Department were largely thwarted from within, so this time, Trump sought appointees who shared his goal of pursuing perceived enemies. His nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, has declared that Trump’s “prosecutors will be prosecuted,” and his choice for FBI director, Kash Patel, has repeatedly called for the prosecution of Trump’s rivals. In 2023, Patel even published a book featuring an “enemies list” of public officials to be targeted. Because the Trump administration will not control the courts, most targets of selective prosecution will not end up in prison. But the government need not jail its critics to inflict harm on them. Targets of investigation will be forced to devote considerable time, energy, and resources to defending themselves; they will spend their savings on lawyers, their lives will be disrupted, their professional careers will be sidetracked, and their reputations will be damaged. At a minimum, they and their families will suffer months or years of anxiety and sleepless nights.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Adam Zyglis@adamzyglis :: More than he can chew…

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 9, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

May 10, 2025

Yesterday afternoon, President Donald Trump withdrew his nomination for interim U.S. attorney Ed Martin to become U.S. attorney in Washington D.C., the top federal prosecutor in the nation’s capital. A Missouri political operative with no experience as a prosecutor, Martin defended the January 6 rioters and fired the prosecutors who had worked on their cases, threatened to investigate Democrats and critics, and hosted a notorious antisemite on his podcast. His nomination proved too much for Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), who joined all the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to oppose his confirmation, deadlocking the committee and blocking the nomination.

Trump announced he was moving Martin into three roles that do not require Senate confirmation. He will become the new director of the Weaponization Working Group at the Department of Justice, an associate deputy attorney general, and a pardon attorney. “In these highly important roles, Ed will make sure we finally investigate the Weaponization of our Government under the Biden Regime, and provide much needed Justice for its victims,” Trump posted on social media.

To replace Martin, Trump has tapped Fox News Channel host Jeanine Pirro, who is passionately loyal to him. He noted among her qualifications that she “hosted her own Fox News Show, Justice with Judge Jeanine, for ten years, and is currently Co-Host of The Five, one of the Highest Rated Shows on Television.”

Matt Gertz of Media Matters for America recalls that the Fox News Channel took Pirro off the air after the 2020 election because of her conspiracy-theory-filled rants. In emails turned up in the defamation suit against the Fox News Channel for pushing the lie that voting machines had tainted the election results, her executive producer called her “nuts” and a “reckless maniac,” who “should never be on live television.” That lawsuit cost the Fox News Channel $787 million.

A similar scenario played out earlier this week when Trump withdrew his nomination of former Fox News Channel contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat for surgeon general, the officer who oversees the nation’s public health professionals. Nesheiwat is the sister-in-law of former national security advisor Mike Waltz, let go after he admitted a journalist to a group chat about a military strike on the Houthis in Yemen. As Anthony Clark reported in The Last Campaign, she had falsely represented her “medical education, board certifications, and military service.”

Trump’s replacement pick for surgeon general, Casey Means, did not finish her residency and is not currently licensed as a doctor but has embraced the anti-vax positions of Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including his thoroughly debunked claim that vaccines cause autism. Still, she is not extreme enough for some of Kennedy’s followers, who are unhappy with the nomination.

When asked yesterday why he had nominated her, Trump answered: “Because Bobby thought she was fantastic…. I don’t know her. I listened to the recommendation of Bobby.” Today, Casey Means’s brother Calley, a White House advisor, went after Trump ally Laura Loomer for opposing the nomination, posting on social media that he had “[j]ust received information that Laura Loomer is taking money from industry to scuttle President Trump’s agenda.” Loomer responded: “You’re so full of sh*t.”

The administration appears not to be able to attract the caliber of federal officials to which Americans have become accustomed.

Federal Bureau of Investigation director Kash Patel, who did not have experience in law enforcement when he took the job, has drawn criticism from current and former officials in the FBI and the Department of Justice, which oversees the FBI, for reducing FBI briefings, traveling frequently on personal matters, and appearing repeatedly at pro sporting events.

Yesterday Patel showed up at a hearing for the Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee on the FBI’s spending plan for 2025, but he had not produced the plan, which by law was supposed to have been turned over more than a week ago. When Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) called the absence of the plan “absurd” and asked Patel when they could expect the plan, he answered he did not have a timeline.

Stacey Young, a former DOJ lawyer who co-founded Justice Connection, which supports current and former DOJ employees under pressure from the administration, told NBC’s Ken Dilanian: “There’s a growing sense among the ranks that there’s a leadership void. And that the highest echelons of the bureau are more concerned about currying favor with the president, retribution, and leaks than the actual work.”

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) took Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem even more fully to task. At a meeting of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security yesterday, Murphy told Noem: “[Y]our department is out of control. You are spending like you don’t have a budget,” he said. “You are on the verge of running out of money for the fiscal year…. You're on track to trigger the Anti-Deficiency Act. That means you are going to spend more money than you have been allocated by Congress. This is a rare occurrence, and it is wildly illegal. Your agency will be broke by July, over two months before the end of the fiscal year.”

The obsession with the border, he continued, “has left the country unprotected elsewhere…. To fund the border, you have illegally gutted spending for cybersecurity. As we speak, Russian and Chinese hackers are having a field day attacking our nation. You have withdrawn funds for disaster prevention. Storms are going to kill more people in this country because of your illegal withholding of these funds.”

On Wednesday, Customs and Border Patrol confirmed that it had been using the communication app TeleMessage, which was a clone of Signal and which was hacked earlier this week. On Tuesday, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate “the government’s use of TeleMessage Archiver,” which “seriously threatens U.S. national security.”

Last night, New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport suffered another 90-second radar blackout at 3:55 am. On May 6, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy took to social media to blame his predecessor in the Biden administration for the troubles in the airline system.

Hugo Lowell of The Guardian reported today that the White House is so fed up with the turmoil around Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth it will not permit him to name his own new chief of staff after his first one resigned last month.

Tim Marchman of Wired reported yesterday that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard failed to follow basic cybersecurity protocol, reusing “the same weak password on multiple accounts for years.”

The administration appears chaotic, but far from taking the chaos in hand, President Trump appears happy to let others take the reins. As his tariffs are beginning to bite, today he suggested his worry about the economic fallout by posting “CHINA SHOULD OPEN UP ITS MARKET TO USA—WOULD BE SO GOOD FOR THEM!!! CLOSED MARKETS DON’T WORK ANYMORE!!!” Five minutes later, he posted: “80% Tariff on China seems right! Up to Scott B.”

The Constitution gives Congress alone the power to set tariffs. Trump seized that power for himself by declaring an emergency. Now he appears to be handing that power to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, likely so that he can blame Bessent when things go poorly.

Today, in the latest legal setback for the Trump regime on immigration, a federal judge in Vermont ordered the government to release Tufts University graduate student Rümeysa Öztürk from custody. Agents arrested Öztürk, a Turkish national, on March 25, claiming that she had been engaged with associations that “may undermine U.S. foreign policy by creating a hostile environment for Jewish students.” U.S. District Judge William Sessions III noted that the government provided no evidence for that assertion aside from a 2024 op-ed Öztürk wrote for the school newspaper criticizing the university’s response to the crisis in Gaza. She was freed this evening and will have to pursue her case before an immigration judge.

As the administration has lost repeatedly in court, officials appear to be upping the ante in their attempts to traumatize migrants and increase its power, but it remains unclear who is calling the shots. Amy McKinnon of Politico reported today that Trump has sat for only 12 “daily” intelligence briefing sessions since he took office, and does not read his written daily intelligence report.

On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the U.S. was preparing to send migrants to prison in Libya. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy issued an order stopping the removal, saying such renditions would clearly violate a court order. Migrants from Asia sat on a military plane on the tarmac in Texas for hours before being taken off the plane and bussed back to detention.

When a reporter asked Trump if his administration was sending migrants to Libya, he answered: “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask, uh, Homeland Security, please.”

Today, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Newark, New Jersey, mayor Ras Baraka when he and three members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation stood outside a private ICE detention facility in Newark called Delaney Hall. New Jersey’s interim U.S. attorney, Trump loyalist Alina Habba, posted on social media that Baraka had “ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center…. He has willingly chosen to disregard the law.” But, as Tracey Tully, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, and Alyce McFadden of the New York Times reported, videos show him being arrested in a public area outside the facility.

Tully, Ferré-Sadurní, and McFadden report that in February, the administration signed a 15-year, $1 billion contract with GEO Group, which operates private prisons, to expand the Delaney Hall facility dramatically as an ICE prison. New Jersey officials have argued in federal court that GEO Group does not have the required permits to operate the expanded facility.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told reporters today that voters elected Trump to “deport the illegals” and that “Marxist” judges frustrating that effort are attacking democracy. In fact, Trump convinced many voters that he would deport only violent criminals, and they are now aghast at the scenes unfolding as masked agents grab women and children from their cars and sweep up U.S. citizens.

In The Bulwark today, Adrian Carrasquillo explained how podcasters, sports YouTubers, and comedians, including Joe Rogan, have brought the rendition of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador onto the radar screen of Trump voters. Americans now disapprove of Trump’s immigration policies by 53% to 46%.

Miller made an even bigger power grab when he said “we’re actively looking at” suspending the writ of habeas corpus, a legal change that essentially establishes martial law by permitting the government to arrest people and hold them without charges or a trial. Legal analyst Steve Vladeck explains that Miller’s justification for such a suspension is dead wrong, and suggests Miller’s threat appears to be designed to put more pressure on the courts.

But in this chaotic administration, it seems worth asking who the “we” is in Miller’s statement. In the group chat about striking the Houthis, when administration officials were discussing—without the presence of either the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or the president himself—what was the best course of action, it was Miller who ultimately decided to launch a strike simply by announcing what he claimed were Trump’s wishes.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[rjzimmerman]

trump's filthy, smelly hands are all over this. He approved the musketeers' (DOGE) actions in firing a whole bunch of people (600 or so, including climate scientists and meteorologists) at NOAA and the National Weather Service, when those agencies were already short handed. Second, he promoted that big, ugly budget bill which pulls back most of the climate-related provisions that were designed to encourage the development and implementation of technology to address climate change, and its consequences such as severe flooding. Of course, he will get way with it because (1) the national media will just say we should expect this with climate change, and say nothing further, (2) the MAGA oriented media and the right-wing Christians will blame President Biden and God, in that order, and (3) the Dems will remain hidden under their desks in the fetal positions, whimpering.

Excerpt from this story from Truthout:

As catastrophic flooding left scores of people dead and missing in Texas Hill Country and President Donald Trump celebrated signing legislation that will eviscerate every aspect of federal efforts to address the climate emergency, officials in the Lone Star State blasted the National Weather Service — one of many agencies gutted by the Department of Government Efficiency — for issuing faulty forecasts that some observers blamed for the flood’s high death toll.

The Associated Press reported Saturday that flooding caused by a powerful storm killed at least 27 people, with dozens more — including as many as 25 girls from a summer camp along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County — missing after fast-moving floodwaters rose 26 feet (8 meters) in less than an hour before dawn on Friday, sweeping away people and pets along with homes, vehicles, farm and wild animals, and property.

Although the National Weather Service on Thursday issued a broad flood watch for the area, Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd — noting that the NWS predicted 3-6 inches of rain for the Concho Valley and 4-8 inches for the Hill Country — told reporters during a press conference earlier Friday that “the amount of rain that fell in this specific location was never in any of those forecasts.”

Since January, the NWS — a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — has reduced its workforce by nearly 600 people as a direct result of staffing cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, as part of Trump’s mission to eviscerate numerous federal agencies.

This policy is in line with Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation-led blueprint for a far-right overhaul of the federal government that calls for “dismantling” NOAA. Trump has also called for the elimination of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, arguing that states should shoulder most of the burden of extreme weather preparation and response. Shutting down FEMA would require an act of Congress.

Many of the fired NWS staffers were specialized climate scientists and weather forecasters. At the time of the firings, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, was among those who warned of the cuts’ deadly consequences.

“People nationwide depend on NOAA for free, accurate forecasts, severe weather alerts, and emergency information,” Huffman said. “Purging the government of scientists, experts, and career civil servants and slashing fundamental programs will cost lives.”

Writing for the Texas Observer, Henry D. Jacoby — co-director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change — warned that “crucial data gathering systems are at risk.”

“Federal ability to warn the public is being degraded,” he added, “and it is a public service no state can replace.”

[1americanconservative]

@Real_RobN

The Drunk Driver Paul Pelosi, the husband of Insider Trading Inc. Nancy Pelosi, has received $1,709,100 of PPP loans from the federal government, which won’t have to be repaid ever.

Net worth:

1987 $165,000

2024 $265 million

In office 34 fucken years.

Speaker’s salary $193,400

A: In July 2021, the Drunk Driver purchased 20,000 shares of Nvidia, a multinational semiconductor company, worth between $1 million and $5 million. This trade came ahead of a vote in the Senate that set aside $52 billion to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing and give tax credits for production.

B: In May of 2021, the Sleazebag’s husband placed a bet of up to $6 million on Apple, Amazon and Google-parent company Alphabet ahead of a powerful House committee moving forward with bills aimed at reining in the powers of Big Tech.

C: In March 2021, the Drunk Driver purchased $1.95 million worth of Microsoft call options less than two weeks before the tech giant secured a $22 billion contract to supply U.S. Army combat troops with augmented reality headsets.

D: In January 2021, the Drunk Driver purchased up to $1 million of Tesla calls before the Biden Criminal Administration delivered its plans to provide incentives to promote the shift away from fossil fueled automobiles and toward fossil fueled electric vehicles.

E: The Treacherous Witch’s biggest financial gains came from when her Drunk Driver sold 30,000 shares of Google from Dec 20 to Dec 2023 —just before the Department of Justice launched an antitrust probe of the tech giant.

In 2020, Sleazebag Nancy Pelosi and her Drunk Driver Paul Pelosi outperformed the S&P 500 by a whopping 14.3 percent.

Now, why did Martha Stewart go to prison for insider trading and the Treacherous Witch has not?!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

President Biden issues preemptive pardons for family and Trump targets Cheney, Kinzinger, Milley, Fauci

Doina Chiacu, Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, and Nandita Bose at Reuters:

WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons on Monday for several of his immediate family members and people his successor Donald Trump has targeted for retaliation, including Republican former lawmaker Liz Cheney and Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The pardons, issued in Biden's last hours as president, cover the select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, as well as all lawmakers, including Cheney, who served on the congressional committee and police officers who testified before it. They also covered Anthony Fauci, who served as White House chief medical advisor during the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump, who was sworn in as president on Monday, has repeatedly called for the prosecution of his perceived enemies since winning the White House in November. Biden praised public servants as the "lifeblood of our democracy." Without mentioning Trump, he expressed alarm that some of them were subjected to threats and intimidation for doing their job. "These public servants have served our nation with honor and distinction and do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions," Biden said in a statement.

President Joe Biden, in one of his final acts in office, gave preemptive pardons to several prominent enemies of Donald Trump, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, and every single member of the House Select Committee on January 6th Insurrection.

See Also:

NewsNation: Biden issues pardons for Jan. 6 Committee members, Fauci, Milley

AP, via HuffPost: Biden Pardons Fauci, Milley And Members Of Jan. 6 Committee

[saywhat-politics]

Johnson says House Republicans will investigate Jan. 6 committee

BY TARA SUTER - 01/02/25 9:54 PM ET

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Thursday that House Republicans will investigate the disbanded House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Johnson hit President Biden in a post on the social platform X for awarding the Presidential Citizens Medal to former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), both of whom were Jan. 6 committee members.

Responding to another post from the New York Post about Cheney and Thompson, the Louisiana Republican said the president “is foolishly giving an award to members of Congress who intentionally and repeatedly lied to the American people.”

“The Jan 6 Select Committee manipulated AND destroyed evidence – created a fake, phony narrative all to try and hurt Trump,” Johnson added. “They even hired a TV producer from the legacy media in a desperate attempt to legitimize what Americans knew was a total hoax and complete waste of time.”

“Be assured of this: House Republicans WILL continue our investigation into this corrupt committee and it will be FULLY FUNDED so it can continue next Congress,” he continued.

In mid-December, Republicans released a report evaluating the “failures and politicization” of the Jan. 6 committee, rounding off their investigation by recommending a criminal investigation into Cheney.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5064773-johnson-says-house-republicans-will-investigate-jan-6-committee/

[mariacallous]

“I don’t know when it was signed, because I didn’t sign it,” President Trump told reporters on March 22. In the span of a week, the president “forgot” that he invoked the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport hundreds of people to a Salvadoran gulag.

“Other people handled it, but Marco Rubio has done a great job and he wanted them out and we go along with that,” he mumbled vaguely.

The media framed the debacle as a clever effort to “downplay his involvement” in the ugly episode, rather than evidence that the president is totally checked out and letting other people run the government.

And yet, just five days before his own memory lapse, Trump “declared” his predecessor’s pardons of the January 6 Committee “VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT” because Biden was too senile to understand them.

The post is part of an ongoing campaign to undo Biden’s presidency by claiming that he was too incompetent by the end to exercise actual power, and some unnamed, shadowy figure was running the White House instead. It’s shockingly inappropriate, of course. But the juxtaposition is even more jarring as we are daily confronted with a president who is disengaged from the details of his job, preferring to outsource most of his authority to an unelected billionaire.

President 4chan

Undoing pardons is not a thing. Not even if Biden used an autopen. As the Supreme Court made clear in Trump v. US, the president’s exercise of his “core” powers, specifically the pardon, is unreviewable. But Trump is captured by internet memes, and so he’s thrilled to amplify the “autopen” conspiracy currently flooding the rightwing media ecosystem.

“The person that operated the autopen, I think we ought to find out who that was because I guess that was the real president,” Trump said in the Oval Office on March 20.

As the New York Times points out, the “autopen” story was a conservative op from the get-go. Mike Howell, a Heritage Foundation operative who describes himself on Twitter as “Top Deportation Scientist. Official Pardon/Autopen Inspector,” spent the past four years trying to undermine the Biden administration through more or less questionable means. Looking to recycle that work in the Trump era, Howell is now trying to find ways to undo Biden’s work.

Heritage’s official position, at least since January 20, is that the president has un-challengeable authority over virtually every aspect of government. In 2024, even as the conservative think tank spearheaded litigation to challenge Biden’s supposedly tyrannical abuses, Heritage published Project 2025, a blueprint for imposing conservative rule. But consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, and so, as Trump rushed to implement the Project 2025 agenda in the first weeks of his second stint, Howell and former Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz were trawling through Biden’s signatures hoping to find a way to magic away his executive actions.

On March 5, Missouri Attorney General Andy Bailey unknowingly boosted Howell’s project.

“I am calling for a federal investigation into President Biden’s mental decline and legality of executive orders, pardons, and all other actions issued in his name,” he blustered on social media. “I am urging the Department of Justice to determine whether unelected White House staff exploited the president’s cognitive declined to issue executive orders without his knowing approval.”

The post was accompanied by a fake news release bearing the seal of Bailey’s office.

Bailey, who is no stranger to using his position for political stunts, cited zero evidence that President Biden lacked mental capacity. But for Howell, the signal boost was a godsend.

“Whoever controlled the autopen controlled the presidency,” he tweeted.

Howell’s post went viral, and soon rightwing media was running the story wall-to-wall.

Smear early, smear often

Perhaps reasoning that no one but liberals reads the “fake news” New York Times, Howell gleefully described the plan to reporters.

“We determined that the most legally vulnerable documents were the pardons,” he gushed, tacitly admitting that the goal was destruction for its own sake, not to further any policy goal or because the orders were themselves defective.

It’s an odd strategy. Even conservative stalwart Jonathan Turley is rolling his eyes at the idea of invalidating Biden’s pardons. And, as Justice Amy Coney Barrett pointed out in her partial dissent, the Court’s immunity decision would make it impossible to prosecute a president for selling a pardon, much less auto-signing one away, since questioning his advisors in court is now illegal.

Which is a lucky thing for Trump, who just pardoned Trevor Milton, a convicted fraudster who just so happened to have made a $1.8 million donation to the president’s campaign. Trump seemed not to know that Milton was found guilty by a jury of defrauding investors in his electric car company.

“He was exonerated. It was a big celebration,” he babbled, adding that “They say the thing that he did wrong was he was one of the first people that supported a gentleman named Donald Trump for president. He supported Trump. He liked Trump.”

Trump went on to call the prosecutors in the Southern District of New York “vicious people.”

“They’re violent,” he ranted, accusing the Justice Department of going after “thousands” of innocent people. He appeared blissfully unbothered that pardoning Milton will likely deprive his victims of hundreds of millions of dollars that would have gone to restitution.

Trump, who, at 78, is just three years younger than Biden, is clearly decompensating before our eyes. And yet, even as he free associates on live television, back-formulating justifications for orders he’s obviously never read, the right leans ever harder into the story of Biden’s supposed incompetence. Last week a federal judge on the Fifth Circuit took the occasion of an unrelated appeal to bring it up in a wholly unrelated case.

“Questions have arisen about the flurry of last-minute pardons issued by the Biden Administration,” Judge Andy Oldham wrote conspiratorially, without saying who was raising those questions.

“Some or all were allegedly effectuated via autopen,” he intoned, again omitting to mention who is doing the alleging.

“Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives, stated that President Biden ‘genuinely did not know what he had signed’ in at least one instance toward the end of his presidency,” he went on, as if Johnson’s interview with conservative journalist Bari Weiss was cognizable evidence.

Judge Oldham went on to condemn Biden’s “pardon” of the defendant as “a stain on the noble prerogative of executive mercy.” In fact, it wasn’t a pardon at all, but a commutation of the death sentence for a murderer who will never leave prison. But Andy Oldham really wants to be a Supreme Court justice, so when he saw an opening to abuse the president’s former rival while expressing his support for the death penalty, he took it.

Accuse your enemy of what you are doing, as you are doing it to create confusion

“If Obama …” or “If Biden …” is a pointless exercise. And yet we are daily confronted with a president who is vigorously, confidently not doing his job.

Trump doesn’t know what he’s signed when it comes to pardons, executive orders, or anything else. He’s outsourced the job to an unelected billionaire who is currently slashing through the government, bragging on social media about feeding entire federal agencies “to the woodchipper.” Elon Musk leads cabinet meetings, dispatches his henchcoders to take over agency after agency, and purports to cancel federal contracts at will. He has no statutory authority, but claims only to be acting as an extension of the president.

In short, Musk is the autopen, illegitimately usurping executive power while claiming to be a mere extension of the president, mechanically recording his wishes and codifying his orders. And so, to compensate, Trump leans into the old, familiar foil.

It’s not the Trump kids who are trading on their father’s position to enrich themselves. It’s Hunter Biden. It’s not the Trump administration storing classified information on unsecured devices. It’s Hillary Clinton. And it’s not Donald Trump who signs whatever his aides put in front of him, no matter how corrupt. It’s Joe Biden.

[usgovsummary]

January 22, 2025

POTUS:

The President's and Vice President's speeches from the Starlight and Liberty Inaugural Balls were published

6 Fact Sheets regarding recent executive orders were published

Pardoned two police officers, Terence Sutton and Andrew Zabavsky, who were convict for killing (Sutton) and covering up the deadly police chase (Zabavsky) of Karon Hylton-Brown in 2020. More here

Designated Ansar Allah/Houthis as a terrorist organization

The president had his first major interview. Discussed investigating Biden, disbanding FEMA, refusing aid to California, and brushed aside any security concerns regarding TikTok. More here

Federal health agency communication with the public has been paused

More details and the actual policies can be found here

SCOTUS:

Heard arguments for Barnes V. Felix. Regards a case involving "unreasonable" force used by a law enforcement officer.

Heard arguments for Cunningham v. Cornell University. Regards The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

More information here

Congress:

The 32 bills and 1 resolution were introduced in the Senate. Many dealing with abortion, the military, and commerce. Full list here

41 public bills and 5 resolutions were introduced in the House of Representatives. Many dealt with abortion and social security. Full list here

The House passed four bills. Two were electing members of committees and the others dealt with land. Full list here

More information here

[darkmaga-returns]

FBI Director Kash Patel has made good on his promise to restore integrity within the Bureau. Patel has officially turned over explosive documents related to the mysterious pipe bomb incidents on January 6th to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and his investigative committee.

(…) In a detailed letter dated March 7, 2025, the FBI explicitly committed to transparency, declaring, “Under Director Patel’s leadership, the FBI remains committed to working with Congress to ensure transparency and the accountability the American people deserve.

(…) It can be recalled that a report released by the Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight into the January 6 pipe bomber shows the FBI stopped looking for the suspect in 2021 and covered up the evidence.

The FBI, under Chris Wray’s leadership, refused to cooperate with congressional investigators.

In September, former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino said, according to a whistleblower, after the pipe bombs were found at the RNC and DNC headquarters, “assets on the ground, including a whistleblower, was briefed about the pipe bombs the next day and show a picture of a guy in a hoodie.”

However, according to the whistleblower, the law enforcement agents were told to stand down two days later.

“Nearly four years later, federal law enforcement has yet to identity the individual responsible for planting the pipe bombs, which remains one of the unanswered questions from that day. In the early weeks of the investigation, the FBI took significant investigative steps, identifying multiple persons of interest, issuing search warrants, reviewing hours of security camera footage, and analyzing the components of the pipe bombs. Despite the threat the pipe bombs posed to Congress and the public and the role they played in diverting resources away from the Capitol, federal law enforcement has refused to provide substantive updates to Congress about the status of the investigation,” Rep. Barry Loudermilk’s report stated.

Loudermilk’s report said there has been conflicting information whether the FBI received “corrupted” cellular data from cell carriers.

“There is conflicting information as to whether the FBI received “corrupted” cellular data from the major cell carriers. A former senior FBI official testified that the major cell carrier companies provided “corrupted” cell data to the FBI and suggested that that “corrupted” data may have contained the identity of the pipe bomber; however, in responses to letters from the Subcommittee, the major cell carriers confirmed that they did not provide corrupted data to the FBI and that the FBI never notified them of any issues with accessing the cellular data,” the House report stated.

Also, FBI whistleblower Kyle Seraphin reported in May 2023 that the technicians who worked on the program told him the devices were inoperable.

[us-cj]

Here is access to the January 6th footage, that was released by the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson! It has some eye opening tapes, that Democrats tried to keep hidden from Americans. “Rules for viewing” pdf linked

https://cha.house.gov/_cache/files/a/3/a36a290b-c4b0-4a04-9066-d046cae72e62/4BFD36CA9C04D45415BF975C2DCA25D2.updated-policy---committee-on-house-administration-access-to-uscp-video.pdf

[patriottruth]

2024 U.S. Presidential Election: Ronald Reagan's Informed Patriotism: donald j. trump Is Not the President Elect Because No Sworn Official Can Count Even One Vote For An Insurrectionist. The Immediate Disbarring of All 6 MAGA SCOTUS Injustices, Denying donald j. trump Even One American/Electoral Vote, Denying donald j. trump and all of his allies Access to Their MAGA Insurrectionist SCOTUS Injustices For All 2024 Election Litigation, and Immediately Restoring National Roe vs. Wade Protections Via The Remaining Three SCOTUS Justices.

After Democratic nominee Joe Biden easily won the 2020 United States presidential election with a massive American mandate and landslide victory of 81 million votes, failed Republican nominee and then-incumbent president Donald Trump pursued an unprecedented effort to overturn the election, with support from his campaign, proxies, political allies, and many of his supporters. These efforts culminated in the January 6 Capitol attack by donald j. trump's deranged and vicious cult of supporters in an attempted self-coup d'état where a police officer died after being assaulted by deposed donald j. trump's insurrectionist rioters. Many people were injured, including 174 police officers, and donald j. trump's uncivilized and mindless MAGA cult members defecated and smeared their feces all over the U.S. Capitol complex. Four officers who responded to the attack died by suicide within seven months. Damage caused by donald j. trump's and his MAGA cult's insurrection against the United States of America, We The People of the United States of America, and the U.S. Capitol complex exceeded $2.7 million.

A week after the attack, the U.S. House of Representatives impeached the failed and undeniably deposed U.S. President donald j. trump for incitement of insurrection, making him the only U.S. president to be impeached twice while also legally and constitutionally disqualifying him from running for reelection in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, or holding any public office anywhere in the United States of America ever again due to his betrayal of his Presidential Oath of Office, the United States of America, the U.S. government, and We The People of the United States of America.

Trump and his allies used the "big lie" propaganda technique to promote false claims and conspiracy theories asserting the election was stolen by means of rigged voting machines, electoral fraud and an international conspiracy. Trump pressed Department of Justice leaders to challenge the results and publicly state the election was corrupt. However, the attorney general, director of National Intelligence, and director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency – as well as some Trump campaign staff – dismissed these claims. State and federal judges, election officials, and state governors also determined the claims were baseless. Trump's legal team sought to bring a case before the Supreme Court, but none of the 63 lawsuits they filed were successful. They pinned their hopes on Texas v. Pennsylvania, but on December 11, 2020, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Afterward, Trump considered ways to remain in power, including military intervention, seizing voting machines, and another appeal to the Supreme Court.

In June 2022, the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack said it had enough evidence to recommend that the Department of Justice indict the failed and undeniably deposed former U.S. President donald j. trump, and on December 19, the committee formally made the criminal referral to the Justice Department. On August 1, 2023, Trump was indicted by a D.C. grand jury for conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

Republicans in support of the indictment Mike Pence, who was Trump's vice president and, at the time, was also running for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election, issued a statement strongly condemning Trump, stating that this indictment was "an important reminder [that] anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States". In an interview with reporters at the Indiana State Fair the next day, he expanded on his comments, stating that he could not have overturned the election results as vice president.

Former U.S. attorney general William Barr said the case against Trump was legitimate and that he will testify if he is called.

Adam Kinzinger, a member of the January 6 Committee and a former Illinois representative, tweeted that "Today is the beginning of justice" and added that Trump is "a cancer on our democracy".

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who was running for the 2024 presidential Republican nomination at the time, said Trump "swore an oath to the Constitution, violated his oath & brought shame to his presidency."

Former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, who was running for the 2024 presidential Republican nomination at the time, said "Trump has disqualified himself from ever holding our nation's highest office again."

On August 14, 2023, nearly a dozen former judges and federal legal officials, all appointed by Republicans, submitted an amicus brief saying they agreed with Jack Smith's 1proposed trial date of January 2, 2024. The brief states "There is no more important issue facing America and the American people—and to the very functioning of democracy—than whether the former president is guilty of criminally undermining America's elections and American democracy in order to remain in power […]".

On August 14, Trump and 18 co-defendants, were indicted in Fulton County, Georgia for their efforts to overturn the election results in that state. Ten leaders of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers groups have been convicted of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the Capitol attack. As of May 6, 2024, of the 1,424 people charged with federal crimes relating to the event, 820 have pleaded guilty (255 to felonies and 565 to misdemeanors), and 884 defendants have been sentenced, 541 of whom received a jail sentence. Failed and deposed U.S. President and insurrectionist presidential candidate donald j. trump hails and salutes his imprisoned insurrectionist supporters at his 2024 presidential election rallies while he plays their January 6 Insurrectionist Choir version of a completely corrupted and deranged anti-American version of the U.S. National Anthem, and then he repeatedly promises to pardon all of his caged animal, shit-smearing, anti-American MAGA Nazi cult traitors should he be elected back into the White House on November 5, 2024.

LAW AND ORDER!!! United States of America v. Donald J. Trump, Waltine Nauta, and Carlos De Oliveira is a federal criminal case against Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, Walt Nauta, his personal aide and valet, and Mar-a-Lago maintenance chief Carlos De Oliveira. The grand jury indictment brought 40 felony counts against Trump related to his mishandling of classified documents after his presidency. The case marks the first federal indictment of a former U.S. president.

In May 2022, a grand jury issued a subpoena for any remaining documents in Trump's possession. Trump certified that he was returning all the remaining documents on June 3, 2022, but the FBI later obtained evidence that he had intentionally moved documents to hide them from his lawyers and the FBI and thus had not fulfilled the subpoena.

This led to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022, in which the FBI recovered over 13,000 government documents, over 300 of which were classified, with some relating to national defense secrets covered under the Espionage Act.

On June 8, 2023, the original indictment with 37 felony counts against Trump was filed in the federal district court in Miami by the office of the Smith special counsel investigation. On July 27, a superseding indictment charged an additional three felonies against Trump. Trump was charged separately for each of 32 documents under the Espionage Act. The other eight charges against him included making false statements and engaging in a conspiracy to obstruct justice. The most serious charges against Trump and Nauta carried a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

LAW AND ORDER!!! The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. Section 3: Disqualification from office for insurrection or rebellion Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

The President of the United States of America is the Chief Executive and Judicial Officer over ALL U.S. states and territories both individually and as a whole. Therefore, there was never a question for the Supreme Court to decide regarding impeached insurrectionist donald j. trump appearing on any U.S. presidential election ballot on any U.S. state or territory. The Supreme Court of the United States is one of two checks and balances for the President of the United States; and the individual states, and all U.S. residents and citizens, can and do attempt to have matters settled at a local and state level by the Supreme Court of the United States. The "Take Care" clause of the United States Constitution firmly places the responsibility of ensuring the SCOTUS doesn't go rogue or overstep their authority upon the President of the United States as the Chief Executive and Judicial Officer over the entire United States as a whole, and each state and territory individually, via Presidential Executive Orders and the U.S. Department of Justice. Congress then serves as the other check and balance for both the President of the United States and the SCOTUS.

On December 19, 2023, in the case Anderson v. Griswold, the Colorado Supreme Court held that Trump is disqualified from holding the office of president under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. Furthermore, the court held it would be a "wrongful act" under the Election Code for the Colorado Secretary of State to list Trump as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot. This decision was stayed until January 4, 2024, in the expectation that Trump would seek certiorari from the United States Supreme Court. The Colorado Republican Party appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Colorado Secretary of State announced that Trump will be included on the primary ballot "unless the U.S. Supreme Court declines to take the case or otherwise affirms the Colorado Supreme Court ruling."

On December 28, 2023, Maine announced that Trump would not appear on the ballot when the Secretary of State decided that Trump had committed insurrection, although the ruling was stayed for judicial review. Trump appealed to Kennebec County Superior Court. On January 17, the case was remanded back to the Maine Secretary of State for reconsideration after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the Colorado case.

On January 3, 2024, Trump appealed to the US Supreme Court on the Colorado matter. His attorneys argued that Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment should not apply to the presidency because the president is not an Officer of the United States. The Supreme Court announced on January 5, 2024, that it would hear the Colorado case, scheduling oral arguments for February 8.

"As President, I was never an 'officer of the United States' and I did not take an oath 'to support the Constitution of the United States'. Therefore, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution doesn't apply to me, can't be applied to me, and can't prevent me from running for or holding office for my actions on January 6, 2021."- donald j. trump (November 27, 2023)

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick suggested that President Joe Biden could be removed from the ballot via Section 3 due to his immigration policy having permitted "invasion". Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft threatened to take such action in retaliation. Three Republican members of state Houses of Representatives announced intent to parody the Colorado decision via introducing legislation towards removing Biden as an insurrectionist from their states' ballots.

On January 30, 2024, a challenge that cited Section 3 to argue against inclusion of Biden on the Illinois Democratic primary ballot was dismissed by the Illinois State Board of Elections.

On March 4, 2024, the Supreme Court in Trump v. Anderson reversed the Colorado Supreme Court decision, holding that Congress determines eligibility under Section 3 for federal officeholders and states may only bar candidates from state office.

While all nine justices agreed that the Fourteenth Amendment grants this power to the federal government, and not to the individual states, two separate opinions were issued. Justice Amy Coney Barrett concurred in the Court's decision that states cannot enforce Section 3 against federal officials, but wrote that the court should not have addressed "the complicated question whether federal legislation is the exclusive vehicle through which Section 3 can be enforced." Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, in an opinion co-signed by all three Justices, concurred in the judgment, but said that the court went beyond what was needed for the case and should not have declared that Congress has the exclusive power to decide Section 3 eligibility questions, stating that the Court's opinion had decided "novel constitutional questions to insulate this court and petitioner [Trump] from future controversy."

On July 1, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6–3 decision, that failed and deposed insurrectionist 2020 election loser and former president donald j. trump had absolute immunity for acts he committed as president within his core constitutional purview, at least presumptive immunity for official acts within the outer perimeter of his official responsibility, and no immunity for unofficial acts.

Berger v. United States, 255 U.S. 22 (1921), is a United States Supreme Court decision overruling a trial court decision by U.S. District Court Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis against Rep. Victor L. Berger, a Congressman for Wisconsin's 5th district and the founder of the Social Democratic Party of America, and several other German-American defendants who were convicted of violating the Espionage Act by publicizing anti-interventionist views during World War I.

The case was argued on December 9, 1920, and decided on January 31, 1921, with an opinion by Justice Joseph McKenna and dissents by Justices William R. Day, James Clark McReynolds, and Mahlon Pitney. The Supreme Court held that Judge Landis was properly disqualified as trial judge based on an affidavit filed by the German defendants asserting that Judge Landis' public anti-German statements should disqualify him from presiding over the trial of the defendants.

The House of Representatives twice denied Berger his seat in the House due to his original conviction for espionage using Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution regarding denying office to those who supported "insurrection or rebellion". The Supreme Court overturned the verdict in 1921 in Berger v. U.S., and Berger won three successive terms in the House in the 1920s.

Per the United States Supreme Court's "Berger test" that states that to disqualify ANY judge in the United States of America: 1) a party files an affidavit claiming personal bias or prejudice demonstrating an "objectionable inclination or disposition of the judge" and 2) claim of bias is based on facts antedating the trial.

All 6 criminal MAGA insurrectionist and trump-loyalist U.S. Supreme Court Justices who've repeatedly and illegally ruled in donald j. trump's favor are as disqualified from issuing any rulings pertaining to donald j. trump (a German immigrant) as the United States Supreme Court ruled U.S. District Court Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was when he attempted to deny Victor L. Berger (a German immigrant) from holding office for violating the Espionage Act and supporting or engaging in insurrection or rebellion against the United States of America.

Again, as the text of the Fourteenth Amendment clearly reads, and ONLY reads:

Section 3 No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 3 clearly and ONLY gives Congress the power to remove a disability of an insurrectionist to "be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State".

Section 3 clearly DOESN'T give Congress the power to impose or enforce a disability of an insurrectionist to "be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State". That's what Impeachment is for, and donald j. trump was impeached for insurrection and referred to the Department of Justice by a Congressional committee for prosecution for his and his supporters acts of insurrection against the United States of America on January 6, 2021.

Section 3 clearly DOESN'T give the United States Supreme Court the authority to illegally and criminally engage in insurrection against the United States of America by MODIFYING the U.S. Constitution AND LEGISLATING from the bench to relieve their own political party and the former insurrectionist U.S. President who appointed them from needing a two-thirds vote of each House to remove the disability of an insurrectionist to run for President of the United States and hold the office of the President of the United States should they be legally elected in a free and fair election. The insurrectionist MAGA cult that's taken over the former Republican Party of the United States knows that there was no way they were getting a two-thirds vote in both Houses of Congress to put impeached insurrectionist and convicted felon donald j. trump on the ballot, and so they had their six legally disqualified U.S. Supreme Court criminal MAGA insurrectionist injustices legislate from the bench AND ILLEGALLY and CRIMINALLY modify the U.S. Constitution to put Espionage Act traitor, convicted felon, and impeached insurrectionist donald j. trump on the 2024 U.S. presidential election ballot.

There are two steps in the amendment process of modifying the U.S. Constitution. Proposals to amend the Constitution must be properly adopted and ratified before they change the Constitution. First, there are two procedures for adopting the language of a proposed amendment, either by (a) Congress, by two-thirds majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, or (b) national convention (which shall take place whenever two-thirds of the state legislatures collectively call for one). Second, there are two procedures for ratifying the proposed amendment, which requires three-fourths of the states' (presently 38 of 50) approval: (a) consent of the state legislatures, or (b) consent of state ratifying conventions. The ratification method is chosen by Congress for each amendment. (Wikipedia)

The necessary CONTEXT for the LEGAL UNMODIFIED ORIGINAL text of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution is this: At the time of the drafting of the United States Constitution, the Americans known as "We The People" were fighting and dying to liberate themselves out from under a tyrannical king! Obviously, a President or Vice President who'd engage in insurrection against the United States of America DURING OR IMMEDIATELY AFTER the creation of the United States Constitution would be executed for TREASON; and because it'd be impossible for "a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any officeholder, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State" to BE IN A POSISTION TO IMMEDIATELY PROCLAIM THEMSELVES THE NEW TYRANNICAL DIVINE KING FOR LIFE OVER THE UNITED STATES AMERICA; and because all traitors were being actively and immediately executed for TREASON, it'd have been impossible for an insurrectionist traitor President or Vice President to run for any office again - because they'd be dead; therefore, it was unnecessary to include an executed treasonous President and/or Vice President in Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. With full knowledge and understanding of these facts, the criminal insurrectionist MAGA extremist U.S. Supreme Court injustices ILLEGALLY and CRIMINALLY legislated from the bench to modify Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution so that, as far as the 6 MAGA extremist U.S. Supreme Court injustices are concerned, it now reads as such WITHOUT having been LEGALLY amended by a both two-thirds vote of both houses of the U.S. Congress AND the approval of 38 of 50 U.S. states:

Section 3 No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. As of March 4, 2024, six partisan Justices on the United States Supreme Court bypassed the legal and proper constitutional amendment process, legislated from the bench, and added the following illegal and unenforceable legislation to Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution without Congressional or States approval and ratification: "Only Congress determines eligibility of insurrectionist candidates under Section 3 for federal officeholders and states may only bar insurrectionist candidates from state office. Federal legislation is the exclusive vehicle through which Section 3 can be enforced upon insurrectionist candidates for federal office."

How many elected Republicans, Democrats, and Independents in the House of Representatives and the Senate provided the necessary two-thirds vote to amend the U.S. Constitution in this manner? What are the names of all of these so-called elected officials and where are the official voting records? What dates did these voting sessions occur?

Which of the 38 U.S. states ratified this Congressional two-thirds-vote-approved constitutional amendment so that the Espionage Act traitor, convicted felon, and insurrectionist donald j. trump could appear on the 2024 U.S. presidential ballot?

This is where the presidential Take Care Clause is automatically activated and the U.S. president enforces the laws of the United States and upholds, protects, and defends the U.S. Constitution, and perpetuates American democracy.

This is where all six MAGA criminal insurrectionist SCOTUS injustices face both immediate and permanent disbarment from ever practicing law anywhere in the United States of America AND Congressional Impeachment and removal from the Supreme Court of the United States of America for giving aid, comfort, and support to criminal defendant donald j. trump's felonies involving moral turpitude, forgery, fraud, a history of dishonesty, consistent lack of attention to the American people, the United States, his oath of office, and the U.S. Constitution, drug abuse, thefts of taxpayer and U.S. government monies, thefts of at least 13,000 classified documents and other U.S. government property, and a pattern of violations of all professional codes of ethics.

Article Two of the United States Constitution establishes the executive branch of the federal government, which carries out and enforces federal laws. Article Two vests the power of the executive branch in the office of the president of the United States, lays out the procedures for electing and removing the president, and establishes the president's powers and responsibilities.

Clause 5: Caring for the faithful execution of the law The president must "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." This clause in the Constitution imposes a duty on the president to enforce the laws of the United States and is called the Take Care Clause, also known as the Faithful Execution Clause or Faithfully Executed Clause. This clause is meant to ensure that a law is faithfully executed by the president even if he disagrees with the purpose of that law. The Take Care Clause demands that the president obey the law, the Supreme Court said in Humphrey's Executor v. United States, and repudiates any notion that he may dispense with the law's execution. In Printz v. United States, the Supreme Court explained how the president executes the law: "The Constitution does not leave to speculation who is to administer the laws enacted by Congress; the president, it says, "shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed," Art. II, §3, personally and through officers whom he appoints (save for such inferior officers as Congress may authorize to be appointed by the "Courts of Law" or by "the Heads of Departments" with other presidential appointees), Art. II, §2." In Mississippi v. Johnson, 71 U.S. 475 (1867), the Supreme Court ruled that the judiciary may not restrain the president in the execution of the laws. In that case the Supreme Court refused to entertain a request for an injunction preventing President Andrew Johnson from executing the Reconstruction Acts, which were claimed to be unconstitutional. The Court found that "[t]he Congress is the legislative department of the government; the president is the executive department. Neither can be restrained in its action by the judicial department; though the acts of both, when performed, are, in proper cases, subject to its cognizance." Thus, the courts cannot bar the passage of a law by Congress, though it may later strike down such a law as unconstitutional. A similar construction applies to the executive branch. (Wikipedia)

The Take Care Clause is the constitutional checks and balances guardrail to counter judicial activism, legislating from the bench, and a rogue U.S. Supreme Court that's supporting and actively engaging in insurrection against the United States of America and We The People of the United States with the purpose of overthrowing the U.S. government, installing a dictator/King for life, ending American democracy, and engaging in tyranny against We The People of the United States of America. Due to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity, President Joe Biden can simply overrule MAGA SCOTUS, remove donald j. trump from the 2024 U.S. presidential ballot, demand a new election with a new Republican or Independent candidate, and issue an Executive Order barring all six of the criminal insurrectionist MAGA extremist SCOTUS injustices from taking or ruling on any 2024 U.S. presidential election matters and/or any matters pertaining to donald j. trump, per the Berger Test that legally disqualifies them from doing so. President Biden can also simply issue an Executive Order proclaiming that no sworn election official or law enforcement official anywhere in the U.S. or its territories can attempt to cause even one vote for the Espionage Act traitor, convicted felon, and insurrectionist donald j. trump to be counted for the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

And all of that is EXACTLY why dumbass dumpster diaper cryin' lyin' anti-American MAGA Nazi and convicted felon, insurrectionist, serial sex offender, serial adulterer, serial rapist, lifetime incestuous pedophile groomer and lowlife sleazeball scum and failed, fraudulent and repeatedly bankrupted "businessman" and grifter/con artist donald j. trump and all of his supporters, enablers, donors, and voters want to destroy and abolish the U.S. Department of Education AND THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION.

Anti-American MAGA School Book Bans:

What Would a Reagan Republican Do?

"Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: 'We the People.' 'We the People' tell the government what to do; it doesn't tell us. 'We the People' are the driver; the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast.

Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which 'We the People' tell the government what it is allowed to do. 'We the People' are free. This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I've tried to do these past 8 years.

An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world? Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn't get these things from your family you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the mid-60s.

So, we've got to teach history based not on what's in fashion but what's important -- why the Pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant. You know, four years ago on the 40th anniversary of D-day, I read a letter from a young woman writing to her late father, who'd fought on Omaha Beach. Her name was Lisa Zanatta Henn, and she said, 'we will always remember, we will never forget what the boys of Normandy did.' Well, let's help her keep her word. If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let's start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual.

And let me offer lesson number one about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.

The past few days when I've been at that window upstairs, I've thought a bit of the 'shining city upon a hill.' The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we'd call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free. I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still." - Ronald Reagan (1989 Farewell Speech)

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Matt Gertz at MMFA:

The Heritage Foundation and MAGA media laid the groundwork for President Donald Trump’s unprecedented and lawless overnight claim that he is invalidating the pardons President Joe Biden issued to the January 6 House select committee. Trump cited the committee, particularly its co-chair, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), in the calls for retribution against his foes that were a hallmark of his 2024 presidential campaign. In response, Biden issued preemptive pardons to the committee’s members and staff in the final hours of his presidency. 

“Rather than accept accountability, those who perpetrated the January 6th attack have taken every opportunity to undermine and intimidate those who participated in the Select Committee in an attempt to rewrite history, erase the stain of January 6th for partisan gain, and seek revenge, including by threatening criminal prosecutions,” Biden said in his statement on the pardons. Trump responded hours later by proving Biden correct, promising “action” for the “J6 hostages” while denouncing Biden’s pardons of the “Unselect Committee of political thugs,” who he claimed had been “very, very guilty of very bad crimes.”  He moved quickly to fulfill his promise to the January 6 defendants. Later that day, he granted clemency to “all of the nearly 1,600 people charged in connection” with their actions that day — handing out pardons to people convicted of having violently assaulted law enforcement and commuting to time served the sentences of those imprisoned for participating in seditious conspiracies. 

But Trump waited until after midnight on Monday to reopen his attack on the January 6 committee. The president posted on Truth Social — immediately after praising the golfer he said he had defeated to win his golf club’s championship — that Biden’s pardons for January 6 committee were “hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen.” 

[...]

Trump’s MAGA allies built his case that Biden’s pardons were void

The Heritage Foundation, a MAGA think tank that created the Project 2025 framework undergirding much of Trump’s administration, launched the autopen critique with a March 6 post from its OversightPR account on X (formerly Twitter). “We gathered every document we could find with Biden's signature over the course of his presidency,” the account stated. “All used the same autopen signature except for the the announcement that the former President was dropping out of the race last year.” Trump’s media allies jumped on the report and immediately began suggesting that Biden’s January 6 committee pardons might be invalid.  

The Heritage Foundation and right-wing media outlets stoked up fake outrage about former President Joe Biden using an “autopen” to make pardons, and Tyrant 47 justified that excuse to conduct a lawless move to “expunge” the pardons Biden issued to the members of the January 6th Insurrection House Select Committee and Dr. Anthony Fauci.

See Also:

Daily Kos: Pushing America toward recession, Trump spews new anti-Biden nonsense

The Guardian: Trump makes unsupported claim Biden pardons are ‘void’ as he used autopen

The Parnas Perspective (Aaron Parnas): Donald Trump Cannot Invalidate Joe Biden's Pardons

Wonkette: Tyrant Idiot Thinks He Can Undo Biden Pardons Through Imaginary 'Sleepy Joe Autopen' Loophole