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Rhiannon12866

Trump DOJ Seized Apple Data From Top Dems, Their Family Members

spanone

Rep. Eric Swalwell statement on Trump's spying scandal

(Eric Swalwell) Like many of the world’s most despicable dictators, former President Trump showed an utter disdain for our democracy and the rule of law. My statement:

Rhiannon12866

'Outrageous!': Dems Blast Reported Data Seizure By Trump DOJ

soothsayer

Remembering this exchange from May 2019 in light of the Schiff/Swalwell news

KAMALA HARRIS: Has the president or anyone at the White House ever asked or suggested you open an investigation into anyone?

BARR: ...ah...

HARRIS: Seems like something you should be able to answer.

BARR: I don't know...

Tommy Carcetti

A message to the Former Office Occupant

By now, many of us have had the pleasure to read your latest tidbit of online wisdom/mindless word salad. I won’t bother repeating it, but it’s clear that you have telegraphed your true feelings to the world quite well.

For it is quite clear from what you wrote that you consider your current President not to be Joe Biden, the duly elected and sworn leader of the country in which you live—a man you refer to nothing except simply “Biden”—but rather the Russian leader Vladimir Putin, of whom you brag you gained his “respect” and who you so warmly and venerably refer to as “President Putin.”

This of course is a anti-democratic autocrat who has stifled dissent, attacked and interfered in our elections and institutions, invaded his neighbors and seized their lands, and most recently poisoned his chief political rival and then imprisoned him for the crime of surviving.

JHB

Friday TOONs

Nevilledog

New Giuliani Tape Shows Key Witness Didn't Testify Accurately in First Trump Impeachment

(Mother Jones) The testimony of a key witness in Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial is under new scrutiny by the House Intelligence Committee following a report this week that undercuts the veracity of his claim that he was unaware of a Trump effort to pressure Ukraine into mounting a meritless investigation of Joe Biden.

On Monday, CNN reported new details of a July 2019 call between Rudy Giuliani, then–US special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, and Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. During that call, Giuliani, then Trump’s personal lawyer, aggressively pressed Ukraine to announce investigations into dubious accusations about Biden and about alleged Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 election.

The recording of the conversation contradicts Volker’s sworn testimony to Congress that he never witnessed any attempt on the part of Trump and Giuliani to muscle Ukraine into launching an investigation of Biden, Trump’s possible opponent in the upcoming presidential election.

babylonsister

Something's Very Fishy About The Big $$$ Secretly Passing From Trump Fund To RNC

(Crooks and Liars) Several state Republican parties have suddenly discovered they failed to report large sums received from the Trump Victory group and passed on to the RNC, The Daily Beast has reported. As The Daily Beast explains, the Trump Victory group could legally skirt campaign finance laws by collecting large sums from donors, then parceling out the money to states’ Republican parties which could, in turn, give the money to the RNC.

But while the RNC reported getting the money from the state parties, an astonishing number “forgot” they gave it. For example, The Daily Beast notes that the Arkansas GOP blamed “clerical errors” when it reported a previously undisclosed $3.5 million in transfers with Trump Victory, a group it has never officially joined. Hawaii said it missed nearly $1.7 million “due to a misunderstanding regarding the reporting requirements.”

When the FEC wanted to know how the RNC reported receiving money from states that had not reported giving it, the RNC blamed the states, The Daily Beast reports. But wait, there’s more: Some of the state committees didn’t even have bank accounts at the bank used by both Trump Victory and the RNC. Others seem to have recently “found” accounts they initially failed to report.

CaliforniaPeggy

Why Fox News Claims "They" Are "Taking Down White Culture"

(Thom Hartmann) Democracies don’t turn into fascist oligarchies by being invaded or losing wars. It always happens from within, and is always driven buy an alliance between demagogic, populist politicians and some of the very wealthiest people in society.

Step one for these right wing politicians and the morbidly rich who support them is to pit one group of people within the nation against others: Marginalize and demonize minorities, deny them access to the levers of democratic power while openly attacking them for trying to usurp the privileges and prerequisites of the majority.

In It to Win It

Biden restores $929 million for California high-speed rail withheld by Trump

(Reuters) The Biden administration late on Thursday restored a $929 million grant for California's high-speed rail that former President Donald Trump revoked in 2019. The parties, which also include the California High-Speed Rail Authority and the U.S. Transportation Department, agreed to restore the grant within three days, according to the settlement agreement.