LAS VEGAS — Six minutes into a speech yesterday to the Republican Jewish Coalition that marked the opening of his comeback tour, Gov. Chris Christie received a sign. Sheldon Adelson, the GOP mega donor whose bankbook can launch a presidential campaign…
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As former President Donald Trump prepares for criminal proceedings against him on seven federal charges stemming from the classified documents investigation, Republicans have howled with outrage, echoing the former president's claims he is being persecuted.
However, despite a few Senate Republicans publicly attacking the indictment, GOP Senate leadership, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), have been conspicuously quiet. Speaking to CNN on Friday, congressional reporter Lauren Fox explained why.
"I'm going to put you on the spot here, and transfer our six-year running congress nerd text chain back and forth on to television," said anchor Phil Mattingly. "Senate Republican leadership has not said anything. I am neither surprised by that fact, nor do I think you are. Take people behind the scenes. Why?"
"I mean, the relationship with Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump is nonexistent, right, and has been since the insurrection on January 6th," said Fox. "That is part of the reason why we haven't seen a response from Mitch McConnell, although I do think there's something to be said about people wanting more information."
McConnell isn't alone, though, Fox noted — for instance, Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) has also not offered any public comment on the matter yet either.
"The reality is that many Senate Republicans would like to move on beyond Donald Trump," said Fox. "They don't want to be involved in the day-to-day nitty-gritty responding to everything that the former president does. Obviously, they are going to have to respond when they return to Washington next week. This is going to be the first question at a Republican press conference on Tuesday that lawmakers hold, but there is a reason that they are holding back, and part of that is they believe that it's just not worth defending the former president."
Watch the video below or at this link.
GOP senators 'holding back' because 'they believe that it's not worth defending the former presidentwww.youtube.com
Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY), who also served as an attorney in the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump, said that a new bombshell recording of Trump knocks down the former president's defense strategy in the Mar-a-Lago documents scandal.
Appearing on CNN shortly after the network revealed the recording, Goldman marveled about Trump bragging to guests at Mar-a-Lago that he had "secret" military information that he had not declassified.
"Every single thing Donald Trump ever said can be admitted at a trial," Goldman explained. "And so what you have here is him admitting in secret that he knows that the documents he had were not declassified and he knows that they are classified information. The difference between a criminal case and any civil case is you have to show that knowledge."
Goldman said that the recording's existence will also help differentiate Trump's handling of classified documents with the handling of classified documents by President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence.
READ MORE: Morning Joe nails 'sleazy' Republicans for 'incomprehensible' defense of Trump crimes
"That's what draws a distinction between Donald Trump's case and Joe Biden and Mike Pence, where the question here is, is it knowingly and intentionally done to maintain possession of those documents and then to refuse to give them back?" he said. "And so what he is essentially doing is neutering all of the public defenses that he made. The prosecutors will be able show his public defense and then show the recording and it will eviscerate all of the credibility of his defense."
Watch the video below or at this link.
Trump is 'neutering all the defenses he's made' in bombshell recording: Dem lawmakerwww.youtube.com
By closely allying herself with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) has become much more of an insider than she was a year ago. But Greene is no less a conspiracy theorist than she was in 2021 or 2022, and that includes bribery claims she has been making against President Joe Biden.
The far-right MAGA congresswoman is claiming, without proof, that the FBI is covering up bribery she alleges Biden committed. During a Thursday night, June 8 appearance on Fox News, Greene told host Laura Ingraham that she read a Biden-related document inside a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF).
Greene's critics, however, are saying that instead of making Biden look bad, she may have admitted to committing a federal crime.
Greene, known for promoting QAnon's conspiracy theories and claiming that "Jewish space lasers" were responsible for wildfires in California, told Ingraham, "This is a document that all of America should be able to see. But the FBI is stonewalling us, and they would only let us see it in a SCIF. Well, what I did after reading the document is I made notes when I walked out and I went to the table. And I wrote down everything that I had just read so that I could come out and tell the American people what I read."
A SCIF is used for highly sensitive information, and in most cases, members of Congress are not allowed to repeat information they see inside the facility.
Attorney Mark S. Zaid, in response to Greene's comments on "The Ingraham Angle," tweeted, "Hey @FBI, if this information was classified sounds to me like the Congresswoman is admitting to a crime. And if it was not, @SpeakerMcCarthy should remove her privileges for violating the trust she was afforded as a Member of Congress to review sensitive information."
Retired law professor Christopher G. Moore stressed that taking notes on information viewed inside a SCIF and later discussing it on cable news is a violation of federal law.
In a June 9 tweet, Moore posted, "The right to remain silent is apparently not taught in MAGA schools. For those with security clearance it is their duty under penalty of law to remain silent. These basic concepts are alien to Greene and her fanatical supporters."
Journalist Kaz Weida said of Greene, "I don't know who needs to hear this, but this is also mishandling of classified documents and it's a crime."
Similarly, USA Today columnist Rex Huppke tweeted, "The GOP really needs to get people who are better at doing crimes, because this one was like, 'HEY, EXCUSE ME, IS THERE A CAMERA I CAN DO THIS CRIME IN FRONT OF, PLEASE?'"
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