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The Manhattan grand jury hearing evidence in the case against former President Donald Trump in the Stormy Daniels hush money case got an unexpected shout-out Wednesday.
The grand jury got high marks from, Trump, the target of the investigation himself.
The former president gave the jurors plaudits even though details of the probe are confidential under grand jury protocol.
“I HAVE GAINED SUCH RESPECT FOR THIS GRAND JURY, & PERHAPS EVEN IN THE GRAND JURY SYSTEM AS A WHOLE,” Trump wrote in an all-caps post on his Truth Social website.
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"THE EVIDENCE IS SO OVERWHELMING IN MY FAVOR, & SO RIDICULOUSLY BAD FOR THE HIGHLY PARTISAN & HATEFUL DISTRICT ATTORNEY, THAT THE GRAND JURY IS SAYING, HOLD ON, WE ARE NOT A RUBBER STAMP, WHICH MOST GRAND JURIES ARE BRANDED AS BEING, WE ARE NOT GOING TO VOTE AGAINST A PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE OR AGAINST LARGE NUMBERS OF LEGAL SCHOLARS ALL SAYING THERE IS NO CASE HERE. DROP THIS SICK WITCH HUNT, NOW!"
All indications are that Trump’s praise for the grand jurors is the result of his belief that the intermittent nature of the investigation means that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has a week case.
That belief may be misguided, according to a New York Law Journal report in which several former prosecutors expressed the view that the on-again, off-again nature of the probe says more about how grand juries operate than the strength of Bragg’s case.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former Chief Assistant District Attorney of the Manhattan DA’s Office told the publication that the “grand jury works in fits and starts.”
READ MORE: Trump busted by CNN fact checker for telling a 'story that cannot possibly be true'
“It’s not like a trial where it goes in a particular schedule or a particular order,” Agnifilo said.
John Moscow, who served in the Manhattan DA’s Office for 30 years, said bringing together 23 jurors presents challenges.
“Anyone who’s ever tried to plan a party would understand,” Moscow said.
Bragg has reportedly been nearing a decision on whether to indict Trump for weeks, but that decision may not happen until later next month at the earliest. The grand jury is scheduled to go on break after meeting twice next week.
The grand jury isn’t expected to hear evidence on the Trump case until after it returns from break, CNN reports.
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‘This is about one client – Donald Trump’: Eric Swalwell destroys Jim Jordan and his ‘Insurrection LLC’ committee
March 29, 2023
U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) unleashed massive criticism of Jim Jordan Wednesday afternoon, accusing the House Judiciary Committee Chairman of working solely for Donald Trump.
In his opening remarks of a Judiciary subcommittee hearing Swalwell, the Ranking Member, slammed Jordan for refusing to comply with a legal subpoena issued by the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, and criticized the subcommittee for holding a hearing – not on gun violence and mass shootings – but on what the California Democrat said was issues to help the ex-president.
Congressman Swalwell blasted Jordan and his “Committee to Obstruct Justice” on a wide range of issues, including obstructing justice, ordering a district attorney to commit a felony, and lying that Attorney General Merrick Garland labeled parents “domestic terrorists.”
“Well, here we are. Another partners’ meeting of Insurrection, LLC,” Swalwell said as he began his remarks. “That’s what this is. This is the newly formed largest law firm in Washington, D.C. Only has one client, maybe a second client that we’re going to learn about today, but that client is former president Donald Trump.”
“Their job,” he said, referring to Jordan’s Judiciary Committee, subcommittees, and his controversial Subcommittee of the Weaponization of the Federal Government, “is to litigate every one of [Trump’s] petty, petty, petty grievances.”
“It’s now 321 days since this subpoena was sent to Jim Jordan, that he did not comply with,” Swalwell said, pointing to a large blown-up copy of the subpoena, with the word “subpoena” enlarged exponentially.
“So it’s comical that we are here today, under Jim Jordan’s leadership, asking people why they don’t want to comply with subpoenas. The guy won’t comply with the one that was sent to him 321 days ago, witness to a crime, the crime that has led to more arrests than any investigation in America,” Swalwell observed, referring to the January 6 prosecutions.
“He’s a witness being asked to do his patriotic duty and respond to a subpoena 321 days later, refuses. Also, since the last hearing of this Committee to Obstruct Justice, Chairman Jordan is now in interfering in an independent criminal prosecution. There’s an investigation in Manhattan, also in Atlanta, also at the Department of Justice, into the former president and Jim Jordan has sent a letter to the independently elected District Attorney Alvin Bragg of Manhattan. He is asking Alvin Bragg to commit a felony.”
“Why is he asking Alvin Bragg to commit a felony? To help Donald Trump. Why is it a felony? Because if Alvin Bragg were to turn over what Jim Jordan is asking of him, Bragg would be violating New York law that says you cannot turn over grand jury proceedings, but that’s what they’re asking them to do. Again, the law doesn’t matter if your client is Donald Trump. ”
“The other day Jim Jordan was asked, ‘Well, what do you think of the former president who put out on Truth Social the other day, essentially an another call to action? A January 6-like post when the former president said this posting, Jim Jordan was presented with this post by the former president that calls for ‘death and destruction.’ And Mr. Jordan said that he would ‘need his classes.’ He was looking the other way. Jim Jordan looking the other way.”
“Well, we have blown up on the screen and we’ve put it right here and I’ll leave it for Jim Jordan. This is what Donald Trump said, Mr. Jordan,” Swalwell said, reading the e-president’s social media post:
“‘What kind of person can charge another person? In this case it former president of the United States who got more votes than any sitting president in history and leading candidate by far for the Republican Party nomination with the crime when it is known by all that? No crime has been committed and also known that potential death and destruction and such a false charge can be catastrophic for our country. Why and who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath that truly hates the USA?'”
“Again, I’m gonna leave this up here in probably 200 font. So Mr. Jordan doesn’t need his glasses to read it,” Swalwell added, referring to news that Jordan recently refused to comment on a Trump social media post claiming he first hadn’t read it, then when a reporter showed it to him, Jordan said he couldn’t read it because he didn’t have his glasses.
“The same individual who posted this also posted this photo. There you go, Donald. Trump. Real tough guy holding a baseball bat, next to a picture of that independent prosecutor that Jim Jordan wants to commit a felony, Alvin Bragg.”
“But you won’t hear from this Committee to Obstruct Justice, any condemnation of what Donald Trump posted. They can’t condemn him. They can’t. So in their silence, they condone it. And in these posts from Donald Trump, he incites more and more Americans to commit violence like a woman who was arrested yesterday, near Times Square with a knife seeking to carry out an act of violence in Donald Trump’s name.”
Swalwell blasted Chairman Jordan for repeatedly falsely claiming that Attorney General Merrick Garland had labeled parents speaking at school board meetings “domestic terrorists,” a lie made by many Republicans and conservatives.
“No parent has a right to threaten a school board volunteer. If a threat is brought to the FBI, it’s their duty to investigate those threats. We’ve also learned from all the document production from DOJ and the FBI in the Department of Education, that there is not one instance where the Department of Justice called any parent or a group of parents, ‘domestic terrorists,’ as has been claimed by Jim Jordan.”
And he criticized House Republicans, who, under Jim Jordan, had posted a tweet in support of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Kanye West.
“It’s also about a tweet that Jim Jordan posted back in the fall. ‘Kanye. Elon. Trump.’ Now after that tweet was posted, Kanye said he’s going to declare ‘DEF CON three on the Jews.’ The tweet stayed up for months. Everyone was like, ‘Hey guys, turns out your hero Kanye West hates the Jews. We all stand with Israel. Please take down the tweet.’ They didn’t take down the tweet. They kept the tweet up. Day after day. Jewish community they’re hurting, they say, ‘Please don’t take, please don’t put this tweet up.’ It stays up.”
He also blasted the GOP for holding hearings with witnesses they invited who are anti-police, despite their motto of “backing the blue.”
“Last week, we had a hearing where you could call anyone in America when you have the majority, the power of a subpoena. We had a hearing about the ATF. These guys brought a witness who had just recently tweeted, ‘fuck cops.’ Cops. That’s what this guy tweeted. Anyone on Earth could have come to that hearing and they brought someone that said, ‘fuck cops.’ Then one of their colleagues, this is what she’s selling on her social media: ‘defund the FBI.’ So we went from backing the blue to backing the coup.”
Swalwell concluded his remarks by slamming the committee for doing nothing to reduce gun violence in the wake of Monday’s school mass shooting.
“So we’ll waste our time today on this exercise on behalf of Donald Trump and perhaps Elon Musk, but everyone on their side is going to have to go home this weekend to their constituents and their constituents are going to ask them one question: Three little babies died this week in a school in Nashville. No other committee in Congress has jurisdiction to do something about that except this committee. So you’re on the Judiciary Committee. Three kids are dead. They’re gonna be buried this week. What did you do about it? Did you show up to the Judiciary Committee and fight for those kids? Or did you show up and fight for Donald Trump? They showed up to the first hearing after Nashville and they’re fighting for Donald Trump.”
\u201cRep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA): \u201cThree little babies died this week at a school in Nashville. No other committee in Congress has jurisdiction to do something about that except this committee \u2026 [GOP] showed up, the first hearing after Nashville, and they\u2019re fighting for Donald Trump.\u201d\u201d— The Recount (@The Recount) 1680115902
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'Save the fetus, slaughter the child': House Republican roasted after claiming 'gun violence doesn't exist'
March 29, 2023
United States Congressman Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) attempted to redefine reality during an Oversight Committee hearing in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, just two days after six people – three students and three staffers – were killed in a mass shooting at the Christian Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.
"Regarding gun violence and gun violence being the number one cause of death of children in America today, you'll hear that a lot. Let me correct both," Higgins said. "There's no such thing as gun violence. There's only human violence. It's intellectually unsound to state otherwise, and the number one cause of death for children in America remains abortion."
The grim statistic about firearms and kids is objectively true, while Higgins' subsequent statement is a matter of personal interpretation of when, or if, life begins inside the womb.
"Firearms accounted for nearly 19% of childhood deaths (ages 1-18) in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wonder database. Nearly 3,600 children died in gun-related incidents that year. That's about five children lost for every 100,000 children in the United States," CNN noted. "In no other comparable country are firearms within the top four causes of mortality among children, according to a KFF analysis."
CNN further pointed out that "child and teen mortality overall surged during the Covid-19 pandemic — driven not by Covid-19 deaths but by fatal injuries, according to a new study in JAMA. Firearms accounted for nearly half of the increase in mortality in 2020."
Higgin made headlines last week when he declared via Twitter that "over time, American communities will build beautiful, church-owned public-access libraries. I’m going to help these churches get funding. We will change the whole public library paradigm. The libraries regular Americans recall are gone. They've become liberal grooming centers." Higgins also has a history of racist taunts, such as when he snarled in a 2020 Facebook post aimed at Black people that "I'd drop any 10 of you where you stand" and that "we don't want to see your worthless ass nor do we want to make your mothers cry."
Higgins' incendiary rhetoric was easy fodder for social media blowback.
Karin Barnaby:
Abortion does not kill any viable children. Abortion is the ending of pregnancy due to removing an embryo or fetus before it can survive outside the uterus. 90% of abortions occur in the first trimester of pregnancy.
45,222 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S. in 2020, according to the CDC, almost 20,000 were murdered by guns. Guns are now the leading cause of death for American kids.
Republican politicians & judges have seized control of women's bodies & lives, depriving women of their human rights, personal autonomy, health & safety, thus depriving Americans of the right to life, liberty, equality & justice for all, under government of, by & for all people.
MCCULLOUGH: "Great story, Congressman. Compelling and rich. 'Louisiana has the highest murder rate in the U.S. of 14.4 murders per 100,000 residents. Murders were more than twice as common in Louisiana as they were nationwide.'"
Songfourone: "Police Chief Perry Gallow in a letter to the City Council, he wrote, 'Clay Higgins used unnecessary force on a subject during the execution of a warrant and later gave false statements during an internal investigation...'"
Madison Church: "I find it fascinating how they want to protect a glob of cells but care nothing for nine-year-olds being liquified by bullets."
Make Lies Wrong Again (Some Knucklehead): "The rhythm specified in 6-week abortion bans, 'is a group of cells with electrical activity. That's what the 'heartbeat' is at that stage of gestation … We are in no way talking about any kind of cardiovascular system.'"
Vinny "Colin Robinson" Boombats: "And just like that he has people discussing abortion and not the issue at hand. This is an attempt at distraction, don't let it work."
Politically Incorrect: "100% Uvalde: AR-15 Buffalo: AR-15 Boulder: AR-15 Orlando: AR-15 Parkland: AR-15 Las Vegas: AR-15 Sandy Hook: AR-15 San Bernardino: AR-15 Midland/Odessa: AR-15 Colorado Springs: AR-15 Poway synagogue: AR-15 Sutherland Springs: AR-15 Tree of Life Synagogue: AR-15 #BanAssaultWeapons."
KJoJoe: "Aaaaannnnnd…there it is! 'More kids die in the womb than in the classroom.' 'Save the Fetus, Slaughter the child!' THAT is what they're okay with! Here's what I know…we haven't had Machine Guns in our society for almost a century b/c our HoR unanimously voted to OUTLAW them!"
Lord Munson: "What a disingenuous and ridiculous distinction to try and make. If access to weapons is so easy, violence will escalate to use of them in increasing frequency."
Suzy QL (Not *that* Q): "If he is comparing a fetus the size of a bean with a living breathing child, that's heinous. Talk to a parent who has lost a child from a school shooting, and then talk to a woman who's had an abortion - the grief isn't even comparable."
John 15: "Um, babies are alive. You get that, right?"
Susan Anne: "The pro-life party ends at the 2nd Amendment. Clay Higgins is a shameless, disgraceful hypocrite."
Suzanne Duffy: "Oh my effin God!! on that response statement, really?! That's your takeaway on this latest school mass shooting? Some pro-life stance there, sir, @RepClayHiggins, holy cow."
There was one additional observation regarding Higgins' remarks.
dixonnotnixon2: "Note how the young people behind him drop their heads in responsive unison. I don't know if these are aids working for him stunned by such blatant lying about their lived experience OR youth representing the sheer disgust all young people feel to this man and his kind."
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