Former CIA agent and longtime Republican Evan McMullin blasted President Donald Trump and the Republican Party for not calling out the white supremacists and racists who killed one protester and injured scores of other in Charlottesville, VA on Saturday.
Regarding the press conference by Virginia officials in the wake of the tragedy, McMullin told CNN's Ana Cabrera, "What we just saw is the kind of leadership that America has been waiting for, for the last six or seven months, and I've got to tell you, it was refreshing to hear it. We should hear more of it from Washington, D.C.."
He continued, "Now I've got to tell you another thing about this situation. I've spent time in Republican politics and with Republican leaders, and Republican leaders tend not to speak out against racism in America, unless it's some disastrous situation like this, and then they come out."
He continued, "The reason why they don't do that -- and I know because i've been a part of it, I've seen it myself -- is that there's a taboo within the Republican Party about attacking racism in America... There is an element of the Republican base that is racist, and our leaders are afraid to stand up to them because, if they do so, they'll be criticized, and they'll potentially lose votes."
He concluded, "So they don't do it, but that's not public service, that's self-service."
Wilson explained to Times Radio this week why the film had gotten under Trump's skin.
"Apparently, the critics thought it was great, but his campaign team are absolutely furious about it," the Times Radio host noted.
"You know, Donald Trump's history with Roy Cohn is an area that most Americans have no clue about," Wilson said. "Roy Cohn was an attorney who counseled Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s McCarthy hearings, in which he was hunting alleged imaginary communists throughout the government."
"He met Trump in the 1970s because he had done some work for Trump's father, Fred Trump, and saw in Donald Trump the kind of amoral, unethical, post-truth environment," he continued. "A lot of the things that Roy Cohn taught Trump, never apologize, never back down on a point. If someone attacks you, attack them back 100 times more."
Wilson said he had heard from people who saw the film.
"I've also heard from someone who saw it at Cannes directly — and said it will drive him out of his mind, it will make him crazy, and it apparently has already done so," he noted. "And so, you know, it portrays him in a very unflattering light, which is not a difficult thing to achieve."
The host said her colleagues at the Times had seen the film.
"Apparently, it shows Trump having liposuction, having scalp reduction surgery to conceal his bald patch, and indeed, physically assaulting his former wife, Ivana, and we now hear that his presidential campaign is threatening legal action," she observed. "I mean, this could potentially have a further effect on this already absolutely extraordinary presidential campaign."
Wilson agreed: "It really could, and one of the things that we saw in 2020 was that the race looked a lot like it did right now before COVID hit."
"There will likely be big externalities in this campaign that we have yet to contemplate, and there will likely be big externalities in this campaign that we have yet to process in a fundamental way," he added.
Donald Trump and his allies are falsely claiming President Joe Biden, the U.S. Dept. of Justice, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had a plot to assassinate his top political rival, the ex-president, during the execution of a search warrant in 2022 at Mar-a-Lago. Critics, including law enforcement experts, are blasting Trump and his MAGA associates for the "dangerous" lie.
On Tuesday a U.S. District Judge unsealed court documents in Special Counsel Jack Smith's Espionage Act case against Trump where he faces 40 felony counts, most over his alleged unlawful removal, retention, and refusal to return classified documents including some of the nation's top nuclear secrets.
One of those filings, as The Washington Post reported, was a law enforcement documents that included a standard statement reminding FBI agents on the Bureau's policy on the use of deadly force, "which says officers may resort to lethal force only when the subject of such force poses an 'imminent danger of death or serious physical injury' to an officer or another person."
But on Tuesday, Trump explosively posted on Truth Social, "WOW! I just came out of the Biden Witch Hunt Trial in Manhattan, the 'Icebox,' and was shown Reports that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ, in their Illegal and UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE. NOW WE KNOW, FOR SURE, THAT JOE BIDEN IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. HE IS MENTALLY UNFIT TO HOLD OFFICE — 25TH AMENDMENT!"
"TRUMP ALERT," it begins. "BREAKING FROM TRUMP: BIDEN'S DOJ WAS AUTHORIZED TO SHOOT ME!"
"You know they're just itching to do the unthinkable... Joe Biden was locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger."
Attorney and former FBI Special Agent Asha Rangappa observed, "Including the deadly force policy [in] an ops plan is SOP [standard operating procedure]. But just so I make sure I’m following the plot, according to Trump’s position in court, what he is accusing Biden of would be perfectly legal and within the scope of his 'official' powers, right?"
Trump repeatedly has insisted presidents must have complete and total "absolute immunity." His attorneys have argued in federal court and before the U.S. Supreme Court a president could order Seal Team Six to assassinate his political rival and it would be lawful, as was noted here:
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was among the top allies who falsely characterized the court filing.
"The Biden DOJ and FBI were planning to assassinate Pres Trump and gave the green light," she posted to her official federal government account on X. "Does everyone get it yet???!!!! What are Republicans going to do about it?"
She also wrote: "This is grounds for impeachment of Wray and Garland. Trump and team was cooperating the entire time with the FBI," Greene claimed, both of which are false.
"Was deadly force authorized against Biden for his docs? Were they going to shoot SS then Pres Trump, Melania, and Barron too??? Speaker Mike Johnson fully funded the DOJ and FBI plus new building and tied our hands behind our backs to hold them accountable. We have the power of the purse and Johnson has handed the purse to Chuck Schumer. All of this is unforgivable."
Fox News Business host Maria Bartiromo also promoted the false claims Wednesday morning:
NBC News' Ryan Reilly mockingly explained the situation: "GOP members of Congress think the feds wanted to assassinate Trump and so they did a raid on his place in Florida when they knew him to be in New Jersey because Mar-A-Lago was closed for the season."
Meanwhile, critics are sounding the alarm on Trump's and the GOP's lies.
"This is wildly irresponsible, even for professional troll like Marjorie Taylor Greene," wrote conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg. "FBI knew Trump wasn’t there. It was all coordinated with Secret Service in advance. This is deeply dangerous bullshit."
"Trump wasn’t there," said talk radio host Joe Walsh, a former GOP U.S. Congressman, responding to U.S. Rep. Greene's remarks. "Everything was coordinated with Secret Service & local law enforcement. Even for you, this is a deeply irresponsible and dangerous thing to say."
David Axelrod, the former top Obama strategist and White House advisor, remarked, "This is patently nuts...and dangerously provocative!"
If presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump defeats incumbent President Joe Biden in November, he would — under the United States' current rules and presidential term limit — be required to leave office on January 20, 2029.
But some of Trump's critics fear that if he becomes president again, he will refuse to leave the White House when the time comes.
Bloomberg News' Joshua Green reports that this fear is being expressed by more than a few U.S. voters in focus groups.
Seiji Carpenter, vice president at David Binder Research, described an April focus group and told Bloomberg News, "We were talking to Latino men and Asian American-Pacific Islander women in battleground states, and they went straight to the issue of: What if Trump won't give up power?"
Carpenter added that this is a "real concern" among voters that David Binder Research has spoken to.
GOP strategist Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark and an outspoken Never Trump conservative, is also encountering this fear in focus groups she has been conducting.
At one of them, Longwell — who supported President Joe Biden in 2020 and is supporting him again in 2024 — asked voters, "Does anybody think he may not abide by the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution and leave office after the 2028 election? Anyone worried about that?"
A Pennsylvania man in that focus group said of Trump, "I wouldn't put it past him, now that he owns the RNC. To say, 'Don Jr. is going to do the next term, and he'll get two. And then Barron (Trump) will get two.' And we'll just have some fake monarchy."
Green points out that even some voters who have their criticisms of Biden are worried that if Trump wins a second term, he won't respect the 22nd Amendment.
The Bloomberg News journalist reports, "As far-fetched as it may sound, the prospect of Trump overriding or simply ignoring the constitutional provision that limits a president to serving two terms seems to be pushing some undecided voters toward Biden, despite significant reservations about the incumbent's age, turmoil in the Middle East and high inflation. Now, strategists in both parties are probing to see how widely this sentiment has spread, particularly among the undecided voters likely to sway the election."
Alma, Wisconsin-based voter Lori McCammon voted for Trump in 2016 but has since come to view him as an authoritarian and isn't supporting him this year.
McCammon told Bloomberg News, "Based on what I’ve heard from him and figures like Steve Bannon, this would be our last free and fair election."
