Former CIA director slams the 'tragic symbolism' of Trump's refusal to visit WW1 memorials: 'There's no excuse'
November 16, 2018, 9:26 AM ET
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Researcher hired by Trump campaign seemed 'amazed' at 'shoddy' theories he was asked to investigate: report
June 05, 2023
In 2020, former President Donald Trump's campaign hired two private firms to investigate claims of mass voter fraud in the presidential election, and both firms concluded that there was simply insufficient evidence to prove the election had been stolen by President Joe Biden.
Now the Washington Post reports that both special counsel Jack Smith and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis have taken interest in the firms' work as they probe whether Trump broke any laws when he tried to stay in power after losing the 2020 election.
The Post's report brings new details about the findings of the two firms, Berkeley Research Group and Simpatico Software Systems, who are now both cooperating with investigators.
One particularly notable detail involves Ken Block, the president of Simpatico Software Systems, who provided the Trump campaign with lengthy and detailed presentations debunking the false claims the former president and his allies were pushing about mass voter fraud.
RELATED: 'Green light': Legal expert suggests Jack Smith has been given the go-ahead to indict Trump
"The emails from Block to Trump’s campaign show in detail that many of the theories — more than a dozen in total — being pushed by Trump’s team were erroneous, and Block explains the research he conducted," the Post writes, citing unnamed sources. "A person with knowledge of dozens of the emails said that Block at times seemed to be amazed at the theories he was being asked to pursue, along with the shoddiness of the methodology that others had used."
Trump currently faces a slew of legal problems, including a civil lawsuit over allegedly fraudulent business practices from New York Attorney General Letitia James; criminal charges related to his hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels; two different investigations into his efforts to illegally remain in power after losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden; and an investigation into his decision to stash top-secret government documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Trump was also recently found liable for sexually abusing and defaming journalist E. Jean Carroll.
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The View's Alyssa Farah Griffin shamed for Trump link as she frets about Biden's age: 'You worked for that guy'
June 05, 2023
"The View's" Sunny Hostin called out co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin for fretting over President Biden's age after working for Donald Trump, who is less than four years younger.
Griffin, who worked for Trump in 2020 as White House director of strategic communications, expressed concern that Biden, who will turn 81 in November, might not have enough vitality to serve a second four-year term, especially in light of his stumble at the recent Air Force Academy graduation.
"It's a job that's four years long, and he's already the oldest president already in history, even older in four more years in office," Griffin said. "I've worked in the White House for a very different president, but I'm telling you that job ages you. We remember the Barack Obama before, the Barack Obama after. It's the most stressful job in the universe.
"It's reasonable to talk about the factor of the -- I hate to say it, this is a sad statistic -- average life expectancy for a man in the U.S. is only 73 years old. Granted, people are living longer, I want them to live longer. He's already living longer than the average man. I think we have to think about that when we're committing to four more years of a presidency."
Co-host Ana Navarro pointed out that Trump, who turns 77 next week, is also older than the average life expectancy for American men, and Hostin went a step further.
"I don't think you're a hypocrite, Alyssa, and I would never call you that, but I hope when you worked for the president, that older president, who I think we have a clip of, could not walk down a ramp, could not hold a glass of water with one hand," Hostin said.
"Guess what, I'm not supporting them for four more years," Griffin interjected.
"I hope you had that discussion with yourself and your colleagues when you worked for that guy," Hostin replied.
06 05 2023 11 15 12 youtu.be
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Former Vice President Mike Pence filed paperwork on Monday declaring his campaign for president in 2024, setting up a challenge to his former boss, Donald Trump, just two years after their time in the White House ended with an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and Pence fleeing for his life.
Pence, the nation's 48th vice president, will formally launch his bid for the Republican nomination with a video and kickoff event in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday, which is his 64th birthday, according to people familiar with his plans. He made his candidacy official Monday with the Federal Election Commission.
While Trump is currently leading the early fight for the nomination, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis polling consistently in second, Pence supporters see a lane for a reliable conservative who espouses many of the previous administration’s policies but without the constant tumult.
While he frequently lauds the accomplishments of the “Trump-Pence administration,” a Pence nomination in many ways would be a return to positions long associated with the Republican establishment but abandoned as Trump reshaped the party in his image. Pence has warned against the growing populist tide in the party, and advisers see him as the only traditional, Reagan-style conservative in the race.
A staunch opponent of abortion rights, Pence supports a national ban on the procedure and has campaigned against transgender-affirming policies in schools. He has argued that changes to Social Security and Medicare, like raising the age for qualification, should be on the table to keep the programs solvent – which both Trump and DeSantis have opposed – and criticized DeSantis for his escalating feud with Disney. He also has said the U.S. should offer more support to Ukraine against Russian aggression, while admonishing “Putin apologists” in the party unwilling to stand up to the Russian leader.
Pence, who describes himself as “a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order,” has spent months laying the groundwork for an expected run, holding events in early voting states like Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire, visiting churches, delivering policy speeches and courting donors.
Pence’s team sees Iowa and its evangelical Christian voters as critical to his potential path to victory. Advisers say he plans to campaign aggressively in the state, hitting every one of its 99 counties before its first-in-the-nation caucuses next year.
The campaign is expected to lean heavily on town halls and retail stops aimed at reintroducing Pence to voters who only know him from his time as Trump’s second-in-command. Pence served for more than a decade in Congress and as Indiana’s governor before he was tapped as Trump’s running mate in 2016.
As vice president, Pence had been an exceedingly loyal defender of Trump until the days leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump falsely tried to convince Pence and his supporters that Pence had the power to unilaterally overturn the results of the 2020 election.
That day, a mob of Trump’s supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol building after being spurred on by Trump’s lies that the 2020 election had been stolen. Many in the crowd chanted “Hang Mike Pence!” as Pence, his staff and his family ran for safety, hiding in a Senate loading dock.
Pence has called Trump’s actions dangerous and said the country is looking for a new brand of leadership in the 2024 election.
“I think we’ll have better choices,” he recently told The Associated Press. “The American people want us to return to the policies of the Trump-Pence administration, but I think they want to see leadership that reflects more of the character of the American people.”
Pence has spent the 2 1/2 years since then strategically distancing himself from Trump. But he faces skepticism from both anti-Trump voters who see him as too close to the former president, as well as Trump loyalists, many of whom still blame him for failing to heed Trump’s demands to overturn the pair’s election defeat, even though Pence’s role overseeing the counting of the Electoral College vote was purely ceremonial and he never had the power to impact the results.
Pence joins a crowded Republican field that includes Trump, DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, U.S. Sen Tim Scott of South Carolina, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie plans to launch his own campaign Tuesday evening in New Hampshire, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum will announce his bid Wednesday in Fargo.
With Trump, a thrice-married reality star, facing skepticism among some Republicans during his 2016 run, his pick of Pence as a running mate assuaged concerns from evangelical Christians and others that he wasn’t sufficiently conservative. As vice president, Pence refused to ever criticize the former president publicly and often played the role of emissary, trying to translate Trump’s unorthodox rhetoric and policy proclamations, particularly on the world stage.
After Trump’s legal efforts to stave off defeat of the 2020 election were quashed by courts and state officials, he and his team zeroed in on Jan. 6, the date that a joint session of Congress would meet to formally certify President Joe Biden’s victory. In the weeks leading up to the session, Trump engaged in an unprecedented pressure campaign to convince Pence he had the power to throw out the electoral votes from battleground states won by Biden, even though he did not.
As the riot was underway and after Pence and his family were rushed off the Senate floor and into hiding, Trump tweeted, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.” Video footage of the attack shows rioters reading Trump’s words aloud and crowds breaking into chants that Pence should be hanged. A makeshift gallows was photographed outside the Capitol.
Pence has said that Trump “endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day” and that history will hold him accountable.
Despite his harrowing experience, Pence opposed efforts to testify in investigations into Trump’s actions on and in the lead-up to Jan. 6. He refused to appear before the House committee investigating the attack and fought a subpoena issued by the special counsel overseeing numerous Trump investigations, though he did eventually testify before a grand jury.
Only six former U.S. vice presidents have been elected to the White House, including Biden, who is running for a second term.
(AP)
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