Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump hits the campaign trail Saturday for the first time in a stuttering third bid for the US presidency overshadowed by intensifying criminal investigations and a firestorm of political controversy.
The twice-impeached Republican, whose party lost the White House and both chambers of Congress during his term, makes his case for another four years with appearances in New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Some 650 days ahead of the next election, Trump remains the Republican frontrunner, but his grip on the rank-and-file has loosened during his two years in the wilderness since exiting the Oval Office.
"Mr Trump's conduct since announcing his candidacy for the 2024 Republican nomination has weakened his credibility within his party," Brookings Institution senior fellow William Galston said in a recent commentary.
The 76-year-old Trump has been unusually low-key since announcing his latest presidential run on November 15, cocooned at his Mar-a-Lago beach home in south Florida and declining to hold a single public event.
But he heads onto the stump facing simmering discontent over midterm elections that saw a series of extremist candidates he had backed rejected in crucial battleground states.
The former reality TV star also has riled establishment Republicans over a dinner he hosted in Florida with a notorious Holocaust denier and the anti-Semitic, Hitler-admiring rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
His continued election denialism and a call in December for the termination of the Constitution to reinstate him to office also sparked a chorus of opprobrium.
Trump will address Republicans in the New Hampshire commercial hub of Salem on Saturday morning, before leading a rally in South Carolina's capital, Columbia.
His first two locations are no accident: the states hold outsize influence as two of the first in every presidential election year to hold nominating contests -- known as "primaries" or "caucuses," depending on local custom.
Both cemented Trump's frontrunner status in 2016 after a lukewarm start while South Carolina rescued Democratic President Joe Biden's floundering campaign in 2020.
In Congress and around the country, some Republicans are openly suggesting the party is ready for a younger, fresher face -- someone who is less polarizing and unencumbered by the constant drip of scandal.
Two South Carolina Republicans in their 50s -- Senator Tim Scott and former governor Nikki Haley -- are believed to be eyeing potential presidential runs, and neither is expected to show up on Saturday.
Galston said while Trump still has a "narrow path" to victory in 2024, the former president was "increasingly seen as a loser -- and rightly so" after the midterms.
But the battle for the nomination could wind up a two-horse race between Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who would be unlikely to announce until after the Sunshine State's legislative session ends in May.
If DeSantis does run, he will be hoping for a more successful launch than Trump, who saw no polling bump after his November announcement.
Mounting legal woes still appear however to be the biggest roadblock for Trump, whose company was convicted on 17 counts of tax fraud and related offenses the week before he announced his run.
He is facing criminal probes in Atlanta and New York over election interference allegations and a hush money payment to a porn star.
Federal prosecutors are scrutinizing his handling of misappropriated government secrets, his role in the 2021 assault on the US Capitol and his attempts to overturn his election defeat.
He is also defending lawsuits in New York over a mid-1990s rape accusation and an alleged fraud that misled lenders, insurers and tax authorities over a period of years.
But counting out the perennial comeback kid could yet prove to be a mistake, say those who point to the success of Trump's brand as an insurgent who doesn't play by the rules.
Political scientist Jeff Broxmeyer told AFP that while the midterms had likely eroded Trump's mainstream support, his scandals had done him little harm among his base.
"Perpetual legal suits and coalition building with far-right figures are central features of Trump's appeal to Republican primary voters -- not obstacles to it," the University of Toledo professor said.
Donald Trump's administration executed 13 federal inmates in his last six months in office -- a stunning increase over three executions in 60 years.
Brandon Bernard, who took part in the 1999 carjacking and murder of youth ministers Todd and Stacie Bagley, was the ninth prisoner put to death in the execution spree after a last-minute plea for clemency from rap producer Jamal Fincher Jones to Trump came too late, just as the 40-year-old man was taken to the execution chamber, reported Rolling Stone.
“As the drug started taking its effect, he’s looking in our direction, as if he just wanted somebody to help him,” said Chuck Formosa, a defense investigator became close to Bernard after working to spare his life. “It was the most f*cked-up thing I’ve ever seen, watching them kill my friend.”
Six of the 13 executions came after Trump lost the 2020 election as his Justice Department accelerated the schedule ahead of the incoming Joe Biden administration, which halted federal executions, but the former president has already promised to resume -- and increase -- executions in he wins back his old office.
IN OTHER NEWS: Trump slapped down by judge in bid to avoid Jan. 6 Capitol cop trial
“We’re going to be asking [for] everyone who sells drugs, gets caught selling drugs to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts,” Trump said in his November campaign announcement. “Because it is the only way.”
Trump has long been a public champion of the death penalty, going back to the full-page ad he took out in the New York Daily News calling for the executions of the "Central Park Five," who were later exonerated by DNA evidence, and making what he called a "strong" case to carry out more executions when he first jumped into the 2016 campaign.
His attorney general William Barr devoted an entire chapter, “Bringing Justice to Violent Predators," of his Trump administration memoir to federal executions spree, which he had resumed in 2019, after his predecessor Jeff Sessions lifted the unofficial moratorium on federal executions in 2018 by urging federal prosecutors to use existing death-penalty laws against drug traffickers.
Memphis (AFP) - The southern US city of Memphis braced itself for unrest Friday as authorities prepared to release a video depicting the fatal assault of a Black man by five police officers who, the victim's mother said, "beat him to a pulp."
The police officers, who are also Black, were charged with second-degree murder in the beating of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols, who died in hospital on January 10, three days after being stopped on suspicion of reckless driving.
"They had beat him to a pulp," Nichols's mother RowVaughn Wells told CNN, sobbing as she described him in hospital. "He had bruises all over. His head was swollen like a watermelon. His neck was bursting because of the swelling."
"I knew my son was gone," Wells said.
Memphis police chief Cerelyn Davis said the graphic video, which will be released after 6:00 pm Central time (0000 GMT Saturday), shows Nichols crying out for his mother.
"What I saw on this video was more of a groupthink sort of mentality. And no one took a step to intercept or intervene," Davis said. "And that's why the charges are as severe as they are."
Davis compared the video to footage of the 1991 Rodney King beating, which sparked days of riots in Los Angeles that left dozens dead.
"I was in law enforcement during the Rodney King incident, it's very much aligned with that same type of behavior," Davis said. "I would say it's about the same, if not worse."
Nichols's death at the hands of police drew immediate comparisons with the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, another Black man whose suffocation by a white police officer in Minneapolis was caught on film.
Video of Floyd's death spread rapidly, sparking a massive wave of at times violent protests nationwide and beyond, and reviving scrutiny of race relations and a culture of police brutality in the United States.
President Joe Biden, anticipating protests after the Memphis video's release, called for calm, saying "outrage is understandable, but violence is never acceptable."
The police officers were taken into custody following a rapid internal investigation that found them to have deployed excessive use of force and to have failed to render aid.
In addition to second-degree murder charges, the officers are also facing indictments for aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping.
Four of the five were released from jail after posting bail, US media reported Friday, citing jail records.
Police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder over Floyd's death, in what was seen as a landmark case.
Chauvin, a white veteran of the Minneapolis police force, knelt on Floyd's neck for nearly 10 minutes, indifferent to his cries and the warnings of distraught passersby.
In another of a long series of police killings, an officer was found guilty in 2021 of manslaughter after she shot dead young African American man Daunte Wright, claiming she mistook her gun for her taser during a traffic stop in a suburb of Minneapolis.
RowVaughn Wells on Friday accused police of initially trying to cover-up her son's beating, coming to her door to say he had been arrested for drunk driving and pepper-sprayed and tasered after being hard to handcuff.
They said he was being treated by paramedics and would be taken to hospital but that she could not visit him.
Doctors called days later to say he was in cardiac arrest and his kidneys were failing, and that she needed to visit as soon as possible.
"People don't know what those Black police officers did to our family," Wells said.
"They have brought shame to their own families. They brought shame to the Black community."
A lawyer for one officer, Desmond Mills, said his client was innocent of second-degree murder.
"That requires that they prove that Mr Mills acted with a reasonable degree of certainty with regard to his actions, that his actions were certain to cause death. And that's just simply not the case," said Blake Ballin.
The leadership team of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is scrambling to control and whip Republican votes in the House, after a series of decisions and rule changes they made to appease the Republican base and secure McCarthy's Speakership votes to begin with have left them with diminished power and new logistical challenges, reported CNN on Friday.
"Their majority is narrow and divided sharply between the moderates – who hail from Biden-won districts and are the reason Republicans have the majority in the first place – and the hardliners who from the outset have asserted themselves as the ultimate deciders of McCarthy’s fate as speaker," reported Lauren Fox and Melanie Zanona. "That dynamic, combined with a lengthy list of concessions McCarthy made in his quest to secure the speaker’s gavel, could make it more difficult for the House GOP to pass even messaging bills – let alone essential and heavier lifts like raising the nation’s borrowing limit or politically dicey questions like whether to impeach President Joe Biden or a member of his Cabinet."
"Further complicating matters, McCarthy abolished the House’s remote voting system put in place during the pandemic, making the GOP’s razor-thin majority even more tenuous. Already, House Republicans are down one vote for the next few weeks with the absence of Rep. Greg Steube of Florida, who was recently injured after a fall," said the report. "'Our biggest challenge will be attendance,' House Majority Whip Tom Emmer told CNN in an interview. 'People staying healthy and staying on the field.'"
Proxy voting was adopted in the House during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic to allow members to conduct regular business remotely if that was required for health and safety. Republicans themselves used the procedure on numerous occasions; however GOP leaders like McCarthy opposed it on principle from the start and eliminated it when they took over — which is now making it harder for them to govern with a slim majority.
IN OTHER NEWS: Nevada Republicans tearing themselves apart after failed MAGA candidate's vulgar speech goes viral
One Republican raging about the lack of cohesion in the party is Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who is particularly complaining about how McCarthy, as part of a promise with the Freedom Caucus, is fast-tracking the "FairTax" bill — a highly controversial measure to abolish the IRS and create a 30 percent national sales tax that even McCarthy himself doesn't support. “I called and said that’s BS,” Bacon said to CNN, about how the bill could skip the amendment process. “It’s gotta go through committee just like every other bill, and I think these bills will be improved.”
"It’s the kind of member management and careful tap dance that foreshadows the delicate balance ahead for GOP leadership," said the report.
President Joe Biden on Thursday called the 26-year-old who wrestled the gun away from a suspected mass shooter in California, telling him: "You are America."
"I wanted to call and see how you're doing and thank you for taking such incredible action in the face of danger," Biden is heard telling Brandon Tsay on a recording of the call.
Biden posted a video on Twitter of his chat with Tsay, who wrestled the firearm from a 72-year-old man at a ballroom in Alhambra during Lunar New Year celebrations -- after the man had opened fire at a dance hall in nearby Monterey Park, killing 11 people.
After Tsay managed to secure the gun in an extended tussle -- captured on closed circuit video later released by US media -- the suspect left the Lai Lai Ballroom & Studio. The next morning, he shot himself dead as police closed in on his van.
"I don't think you understand just how much you've done for so many people who are never even going to know you. But I want them to know more about you," Biden said.
"You have my respect. You are America, pal," the president said. "America's never backed down. We've always stepped up because of people like you."
Tsay can be heard saying he was "still processing what I did and what I experienced."
"For you to call, that's just so comforting for me," he tells Biden.
At a White House celebration later Thursday for the Lunar New Year, Biden called for a moment of silence in memory of the slain and again praised Tsay.
"He charged the gunman, wrestled him to the ground and took away a semi-automatic pistol," Biden said.
"I think sometimes we underestimate the incredible acts of courage: someone is shooting and has a semi-automatic pistol aimed at you and you think about others. It's pretty profound."
Biden also hailed police and other first responders, saying "they answered the call."
© Agence France-Presse
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday evening claimed he could end the war between Russian and Ukraine in a single day were he still president.
Writing on his Truth Social platform, the former president wrote an all-caps post declaring that he had an undisclosed plan to make Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky come to a peace deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who nearly a year ago launched a completely unprovoked invasion into his country.
"IF I WERE PRESIDENT, THE RUSSIA/UKRAINE WAR WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED, BUT EVEN NOW, IF PRESIDENT, I WOULD BE ABLE TO NEGOTIATE AN END TO THIS HORRIBLE AND RAPIDLY ESCALATING WAR WITHIN 24 HOURS," he wrote. "SUCH A TRAGIC WASTE OF HUMAN LIFE!!!"
Earlier in the day, Trump seemed to take a shot at the Biden administration and other American allies for providing Ukraine with high-powered tanks that the Ukrainians say are needed to drive Russian forces out of their country.
"FIRST COME THE TANKS, THEN COME THE NUKES," Trump said. "Get this crazy war ended, NOW. So easy to do!"
During his presidency, Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine while he pressured the country to publicly announce a corruption investigation into Joe Biden, who at the time was seen as the toughest general election candidate for Trump to beat in the 2020 election.
Trump also called Putin a "genius" at the start of the invasion, which has now dragged on for several months and has seen multiple Russian military setbacks that have forced its army to retreat from some territories it had seized.
For the last year, President Joe Biden has released a record amount of oil from America's petroleum reserves in order to increase oil supply and lower the price of gasoline that skyrocketed at the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Some Republican lawmakers, however, have criticized Biden for selling so much oil, even though his administration has begun buying it back in recent months to restock the reserves.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on Thursday proposed an amendment that would have prevented Biden from selling oil in the future to combat high gas prices.
In justifying the amendment, Greene argued that "we need to chart a path back to energy independence and ensure President Biden is not able to sell our critical oil supplies to China and other enemy nations," this is why she wants to "prevent Biden from claiming an emergency to further reduce our strategic oil supplies."
READ MORE: Arizona GOP slammed for changing rules to exempt themselves from public records law
It seems that the vast majority of members of Congress -- including the vast majority of her Republican colleagues -- thought that this was a bad idea, as a vote on the amendment ended with just 14 votes in favor and a whopping 418 votes opposed.
Watch the video below or at this link.
Greene's amendment to bar Biden from selling oil goes down in massive bipartisan defeat www.youtube.com
In a searing op-ed for The Arizona Republic on Thursday, E.J. Montini tore into Republicans in the Arizona state legislature for changing the rules to exempt themselves from public records law.
"Republicans, using their small majority in the House and Senate, decided this week to exempt lawmakers from public records laws in order to cover up future misconduct," wrote Montini. "That’s not how they described their action, of course. In fact, Republican House Speaker Ben Toma told Capitol Media Services, 'I don’t think there’s any intention on my part to hide anything.' It’s an interesting statement, since what GOP lawmakers did was create rules that allow them to hide their official exchanges from the public."
Under the new rule, passed over Democratic objections, lawmakers and their staff can destroy their email correspondence after 90 days. They are also seeking to limit debate on "controversial legislation" to 30 minutes.
"If such a rule were in place for the past couple of years, for example, we might not have ever known about the extent Arizona Republican lawmakers went to overturn the election victory of President Joe Biden. That’s why records should be maintained," wrote Montini. "Now, lawmakers will be able to shield themselves from future embarrassments (or investigations) by simply destroying the evidence of who they are and what they said. The fact that some lawmakers presume the need for such protection should give us pause, don’t you think?"
READ MORE: Republican staffer resigns from North Carolina legislature after white supremacist comments surface
Last year, investigators on the House January 6 Committee discovered that far-right activist and Supreme Court spouse Ginni Thomas corresponded via email with Arizona legislators, urging them to overturn the state's election results. They did not do so, but ultimately ordered an outside firm called "Cyber Ninjas" to conduct a partisan and controversial "audit" of the results in Maricopa County, which ultimately found no wrongdoing.
A number of states have various public records or "sunshine" laws, and state government officials have been caught trying to circumvent them. In Missouri, a state with strong transparency laws, a judge ruled last year that Sen. Josh Hawley "knowingly" tried to conceal records from public scrutiny by using private email accounts when he was the state attorney general.
WASHINGTON — Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who sits on the Judiciary Committee, spoke with reporters on Thursday afternoon about his intentions over the next few weeks in approving judges. But it was his comments about the Supreme Court that the Justices might feel hits too close to home.
President Joe Biden has spent the past few years working to fill vacancies on the federal courts, reaching 97 as of this week. The Senate will cast their approval for the 100th judge in the coming weeks. Former President Donald Trump made 245 appointments in four years.
"We need to focus on appointing really qualified people," said Blumenthal. "It's going to be a legacy for the administration and all of us who serve on the Judiciary particularly."
He went on to say that the judges he's seen appointed are some of the most qualified and diverse appointees he's ever seen, even looking at Barack Obama's administration.
IN OTHER NEWS: Trump clearly agitated after Fulton County DA made a stunning admission in court: columnist
"There's an emphasis on diversity here as well as judgments, life experience, expertise in the court. It's really extraordinary," he said, adding that he hopes folks don't simply focus on the raw numbers.
Statistics from PBS at the end of the year showed that 74 percent of the Biden judicial nominees are women and 46 percent are women of color. Trump only nominated 24 percent women and only 16 percent were people of color, Pew Research said.
Blumenthal also said that he's "hopeful" that Biden would be able to nominate more than one Supreme Court Justice in his four-year term. He remarked that Biden has already "made history" with the appointee of the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
"I'm thinking seriously about what we need to do to change the court. Change the — do some structural reform," he continued. "Obviously, it's an uphill fight. But the court is destroying its own credibility."
When Raw Story asked him about whether Americans are continuing to be angry over the elimination of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court and whether there is the public will to get reforms passed. Blumenthal said he thinks "there very-well may be."
"I think there will be again once the court starts issuing decisions," he said, agreeing that currently, it seems like the "calm before the storm." Particularly, he said, if the court continues on its "self-destructive" behavior.
With additional reporting by Matt Laslo
Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn says he doesn't expect to see any new gun legislation despite the recent spate of mass shootings in California.
“I think we did everything we could do with the votes available last summer, so I don’t see that happening anytime soon,” Cornyn told NBC News.
Cornyn's comments come amid new calls from President Joe Biden for gun safety legislation after two back-to-back mass shootings took place in California.
Cornyn co-wrote the Safer Communities Act with Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., which passed Congress last year and became the most significant new gun safety legislation in 30 years.
IN OTHER NEWS: Trump clearly agitated after Fulton County DA made a stunning admission in court: columnist
“I’d be surprised if the House would be willing to take something up,” Cornyn said on Thursday.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy also said he didn't expect to see any new legislation.
“I would never do anything without having all the information. But having lived in California my entire life, California has the strictest gun laws there are, and apparently, that did not work in this situation too,” he told reporters Tuesday.
“Not understanding why this transpired, this horrendous activity that they’ve done — were there signs ahead of time that we could have found? I’ll wait to find any information out,” he said.
Read more at NBC News.
The National Archives is calling on former presidents and vice presidents to make sure they're not in possession of any classified information, CNN reports.
The request comes in the wake of classified documents found at various locations belonging to former President Donald Trump, current President Joe Biden, and most recently former Vice President Mike Pence.
The Archives sent a letter to representatives of former presidents and vice presidents from the last six administrations covered by the Presidential Records Act (PRA). The letter asks that they make sure they are not “inadvertently” in possession of anything that needs to be turned over to the Archives.
“The responsibility to comply with the PRA does not diminish after the end of an administration,” the letter states. “Therefore, we request that you conduct an assessment of any materials held outside of NARA that relate to the Administration for which you serve as a designated representative under the PRA, to determine whether bodies of materials previously assumed to be personal in nature might inadvertently contain Presidential or Vice Presidential records subject to the PRA, whether classified or unclassified.”
IN OTHER NEWS: Bill Barr asked Italian officials to discredit Russia probe — they responded with evidence linking Trump to crimes
The letter adds that “while much of the attention of these instances has focused on the classified information, the PRA requires that all Presidential records of every Administration from Reagan onward must be transferred to NARA, regardless of classification status.”
As CNN points out, the Archives sent the letter to representatives for former Presidents Trump, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, and former Vice Presidents Pence, Biden, Dick Cheney, Al Gore and Dan Quayle.
"Representatives for the four former presidents have all so far told CNN they do not have any classified records in their possession," CNN's report stated. "The representatives for former Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama and the late George H.W. Bush all told CNN that all classified records had been turned over to the National Archives upon leaving office."
Read the full report over at CNN.
Outraged Democratic lawmakers called Thursday for a halt to a marketing campaign aimed at children for a semi-automatic rifle called the JR-15.
"What are we coming to?" said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
"With the epidemic of youth gun violence and mass shootings, an idea like this, a children's AR-15, should just not see the light of day," he said, referring to a popular military-style weapon.
At a press conference, Schumer and several other Democratic senators urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to take action against the company, Wee1 Tactical, that makes the JR-15.
"The law says you shouldn't be marketing guns to kids," he said, calling it "despicable."
On its website, Wee1 promotes the .22 caliber JR-15 as a lightweight semi-automatic rifle "geared towards smaller enthusiasts."
The Chicago-based company said the gun is about 20 percent smaller than the standard AR-15 and can have five- or 10-round magazines.
"We are excited and honored to provide a quality product that will assist families in safely passing on the proud American tradition of responsible gun ownership to the next generation of recreational shooting and hunting enthusiasts," the company said.
The Wee1 website includes a picture of a child firing the weapon next to an adult.
Schumer and the other senators referenced a spate of recent mass shootings in the United States and the shooting of a schoolteacher in Virginia by a six-year-old child.
"The last thing we need to be doing is reducing in size these deadly weapons of war and then marketing them to children," Schumer said. "But that's what's happening."
Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois said gun manufacturers were using the "tobacco company playbook" to lure younger customers.
"They want more Americans to use these weapons and they're hooking them to the young with the JR-15," Durbin said.
The other Illinois senator, Tammy Duckworth, called for a ban on military-style assault weapons altogether, an appeal echoed by President Joe Biden.
"It's time we pass an assault weapons ban in this country," Biden tweeted on Thursday. "We've done it before, and we can do it again.
"I urge both chambers of Congress to act quickly and deliver this ban to my desk where I'll promptly sign it into law," he said.
© Agence France-Presse
Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., spewed conspiracy theories about an environmental plan to conserve 30% of US land and waters by 2030 ahead of her election last year.
Speaking at R-CALF, a convention for independent cattle producers, Hageman in August 2021 and 2022 baselessly claimed that conservation plans like the global initiative 30x30 are a government plot led by President Joe Biden to control Americans through starvation.
The congresswoman likened the environmental plans to African dictators starving their people to stay in power.
"Anytime their dictator needed to control the masses and needed to make sure that there would be no uprising, he just starves his people," Hageman said in the previously unreported video. "You can look at Somalia, you can look at the Congo, you can look at country after country after country after country, and what they've done is they control their people with food. That's what 30 x 30 is about. That's what the Green New Deal is about."
The-then candidate's statements are similar to a number of anti-government conspiracy theories shared by anti-public land extremists. Many of these conspiracy theorists have also equated 30x30 with the Holocaust and Stalin's genocide of Ukrainians in the 1930s.
"History repeats, and I think it's being done again," said one 30x30 conspiracy theorist on Facebook. "They did the very same thing in Ukraine, and they intend to do it to us."
In another video, Hageman claimed that 30x30 is the first step towards government-led "starvation" in order to "control" citizens.
"Whenever those leaders want to control the masses, they starve them. They kill them. And that's how they keep control. And that's where the 30 x 30 program is headed," she claimed.
"We need to stop looking at this as preserving the environment," she added. "We need to stop talking about protecting water and natural resources. That isn't what it's about, it's about control. It's about control of you."
This is not the first, or second, time that Hageman has boosted conspiracy theories: she has a long history of espousing misinformation and fighting against conservation and public lands. Hageman proudly bears the nickname "Wicked Witch of the West," which she earned after opposing the Clinton administration's roadless forest rule.
"Harriet Hageman's unhinged conspiracy theories show that her motivations for 'oversight' are completely unrooted in reality," Jordan Schreiber, director of the Energy and Environment program at the left-leaning watchdog group Accountable.US, said in a statement to Salon. "The next time she alleges wrongdoing remember that she subscribes to a set of falsehoods that would make Alex Jones blush. She cannot be taken seriously as a legislator or an investigator."
Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.
During her unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2018, Hageman suggested transferring one million acres of federal land to the state of Wyoming, which would have sold off significant hunting, fishing, and hiking areas, according to a report from The New York Times.
Two months before the midterm election in 2022, Hageman also claimed that the federal government controls too much land in the United States.
"Joe Biden has absolutely no authority whatsoever to try to take more private land out of production and use in this country," she said during a September R-CALF conference. "The federal government already has 612 million acres, and frankly, that's too many."
She further accused the World Wildlife Federation of trying to "destroy the livestock industry," calling them "evil people."
"They will put you out of business if you do not comply with their mandates that are going to be coming down the road," she said of the environmental organization. "They want to either destroy the livestock industry or make sure that it is only the elite that are able to eat beef in the future."
In addition to conspiracy theories, Hageman has also previously shared that she believes regulatory agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Land Management are "destroying our republic."
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