Republican lawmakers are distancing themselves from a former Trump White House staffer who has ties to a prominent white nationalist influencer.
Garrett Ziegler has been boasting that he's met with congressional investigators to discuss Hunter Biden's laptop and his overseas business dealings, and he spoke at length to HuffPo about those meetings and his promotion of online posts by Nick Fuentes and other right-wing extremists.
“There are some things that I agree with Nick Fuentes on, and some that I don’t,” Ziegler said, adding that he enjoys sharing provocative material online. "Sometimes you just do it because you think it’s a very, very good thing for the conversation.”
Ziegler is best known for helping to usher Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell and ex-Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne into the White House for an infamously unhinged meeting in December 2020 where they reportedly urged Donald Trump to seize voting machines, and he continues to insist that President Joe Biden stole the election in "multiple ways" as part of a "soft coup."
“I don’t think they could have stolen the election without COVID-19,” he said.
Ziegler's research group Marco Polo published a 644-page report analyzing the contents of Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop, which he said he got from Rudy Giuliani, and accused the president's son of money laundering, violations of foreign lobbying laws and other misdeeds involving sex and drugs, and he claims to have briefed GOP House staffers on his findings.
“I corresponded with [chief of staff] Kevin Eichinger about our report, I never said I spoke to Jim Jordan about it,” Ziegler said. “[Eichinger] said he’d have his team look over it.”
However, Jordan's communications director and counsel for the Judiciary committee said that neither the Ohio Republican nor his chief of staff have met with Ziegler.
“Members of the public call, email and mail our office things all the time,” said Jordan communications director Russell Dye.
At least two members of Congress -- Rep. James Comer (R-KY) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) -- have praised his work, saying it showed evidence of crimes, and Ziegler claims he personally met with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) at her office and claims to have spoken to others.
“Congresswoman Greene’s meetings are none of your damn business,” the lawmaker's spokesperson Nick Dyer told HuffPost.
Ziegler was a bit more forthcoming about his relationship with Fuentes, a Holocaust denier who visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago with rapper Ye, and seemed to express support for his anti-Semitic views.
“I support an honest conversation about the power of the [Anti-Defamation League] and organized Jewry,” Ziegler told HuffPost. “I don’t sit at home every day thinking about how to go after organized Jewry.”
Ziegler wants the ADL "dismantled" due to its cooperation with the FBI and compared himself to "paleocon" Pat Buchanan.
“I don’t think I am part of the mainstream,” Ziegler said. "Both [Fuentes] and I have strong objections to the Republican Party, just like Pat Buchanan did, and just like Donald Trump did.”
In addition to his white nationalist views, Fuentes is also known as an "incel," or involuntary celibate.
“I think he needs to get married, I think he needs to settle down,” Ziegler said. “I think he’s immature in some respects, but everything he says is not wrong. That said, I disagree with some of what he says.”
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) said on Tuesday that "Democrats are smiling and whipping 'yes' votes" to secure passage of the newly announced debt ceiling compromise.
Boebert, who has been vocal in her opposition to the deal reached between President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy, said last week that the Biden administration's vow to "fight hate" and antisemitism equated to a promise that they are "going after" conservatives. On Tuesday, she said Democrats who were previously upset about a potential deal are now invigorated by details before them.
"Last week Democrats threatened to 'take to the streets' if Republicans secured spending cuts for American Families," Boebert said in a tweet. "This week, those same Democrats are smiling and whipping more 'yes' votes from their colleagues.
Boebert's opposition to the deal comes as U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has described it as a "sh-t sandwich" that she is likely going to vote for. Greene added that she cares more about the "dessert," which is impeachment.
Donald Trump on Tuesday took aim at former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, accusing the spokeswoman of intentionally reporting inaccurate poll numbers.
McEnany served as Trump’s top spokesperson for most of the former president’s last year in office and by all accounts was among his most loyal aides before becoming a Fox News contributor.
“Kayleigh ‘Milktoast’ McEnany just gave out the wrong poll numbers on FoxNews,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social website.
“I am 34 points up on DeSanctimonious, not 25 up. While 25 is great, it’s not 34. She knew the number was corrected upwards by the group that did the poll. The RINOS & Globalists can have her. FoxNews should only use REAL Stars!!!”
McEnany supported Trump during his 2016 campaign when she was a paid CNN commentator while attending law school.
She was initially critical of Trump, describing his comments about Mexican immigrants as “racist,” and saying it was “unfortunate” and “inauthentic” to call him a Republican during appearances on CNN and Fox Business.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) appointed McEnany as its national spokesperson in August of 2017.
In her role at Fox, McEnany has sung Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ praises and earlier this year encouraged him to run.
“I think it was very smart of [Nikki Haley] to declare right now because being the only person in the race against President Trump at this moment, she got a lot of media attention, we'll be talking about this now and for days to come, versus the stream of others who will come in after her, likely Pompeo, Pence, all of the others as we await for potentially the biggest name to come in, which is Ron DeSantis,” McEnany said during a Feb. 15 appearance on the Fox News show “Outnumbered.”
“I do think when you look at Nikki Haley's polling – she was at about 1%, now she's at 3% – she was the hottest name in Republican politics in 2011 to like 2015, I would say. This is the case, what you're watching right now polling at 3%, for Governor Ron DeSantis to get in now. People say, ‘Will he get in? Will he wait?’ How can you wait when you are currently the hottest governor in Republican politics, seeing how hard it is to regenerate that attention almost a decade later?”
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is angry about the debt ceiling agreement's concessions to Democrats — but, in colorful language, explained why she is likely to vote for it regardless, reported Axios' Juliegrace Brufke on Tuesday.
"Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene likens raising the debt ceiling to a 's--t sandwich' but is a lean yes," reported Brufke on Twitter, saying that Greene added, “I'm a dessert girl. Everyone loves dessert and that's impeachment, someone needs to be impeached.”
The debt ceiling bill, brokered after weeks of negotiation between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), would suspend the debt ceiling for two years, claw back unspent COVID relief and a small portion of new IRS funding, impose new limits on discretionary spending, modify work requirements for food stamps, and reduce regulations for new energy projects.
Greene, a far-right lawmaker who first became notorious for her promotion of QAnon conspiracy theory content online, has emerged as a close ally of McCarthy, helping secure the votes to elect McCarthy Speaker after a series of failed ballots, and has often played the role of bridgebuilder between the far-right Freedom Caucus and GOP House leadership.
Despite her support, several other far-right House Republicans are staking out their opposition to the bill, with a handful of members, like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), even suggesting McCarthy could face a vote to remove him from office over it.
However, House GOP leaders are confident that most Republicans will back the deal. Some Democrats are expected to vote in favor of it as well, although members of the Progressive Caucus appear divided over the issue, with caucus whip Rep. Greg Gasar (D-TX) expressing skepticism.
In Arizona, far-right Rep. Paul Gosar is a polarizing figure even among fellow Republicans. Traditional McCain and Reagan conservatives have been highly critical of him, but MAGA Republicans who admire far-right figures like Kari Lake, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) tend to be Gosar admirers as well.
In an article published by Talking Points Memo on May 30, journalist Haley Orion stresses that Gosar is so far to the right that some white nationalists and Neo-Nazis look up to him.
Orion notes that in an earlier article, TPM reported that Wade Searle, Gosar's digital director, appeared to be "involved with an interlinked group of social media profiles that were deeply enmeshed with white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes' viciously antisemitic Groyper movement."
Orion explains, "While the revelations in the story were significant, they weren't necessarily surprising. The Groypers are deeply hateful and grotesque, but Gosar has never been shy in his flirtation with various factions of the fascist far-right, including the Groypers' leader, Fuentes. Or, as Gosar himself has bragged in the past: 'I’m considered the most dangerous man in Congress.' A large swath of the far-right has, in turn, taken notice, with Gosar becoming a sort of hero in some corners."
In 2021, Gosar set off a major controversy when he posted a video that depicted violence against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York). Gosar's defenders claimed she was overreaching, but his critics responding that depicting violence against a member of Congress is never acceptable.
Orion stresses that Gosar isn't afraid to associate with extremists.
"Gosar has lent his support to a broad coalition of far-right bigots and Christian supremacists: from the s***posting Groyper neo-Nazis to the camo-clad LARPers and hate groups to the suit-wearing, ultranationalist political elites at home and abroad," Orion notes. "He'll rile up the Arizona chapter of the Oath Keepers, telling them that the United States is already in a Civil War, 'we just haven't started shooting yet,' then repeat the same line in an interview with a well-documented neo-Nazi. He'll even associate with the conspiratorial, and often ridiculous, QAnon movement, tweeting out references to Q-drops — Gosar later said the tweet was sarcastic, though the tweet remains up to this day — and appearing at Q-friendly rallies."
WASHINGTON — America’s in the midst of its first AI-fueled election. Duping voters in 2024 — a year where “deepfakes” are expected to supplant our current meme-driven political unreality — will be easier than ever.
Bogus but hyper-realistic videos of Donald Trump secretly plotting with Russian President Vladimir Putin or President Joe Biden in a secret White House confab with antifa activists? Entirely fake speeches delivered by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) or Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)?
All possible now. Just watch the wouldn’t-have-been-possible-in-2020 deepfake video starring a computer generated Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s depicted as desperately trying to convince his colleagues in “The Office” that he’s not wearing women’s clothes. Donald Trump Jr. is among the people who've shared it on social media in recent days.
Among the most unprepared for AI-infused election shenanigans: members of Congress themselves.
“I haven't heard it talked about here,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told Raw Story when asked about deepfakes and AI impacting Election 2024.
It’s not that the the Capitol isn’t buzzing with AI regulatory chatter since OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testified before lawmakerslast Tuesday — including telling Hawley that even he is “nervous” about large language learning platforms, such as his company’s ChatGPT, being used to manipulate voters. The problem: this was news to many at the Capitol.
That’s why experts are nervous, too, especially since AI technology is evolving at warp speed.
“Congress should have been proactive yesterday — decades ago,” Woodrow Hartzog, professor of Law at Boston University, told Raw Story.
Congress has a ton of catching up to do, mainly because U.S. policymakers — at the behest of Silicon Valley’steams of Washington lobbyists — have dithered for years in writing rules for the digital road, more or less allowing tech companies to police themselves.
“At the very least, it needs to think about the fact that this is not just a technology and deepfakes problem, that the problem of deepfakes in our democracy is rooted in significantly broader structural concerns around tech accountability, generally, mixed with our laws surrounding privacy, surveillance, free expression, copyright law, equality and anti-discrimination,” Hartzog continued. “All of those seemingly disparate areas — and the cracks that have been growing in our protections around them — are part of this story.”
How dangerous, really?
Artificial intelligence offers great promise of taking humanity to new technological heights.
But the ability to create increasingly realistic fake media is getting easier by the nanosecond, too. What formerly required specialized expertise — not to mention days and weeks worth of time; thus dedication — only to concoct clunky deepfakes is now available to all. The democratization of fakes has many experts freaked out.
It’s easy to see how AI-based deceptions, propaganda and scams could damage an election’s status as truly free and fair, even if just a small fraction of voters are affected.
Consider that the 2016 election was decided by some 80,000 votes across three states. Countless bots and Russian intelligence officers involved themselves (if Senate Republicans are to be believed). Campaign operatives — domestic and foreign, and as bad as they can be — have nothing on AI’s powers (if its creators are to be believed). Especially when combined with today’s always-improving deepfake technology, the ability to dupe is almost easy.
“Think about this as nuclear technology,” Siwei Lyu, a SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University at Buffalo, told Raw Story. “Right now, instead of just the U.S. government and a few governments in the world knowing the techniques for making atomic bombs, like everybody now can have a toolkit off of Amazon to make their own atomic bombs. How dangerous that could be, right?”
Lyu continued: “Of course, somebody may use that as a generator to power up my house and then I don't need to be on the electricity grid anymore, but there are people for sure who will misuse it — and those are the things we have very little control over. So that's really where the problem is.”
The fear for Election 2024 isn’t, necessarily, one big, earth-altering digital atomic explosion; the fear is dozens, hundreds or even thousands of personal smart bombs — polished, powered and propelled by generative AI — being quietly dropped on susceptible-to-vulnerable populations in swing states.
They might originate from domestic sources: say, unscrupulous super PACs or lone-wolf political agitators unconcerned about the nation’s largely antiquated election laws and regulations that, in some cases, haven’t been updated since the dawn of the World Wide Web. If that.
Worse, they could come from foreign actors — think Russia, or perhaps Iran and North Korea — who’ve already demonstrated an insatiable appetite for sowing chaos in U.S. elections.
“The makers of deepfakes will create those fake media to reinforce, strengthen your belief, and then the recommendation algorithm will actually push that to you as a user so you will start to see more of this stuff,” Lyu said.
This will all be guided by the private data of millions of Americans, which Silicon Valley firms already have access to because of congressional inaction. When fed into generative AI platforms like ChatGPT the algorithmic loop of fear-drenched, truthy sounding falsehoods and fakes could prove infinite.
'Got to move fast'
Back on Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is now a part of bipartisan negotiations – along with Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Todd Young (R-IN) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) – focused on legislating artificial intelligence.
“We can’t move so fast that we do flawed legislation, but there is no time for waste, or delay, or sitting back,” Schumer told his colleagues on the Senate floor after Altman testified. “We've got to move fast."
There’s only a short window to act, because generative AI is becoming more ubiquitous – more than 100 million people have already signed up for ChatGPT alone.
“And so while it is important for Congress to act, I hope that they realize that they can't just pass one anti-deepfake law of 2023 and dust their hands and call it a day, because this problem is one that is significantly larger than just a few algorithmic tools,” Hartzog, the BU law professor and co-author of Breached: Why Data Security Law Fails and How to Improve It, told Raw Story. “It's fundamental to our whole sort of media information distribution networks and free expression and consumer protection laws.”
Other lawmakers don’t feel the same pressure. Many assume America’s safer than other nations when it comes to AI-powered deepfakes.
“I think in a more advanced ecosystem, like our new system, it's probably easier for campaigns to jump on it pretty quickly and knock it down. I think in the developing world it could start riots and civil wars,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, recently told Raw Story.
Others in Congress – including party leaders – think the government is largely helpless when it comes to preventing the deepfake-ification of American elections.
“All we can do is tell the truth and appeal to the public not to believe everything they hear and see,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the Senate majority whip, told Raw Story.
While 2020 was the "alternative fact” election, 2024 is primed to be the alternative reality election. “Fake news” isn’t just a bumper sticker anymore; it’s now reality.
“We’re in it,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) told Raw Story, “and AI is making it exponentially easier to create a false narrative, to project that false narrative worldwide, to make the false narrative believable by creating much more detailed and thorough content and it will be very hard to take something that’s disseminated worldwide and knock it down as false.”
Gillibrand has been calling for the creation of a new federal Data Protection Agency for years now, arguing the Federal Trade Commission is toothless when it comes to regulating big tech. The Federal Election Commission, meanwhile, often takes years to reach any agreement on even the most modest updates to its political advertising regulations.
“I think we have to keep focusing on the truth and making sure we have levers of government and a legal system to create accountability and oversight to make sure the truth is protected,” Gillibrand said.
Legislating "truth" in a post-truth political universe may prove impossible, but we really won’t know until the dust settles after Election 2024. That’s why many lawmakers, experts and privacy advocates are bracing for an election like no other in U.S. history.
“Every anti-democratic trick in the book will be played in 2024. No doubt,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) – a Trump impeachment manager and member of the select Jan. 6 committee – recently told Raw Story. “The guy dines with racists and anti-Semites, Trump seems determined to prove that he can do anything he wants, including shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue, and his cult following will not budge. So this is where we are in the 21st century.”
After news broke on Saturday that President Joe Biden and United States House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) struck an agreement to avert an unprecedented default, Democratic strategist Kurt Bardella explained how Biden outmaneuvered McCarthy.
Biden said in a statement late Saturday night that "the agreement represents a compromise, which means not everyone gets what they want. That's the responsibility of governing. And, this agreement is good news for the American people, because it prevents what could have been a catastrophic default and would have led to an economic recession, retirement accounts devastated, and millions of jobs lost."
Likewise, CNN noted that "the agreement – which would raise the debt ceiling for two years, freeze spending on domestic programs, increase spending on defense and veterans issues, impose some new work requirements on federal food assistance programs and change some rules around energy permitting – was meant to include provisions that could sway members of both parties to vote for it. Yet even ahead of the deal's announcement, House members on both the left and right were already balking at some of the details said to be included in the package. Republicans who had demanded larger spending cuts threatened to withhold their support, while Democrats voiced concern that new rules on social safety net programs would send more Americans into poverty."
Appearing on MSNBC, Bardella pointed out that whether the US defaults now entirely depends upon McCarthy's ability to wrangle the "extremists" within his caucus.
"You know, I think actually because of this deal coming right now, the expectation game has been well managed now because the ball's really in Kevin McCarthy's court now. The pressure is on Kevin McCarthy to deliver the votes. If this thing falls apart now, it's going to be because of House Republicans — because of MAGA extremists — successfully holding McCarthy hostage once again, and that they are the ones who will get the blame. We will be done with this both sides narrative that each side has something to lose, that this could blow back on the president. No, no, no, no," Bardella said.
"The president made a deal. The president did what he was elected to do — deliver deals for the American people that protects the most vulnerable among us," Barella continued. "If this falls apart, if we default, if the economy craters, Kevin McCarthy is now the face of this deal. There's a reason why he was the one that was on camera tonight and not the president. So if this goes down because Matt Gaetz or Marjorie Taylor Greene or Lauren Boebert or any of those crazy cuckoo MAGA people decide to tank the US economy, it is one hundred percent going to be at the feet of the Republican Party and not the president."
Watch below or at this link:
\u201cBecause Biden got this deal done, the pressure is now 100% on Kevin McCarthy & Republicans in Congress. If this goes south and Republicans torpedo the deal, they will get all of the blame for the crisis that will ensue. Biden has won the expectations game.\n\n#KurtTakes @AymanMSNBC\u201d
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) said Saturday night that the tentative debt ceiling deal that's been reached between the White House and House Republicans includes clawing back $400 million from a CDC fund "that sends money overseas to countries like China."
Greene, who also celebrated her 49th birthday on Saturday, has previously accused President Joe Biden (D) of being "held hostage by the radical left mob" in spending talks. But her tune was more positive after reports that Biden and Speaker McCarthy had reached a deal in principle that would extend the debt ceiling and skirt default.
Her post on Twitter contained more details about what is purportedly in the deal than other reports from media agencies, but the facts have not been verified. According to Greene:
"Hearing @SpeakerMcCarthy’s soon to be finalized agreement on the debt limit will clawback $400 MILLION from the CDC 'Global Health Fund' that sends money overseas to countries like China," she wrote. Then she added:
"Here’s a few other countries that will no longer get access to these taxpayer dollars: Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Cambodia, China, Ivory Coast, DRC, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mail, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe."
The congresswoman added:
"Also on the chopping block is nearly $1.5 BILLION from the CDC’s 'Vaccine Distribution and Monitoring Program.'"
Donald Trump late Saturday leveled an attack against the "Club for Growth," a conservative advocacy group that recently criticized the former president in an ad, for supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
Trump posted on Truth Social, his own social media platform that he created after being banned from most other platforms in the wake of his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection attempt, that the group is attempting to counter DeSantis' own policy decisions.
"The very stupid, China loving 'Club for No Growth,' which has been backing Ron De Sanctimonious as his poll numbers have been absolutely CRASHING, has just spent some of the RINO money they have accumulated on an ad campaign hoping to counter the fact that Desanctus, just off the worst Presidential 'Launch' in history, opted three times to cut & destroy Social Security, even lifting the minimum age to 70," Trump wrote. "He also voted to cut Medicare & institute a 23% National Sales Tax. Ron is a loser!"
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's birthday is Saturday, but on Twitter she chose to celebrate a "brave new whistleblower" who she said might link President Joe Biden to a pay-to-play scandal.
Greene, who turned 49 years old on Saturday, claimed in a tweet that she personally read reports on the Biden family from the Treasury Department.
"Human trafficking, prostitution, money laundering," she wrote. "It was shocking."
She went on to say a "brave new whistleblower has come forward" in the GOP investigation into Biden. That purported whistleblower has information that she says "may directly implicate Joe Biden himself in a foreign pay-to-play scheme" when he was the Vice President of the U.S.
She noted that the GOP House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, led by Rep. James Comer (R), "will not stop until we bring the full extent of this corruption and potential crimes to light."
The post comes after several reported instances of GOP witnesses and alleged whistleblowers going missing or dodging reporters.
That same day, Greene used her personal Twitter account to retweet a photo of her boyfriend and herself that he had posted earlier in celebration of her birthday.
"Forty nine has never looked so good," Brian Glenn, who works for right-wing platform Right Side Broadcasting Network, wrote. "Happy Birthday to my sweetheart, America’s national treasure."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) proclaimed last week to be “Impeachment Week” – and it’s probably fair to say it has nothing to do with a GOP-led Texas House committee’s recommendation to impeach the state’s attorney general.
The far-right congresswoman from Georgia, who earlier this year called the Jan. 6 defendants accused of storming the Capitol “political prisoners,” is seeking the impeachment of President Joe Biden and four of his “America Last” executive appointees.
And on Friday, she sought some back-slapping congratulations from her MAGA following.
She promoted a Twitter survey, asking for people to let her know their thoughts on the moves to impeach.
“Do you support my articles calling for the impeachment and removal from office of these corrupt government officials?” she asked.
Greene has previously held up the results of her own surveys as "evidence" to prove her points.
“Joe Biden has deliberately compromised our national security by refusing to enforce immigration laws and secure our border, allowed approximately 6 million illegals from over 160 countries to invade our country, deprived border patrol of the necessary resources and policies sufficient to protect our country, and his administration has willfully refused to maintain operational control as required by law,” Greene said in a news release.
House Resolution 420 was sponsored by Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Diana Harshbarger (R-Ten.) and Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla).
Among those listed on Greene’s impeachment target list is FBI Director Christopher Wray, who was actually a Trump appointee
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves are the others.
“Last week, I introduced Articles of Impeachment against the President of the United States, Joseph Robinette Biden, and four of his America Last executive branch appointees: Alejandro Mayorkas, Merrick Garland, Christopher Wray, and Matthew Graves,” Greene said.
Now the far-right congresswoman wants to hear from constituents. On Friday announced the launch of a one-question survey.
“Do you support my articles calling for the impeachment and removal from office of these corrupt government officials?”
A federal court may have fired a warning shot to Donald Trump by imposing lengthy sentences for some of the organizers of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
District Court judge Amit Mehta sentenced Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and ordered his top lieutenant, Kelly Meggs, to serve 12 years for the same crime, and legal expert Dennis Aftergut wrote a column for The Bulwark analyzing the message that sent to Trump and his supporters.
"As a general matter, judges typically reserve longer sentences for those higher up the ladder of culpability," wrote Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor. "Rhodes got six more years than Meggs; Rhodes was a leader of the Oath Keepers but not, as his lawyer and [Capitol police officer] Harry Dunn both emphasized, of the whole insurrection."
"We’re waiting for Special Counsel Jack Smith to indict the true leader," he added. "Nerves are fraying in Mar-a-Lago."
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) should also be worried about the harsh sentences meted out to the militants, whom she has described as "political prisoners."
"The court’s response to Rhodes was a heavy-duty sentence, the language the law speaks to extract accountability for violence and the lies that motivate it," Aftergut wrote. "MTG has only hinted at violence in support of her lies, but the court, when it said to Rhodes that 'You . . . present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country,' may as well have been speaking to her."
A whistleblower at the Internal Revenue Service who claims that the agency is dragging its feet on investigating President Joe Biden's son is ducking giving testimony to the Senate on the matter, reported The Daily Beast on Thursday.
"Gary Shapley is now ghosting the Democratic-led IRS-oversight committee following its several-hour-long meeting with his attorney, and has called off a planned interview with the panel," reported Isabella Ramirez. "'Committee staff on both sides agreed with counsel to meet directly with the whistleblower next week, however the whistleblower has since backed out of that agreement and declined an attempt to reschedule,' a source on the committee told The Independent."
"Shapley’s distancing from the committee comes as he revs up to lay out evidence regarding his allegations before the GOP-controlled House Ways and Means Committee in a closed session Friday," noted the report.
Hunter Biden has been under investigation for months, reportedly over allegations of both tax fraud and falsifying a background check form to purchase a firearm at a period when he was ineligible to do so.
This comes as a separate investigation by House Republicans into the Biden family's finances and dealings with foreign nationals hits a snag of its own with whistleblowers. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who sits on the House Oversight Committee, has admitted that some whistleblowers who are central to that investigation are "missing."
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer has tried to spin their inability to locate the whistleblowers as a sinister conspiracy theory, suggesting that those with information on the president's family "fear for their lives."
