Former President Donald Trump's attorney in his Georgia election racketeering case has vowed to keep pushing an argument slapped down by the judge Thursday.
Steve Sadow took to social media to share his response to Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee's rejection of the Trump team's bid to toss the case on First Amendment grounds, ruling freedom of speech doesn't cover "criminal activity."
“[We] respectfully disagree with Judge McAfee’s order," Sadow said in his statement, "and will continue to evaluate [our] options regarding the First Amendment challenges."
Sadow then goes on to claim that challenge remains an option because McAfee's ruling was delivered without prejudice.
"It is significant," Sadow argued. "It made clear that defendants were not foreclosed from again raising their ‘as-applied challenges at the appropriate time."'
The election racketeering charges brought by District Attorney Fani Willis are tied to Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results upon his defeat to President Joe Biden.
Trump pleaded not guilty, as he has done in all four of the criminal court cases he faces.
Sadow's message was met with frustration by social media users who took umbrage with the lawyer referring to his client as "President Donald Trump" and an ongoing campaign of delay.
"If your client is so innocent, what’s his fear of a trial?" asked Carrie Carter. "….and he’s not the president."
"Why are you discussing this case on Twitter?" replied Dan Heitz. "Trying to engage with future jurors? The facts are in your favor or they are not."
"Trump's trash lawyer is basically celebrating that he wasn't sanctioned or barred from bringing this up at the correct time," argued @flounderMA.
"MAGA= Make Attorneys Get Attorneys," quipped @Uneekgal60. "You ain’t going to get paid by this criminal & crook either."
Lawyers for the co-founders of Donald Trump's social media company will depose the former president later this month in regards to the dispute over who owns the Trump Media & Technology Group.
As Reuters points out, the deposition will take place on April 15th, which is the same day jury selection is scheduled to begin for his New York hush money criminal trial. Depositions are sometimes rescheduled due to scheduling conflicts.
It's not currently known what questions will be asked by attorney Christopher Clark, who represents the co-founders.
Trump Media, which owns Trump's Truth Social platform, was sued in February by former reality show contestants Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss, who appeared on The Apprentice when Trump was the host. They claim they were promised 8.6 percent of pre-merger Trump Media stock, and that Trump denied them their stake "by trying to dilute their stock and by preventing them from selling it," according to Reuters.
In a suit launched in March, Trump sought to strip the pair of their stock, accusing them of mismanagement.
Since the merger of the company last month with a firm that took it public, its stock soared, likely due to its association with Trump, analysts say. This Thursday Trump Media was down 4.2 percent, giving the company a value of over $6 billion.
Speaking on CNBC's Squawk Boxthis Thursday, IAC and Expedia Chairman Barry Diller said Trump Media is “a scam,” and people buying its stock are “dopes."
“I mean, it’s ridiculous,” Diller said. “The company has no revenue.”
“It’s a scam, just like everything he’s ever been involved in is some sort of con,” he said of Trump.
A Trump Media spokesperson fired back at Diller's comments, saying, “It is unsurprising to see die-hard Trump haters and leftwing flacks blow a gasket now that Truth Social has become a public company that, still today, refuses to suppress political expression that contradicts the narratives they want to enforce.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James submitted a filing on Thursday asking for proof that the company covering Donald Trump's $175 million bond in his fraud case is actually "financially sound."
James told the New York City civil court — where Trump was found liable for damages upwards of $464 million — that she had serious concerns about Knight Speciality Insurance Company's agreement with the former president.
The filing said she, “Hereby takes exception to the sufficiency of the surety,” noting the Knight Specialty Insurance Company is trying to operate “without a certificate of qualification.” In New York, state regulators are required to meet certain standards, guaranteeing they are “solvent, responsible and otherwise qualified to make policies or contracts of the kind required.”
Since the company is out of California, New York doesn't have that information. James explained in her filing that the company must prove that they are financially able to cover Trump's hefty sum if he loses the appeal.
Trump's bond, initially set at $454 million, was cut to $175 million by an appeals court after he argued that it was too much to pay.
The new amount was bonded by the Knight Specialty Insurance Company. When it fronted the money, it gave the court documents Thursday showing its assets amounted to $537 million as of Dec. 31, 2023.
"What are the specific identifiable assets that Donald Trump posted to ensure that if they win on appeal, they will get back this $175 million and up to the value of the judgment that Judge Arthur Engoron had ordered, which at this point stands over $454 million if that judgment's upheld?" asked MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin.
Knight has ten days to respond to the Attorney General's Office.
Trump and his associates were found liable for fraud after they inflated the value of his properties to secure favorable rates for loans and insurance.
Harrison Floyd, a former director of Black Voices for Trump, blasted Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for trying to "control men by fear" by charging him with a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Floyd made the remarks during the Doug in Exile podcast on Thursday. The host asked Donald Trump's co-defendant how race came into play in the case.
"The thing that upsets the district attorney, I think, and just my opinion as a Black man, is, so, it's two different things," Floyd explained. "In the Black community, I think just from a history in the community, Black women tried to control men by fear."
Floyd pointed to "single Black mothers" who discipline their sons.
"It's the way that I view, and I think a lot of other black men view that women try to control black men with fear," he remarked. "And, you know, unfortunately for the district attorney, I am a Marine, an infantry Marine... It's kind of hard to intimidate or scare a guy that is kind of — was trained to be inoculated by fear."
"So I think that probably is part of the reason why my defense has been different than others and why we've been a little bit more successful in our approach," he added, "and why you've seen the district attorney take action specifically against me because I'm putting out the truth and it's catching and there's no way for her to stop it and she doesn't know what to do, but try to put the Black guy in jail, which is what she's used to."
Floyd faces charges including violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, influencing a witness, and conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements. He was the only one of 19 defendants to be jailed before posting bond.
Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee recently modified Floyd's bond conditions to allow him to work with Trump's 2024 campaign.
Former President Donald Trump has been using apocalyptic rhetoric to describe the state of the American economy, but CBNC has run the numbers and determined the former president's claims simply aren't in touch with reality.
CNBC's piece starts off by noting the competing claims by President Joe Biden, who says the economy is the best in the world right now, and by Trump, who describes the economy as a "cesspool."
Just looking at key economic data, however, CNBC says that Biden's claims are far closer to reality than Trump's.
"U.S. gross domestic product grew 2.5% in 2023, significantly outpacing that of other developed economies, according to a January report from the International Monetary Fund," writes CNBC. "The IMF projected that the U.S. will hold that lead in 2024, though it expects the rate to come down to 2.1%."
The report also notes that inflation has come down significantly since its peak in 2022, although it seems to be stalled right now in the 3 percent range, which is one percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve's two-percent target rate.
Perhaps more importantly, writes CNBC, is that the labor market has stayed strong even after the Fed rapidly hiked interest rates to combat inflation.
"In March, U.S. private companies added 184,000 jobs, payrolls processing firm ADP reported on Wednesday, well ahead of the Dow Jones upwardly revised estimate of 155,000 jobs," writes CNBC. "It is the fastest employment growth the U.S. economy has seen since July 2023. The stock market has also made record gains over the past several months and housing values have soared, though they have now begun to decline as inventory improves."
Joseph Gagnon of the Peterson Institute for International Economics tells CNBC that both luck and policy are responsible for the current state of the American economy, and he added that "we’re basically on or above the track we were on before the pandemic hit."
Republican Governor Jeff Landry has been hammering Louisiana State University's women's basketball team and their controversial coach, Kim Mulkey, for not being on the court when the national anthem played before their game against Iowa.
Now, the MAGA Louisiana governor is asking universities for a policy that "mandates" college athletes be "present" when the national anthem plays, or risk having their scholarships stripped.
MSNBC's Ja'han Jones explained the "the fabricated controversy that followed Monday night’s NCAA Tournament women's basketball game between Louisiana State University and Iowa University. After conservative social media accounts noticed that LSU’s team wasn’t on the floor for the pregame national anthem, grandstanding right-wingers directed angst-ridden insults and other invective at the team, portraying them as unpatriotic."
"My mother coached women’s high school basketball during the height of desegregation, no one has a greater respect for the sport and for Coach Mulkey," he wrote on Tuesday. "However, above respect for that game is a deeper respect for those that serve to protect us and unite us under one flag !"
"It is time that all college boards, including Regent, put a policy in place that student athletes be present for the national anthem or risk their athletic scholarship! This is a matter of respect that all collegiate coaches should instill."
Calling it "sheer stupidity," journalist Roland Martin responded to Landry on social media, asking: "What does desegregation have to do with this @JeffLandry? Are you trying to say your momma coached Black girls and that protects you from criticism?"
Many appeared to think the team was somehow off the court protesting, but as the Louisiana Illuminator's Piper Hutchinson reported, "LSU athletes historically remain in the locker room for the anthem."
Hutchinson added, "Mulkey said it was unintentional," and noted the video clip that kicked off the controversy "was shared by far-right account @libsoftiktok."
The tweet by Libs of TikTok, whose creator recently was designated anti-LGBTQ extremist by the Southern Poverty Law Center, claimed the team "walked off the court during the National Anthem." It has received 5.1 million views since Monday.
But Fox News' sports website Outkick reported, "LSU players left the court prior to the playing of the anthem and did not return until shortly before pre-game introductions."
Coach Mulkey told Outkick, "Honestly, I don't even know when the anthem was played."
"We kind of have a routine when [our players are] on the floor, and they come off at the 12-minute mark [prior to the game]."
"I don't know, we come in and we do our pregame stuff. I'm sorry, listen, that's nothing intentionally done."
New Orleans talk radio host Kaare Johnson played Governor Landry's remarks to Fox News then slammed the governor, saying, "it's mind-blowing, the military injections into all of this."
Landry is not backing down.
On Thursday Hutchinson reported, Gov. Landry "has sent letters to all four higher ed systems and the Board of Regents calling on them to adopt policies to strip scholarships from athletes not present during the national anthem."
"By choosing to miss the National Anthem, the basketball team showed a lack of respect not only for the values of our country, but for the individuals who hold these values dear, including LSU Alumni, current students, and fans back home and across the country," Landry's letter reads. "Therefore, I urge the board to create a policy that mandates all student athletes to be present on the field, court, etc., for the National Anthem or risk losing their athletic scholarships."
"A policy like this would ensure that our student athletes and their coaches understand the significance of our anthem and our flag, and work to instill the respect for it within their teams," the governor wrote. "Louisiana State University's roots stem from a military academy, and there should be no question about the university's respect for our country."
Donald Trump attempted to dismiss his case in Fulton County, Georgia, on First Amendment grounds — but Judge Scott McAfee on Thursday denied the motion.
In a 14-page ruling, McAfee explained that the First Amendment is not the get-out-of-jail-free card that Trump seems to think it is.
"Although the First Amendment is 'a broad umbrella that shelters all political points of view and shields a wide range of avenues for expression,' free speech — including political speech — is not without restriction," the judge wrote.
McAfee explained in simple terms that the First Amendment does not covers "categories [that] include speech integral to criminal conduct, fraud, or speech presenting an imminent threat that the government can prevent."
At the same time, he said, the "protection afforded by the Petition Clause of the First Amendment, ensuring the ability to “communicate [one’s] will” to government officials, and regarded as 'implicit in ‘the very idea of government, republican in form,’' does not extend to allegedly fraudulent petitions."
He then walked through the charges of the case and explained how each is an exception to Trump's claims.
The judge further noted that even if he were to interpret Trump's language in the most liberal way, "The Court finds that the Defendants’ expressions and speech are alleged to have been made in furtherance of criminal activity and constitute false statements knowingly and willfully made in matters within a government agency’s jurisdiction which threaten to deceive and harm the government."
Law&Crime revealed Thursday that the Florida federal court judge overseeing Trump's classified documents case allowed experts to submit a motion that "positively pummeled the ex-president."
The constitutional lawyers and federal officials — who include multiple former U.S. attorneys general — target Trump's demand to have his Espionage Act charges dismissed on the grounds that Smith's 2022 appointment was unconstitutional, court records show.
"That contention is demonstrably incorrect," the brief states. "The arguments...made by Mr. Trump and his amici are wholly without merit. Indeed, their positions are mutually inconsistent."
The constitutional lawyers include a number of notable former officials from Republican administrations, such as Donald Ayer, who served under George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.
Another is Philip Allen Lacovara, who was the counselor on the special prosecutor's team during the Watergate probe. He drafted the government's brief in the United States v. Nixon.
Others include former acting Attorney General Stuart Gerson, one-time assistant Attorney General Tom Coleman, ex-New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and U.S. Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera.
Trump's arguments were also derided in a motion Smith filed in February, when he argued the legal theories behind the claim were not "novel or meritorious."
“Resolving the validity of the Special Counsel’s appointment would not lead to an accelerated appellate proceeding if Trump’s claim failed," Smith wrote. "Unlike with a non-frivolous immunity claim, Trump would have no right to an interlocutory appeal should the Court deny his Appointments Clause challenge."
On Thursday, Trump demanded Jack Smith be censured for his recent brief that forced Cannon's hand on controversial jury instructions. The filing made his "frustration" apparent, analysts have said.
How does a Democrat-registered lawyer with a lengthy roster of elite clientele become a Florida Republican with a single client accused of federal election interference and paying hush money to an adult movie star?
This is the question the New York Times sought to answer in its lengthy profile of former President Donald Trump's top attorney Todd Blanche, which includes warning against drinking the Kool-Aid.
"Many have privately questioned, at social events and in informal alumni gatherings, why [Blanche] would upend his life and risk his reputation for Mr. Trump," the Times profile reporte
"Some of Mr. Blanche’s friends said that they had perceived him to be a centrist, law-and-order Democrat, whose politics were so at odds with Mr. Trump that his transition to voting as a Republican was especially jarring."
Blanche, once a partner in New York City's oldest law firm, now spends his days overseeing Trump's hush money case in Manhattan and his classified documents case in Florida as well as serving as co-counsel in the Washington D.C. election interference case, the Times reports.
In each, the name of Blanche's game has been delay, the Times reports.
"[Merchan] also lambasted Mr. Blanche in a courtroom full of reporters last week, rebuking him for not directly answering a question," the Times notes. "When Mr. Blanche accused the district attorney’s office of prosecutorial misconduct, Justice Merchan questioned how long Mr. Blanche had worked as a prosecutor, implying that he should have known better than to have leveled that claim."
District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case against Trump is now slated to go to court on April 15.
The Times discussed Blanche's career gamble with Bruce Green, a Fordham Law School legal ethics professor who praised the Trump lawyer's diligence but raised concerns about his judgment.
“Lots of defendants don’t trust their lawyers, but here there’s obviously a good relationship,” Green told the Times.
“Still, while it’s important to have trust, it’s also important to have a sense of detachment. If you drink the Kool-Aid, so to speak, it could impair your willingness to tell a client hard truths.”
Former President Donald Trump's loud support for Jan. 6 rioters represents a dark attempt to "convince followers to risk their own skins in the future" on the former president's behalf, a new opinion piece posits. It then asks the question: why do they let him?
Salon columnist Amanda Marcotte noted Thursday that while Trump floats promises of pardons, he does not offer material support to the more than 1,300 people who have been charged with crimes related to the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021.
"Despite his claims to be a 'billionaire,' he hasn't paid their legal bills or helped their families after they lost their jobs," Marcotte writes. "He loves to get publicly maudlin about Ashli Babbitt, the insurrectionist shot by Capitol police, but he didn't offer to say, cut back a little on his golf club budget to pay for Babbitt's funeral."
But Trump's perceived support for those who commit crimes can still have serious consequences for supporters who seek to prove their loyalty, Marcotte writes.
As an example, Marcotte points to Tyler Vogel, 26, who was arrested last week on charges that he texted threats to New York Attorney General Letitia James and New York Justice Arthur Engoron.
Among the messages prosecutors contend Vogel sent: "I will kill you if you even dare to permanently steal Donald Trumps assets or his property."
Marcotte writes that Trump's influence is partially to blame for Vogel's arrest.
"It's especially pathetic to see someone give up his freedom to defend Trump's 'right' to keep private jets and golf courses that were obtained through decades of fraud," Marcotte writes. "Trump has been on social media for months, unsubtly begging his supporters to get violent against law enforcement trying to hold him accountable."
Marcotte then recounts the tale of one of Trump's most loyal followers, Mike Lindell.
"Lindell's once-mighty linens empire was delivered another humiliating blow last week when his company was evicted from a Minnesota building after falling behind $200,000 on rent," Marcotte notes.
"The month before, Lindell was hit with a $5 million judgment, owed to a software engineer who entered Lindell's 'Prove Mike Wrong Challenge,' in which Lindell claimed no one could debunk his supposed "evidence" that President Joe Biden stole the 2020 election from Trump."
Marcotte ultimately wonders if Trump's MAGA followers believe they can escape consequences, as they've seen their leader do.
"It is repulsively true that Trump wriggles out of consequences for his crimes time and time again," she concludes.
"It seems that MAGA people believe they are endowed with the impunity that Trump has so long enjoyed, due to his wealth and status."
Meghan McCain rekindled her feud with Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake on Thursday when she compared the former local TV news anchor to a basset hound.
Writing on Twitter, McCain slammed Lake for doing a fundraiser at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, where she shared the stage with Roseanne Barr, the one-time TV star who recently suggested violent revolution was in the cards should Trump lose again in 2024.
"Kari Lake is NEVER in Arizona -- she just lives at Mara Lago following Trump around like a basset hound," she wrote.
McCain's slam on Lake comes as Lake has tried, so far with little success, to win back some of the more moderate Republicans in Arizona whose support she explicitly rejected in her failed bid to become Arizona's governor.
Earlier this year, McCain explicitly rejected an olive branch from Lake after Lake tried to walk back criticism of the former "View" costar's father, the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
"I want everyone’s vote," Lake said during an interview with a local news station. "If you call yourself a McCain Republican, if you call yourself a middle-of-the-road Republican, a Trump Republican, an America First Republican, I want your vote.”
"Kari Lake is trying to walk back her continued attacks on my Dad (& family) and all of his loyal supporters... Guess she realized she can’t become a Senator without us," McCain replied. "No peace, b---h. We see you for who you are -- and are repulsed by it."
Lake is running for Senate even though she still has not conceded that she lost the 2022 gubernatorial election to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
Lake has also been sued by Republican Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer for defamation over her false claims of Richer supposedly rigging the election against her.
Former President Donald Trump drew scrutiny during his first term in the Oval Office for owning a hotel in Washington D.C. where foreign government officials would often spend lavishly in an apparent attempt to court favor.
But Vox's Abdallah Fayyad believes that Trump may have found an even more lucrative way for foreign governments to buy his influence in a hoped-for second term: Namely, through shares of his Trump Media, the parent company of his Truth Social platform.
In his latest piece, Fayyad describes Truth Social shares as "a perfect avenue for potential corruption," as foreign investment entities can plow cash into the stock to get the former president to do their bidding.
Fayyad begins by going over the reasons he believes the current share price of Trump Media is wildly overvalued given that it lost $58 million last year and generated just over $4 million in revenues.
Although much of the rise in the firm's share prices appears to be driven by Trump fans who would risk losing significant sums of money to show their dedication to the former president, Fayyad believes that this could change should Trump win another term in the Oval Office.
Fayyad floats the possibility of "foreign businesses, governments, or oligarchs flocking to buy up shares in Trump’s company," which he said would put him "in direct violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause should he win in November," thus potentially creating a constitutional crisis from the first day.
Or as Virginia Canter, the chief ethics counsel at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, explained to Fayyad, "it puts him in a position where he could be subjected to outside influence by foreign entities and other special interests at the cost, perhaps, of US national security or other interests."
Former President Donald Trump floated the possibility that President Joe Biden was using cocaine when he delivered his State of the Union address this year.
In a Thursday interview, Hugh Hewitt asked the former president about debating Biden ahead of the 2024 election.
"Yeah, anywhere, anytime," Trump insisted.
"Do you think he’ll agree?" Hewitt wondered.
"I don’t think so, but I hope he does," Trump replied. "I think what happened is, you know, that white stuff that they happened to find, which happened to be cocaine in the White House, I don’t know, I think something’s going on there because I watched this State of the Union and he was all jacked up at the beginning."
"By the end, he was fading fast. There’s something going on there. I want to debate. And I think debates, with him, at least, should be drug tested. I want a drug test," he added.
"Mr. President, are you suggesting President Biden’s using cocaine?" Hewitt pressed.
"I don’t know what he’s using, but that was not—hey, he was higher than a kite," Trump remarked. "And by the way, it was the worst address I’ve ever seen, the State of the Nation. I’ll tell you, State of the Union, that’s not State of the Union, because he doesn’t represent us properly."
"That, I can tell you. But he’s obviously, he’s being helped some way, because most of the time, he looks like he’s falling asleep. And all of a sudden, he walked up there and did a poor job. But he was all jacked up."
