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'We have so much evidence': Trump says he wants judges to let him relitigate 2020 election

Donald Trump on Saturday said he hopes judges will let the 2020 election "be prosecuted" in court, bragging that he and his legal team have "so much evidence" that the election was stolen from him for President Joe Biden.

The former president was speaking in the Iowa city of Ankeny when he started talking about how he believes the 2020 election was "rigged." He said he believed that in part because he was told he would win if he hit certain metrics, and that he hit those but lost anyway.

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Newsmax execs furious with RNC over $4 million demand to carry GOP debate: report

Executives at conservative outlet Newsmax are furious with the Republican National Committee for attempts to shake them down for a $4 million commitment to carry a GOP debate.

According to a report from Axios, those complaints also include a belief that the RNC is manipulating who controls the debates.

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Trump campaign has received nearly $1.8 million from his clemency recipients: report

Donald Trump's questionable usage of his presidential pardon power before he left office is paying dividends for his 2024 presidential campaign as grateful recipients are showering his campaign with cash and, in some cases, using the media platforms to boost his chances of returning to the Oval Office.

According to a deep dive from the Washington Post, the former president and his campaign have taken in nearly $1.8 million from appreciative recipients and their families with more expected to come.

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Liz Cheney warns 'co-opted' GOP would help Trump 'end the republic'

One of the featured guests on tomorrow's CBS Sunday Morning is former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), whose forthcoming book not only excoriates former President Donald Trump, but her fellow Republicans as well.

During the interview, CBS' John Dickerson asked Cheney if she stood by her claim that Trump winning a second term in the White House would signal "the end of the republic." Cheney nodded, and said that the once-reliable institutions meant to curb executive overreach would no longer apply if Trump was voted back into the presidency.

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Kevin McCarthy dealing with 'various stages of grief' as he ponders House exit: report

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is reportedly giving serious consideration to leaving Congress after undergoing the humiliation of being deposed by his own caucus as House speaker after a brief eight months, reports the New York Times.

According to the report, the former GOP leader is having a hard time acclimating to life as just another rank-and-file House member after attaining the heights of becoming the face of the House Republican caucus.

As close McCarthy ally Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) put it, "When you spend two decades building something, it’s difficult to end that chapter. His life has been building the Republican majority and attaining the third-highest office in the land. It is difficult for any mortal to deal with an abrupt end and determine his next chapter.”

According to the Post's Annie Karni, life in the House for McCarthy after his ouster has become "untenable," with Karni adding the California Republican spends his days in the Capitol "contemplating his options for the future and cycling through various stages of grief over his merciless political downfall."

RELATED: 'They’re just a bunch of idiots': McCarthy ally rips latest Freedom Caucus flip-flop

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'They’re just a bunch of idiots': McCarthy ally rips latest Freedom Caucus flip-flop

A decision by the far-right House Freedom Caucus members to go along with a tax deal proposed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) that was similar to the one pushed by Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has some mainstream GOP lawmakers furious over the Congressional chaos they created that led to the California lawmakers ouster as speaker.

According to a report from the Washington Post, the Freedom Caucus agreed this week to go along with a top-line $1.59 trillion budget deal without the spending caps they previously demanded.

That demand has now withered away for the moment with the Post reporting, "the far-right flank’s acceptance came far too late for some House Republican colleagues, who expressed shock, anger and dismay over the time wasted on placating the Freedom Caucus."

Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) complained, "It could have saved ourselves some time," while noting the turmoil the House suffered after McCarthy's ouster led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

ALSO READ: Here's why taxpayers just paid another $1.3 million into an unused government fund

Close allies of McCarthy are even more furious.

One McCarthy insider fumed, "What this goes to show is that everything that’s been happening over the last few months is based entirely on ignorance or lack of information or understanding," before adding, "They’re just a bunch of idiots.”

The Post report adds that some Freedom Caucus members are also unhappy with the flip-flop, with Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) complaining, "This is absolutely unsustainable. We’re heading off the cliff. If you give [Democrats] pretty much everything that they want, you will never entice them, persuade them, leverage them into giving us the border security we need.”

You can read more here.

Legal expert singles out worst news for Trump after his immunity defense left in ruins

According to former Solicitor General Neal Katyal, Donald Trump's loss on Friday in an appeals court ruling on his presidential immunity defense claim was bad for the former president but what made it worse was who signed off on blowing it out of the water.

Appearing on MSNBC with host Jonathan Capehart, the legal analyst joked that the assertions by Trump lawyers that the president could commit illegal acts with impunity was so ridiculous a "fourth grader" could see through it, before pointing out that an appointee on the appeals court panel that ruled against him used to be one of Trump's top White House lawyers.

That, he noted, does not bode well for the future of the embattled ex-president as even more lawsuits loom.

Speaking with host Capehart, Katyal smirked and explained, "I think the average fourth grader can tell you attempting to overturn a lawful election doesn't exactly fall within the job description of the president."

"This appeals court yesterday made that important distinction official," he added.

ALSO READ: Supreme Court cowards are hiding behind a hollow ethics code. Here’s how to fix that.

"And, Jonathan, notably, on that appeals court was a judge, Judge [Gregory] Katsas," he pointed out, "who is not just a Trump appointee, he was Trump's deputy White House counsel, you know."

"So [he was] the number two lawyer at the White House and Katsas ruled against Donald Trump," he continued. "So, that tells you all you need to know. Trump can try to spin this as a bunch of Obama judges, but no, these are Trump judges."

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Trump Georgia plea deal is out because Fani Willis has evidence the J6 committee lacked

Appearing on MSNBC early Saturday morning, the Guardian's Hugo Lowell followed up on his reporting that Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows will not be offered plea deals by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis by noting the Georgia prosecutor is sitting on a mountain of evidence.

Prompted by host Katie Phang over whether the cases Willis has is rock solid against the former president, Lowell referred back to her indictment that hinted she has evidence that the House Jan. 6 select committee did not have to use when it came to proving attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

"I think it is notable the evidence that was in the indictment against Trump that Fani Willis had, which was not in the D.C. indictment, you know she had a lot of evidence that was separate from the January 6 committee found, what the federal investigation found, and, also it applies to Mark Meadows," he told the host.

ALSO READ: How Trump’s mouth is killing American exceptionalism

"She had a lot of points in the indictments about how Meadows was coordinating with state officials, where he was giving both in his capacity, maybe as a White House official, but also, what he was doing on behalf of Trump as a campaign, as a presidential candidate," he continued. "So, I think there were notable instances of evidence that Fani Willis had, but the federal indictment did not have."

"I think it speaks to the strength of her argument," he concluded.

You can watch below or at the link.

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Legal expert urges courts to stomp all over Stephen Miller's 'lawsuit machine'

According to legal scholar Benjamin Edwards, a recent lawsuit filed by America First Legal, headed by former Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller, is cause for the courts to come down hard and sanction the right-wing advocacy group for bringing frivolous lawsuits that he called fraudulent.

Noting that Miller's group has filed a security fraud lawsuit against retail giant Target, Edwards wrote for the Daily Beast that the lawsuit has no chance of succeeding and is a waste of the court's time — and that sanctions against America First Legal are called for.


Edwards, the current chair of the Securities Regulation Section for the Association of American Law Schools, wrote that not only should judges issue sanctions, but that the appropriate state bars should investigate the group.

Noting that the Target lawsuit is based on a Miller grievance that the retail chain "sold LGBTQ merchandise and ran a Pride campaign" and thereby defrauded investors, the legal expert labeled the lawsuit fraudulent in its assertions.

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'An invitation to violence' looms in Trump 'nightmare' re-election scenario

Using a recent report on Donald Trump doling out a pardon to a supporter which, in turn, led to a massive collapse of a separate Department of Justice investigation, one former U.S. attorney suggested a second Trump term could lead to more abuse of presidential pardon powers.

In a column for MSNBC, former prosecutor Barbara McQuaid suggested an unrestrained Trump would use his reconstituted pardon powers to not only help out family and friends but also to reward supporters who did his bidding, and to seek out revenge for any slights he feels he was subjected to.

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Expelled Congressman George Santos goes after rival in late-night tweet spree

He's not taking civilian life easily.

Hours after more than 300 members of the House of Representatives booted Rep. George Santos (R-NY) from Congress, he's picking fights.

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Judge Chutkan had a secret target audience for latest Trump ruling: legal expert

Trump's judge is writing to engage the Highest Court in the land.

When U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled on Friday that Trump is not immune from prosecution in his election interference case in Washington D.C., she included an intentional effort to prove her case preemptively before the Supreme Court where it will likely land on appeal.

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'Thousands of mail ballots not counted': PA fixing issue that disenfranchised 17K voters

Pennsylvania played a key role in deciding the last two presidential elections, and appears poised to be similarly decisive in the 2024 race. Now, the Keystone State is seeking to rectify an issue that prevented thousands of mail-in ballots from being counted in the most recent election.

According to WPSU, Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro is now working in conjunction with Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt to fix issues with Pennsylvania's mail-in ballot system that can be confusing for some voters. Currently, commonwealth law requires that for a mail-in ballot to be counted, a voter must place their ballot inside an inner "secrecy envelope," then place that envelope containing their ballot inside of an outer return envelope with their complete name, the current date and their signature.

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