All posts tagged "Merrick Garland"

A right-wing social media influencer who was sentenced to seven months in federal prison for trying to trick Black and Brown Americans out of voting in the 2016 presidential election has been exonerated.

Douglass Mackey, who went by the online persona of "Ricky Vaughn," wrote in all caps on X Wednesday, "The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown out my conviction for lack of evidence. The case has ben remanded to the district court with orders to immediately dismiss."

Mackey was convicted of election interference after tweeting in Nov. 2016 about "limiting black turnout," then posting an image "that featured an African American woman standing in front of an 'African Americans for Hillary' sign," according to the DOJ indictment. "The image included the following text: 'Avoid the Line. Vote from Home. Text 'Hillary' to 59925. Vote for Hillary and be a part of history.'"...

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), whom Donald Trump has threatened to jail over her role in the Jan. 6 investigation into his alleged election subversion, touted the release of the J6 report and questioned whether Republicans would give their "loyalty to a tyrant" by blindly supporting the president-elect.

The DOJ released special counsel Jack Smith's report shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday, after Trump fought tooth-and-nail to prevent it from going public.

In the report, Smith concluded that "If Donald Trump hadn’t won the presidential election in November, the Justice Department would have had ample evidence to convict him at trial of trying to obstruct the 2020 election results," according to The Washington Post....

President-elect Donald Trump could still "gum things up" to prevent the Department of Justice from releasing Jack Smith's final report on Trump's efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election, according to CNN legal analyst Elie Honig.

Honig told CNN's Dana Bash on Monday that Trump will have to rely on delay tactics because he has "no legal basis" for any court to step in and deny the report's release.

"What the Trump team would essentially be asking to do here is to prohibit DOJ from releasing the January 6th special report. That's separate...from the classified documents report. There is simply no legal basis on which a court can stop DOJ from releasing that," Honig said....

WASHINGTON — House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden all but unraveled, but you wouldn’t know that from talking to House Republicans this week.

They’re out for Biden family blood more than ever.

The GOP’s cheering of a damning verdict for presidential son Hunter Biden — found guilty of lying on a federal firearm form and illegally owning a gun — have proven short-lived. ...

The House GOP's vote to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress was a politically motivated sham, assistant Democratic leader Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) told MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Wednesday evening.

The contempt referral, which is expected to go nowhere because the Justice Department itself has the final say on whether to bring charges, stems from the GOP's demands for raw footage of President Joe Biden's interview with former special counsel Robert Hur in the classified documents case — a demand that Neguse slammed as completely frivolous.

"The scandal machine has basically run out of fuel and now, out of desperation, Republicans are demanding Attorney General Merrick Garland release the audiotape of President Biden's interview with special counsel Robert Hur," said Hayes. "Even though Republicans already have the entire transcript of that interview. Today, they voted to hold the attorney general in contempt ... Congressman, what was this all about?"...

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) leapt onto Fox News Wednesday to defend the House GOP's vote to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress, which is expected to go nowhere because the Justice Department will have the final say in whether to bring any charges.

"Why was it important that Garland be held in contempt?" asked Fox anchor Laura Ingraham, to which Vance replied, "If you break the law, you actually have to suffer some consequences for it."

Vance, a close ally of former President Donald Trump and a short-lister to be nominated as his vice presidential candidate, did not elaborate on what law he believes Garland broke....