Attorney Alina Habba hinted on Sunday that Donald Trump could award her with a government position so she could go after the former president's enemies if he wins another term.
Habba, a lawyer for Trump, made the remarks at a Turning Point Action conference.
"But that is what they do," she told the crowd. "They hide what they've done by going after Trump. Look at the shiny ball, everybody. Don't look at us."
During an appearance on MSNBC on Sunday afternoon, a former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI suggested there is a real possibility that a Russian intelligence file that went missing near the end of Donald Trump's presidency could have ended up in Russian hands.
Speaking with host Alex Witt, a clearly distressed Frank Figliuzzi admitted he wants to know how exactly the Department of Justice is handling the investigation into the missing ten-inch binder that contained raw intelligence reports compiled by U.S and foreign intelligence members.
Figliuzzi noted that both White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson and Donald Trump have both pointed the finger at former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, with the ex-FBI official suggesting a warrant needs to be approved to search Meadows' home.
"What is the special counsel doing about this?" He proposed to the MSNBC host. "What is DOJ do about this missing binder? And the evidence is that it appears the former chief of staff has it."
"Should be we looking, for example, at a search warrant of Meadows? Is this a part of Jack Smith's investigation? Have they rolled this into that or opened a new case or grand jury on Meadows?" he continued.
'We've got to know what happened with this binder, and more importantly, whether this was a mere accident, or whether the intention was to hand it to Russia to expose U.S. intel sources and methods against Russia," he concluded.
Former RNC Chair Reince Priebus clashed with former DNC Chair Donna Brazile over the claim that GOP voters want "more blood" in the 2024 campaign.
During a panel discussion on ABC's This Week program, ABC analyst Averi Harper reflected on Nazi-style rhetoric used in Trump's campaign speeches.
"He has really had this real intense flirtation with authoritarian leaders," Harper said. "He has spoken to and echoed back to lines that have to do with Hitler, right?"
"He did not speak about migrants or immigrants from Europe, right?" she continued. "Poisoning the blood was the phrase he used, which is obviously an incredibly loaded phrase. Like the vermin phrase, the word that he used. And this is rhetoric that he continues to use on the trail."
Host Jonathan Karl recalled that Priebus had tried to convince Trump to condemn former KKK leader David Duke during the 2016 campaign.
"Do you worry that, you know, does he rush us towards this nomination, that he's going off those into those places that you tried to keep him from going?" Karl asked.
"Not particularly, because I think you're all misreading the electorate," Priebus insisted. "I think that the electorate is not looking for less blood. I think they're looking for more blood."
"I think, as I've said before, people are looking for a bigger middle finger this time than they were in 2016," he added.
Brazile interrupted.
"Mr. Chairman, let me just say this," she began. "You're talking about taking millions of people off their health care, which is Donald Trump. He is pledged to do that. That's blood."
"You're talking about suspending the United States Constitution, something that Donald Trump has said," she noted. "You know what I don't get? I don't get the fact that you're willing to stand up for someone who's praising dictators as he did."
"Listen, what I'm doing here, Donna, OK, I am telling you what the reality on the ground is," Priebus scoffed. "And if you can convince me that those 100,000 [swing voters] are worried about Donald Trump suspending the Constitution."
"You know, even though he said that on multiple occasions," Karl observed.
"You have to be able to convince people that are voting that he means what he says," Priebus argued.
During Sunday's episode of MSNBC's Velshi, host Ali Velshi spoke with former U.S. attorney and analyst Barbara McQuade about whether hundreds of other January 6 defendants' charges will impact Donald Trump's consequences.
"Donald Trump has also been charged with obstruction of an official proceeding in Jack Smith's election interference case — the same charge that some 300 other people have faced," Velshi said, asking McQuade, "Given that the Supreme Court is considering this, among other things that the Supreme Court's dealing with — the Jack Smith petition. Is there overlap? Does it matter? Will the Supreme Court's decision on the other January 6 defendants — the 300 of them — have an impact on the Jack Smith case against Donald Trump?"
The former US attorney replied, "I think it could. As you say, two of the four counts involve this particular statute. And I'm actually a little worried about the outcome on this one. The immunity, not at all. This one I am. The fact that the court took it up suggests that it should take on a very narrow reading of the statute, which is amid the Roberts court has done, again and again in the kind of statutes that are used in corruption cases. So Jack Smith has to really think about what he wants to do here. He could dismiss those two counts, and focus on the other two — conspiracy to defraud the United States, and violation of voting rights — that would be a safe way to go."
McQuade continued, "He could proceed to trial, but there's some risk, that even if the other two counts are used for conviction, that there could be an argument on appeal that these other two counts brought in some tainted evidence that influence the outcome of those. And so he could get a conviction at trial, and a reversal on appeal. Or, he could wait to see how this case plays out, and delay the trial until there is a known answer to those questions, so he can make a more informed decision. None of those options is great. So I think he's going to have to make a decision going forward about how he games out what the Supreme Court is likely to do there."
Watch below:
'A little worried': Analyst explains why 'Jack Smith has to really think about what he wants to do'
youtu.be
Political strategist Lucy Caldwell warned Republicans on Sunday that an impeachment of President Joe Biden was likely to bolster his re-election prospects.
Caldwell made the remarks on Fox News after host Howard Kurtz complained that the media had buried the vote that kicked off an impeachment inquiry into the president.
"Not saying anything has been proven, but how can the media so easily dismiss an impeachment inquiry?" Kurtz asked.
"Well, I'm actually not quite sure what case you're making here, because if, in fact, I think an impeachment inquiry by Republicans against Joe Biden is going to really, really help Joe Biden in 2024," Caldwell replied. "So if the media were carrying water for Joe and Hunter Biden on this particular story, I have to say, I think that they would be covering this from the rooftops."
Kurtz pressed Caldwell for details about how Biden could be helped by Republicans trying to impeach him.
"It helps Joe Biden because these impeachment inquiries, as we know from recent history, actually warm a president's base to him," Caldwell explained. "We saw that in both Trump impeachments."
"There's also the problem, I think, in this particular impeachment, that there does not seem to be a there there," she added.
Reacting to Donald Trump admiringly quoting Russian strongman Vladimir Putin to a New Hampshire crowd on Saturday, CNN's Jake Tapper dryly asked, "Who needs Pravda?" before launching into a scathing attack on the former president on Sunday morning.
Saturday Trump told rallygoers, "Joe Biden is a threat to democracy. He’s a threat. Even Vladimir Putin … says that Biden’s — and this is a quote – ‘politically motivated persecution of his political rival is very good for Russia because it shows the rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy.’”
Before taking up the former president's comments with his "State of the Union" panel, Tapper had a few things to say about the Republican 2024 presidential nominee frontrunner.
"You have Donald Trump repeating Russian propaganda, Trump citing Vladimir Putin," he began. "I mean, I'm sorry, but that is just empirically stunning."
"For any major presidential candidate to be quoting approvingly Vladimir Putin smearing American democracy. I don't care if it is Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, it is absolutely stunning," he added.
In a recent interview, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley dodged a question about Donald Trump's claims of "presidential immunity."
ABC's Jonathan Karl asked Haley if she agreed Trump was immune from Jan. 6 prosecutions because he was president at the time he allegedly incited a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol.
"So let me ask you, speaking of Trump, he has claimed absolute immunity in his defense to the election interference case," Karl said. "Is that your view? Do you believe a president has absolute immunity for anything that happens while they're president?"
"I'm gonna let the courts figure that out," Haley replied without saying if she would use a presidential immunity defense.
"I mean, the last thing you're gonna see me do is weigh in or learn the details about any of his court cases because I can't follow 91 charges, and I'm not going to," she opined.
"Forget his case," Karl pressed, "do you think that a president of the United States that, if you get elected president, you would have absolute immunity for anything you did while you were president?"
"Well, I think the court issues are, do you have immunity when you're president?" Haley replied. "When you're not president? At what point does that line fall? I'm going to let judges decide that. I don't know where the line falls."
Appearing on MSNBC early Sunday morning, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) put the Republican House leadership on notice that she is not going to sit idly by as the GOP caucus pursues an impeachment hearing against President Joe Biden.
Speaking with host Jonathan Capehart, the Texas Democrat claimed she plans to drag Donald Trump into the hearings while also making a vague threat that some of her GOP colleagues will become targets too.
"As a member of the Oversight and Accountability Committee, what role do you expect to play in this impeachment inquiry process?" the MSNBC host pressed her.
"Yes, absolutely," she shot back. "We are going to be the truth-tellers. We are the ones who cut through the noise and make sure that the American people know that this is nothing more than political theater and games. We are also going to try to juxtapose what it would look like if we had the adults in the room who were running this committee."
"We will make sure that we juxtapose what it looks like when this committee runs the way that it is supposed to as well as we will bringing out the hypocrisy which exists," she continued.
"We have Trump on one hand and Biden on the other," she elaborated. "We have all of these insurrectionists, congresspersons, and then we've got Hunter Biden, you know. We will make sure that the American people and know that this is just not the tree that they want to bark up on."
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) downplayed former President Donald Trump's Nazi-style rhetoric about immigrants.
On a Sunday interview on
Meet the Press, host Kristen Welker asked Graham to react to a speechTrump gave over the weekend when he said immigrants were "poisoning the blood of our country."
"The Biden campaign has accused former President Trump of, quote, parroting Adolf Hitler," Welker noted. "Are the President's comments representative of how you and other Republicans feel?"
Graham avoided answering the question directly.
"76% of the American people, not Donald Trump, believe the border is broken," he said. "They're worried about fentanyl coming over and killing their kids."
"But what about his language, Senator?" Welker pressed. "Just that language, that poisoning the blood."
"I'm worried about an outcome," an angry Graham replied. "He is right. He had the border secured, the lowest in 40 years, in December of 2020."
"To the Biden administration, you're talking about Donald Trump's language," he continued. "As you set on the sidelines and allowed the country to be invaded, 172 people on the terrorist watch list have come on your watch."
Welker asked again if Graham was comfortable with Trump's rhetoric.
"You know, we're talking about language," the senator shot back. "I could care less what language people use as long as we get it right."
"If you think you're going to win the debate on illegal immigration by picking a line out of the Trump speech," he added, "most Americans understand the game has to change, that we're under threat, that we're going to get attacked, that our border has completely been obliterated."
During an appearance on MSNBC, former prosecutor David Henderson claimed the massive $148 million judgment two Georgia poll workers received after winning a defamation lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani should be a red flag for Donald Trump and his inner circle.
Speaking with fill-in host Charles Coleman Jr., Henderson exclaimed, "To be, honest this isn't just a win, this is one of the biggest wins I've ever heard of."
Using that as a jumping-off point, the former prosecutor claimed the result is a "preview" of what Trump, Giuliani and others slated to be tried in Georgia on racketeering charges related to the 2020 presidential election can expect next year.
"That is an epic victory. The only thing you have to acknowledge, and this goes to your point about nationalism, it does not make up for what these two women went through," he told the host before cautioning, "Rudy Giuliani is in such a downward spiral, they're not likely to see a dime of that money."
He then added, "The real issue here is you've got a preview from the way that the jury down in Georgia is going to receive them. Giuliani, former president Trump, and anyone in their circle should be very nervous about this outcome."
Former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis is a Republican Christian, but she wants you to know she's not a Christian nationalist.
Ellis, who already pleaded guilty for her role in the Georgia election subversion scheme for which the former president is also fighting serious criminal charges, on Friday responded to a post by Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk. Kirk, who is battling allegations of antisemitism at his political conference, stated that a "Christian veteran just beheaded a monument to Satan in Iowa’s state Capitol."
"If this is Christian Nationalism, we need more of it. Hero," Kirk wrote on X.
Ellis replied, choosing to take exception with Kirk's embrace of Christian nationalism.
"Christianity teaches that we war not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness (Eph 6). The satanic statue had no more actual power than an idol in Babylon. I hate that this was erected in *anywhere,* especially a State Capitol, but lawlessness in the name of 'Christian Nationalism' is completely missing the point of religious freedom and legitimacy of law," Ellis wrote. "Destruction of property is not okay for the Christian who hates a satanic statue any more than it’s okay for the satanist who hates a nativity scene."
Then, the individual Kirk and Ellis were talking about came to play.
"I did nothing to any Satanist (flesh and blood), [Ellis]," Michael Cassidy wrote Saturday. "I pray that they will, as billions of pagans have before, repent of their spiritual wickedness and accept Christ as their Savior."
Ellis then said she never accused Cassidy "of doing anything to a human Satanist or 'flesh and blood.'"
"Have you read Ephesians 6? The point is that the battle against evil is not in the physical realm, but the spiritual," Ellis said on Saturday. "That statue had no authority or power. I pray for them as well to repent and accept Christ. But I’m not going around destroying their property."
After her row with Cassidy, Ellis went on to proclaim that "The Christian Nationalist crowd is the new BLM."
"Both cheer tearing down statues and destroying property they don’t like in the name of their cause," the lawyer wrote. "Both are wrong."
Ellis finally stated, "The Christian Nationalists are saying it out loud: they want blasphemy laws. Compelled religion and civil government punishment for noncompliance. It’s Christian wokeness. This is antithetical to everything the Founders stood for: liberty and justice for all."
Donald Trump could have just set the stage for another election defeat, as he says the 2024 race is "ALREADY ON ITS WAY TO BEING ANOTHER RIGGED ELECTION!"
Trump, who earlier on Saturday gave a speech in New Hampshire in which he said immigrants are "poisoning" the blood of the country, afterward turned his attention to the numerous legal challenges he's facing.
"Look, it is what it is, but isn’t it unfair that I can be running such a great and successful campaign for President, leading in every poll against a corrupt and incompetent President, working so hard in a historic fight to save our Nation, and I have to go through the additional burden of, at the same time, fighting my political opponent’s many DOJ, A.G., and D.A. inspired non-meritorious lawsuits against me," the former president whined on his own social media platform, Truth Social.
He went on to suggest the current president is behind the numerous prosecutions and allegations.
" Joe Biden, and the thugs that surround him, should never be allowed to get away with this evil act of ELECTION INTERFERENCE," the ex-president wrote.
He also drew attention to a Wall Street Journal piece that accuses Special Counsel Jack Smith of politicizing the trial schedule by trying to involve the Supreme Court.
"Even today’s Wall Street Journal Editorial stated that, 'As we warned Mr. Smith (Deranged Jack)and A.G. Merrick Garland, indicting Mr. Trump would thrust them into the middle of an election campaign. This (the lawsuits) would have unintentional and perhaps damaging consequences. The wiser decision would have been….to let the voters decide.'"
Trump added, "THIS IS ALREADY ON ITS WAY TO BEING ANOTHER RIGGED ELECTION!"
Donald Trump is priming the pump when it comes to his "dehumanizing" language, an authoritarianism expert said on Saturday.
New York University professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat appeared on CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta, where she was asked about comments the former president made earlier in the day. Specifically, Trump once again said that migrants are "poisoning the blood of our country," repeating language purportedly used by Hitler and other dictators.
"You've studied fascist rhetoric, you and I have discussed this many times. What was your reaction when you heard Trump say this earlier today?" Acosta asked of his guest, Ben-Ghiat.
She replied, "This is fascist rhetoric. The worries about polluting the blood of the superior race go as a standard of Nazism. It's not just the Nazis. It's also fascists, Italy. Mussolini literally talked about killing rats, to go back to Trump's use of vermin in an earlier speech. He talked about killing rats, who were bringing infectious diseases and communism into Italy."
She added that, "This is fascist rhetoric and he's using it for a very precise purpose."
The important question for Ben-Ghiat is "why he's using it now so often?"
She explained:
"And unfortunately, the Trump campaign has made it very clear what they want to do to immigrants. Mass deportations, mass detentions, likely abuses and violence in those operations. And, you know, dehumanizing immigrants, which is what this language does, is a way to get Americans prepared now to accept these repressions later on. That's what's so terrible, and that's also another thing that's so fascist about this."
