Gideon Rubin

Gideon Rubin is news writer for Raw Story, based in Northern California. He is a graduate of San Francisco State University, where he majored in history. He started out covering sports in the Bay Area, and his byline has appeared in The Associated Press, USA Today, The Los Angeles Daily News and The Philadelphia Daily News, among other publications. Before joining Raw Story, he was a local editor at Patch.

Effort to keep Trump off ballots to be resolved before GOP convention: legal scholar

Legal scholar Lawrence Tribe predicted that efforts to keep Donald Trump from holding public office again under the 14^th Amendment will go to the Supreme Court before Republicans hold their convention next summer.

Tribe discussed the prospects for invoking the 14th Amendment Friday during an appearance on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” after a liberal group earlier in the week filed a lawsuit that would bar Trump from appearing on the ballot in Colorado on Constitutional grounds.

Tribe co-authored an article in the Atlantic with fellow legal scholar Michael Luttig that has fueled momentum for barring the former president from holding office under the 14^th Amendment, which limits insurrectionists from holding office.

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The 2024 Republican National Convention is scheduled to be held July 15-18 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

Tribe appeared to catch Cooper off guard after the host said “so this is not something you think that would end up in the Supreme Court?”

“It will end up there because when the ruling is finally made against the (former) president as it could well be, then the (former) president would certainly have standing to seek review," Tribe said.

"One way or another whether from Colorado, which is the strongest of these suits so far, or from some other state, it will reach the Supreme Court, it'll really have no choice but to decide, and that really is the main point that Judge Luttig and I and some others have been making, and that is, clearly the plain language of the 14th Amendment applies here, because it says that anybody who takes an oath to uphold the Constitution, and then basically turns against the Constitution and tries to overturn it, in an insurrection or by giving aid and comfort, can't hold office again.”

Tribe noted that this isn’t the only disqualification, citing rules excluding former presidents from seeking a third term.

“They can't run for another reason, they've already won twice,” Tribe said.

“This guy perhaps is disqualified under this provision. Either way, when there is a constitutional disqualification, it's irresponsible to say, ‘well, it's politically unrealistic to exclude someone so popular."

"Politics is not the end of the game. The Constitution means something, it has to be taken seriously.”

Tribe added that the Supreme Court might not agree, noting it “might ultimately say ‘yes, the Constitution must be taken seriously, but it doesn't apply here.’ We'll have to wait and see.”

Asked Cooper: “How long a process for it ultimately to get to the Supreme Court…?"

”I think it could get there before the Republican convention, because I think it's extremely important that the Supreme Court will recognize it's extremely important that it be resolved in connection with the primaries."

“It really would be a constitutional mess for the nominee of one of the major parties to be excluded from the ballot. If he’s going to be excluded, he needs to be excluded before the Republican Convention takes a nominee. And I think that's why this case is going to move really, very speedily to the US Supreme Court.”

Watch the video below or at the link.

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'Lemmings over the cliff': Arizona GOP official wonders why people follow Trump

An Arizona Republican elections official who has faced threats over the 2020 election on Friday lamented that his party would even consider nominating Donald Trump for president next year.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer delivered his comments during an appearance on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” during a discussion over whether 14^th Amendment could be used to keep the former president off the ballot.

Legal scholars argue that Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol precludes him from holding public office.

“So you're talking about these (election) lies, right, Trump is continuing with this day in and day out, right, and yet, he's got a 34-point lead, a commanding lead,” Burnett said.

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“In fact, in our latest poll it's a dead heat between him and President Biden. What does it tell you about American democracy that this is still embraced so overwhelmingly, by Republican voters?” she asked

“It's incredibly disheartening, and you would think that, you know, in the world's beacon of democracy, no way could this happen here but clearly in can,” Richer said.

“Now, I still have confidence in the American public, but it's shocking to me that some of these conversations, some of these actions could go on and still that percentage of people could be willing to contemplate going down that road.”

Richer acknowledged that the Grand Canyon State has been at the center of threats to election officials, noting that last week “I was in a sentencing at a federal district court where someone who threatened to kill one of my colleagues because of the elections in 2020, the elections in 2022, and so how many more people like that have to be locked up because of the falsehoods that they're following like lemmings over the cliff.”

Asked Burnett: “How are you still dealing with this? I mean, I know you had a there was a man, a Missouri man who was indicted last month after threatening you. You talk about your colleague. This is three years after the election. How do you deal with the fact that you're still dealing with this, death threats to you, your family?”

“You see things that are happening in Ukraine, you see things that are happening throughout the world, and it gives you a real sense of an arc of history, and so without being too melodramatic about it, I feel privileged to play a role in this incredibly important conversation,” Richer said.

He added: “I'm going to continue that fight. I know a lot of my colleagues are going to continue that fight. I know a lot of them have chosen not to continue that fight and I can't blame them for all the stuff that we've had to go through, but I'm trying to look at the positive of it.”

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'There is no basis': Mark Meadows files potentially doomed appeal

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Friday appealed a federal judge’s denial of his attempt to remove his case to federal court, according to court documents obtained by MSBNC legal analyst Katie Phang.

Meadows is among 19 co-defendants along with Donald Trump who were indicted last month on allegations they tried to overturn the state’s 2020 election. They are being charged under the state’s racketeering law.

He had sought to remove his case to federal court, but U.S. District Judge Steve Jones earlier in the day shot down legal arguments his lawyers made on his behalf, noting that “has not met even the ‘quite low’ threshold” for such removal.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

“The evidence adduced at the hearing establishes that the actions at the heart of the State’s charges against Meadows were taken on behalf of the Trump campaign with an ultimate goal of affecting state election activities and procedures,” Jones wrote.

“Meadows himself testified that working for the Trump campaign would be outside the scope of a White House Chief of Staff.”

Meadows' appeal was widely expected.

"As predicted, Mark Meadows has appealed Judge Jones' denial of his attempt to remove to federal court," Phang wrote in a social media post.

A legal expert shot down Meadows’ motion.

“There is no basis for the appeal,” legal scholar Laurence Tribe said during an appearance on CNN.

It's 'knives out for Mitch' after GOP leader’s latest health scare: report

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is facing calls to step down from his own party after the senate minority leader’s latest health scare, Salon reports.

The calls for McConnell to step down follow his freezing during a news conference last month for the second time this summer, according to the report, which was published under the headline “Knives out for Mitch: Republicans target a weakened McConnell after he freezes up for a second time.”

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Thursday became the latest Republican to call for McConnell to step down, saying he questions McConnell’s ability to serve, likening his concerns about one of his party’s top officials to those he's expressed about President Joe Biden.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

"I don't think you can have it both ways," Hawley told reports in the hallways of Capitol Hill Thursday.

"If you're concerned about the president's ability to do his job, and I am, and a lot of Republicans say they are, you have to be concerned when it's someone from your own party."

McConnell has dismissed calls for him to step down, telling reporters earlier this week: "I'm going to finish my term as leader and I'm going to finish my Senate term."

The 81-year-old also suffered a concussion from a fall earlier this year.

The report notes that Dr. Brian Monahan, the U.S. Capitol attending physician, said in a letter released by McConnell's office that "There is no evidence that you have a seizure disorder or that you experienced a stroke, TIA or movement disorder such as Parkinson's disease."

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) earlier this week cast doubt on Monahan’s characterization of McConnell’s condition.

"It doesn't look like dehydration to me. It looks like a focal neurologic event. That doesn't mean it's incapacitating, it doesn't mean he can't serve, but it means that somebody ought to wake up and say, 'Wow! This looks like a seizure.'”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) went further.

"Severe aging health issues and/or mental health incompetence in our nation's leaders MUST be addressed," Greene said in a social media post.

"Biden, McConnell, Feinstein, and Fetterman are examples of people who are not fit for office and it's time to be serious about it," Greene continued before raising the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment, which addresses succession and disability as it applies to the president.”

Read the full article here.

Prosecutors thought Trump was in contact with Proud Boys leader before Jan. 6: report

Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader sentenced to 22 years in prison earlier this week in connection with Jan. 6, claims federal prosecutors offered him leniency if he could provide information implicating Donald Trump, The New York Times reports.

Tarrio, 39 of Miami, was found guilty in May of seditious conspiracy in connection with the attack on the Capitol.

Tarrio in an phone interview from a jail where he’s being held, told The Times that federal prosecutors contacted him in October and that during a subsequent meeting with him and his lawyer they told him they believed the former president had contacted him through at least three intermediaries ahead of the insurrection, The Times reports.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

But Alan Feuer writes for The Times that it’s not clear whether prosecutors had information to support their belief that Trump was communicating with the far-right group, or whether he was “fishing” for testimony.

The talks broke down after Tarrio told prosecutors that there were no such communications.

Feuer writes that Tarrio’s characterization of the exchange “suggests that prosecutors took extraordinary steps in seeking out evidence of ties between Mr. Trump and the Proud Boys, the far-right group that was instrumental to the violence that erupted at the Capitol. To have approached Mr. Tarrio soon before his trial in search of information that could implicate the former president shows the government’s interest in connections between Mr. Trump and the extremists at the center of the riot."

Read the article here.

Influencer paid by 'shadowy group' to post pro-Ken Paxton tweets speaks out

A Texas group that supports Ken Paxton is paying influencers to write social media posts supporting the embattled state attorney general amid his impeachment trial, Texas Monthly reports.

Russell Gold writes for Texas Monthly that he himself cashed in on the $50-per post initiative and was paid for two posts. He was specifically asked to post in favor of Paxton beating back the impeachment efforts.

Paxton was impeached earlier this year on allegations of bribery and abuse of office. If convicted in the impeachment trial that began this week, he could be removed and potentially barred from office.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

Gold said he was paid by Candice Parscale and Influenceable LLC, noting that Candice is the spouse of Brad Parscale, who led Donald Trump’s 2016 digital operations.

Gold writes that: “This whole area is new and emerging. Perhaps we need guidance from the attorney general’s office. Or, on second thought, perhaps not just yet.”

He adds: “The use of social media influencers to promote political candidates—or any product—is becoming more common. A decade ago, we saw the rise of bot armies, computers programmed to flood social media. But the platforms got wise to this and, under pressure from regulators and others, clamped down.”

Read the full article here.

'Slime balls': Trump attacks ballot removal effort in post that lashes out at liberal talking heads

Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at efforts to keep him off the Colorado ballot in a social media post that attacked not only the group suing to have him removed, but also several liberal commentators.

The former president’s post on his Truth Social website followed a lawsuit filed by advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington that aims to keep him off the 2024 Republican primary ballot in the state, citing the 14th Amendment’s ban on insurrectionists holding public office.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

Trump wrote, “The group suing me in Colorado to ridiculously try and Unconstitutionally keep me off the ballot (I am leading against DeSanctimonious by almost 50 points, and beating Crooked Joe, BIG!), is TRUMP DERANGED “CREW,” composed of many slime balls & groups like Norm Eisen through Brookings or Just Security, Andrew Weissmann, Joyce Vance, et al.

"They are, perhaps illegally, working with Weissmann acolyte Lisa Monaco at “Injustice.” I have been beating them for years, including Impeachments. MAGA!!!

He added: "PAGE 2: Crew also sued me on emoluments at my recently sold, and very beautiful, D.C. hotel, and LOST BIG. These are bad Radical Left people and groups that use the Injustice Department as though it were their own. Lisa Monaco does whatever they tell her to do. They play her like a fiddle. So bad for our once great Country. They will have major liability for what they are doing to America! It is, working with Deranged Jack Smith & others, ELECTION INTERFERENCE at a level never seen before. MAGA!"

'Breathtaking contempt': GOP blasted for working to silence Wisconsin opposition

The extent to which Wisconsin Republicans have used gerrymandering to solidify their grip on power shows “breathtaking contempt’ for residents, New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie wrote Friday.

Bouie writes for the Times in a column published Friday that since being swept into power amid the 2010 Tea Party wave, Wisconsin Republicans have gerrymandered the state's electoral map to create disproportionate representation in the Badger State.

The districting meant the GOP in 2018 gained supermajority legislative powers in the state Assembly, despite losing the statewide legislative vote by 8 percentage points (54 to 46) and losing all statewide elections that year.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

Bouie writes: “The gerrymandering alone undermines Wisconsin’s status as a democracy. If a majority of the people cannot, under any realistic circumstances, elect a legislative majority of their choosing, then it’s hard to say whether they actually govern themselves.”

And 2018 was no outlier.

Bouie notes that Republicans in 2012 captured 60 percent of the state’s Assembly seats despite garnering a minority of the statewide vote (46 percent) that year. They won 63 percent of the Assembly seats along with the governorship two years later with 52 percent of the vote, and 64 percent of the Assembly seats in 2016 amid a virtually 50-50 split.

And Bouie contends that Wisconsin Republicans are moving to effectively nullify the 2022 election of Justice Janet Protasiewicz that gave liberals a 4-3 majority in the state’s Supreme Court.

Wisconsin Republicans have floated impeaching Protasiewicz, but the state’s Democratic governor would then be allowed to replace her with another liberal. But the state’s GOP could delay an impeachment trial indefinitely, which would have the effect of suspending her right to vote.

Bouie writes that, “The court would then revert to a 3-3 deadlock, very likely preserving the Republican gerrymander and keeping a 19th-century abortion law, which bans the procedure, on the books.”

If successful, Bouie argues that the state’s GOP “will have created, in effect, an unbreakable hold on state government.”

Bouie writes: “It’s that breathtaking contempt for the people of Wisconsin — who have voted, since 2018, for a more liberal State Legislature and a more liberal State Supreme Court and a more liberal governor, with the full powers of his office available to him — that makes the Wisconsin Republican Party the most openly authoritarian in the country.”

Read the full article here.

Proud Boys member appeals Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy conviction

A Proud Boys member has appealed his seditious conspiracy conviction in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to court documents obtained by CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane.

Ethan Nordean was sentenced last week to 18 years on the conviction, MacFarlane reports.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

Nordean and fellow Proud Boys member Dominic Pezzola were convicted after a five-month trial with co-defendants Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and former Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio.

The Washington Post reports that: “Nordean, 33, of Washington state, was tapped to head the “boots on the ground” in D.C. after Tarrio was banned from the city because of a Jan. 4 arrest. Nordean and Biggs, a far-right online personality and associate of broadcaster Alex Jones, used bullhorns to direct about 200 men away from a rally featuring Trump.”

Trump's $250M fraud case will likely see a 3-month courtroom fight: Judge

A judge overseeing New York attorney general’s $250 million civil lawsuit against Donald Trump and members of the former president’s family said Friday that the case would likely last close to three months, ABC News reports.

It's expected to start Oct. 2.

Attorney General Letitia James filed the suit last year alleging Trump and his associates “grossly” inflated the former president’s net worth by billions of dollars.

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James alleges the false representations of Trump’s net worth had the effect of cheating his lenders.

James in court filings Friday indicated Trump had exaggerated his net worth by at least $3.6 billion.

The former president has denied wrongdoing.

Read the full article here.

'Pathetic shadow of his former self': Ex-Giuliani staffer laments former boss' downfall

A former Rudy Giuliani staffer on Thursday lamented the downward spiral of his ex-boss, who he said has become a “pathetic shadow of his former self.”

Former Giuliani spokesman Ken Frydman’s appearance on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins” followed reports former President Donald Trump was holding a $100,000-per-plate fundraiser for the former New York City mayor to help cover his legal bills.

Giuliani and Trump are among 19 co-defendants who were indicted in the Georgia election conspiracy case, which is being charged under the state’s racketeering law.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

Collins noted that Frydman has known Giuliani since the 1990s.

“What happened? What changed from Rudy Giuliani being this legendary U.S. Attorney, this former mayor here in New York City into a co-defendant in the state of Georgia, unindicted potentially in other cases, and the fact that he's having to fundraise so much money?” she asked.

“Well, he took on Donald Trump as a client. Shame on him for not knowing that he wouldn't pay his bills, shame on him for not knowing that he would get in trouble, certainly not to the degree that he's gotten. I don't think he ever anticipated being indicted, certainly. But he should have known better. Donald Trump has a long history of not paying his attorneys and not caring about, you know how it turns out for them,” Frydman said.

“How much is his lifestyle changed?” Asked Collins. “I mean, CNBC said in 2012, that he was one of the richest politicians in America and had a wealth of about $65 million. And now he's struggling to pay, you know, they claimed $20,000 recently.”

“He had a very expensive divorce as you know, Caitlin, and his legal fees are just adding up every day and he doesn't have a way really to make a living because law licenses have been suspended in in D.C. and New York, and who would hire him as an attorney anyway, so he's left to cameo appearances and his WABC talk show which I understand he makes about $400,000 a year but that's just a drop in the bucket compared to what he owes,” Frydman said.

Collins noted that Giuliani is also selling his New York apartment.

“He listed it for a $6.5 million, I think he paid $4.77 (million) in 2002, so $2 million increase but it didn't appreciate the way so many other apartments in that neighborhood have so it's a fire sale,” Frydman said.

“It seems like a very different Rudy Giuliani than the one that you were working for in 1993,” noted Collins.

“A very sad in some say pathetic shadow of his former self, and I'm very sad to see it,” Frydman said.

“I think the attorneys should be telling him that his only goal should be to die free man and keep kicking the can down the road, delay, delay, delay, his legal matters as long as he can. And same for Trump.”

Watch the video below or at the link here.

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Legal expert shows how more Mar-a-Lago defendants could flip on Trump: 'Unravel the whole sweater'

A legal expert suggested that the testimony of a Mar-a-Lago staffer who flipped on Donald Trump could be a boon for prosecutors in the classified documents case.

Former federal prosecutor Eli Honig during an appearance on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” said Yuscil Tavares, the internet technology worker who recanted his grand jury testimony after hiring a new attorney, could at the minimum help prosecutors paint a broader picture of efforts to delete video surveillance footage.

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“This is how you build a case, you pull you pull a thread and you never know, you can unravel the whole sweater,” Honig said.

“Best case scenario, the IT worker gets you up to De Olivera or Nauta. Maybe they flip up from there. Worst case scenario is he’s a useful witness because he takes you inside and he tells you about the larger effort to delete the surveillance.”

Watch the video below or at the link.

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Appeals court pauses order to remove Texas buoy barrier: report

A federal appeals court on Thursday issued a temporary stay halting a previous judge’s order to remove a controversial buoy barrier in the Rio Grande, Politico reports.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling will allow the Lone Star state to keep the buoys in place until the court reaches a final determination.

Lawyers representing Texas on Thursday in “emergency” court filings argued that removing the barriers would cause irreparable harm.

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They wrote: “The United States failed to defend Texas’s borders, leading to millions of individuals and hundreds of millions of fatal doses of fentanyl, often trafficked by transnational criminal cartels, illegally entering Texas and the US. Consequently, the State declared a border-security disaster and placed an approximately 1,000-foot- long buoy system in the Rio Grande to prevent people and drugs from being trafficked into the State, violating federal and Texas law. The buoys have nearly eliminated illegal crossings of people and drugs where they’ve been placed.”

Read the full article here.

GOP candidate suggests rivals are planting stories about his relationship status: report

Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott on Thursday suggested that rival candidates are planting stories over his unmarried status, NBC News reports.

The report notes that a recent Axios article suggesting donors are concerned about his relationship status.

The South Carolina senator commented on the report during a New Hampshire campaign stop.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?

“People plant stories that have conversations to distract from our rise in the polls, to distract from our size of our audience,” Scott said. “What we’ve seen is that poll after poll says that the voters don’t care, but it seems like opponents do care and so media coverage that opponents plant — it’s okay. Good news is we just keep fighting the good fight.”

Scott told NBC News in May that he had been dating.

“There’s always time for a great relationship with a wonderful woman, and I thank God that that is happening,” Scott said.

Read the full article here.