Judge Extends Gag Order on Trump Amid Social Media Storm

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Former President Donald Trump finds himself at the center of yet another legal controversy as a judge has expanded a gag order against him in his New York criminal trial. The decision comes in response to Trump’s fiery social media criticism targeting the judge.

The ongoing legal saga stems from indictments brought forth by Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg of New York County. Trump faces charges related to alleged falsification of business records.

Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, presiding over the trial, took swift action following Trump’s online attacks, which included criticism of Merchan’s daughter. The expanded gag order prohibits Trump from making public statements about the case [via Daily Caller]:

Trump criticized Merchan’s daughter for allegedly posting criticism of him on social media platforms, though the New York State Unified Courts system later clarified that the account was misattributed to her.

“The X, formerly Twitter, account being attributed to Judge Merchan’s daughter no longer belongs to her,” said Al Baker, the spokesman for the New York State Office of Court Administration, according to The New York Times. “It is not linked to her email address, nor has she posted under that screen name since she deleted the account. Rather, it represents the reconstitution, last April, and manipulation of an account she long ago abandoned.”

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Federal Appeals Court Deals Legal Blow to Trump Aide Currently Facing Prison Sentence

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A federal appeals court dealt another legal blow to former Trump administration official Peter Navarro Monday, siding with a judge who threatened him with contempt of court.

Navarro recently began his four-month prison sentence after being convicted on contempt of Congress charges in September for failing to comply with a Jan. 6 committee subpoena. A federal judge separately threatened in February to hold him in contempt of court if he failed to turn over emails from his time in the Trump administration to the National Archives in a ruling the appeals court affirmed Monday.

“Navarro argues that the United States cannot use D.C.’s replevin statute because the [Presidential Records Act] itself has no express cause of action for the United States to seek the return of Presidential records,” the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals court wrote Monday. “Rather, in Navarro’s view, the United States’s only enforcement mechanism is to discipline current employees possessing Presidential records under Section 2209, a mechanism the United States cannot use against Navarro because he is no longer an employee.

“These arguments are without merit under clear, longstanding precedent,” the panel continued.

(Read more from “Federal Appeals Court Deals Legal Blow to Trump Aide Currently Facing Prison Sentence” HERE)

Over 150 Cancer Cases Reportedly Connected to State University Building

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Over 150 cancer cases are reportedly connected to a building inside the campus of a North Carolina university, Mirror US reported Monday.

A health crisis has emerged at North Carolina State University, linking over 150 cancer cases to a former campus building, Poe Hall. The building was sealed off last November after allegedly discovering polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations, a known potential carcinogen, far exceeding safe limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to Mirror US. This action followed findings of PCB levels in five rooms surpassing EPA standards by 38 times.

The former students are reportedly dealing with cancer and now speaking up because they think their sickness might be related to their time in Poe Hall. Christie Lewis, a student at NC State between 2007 and 2012, told Fox News about her severe health problems.

“I was finishing up my finals, and I was going in for a physical at the health center … I was having night sweats for weeks and weeks before this, and I could not figure out what was happening,” NC State alumna Lewis told Fox News Digital. “I was having to get up in the middle of night and change clothes completely. And then I would fall asleep. And I had to put a towel down. It honestly took me weeks to even tell my husband about them because I kept on forgetting about it because it was just in the middle of the night.”

(Read more from “Over 150 Cancer Cases Reportedly Connected to State University Building” HERE)

Trump Posts $175 Million Bond to Prevent New York From Seizing Assets

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Former President Donald Trump posted a $175 million bond on Monday to prevent New York from seizing assets like Trump Tower as he appeals the recent civil fraud case that ruled he cheated business partners to increase his company’s profits.

“Donald Trump posted a $175 million bond on Monday to prevent New York authorities from seizing his assets, including properties such as Trump Tower, pending appeal of a civil fraud judgment against him of nearly a half-billion dollars,” the Washington Post reported.

“The former president’s posting of the bond was necessary to keep New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) from initiating legal steps to take over his properties,” it added.

Trump recently appealed a ruling from New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron claiming that he, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and two former executives fraudulently inflated the value of his assets to increase profit and savings. The bond to prevent New York from seizing his assets was initially set at $450 million, but an appellate court panel reduced the bond to $175 million last week on the condition that he post it within ten days.

“I greatly respect the decision of the appellate division and I’ll post the $175 million in cash or bonds or security or whatever is necessary very quickly within the 10 days, and I thank the appellate division for acting quickly,” Trump said last week. (Read more from “Trump Posts $175 Million Bond to Prevent New York From Seizing Assets” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Russia’s Financials Are Far Better Than the Wests’; It Could Pay off All External Debt Tomorrow

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Russia’s external debt has been falling steadily and reached $326.6bn in December 2023, compared with $322.3bn in the previous quarter and $383.6bn at the end of 2022. It could pay the entire amount off tomorrow – in cash.

The Kremlin has been paying off its external debt. Low external debt means Russia doesn’t need to tap international capital markets so is not vulnerable to any sort of sanctions on bond issues, which are easy to apply and enforce.

Coupled with Russia’s strong current account surplus, which was up to $5.2bn in February from $4.5bn in January, thanks to high oil prices, Russia can fund itself easily on this profit.

At the same time gross international reserves have been rising and are now hovering around $600bn at the end of the first quarter. Half of these reserves are frozen. About $150bn are in monetary gold (up from $135bn pre-war) and the rest in yuan.

Even counting out the frozen funds, Russia can cover its external debt dollar for dollar with cash, whereas everyone in the West is massively leveraged, including the Ukraine where the debt-to-GDP ratio is almost at 100%.

It is these rock-solid fundamentals – no one else in world has even remotely similar metrics – which is the essence of Putin’s Fiscal Fortress. It is a ridiculously strong basis, which means even if the West manages to reduce Russia income from oil and gas exports, it will still have a massive amount of wiggle room.

To see the charts and rest of the article, please click HERE.

Not an April Fools Joke’: Biden Admin Unveils ‘X’ as Third Gender Identity for Immigrants

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An agency under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of the Biden administration announced on Monday a third gender option, “X,” defined as “Another Gender Identity” for immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said in a post on its website that the option will appear on the revised N-400 application for naturalization.

The agency also noted that it is updating its policy manual “accordingly to account for this form revision and other forthcoming revisions that will add a third gender option.”

Applicants who have a pending form were advised they may request to update their gender.

“For all other forms, individuals must wait until USCIS revises those forms to include the X gender option,” the post added.

(Read more from “Not an April Fools Joke’: Biden Admin Unveils ‘X’ as Third Gender Identity for Immigrants” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Kennedy Campaign: RFK Jr. Meets Requirement to Qualify for North Carolina Ballot, Fifth State So Far

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Third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign announced Monday that it met the signature requirement to qualify for the ballot in a fifth state, North Carolina.

Kennedy Jr.’s campaign has collected some 23,000 signatures in the Tar Heel State and will run under the We the People Party, which supporters established in the state, a press release stated. The Kennedy Jr. campaign exceeded the 13,757 signature threshold required to be met by the May 31 deadline by some 10,000 signatures.

He is officially on the ballot in Utah, and his campaign notes that he has completed petitioning in three other states, including the swing states of Nevada and New Hampshire.

“In Hawaii, the Office of Elections has confirmed Kennedy Jr. supporters have collected the required signatures to establish the ‘We The People’ party,” the release adds.

Notably, North Carolina, Nevada, and New Hampshire are three key swing states that will play pivotal roles in deciding the outcome of the November election. (Read more from “Kennedy Campaign: RFK Jr. Meets Requirement to Qualify for North Carolina Ballot, Fifth State So Far” HERE)

Georgia Election Board Member Testifies Signatures Weren’t Verified on 147,000 ballots in 2020 Election

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Mark Wingate, who served on the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, testified on Monday that there was no signature verification done on Fulton County absentee ballots in the 2020 election.

Wingate is testifying in the D.C. disbarment trial of Trump Administration Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark.

The Fulton County 2020 election should never have been certified because there was no signature verification done at all on absentee ballots, he said.

Joe Biden reportedly won Georgia by about 12,000 votes.

Wingate said he voted not to certify the 2020 election twice, adding that what concerned him was there were more voters on the active rolls than eligible, which continued after the 2020 election, and nothing was done to answer his questions about it. He requested chain of custody documentation and it was never turned over to him.

(Read more from “Georgia Election Board Member Testifies Signatures Weren’t Verified on 147,000 ballots in 2020 Election” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr