Trump Labels Top Pence Aide a ‘Never Trumper’

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President Donald Trump on Sunday labeled one of his vice president’s top national security aides a “Never Trumper,” a day after it was disclosed that she had said the president’s July call with Ukraine was “unusual and inappropriate” in a deposition to Congress.

Trump tweeted that the aide, Jennifer Williams — “whoever that is,” he said — should read the transcripts of both his calls with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine: the July 25 call at the center of the impeachment inquiry, as well as an initial April 21 call that the White House released a summary of Friday. . .

The April conversation between Trump and Zelensky included no mention of an investigation into the Bidens, serving more as a congratulatory call for the Ukrainian leader’s election victory. However, it also did not mention Ukrainian corruption, even though a White House readout of the call issued back in April said the two presidents discussed “reforms that strengthen democracy, increase prosperity, and root out corruption.”

Williams, who began working for the State Department during the George W. Bush administration, serves as Pence’s special adviser for Europe and Russia. She told House investigators in early November that she took notes while listening to the July 25 call from the White House Situation Room, and she believed that Trump’s request to Ukraine was politically motivated. Williams is scheduled to testify on Tuesday before the House Intelligence Committee. (Read more from “Trump Labels Top Pence Aide a ‘Never Trumper'” HERE)

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Michigan County Seized Retiree’s Home Over $8 Debt

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In August 2011, Uri Rafaeli bought a three-bedroom, 1,500-square-foot home in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, Mich., for $60,000. He converted the fixer-upper into a rental property.

Two-and-a-half years later – and at the time unbeknownst to the retired engineer – Oakland County seized his property, put it up for auction and sold the house for $24,500. All this, after a mistake in calculating his property taxes left Rafaeli’s account delinquent by just $8.41. Oakland County ended up keeping all of the $24,500 from the sale, while Rafaeli, now 83, was left without the home and the income he made from renting it.

Rafaeli’s stunning case, which is at the heart of a legal battle currently being considered before Michigan’s Supreme Court, is an extreme example. Yet it is hardly unique: more than 100,000 homeowners in the state have fallen victim to an aggressive property tax law that legislators in Lansing passed two decades ago. Similar statutes have been passed in more than a dozen other states. . .

At the core of Martin’s argument is a clause in the Fifth Amendment, which states that the government cannot take a citizen’s private property for public use, “without just compensation.” In the case before the Michigan Supreme Court, Martin argued that Oakland County has violated both the state and U.S. constitutions under the Takings Clause by seizing and selling Rafaeli’s property and then failing to recoup him any of the money made from the sale.

Martin added that even if the county had paid Rafaeli the extra $24, 491.59 that it made from the sale of his property, that money still pales in comparison to what the retired engineer really lost given that he paid $60,000 for the house, pumped thousands more into fixing it up and has lost years of rent he could have collected were the property still in his possession. (Read more from “Michigan County Seized Retiree’s Home Over $8 Debt” HERE)

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It’s That Bad: Obama Signals Concern About Radical 2020 Field

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Former President Barack Obama warned a group of leftist donors that Democrats must be cognizant of public sentiment going into the 2020 election, taking a veiled shot at far-left candidates like Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) by noting that Democrats “have to be rooted in reality.”

The former president spoke to a group of liberal donors in Washington, DC, on Friday and suggested that the far-left ideas articulated and pursued by some of the candidates in the Democrat primary could turn away potential voters.

“Even as we push the envelope and we are bold in our vision we also have to be rooted in reality,” Obama said, according to the New York Times. “The average American doesn’t think we have to completely tear down the system and remake it.”

Obama refrained from naming a specific candidate, but he, according to the Times, “cautioned that the universe of voters that could support a Democratic candidate — Democrats, independents, and moderate Republicans — are not driven by the same views reflected on ‘certain left-leaning Twitter feeds’ or ‘the activist wing of our party.’”

Obama’s mention of “certain left-leaning Twitter feeds” almost hints to the “Squad” – Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN) Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) – whose members frequently take to Twitter to express their unfiltered critiques of President Trump and offer their ultra-leftist, borderline socialist views. (Read more from “It’s That Bad: Obama Signals Concern About Radical 2020 Field” HERE)

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George Soros CONNECTED to Alleged Whistleblower

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Eric Ciaramella, whom Real Clear Investigations suggests is the likely so-called whistleblower, received emails about Ukraine policy from a top director at George Soros’s Open Society Foundations.

The emails informed Ciaramella and a handful of other Obama administration foreign policy officials about Soros’s whereabouts, the contents of Soros’s private meetings about Ukraine and a future meeting the billionaire activist was holding with the prime minister of Ukraine.

A primary recipient of the Open Society emails along with Ciaramella was then-Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland, who played a central role in the anti-Trump dossier affair. Nuland, with whom Ciaramella worked closely, received updates on Ukraine issues from dossier author Christopher Steele in addition to her direct role in facilitating the dossier within the Obama administration.

The emails spotlight Soros’s access to national security officials under the Obama administration on the matter of Ukraine.

In one instance, Jeff Goldstein, senior policy analyst for Eurasia at the Open Society Foundations, sent a June 9, 2016 email to Nuland and Ciaramella, who were the missive’s primary recipients. (Read more from “George Soros Connected to Alleged Whistleblower” HERE)

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How a U.S. Judge Allegedly Helped an Illegal Alien Escape ICE

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A Massachusetts judge, indicted for allegedly helping sneak an illegal alien out of a courtroom in order to avoid an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, is opting to fight the charges instead of accepting a plea deal.

Federal prosecutors charged Shelley Joseph, a Newton District Court judge, with obstruction of justice in April for allegedly helping an illegal alien sneak through the backdoor of a courthouse, allowing him to evade an ICE officer who was waiting to apprehend him. Instead of taking a plea deal that would allow her to avoid prosecution, Joseph is preparing to go to trial. . .

The incident took place on April 2, 2018 when an ICE officer arrived at the Newton District Court to apprehend Jose Medina-Perez, an illegal alien from the Dominican Republic.

During a sidebar conference between Joseph, Medina-Perez’s defense attorney and the assistant district attorney, the three agreed that he was not the one wanted in Pennsylvania, and all agreed to release him. However, the defense attorney interjected during the conversation, noting that an ICE officer was waiting for Medina-Perez outside and would be apprehended. At that moment, Joseph asked the clerk to switch the courtroom recorder off — an apparent move to conceal the conversation and a direct violation of Massachusetts courtroom rules, according to the indictment.

When the recording came back on, the three agreed to release the illegal alien. However, instead of letting Medina-Perez out through the courtroom lobby, which is what’s typically done, the judge allegedly instructed him to be released through the rear exit, which leads to a parking lot. This order was never relayed over to the ICE officer, who waited in the lobby for hours. (Read more from “How a U.S. Judge Allegedly Helped an Illegal Alien Escape Ice” HERE)

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Pro-Life Group Ordered to Pay Nearly $1 Million to Planned Parenthood

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A federal jury in San Francisco on Friday ruled that the pro-life group Center for Medical Progress (CMP), led by David Daleiden, must pay Planned Parenthood $870,000 in punitive damages. According to the jury, CMP “caused substantial harm to Planned Parenthood by infiltrating abortion industry conferences to secretly tape abortion doctors and staff,” Courthouse News reported.

Between 2013 and 2015, Daleiden and his co-defendant, Sandra Merritt, attended abortion industry conferences posing as human tissue procurers. During those conferences, Daleiden and Merritt secretly recorded conversations as part of an investigation into the abortion giant.

According to Daleiden’s attorneys, CMP was investigating “violent felonies.” Daleiden and Merritt believed babies were being born alive at Planned Parenthood clinics and that the organization was illegally selling fetal tissue for medical research.

In court, Planned Parenthood argued the videos were selectively edited to make it look as though employees were talking about making money off fetal tissue donations. Planned Parenthood currently operates fetal tissue programs at six clinics in California and Washington.

“David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress intentionally waged a multi-year illegal effort to manufacture a malicious campaign against Planned Parenthood,” Alexis McGill Johnson, the acting president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, told TheHill. “The jury recognized today that those behind the campaign broke the law in order to advance their goals of banning safe, legal abortion in this country, and to prevent Planned Parenthood from serving the patients who depend on us.” (Read more from “Pro-Life Group Ordered to Pay Nearly $1 Million to Planned Parenthood” HERE)

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Here’s What to Know About the Second Impeachment Hearing; GOP Continues to Prove That Dems Have ‘No Case’

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By Daily Caller. The second round of impeachment hearings drew criticism from President Donald Trump as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff repeatedly cut off Republican representatives.

Schiff clashed with Republican New York Rep. Elise Stefanik and Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan as he cut the Republican representatives off throughout the hearing. . .

President Donald Trump also weighed in on the hearings through a press conference where he said Republicans were being denied due process during the hearings.

“Nobody’s ever had such horrible due process. There was no due process. I think it’s considered a joke all over Washington, and all over the world,” Trump said in the Roosevelt Room on Friday. “The Republicans are given no due process whatsoever. We’re not allowed to do anything. It’s a disgrace what’s happening. But you know what? The American public understands it. And that’s why the poll numbers are so good and that’s why other things are so good.”

Politicians and pundits then accused the president of tampering with witnesses by tweeting about the matter, and Schiff read one of these tweets aloud to former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. (Read more from “Here’s What to Know About the Second Impeachment Hearing” HERE)

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Chris Stewart Takedown of Yovanovitch Shows Democrats Have ‘No Case,’ GOP Says

By Fox News. From the view of the White House and some top Republicans, U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart’s questioning of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch on Friday was the point where House Democrats’ impeachment argument showed the party had “no case” against President Trump. . .

Stewart: “I would now feel compelled to ask you, Madam Ambassador, as you sit here before us, very simply and directly, do you have any information regarding the president of the United States accepting any bribes?”

Yovanovitch: “No.”

Stewart: “Do you have any information regarding any criminal activity that the president of the United States has been involved with at all?”

Yovanovitch: “No.”

(Read more from “Chris Stewart Takedown of Yovanovitch Shows Democrats Have ‘No Case,’ GOP Says” HERE)

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CBS News Incorrectly Claims More Mass Shootings Than Days This Year

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. . .CBS News points to figures from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) suggesting there have been 366 mass shootings during the first 319 days of 2019.

Ironically, GVA has long reported higher numbers of mass shootings than other outlets because they define mass shootings differently. Whereas the FBI defines a mass shooting as four or more killed in one incident, not counting the attacker. The GVA considers an incident a “mass shooting” even if there are no deaths. The GVA definition is broadened to include “FOUR or more shot and/or killed in a single event [incident],” not counting the attacker.

In fact, approximately 173 of GVA’s 366 “mass shootings” had zero fatalities, and this is to say nothing about the untold number of incidents with one casualty that they counted as a “mass shooting” as well. (Read more from “CBS News Incorrectly Claims More Mass Shootings Than Days This Year” HERE)

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Report: Trump Administration to Seize Private Land for Border Wall

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The Trump administration is reportedly preparing to submit court filings to take over private land on the U.S.-Mexico border, allowing border wall construction to move forward.

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner met with administration and military officials Friday. He discussed government takeover of private land along the Texas border, according to a report by NBC. Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was reportedly in attendance, along with Robert Salesses and Kenneth Rapuano, both of whom serve as assistant secretaries for homeland defense.

Lawyers for the Department of Defense and the Justice Department have prepared rights of entry letters, which will inform affected land owners that the U.S. government will be entering their property to asses the area, which will include soil testing and land surveys.

In most domain cases, the government settles on a specific amount of money before it takes over land, but the administration has not yet confirmed how much it will compensate landowners, according to sources who spoke with NBC. However, the White House could file under the Declaration of Taking Act, a move that would likely hasten the time it takes for the government to buy border land.

A group of Texas landowners who oppose border wall construction are fighting the Trump administration in court over the issue. (Read more from “Report: Trump Administration to Seize Private Land for Border Wall” HERE)

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Roger Stone Found Guilty on All Charges

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President Donald Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone was convicted on all charges on Friday by a federal court jury that found the veteran Republican operative and self-proclaimed “dirty trickster” guilty on seven counts of lying to the U.S. Congress, obstruction and witness tampering.

During the trial, prosecutors pressed their case that Stone lied to lawmakers about his outreach to WikiLeaks – the website that disclosed many hacked Democratic emails ahead of the 2016 U.S. election that proved embarrassing to Trump’s Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton – to protect Trump from looking bad.

The verdict, in a trial arising from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation that detailed extensive Russian interference in that election, is not only a blow to Stone but renews scrutiny on Trump’s actions as a candidate even as he endures an impeachment inquiry that threatens his presidency.

Before the verdict was announced, Stone, 67, arrived at the courthouse clad in a pinstripe suit, blue tie with white dots, white handkerchief in his pocket, arm in arm with his wife, sunglasses in one hand, a small red copy of the Bible in the other and a smile on his face.

When the verdict was read, Stone faced the jury of nine women and three men, and showed no outward signs of emotion as he was pronounced guilty. (Read more from “Roger Stone Found Guilty on All Charges” HERE)

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