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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)

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)

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Trump Responds to Mexican President’s ‘List of Demands’ to Joe Biden

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Former President Trump reacted to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s threat to the Biden Administration over the southern border.

Trump called out the “lack of respect” foreign leaders have for President Joe Biden on Sunday after Obrador demanded that the United States send Mexico $20 billion a year in taxpayer money to Latin America and the Caribbean to address so-called “root causes” of illegal immigration.

The 2024 presidential frontrunner insisted that he wouldn’t give the Mexican president so much as “ten cents.”

“He said he wants $10 billion essentially just to talk, $10 billion to talk, and that’s come out since, and no, that wouldn’t happen with me, with the wall,” Trump told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade when asked if it was reasonable for Obrador to dictate American policy.

During an interview with 60 Minutes, the foreign president stated that Mexico will not shut down its border until the Biden Administration changes its policy on Cuba and Venezuela. (Read more from “Trump Responds to Mexican President’s ‘List of Demands’ to Joe Biden” HERE)

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Trump Appeals Ruling Allowing Willis to Remain on Election Case

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Former President Trump and eight co-defendants asked a state appeals court on Friday to review a judge’s ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Williams to stay on the election interference case. . .

“DA Willis has covered herself and her office in scandal and disrepute, as she has squandered her credibility and repeatedly and flagrantly violated the heightened ethical standards demanded of her position,” the appeal states.

On Friday, Trump and eight of his co-defendants filed an application with the Georgia Court of Appeals urging it to take up the case, insisting Willis has a personal stake in the case and must step aside. The move was expected after McAfee handed down a decision enabling the defense to attempt to appeal his ruling before trial.

“While the trial court factually found DA Willis’s out-of-court statements were improper and Defendants proved an apparent conflict of interest, the trial court erred as a matter of law by not requiring dismissal and DA Willis’ disqualification,” the application reads. “This legal error requires the Court’s immediate review.”

(Read more from “Trump Appeals Ruling Allowing Willis to Remain on Election Case” HERE)

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NEW: Latest Fox Poll Shows Biggest Lead Ever For…

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The latest Fox News national survey shows former President Donald Trump pushing out to his largest general election lead in the history of the polling series — in any of the three cycles in which Trump has run. His advantage over incumbent President Joe Biden sits at five percentage points in this data set, both in the head-to-head matchup (Trump hits 50 percent on this question) and the ‘crowded field’ scenario. For what it’s worth, Trump’s lead in a hypothetical battle against Vice President Kamala Harris is slightly larger, at six percentage points.

Here are the top line outcomes from Fox’s fresh numbers:

As the above tweet notes — ‘below the fold’ — Fox’s pollster projected an eight-point Biden popular vote victory in 2020. The actual margin ended up being 4.5 points. Trump is now up by five, boosted by a double-digit advantage among independents. By 30 points, voters tell Fox’s pollster that they’re worse off financially than they were four years ago, compared to better off. The ‘worse off’ contingent includes majorities of white, black and hispanic voters. Biden is personally less popular on favorability (-21) than Trump is (-9) right now, too. A pair of other nationwide polls also show Trump in the lead over Biden, including the Daily Mail (Trump +4) and Forbes (Trump +3). (Read more from “NEW: Latest Fox Poll Shows Biggest Lead Ever For…” HERE)

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Trump Calls for Return to ‘Law and Order’ at Wake for Slain NY Police Officer

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Former President Donald Trump expressed his condolences for the family of a slain police officer and called to restore “law and order” on Thursday.

Trump attended the wake of NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller on Thursday and met with people close to the slain police officer, including his widow and 1-year-old son. Diller was killed on Monday during a traffic stop in Far Rockaway, Queens.

“What happened is such a sad, sad event. Such a horrible thing, and it’s happening all too often and we’re just not going to let it happen, we just can’t,” Trump said in brief remarks at the funeral. “But the Diller family will, you’ll never be the same, you can never be the same, but we have to stop it, we have to stop it. We have to get back to law and order. We have to do a lot of things differently because this is not working. This is happening too often.”

Trump noted that the Queens man accused of murdering Diller, 34-year-old Guy Rivera, had a lengthy history of run-ins with the police before Monday’s fatal shooting. Rivera had at least 21 prior arrests. Rivera has been charged with first degree murder and attempted murder related to Monday’s shooting.

(Read more from “Trump Calls for Return to ‘Law and Order’ at Wake for Slain NY Police Officer” HERE)

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‘Full Hitler’: Jill Biden Likens Opponents of Gay Porn in Schools to Nazis

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. . .As part of that fearmongering, Jill Biden, in a campaign stop, has compared the conservative desire to rid public schools of gay porn, and have the schools focus on educational basics like reading, history, writing and math to Naziism.

She was speaking at an event for the Human Rights Campaign when she delivered her rant.

“Rights are being stripped away. Freedoms are eroding. More and more state laws are being passed…Just last night, we had to fend off more than 50 anti-gay amendments that Republicans tried to force into the government funding bill… they served only one purpose: to spread hate and fear,” she claimed.

“History teaches us that democracies don’t disappear overnight. They disappear slowly. Subtly. Silently. A book ban. A court decision. A ‘don’t say gay’ law,” she continued, citing Florida’s new law establishing parental rights in education that does not, in fact, even say “don’t say gay.”

She added, “Before World War II, I’m told, Berlin was the center of LGBTQ culture in Europe. One group of people loses their rights. And then another, and another. Until one morning you wake up — and you no longer live in a democracy.” (Read more from “‘Full Hitler’: Jill Biden Likens Opponents of Gay Porn in Schools to Nazis” HERE)

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RFK Jr.’s Progressive VP Pick Nicole Shanahan Will Doom Biden’s Re-Election

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As President Biden struggles to improve in the polls, Democrats are increasingly worried that third-party candidates will swing the election to former President Donald Trump. . .

On Tuesday, Kennedy made himself more lethal to Biden by naming as his running mate the well-divorced California attorney and tech investor Nicole Shanahan. . .

Although Shanahan is a little-known political entity, she is a rich one, reportedly having demanded a cool billion in her divorce from Brin, who was worth $95 billion at the time and had a prenuptial agreement that Shanahan claimed she had signed “under duress.”

Shanahan donated $4 million this year to RFK Jr.’s super PAC, American Values 2024, which promptly used it to pay most of the cost of the candidate’s cringe Super Bowl ad: Featuring hokey music and images from an ad for uncle John F. Kennedy’s successful 1960 presidential campaign and designed with Shanahan’s creative input, the plug bolstered RFK Jr.’s resolve while outraging Democrats.

If Shanahan’s willing to spend more, it could smooth her ticket’s path to a ballot presence in all 50 states in November, likely costing Biden millions of Democratic votes while driving virtually all potential Republican supporters and many independents into the Trumpian fold. (Read more from “RFK Jr.’s Progressive VP Pick Nicole Shanahan Will Doom Biden’s Re-Election” HERE)

New York Judge Imposes Gag Order on Trump in Bragg Hush Money Case

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New York Judge Juan Merchan has imposed a gag order on former President Trump in the hush-money payments case, granting Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s request.

Merchan issued the order against the 2024 GOP presumptive presidential nominee on Tuesday, pointing to his “prior extrajudicial statements,” saying they establish “a sufficient risk to the administration of justice.”

Merchan ordered that Trump cannot make or direct others to make public statements about witnesses concerning their potential participation, or about counsel in the case — other than Bragg — or about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff.

Merchan also ordered that Trump cannot make or direct others to make public statements about any prospective juror or chosen juror.

Merchan said in his decision that Trump has made statements in the past during other trials — likely referring to the months-long non-jury civil fraud trial stemming from New York Attorney General Letitia James’ case. (Read more from “New York Judge Imposes Gag Order on Trump in Bragg Hush Money Case” HERE)

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Lisa Murkowski Refuses to Back Trump, Thinking About Leaving GOP

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski, aghast at Donald Trump’s candidacy and the direction of her party, won’t rule out bolting from the GOP.

The veteran Alaska Republican, one of seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial amid the aftermath of January 6, 2021, is done with the former president and said she “absolutely” would not vote for him.

“I wish that as Republicans, we had … a nominee that I could get behind,” Murkowski told CNN. “I certainly can’t get behind Donald Trump.”

. . . Asked if she would become an independent, Murkowski said: “Oh, I think I’m very independent minded.” And she added: “I just regret that our party is seemingly becoming a party of Donald Trump.”

Pressed on if that meant she might become an independent, Murkowski said: “I am navigating my way through some very interesting political times. Let’s just leave it at that.” (Read more from “Lisa Murkowski Refuses to Back Trump, Thinking About Leaving GOP” HERE)

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