Patterico's Pontifications

7/5/2022

Fulton County Investigation: Trump’s Allies Are Subpoenaed

Filed under: General — Dana @ 2:36 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Conducting an investigation into whether former President Trump and his cronies committed crimes after the 2020 election in Georgia, the Fulton County DA has now issued subpoenas:

An Atlanta-area grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia has subpoenaed a handful of key Trump allies, including his former attorney Rudy Giuliani and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, according to court filings.

The subpoenas also cover a handful of Trump’s other former legal advisers, including John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Cleta Mitchell and Kenneth Chesebro.

From the subpoenas:

“The witness will be required to be in attendance and testify before the Special Purpose Grand Jury on July 12, 2022, and continuing through and until the conclusion of the witness’s testimony on or before August 31, 2022, at the Superior Court of Fulton County,” each of the subpoenas said.

All subjects of the subpoenas were ordered to testify before the special grand jury on July 12. The subpoenas were filed Tuesday and signed by Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, a move that was needed because the subjects were from out of state…

About the focus of the subpoenas:

Eastman was a key witness at one of the December 2020 legislative hearings that were led by Giuliani. Willis’ office said in its subpoena to Eastman that during the hearing, he had “advised lawmakers that they had both the lawful authority and a ‘duty’ to replace the Democratic Party’s slate of presidential electors, who had been certified as the duly appointed electors for the State of Georgia after the November 2020 election, due to unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud within the state.”

They called the appearance part of a “multistate, coordinated plan by the Trump campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.”

The subpoena also noted that Eastman “drafted at least two memoranda to the Trump Campaign and others detailing a plan through which Vice President Mike Pence, as president of the Senate, could refuse to count some of President Joe Biden’s electoral votes” on Jan. 6 — a plan that was rejected by Pence.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to tease a 2024 run:

Former President Trump is holding discussions about announcing a 2024 campaign, sources told The Hill, with some current and former advisers believing it is a matter of when, not if, Trump will launch a third White House bid.

Multiple sources told The Hill that a campaign announcement as early as this summer has already been discussed, but cautioned the situation remains fluid and it’s unclear when the former president might actually jump into the race.

“I think there are people pulling him in that direction, and he’s open to it,” one former adviser said of an announcement before the midterms.

One source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, argued there’s no rush for Trump to declare his candidacy. Trump remains the most popular and influential figure in the Republican Party, the source said, and the former president could afford to wait until he has a clearer campaign infrastructure in place before throwing himself fully into a White House campaign.

The report notes some possible advantages for Trump if he announces early:

The former president’s desire to announce a campaign sooner rather than later is driven in no small part by a growing sense that such a move could help insulate him from the work of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to one Trump World source.

Declaring a campaign for the White House would make it easier for Trump to cast the committee’s work as a partisan hit job designed to damage him before he ever has the chance to respond, the source said.

An early entry into the 2024 race would also likely make it more difficult for social media outlets like Twitter to uphold existing bans on Trump — something both Democrats and Republicans have acknowledged.

However, there is a distinct disadvantage to announcing early, and it’s no small potatoes:

Formally declaring his candidacy would trigger Federal Election Commission requirements about disclosing financial information, and it would limit how much Trump could raise from individual donors before November 2024.

Meanwhile, the Jan. 6 Committee remains a thorn in his side. Last week, he said that the Committee is just trying to keep him from running in 2024:

During an interview with Newsmax last week, Trump was asked how much of the Jan. 6 committee proceedings were about “preventing you from running again in 2024?”

“I think a lot of it is,” Trump responded. “I am leading in all the polls — against Republicans and Democrats. I am leading in the Republican polls in numbers that no one has ever even seen before. And against Biden, and anyone else they run, I am leading against them.”

I suppose, too, he wants to get the jump on his (likely) main competitor, Ron DeSantis, because another day not having assumed the position as the GOP’s forerunner candidate gives DeSantis another day to up his game and try to increase his popularity before he announces.

I’m not offering much commentary on this because the mere thought of Trump running and all the guaranteed chaos and craziness that will ensue is just exhausting. Already… Before it’s even happened…

–Dana

57 Responses to “Fulton County Investigation: Trump’s Allies Are Subpoenaed”

  1. I couldn’t find any comments or statements from those being subpoenaed, nor from their legal counsel.

    Dana (1225fc)

  2. “because the mere thought of Trump running and all the guaranteed chaos”

    It will be an interesting test of whether running helps or hurts with a potential indictment…personally, I couldn’t imagine him not running….he’s too invested in a narrative that he needs to run to ground. It will be an interesting test for the GOP and its enabling media. Many see him as a path to power, but few still believe that he can be successfully managed. At best he splits the convention…which might not be good news.

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3)

  3. Who gives a rats azz? This schiff hole of a country is now subdivided for good. Got Food? Got water? Were all set. The rest of you red blooded fools can have at it. LMAO

    mg (8cbc69)

  4. Trump also. denied something about the car incident, but interestingly, he said he was outside the car at the time.

    As I suspected was the truth.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-july-3-2022-n1296809

    CHUCK TODD:

    Well, let me pause you there, because it’s funny you say that. Because the fact that the former president is obsessing over the incident and nothing else of the testimony I think speaks volumes. Take a listen to how he’s characterizing this.

    [BEGIN TAPE]

    DONALD TRUMP:

    This lady yesterday, there’s something wrong with her. Is there something wrong? She said I jumped from a car and I started strangling. Think of this. I started strangling a secret service agent

    Cassidy Hutchinson had placed him in the car.

    https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/day-6-of-jan-6-committee-hearings-6-28-22-transcript

    Liz Cheney: (52:51)

    As we’ve all just heard in the days leading up to January 6th, on the day of the speech, both before and during and after the rally speech, President Trump was pushing his staff to arrange for him to come up here to the Capitol during the electoral vote count. Let’s turn now to what happened in the president’s vehicle, when the secret service told him he would not be going to the Capitol after his speech….

    ….. Cassidy Hutchinson: (53:50)

    … And I looked at Tony and he had said, “Did you f’ing hear what happened in The Beast?” I said, “No, Tony, I just got back. What happened?” Tony proceeded to tell me that when the president got in The Beast, he was under the impression from Mr Meadows, that the off-the-record movement to the Capital was still possible and likely to happen, but that Bobby had more information.

    By the way, Bobby Engel did not have more information. What a euphemism!

    Mark Meadows was lying to Trump! He was not conspiring with Trump to start a riot. Liz Cheney and the committee is too dumb to realize that. (I make an exception for Adam Schiff, who may be intentionally twisting facts around, maybe just to be original) But I think it has DOJ all surprised because they were probably working on the assumption that Trump never had any intention of going to the Capitol, because he would never intentionally insert himself in the middle of a disturbance.

    Continuing:

    So once the president had gotten into the vehicle with Bobby, he thought that they were going up to the Capital. And when Bobby had relayed to him, We’re not, you don’t have the assets to do it. It’s not secure.” … Strong, a very angry response to that.

    Cassidy Hutchinson: (54:57)

    Tony described him as being irate. The president said something to the effect of, “I’m the f’ing president. Take me up to the Capitol now.” To which Bobby responded, “Sir, we have to go back to the West Wing.” The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr Engel grabbed his arm said, “Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. We’re going back to the West Wing. We’re not going to the Capitol.” Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel. And when Mr Ornato had recounted this story to me, he had motioned towards his clavicles.

    By the way, the vehicle known as “the Beast” is said to have aparttion between the driver and anybody in the seats behind, so Trump would have had to have been riding in the front passenger seat for this to be true.

    No way Trump says that he was out of the car unless it was a real incident (although apparently it went down not as she described) . How would he know that?

    The important point was that Trump expected to go to the Capitol until the last minute. And that proves, not that he was going to lead the rioters, or wanted to watch the assault like Nero supposedly fiddling while Rome burned, but that he did not expect a riot.

    And now Justice is all angry at the committee for keeping the testimony secret. And I think this could be why.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  5. “The Walls Are Closing In: The Reckoning VI”

    Directed by Roger Corman
    Released by American International Pictures

    Colonel Haiku (760385)

  6. I thought Trump was planning not to run, but maybe he now thinks he’s safer from legal jeopardy by running. (because all the cases against are either false (conspiring to start a riot) or legal stretches (the false electors scheme was a form of fraud; the attempt to stop the vote count – by Parliamentary maneuvering – was obstruction of a governmental proceeding , and now trying to convince legislators in Georgia to act illegally and unconstitutionally all the while using legal arguments, is some specious of crime. But that’s Georgia state prosecution.

    There is also a Department of Justice Inspector General’s investigation, which is what resulted in the search warrant of Jeffery Clark’s home and the seizure of John Eastman’s phone on Wednesday June 22. That concerns Jeffrey Clark’s contacts with President Trump , and the attempt to get DOJ to issue a false letter, and the attempt for him to become Attorney General. I wonder there if possibly he Jeffrey Clark had a corrupt motive to make some decision about a totally unrelated case. I mean the whole thing with Jeffrey Clark attempting to be named Acting Attorney general could have really had a totally different unrelated corrupt purpose.

    Jeffrey Clark knew, of course, that he was not going to be able to do anything to give Donald Trump another term. So why did he want to be Attorney general for 17 days? Maybe to make one seemingly minor decision people would overlook. It’s one thing to consider.

    Trump’s possible announcement could be for the purpose of strangling Ron DeSantis’s candidacy in the cradle, or maybe even aborting it in utero. But he wouldn’t want to do that unless he was anyway planning to run, or had changed his mind and decided to run after all, or thought DeSantis would turn against him.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  7. “Let there be a hundred 1/6 commissions – fly my children, fly!”

    felipe (484255)

  8. Do you know the committee had already heard from two of the three possible fact witnesses about the incident in the car (not the driver) — but they decided not to believe Tony Ornato because someone else had a separate dispute with Tony Ornato?

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  9. Now while Donald Trump probably – almost certainly – did not expect there to be a disturbance and if it had begun while he was going into he car, he didn’t know about it – Mark meadows and possible Pat Cipollone did. Mark Meadows knew something of the character of some of the people Trump was dealing with.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  10. Doomsday Trump Indictment Clock update:

    still 100 seconds to midnight

    JF (b7d820)

  11. Vladimir Putin might have known in advance of the attack on the Capitol.

    There was a Russian agent recording it, who ran away to Russia almost right after. And he had also encouraged some people to go there. (although he was not involved with the Proud Boys, or Oath Keepers or three percenters.

    I read it in the New York Times yesterday.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/03/us/capitol-riot-russia-propagandist.html Excerpts (rearranged a bit)

    …Three days before Jan. 6, 2021, Mr. Bausman allowed Rod of Iron Ministries, a gun-themed religious sect led by a son of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, to meet at his property, according to photos on social media. Members of the sect had been active in “Stop the Steal” rallies, some of which Mr. Bausman had also attended, and were at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

    On Facebook, Mr. Bausman posted an appeal for people to go to Washington “to support Trump.” At various points during the riot, Mr. Bausman can be seen inside the Capitol, often using his phone to record the chaos.

    AND

    In security footage from Jan. 6, it is easy to overlook the thin man wearing a red Trump hat who filters into the U.S. Capitol Building to record the mayhem with his phone.

    He blends in with the mob, seemingly unexceptional by the chaotic standards of that day. But what he did afterward was far from routine.

    Within 24 hours, the man, Charles Bausman, gave his recordings and commentary to a Russian television producer for a propaganda video. He then decamped to Moscow, where, appearing on a far-right television network owned by a sanctioned oligarch, he recently accused American media of covering up for neo-Nazis in Ukraine.

    He’s a neo-Nazi himself, or played one on the Internet for awhile:

    A turning point came in January 2018, when Mr. Bausman posted a lengthy polemic, “It’s Time to Drop the Jew Taboo,” that was both an antisemitic manifesto and a call to action for the alt-right.

    “The evidence suggests that much of human enterprise dominated and shaped by Jews is a bottomless pit of trouble with a peculiar penchant for mendacity and cynicism, hostility to Christianity and Christian values, and in geopolitics, a clear bloodlust,” he wrote.

    It was welcomed by white nationalist figures like Richard Spencer, who called it “a major event.”

    Outside the far right, Mr. Bausman’s embrace of antisemitism was widely condemned. The U.S. State Department flagged it in a report on human-rights concerns in Russia, and the diatribe prompted a disavowal from RT

    Charles Bausman spent part of is childhood in Moscow, where his father was the Bureau Chief for the Associated Press. He speaks fluent Russia and now has a Russian wife and two young children. He floundered around seeking income, and helped by his parents but around 2014 he became a pro-Russian propagandist. First defending the annexation of Crimea in 2014, then moving on to defending Russia in Syria, was on panel discussions on Russian media, also supporting a Russian Orthodox sect and something called the the Internet Militia, commenting on the 2016 election — then moving on to anti-Semitism, and now more mainstream again. (at least not repudiated by RT)

    It’s been hard to connect him to Russian money. He has apparently been supported by a Go Fund me page and $2.6 million he inherited after his mother died in August, 2018.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  12. “Power springs from the ass of Tank Abrams.”

    —- Huey Cleaver

    Colonel Haiku (760385)

  13. Trump and legal fees:

    How own are being paid by the Republican National Committee.

    As for others they fall in a few ghroups

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/30/us/trump-jan-6-lawyers-witness-pressure.html?

    One group of people is not testifying at all and expenses to avoid anything is being paid for by the Save America political action committee. These include Cleta Mitchell, who worked with Giuliani, and Stephen K. Bannon, and some of Stephen Miller’s fees (the immigration hawk)

    Also Cassidy Hutchinson’s first lawyer. (I think the article by his political action committee means the same source)

    Other fees are being paid by the American Conservative Union’s “First Amendment Fund,” It’s own lawyers are pro bono but they work with other lawyers. They consult with Trump people. People have to make an application
    Almost everyone who asks has received money for legal fees.

    Rudolph Giuliani has not received any help. It is not said whom he might have asked.

    Mr. Giuliani’s allies complained publicly that Mr. Giuliani had high legal bills that he was left on his own to pay. There has been no move to cover his costs.

    The leader of the Oath Keepers has reportedly has his legal fees paid for by Defending the Republic, which is run by Sidney Powell.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  14. I am sure trump supporters would peacefully submit to their leader being prosecuted thats if you can keep trumpsters off the grand jury. Good luck trying to keep maggots off the jury in Georgia. That is why political trials are really difficult.

    asset (b4e599)

  15. Asset,

    Your pantifa clowns are still burning down cities. Take your delusions and insults elsewhere.

    NJRob (4bcee8)

  16. Fulton County (Atlanta) is more liberal than the rest of Georgia. You might get a Buckhead secessionist on the jury, but Trump stands a good chance of not getting one of his partisans on his jury.

    Should we get to trial. Which I somehow doubt.

    Appalled (9d5ffc)

  17. It’s a sad commentary on the American people that Trump would be a frontrunner for anything, including dogcatcher.

    He’s a con man, people. You’re being conned!

    “But he has good policies”, some will say. True, but the same could be said of certain dictators. The worst policy of all is not respecting voting results, and using mobs to pressure the VP into overturning an election.

    norcal (da5491)

  18. It’s a sad commentary on the American people that Trump would be a frontrunner for anything, including dogcatcher.

    … cried a flea brushed out of the tail that no longer wags the dog.

    DCSCA (31a734)

  19. …the mere thought of Trump running and all the guaranteed chaos and craziness that will ensue is just exhausting.

    Compared to what– the dismal ratings of The Joe Show?? Searching for baby formula, cheap gas, affordable beef and scarce tampons amidst 8.6% inflation is exhausting. Trump chaos and craziness is a dazzling three ring circus w/a four year run in an era when Americans don’t want to be governed but wish to be entertained:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_zo0FiNheI

    DCSCA (31a734)

  20. @2. It will be an interesting test of whether running helps or hurts with a potential indictment…

    Hurts? Golly. Recall a fella- a Republican BTW- who knew it was ‘perfectly clear’ he and his minions had their tails caught in a crack, ran a big bucks cover-up while running to a blow-out re-election. A little gasoline, a match and a Memorex bonfire is all it would have taken to extinguish a Jimmy Carter in America’s future.

    DCSCA (31a734)

  21. Formally declaring his candidacy would trigger Federal Election Commission requirements about disclosing financial information, and it would limit how much Trump could raise from individual donors before November 2024.

    Remember when Trump told us he was incorruptible because he was going to pay the campaign costs out of his own pocket? Good times.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  22. Remember when Trump told us he was incorruptible because he was going to pay the campaign costs out of his own pocket? Good times.

    Trump Kept His Promise: Donated All His $1.6M Salary To Federal Agencies

    https://www.ibtimes.com/trump-kept-his-promise-donated-all-his-16m-salary-federal-agencies-3168160

    DCSCA (d58a39)

  23. De Santis should do a pre-emptive strike and offer Trump an Ambassador-at-Large post if he agrees to drop out of the race now
    Or just offer him Burkina Faso

    steveg (36b137)

  24. DCSCA (d58a39) — 7/5/2022 @ 8:54 pm

    Trump also pledged to release his tax returns. Thank goodness the NYT and others were there to help him honor that pledge.

    Paul Montagu (5de684)

  25. Remember when Trump told us he was incorruptible because he was going to pay the campaign costs out of his own pocket? Good times.

    Trump Kept His Promise: Donated All His $1.6M Salary To Federal Agencies

    https://www.ibtimes.com/trump-kept-his-promise-donated-all-his-16m-salary-federal-agencies-3168160

    DCSCA (d58a39) — 7/5/2022 @ 8:54 pm

    I mention Trump’s promise to self-fund his campaign, and you say he kept his promise by donating $1.6 million of salary? How stupid do you think we are? He spent over $400 million dollars of other people’s money in 2016. Giving back .4% of it sure does scream “Incorruptible!”

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  26. This is genius.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  27. I mention Trump’s promise to self-fund his campaign, and you say he kept his promise by donating $1.6 million of salary?

    lurker (cd7cd4) — 7/5/2022 @ 9:21 pm

    Apparently “campaign” and “salary” mean the same thing!

    norcal (da5491)

  28. 2019 supreme court ruled you could not take gerrymandering of states to federal court. It will be handled in state courts under state constitutions to stop gerrymandering and disqualifying citizens from voting. Now supreme court is taking up cases in ohio and N.C. that will allow state legislatures to defy their state courts and constitutions and set their own rules despite what the state constitution says.

    asset (4a188b)

  29. Here’s How Much Less Than Hillary Clinton Donald Trump Spent On the Election

    Donald Trump’s campaign spent about $94 million in its final push for the White House, according to new fundraising reports filed Thursday.

    The Republican continued his campaign-long trend of spending far less than Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Her campaign blew through almost $132 million in its closing weeks, according to reports filed Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. The latest reports cover Oct. 20 through Nov. 28. Over the course of the primary and general elections, the Trump campaign raised about $340 million. That included $66 million that the billionaire businessman contributed from his own pocket. The Clinton campaign, which maintained a longer and more concerted fundraising focus, brought in about $581 million.

    https://fortune.com/2016/12/09/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-campaign-spending/

    How stupid do you think we are?

    Supporting literally giving $51 billion borrowed from the PRC burdening U.S. taxpayers to one of the most corrupt countries in Eastern Europe next to Russia answers your own query.

    DCSCA (fa3c96)

  30. Hillary! Ukraine! Squirrels!

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  31. $51 billion nuts for squirrels!

    DCSCA (fa3c96)

  32. @24. Guess who is POTUS:

    “Putin knows, if I am president of the United States, his days of tyranny and trying to intimidate the United States and those in Eastern Europe are over.” – Joe Biden

    DCSCA (fa3c96)

  33. Apparently “campaign” and “salary” mean the same thing!

    norcal (da5491) — 7/5/2022 @ 10:59 pm

    It’s all Mad Libs with him.

    lurker (cd7cd4)

  34. From a conservative at AMAC:

    Biden’s Top Ten Broken Promises

    1. “I will shut down the virus, not the economy.” – Campaign Rally in Tampa, Florida, October 29, 2020

    2. “I don’t think [vaccine mandates] should be mandatory.” – press conference, December 4, 2020

    3. “If you entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us, not the worst. I will be an ally of the light, not the darkness. It is time for us, for we, the people, to come together. And make no mistake, united we can and will overcome this season of darkness in America.” – Nomination Acceptance Address, August 20, 2020.

    4. “No new taxes” for Americans making less than $400,000 – Interview, August 21, 2020

    5. “We will not conduct a hasty rush to the exit [out of Afghanistan]. We’ll do it — we’ll do it responsibly, deliberately, and safely.” – Remarks on Afghanistan, April 14, 2021

    6. “We’re going to stay until we get [all Americans] out [of Afghanistan].” – Interview with George Stephanopoulos, August 19, 2021

    7. “America is back. The transatlantic alliance is back.” – Virtual Munich Security Conference, February 19, 2021

    8. “I will make it clear to the Kremlin that it must end its aggression toward and occupation of Ukraine.” – Statement on Ukraine’s Independence Day, August 24, 2020

    9. “[I will] end the opioid crisis.” – Biden/Harris campaign website

    10. “I will not…use the Justice Department as my vehicle to insist that something happen.” – NBC Interview with Lester Holt, November 25, 2020

    https://amac.us/bidens-top-ten-broken-promises/

    So, Donald- where are those tax returns of yours?

    DCSCA (fa3c96)

  35. @33. $51 billion wasted Mads Cons & Libs.

    DCSCA (fa3c96)

  36. Please, please, please, Joey, pledge and promise:

    -that it will never rain again in the Southwestern United States and the Pittsburgh Steelers will never win another Super Bowl.

    DCSCA (fa3c96)

  37. The campaign promise he kept so far to dnc and clinton corporate establishment wing of the party. Stopped sanders wing from taking over democrat party (so far) and got trump out of the white house. For the people who run the democrat party and their clinton wing this is enough and just when the rest was remembering why they hate the corporate democratic establishment, the con artists on the supreme court reminds everyone why they hate republiKKKans.

    asset (4a188b)

  38. Swalwell/Fang Fang/2024

    mg (8cbc69)

  39. Feinstien/commie chauffeur/2024

    mg (8cbc69)

  40. Easter Bunny/dr. Jill/2024

    mg (8cbc69)

  41. biden/heels down/2024

    mg (8cbc69)

  42. AOC/Stacy Abrams 2024. AOC takes lefties/millenials/latinx Abrams blacks good look defeating that in democrat primaries. Gavin newsom will try. Blacks wont vote for gay and harris is not liked by anybody.

    asset (4a188b)

  43. AOC…..what’s her qualifications again?

    AJ_Liberty (c82e21)

  44. #43

    She’s hot and is good at Twitter. Next question?

    Appalled (f6c436)

  45. The subpoenas are public because out of state subpeonaas need tooo be approved by a judge, and certified or something.

    Sammy Finkelnan (b7dc9b)

  46. How much twat woulda a Twatter twat twat
    if’n a Twatter twat could twat twat?

    Colonel Haiku (10d1f5)

  47. @44, I searched “hot women on twitter” and I see she has much competition….not sure about socialist Presidential timber…but a lot to consider

    AJ_Liberty (c82e21)

  48. Dana – Thanks for your posts on this difficult subject. We need people who are willing to defend democracy, nd you are doing all of us a real service.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  49. #11 Sammy – That is absolutely fascinating. And disturbing, considering the way Trump comes out of meetings with Putin, with his lips and tongue all covered with black shoe polish.

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  50. If you believe this is a Biden broken promise (which I doubt): “7. “America is back. The transatlantic alliance is back.” – Virtual Munich Security Conference, February 19, 2021”

    Then you should read this.

    Small sample:

    ttitudes toward NATO, in contrast, are largely positive, and ratings for the alliance have
    improved in several nations since last year, including Germany and the U.S., as well as
    nonmember Sweden. Swedish attitudes toward NATO grew increasingly positive over the course of
    the survey’s field dates.
    Meanwhile, overall ratings for the U.S. are largely positive and stable.

    Many in other nations are worried — rightly — about Trump’s attacks on our democracy, and the large number of Americans who are still listening to this pathological liar.

    (The Swedes and the Finns are mostly practical people. That they now are joining our alliance should tell you that believe in its leaders, including Biden.)

    Jim Miller (406a93)

  51. Harris 2024: Bringing Clarity to a Cloudy World

    Colonel Haiku (10d1f5)

  52. #47

    Did you check the list against the Presidential age requirement? You might want to, seeing as you don’t mind the research…

    To treat asset seriously for a moment, Stacy Abrams is the next Beto O’Roarke, unless she beets Kemp in 2022. If she does that — its best to remember that she launched her 2018 campaign here claiming voter fraud and ended it by refusing to concede the election, based on the contention that her supporters were taken off the election rolls. Though she denies it, the local rumor mill believes she’s the cause of the All Star Game being moved out of Atlanta last year after Georgia passed its not very remarkable voting bill. That rankles among the folks in Cobb County who were a part of Biden’s majority in 2020.

    So, Abrams is likely old news in 2024, as Kemp will probably be reelected. If she wins and gets to the ticket, she and the Donald can have an intelligent and extended conversation about voter fraud in Georgia. /sarc

    Appalled (8a2d8c)

  53. @11, “He floundered around seeking income, and helped by his parents but around 2014 he became a pro-Russian propagandist.”

    Makes me wonder who else might be on the Russian payroll stumping for Putin and against a certain $51B in aid

    AJ_Liberty (5f05c3)

  54. Biden outperformed Trump Jan-May according to Gallup.

    https://news.gallup.com/interactives/185273/presidential-job-approval-center.aspx

    JRH (ed53ba)

  55. 11. 53. AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 7/6/2022 @ 8:40 am

    Makes me wonder who else might be on the Russian payroll stumping for Putin and against a certain $51B in aid

    I think they tried to find a way that Charles Bausman got money from Russia or Russian sources, but they couldn’t do it. He appears to be on good terms with Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, who owns a TV network, but they don’t know of any money coming from him but there are some clues that some did.

    https://www.stopfake.org/en/is-russia-insider-sponsored-by-a-russian-oligarch-with-the-ties-to-the-european-far-right

    The leaks reveal that Bausman, rather than relying on crowdfunding for Russia Insider, asks for money from a Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev via his associate Alexey Komov.

    There were several interesting articles devoted to Malofeev in the international and Russian media. In the context of this blog, Malofeev is known for providing financial assistance to the pro-Russian extremists in Eastern Ukraine (for this very reason Malofeev was sanctioned by the EU, Norway and Switzerland), organising homophobic conferences in Russia, assisting French far right politicians in getting Russian money, and building European far right alliances.

    In addition to all the other things I mentioned in #11 that Bausman was involved in, he also joined Republican protests against coronavirus restrictions and hosted neo-Nazis at his property in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/too-racist-for-russian-propaganda

    Bausman repeatedly denied to The Daily Beast taking money from Russian oligarchs, even after he acknowledged the veracity of a leaked email where he pleaded for money from one. He also admitted he couldn’t think of a time his site criticized the Kremlin or Vladimir Putin.

    There’s another thing:

    He’s 58 (born circa 1964) but has a young wife (two young daughters) named Kristina who comes from the small community of Mednogorsk, Russia, founded in the time of Stalin. He married her in Russia. They were living in Russia for some time before 2018 when his mother died and he inherited money. He fled rather abruptly from his home after January 6, 2021. I think Russia intelligence probably made the match. That might have helped keep him loyal to Putin.

    Mednogorsk is situated in Orenburg Oblast, which is partly (actually mostly) in Europe and partly in Asia and shares an international border with Kazakhstan to the east and south so the opportunity might have looked good to her.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  56. Bausman had a job (presumably before 2018 but maybe later – after all it was probably a no-show job) as a Russian agriculture executive and that was how he was getting paid for living expences.

    He also apparently moved back to the United States some time before his mother died:

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/too-racist-for-russian-propaganda

    Bausman said he was happy with the press attention his anti-Semitic blog post received in the U.S. (A Philips Exeter, Wesleyan, and Columbia grad, he says he moved back to Connecticut to be closer to his mother and brother.)

    After relocating to the United States, he ran two (and more) websites. One headline one time was “Jewish Intellectuals Call on Gays to Perform Sex Acts in Front of Children.”

    Pizzagate was no doubt Russian propaganda. Russia is not exactly Communist any more. Although there was some anti-Semitic stuff going on even back when, and t maintains links with places with governments with a Communist ideology like Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  57. 1. “I will shut down the virus, not the economy.” – Campaign Rally in Tampa, Florida, October 29, 2020

    He thought all he had to do was vaccinate everybody — and that there would be no real obstacles to doing so. (all he had to do was make it available — and that was already on course to happen. In fact he deliberately underpredcted the early vaccination rate)

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee)


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