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Category: News
May 31, 2024
William Upton
Lawfare
Politics

Sen. Mike Lee Declares War on Senate Democrats After Trump Verdict.

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) is leading a coalition of Republican Senators who say they are “no longer cooperating with any Democrat legislative priorities or nominations” following Thursday’s guilty verdict against former President Donald J. Trump in his Manhattan-based hush money trial. The Utah Republican, in an open letter signed by seven of his colleagues, invited “all concerned Senators to join our stand.”

“The White House has made a mockery of the rule of law and fundamentally altered our politics in un-American ways,” Sen. Lee wrote before adding: “As a Senate Republican conference, we are unwilling to aid and abet this White House in its project to tear this country apart.”  Lee’s letter is joined by Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rick Scott (R-FL), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Marco Rubio (R-FL).

In a statement exclusive to The National Pulse, Sen. Lee said: “This is a time for choosing. Are Republicans—or any elected officials of any party—going to sit idly by and watch as America’s judicial system is reduced to the legitimacy of a banana republic, or are we going to do something?”

The group of Senate Republicans is pledging to block all non-security-related funding for the Biden government, as well as any appropriations bill that could fund Biden’s partisan lawfare against former President Trump. Additionally, Lee’s coalition says they will vote against confirmation for any future Biden judicial nominees or political appointees and prevent the expedited passage of any non-security legislation in the Senate.

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Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) is leading a coalition of Republican Senators who say they are "no longer cooperating with any Democrat legislative priorities or nominations" following Thursday's guilty verdict against former President Donald J. Trump in his Manhattan-based hush money trial. The Utah Republican, in an open letter signed by seven of his colleagues, invited "all concerned Senators to join our stand." show more
May 31, 2024
William Upton
Election 2024
Lawfare

Biden Lawfare Backlash: GOP Rakes In Cash Following Trump Verdict.

The Republican Party is setting fundraising records following the guilty verdict issued against former President Donald J. Trump in his Manhattan-based hush money trial on Thursday. Small-dollar donors have flocked to the Trump presidential campaign, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) in response to the Democrat lawfare efforts against the presumptive Republican nominee.

On Friday, the NRCC announced it had raised $300,000 following Thursday’s verdict, its best fundraising day of the 2024 cycle so far. A spokesman for the NRCC noted that 22 percent of the money raised came from new, first-time donors to the campaign committee. Likewise, the NRSC raised $360,000 in under 24 hours. The committee said online donations tripled after the jury issued the guilty verdict.

Meanwhile, former President Trump‘s 2024 campaign committee raked in nearly $35 million by Friday morning. Fueled by small-dollar donations, Trump’s fundraising haul almost doubled the previous single-day record on the WinRed platform. The Trump campaign highlighted that 29.7 percent of the donors were first-time contributors.

The NRCC’s post-verdict fundraising blew past the $175,000 it raised when Representative Mike Johnson (R-LA) was elected Speaker of the House. The NRSC’s fundraising also edged out the $325,000 it posted on Super Tuesday.

“The American people hate how the justice system was weaponized to convict President Trump,” NRCC spokesman Will Reinert said in a statement announcing the record contribution numbers. He added: “They are opening up their wallets to protest Joe Biden and House Democrats’ kangaroo court, and they will deliver the final verdict with their votes this November.”

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The Republican Party is setting fundraising records following the guilty verdict issued against former President Donald J. Trump in his Manhattan-based hush money trial on Thursday. Small-dollar donors have flocked to the Trump presidential campaign, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) in response to the Democrat lawfare efforts against the presumptive Republican nominee. show more
May 31, 2024
Crime
Immigration

Illegal Alien Jose Ibarra Who Murdered Laken Riley Pleads NOT GUILTY?!

Illegal Venezuelan immigrant Jose Ibarra, charged with the murder of Augusta University student Laken Riley, entered a not-guilty plea during his arraignment on Friday. Ibarra, 26, is facing a ten-count indictment related to the death of Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student attacked on February 22 while jogging on dirt trails on the University of Georgia campus in Athens.

The arraignment occurred at Athens-Clarke County Superior Courthouse, where Riley’s mother, Allyson Phillips, was visibly emotional — breaking down in tears. The judge has scheduled a status hearing for August, with the trial expected to occur later in the fall.

Ibarra faces multiple charges, including malice murder, two counts of kidnapping with bodily injury, two counts of aggravated assault with intent to rape, two counts of aggravated battery, obstructing or hindering a person from making a 911 call, tampering with evidence, and being a “peeping Tom.”

The indictment alleges that Ibarra caused Riley’s death by blunt-force trauma to her head and asphyxiating her in an unspecified manner. He is also accused of spying on a university staff member in an apartment on the same day of the alleged murder.

Ibarra resided in an apartment complex near the on-campus park where Riley was jogging. University of Georgia Police Chief Jeffrey Clark described the incident as a “crime of opportunity,” noting the proximity of Ibarra‘s apartment to the crime scene.

Records indicate that Ibarra, originally from Venezuela, entered the United States illegally through El Paso, Texas, in September 2022. He was reportedly released into the U.S. on parole, according to sources from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Former President Donald J. Trump has repeatedly blasted the Biden government for its open borders policies, which have allowed murderers like Ibarra to enter the country illegally.

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Illegal Venezuelan immigrant Jose Ibarra, charged with the murder of Augusta University student Laken Riley, entered a not-guilty plea during his arraignment on Friday. Ibarra, 26, is facing a ten-count indictment related to the death of Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student attacked on February 22 while jogging on dirt trails on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. show more
May 31, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Election 2024
Lawfare

RFK Jr. Accuses ‘Profoundly Undemocratic’ Democrats of ‘Weaponizing’ Courts Against Trump.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is accusing the Democrats, his former party, of adopting a strategy of trying to “beat President Trump in the courtroom rather than the ballot box.” He argues this is not only “profoundly undemocratic” but “will backfire in November.”

“America deserves a President who can win at the ballot box without compromising our government’s separation of powers or weaponizing the courts,” RFK Jr. wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“You can’t save democracy by destroying it first. The Democrats are afraid they will lose in the voting booth, so instead they go after President Trump in the courtroom.”

Trump was convicted of dubious charges in a heavily Democrat area in a prosecution brought by a Democratic District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, on Thursday. The judge overseeing the case, Juan Merchan, has strong familial links to the Democratic Party but refused to recuse himself and even imposed a gag order banning Trump from talking about his conflicts of interest.

“This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt,” Trump said following his conviction.

“They wouldn’t give us a venue change. We were at 5 percent or 6 percent in this district, in this area. This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,” he stressed, adding that the “real verdict is going to be November 5th by the people.”

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Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is accusing the Democrats, his former party, of adopting a strategy of trying to "beat President Trump in the courtroom rather than the ballot box." He argues this is not only "profoundly undemocratic" but "will backfire in November." show more
May 31, 2024
William Upton
Lawfare

CNN Legal Analyst & Former Bragg Associate: “Case Was An Ill-Conceived, Unjustified Mess.”

Elie Honig — a former federal prosecutor, CNN legal analyst, and associate of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — says the hush money prosecution of former President Donald J. Trump “was an ill-conceived, unjustified mess.” While the former prosecutor turned corporate media pundit claims the jury’s verdict should be respected, he acknowledged that the legal theory behind Bragg’s prosecution “contorted the law in an unprecedented manner.”

In a lengthy essay for New York Magazine‘s Intelligencer, Honig blasts Bragg and Democrat-aligned Judge Juan Merchan for what he contends was a politically motivated and dubious prosecution. The CNN legal analyst also criticized Judge Merchan for not properly addressing his political conflicts with the case.

MERCHAN’S CONFLICTS.

“The judge donated money… in plain violation of a rule prohibiting New York judges from making political donations of any kind — to a pro-Biden, anti-Trump political operation,” Honig writes, adding that the funds were explicitly “earmarked for ‘resisting the Republican Party and Donald Trump’s radical right-wing legacy.'”

The National Pulse has reported extensively on the personal and political conflicts of Judge Merchan, who refused to recuse himself from presiding over the case. Merchan’s daughter, Loren Merchan, a political fundraiser, has taken millions of dollars from national Democrats who raised campaign funds off of the prosecution. Additionally, Representative Daniel Goldman, a client of Loren Merchan, helped prepare the prosecution’s star witness, Michael Cohen, for his cross-examination.

‘ENTIRELY UNPRECEDENTED.’

Honig additionally writes that “[t]he charges against Trump are obscure, and nearly entirely unprecedented.” He contends that Bragg overreached in using a federal campaign finance violation as a predicate crime to resurrect the falsifying business record charges, which were beyond the statute of limitations.

“In fact, no state prosecutor — in New York, or Wyoming, or anywhere — has ever charged federal election laws as a direct or predicate state crime, against anyone, for anything. None. Ever,” Honig argues, adding: “Even putting aside the specifics of election law, the Manhattan DA itself almost never brings any case in which falsification of business records is the only charge.”

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Elie Honig — a former federal prosecutor, CNN legal analyst, and associate of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — says the hush money prosecution of former President Donald J. Trump "was an ill-conceived, unjustified mess." While the former prosecutor turned corporate media pundit claims the jury's verdict should be respected, he acknowledged that the legal theory behind Bragg's prosecution "contorted the law in an unprecedented manner." show more
May 31, 2024
Jack Montgomery
War

Escalation: Biden Encourages Zelensky to Strike Russia with U.S. Weapons.

Joe Biden is authorizing Ukraine to use American-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia near the Kharkov (Kharkiv) region. His decision represents a significant escalation of the West’s proxy war with Russia as it gains the upper hand over Ukraine.

The Biden regime agreed to this change amid increasing pressure from NATO allies and deteriorating conditions on the Ukrainian battlefield. The British representative at a NATO meeting in Bulgaria recently complained, “We have to admit that Ukraine is losing this war,” saying the West could not “continue to tell Ukraine not to fire its [Western] missiles at Russia.”

“The President recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use U.S. weapons for counter-fire purposes in Kharkiv so Ukraine can hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them,” confirmed an anonymous U.S. official. For now, instructions that U.S. weapons should not be used for long-range strikes inside Russia remain unchanged — excepting Crimea and more recently annexed Ukrainian territories, which the West does not recognize as part of Russia.

In recent months, Ukrainian forces have been getting ground down in the Donbass (Donbas) regions of Donetsk and Luhansk by Russia’s superior artillery and manpower. They have also been stretched thin by a new Russian offensive in the Kharkov region, which has seized swathes of territory along the border.

Britain has also authorized the use of its long-range Storm Shadow missiles against Russia, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Germany authorized the use of German-supplied weapons for the same purposes.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin has previously warned of “major consequences” should NATO enable long-range strikes inside Russia.

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Joe Biden is authorizing Ukraine to use American-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia near the Kharkov (Kharkiv) region. His decision represents a significant escalation of the West's proxy war with Russia as it gains the upper hand over Ukraine. show more
May 31, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Lawfare

WATCH: Dem Rep Raskin Hails Trump Conviction as ‘Victory’ for ‘Democratic Politics.’

Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin said the quiet part out loud after Donald Trump’s sham conviction in Manhattan. Defenders of the prosecution, brought by a Democrat District Attorney in a Democrat district and overseen by a Democrat-linked judge, claimed it was about upholding the law, not politics. However, Raskin is now gloating Trump’s conviction was “a victory, at least a minor victory, for the rule of law and also for Democratic politics” on CNN.

Raskin has long sought to stop Trump’s reelection, not by persuading the American people not to vote for him but by upending the constitutional order.

In March, he announced he was drafting legislation banning Trump from standing for reelection, arguing the “House of Representatives already impeached Donald Trump for participating in insurrection by inciting it… the House has already pronounced upon that.”

However, Trump was acquitted of these politically-motivated charges in his subsequent Senate trial.

Earlier this month, Raskin announced a push to rig the Supreme Court, where conservatives, including three Trump appointees, are currently in the majority, by creating additional justices, introducing term limits, and imposing an “ethics code” that would make it easier to impeach justices for bogus transgressions.

Raskin has also proposed simply changing the electorate, arguing it is “neither constitutionally required nor historically normal” to prevent non-citizens from voting.

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Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin said the quiet part out loud after Donald Trump's sham conviction in Manhattan. Defenders of the prosecution, brought by a Democrat District Attorney in a Democrat district and overseen by a Democrat-linked judge, claimed it was about upholding the law, not politics. However, Raskin is now gloating Trump's conviction was "a victory, at least a minor victory, for the rule of law and also for Democratic politics" on CNN. show more
May 31, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Lawfare

Musk Blasts Trump Conviction as Politically Motivated, Warns ‘Anyone Is at Risk.’

Elon Musk, the tech billionaire owner of Tesla and X, formerly Twitter, has slammed Donald Trump’s sham conviction in Manhattan, describing Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of the former president as politically motivated.

Musk offered his assessment of the trial in response to an X user who had observed that the “first felony conviction of a former U.S. President wasn’t for the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, illegal CIA coups, drone striking weddings, or spying on American,” but for of a supposedly misclassified payment in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement.

“Indeed, great damage was done today to the public’s faith in the American legal system,” Musk wrote.

“If a former President can be criminally convicted over such a trivial matter – motivated by politics, rather than justice – then anyone is at risk of a similar fate,” he added.

Bragg’s team was infested with staffers with a history of endorsing calls for Trump to be impeached and banned from office on social media.

His prosecution team also included Matthew Colangelo, who had previously been a senior official at the Justice Department. Many regard his transfer from the Justice Department to a mere district attorney’s office as suspect and evidence that the Joe Biden regime directly orchestrated the Manhattan prosecution.

Judge Juan Merchan also had strong familial links to Democratic politicians, with his daughter Loren taking many of them on as clients at her Authentic Campaigns firm. She also shared mocked-up images of Trump behind bars on social media.

Trump and his lawyers argued that Merchan was conflicted and should have recused himself, but he refused and imposed a gag order preventing Trump from publicly discussing the Merchan family’s Democrat connections.

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Elon Musk, the tech billionaire owner of Tesla and X, formerly Twitter, has slammed Donald Trump's sham conviction in Manhattan, describing Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg's prosecution of the former president as politically motivated. show more
May 31, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Immigration

‘Populist’ Italy & Greece Agree To Take Biden Migrants.

Italy, led by the notionally populist Giorgia Meloni, and Greece, led by a center-right government that emphasizes border control, will start taking migrants directly from Latin America to ease the strain of illegal immigration on Joe Biden.

Migrants hoping to come to the United States will be processed at four immigration centers in Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. Some will fly to the U.S. after processing, but others will be settled in Italy or Greece instead. Socialist-led Spain and Canada have already signed up to the scheme.

The plan could prove extremely unpopular in Italy, where Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ran as an anti-mass migration populist. Illegal immigration has only worsened since she was elected, as she has focused on currying favor with Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelensky while largely abandoning her immigration pledges.

Italy and Greece have borne the brunt of the European Union’s migrant crisis for years. The bloc recently imposed a migration pact on all member states, requiring them to either accept a share of the migrants in Italy and Greece or make “solidarity contributions” to assist the two countries.

Poland and especially Hungary, which opposed the pro-migration and weak border enforcement policies that caused the migrant crisis, were against the pact. Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán compared its imposition to being “legally raped.”

News that Italy and Greece will be taking Latin American migrants as a favor to Biden, despite claiming they cannot cope with the migrants they already have, will likely cause further tension within the EU.

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Italy, led by the notionally populist Giorgia Meloni, and Greece, led by a center-right government that emphasizes border control, will start taking migrants directly from Latin America to ease the strain of illegal immigration on Joe Biden. show more
May 31, 2024
Election 2024
Lawfare

Trump Campaign Raises $34.8 Million After Sham Trial Verdict.

Former President Donald J. Trump announced a substantial fundraising haul of nearly $35 million on Friday, less than 24 hours after the guilty verdict against him in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg‘s hush money case. A New York jury found Trump guilty on Thursday of 34 counts of falsifying business records after a weeks-long trial.

The guilty verdict appears to have galvanized Trump’s supporters instead of demoralizing them as the Biden government likely hoped. The volume of traffic to the campaign‘s donation page caused it to crash temporarily late on Thursday. Meanwhile, Friday morning, the campaign announced it had raised $34.8 million in small-dollar donations, nearly doubling its previous single-day record on the WinRed platform.

“From just minutes after the sham trial verdict was announced, our digital fundraising system was overwhelmed with support,” said Trump campaign Senior Advisors Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles in a joint statement. “Despite temporary delays online because of the amount of traffic, President Trump raised $34.8 million from small-dollar donors.”

The Trump campaign highlighted that 29.7 percent of the donors were first-time contributors to the WinRed platform. “President Trump and our campaign are immensely grateful for this outpouring of support from patriots across our country. President Trump is fighting to save our nation, and November 5 is the day Americans will deliver the real verdict,” they added.

Former President Trump’s latest fundraising haul follows an announcement that his campaign — along with the Republican National Committee and affiliated SuperPACs — raised $76 million in April. Last week, the Trump campaign pulled in an additional $25 million during a fundraiser in Houston, Texas.

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Former President Donald J. Trump announced a substantial fundraising haul of nearly $35 million on Friday, less than 24 hours after the guilty verdict against him in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's hush money case. A New York jury found Trump guilty on Thursday of 34 counts of falsifying business records after a weeks-long trial. show more