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Tag: Donald Trump
October 27, 2023
Politics

Larry Elder Ends Republican Prez Campaign, Endorses Trump.

Conservative talk radio host Larry Elder announced Thursday that he was ending his 2024 Republican presidential campaign, subsequently endorsing former President Donald Trump. Elder stated that he made the decision to offer his support to Trump, a leader whose efforts were “instrumental in advancing conservative America-first principles and policies.” Elder expressed hopes that his campaign highlighted issues he deems significant, such as fatherlessness, crime reduction, and opposing the view that the U.S. is a fundamentally racist nation.

Larry Elder’s announcement marks the fourth major withdrawal from the presidential race, following Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, Perry Johnson, and former Texas congressman Will Hurd. Despite the relatively low visibility of his campaign in a field dominated by other high-profile Republican figures like former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Elder said he believed his campaign made a positive impact.

Elder’s political exposure began in 2021 with his bid to replace Newsom. However, the majority of voters opposed Newsom’s removal. Despite this setback, Elder maintained that his campaign generated resonance among voters. The Los Angeles-born lawyer, with a considerable conservative following through his radio programs and appearances on right-wing media outlets, professed his opposition to the Democrats’ “woke” agenda, Black Lives Matter, and claims that America embodied systemic racism.

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Conservative talk radio host Larry Elder announced Thursday that he was ending his 2024 Republican presidential campaign, subsequently endorsing former President Donald Trump. Elder stated that he made the decision to offer his support to Trump, a leader whose efforts were "instrumental in advancing conservative America-first principles and policies." Elder expressed hopes that his campaign highlighted issues he deems significant, such as fatherlessness, crime reduction, and opposing the view that the U.S. is a fundamentally racist nation. show more
October 26, 2023
Raheem J. Kassam
Breaking
Exclusive
Politics

EXCLUSIVE: Ex Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows Blasts Wire Wearing, FBI Informant Claims as ‘Ridiculous’.

Former President Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has blasted bizarre new allegations that he wore a wire whilst working in the White House and acted as an informant against Trump for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in comments provided exclusively to The National Pulse.

The allegations that Meadows had voluntarily worn a listening device and acted as a federal informant were first made on X (formerly Twitter), with a claim the information was corroborated through anonymous Congressional sources:

“BREAKING: Allegedly Mark Meadows worked for the FBI as an informant and wore a wire to record all conversations with President Trump, while he was the Chief of Staff to him… This is not only unconstitutional, but it’s criminal. This is the government we live with. It’s up to us to change that.”

But Meadows explicitly blasted the claims in a brief comment to The National Pulse, stating: “Thanks for checking. It is ridiculous, it is 100 percent NOT TRUE!!”

Speculation as to the accuracy of the claim regarding Meadows quickly spread across social media late Thursday. Ben Williamson, a longtime spokesman for Meadows, also denied the accusation stating: “This crap is ridiculous it’s straight out of the twilight zone.”

Just two days ago ABC News published a now disputed report that Meadows was actively cooperating with special prosecutor Jack Smith and his Department of Justice investigators. Meadows’s lawyer George Terwilliger, however, told CBS News: “I told ABC that their story was largely inaccurate. People will have to judge for themselves the decision to run it anyway.”

Even if the ABC News report were accurate, Meadows’s testimony given to – and likely leaked by the Department of Justice – doesn’t appear to help Smith’s prosecution in any significant way. According to the report, Meadows told investigators that Trump never indicated to him that he believed anything other than the 2020 presidential election was stolen. A key charge in Smith’s Washington, D.C. prosecution of the former President is reliant on the accusation that Trump knew he had lost the election and defrauded the United States by claiming it was stolen.

Meadows indicated to the Pulse that he is unsure as to why these rumors are being spread at this time, though some have speculated that authorities are fuelling such talk to try and drive a wedge between him and President Trump, and to try and lure Trump into “intimidating” Meadows to further fuel partisan gag orders in court.

Will Upton contributed to this story.

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Former President Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has blasted bizarre new allegations that he wore a wire whilst working in the White House and acted as an informant against Trump for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in comments provided exclusively to The National Pulse. show more

Editor’s Notes

Behind-the-scenes political intrigue exclusively for Pulse+ subscribers.

RAHEEM J. KASSAM Editor-in-Chief
The reality is there are plenty of Congressional members who would take a farcical background briefing from Biden’s DOJ/FBI and leak it around town
for exclusive members-only insights
The reality is there are plenty of Congressional members who would take a farcical background briefing from Biden’s DOJ/FBI and leak it around town show more
for exclusive members-only insights
October 26, 2023
Analysis
Politics

READ: ‘Sidney Powell Didn’t Flip on Trump or MAGA’.

A close associate to lawyer Sidney Powell has insisted that the election fraud assailant has not, in fact, “flipped on Trump,” writing on Substack this week:

It is alarming (although not surprising) to see the misinformation in headlines, new articles, and on social media about Sidney Powell’s plea in Georgia last week. Even good Republicans and MAGA supporters seem confused and misinformed about the facts of her plea, many believing she has disavowed her position on the 2020 election and betrayed her supporters or that she has “flipped” on Trump.

– Molly McCann Sanders, October 2023.

Powell pleaded guilty to six lesser charges involving efforts to allegedly overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Many outlets immediately began to speculate that Powell was actively cooperating against co-defendant Trump, perhaps intentionally ignoring the nuances highlighted by McCann Sanders:

First, let’s be very clear that Sidney did not plead guilty to a conspiracy with Donald Trump to unlawfully overturn the 2020 election. The RICO charge was dropped as part of Sidney’s plea. To repeat for absolute clarity, Sidney did not plead guilty to a charge that she unlawfully tried to overturn the 2020 election or otherwise “admit” that the claims the 2020 election were stolen were unsubstantiated.

– Molly McCann Sanders, October 2023.

Slate declared the plea deal to be ‘…so, so bad for Donald Trump’, while the New York Times speculated the agreement with prosecutors could be a ‘threat’ to Trump, noting: “For the first time, prosecutors have the cooperation of someone who was closely involved in Donald Trump’s efforts to remain in office after his election defeat.” Elie Honig, a legal analyst at CNN, called the deal a “really big breakthrough for prosecutors” and added that “There’s no such thing as halfway cooperation.”

But Powell’s plea agreement doesn’t impact former President Trump in any meaningful way, according to McCann Sanders, who added: “Sidney’s plea agreement is for conduct unrelated to Donald Trump and only tenuously related to even Sidney herself. Simply put: Sidney agreed to take the rap for the disputed access to Fulton County machines.”

READ THE FULL PIECE HERE.

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A close associate to lawyer Sidney Powell has insisted that the election fraud assailant has not, in fact, "flipped on Trump," writing on Substack this week: show more

Editor’s Notes

Behind-the-scenes political intrigue exclusively for Pulse+ subscribers.

RAHEEM J. KASSAM Editor-in-Chief
Molly is right, as The National Pulse also implied in our reporting as soon as the plea deal came out
for exclusive members-only insights
Molly is right, as The National Pulse also implied in our reporting as soon as the plea deal came out show more
for exclusive members-only insights
October 26, 2023
Jack Montgomery
Politics

Even The Anti-Trump ACLU Says DC Gag Order Violates First Amendment.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has, despite its longstanding opposition to Donald Trump, agreed a gag order imposed on him and his lawyers by Jan 6 judge Tanya Chutkan violates his First Amendment rights, by placing restrictions on his ability to speak that are “too broad and too vague.”

While usually more concerned with far-left activities such as suing small towns over Christmas decorations featuring Christian symbols in recent years, the ACLU has given a rare nod to its former goal of upholding free speech by filing an amicus brief in Washington, D.C. in defense of Trump’s rights. The brief argues the limits placed on the 45 President’s ability to comment on Chutkan, special prosecutor Jack Smith, and court staff abridge his right to speech, and the public’s right “to hear what he has to say.”

While feeling it necessary to allege without evidence that “[n]o modern-day President did more damage to civil liberties and civil rights than President Trump,” the leftist organization goes on to warn that “if we allow his free speech rights to be abridged… other unpopular voices – even ones we agree with – will also be silenced.”

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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has, despite its longstanding opposition to Donald Trump, agreed a gag order imposed on him and his lawyers by Jan 6 judge Tanya Chutkan violates his First Amendment rights, by placing restrictions on his ability to speak that are "too broad and too vague." show more
desantis
October 25, 2023
Jack Montgomery
Politics

TIME’S UP: It’s Been 60 Days Since Ron DeSantis’s Team Said They Had 60 Days to Stop Trump.

It has been 60 days since Jeff Roe, the controversial leading man in Ron DeSantis’s ‘Never Back Down’ super PAC, told donors the Florida Governor had to start beating Trump within “the next 60 days”  while begging for $50 million. Far from overtaking the former president, he has now fallen significantly further behind.

Team Trump has been counting down Roe’s self-imposed deadline for weeks, and observed on Monday that DeSantis “trailed President Trump by 33 points with 21 percent support” when he first announced but “millions of dollars later” trails Trump by 47 points, falling to “an embarrassing 12 percent support.”

Far from attempting to pretend Roe’s deadline never existed, however, DeSantis’s “rapid response director” Christina Pushaw chose to highlight Trump campaign posts pointing out the Floridian’s failure, claiming it as evidence her team “broke them”.

Her boss, however, disagreed. DeSantis told reporters the deadline wasn’t a “very smart thing to do,” and tried to distance himself from his own PAC’s messaging.

“[Jeff Roe’s] not my adviser, and they do what they want to do. I think that that’s fine. I don’t think very many people think that that was a very smart thing to do with whatever was going on with that.”

– Ron DeSantis, October 2023.

While some DeSantis diehards joined in the bizarre defeat lap, others were unconvinced, with one social media noting the Tallahassee team “can’t even break 20 percent in the polls.”

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It has been 60 days since Jeff Roe, the controversial leading man in Ron DeSantis's 'Never Back Down' super PAC, told donors the Florida Governor had to start beating Trump within “the next 60 days”  while begging for $50 million. Far from overtaking the former president, he has now fallen significantly further behind. show more
October 25, 2023
William Upton
News

Trump Fined ANOTHER $10K By Far-Left Judge For ‘Violating’ Gag Order.

Former President Donald Trump has been hit with a $10,000 fine by Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron for allegedly violating a gag order the judge had issued earlier this month. Just five days ago, Judge Engoron fined the former President $5,000 for violating the court issued gag order. When to issuing the earlier fine, Engoron threatened to throw Trump in jail for any future violations.

Engoron, the Democrat judge overseeing New York Attorney General Letitia James’s $250 million fraud prosecution of Donald Trump, warned the former President regarding any possible future violations of the court’s gag order, “Don’t do it again or it will be worse.” Earlier in the day, Trump – while speaking to the press outside the courtroom – called Engoron a “…very partisan judge with a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside him, perhaps even much more partisan than he is.”

The comments prompted Engoron to summon Trump to the stand, believing that the reference to the “person who’s very partisan sitting alongside him” meant the judge’s law clerk Allison Greenfield who is, in fact, a very partisan operative.

The gag order prohibits the former President from making references to court staff, including Greenfield. Trump insisted he was referencing his former lawyer Michael Cohen and not Greenfield. Engoron ultimately disagreed. Reports from inside the courtroom indicate Trump abruptly left after the $10,000 fine was handed down.

Prior to Engoron’s gag order, former President Trump had fervently criticized his seemingly partisan prosecution at the hands of Letitia James. Earlier this month, Trump posted on social media prior to his initial court appearance: “I’m going to Court tomorrow morning to fight for my name and reputation against a corrupt and racist Attorney General, Letitia James, who campaigned on ‘getting Trump,’ and a Trump Hating Judge who is unfair, unhinged, and vicious in his PURSUIT of me.”

Donald Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba has repeatedly emphasized just how weak Attorney General James’s case is against the former President. Habba has also stressed that previous political statements made by James against Trump illustrate that this is a partisan prosecution.

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Former President Donald Trump has been hit with a $10,000 fine by Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron for allegedly violating a gag order the judge had issued earlier this month. Just five days ago, Judge Engoron fined the former President $5,000 for violating the court issued gag order. When to issuing the earlier fine, Engoron threatened to throw Trump in jail for any future violations. show more
October 25, 2023
William Upton
Breaking
News
Politics

WE HAVE A SPEAKER: Johnson Slides In 22 Days After Gaetz Ousted McCarthy.

Congressman Mike Johnson (R-LA) is officially the new Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Louisiana Republican emerged from relative obscurity to become the consensus candidate of House Republicans after three other nominees for Speaker failed to garner the 217 votes needed to attain the gavel. When asked what he thought about Speaker-designate Mike Johnson, former President Donald Trump said, “Everybody likes him… it looks like it’s gonna happen” – providing a key nod of support.

Johnson managed to head off a late revolt by supporters of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) who sought to restore the establishment Republican to his station after he was ousted by a ‘motion to vacate’ brought by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) over two weeks ago. Gaetz told Steve Bannon on War Room it was McCarthy and his allies who engineered the defeats of the three prior Republican nominees for Speaker, Reps. Steve Scalise (R-LA), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Tom Emmer (R-MN). According to Gaetz, McCarthy believed that he could wear down House Republicans over time and retake his Speakership.

The leaked results of a Republican Conference vote late last night indicated that Johnson had secured 128 votes out of the 221 total Republicans the House. McCarthy, pushed by a write-in campaign, secured 43 votes. However, when the Conference then took up an open roll call vote on whether they’d support Johnson on the floor, the McCarthy insurgency ended and Johnson secured 196 of the 199 Republicans who were present. Three House Republicans voted ‘present’ but subsequently endorsed Johnson’s bid for Speaker.

Speaker Johnson, first elected to the House of Representatives in 2016 on the back of Donald Trump’s historic presidential victory, has a reputation as an astute constitutional lawyer who has frequently tangled with the Biden government in House Judiciary Committee meetings.

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Congressman Mike Johnson (R-LA) is officially the new Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Louisiana Republican emerged from relative obscurity to become the consensus candidate of House Republicans after three other nominees for Speaker failed to garner the 217 votes needed to attain the gavel. When asked what he thought about Speaker-designate Mike Johnson, former President Donald Trump said, "Everybody likes him… it looks like it’s gonna happen" – providing a key nod of support. show more
ron desantis
October 25, 2023
Jack Montgomery
Fact Check
Politics

FACT CHECK: DeSantis Claims Trump Said ‘Don’t Vote’ in 2024. He Did Not.

Ron DeSantis has falsely claimed Donald Trump told supporters not to vote in the 2024 election, disingenuously reframing comments by the 45th President on the even greater importance of ensuring the election is conducted fairly.

In a video posted this week, DeSantis alleged Trump “is wedded to the teleprompter; he can’t get off that teleprompter, [and] anytime he does he says things like ‘don’t vote’. He’s telling people not to vote, like, we have all the votes we need.”

The Florida Governor was referring to a nine-second clip from a lengthy speech by Trump at a rally in Derry, New Hampshire, shared by the Jeff Roe-led DeSantis super PAC, Never Back Down, in which the former president says “don’t worry about voting”.

But far from being an injunction not to vote at all, Trump’s remarks formed part of a wider message on the need for Republicans to turn out in force on election night to observe the conduct of the vote counts and ensure there is no fraud. DeSantis, who has taken money from Dominion Voting Systems lawyers, seems less keen on Trump’s messaging on election integrity.

“[A]long with our borders probably the most important thing of all, we will secure our elections, because if you don’t have borders and if you don’t have fair elections this country will not survive,” Trump says.

“Our goal will be one-day voting with paper ballots and voter ID, but until then, Republicans, you have to get out in November,” he said at the same event, before again stressing: “We have to get out in November. We can’t let them cheat; the only way they beat us is going to be if they cheat; they can’t beat us otherwise. They don’t have the votes, and we don’t want to see those votes get manipulated.”

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Ron DeSantis has falsely claimed Donald Trump told supporters not to vote in the 2024 election, disingenuously reframing comments by the 45th President on the even greater importance of ensuring the election is conducted fairly. show more

Editor’s Notes

Behind-the-scenes political intrigue exclusively for Pulse+ subscribers.

RAHEEM J. KASSAM Editor-in-Chief
This latest misrepresentation is just the latest in a long line of Jeff Roe-inspired hatchet jobs against the former President, all of which have failed to help DeSantis
for exclusive members-only insights
This latest misrepresentation is just the latest in a long line of Jeff Roe-inspired hatchet jobs against the former President, all of which have failed to help DeSantis show more
for exclusive members-only insights
October 25, 2023
Jack Montgomery
News

Trump Lodges 1A Challenge to Jan 6 Indictment.

Donald Trump’s lawyers have moved to have the Jan 6 indictments brought against him by Jack Smith for Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed, arguing they violate the U.S. Constitution by criminalizing “core political speech” protected by the First Amendment.

“If there is any constant in our democratic system of governance, it is that the marketplace of ideas – not the mandates of government functionaries or partisan prosecutors – determines the scope of public debate,” the court filings explain.

“Countless millions believe, as President Trump consistently has and currently does, that fraud and irregularities pervaded the 2020 Presidential Election. As the indictment itself alleges, President Trump gave voice to these concerns and demanded that politicians in a position to restore integrity to our elections not just talk about the problem, but investigate and resolve it… The First Amendment embraces and encourages exactly this kind of behavior,” they add.

Trump’s lawyers also make the point that the former president has already been acquitted of similar charges in a Senate trial, arguing the DOJ prosecution falls foul of legal protections against double jeopardy.

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Donald Trump's lawyers have moved to have the Jan 6 indictments brought against him by Jack Smith for Joe Biden's Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed, arguing they violate the U.S. Constitution by criminalizing "core political speech" protected by the First Amendment. show more
October 25, 2023
William Upton
Analysis
Politics

Who Is Mike Johnson, The Current Republican Nominee for Speaker of the House?

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) has emerged as the latest Speaker-designate from the House Republican Conference. Previously, attempts to nominate Reps. Steve Scalise (R-LA), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Tom Emmer (R-MN) all failed to gain the necessary 217 votes to win the Speakership on the House floor.

Johnson was first elected in 2016, on the back of Donald Trump’s historic presidential victory. The Louisiana Republican later became a key ally to President Trump when Congressional Republicans made efforts to reject the certification of the 2020 presidential election after allegations of fraud and vote rigging were made.

Along with 125 other House Republicans, Johnson was a signer of an amicus brief in Texas v. Pennsylvania. The case, brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, argued that states which changed election procedure during the 2020 presidential contest without legislative approval were in violation of the U.S. Constitution – specifically the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia. The aim of the lawsuit was to temporarily halt the election certification. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, arguing that Texas lacked standing to bring the lawsuit.

The Louisiana Republican sits on the powerful Judiciary and Armed Services Committee and maintains close ties with both the House Freedom Caucus and a key group of Defense appropriators. Entering his sixth term in Congress, Johnson was a reliable vote for much of former President Trump’s agenda. Johnson has voted against additional aid for Ukraine, against codifying same-sex marriage, against certifying the 2020 election, and against the 47-day continuing resolution to fund the government. He did, however, vote in support of lifting the debt limit through January of 2025.

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Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) has emerged as the latest Speaker-designate from the House Republican Conference. Previously, attempts to nominate Reps. Steve Scalise (R-LA), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Tom Emmer (R-MN) all failed to gain the necessary 217 votes to win the Speakership on the House floor. show more