Tuesday, September 23, 2025
state freedom caucus network

EXC – Trump Hosts Townhall With 130+ GOP Lawmakers: Talks Vaccines, 2024 Plans, & Explains The Lindsey Graham Thing.

Former President Donald Trump held a private town hall with over 130 state Freedom Caucus lawmakers on Monday August 14th, The National Pulse can exclusively reveal. The conversation was facilitated by the new State Freedom Caucus network, which now has 11 equivalents of the House Freedom Caucus across the country, with a plan for all 50 state legislatures.

On the hour-long call heard by the Pulse were some of the most conservative state legislators from South Carolina, Arizona, Illinois, and Idaho, with Trump opening the conversation by calling it “a privilege to address the State Freedom Caucus Network… a very important group of people,” before making an opening statement and going on to take questions from the participants.

The conversation began with a question about Operation Warp Speed and the vaccines, to which the former President lauded governors who allowed the public to make informed decisions for themselves, reminding the audience that he had never supported vaccine mandates. Trump also answered tough questions on his backing of Senator Lindsay Graham, explaining that the South Carolina Senator “does help me with the liberal side of the Republican Party… and even some of the liberal Democrats,” before reminding one South Carolina freedom caucus member: “[Y]ou have a little bit of a liberal bent in South Carolina, and I think its okay if we show a little bit of flexibility.”

Trump’s typical 2016-style pragmatism was on display throughout the conversation seen by The National Pulse, as he discussed ballot harvesting initiatives, future travel plans to states like Idaho, and slammed Joe Biden as a “crooked man, as crooked as a three-dollar bill!”

Some of the President’s more pointed ire was aimed at Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who voted to convict him following the post-January 6th impeachment. “Cassidy’s a very bad guy,” he said, to agreement from the participants.

In closing the call, Trump discussed a recent viral video from Los Angeles, wherein a “pack of young kids,” cleared out a department store while looting in broad daylight. He used the issue as an example of how far the country had fallen under Joe Biden and his “Bidenomics” agenda.

Andy Roth, the president of the State Freedom Caucus Network, told The National Pulse: “It was an honor to have President Trump speak to the State Freedom Caucus lawmakers in our Network… Our members share the President’s desire to take on the Deep State and restore our country’s greatness.” Attendees appeared to enjoy the conversation with the former President, with many lauding him for his fighting spirit, answers to tough questions, and future plans.

Raheem Kassam contributed to this report.

show less
Former President Donald Trump held a private town hall with over 130 state Freedom Caucus lawmakers on Monday August 14th, The National Pulse can exclusively reveal. The conversation was facilitated by the new State Freedom Caucus network, which now has 11 equivalents of the House Freedom Caucus across the country, with a plan for all 50 state legislatures. show more

Editor’s Notes

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

RAHEEM J. KASSAM Editor-in-Chief
Trump’s friendship with Lindsey Graham has often bemused casual observers, though D
Trump’s friendship with Lindsey Graham has often bemused casual observers, though D show more
for exclusive members-only insights
wapo

WaPo Bemoans Big Tech Bias After Years of Cheering It On.

Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post, which for years has mocked conservatives for alleging Big Tech biases against them, is now bemoaning what they claim is an effort by Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) to limit web traffic to corporate media outlets. On Tuesday, WaPo claimed: “The site formerly known as Twitter has added a five-second delay when a user clicks on a shortened link to the New York Times, Facebook and other sites Musk commonly attacks”.

But one of article’s authors, Drew Harwell, has cheered on Twitter’s suppression of conservative voices, with WaPo routinely lampooning conservatives, including then-President Donald J. Trump, for raising the matter of Big Tech bias. The site published the following in 2019:

“Conservatives long have claimed that major social-media sites exhibit political bias, pointing to Silicon Valley’s liberal leanings and regular contributions to Democrats. Beyond that, however, experts have said there is no evidence that Facebook, Google and Twitter have deliberately sought to limit the reach of Republicans, a message that tech giants in attendance on Wednesday emphasized.”

There was, in fact, a mountain of evidence.

Another article boosted then-Twitter’s denial of “shadow-banning” – a practice most knew was used against conservatives, which briefly ended under Musk before his World Economic Forum-linked CEO Linda Yaccarino effectively reinstated it under a “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach” policy. Another WaPo piece gave cover to Twitter in 2019 for its inherent biases.

In fact, a cursory glance through the Washington Post‘s own site search function reveals dozens if not hundreds of articles cheering on the censorship of conservatives, or Trump himself, with one declaring: “Twitter’s Trump ban is even more important than you thought” and another which says Twitter actually went “easy” on Trump, despite banning the President.

On January 8th, 2021, WaPo columnist Graham Lampa declared: “Donald Trump’s Twitter account should belong to all of us,” making the case for some kind of public ownership of the property. Instead, it seems, it is the Washington Post that has been owned.

show less
Jeff Bezos's Washington Post, which for years has mocked conservatives for alleging Big Tech biases against them, is now bemoaning what they claim is an effort by Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) to limit web traffic to corporate media outlets. On Tuesday, WaPo claimed: "The site formerly known as Twitter has added a five-second delay when a user clicks on a shortened link to the New York Times, Facebook and other sites Musk commonly attacks". show more
georgia grand jury

BREAKING: Georgia Grand Jury Indicts Donald Trump and 18 Other Individuals.

A Georgia grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 other individuals in an election interference case. Trump faces thirteen charges, the most significant charge being a violation of the Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act.

Among the additional individuals charged are former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (who led the city through the aftermath of 9/11), former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorney John Eastman, former Department of Justice attorney Jeffery Clark, attorney Sydney Powell, attorney Kenneth Chesebro, and pro-DeSantis attorney Jenna Ellis. The indictment in total is 98 pages long.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, during a late night press conference, said that the RICO charges faced by the 19 individuals entailed prison sentences. The defendants have been told they have until noon on August 25th to voluntarily surrender. She added that she intends to try all of the defendants together.

Willis declined to comment on the errant posting of a docket report listing the charges against former President Trump earlier in the day. She also declined to comment on if she’s had any discussions with Department of Justice special prosecutor Jack Smith.

In response to the news of the indictments, the Trump campaign issued a statement blasting District Attorney Fani Willis as “…a rabid partisan who is campaigning and fundraising on a platform of prosecuting President Trump through these bogus indictment… They could have brought this 2 1/2 years ago, yet they chose to do this for election interference reasons in the middle of President Trump’s successful campaign.”

The Fulton County Sheriff confirms that those indicted will have mugshots taken.

The news comes hours after District Attorney Fani Willis published a charging docket before the grand jury had even voted.

The uploading of the docket report; the media knowledge of how many witnesses the prosecution was bringing to the grand jury; and knowledge of when the grand jury was voting on the indictment raises serious questions about the process, which is supposed to be sealed from the public. 

This story is developing and will be updated.

show less
A Georgia grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 other individuals in an election interference case. Trump faces thirteen charges, the most significant charge being a violation of the Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act. show more
matt wolking

Ron’s Comms Boss Matt Wolking Invented a Trump Camp Quote, then Freaked Out When Challenged.

Matt Wolking, the Strategic Communications Director for the pro-Ron DeSantis Super PAC ‘Never Back Down’, appeared to invent quotes from within the Trump presidential campaign on Monday, before having a very public meltdown after he was quizzed on the matter.

Wolking – on loan from DeSantis campaign chief Jeff Roe’s embattled Axiom Strategies – refused to provide evidence of his claim that the “Trump camp” is “livid” about his meeting with reporter Laura Loomer on Sunday at Bedminster.

The National Pulse’s editor-in-chief, Raheem Kassam, challenged Wolking’s unsourced quote.

Not only could the Never Back Down ‘Strategic Communications Director’ not provide a source for his quote, but Wolking quickly melted down, attacking this conservative news site – The National Pulse – and its Brexit-backing editor.

Prior to joining Jeff Roe’s Axiom – and subsequently the Never Back Down Super PAC controlled by Roe and staffed by Axiom employees – Wolking worked as the deputy communications director on former President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, where he routinely asked for support from The National Pulse and its staff.

Axiom Strategies and the DeSantis Super PAC have been plagued with controversy since the start of the presidential campaign. Intent on alienating masses of conservative voters, the firm is also facing a massive lawsuit in Nevada over accusations of fraudulent campaign work, including falsified and obscene petition signatures.

Roe himself – a long-time Republican establishment consultant – recently offered to pay corporate media start-up ‘Puck’ up to $11 million to stop writing about him.

show less
Matt Wolking, the Strategic Communications Director for the pro-Ron DeSantis Super PAC 'Never Back Down', appeared to invent quotes from within the Trump presidential campaign on Monday, before having a very public meltdown after he was quizzed on the matter. show more
trump new york judge

Trump’s New York Judge – A Biden Donor – Refuses to Recuse Himself.

The judge presiding over the criminal case against former President Donald J. Trump in Manhattan, Judge Juan M. Merchan, is refusing to recuse himself from the proceedings despite his political donations and family connections. The judge rejected all the arguments put forth by Trump’s legal team in a decision dated August 11th and released on Monday.

Merchan, who presided over the trial involving The Trump Organization last year as well as the case against Trump advisor Stephen K. Bannon, donated to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign while his daughter currently works for a marketing firm which helps Democratic Party candidates and openly campaigned for Kamala Harris in 2020.

The trial in Manhattan is scheduled for March 2024, though Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg has indicated a willingness to change the date if requested by other prosecutors involved in cases against Trump.

show less
The judge presiding over the criminal case against former President Donald J. Trump in Manhattan, Judge Juan M. Merchan, is refusing to recuse himself from the proceedings despite his political donations and family connections. The judge rejected all the arguments put forth by Trump's legal team in a decision dated August 11th and released on Monday. show more
trump

GOP Strategists Admit They’ll Lose Elections Across America if Trump is NOT the Candidate.

“If somehow he’s not the nominee, it will hurt turnout,” admits GOP strategist Brian Darling of former President Donald J. Trump.

“He’s got a unique coalition. He brings a lot of nontraditional voters to the Republican Party, and it will be difficult to win a state like Ohio if you lose all those Trump voters or make them disaffected voters, and they don’t show up,” Darling added.

The jarring comments – as well as the national polling – both fly in the face of claims made from Trump’s primary opponents, that a Republican candidate other that Trump would have an easier time beating Biden or another Democrat nominee in 2024.

Specifically, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his team have repeatedly made the claims that Trump cannot win the 2024 presidential election. At the same time, officials with DeSantis’s ‘Never Back Down’ PAC have called Trump backers “degenerates” and worse.

“The conventional wisdom is there’s concern that if Trump’s not the nominee, his coalition will take their ball and go home,” added Republican strategist Matt Dole.

The claims are confirmed by Pew Research Center analysis, which shows Republican 2022 midterm election victories were down to higher turnout amongst MAGA voters. In other words: without Trump, there would currently be a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives.

show less
“If somehow he’s not the nominee, it will hurt turnout,” admits GOP strategist Brian Darling of former President Donald J. Trump. show more

Editor’s Notes

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

RAHEEM J. KASSAM Editor-in-Chief
Now, neither the polling data, nor the historic analysis, nor the strategists themselves agree with the view inside the DeSantis campaign, that the Florida Governor is somehow “more electable” than President Trump
Now, neither the polling data, nor the historic analysis, nor the strategists themselves agree with the view inside the DeSantis campaign, that the Florida Governor is somehow “more electable” than President Trump show more
for exclusive members-only insights

DeSantis Falls Behind Vivek in a Second Poll.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has slipped into third place behind former President Donald Trump and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy in a second national Republican primary presidential poll. A new Kaplan Strategies poll has Trump leading the Republican field – with a 37 percent margin over Ramaswamy, the next closest candidate in the primary contest.

The Kaplan Strategies poll is the second poll in less than a week that shows the DeSantis campaign in decline. On August 10th, Cygnal, a Washington, DC based polling firm, showed former President Trump at a commanding 53 percent in a hypothetical national Republican primary. Ramaswamy was in second place with 11 percent and DeSantis in third at 10 percent.

The political analytics and poll aggregator website FiveThirtyEight shows a similar trend to the Kaplan and Cygnal polls (though in their polling average DeSantis still holds a narrow second place lead over Ramaswamy).

Since his glitchy May 24th presidential announcement on X (formerly Twitter), DeSantis has seen very little improvement in any polling. FiveThirtyEight, in fact, shows that since late-June, the DeSantis campaign has been on a steady decline while Trump has continued to capture over 50 percent of the Republican electorate.

DeSantis’s campaign isn’t just plagued by declining poll numbers. Federal Election Committee data shows that DeSantis had just 22 donors who gave over $200 in Iowa (as of early August). The lack of small dollar donors has put the DeSantis presidential campaign committee in a difficult financial spot, with a recent FEC letter indicating that the campaign committee may actually have far less than $6.6 million in cash-0n-hand they have reported.

The National Pulse has previously reported that 2024 general election polling has shifted to show Donald Trump now defeating Joe Biden – meanwhile Ron DeSantis would be defeated by the Democrat incumbent.

show less
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has slipped into third place behind former President Donald Trump and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy in a second national Republican primary presidential poll. A new Kaplan Strategies poll has Trump leading the Republican field – with a 37 percent margin over Ramaswamy, the next closest candidate in the primary contest. show more

Georgia DA Fani Willis Publishes Trump Indictment Charges Before Grand Jury Has Even Voted.

A two page docket report was posted, then removed, from the Fulton County, Georgia court website today concerning the impending indictment of former President Donald Trump. The incident led to corporate media outlets and news wires originally reporting that an indictment has been handed down Monday. It had not.

The briefly public docket report revealed that District Attorney Willis will be seeking a range of charges against Trump including racketeering, conspiracy, and making false statements – it is not currently known if additional charges will be included.

The apparent errant posting of charges is just the latest in controversies that have plagued Fani Willis and her attempt to prosecute the former President. A judge forced Willis off part of the Georgia investigation regarding the 2020 presidential election last year when it was revealed that Willis had held a political fundraiser for the Democrat opponent of a state Republican lawmaker who also happened to be one of her investigative targets.

Most recently Willis came under scrutiny for launching a political fundraising website with an email tease stating: “We have an announcement”. Critics argue that Willis is politicizing her potential prosecution of Trump and using the allure of potential court drama line her campaign war chest with donor money and raise her political profile for a potential run at higher elected office.

show less

A two page docket report was posted, then removed, from the Fulton County, Georgia court website today concerning the impending indictment of former President Donald Trump. The incident led to corporate media outlets and news wires originally reporting that an indictment has been handed down Monday. It had not.

show more
chutkan

Trump J6 Judge Worked at Fusion GPS, Burisma Law Firm.

U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan – currently presiding over the Trump January 6th trial prosecuted by the Biden Justice Department – previously worked at a law firm that represented Russia hoax dossier firm Fusion GPS. During her time at Boies Schiller Flexner, the law firm also reportedly represented Huma Abedin, a key figure in the Hillary Clinton private email server case.

The findings come following reports that Hunter Biden worked at the same firm which represented his previous employer Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company at the heart of the ongoing Biden corruption scandal.

Earlier conflicts based on Chutkan’s legal connections with organizations targeting Trump have also arisen. When overseeing Fusion GPS’s attempt to block the source of payments for the now infamous “Steele dossier”, Chutkan recused herself from the case. It was later discovered that her former law firm, Boies Schiller, represented Fusion GPS in federal court, raising concerns about impartiality.

This previous incident sets a precedent for Chutkan’s removal from the Trump J6 trial, according to Devin Nunes and Kash Patel, who successfully litigated against Fusion GPS under Chutkan’s oversight.

show less
U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan – currently presiding over the Trump January 6th trial prosecuted by the Biden Justice Department – previously worked at a law firm that represented Russia hoax dossier firm Fusion GPS. During her time at Boies Schiller Flexner, the law firm also reportedly represented Huma Abedin, a key figure in the Hillary Clinton private email server case. show more

Georgia Prosecutors Seek Trump Indictment This Week.

Prosecutors in Atlanta, Georgia, are expected to ask a grand jury to indict Donald Trump and others over alleged “election interference” in the state early this week, following an “investigation” led by Democrat partisan District Attorney Fani Willis.

Willis, who has been repeatedly denounced as an anti-white “racist”, alleges “a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.”

Willis’s investigation is perhaps even more controversial than those of George Soros-linked Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and Michelle Obama-linked federal prosecutor Jack Smith, with the Democrat being rebuked by the courts in July for fundraising for someone running against a conservative politician her investigation targeted. A judge described this as “a ‘what are you thinking?’ moment”.

She received further criticism by launching a new fundraising page for herself as the indictment decision looms.

“I hear that RACIST Fulton County (Atlanta) District Attorney ‘Phoney’ Fani Willis, who weakly presides over one of the deadliest communities in the U.S… is using a potential Indictment of me, and other innocent people, as a campaign and fundraising CON JOB,” Trump said of her behavior.

show less
Prosecutors in Atlanta, Georgia, are expected to ask a grand jury to indict Donald Trump and others over alleged “election interference” in the state early this week, following an “investigation” led by Democrat partisan District Attorney Fani Willis. show more