Day: October 17, 2023

Former Trump Attorney John Eastman Testifies in His Disbarment Trial that he Told Mike Pence Rejecting Electoral Slates Would be ‘Foolish’

Rachel Alexander

The disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar John Eastman entered its fifth and likely final week on Tuesday, featuring testimony from Eastman and Kari Lake’s attorney Kurt Olsen. The State Bar of California is attempting to disbar Eastman for allegedly advising Trump and Vice President Mike Pence that Pence could reject electoral slates from states suspected of election fraud, but Eastman disputed that characterization of his advice on Tuesday. 

Eastman said that Pence asked him during a meeting with Trump on January 4, 2020, if the vice president had the power to reject electoral votes. Eastman responded and said it was an open question that has never been resolved, but even if Pence had the power, it would be “foolish” to exercise it. Eastman advised Pence to consider having merely a brief delay in certification in order to allow the state legislatures to investigate whether there was illegal activity that affected the election.

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Attorney for Parents in Covenant School Killer Records Lawsuit Claims Release of Manifesto Will Lead to Suicides

M.D. Kittle

A three-judge appeals court panel on Monday heard oral arguments in a First Amendment lawsuit seeking the release of the manifesto and related writings of the Covenant School killer.

The judges will determine whether a lower court erred in allowing Nashville’s Covenant Presbyterian Church, its elementary school and parents of students there to intervene in the lawsuit, brought by the parent company of The Tennessee Star, the Tennessee Firearms Association, The Tennessean, and others.

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Runaway Inflation ‘Unlikely’ to be Reeled in Under Biden Administration, Experts Say

Admin

by Will Kessler   As long as President Joe Biden continues his high government spending policies, inflation is not likely to return to previously normal levels without seeing economic repercussions, according to experts who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation. The last time the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of inflation, was below 3 percent year-over-year was in March 2021, two months after Biden took office, with the CPI last measuring at 3.7 percent for September, despite the Federal Reserve’s inflation target being just 2 percent, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. To return to the Fed’s target, which was common in the decade preceding Biden without difficulty or economic repercussions, the president would have to give up his high-spending policies that have been a signature of his economic policy, according to experts who spoke to the DCNF. “It is possible that inflation returns to 2 percent, but poor fiscal policy can make it much harder and more unlikely,” Jai Kedia, a research fellow in the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute, told the DCNF. “There’s an economic theory called the ‘fiscal theory of the price level’ and it suggests that a stable economy requires…

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Federal Judge Won’t Hire Clerks Who Signed Letters Defending Hamas

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A federal judge recently announced he would not hire law clerks who signed letters defending the actions of Hamas.

In response to a letter released by student groups at Harvard blaming Israel for Hamas’ attacks, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Matthew Solomson (pictured above) wrote in an October 11 LinkedIn post that he would “refuse to credential anyone who supports or even remotely sympathizes with terror in the form of a modern day pogrom.” Student groups at universities across the country, including Columbia University, Yale University and George Washington University, released statements and held protests in support of Palestine.

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First Georgia Election Trial Unlikely to Finish Before State’s Republican Primary

Tom Pappert

The first trial of those indicted in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and his allies will begin on October 23, and Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee said Monday he will instruct jurors to expect a five month trial.

If McAfee’s estimate is accurate, the case against pro-Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell is likely to be ongoing when Georgia Republicans cast primary votes for their preferred Republican candidates on March 12, 2024. This means the trial could conclude as late as March 25.

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Ohio Business Group Energized by Planned Hydrogen Hub

The Center Square

A nearly $1 billion federal investment of taxpayer dollars in the Appalachian region has business leaders in Ohio excited about the potential for clean energy.

The Appalachian Hydrogen Hub, part of a larger $7 billion announcement late last week from the Biden administration, plans Ohio nodes in Ashtabula, Canton and Hopedale, all linked to nodes in West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

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Senate Republican Conference Chair Endorses Kari Lake, Predicts She ‘Will Shine Brightly for Arizona’

Tom Pappert

Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake received a key endorsement on Monday from Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), the chair of the Senate Republican Conference, after officially announcing her candidacy for the U.S. Senate last week. In a statement to The Arizona Sun Times, Lake said she looks forward to working with Barrasso and other Senate Republicans with whom she shares priorities.

Barrasso said “Kari Lake will shine brightly for Arizona,” according to a statement obtained by German-owned Politico. Barrasso called lake “a generational communicator who is giving voice to Arizona citizens,” and said she “is in this race to make Arizona and America stronger.”

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Back Off: Goochland CA Caudill Tells The Virginia Star He Won’t Kiss Sheriff’s Ring

Neil W. McCabe

The Republican Goochland County commonwealth’s attorney running for another four-year term told The Virginia Star his feud with Sheriff Steven N. Creasey has political significance but has not hindered his ability to prosecute crimes in the county.

The trouble started in the 2019 election, said D. Michael Caudill, who faces Creasey’s endorsed candidate, attorney John Lumpkins, in the general election.

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Two Grand Jurors Behind Georgia Trump Indictment Agree to Interviews with Defense Attorneys

Tom Pappert

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee confirmed on Monday that two of the Georgians who served on the special grand jury which recommended charges against former President Donald Trump and those who helped him contest the 2020 election in Georgia will be interviewed by the defense teams of pro-Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell.

McAfee said attorneys for Chesebro and Powell will interview two grand jurors who “expressed interest” in being interviewed, and clarified they “would be on the record,” for the interview. However, he added that it will not be a public proceeding. The interviews will be held on October 20, the same day jury selection will begin for the case.

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Commentary: If the Elections Were Held Today, Trump Would Defeat Biden – and Democrats Can’t Stand It

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Few outside some bitter Republican circles are still arguing that Donald Trump can’t win the 2024 election. What was conventional wisdom a few months ago has fallen to pieces. Trump has already won the primary, not that Republicans have any reason to regret it: he is outperforming Joe Biden in the polls, despite being indicted four times, a remarkable feat that only Trump could pull off. Notably, Trump ran far behind Biden in 2020, when Trump barely “lost,” something that enraged many liberals at the time.

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Home Sales Decline to 2008 Levels as Record Mortgage Rates Take Their Toll

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Neighborhood street

The U.S. real estate market is on track to sell the least number of homes since 2008, when Americans were engulfed in the subprime mortgage crisis and the Great Recession, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The number of total existing-home sales is projected to reach only 4.1 million by the end of 2023, the lowest since around 2008, when the world was embroiled in a global financial crisis, despite a higher U.S. population, according to the WSJ. Mortgage rates are currently at their highest point since the year 2000, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 7.57 percent, bringing purchasing demands for housing to a three-decade low, according to Freddie Mac.

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Donald Trump Takes a Commanding Lead in Third-Quarter Fundraising for 2024 Presidential Candidates

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Third-quarter fundraising numbers released Sunday provide a glimpse into the strengths of the 2024 Republican presidential campaigns as the primary season is fast approaching.

Former President Donald Trump out-raised the entire GOP primary field, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and conservative businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) third-quarter filings. Trump also enters the year’s final fundraising quarter with the most cash on hand, with South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott next in line, followed by DeSantis and Haley.

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Commentary: Troubling Ballot Chicanery in Virginia Elections Requires Immediate Action

Admin

In a chilling reminder that the integrity of our voting process is under constant attack, there is a serious violation of electoral law under way right now in the Elections Office of Fairfax County, Virginia. The Fairfax County Registrar, Eric Spicer, has allowed a candidate for school board to appear on the ballot although she failed to submit proper petitions with sufficient signatures.  Immediate action is required by the county Electoral Board to disqualify her.

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