Commentary: Donald Trump, American Dissident

President Donald J. Trump prepares to sign a plaque placed along the border wall Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, at the Texas-Mexico border near Alamo, Texas.

Donald Trump has had an unusually long and dramatic tenure at the center of American politics. The reason is simple: Trump has an indomitable personality and an abiding refusal to kowtow to the establishment’s sacred cows. From the moment he entered the arena, he continuously provoked the ruling powers into a hysterical frenzy of breathless rage. Indeed, it’s hard to think of another American political figure who has caused more chaos, or faced more concerted and unscrupulous opposition.

Only days ago, Trump sent his enemies up a wall with a blistering statement calling for an immediate end to the war in Ukraine, which he dared to call a “proxy battle,” and not the moral crusade for “democracy” that busybodies in both parties in Washington have described ad nauseam. America’s most dangerous foes are not in Russia, Trump said, but right here at home. Patriotic Americans are under siege by corrupt, “godless” tyrants who want to flood their neighborhoods with foreigners, force “Marxist” ideology on them and their children, and let politically protected criminals run amok, Trump said.

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Biden White House Facilitated DOJ’s Criminal Probe Against Trump, Scuttled Privilege Claims: Memos

Long before it professed no prior knowledge of the raid on Donald Trump’s estate, the Biden White House worked directly with the Justice Department and National Archives to instigate the criminal probe into alleged mishandling of documents, allowing the FBI to review evidence retrieved from Mar-o-Lago this spring and eliminating the 45th president’s claims to executive privilege, according to contemporaneous government documents reviewed by Just the News.

The memos show then-White House Deputy Counsel Jonathan Su was engaged in conversations with the FBI, DOJ and National Archives as early as April, shortly after 15 boxes of classified and other materials were voluntarily returned to the federal historical agency from Trump’s Florida home.

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Court Temporarily Pauses Order Requiring Graham to Testify About 2020 Election in Georgia

Afederal appeals court temporarily paused an order Sunday that required Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to testify in front of an Atlanta-area grand jury about attempts to illegally influence Georgia’s 2020 election results.

The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals instructed the district court judge to consider whether the Fulton County grand jury subpoena of Graham should be modified to follow the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, CNN reported.

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Old Case Over Audio Tapes in Bill Clinton’s Sock Drawer Could Impact Mar-a-Lago Search Dispute

When it comes to the National Archives, history has a funny way of repeating itself. And legal experts say a decade-old case over audio tapes that Bill Clinton once kept in his sock drawer may have significant impact over the FBI search of Melania Trump’s closet and Donald Trump’s personal office.

The case in question is titled Judicial Watch v. National Archives and Records Administration and it involved an effort by the conservative watchdog to compel the Archives to forcibly seize hours of audio recordings that Clinton made during his presidency with historian Taylor Branch.

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Commentary: The FBI Is Now the ‘Federal Bureau of Intimidation’

Nothing symbolizes the decline of the American republic better than the weaponization of justice that we saw last week when the FBI raided the home of former President Trump.

And nothing better represents the divide that now exists between Democrats and Republicans than the fact that some people still have faith in the FBI.

Aren’t they paying attention? Heck, that’s like a citizen of the old Soviet Union saying they had faith in the KGB – yeah, to crush dissent and lock up opponents of the regime in a Siberian gulag.

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MSNBC Contributor, Ex-Spy Chief Hint Trump Deserves Execution over Classified Records Dispute

Amid published reports that former President Trump is improperly holding classified papers, including nuclear documents, at his Florida compound, MSNBC contributor Michael Beschloss and former CIA Director Michael Hayden are intimating via social media that Trump should be executed.

The Washington Post has reported that the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound on Monday in order to retrieve “nuclear documents” they believed were improperly stored there.

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Shock: Trump, Hagerty Salute, Mourn Shinzo Abe After Gunman Strikes Down Former Japanese Premier

President Donald J. Trump and his ambassador to Japan, and now GOP senator for Tennessee, expressed shock and sadness today at the death of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, killed by a gunman while campaigning Friday in Nara, Japan.

“The world today tragically lost a leading statesman, a tireless champion of democratic values, and the greatest Prime Minister in modern Japanese history, my friend Shinzo Abe,” said Sen. William F. Hagerty IV, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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Shock: Trump, Hagerty Salute, Mourn Shinzo Abe After Gunman Strikes Down Former Japanese Premier

President Donald J. Trump and his ambassador to Japan, and now GOP senator for Tennessee, expressed shock and sadness today at the death of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, killed by a gunman while campaigning Friday in Nara, Japan.

“The world today tragically lost a leading statesman, a tireless champion of democratic values, and the greatest Prime Minister in modern Japanese history, my friend Shinzo Abe,” said Sen. William F. Hagerty IV, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

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White House Co-Worker: ‘Phony’ J6 Witness Cassidy Hutchinson ‘Did This to Basically Get Famous’

In an exclusive interview with The Star News Network, a fellow White House staffer who worked together with the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack’s star witness Cassidy Hutchinson shortly after the former Trump aide testified June 28 before the panel hand-selected by California Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“She’s a total phony and a social climber, and she did this to basically get famous,” said Joanna Miller, who now works for Save America, a political action committee founded by President Donald J. Trump to support election integrity.

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The Star News Network-Kaplan Poll: Kemp Leads Trump-Endorsed Perdue by 30 Points

Gov. Brian P. Kemp is leading former senator David A. Perdue Jr. with 57 percent of support compared to 27 percent for his challenger, endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump, according to The Star News Network-Kaplan Strategies poll of 431 likely Georgia Republican primary voters, conducted May 7 through May 13.

“Kemp’s strength this close to the May 24 primary is stunning, and it is nearly certain he will win the Republican nomination,” said Doug Kaplan, the founder and president of the Florida-based firm that executed the poll. The poll carries a 4.7 percent margin of error.

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The Star News Network-Kaplan Strategies Poll: Trump-Endorsed Hice v. Raffensperger a Dead Heat

Georgia Secretary of State Bradford J. Raffensperger and his main challenger Rep. Jody B. Hice, who is endorsed by President Donald J. Trump, are locked into a statistical tie at 26 percent going into the May 24 primary, according to The Star News Network-Kaplan Strategies poll executed May 7 through May 13 of 431 likely Georgia Republican voters.

“It is significant that Raffensperger is far from the 50 percent bar, and he has not been able to shake off Hice’s insurgent campaign,” said Doug Kaplan, the founder and president of Kaplan Strategies, the Florida-based firm that conducted the poll. The poll carries a margin of error is 4.7 percent.

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Trump Headlines ‘Rigged’ Documentary’s Mar-a-Lago Premiere

Donald Trump under oath

President Donald J. Trump took center stage at Tuesday’s premiere of the Citizens United-produced film “Rigged: The Zuckerberg-Funded Plot to Defeat Donald Trump’ at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort here.

“Thank you very much, everyone. I appreciate it, and I really look forward. I saw the trailer, and it was really good. I said that: ‘David, this is very important because we have to have free and fair elections, and we have to have borders, or we don’t have a country.’”

Trump told the crowd, like them, he was eager to see the Citizens United documentary himself.

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Retired Navy SEAL Chief Gallagher Backs Targeted Colorado Paramedic’s Fight for Justice

The retired Navy SEAL chief petter officer pardoned by President Donald J. Trump and founder of The Pipe Hitter Foundation told The Star News Network he and the foundation support former Summit County, Colorado, paramedic Keith Hogan.

“Keith Hogan didn’t deserve to lose his career,” said retired Chief Petty Officer Eddie Gallagher, acquitted at court-martial of a murder charge but was still targeted by Navy leaders until his pardon from Trump.

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Exclusive: John Solomon Reflects on Blockbuster Trump Interview

The editor-in-chief of Just the News told The Star News Network he was struck by President Donald J. Trump’s focus and sense of history in the balance during his recent interview with the president at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Florida, resort.

“I’ve had the chance to interview President Trump several times. This was the time it’s the most I’ve seen him feel a sense of urgency and express a sense of urgency,” said John Solomon, who also hosts a weekday program on Real America’s Voice. “He basically said early on in the interview: ‘Hey, we’re headed towards communism, socialism. The country we know is about to slide away from this, and I want to stop it.’”

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Trump, Perdue Back Buckhead City’s Escape from Atlanta

The man running to unseat Georgia Gov. Brian P. Kemp in the May 24 Republican primary told The Georgia Star News and The Star News Network that Kemp failed Georgians out in many ways, and one of them was when Kemp refused to back the separation of Buckhead City from Atlanta.

“Look, this is a governor that has sold us out,” said former senator David A. Perdue Jr., the man President Donald J. Trump endorsed to defeat Kemp.

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Bainbridge: Jane Timken Committed a ‘Serious Breach of Ethics’ Handling Ohio GOP’s Failed Audit

Jane Timken For U.S. Senate

A dislodged member of the Ohio Republican Party Central Committee’s Financial Review panel told The Ohio Star and The Star News Network the former chairwoman of the state party and now a candidate for Senate, Jane E. Timken, violated professional ethics when she concealed that her family’s accounting firm was chosen to audit the Ohio GOP books.

“Jane Timken had a fiduciary responsibility to disclose her conflict of interest related to her personal relationship with the CLA accounting firm,” said Mark A. Bainbridge, who was removed from the Financial Review Committee by Timken’s successor Robert A. Paduchik after the certified public accountant asked about up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in unaccountable funds.

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Trump Suing Hillary Clinton, DNC over ‘Russia Collusion’ Narrative

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday sued former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and several other Democrats on the grounds that they attempted to rig the 2016 presidential election by creating a false narrative that tied his campaign to Russia.

“President Trump is going on offense. He’s naming names,” Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington told “Just the News – Not Noise” hours after the lawsuit was first announced.

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Strongsville GOP Leader: Why We Are Backing ‘Reliable Conservative’ Josh Mandel for Senate

The leader of the Strongsville GOP, Ohio’s largest grassroots Republican organization, told The Ohio Star why he, and his group, are backing former state treasurer Joshua A. Mandel in the fight for the Republican Senate nomination. “We had our endorsement meeting last month, and we had more than 150 members in attendance, and overwhelmingly we voted to endorse Josh Mandel,” said Shannon Burns, the president of the Strongsville GOP and a member of the Ohio Republican Party’s Central Committee. “There’s one clear reason why our members endorsed Josh Mandel,” Burns said. “He is the one truly reliable conservative in the race.” Burns said his members trust Mandel because he is a known quantity. He said other candidates had had both positive and negative views of President Donald J. Trump. “There are some good people in the race, but quite frankly, you just don’t know where they’re going to be — five minutes ago, they were anti-Trump, or five minutes ago, they were doing deals with China, but now they’re America First,” he said. “Josh has been a true — not just a reliable vote, but a reliable fighter and champion for conservative causes, since he was a councilman in Lyndhurst…

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Hagerty Does Not Sign Ernst-Romney Letter Demanding Biden Help Ukrainians Secure Their Airspace, Effect Polish MiG-29 Swap to Ukraine

The Tennessee Republican senator, who served as President Donald J. Trump’s ambassador to Japan, stands out as one of six GOP senators who did not sign the March 10 letter drafted by Iowa’s Sen. Joni K. Ernst and Utah’s Sen. W. Mitt Romney demanded President Joseph R. Biden Jr. give the Ukrainians the equipment they need to secure their own airspace in support of that country, invaded on Feb. 24 by Russia.

The Star News Network reached out to Sen. William F. Hagerty IV, but his staff did not respond to inquiries before deadline.

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As New Poll Shows Him Leading Pack, Ohio Senate Hopeful Mike Gibbons Tells The Ohio Star: ‘I Am Tea Party at My Roots’

Ohio Rep. Mike Gibbons

Cleveland investment banker Mike Gibbons, who shot from virtual unknown to frontrunner when The Hill-Emerson College poll of 410 Republican voters, conducted February 25 and February 26, put the banker in the lead, told The Ohio Star his political program is more Tea Party than Republican Party. “I’ve got Tea Party at my roots, in my core,” said Gibbons, the Ohio finance chairman for Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. “I believe we need to take this country back to the American values that made it great. We have a Left that wants to destroy it.” Gibbons said the Ohio Republican Party’s establishment was not ready to hear that from him. “When I first went to the first central committee meeting I ever went to, I had a screening committee,” he said. “I walked in, and they said: ‘Mike, we’ve seen you giving a lot of money to Republican candidates over the years.’ I said: ‘I said, “Yeah, they closely reflected my ideology, and I look for people that believe what I believe.”’” Gibbons said there was an uneasiness already present in the room. “They said: ‘Well,’ and I said: ‘But if I have to tell you the truth, I’m…

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Exclusive: Nigel Farage on Trump, DeSantis and Ukraine

Nigel Farage

ORLANDO, Florida –The father of Brexit and the U.K. Independence Party told The Star News Network  in an exclusive interview he believes his friend President Donald J. Trump is ready to make another run for the White House and that Florida Republican Governor Ronald D. DeSantis does not connect with regular voters. “I think he wants to go again. I genuinely do. And that’ll, of course, depend on the party, but I think if Trump wants the nomination, it’s his,” said Nigel P. Farage, who is now a top-rated talk show host on the United Kingdom-based GBN. Farage said the one complication is Trump’s relationship with DeSantis and whether the Florida governor runs against Trump in the 2024 primaries. “I do think that it’s important for the Republican party, that the relationship between him and DeSantis is a good, strong, healthy relationship,” said the Dulwich College. “If this finishes that up in a terrible rivalry between the two, it won’t hurt the cause,” he said. “Although, I could say this, couldn’t I? At least there were two outstanding people in the Republican party. How many do the Democrats have?” The talk show host said he is sure Trump and DeSantis…

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Trump Wows CPAC Crowd: Torches ‘Weak’ Biden, Calls Ukraine Crisis ‘An Assault on Humanity,’ Decries Crackdown of ‘Peacefully Protesting’ Canadian Truckers

ORLANDO, Florida – President Donald J. Trump was in full-fighting form, less than two years before the 2024 Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary as he whipped up a packed-out crowd into a frenzy at the 2022 Conservative Political Action Conference.

“The socialists, globalists, Marxists, and communists who are attacking our civilization have no idea of the sleeping giant they have awoken,” said the 45th president to the more than 5,000 conservatives at 95,000-square foot Gatlin Ballroom in Orlando’s Rosen Shingle Creek resort.

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Scott Presler Brings #ThePersistence to His Ohio Tour Supporting Jim Renacci for Governor

The conservative activist whose tagline is “Make Kindness Great Again” is bringing his #ThePersistence vibe to his tour of Ohio in support of Republican James B. “Jim” Renacci’s gubernatorial campaign.

“Well, I’m not on a bus tour, but I am in a rental vehicle traveling this state of Ohio, and I’m driving myself. I’m not living a fancy life with a chauffeur,” said Scott Presler, who worked as a dog walker and also for a Northern Virginia school system before he dedicated himself to electing Donald J. Trump president in 2016. “I take care of my own business, but I started in Medina, Ohio, doing a Super Bowl, anti-Woke party with Jim Renacci running for governor.”

Presler said he is traveling all over the state to get the word out before the May 3 primary, when Renacci faces Gov. R. Michael DeWine.

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Green Beret, Washington U.S. House Hopeful Joe Kent: ‘We’re in the Forefront of the Republican Civil War’

The Special Forces warrant officer running to unseat renegade Washington Republican Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler in the 3rd Congressional District’s August 2 top-two jungle primary told The Star News Network he is fighting both Beutler and the Republican establishment in an exclusive interview Wednesday.

“I think we’re in the forefront of the Republican civil war because I’m going after an impeachment voter, so we’ve seen the I’d say GOP establishment try to quietly support Jamie Herrera Beutler along with four of the other impeachment voters,” said Joe Kent, who is a combat veteran of more than 20 years of Army service, including 11 deployments, mainly to Iraq.

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State Chair Paduchik Denies The Ohio Star Credentials to Cover Friday’s Ohio GOP Central Committee Meeting

The chairman of the Ohio Republican Party denied press credentials to The Ohio Star and its national political editor Neil W. McCabe for Friday’s Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee meeting at Lewis Center’s Nationwide Conference Center.

“I sent your request to Chairman Paduchik, and he asked me to send you this response on the record: ‘Your request for credentials to attend the meeting as a journalist have been denied because The Ohio Star is fake news and you’re not a journalist,’” said Daniel J. Lusheck, the 30-year-old party spokesman and Marine Reserve veteran.

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Trump Blasts Pence’s Claims About January 6: Vice Presidency Not an ‘Automatic Conveyor Belt for Old Crow Mitch McConnell to Get Biden Elected President’

Former President Donald Trump released a blistering attack Friday afternoon on former Vice President Mike Pence’s claims earlier in the day about the January 6, 2021 Joint Session of Congress over which Pence presided at which Electoral College votes submitted by the states were counted.

In a speech before the Florida Chapter of the Federalist Society in Orlando on Friday, Pence asserted, “There are those in our party who believe that as the presiding officer over the joint session of Congress, I possessed unilateral authority to reject Electoral College votes. And I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to ‘overturn the election.’ President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election.” (emphasis added)

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Bannon: Mike Pence ‘Stone-Cold Coward’ for Mischaracterizing Trump January 6 Ask to Let The States Decide for Themselves on Legitimacy of Electoral College Votes

The former chief of staff to President Donald Trump blasted former Vice President Mike Pence, who said earlier this week that he “had no right to overturn the election” that Trump says was fraudulent. 

Steve Bannon explained that though Pence himself did not have the right to overturn the election – and that Trump never said he had that right – Pence had the ability to let the states decide for themselves. 

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Schweizer: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Other Wall Street Leaders Partner with Chinese Coal, Military Enterprises

The investigative journalist and author of Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win told The Star News Network the titans of capitalism on Wall Street are now the partners of the Chinese Communist Party.

“What China wants from Wall Street is access to Western capital with no questions asked, and unfortunately the biggest fans on Wall Street are prepared to give it to them,” said Peter Schweizer, who is the president and founder of the Government Accountability Institute and the host of The Drill Down podcast.

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Gibbons’ Ohio Senate Campaign Airs Rand Paul Endorsement in $2 Million Ad Buy

  The Ohio investment banker endorsed Monday by Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul in his campaign for U.S. Senate just launched a new commercial with Paul in a $2 million ad buy across the state. In the ad, which is part of a $10 million ad push, the senator said that he believes that Mike Gibbons will be an ally in the fight against President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony S. Fauci. “I’ve stood strong against the mandates of Dr. Fauci, but I need help. That’s why I’m endorsing Mike Gibbons for Senate,” the senator said. “I’m Rand Paul. I know Mike Gibbons will join me in demanding that Fauci is immediately fired and removed from office. Mike’s a tough businessman, not a politician. Mike Gibbons has the courage to stand with me to defeat the Washington machine.” A conservative operative familiar with the Gibbons campaign and its strategy told The Star News Network, while President Donald J. Trump hasn’t gotten involved in Ohio’s GOP Senate primary, Gibbons scored the next best thing. “What makes this such an effective ad is that Paul is the second-most popular politician in Ohio, behind President Trump,” he said. “Mike…

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Ortagus Wrote in September 2016 ‘Marie Claire’ Article Trump ‘Has Demeaning Words for Women He Doesn’t Like’

  The former spokeswoman for Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, who President Donald J. Trump endorsed for her possible run for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, co-wrote  a September 7, 2016 “Marie Claire” article, “In Defense of Melania Trump,” that criticized how Trump treats women and referred to Melania Trump’s nude modeling. “And good old-fashioned slut shaming is alive and well: Mrs. Trump was also subject to scrutiny for past nude modeling photos, despite that she was a reputable model,” wrote Samantha E. Vinogard and Ortagus, who was a media surrogate for one of Trump’s rivals for the GOP nomination that year, John E. “Jeb” Bush. Ortagus gave Jeb Bush’s campaign and his Right to Rise PAC $3,200 that cycle, and wrote other articles for the magazine with Vinogard, a CNN national security analyst and former Obama administration official. Vinogard is now a senior counselor for national security at the Department of Homeland Security and acting Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention. The two women also worked in the article that the future First Lady was a plagiarist: It’s true: Melania Trump has been a somewhat easy target this presidential election, between cribbing parts of her RNC speech from Michelle…

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Conservatives Stunned: Trump Endorses Ruth Bader Ginsburg Fan Ortagus for TN-5 Seat

At 8:11 p.m. East Coast time, Tuesday, President Donald J. Trump sent out an email to the millions of his supporters on his list announcing that if she decides to run he will endorse Morgan Ortagus for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District – and the conservative backlash was quick and negative.

“Ortagus and Bill Gates” by Morgan Ortagus/Instagram

“I am told that very strong and impressive Morgan Ortagus is exploring a run from Congress in Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District. I couldn’t be happier because she’s an absolute warrior for America First and MAGA!” said the president, who went on to mention her work as a press secretary for then-Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and her service as a Navy Reserve officer.

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Shock Poll: 73 Percent of Renacci’s GOP Supporters Think 2020 Election Stolen From Trump, Only 39 Percent of DeWine’s GOP Supporters

President Donald J. Trump’s one-time campaign manager, now advising James B. “Jim” Renacci’s gubernatorial campaign, touted a new internal poll in an exclusive interview with The Ohio Star that found the former congressman is leading Gov. R. Michael “Mike” DeWine in the race for the Republican nomination to be decided in the May 3 primary.

Trump is playing a major role in Republican voter preferences for the 2022 campaign, said Brad Parscale, who tracks Renacci’s messaging and other facets of the campaign, in an exclusive interview about the poll.

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The Ohio Star Podcast Kicks Off the First Episode with Roger Stone on DeSantis v. Trump, Ohio Political Strategist Matt Palumbo, and Reporter Peter D’Abrosca

The Star News Network launched its first episode of The Ohio Star Podcast Thursday, hosted by TSSN’s National Political Editor Neil W. McCabe, as part of its expanding coverage of the Buckeye State.

“The truth is we have great Ohio reporters breaking news and covering stories the mainstream outlets ignore,” said McCabe. “This new podcast is a way to bring our world-class content to a new audience through this powerful medium.”

McCabe said the first episode has three compelling guests.

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Trump White House Alums Launch Jefferson Society PAC to Back America First House Candidates

Veterans of President Donald J. Trump’s White House and their supporters gathered Tuesday to launch The Jefferson Society political action committee at Washington’s Capitol Hill Club, a PAC dedicated to backing House candidates aligned with their once-and-future boss’s agenda.

One of the new political action committee organizers told The Star News Network the Jefferson Society was born from the lessons learned from the White House Personnel Office, especially the last year of the Trump administration when John D. McEntee II led that office.

The organizer said that the right personnel is vital to getting the right policy, which was confirmed in the Trump administration and is true in the House of Representatives.

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Trump Salutes Maricopa County Audit, Atty. Gen. Brnovich, Teases AT&T Boycott at 45K-Strong Arizona Rally

President Donald J. Trump gave his full support to Arizona conservatives, who are still investigating the handling of the 2020 presidential election, and he expressed confidence that state Attorney General Mark Brnovich would take action on the findings of the Maricopa County audit and other investigations Saturday at his Canyon Moon Ranch rally in Florence, Arizona.

The president said he was counting on state Attorney General Mark Brnovich to investigate how the 2020 presidential election was handled in Arizona.

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Norquist: Perdue’s Promise to End Georgia’s Income Tax Part of Trend in Red States

  WASHINGTON, D.C.-The founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) praised David A Perdue Jr.‘s pledge to eliminate the state’s income tax in an exclusive interview with The Georgia Star. “His coming out and saying: ‘Let’s phase down to zero,’ is helpful because we’re seeing this in other states,” said Grover Norquist, who started ATR in 1985 at the personal request of President Ronald W. Reagan. “Where either the preferred candidate or the incumbent candidate says: ‘I’m going to take this out,’ or somebody else does,” he said. “In fact, I did not know Perdue was introducing himself with that issue, but that is a huge advantage because he’s not relitigating 2020,” said the Massachusetts native. “He’s looking forward–phasing out the income tax is a forward-looking thing.” “I would project that all red states will, over the next five years, have Republican governors who will say it is our goal to get to zero,” he said. “Doesn’t mean tomorrow, but our goal is to get to zero, which means every year there’s a budget.” When Perdue announced his challenge to Gov. Brian P. Kemp this month for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in the May 24 primary, the former…

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Commentary: Nancy Pelosi Is Collecting the Phone Records of the Conservative Movement

Yesterday, former Rep. Mark Meadows was held in contempt by the same House he once served in before his appointment as former President Donald J. Trump’s last chief of staff. Meadows had been complying with Nancy Pelosi’s appointed select committee tasked with looking into January 6 until it went too far. 

Meadows is now suing Pelosi and the select committee.

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Senior Consultant to Gibbons’ Ohio Senate Campaign Mike Biondo: ‘We’re in a Very Good Position in This Race’

In an exclusive interview, the general consultant for Mike Gibbons’ campaign for the Ohio Republican Senate nomination explained to The Ohio Star the investment banker’s path to victory.

“If you take a look at any of the polls that have been released by any of the candidates, the one constant is Mike Gibbons has consistently been moving up,” said Michael G. Biondo, a partner in Ascent Strategic, who has held senior positions in national political campaigns, including serving as national senior advisor to Donald J. Trump’s 2016 campaign.

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Perdue Launches Georgia Governor Bid With Pledge to Eliminate State Income Tax, Block Stacy Abrams Control of Elections ‘Over My Dead Body’

David Perdue

The former Republican Georgia senator, who lost his January runoff election to Democratic Sen. T. Jonathan Ossoff, announced today he is challenging his friend and former ally Gov. Brian P. Kemp in the party’s May 24 primary.

“Look, I like Brian,” said David A. Perdue Jr., in a video released by his campaign.

“This isn’t personal. It’s simple,” Perdue said. “He has failed all of us and cannot win in November. Instead of protecting our elections, he caved to Abrams and cost us two Senate seats, the Senate majority, and gave Joe Biden free reign.”

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Ohio GOP Insider: All Four Major Senate Hopefuls Could Get Trump’s Endorsement

Donald Trump waving

An Ohio Republican insider who held senior positions in Donald J. Trump’s 2016 and since then been a consultant for Republican Senate and gubernatorial races told The Ohio Star each of the top four candidates running for the 2022 GOP Senate nomination has a shot at Trump’s endorsement.

“I think each of these candidates can make an argument to give an endorsement. Every one of them, all the top four,” said the insider and Ohio native.

Joshua A. Mandel

Former state treasurer and Marine Iraq veteran Joshua A. Mandel is leading in all the polls, and he has recovered from his surprise dropping of the 2018 Senate race, which was supposed to be a rematch of with Democratic Sen. Sherrod C. Brown, who beat him 51 percent to Mandel’s 45 percent, he said.

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Exclusive: GOP Governor Hopeful Renacci Tells Why He Named Pro-Life Filmmaker Joe Knopp His Running Mate

The former congressman and main challenger to Ohio Gov. R. Michael DeWine for the 2022 GOP gubernatorial nomination announced today, Joe Knopp, the producer of the pro-life film “Unplanned” agreed to be his lieutenant governor running mate.

“I picked a guy who’s going to help me get elected and help me govern,” said James B. “Jim” Renacci, who June 9 announced his own candidacy for governor.

In addition to being a producer for “Unplanned,” the 2019 true-life film about Abby Johnson’s transformation from a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic director to becoming an advocate for the unborn and a leader in the pro-life movement, Knopp also produced the 2015 film “Woodlawn” and the 2018 film “I Can Only Imagine.”

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Ohio GOP Chairman Paduchik Rebukes: Bainbridge Makes ‘Crazy Accusations’ and ’Coordinates with ‘Dark Money’-Funded Groups to ‘Destroy the Ohio Republican Party’

The chairman of the Ohio Republican Party sent a Nov. 30 open letter addressed to “Interested Parties,” denouncing State Central Committeeman Mark A. Bainbridge for his criticism of how party finances are handled.

“Quite simply, Mark is making crazy accusations of fiscal malfeasance to damage the State Central Committee,” said Robert A. Paduchik, who took over the party’s reins in February, succeeding Jane E. Timken, now a candidate for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate.

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Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell Sounds the Election Integrity Alarm Going into 2022, 2024

The chairman of the America First Policy Institute’s Center for Election Integrity (AFPI) told The Star News Network that he is watching for how elections run in 2022 and 2024 based on lessons learned from the poor handling of the 2020 presidential election.

“Look back and see that in 1918 you had the Spanish Flu, then in 1929, you had a complete economic collapse, in 1968, you had the riots, and in 1974, we had the Nixon impeachment—well, in 2020, you had all of those things happening in one year,” said J. Kenneth “Ken” Blackwell, who joined AFPI in July after a long career in public service and academia, including service as Ohio’s secretary of state and as the mayor of Cincinnati.

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BREAKING: Top Politics Reporter Neil W. McCabe Joins The Star News Network as National Political Editor

The Star News Network, the constellation of nine state-focused news sites hired veteran Washington reporter and editor Neil W. McCabe as the network’s national political editor, in its next step in the 50-state buildout.

“I met Neil when he was at Breitbart News covering Capitol Hill and the two of us ran the Breitbart-Gravis polling project during the 2016 presidential election,” said The Star News Network’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy.

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Report: Trump to Attend Masters Fundraiser, Joins Arizona GOP Senate Primary Fight

President Donald J. Trump is expected to attend a November 10 fundraiser for Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters at the president’s Palm Springs, Florida, Mar-A-Largo resort, according to media reports.

Trump has not made an endorsement yet in the race, but the president’s attendance at the event hosted by billionaire Peter A. Thiel is a clear sign an endorsement is in the offering.

Masters is a Thiel protégé and the chief financial officer of the Thiel Capital, the German-born PayPal co-founder’s family investing vehicle.

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GETTR CEO Jason Miller Welcomes Trump to Social Media World

Despite former President Donald J. Trump’s Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) announcing plans to become a rival of newly-launched social media site GETTR, the CEO of the latter firm welcomed Trump into the social media space.

“Congratulations to President Trump for re-entering the social media fray! Now Facebook and Twitter will lose even more market share. President Trump has always been a great deal-maker, but we just couldn’t come to terms on a deal,” Miller said in a Wednesday statement. “And get ready for the new platform features GETTR has on the way: live-streaming, GVision short videos and our GETTR Pay payments system capabilities. Exciting new additions that will provide our global customer base an even better user experience. Let the downloads begin!”

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Former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake Donates $150,000 to Foundation Run by Tyler Montague

  UPDATE: On January 28 2022, Tyler Montague informed The Star News Network that the lawsuit pertaining to illegal campaign signs, which he described as a “frivolous complaint,” was dismissed in July of 2021.  According to a new report, former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), a vehement critic of former President Donald J. Trump has provided $150,000 in seed money for a new election-centered nonprofit based in Arizona. That group is called the Public Integrity Foundation, and Flake’s six-figure donation came from his U.S. Senate campaign committee, which remains open despite the fact that he is not currently running for office. Tyler Montague is the chairman of the newly founded Public Integrity Foundation, and a friend of Flake’s. “Jeff Flake is a long time friend, and he’s also interested in one of the charter purposes of the foundation, which is to do research and education around alternative forms of voting,” Montague told Axios. The group will be studying ranked-choice voting, and though Montague says it was not founded specifically to combat battles over election integrity like the one playing out right now in Arizona, he believes what the voters want is not adequately represented by our current system of voting. “It’s…

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