Friction within the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol has spilled out into The Washington Post.

"Now, less than six weeks before the conclusion of the committee’s work, Cheney’s influence over the committee’s final report has rankled many current and former committee staff," the newspaper reported. "They are angered and disillusioned by Cheney’s push to focus the report primarily on former president Donald Trump, and have bristled at the committee morphing into what they have come to view as the vehicle for the outgoing Wyoming lawmaker’s political future."

In August, Cheney lost re-nomination during the GOP primary for Wyoming's lone seat in Congress, which was once held by her father.

"Fifteen former and current staffers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, expressed concerns that important findings unrelated to Trump will not become available to the American public," the newspaper reported. "The feuding brings to the fore a level of public acrimony within the Jan. 6 committee that previously had largely played out behind the scenes, as public attention was focused on a series of blockbuster public hearings focused on Trump’s role fomenting the attack."

The select committee's investigations into law enforcement failures, insurrection financing, and militia groups are expected to take a back seat to a focus on Trump.

One former committee staffer told the newspaper, "we all came from prestigious jobs, dropping what we were doing because we were told this would be an important fact-finding investigation that would inform the public. But when [the committee] became a Cheney 2024 campaign, many of us became discouraged.”

Cheney spokesman Jeremy Adler released a statement that The Post described as "blistering."

“Donald Trump is the first president in American history to attempt to overturn an election and prevent the peaceful transfer of power,” Adler said. “So, damn right Liz is ‘prioritizing’ understanding what he did and how he did it and ensuring it never happens again.”

He went on to claim, "some staff have submitted subpar material for the report that reflects long-held liberal biases about federal law enforcement, Republicans, and sociological issues outside the scope of the Select Committee’s work. She won’t sign onto any ‘narrative’ that suggests Republicans are inherently racist or smears men and women in law enforcement, or suggests every American who believes God has blessed America is a white supremacist.”

Read the full report.

MAGA activists in Arizona are planning a Black Friday protest to demand a revote after the GOP slate of four prominent election deniers was rejected by voters.

The far-right Gateway Pundit reports, "patriots in Arizona demanding a re-do of the 2022 general election have organized a protest near the Arizona Capitol this Friday at 9 a.m. and through the weekend before counties canvass the results. The protest will include a peaceful gathering and opportunities to hold signs and banners on highways across the state."

Donald Trump has also said he wants the GOP to get a mulligan and re-do the vote in Arizona after Kari Lake lost for governor, Blake Masters lost his U.S. Senate bid, Abe Hamadeh lost for attorney general, and state Sen. Mark Finchem lost for secretary of state.

Jen Fifield, who covers Arizona election for the nonprofit newsroom Votebeat, reported, "There's a call circulating on far-right channels today for a 9 a.m. Friday protest for a 'revote' at the Arizona Capitol. One commentator on Gettr is calling it an 'Arizona spring,' telling people to bring guns so that if 'FBI informants' start to shoot they can shoot back."

Finchem, the failed secretary of state candidate claimed, "only a new election can restore individual sufferage, so many were disenfranchised in Maricopa County. We MUST restore voter confidence in the process."

But as some Republicans remain fixated on the voting conspiracy theories, for the second cycle in a row, others are moving on.

Outgoing GOP Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday met with Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs, the Democrat who beat Lake.

"Today I congratulated Governor-elect Katie Hobbs on her victory in a hard-fought race and offered my full cooperation as she prepares to assume the leadership of the State of Arizona," Ducey announced. "My administration will work to make this transition as smooth and seamless as possible. Our duty is to ensure that Arizona’s 24th Governor and her team can hit the ground running and continue our state’s incredible momentum."

"All of us have waited patiently for the democratic process to play out. The people of Arizona have spoken, their votes have been counted and we respect their decision," Ducey said. "No matter who we voted for, all of us have a stake in Arizona’s success. Our future is bright and boundless. Let us never forget that as we begin this next chapter in our state’s history."

The top prosecutor in Robert Mueller's investigation of Donald Trump explained on Saturday why the new special counsel investigating Trump has significant advantages.

NYU Law Prof. Andrew Weissmann, who was Mueller's top deputy and the chief of the Criminal Fraud Section of the Department of Justice (DOJ), weighed in on the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith.

"The new special counsel, unlike Special Counsel Mueller, will be able to indict Trump as he is no longer POTUS [president of the United States] and will not have to worry about being fired from one day to the next by sitting POTUS," Weissmann explained.

"And he inherits a large amount of evidence and a team that is in place already," he noted.

"The new Special Counsel also will not have to overcome, as Special Counsel Mueller did, Trump's dangling presidential pardons to thwart cooperation with the investigation," Weissmann wrote. "Or using DOJ to stymie and misrepresent the investigation."

Weissmann, who has known the new special prosecutor for two decades, has previously said he expects Smith to move quickly.

With Nancy Pelosi's time as leader of congressional Democrats coming to an end, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Robin Givhan examined the Speaker's "style of power."

"In her remarks, Pelosi mused about both the majesty and the fragility of democracy, the beauty of the Capitol and all it represented, and a faith that is both sacred and secular," Givhan wrote. "Her choice of attire is far from the most significant detail on this momentous occasion, but it is remarkable. As speaker, the way Pelosi entered a room, owned a room and even exited one was a complex and precise blend of preparation, confidence and style. Some might call it politic."

Givhan is currently senior critic-at-large at The Washington Post.

"As the first female speaker, she left an indelible mark on how power is viewed and processed. Pelosi broadened the visual vocabulary of what it means to throw sharp elbows," Givhan wrote. "Fashion was no longer a third rail in a conversation about her qualifications and accomplishments because her stature could not be denied. It couldn’t be diminished by an admiring acknowledgment of a well-cut suit. Fashion was not some superficial distraction; it was testimony to her attention to detail, to her understanding of symbolism, to her awareness of just how useful aesthetics can be as a form of communication and a source of pleasure."

When Pelosi regained the speaker's gavel after the 2018 midterms, Saturday Night Live featured a skit of women in the Democratic Caucus wearing suffragette white. Givhan thought there was important symbolism in how Pelosi dressed for her speech.

"The country has seen Pelosi dressed in a white suit before. It has never been a sign of surrender. She wore a double-breasted white jacket and trousers to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in 2020. The color marked the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave many women the right to vote. It also reflected a white-hot fury at Trump’s rhetoric, his racism and his chaotic governing," Givhan wrote. "At the end of Trump’s address, as he was basking in applause from his fellow Republicans and shrugging off the silent glares from his Democratic rivals, Pelosi ripped the speech in half. That white suit was like a lightning bolt in a roiling political storm."

Women wearing suffragette white also became a theme in the public hearings by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Givhan said Pelosi's attire suggests she's not walking away from the fight, just stepping back from leadership.

"If there’s any note to take from her decision to wear a wintry white as she announced her plans to step away from leadership, it was that it didn’t mean she was giving up the fight," she wrote. "As speaker, she was a marvel of legislative skill. As a woman in power, she cut a path that was uniquely hers. Her lesson isn’t that fashion matters. It’s that it doesn’t have to be a contradiction."

Pelosi, first elected in 1987, will have served as leader of House Democrats for 20 years when the 118th Congress is sworn in this January.

Read the full column.

Former President Barack Obama warned that democracy is under attack across the globe at the "Democracy Forum" his foundation convened in New York City.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer played a clip of the "powerful remarks" Obama delivered.

"Democratic ideas are currently under assault around the world," Obama warned.

"We see a manifestation of it in the unjustified and brutal war in Ukraine, we see it in the back sliding that's taking place in what were well-established democracies," he explained. "We see it in the escalating polarization and disinformation that's so evident in recent elections, whether it's in Brazil, the Philippines, Italy, Sweden -- right here in the United States."

"And let me be clear here, the threat to democracy doesn't always run along a conservative-liberal, left-right axis," Obama continued. "This has nothing to do with traditional partisan lines or policy preferences."

"What we're seeing, what's being challenged, are the foundational principles of democracy itself," he said. "The notion that all citizens have a right to freely participate in selecting who governs them, the notion that votes will be counted and the party that gets more votes wins, that losers concede, that power is transferred peacefully, that the winners don't abuse the machinery of government to punish losers and entrench themselves and make it impossible for other parties to compete in future elections. The notion that judiciary should be independent, that nobody is above the law, and that our political debate should at least aspire to be rooted in facts and logic rather than fabrication and propaganda."

Watch below or at this link:

Barack Obama youtu.be

Federal prosecutors have obtained a conviction of a longtime GOP strategist who illegally helped a Russian businessman funnel money to Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.

"Jesse Benton, 44, was pardoned by Trump in 2020 for a different campaign finance crime, months before he was indicted again on six counts related to facilitating an illegal foreign campaign donation. He was found guilty Thursday on all six counts," The Washington Post reported. "The evidence at trial showed Benton bought a $25,000 ticket to a September 2016 Republican National Committee (RNC) event on behalf of Roman Vasilenko, a Russian naval officer turned multilevel marketer."

Vasilenko received a photo with Trump at the time, while he was running for parliament in Russia.

"Benton began his career on the GOP’s libertarian fringe as an aide to former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), whose granddaughter is Benton’s wife. He gained mainstream credibility helping Paul’s son, Rand Paul (R-KS), win a Senate seat in 2010 and was hired by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s 2014 reelection campaign," The Post reported. "But Benton resigned before that election amid an investigation into whether an Iowa state senator was bribed to support Ron Paul in the 2012 presidential race."

Sen. Paul helped achieve a pardon for Benton two days before Christmas in 2020, when Trump was a lame duck after losing to Joe Biden, The Post reported at the time.

At the same time, Trump pardoned GOP operatives Paul Manafort and Roger Stone along with Charles Kushner, the father of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday dismissed speculation about his 2024 plans, one day after Donald Trump announced a third run for president.

CBS News reports DeSantis was asked about a potential "Republican civil war" between DeSantis and Trump in the 2024 GOP nomination battle.

"People just need to chill out a little bit on some of this stuff. I mean, seriously, we just ran an election," DeSantis said.

Republicans feared Trump's announcement could harm Herschel Walker's runoff election for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, where the Republican is challenging Sen. Raphael Warnock, but DeSantis sought to keep the spotlight on the Peach State until the Dec. 6 election.

"I know around the country Florida was kind of the biggest bright spot (for Republicans). It was not so bright in many other parts of the country. It was a substandard performance, given the dynamics that are at play," DeSantis said.

Read the full report.

The trial of the Trump Organization in New York civil court on Tuesday took a fascinating twist hours before Donald Trump's major announcement at Mar-a-Lago.

"In public, disgraced Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg lost his job after getting indicted for cheating on his taxes. But in private, Weissleberg kept doing the same work and retained his seven-figure salary," The Daily Beast reported. "Testifying under oath for the first time at the company’s criminal trial on Tuesday, Weisselberg shocked the courtroom by admitting that he’s essentially kept living life as normal after everything seemed to come crashing down last year."

Also on Tuesday, it was revealed that Weisselberg's top lieutenant, Jeffrey McConney was still being paid $450,000 by the Trump Organization.

"On the stand, Weisselberg testified that he still shows up to work in Midtown Manhattan, where he personally advises Eric Trump on prospective business deals, analyzes new mortgages, leases office spaces, and oversees company cash management," The Beast reported.

Weisselberg is still making $640,000 a year and expects to receive a $500,000 bonus.

"The arrangement calls into question whether Weisselberg will be helpful to the DA’s office, which is trying to use him as a star witness to nail the Trump Organization for running its operations like a lawless zoo—paying its executives with untaxed benefits and creating a no-show job for Weisselberg’s wife," The Beast reported. "The only demotion Weisselberg appears to have actually suffered was literal, as he got bumped from Trump Tower’s executive offices on the 26th floor down to the boring 25th."

Read the full report.

One day after Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly was projected to win re-election in Arizona, Donald Trump, Jr. is spreading the idea that GOP Leader Mitch McConnell wanted Republican nominee Blake Masters to lose.

McConnell reportedly wanted to draft GOP Gov. Doug Ducey to challenge Kelly, but former President Trump put his weight behind Masters, a venture capitalist.

"Rumors are that Doug Ducey, the weak RINO Governor from Arizona, is being pushed by Old Crow Mitch McConnell to run for the U.S. Senate," Trump said in a January statement. "He will never have my endorsement or the support of MAGA nation!"

After Ducey did not run, he followed up by saying, "Smart move, Doug—there’s no room for RINOs."

"RINO" stands for "Republican in Name Only," which used to refer to moderates but is used by Trump to describe any Republican he dislikes.

On Saturday, Trump, Jr. took to his dad's microblogging site to retweet user "Cattturd2."

"The reason Mitch McConnell hasn’t said anything about the bullshit happening in Arizona is because he wants Blake Masters and Kari Lake to lose," Catturd2 alleged.

"He only cares about power, money, and he absolutely hates us," Catturd2 concluded.

On Truth Social, Trump, Jr. refers to himself as a "Meme War General."

Donald Trump, Jr. on Truth Social / Shutterstock

Donald Trump's Thursday meltdown on his Truth Social website had already made its way into court proceedings in Florida just one day later.

"Former President Donald Trump's post-election screed labeling Florida's governor 'Ron DeSanctimonious' didn't go unnoticed by Andrew Gillum or his Miami lawyers," the Tallahassee Democrat reported. "In addition to saying he helped 'fix' DeSantis' campaign after it had 'completely fallen apart,' Trump said he also got the feds to intervene 'when votes were being stolen' in Broward County."

Gillum was beaten by Ron DeSantis in the 2018 midterms.

"David Markus and Katherine Miller, who are representing Gillum on federal public corruption charges involving donations to his gubernatorial campaign, didn't fire back at insults Trump hurled at Tallahassee's former mayor," the newspaper reported. "Instead, they cited Trump's statement in a motion filed Friday in federal court saying it further supported their request for a hearing on whether the federal government selectively prosecuted Gillum because of his race."

In a series of posts imitating a Twitter thread, a feature Trump's Truth Social does not support, Trump had harsh words for DeSantis.

Trump complained that Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and New York Post had gone "all in" for DeSantis, who Trump described as "an average Republican governor with great public relations."

"I was all in for Ron, and he beat Gillum, but after the Race, when votes were being stolen by the corrupt Election process in Broward County, and Ron was going down ten thousand votes a day, along with now-Senator Rick Scott, I sent in the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys, and the ballot theft immediately ended, just prior to them running out of the votes necessary to win," Trump claimed.

Gillum's lawyers seized on Trump's social media remarks in their filing.

"Former President Trump's posts raise serious questions about how exactly Trump 'fixed' DeSantis' campaign and what Trump directed the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office to do, and whether there is any connection to the FBI's investigation and later prosecution of Gillum," Gillum's lawyers argued.

The attorneys said Trump's Truth Social post demonstrates a "prima facie case of selective prosecution (at a minimum for political purposes), because Donald Trump confirms that he took action through the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office."

According to The Washington Post, Trump's claims of sending federal agents to intervene in the election are "also almost certainly false."

Four U.S. Supreme Court justices attended the black-tie dinner gala at the first Federalist Society convention since the court overturned Roe vs. Wade in its controversial Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health decision.

Associated Press correspondent Mark Sherman reported Justices Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh were in attendance at the group’s 40th-anniversary celebration.

Sherman noted it is four-fifths of the majority of the court that overturned Roe. Controversial Justice Clarence Thomas was the fifth.

Three of the four justices in attendance were nominated by Donald Trump.

“Leonard Leo, [Federalist Society] co-chair, helped Trump vet judicial nominees. Group says it’s independent of partisan politics,” Sherman reported. “But there is close alignment with GOP priorities.”

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance wondered if the justices at the dinner had forgotten their job.

“As with so many of our institutions, the judiciary can only do its work when the public has confidence in it,” Vance noted. “Some of our judges seem to have forgotten that and that they have life tenure to serve the American people, not the political agenda of the people who put them in place.”

ALSO IN THE NEWS: Oregon counties vote ‘yes’ on secession from state: report

Federal District Court Judge Donald Middlebrooks issued harsh sanctions against multiple lawyers representing Donald Trump in a Florida lawsuit.

"A Florida judge has ordered Trump lawyers Alina Hanna, Peter Ticktin (Trump childhood classmate) and their associates to pay $50k in sanctions and fees and costs to a defendant Trump named in his unsuccessful RICO suit against Hillary Clinton," New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman reported.

"This kind of sanction is why so many Trump advisers and lawyers were distressed about his decision to file a suit against the NYAG in Florida," she added.

The 19-page ruling was also against attorneys Michael Madaio, Jamie Alan Sasson along with Habba, Madaio & Associates and The Ticktin Law Group.

Correspondent Andrew Feinberg of The Independent reported, "Judge Middlebrooks is all but saying [Alina Habba] and other lawyers who filed the ridiculous Trump vs. Clinton lawsuit should be disbarred."

The judge said the "conduct was willful, not simply negligent" and cited things Habba had said while being interviewed by Fox News personality Sean Hannity.

Adam Klasfeld of Law & Crime described the ruling as a "brutal takedown."

Donald Trump received harsh push-back from the top election official in Nevada's most populous county after the former president alleged that the county that includes Las Vegas had corrupt voting systems.

"Clark County, Nevada, has a corrupt voting system (be careful Adam [Laxalt]!), as do many places in our soon-to-be third world country," Trump alleged without evidence on his Truth Social microblogging website.

Clark County took to social media to refute the allegations, KSNV-TV reported.

"We have heard his outrageous claims, but he is obviously still misinformed about the law and our election processes that ensure the integrity of elections in Clark County," the county said in a statement posted to Twitter.

"First, we could not speed up the process even if we wanted to," Clark County explained. "Nevada state law requires us to accept and process all mail ballots received before 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, if they are postmarked on or before Election Day."

"Nevada law requires we check each signature on every mail ballot envelope, and if one does not match what is in our records, we are required by law to give that voter until 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 14, to cure their signature," the statement continued. "In addition, there are provisional ballots to process, and we will not be able to complete that task until we receive reports from the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office on Wednesday, Nov. 16. This process ensures that individuals do not vote twice in Nevada."

Rio Lacanlale of the Reno Gazette Journal reported Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria also had a press conference on the subject.

“Obviously he’s misinformed, two years later, about the law and our election processes, which ensure the integrity of elections in Clark County and the State," Gloria explained.

The press conference was recorded by Fox 5 reporter Maddie White.

Watch below or at this link.

Donald Trump is denying reports he is furious with the results of the 2022 midterm elections.

Trump spoke "exclusively" with Fox News Digital on Wednesday after receiving harsh criticism from Republicans frustrated with his role in hand-picking candidates like Dr. Mehmet Oz, who lost to Democrat John Fetterman in Pennsylvania.

"There is a fake news narrative that I was furious — it is just the opposite," Trump claimed.

"The people I endorsed did very well," he argued. "All these guys that are winning are my people."

Trump also addressed the "candidate quality" problem raised by Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell.

"I really think we had great candidates that performed very well," Trump argued. "Oz worked very hard, but there were forces against him."

Trump was also asked if he would changes his plans about his expected announcement of a 2024 comeback bid.

"We had tremendous success," Trump claimed. "Why would anything change?"

On Twitter, New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman wrote, "Comes the 'it's fake news' statement from Trump about reports of his anger, reports which aides have been trying to tamp down for several hours."

"Trump insists he's not moving his announcement timeline (which nearly all his advisers want him to do)," she reported.

Earlier, Haberman retweeted a video of Trump advisor Jason Miller on Newsmax.

"Of course, President Trump said he would be making an announcement, on November 15, next Tuesday," Miller said. "I am advising the president to hold off until after the Georgia race."

"Riley June Williams, a 23-year-old Pennsylvania woman affiliated with the extremist 'Groyper' movement, is facing eight counts in connection with the Jan. 6 attack," NBC News reported. "Williams is charged with obstructing, impeding, and interfering with law enforcement officers during civil disorder; obstructing an official proceeding; assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating, or interfering with law enforcement officers inside the Capitol building; stealing government property; and four misdemeanor charges faced by defendants who entered the Capitol."

Politico reported on how Gordan opened his arguments.

“She doesn’t look like someone who would fight through tear gas and … physically attack police standing in her way,” the prosecutor said. “Looks can be deceiving.”

“She hated former Vice President Mike Pence,” Gordon said. “She hated Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi even more.”

Williams allegedly stole a laptop from Pelosi's office.

Lori Ulrich, Williams' defense attorney, described her client as, "a girl wanting to be a somebody.”

"The case is one of the most unusual to emerge among the 900 people being prosecuted so far for their role in the mob attack on the Capitol," Politico reported. "Among the issues that will come up in trial is Williams’ intense interest in the Groypers, the name given to followers of white nationalist podcaster Nick Fuentes, a prominent purveyor of claims that the 2020 election had been stolen. Williams shared memes about her actions on Jan. 6 that indicated she was motivated by those messages, and her green T-shirt that she wore during the riot read 'I’m with Groyper.'"

The former president is allegedly planning a significant escalation in his war against reporters if he is returned to the White House, according to an unnamed source who spoke to Rolling Stone.

"Donald Trump ended his pre-midterm rally blitz in disgusting fashion, calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “an animal,” championing the death penalty, and giddily imagining the prison rape of the journalist who reported on the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade," Rolling Stone reported. "The rally on Monday wasn’t the first time Trump imagined journalists being raped in prison. He laid out the same fantasy at a rally in Texas last month, saying the reporter would give up the identity of the leaker as soon as they realize they are 'going to be the bride of another prisoner very shortly.' The audience burst out in laughter, just as they did Monday night in Ohio."

After midnight on the morning of election day, Trump said he would be "making a very big announcement" at Mar-a-Lago next Tuesday.

"This year, as Trump has privately strategized about what a second term, potentially starting in 2025, could look like, he’s begun occasionally soliciting ideas from conservative allies for how the U.S. government and Justice Department could go about turning his desires — for brutally imprisoning significant numbers of reporters — into reality," Rolling Stone reported. "Several months ago, the former president briefly asked a small gathering of his allies and at least one of his attorneys about what would have to be done to make that authoritarian, First Amendment-shredding vision a norm, according to a source who was present."

Trump reportedly cited other countries doing it as rationalization.

"The other countries here are un-free authoritarian states, the kind for which Trump has long showed admiration. North Korea does not tolerate free expression. China and Russia are well known for jailing journalists. Viktor Orban, the Trump-endorsed autocratic ruler of Hungary, has been targeting reporters, as well. Trump has repeatedly made clear he wants to reshape America into a similarly brutal, fascist state," the magazine reported. "Trump hasn’t just recently started wondering about how he might be able to jail journalists should he reclaim the White House in 2024. He was wondering about it almost immediately upon arriving there for the first time, as well. The New York Times reported in 2017 that less than a month after Trump took office, he griped to then-FBI Director James Comey about leaks to the media, and told Comey he should consider imprisoning journalists who publish classified information."

During the 2018 midterms, Trump praised Republican Greg Gianforte for assaulting journalist Ben Jacobs. At a campaign rally, Trump acted out the throwing of the reporter and said, "he's my guy" about Gianforte.

"He's a great guy, tough cookie," Trump said.

Donald Trump discussed Republicans considering 2024 presidential campaign bids during a Saturday evening campaign rally in Pennsylvania where he unveiled a new nickname for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Trump was there to stump for the GOP's 2022 bid, but kept most of the focus on himself and his rivals.

Chris Brennan of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, "Trump is now 40 minutes into his Latrobe rally and has spent far more time talking about Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Mitch McConnell (and his wife), Adam Schiff, Hunter Biden and others than he has about the guys he endorsed on Tuesday’s ballot, Mehmet Oz and Doug Mastriano."

"Trump is now 40 minutes into his Latrobe rally and has spent far more time talking about Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Mitch McConnell (and his wife), Adam Schiff, Hunter Biden and others than he has about the guys he endorsed on Tuesday’s ballot, Mehmet Oz and Doug Mastriano," he reported.

Trump then turned his attention to a poll of the competition to be the GOP 2024 nominee and had the numbers put on the big screen.

"We're winning big, big, big in the Republican Party for the nomination like nobody has ever seen before," Trump said.

"There it is, Trump at 71%, Ron DeSantimonious at 10%, Mike Pence at 7% -- oh, Mike's doing better than I thought," Trump said.

Trump is campaigning in Florida on Sunday and DeSantis is not listed as a speaker at his rally.

Trump then said that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is so unpopular with his Senate colleagues at every single senator would've voted to confirm Cruz to the Supreme Court just to get him out of the Senate.

Watch below or at this link:

Donald Trump youtu.be

Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis received a fact-check on an outlandish claim about United States history that he made at his only debate with Democratic challenger Charlie Crist.

"You have people that are teaching — and actually his running mate has said this in the past — that teaching the United States was built on stolen land," DeSantis said. "That is inappropriate for our schools; it's not true."

PolitiFact, a nonprofit operated by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, reached out to the DeSantis campaign for documentation that the statement was not true, but did not receive a response.

"We reached out to historians of Native and non-Native descent. All of them said it is well documented that the U.S. acquired Native American land through dubious treaties and, at times, forcefully confiscated ancestral territories to bolster the country's expansion," PolitiFact reported. "Sometimes the U.S. and Native American tribes struck treaties that defined boundaries and determined land sale prices and forms of compensation. Other times, tribes signed land-ceding agreements under duress."

DeSantis was not just wrong about U.S. history, but was also specifically wrong about Florida.

"Andrew Frank, a Florida State University professor who specializes in the history of the Seminoles, said the U.S. annexed much of Florida through treaties that a majority of the tribal leaders opposed," PolitiFact reported. "The U.S. military drove out more than 3,000 Seminoles from the state, according to the Florida Department of State. Around 300 members of the tribe remained in Florida."

The fact-check ranked DeSantis' claim as "Pants on Fire!"

"Historians of Native and non-Native descent said DeSantis' characterization is wrong. It's well-documented that the U.S. repeatedly made treaties with Native Americans and then violated them using force and other means to accommodate non-Native settlement. Courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have time and again affirmed that as fact," PolitiFact reported. "DeSantis' claim is wildly historically inaccurate."

Republicans are spending big to try and shore up an incumbent governor facing re-election in a reliably red state.

"Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt was supposed to cruise to re-election," Eric Cortellessa reported for Time magazine. "Yet the Republican Governors Association has just released a seven-figure ad buy to help Stitt over the finish line. And prominent Republicans like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas are rushing to his side, as party leaders fear Oklahoma might be the site of one of the biggest upsets of the midterms."

Joy Hofmeister, the superintendent of Oklahoma’s public school system, is the Democratic Party nominee after being a Republican until last year, blunting GOP messages attempting to link her to President Joe Biden.

“I was a Republican longer than Governor Stitt was registered to vote,” she told the magazine. “I’m fiscally conservative. I’m aggressively moderate. Always have been.”

Stitt has made Hofmeister's job easier.

"The tight race is largely the result of a series of missteps by Stitt, from scandals that have plagued his administration to a bitter feud with Oklahoma’s 39 American Indian tribes," the magazine reported. "Stitt also signed one of the country’s most restrictive abortions bills into law, which has drawn some pushback even in conservative Oklahoma for its banning the procedure in cases of rape, incest and when the mother’s health is at risk. And he oversaw one of America’s highest COVID death rates, with roughly 17,000 lives lost.

The magazine said Stitt loaned his campaign "roughly $1 million" in recent days.

Governor Stitt has hijacked the Republican Party,’ Hofmeister said. “He is pandering to extremism.”

Read the full report.

The Secret Service did not brief then-Vice President Mike Pence or his team about online threats uncovered before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a new CNN report.

At the Oct. 13 hearing of the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said the Secret Service was aware of threats against Pence, including one saying he would be "a dead man walking if he doesn’t do the right thing."

"CNN has learned that Pence and his team were never briefed on those threats, according to a source familiar, and only learned of them when they were made public during this month’s hearing," CNN reported. "A spokesman for the Secret Service also declined to comment on whether Pence was briefed on threats."

CNN's Jamie Gangel told anchor John Berman the news was "quite incredible."

"Pence and his team never briefed," Berman said.

CNN also reported the select committee is seeking to interview six key Secret Service witnesses.

Watch below or at this link.

Secret Service youtu.be

With the rise of political violence and a midterm battle for the U.S. Senate that could result in another 50-50 split between Democrats and Republicans, experts are calling for reform to the presidential line of succession.

At issue is the position of President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, who is third in the line of presidential succession behind the vice president and speaker of the House of Representatives.

The position comes with a budget, Capitol Police security detail, and the ability to preside over the body in the vice president's office. It has traditionally been held by the most senior senator in the majority party.

The current pro tem is Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, 82, of Vermont. Leahy was hospitalized early this month after not feeling well and had hip surgeries in June and July.

Leahy is not seeking re-election. The two senior-most senators, Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California and Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa, are both about to enter their nineties.

In a statement to The Washington Post, Feinstein says she will not seek the position.

“I’ve never thought about being the president pro tempore and I have no interest in it at this time,” Feinstein, also known as DiFi, said.

The newspaper reported, "her Republican counterpart, Sen. Charles E. Grassley, also 89, has made the opposite call. Should Iowans hand him an eighth six-year term, as is expected next month, Grassley would accept the position of president pro tem, his office confirmed to The Washington Post, and he would leave decisions about the line of succession up to others. But historians are expressing concern, particularly as political violence is on a dramatic rise, about a line of succession that runs to a senator who is particularly old and might be a less-than-optimal choice during a national crisis."

The position does not necessarily have to go to the most senior member of the majority party, from 1963 until 1978, Montana Democrat Lee Metcalf held the position of permanent acting President pro tempore of the Senate.

"Also concerning to the experts is that to an unprecedented extent, the federal government is being overseen by octogenarians," the newspaper reported. "President Biden, the oldest ever to occupy the Oval Office, turns 80 next month. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is 82, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is 80."

Grassley's age has become an issue in polls as he seeks re-election in Iowa, a state that first elected him to the legislature in 1958, but Grassley spokesman Taylor Foy noted he had held the position before.

"Nobody relishes the idea of a country losing its top three elected leaders, but Senator Grassley was and continues to be clear-eyed about the duties of the [position],” Foy said.

Read the full report.

Disgust with Donald Trump in Utah has propelled the state's bizarre Senate race into one of the most closely watched races in the 2022 midterms.

"Just weeks before the Nov. 8 vote, Utah’s senior senator, Republican Mike Lee, is now acknowledging a real reelection threat from Evan McMullin, an anti-Donald Trump independent and former Republican challenging him in the state’s most competitive Senate race in decades," the Associated Press reported Saturday. "Lee’s campaign insists it is confident heading into Election Day, but there are unmistakable signs of anxiety in a race shaping up as a referendum on the direction that Trump has taken the Republican Party."

The report came only days after McMullin made Lee's Jan. 6 role a top issue in their Senate debate.

"Lee recently sent out fundraising emails with the subject line: 'I’m losing.' In an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program, Lee begged the state’s other Republican senator, Mitt Romney, to 'get on board' and endorse him," the AP reported. "And speaking to reporters after a debate, the two-term senator said what his campaign had previously avoided saying: 'It’s close.' In reliably Republican Utah, the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has emerged as a potent issue after the House committee investigating the riot published Lee’s text messages with then-President Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows."

McMullin also got a boost on the issue on Friday from a Republican member of the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"Speaking to a standing-room-only crowd in an auditorium at the Salt Lake City Library, with more watching the conversation from an overflow room, House Jan. 6 committee member Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said 'democracy is on the line' this midterm election cycle," The Salt Lake Tribune reported Saturday. "Throughout the conversation, both Kinzinger and McMullin took jabs at Lee. Although the incumbent senator voted to certify the results of the presidential election, he has come under fire for texts sent to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, seemingly advising and assisting former President Donald Trump on his efforts to overturn the 2020 election."

Following the event, McMullin went for ice cream with his wife and kids and went viral on social media after posting a photo of a note on a napkin he received.

"Dear, Evan," the note began. " I don't want to both you with your family, but wanted you to know that your campaign makes me proud to be a Utahn. Thank you so much."

Legal experts weighed in after CNN reported one of Donald Trump’s representatives before the National Records and Archives Administration testified before the federal grand jury investigating the document the FBI recovered from Mar-a-Lago.

“Kash Patel, a top adviser to former President Donald Trump who has been deeply involved in disputes over classified records Trump kept from his presidency, appeared recently before the federal grand jury looking into the handling of documents at Mar-a-Lago,” CNN reported, citing “sources familiar with the matter.”

Patel reportedly spent hours inside the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C.

“He is one of a handful of advisers around Donald Trump after his presidency who could have legal risk related to the Mar-a-Lago situation, according to court records and the sources, though it’s unclear if he is a target of the Justice Department probe,” CNN noted. “He has claimed in media interviews he personally witnessed Trump declassifying records before he left the presidency, and has argued he should be able to release classified information.”

Legal experts said the report was a significant development in the Mar-a-Lago case, which has increasingly been referred to by the acronym MAL.

“Well we know what this is about: testing his story about the MAL docs having been declassified in some secret order. Prosecutors must have had a field day picking that story apart!” tweeted former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann.

Weissman, now a professor at NYU Law and MSNBC legal analyst, was the lead prosecutor on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

“Shows Trump is target and DOJ is heading toward indictment,” Weissmann wrote.

Former Pentagon special counsel Ryan Goodman began a Twitter thread with, “this is a big deal.”

Goodman said he expected federal prosecutors to ask, “Were you acting as an agent of, or in concert with, Donald J. Trump when you described, repeatedly, Trump’s plan to publicly disseminate the documents? You have sometimes suggested you may have had access to MAL documents, that you knew their content. Did you?”

Goodman noted, “if the answer is yes, it will get Trump into a huge new problem for dissemination of national defense info.”

“Patel is the inner, inner circle for Trump when it comes to the MAL investigation,” he noted. “Note the location of that federal grand jury: The District of Columbia. Goes to where DOJ is most likely to bring an indictment (not in Florida).”

Goodman’s thread was noted by Harvard Law’s Laurence Tribe.

“A great thread: Trump’s indictment in D.C. — note the venue — is on its way . . .” Tribe predicted.

Former DOJ spokesperson Matthew Miller also noted the location of the grand jury.

“Safe to say we can retire the notion DOJ was only interested in getting the docs back and nothing more,” Miller wrote.

The special counsel investigating the origins of the investigation into Donald Trump's ties to Russia suffered yet another loss in court on Tuesday when Igor Danchenko was found not guilty on all four counts of lying to the FBI.

"The verdict in federal court in Alexandria, Va., is another blow for special counsel John Durham, who has now lost both cases that have gone to trial as part of his nearly 3½-year investigation," The Washington Post reports. "Durham, who was asked by Attorney General William P. Barr in 2019 to review the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign in 2016, is sure to face renewed pressure to wrap up his work following the verdict."

Durham began his review in 2019 at the behest of then-Attorney General William Barr. He was appointed special counsel by Barr fifteen days before the 2020 election.

"Trump predicted Durham would uncover 'the crime of the century' inside the U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies that investigated his campaign’s links to Russia," the newspaper reported. "But so far, no one charged by the special counsel has gone to prison, and only one government employee has pleaded guilty to a criminal offense. In both trials this year, Durham argued that people deceived FBI agents, not that investigators corruptly targeted Trump."

Trump has continued to insist his Trump ties were a "hoax" despite Durham's failure to back up his claims in court.

"Durham, a longtime federal prosecutor who was U.S. attorney in Connecticut during the Trump administration, personally argued much of the government’s case against Danchenko," the newspaper reported. "The trial could be Durham’s last. A grand jury that the special counsel had been using in Alexandria is now inactive, people familiar with the matter have told The Washington Post, though the status of a similar panel in D.C. was not immediately clear."

Read the full report.

Republican Chuck Grassley has been an Iowa lawmaker since 1959, but appears to be in a tight battle for political survival as he seeks his eighth term in the U.S. Senate.

On Saturday night, the Des Moines Register released it's latest Mediacom Iowa Poll, showing Grassley only leading retired Admiral Mike Franken by three points, 46% to 43%.

The poll, conducted by pollster J. Ann Selzer, has often been called the gold standard of Iowa polling.

Selzer told the newspaper the poll "says to me that Franken is running a competent campaign and has a shot to defeat the seemingly invincible Chuck Grassley — previously perceived to be invincible."

The poll shows Democrats may have a chance to flip a seat in a largely overlooked seat.

"Election analysts for months have rated the race in Grassley’s favor, and national Democratic groups have indicated they don’t plan to spend money supporting Franken, instead focusing on states where they see greater potential for victory," the newspaper reported. "But the poll indicates weaknesses for Grassley beyond his head-to-head race with Franken. His job disapproval rating is a record high for him in the Iowa Poll. The percentage of Iowans who view him unfavorably also hit a peak. And nearly two-thirds of likely voters say the senator’s age is a concern rather than an asset."

Grassley, 89, was first elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in the 1958 midterm elections. He served eight terms in the legislature, then three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, before first being elected to the U.S. Senate when he shared the ballot with Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Nate Silver of 538 wrote, "The reason this is interesting is not because Grassley is going to lose (probably not) and not even because the Selzer poll has been accurate (though it has been) but because she's a pollster who will publish what her numbers tell her and not herd toward the conventional wisdom."

Also on Saturday, Grassley posted a video explaining how much corn farming has changed during his time as a farmer.

Watch below or at this link:

Still permanently suspended from Twitter, the former leader of the free world took to his Truth Social website on Thursday to respond after being subpoenaed by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.

At the end of Thursday's public hearing, the select committee voted 9-0 to subpoena Donald Trump.

"Why didn’t the Unselect Committee ask me to testify months ago?" Trump asked while insulting the select committee.

"Why did they wait until the very end, the final moments of their last meeting?" Trump asked.

"Because the Committee is a total 'bust' that has only served to further divide our country which, by the way, is doing very badly - a laughing stock all over the world?" Trump said.

On CNN, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) noted Congress did ask Trump to testify about Jan. 6 during his second impeachment trial. Trump declined to testify.

"This committee will demand a full accounting to every American person of the events of January 6," said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the chairman of the committee. "So it is our obligation to seek Donald Trump's testimony."

Multiple close Donald Trump associates are facing potential Justice Department criminal referrals by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, CNN reported Thursday.

The report came after the select committee voted to subpoena Donald Trump.

"And there you have it, a moment in history," CNN's Jake Tapper reported. "Nine aye votes, zero no votes. The committee has now just decided unanimously to subpoena Donald J. Trump for both testimony and documents relating to the attempt to overturn the election. It is a theatrical display in a way. they could have just announced it in a press release, but they wanted this moment recorded before everyone in history."

CNN's Jamie Gangel reported the select committee expects multiple criminal referrals.

"They do expect it to be a unanimous vote by the committee, but what we saw here today was Liz Cheney really lay out Donald Trump — and I use the word coconspirators," Gangel reported. "Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, John Eastman, Jeff Clark, Steve Bannon, Peter Navarro, and Mark Meadows, the former chief of staff who's refused to testify."

"That's what they have been leading to, but over and over again today, we heard the most important thing: all roads lead to Donald Trump," she noted. "These people were in effect, she's saying, doing his bidding."

Watch below or at this link.

J6 criminal referral youtu.be

After The Washington Post published a new bombshell on Trump's Mar-a-Lago documents, legal experts said it would be more likely that the Department of Justice would indict Donald Trump.

"A Trump employee has told federal agents about moving boxes of documents at Mar-a-Lago at the specific direction of the former president, according to people familiar with the investigation, who say the witness account — combined with security-camera footage — offers key evidence of Donald Trump’s behavior as investigators sought the return of classified material," the newspaper reported. "The witness description and footage described to The Washington Post offer the most direct account to date of Trump’s actions and instructions leading up to the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of the Florida residence and private club, in which agents were looking for evidence of potential crimes including obstruction, destruction of government records or mishandling classified information."

Legal experts quickly weighed in on the reported development.

Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti noted in a Twitter thread, during the employee's first interview, he lied to the FBI, denying handling documents. His story changed during the second interview."

"The employee is unlikely to be charged if he continues to cooperate. But his testimony suggests that Trump tried to keep documents from the DOJ, which had already served a grand jury subpoena for the documents *before* the employee was ordered to move them," Mariotti explained. "This testimony, combined with other facts (such as the false certification to the DOJ) suggests an effort to hide the documents from the federal government. This evidence is an aggravating factor that could weigh in favor of charging Trump."

Former federal prosecutor Richard Signorelli agreed.

"This increases the chance of Trump being indicted after the upcoming election unless [AG Merrick] Garland is dead set against it," Signorelli wrote.

Former Pentagon special counsel Ryan Goodman thought it could also influence a future jury.

"Astonishing level of evidence. That would convince jurors," he wrote.

Goodman noted the story said the testimony was corroborated by security footage.

Former Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said, "Between this and the testimony of Alex Cannon (to name just two recent developments) Trump's MAL goose is cooked. As I have oft said, the issue is no longer the proof, but DOJ's will."

Harvard Law's Laurence Tribe wrote, "Day by day the evidence that proves Trump personally orchestrated the theft and concealment of top secret documents becomes stronger. Any shadow of a doubt about his guilt is rapidly vanishing."

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday responded to Donald Trump's request for the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in the Mar-a-Lago documents case.

"The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to reject former President Donald Trump's bid to again empower an independent arbiter to vet classified records seized from his Florida home as part of his legal battle against investigators probing his handling of sensitive government records," Reuters reported. "Trump filed an emergency request on Oct. 4 asking the justices to lift a lower court's decision to prevent the arbiter, known as a special master, from vetting more than 100 documents marked as classified that were among the roughly 11,000 records seized by FBI agents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach on Aug. 8."

DOJ argued there were three key flaws in Trump's arguments.

Harvard Law's Laurence Tribe, who has argued three-dozen cases before the Supreme Court, was among the legal experts analyzing DOJ's filing.

"The Justice Department’s response opposing the emergency application Trump’s legal team filed in the Supreme Court, with a stopover in Justice Clarence’s chambers, is utterly devastating," Tribe tweeted. "It pulverizes all of Trump’s arguments and leaves none standing."

Attorney Luppe Luppen of the popular @nycsouthpaw account wrote, "with a new filing at SCOTUS, we get to read what the Solicitor General’s office thinks of Judge Cannon’s order appointing a special master to review the Mar-a-Lago search. Not much!"

MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin posted a thread, writing, "I've read DOJ's brief opposing Trump's emergency request for relief so you don't have to. DOJ nicely swats away the legal thrust of Trump's argument -- that the appellate court lacked pendent jurisdiction."

Rubin explained, "what interests me is whether DOJ refuted any of Trump's factual allegations with its own narrative. While it could have addressed Trump's insistence that all of the classified docs were sent to Mar-a-Lago *before* his presidency was over, it didn't. And the reason, says DOJ without raising that or any other particular 'fact' Trump offered, is that it doesn't matter. Even a purportedly declassified document can't be his personal property and can't be the subject of any attorney-client privilege. It's still a 'red herring.'"

"That doesn't mean DOJ didn't take some swipes at Trump. Swipe 1: Trump can't claim he's allowed 24/7 access to documents under the PRA because having never returned them to the National Archives, he's basically forfeited the right to invoke the Presidential Records Act," Rubin noted. "Swipe 2: Trump insists he's declassified everything in public, but he's 'never represented in any of his multiple legal filings in multiple courts that he in fact declassified any documents -- much less supported such a representation with competent evidence.'"

"Swipe 3 (in a footnote!): Trump used to yammer about executive privilege--but not recently. That's probably because it doesn't exist vis a vis other executive branch agencies -- e.g., DOJ -- but even if it did, we've proven an urgent need for the stuff," Rubin added. "And swipe 4? If he wants 'emergency' relief, he has to show he's likely to win on the merits and that he's being irreparably harmed. He didn't even try."

"So nothing especially new or sexy, but a clear, highly competent brief that feels a little like a veteran kindergarten teacher calmly correcting a naughty kid," Rubin concluded.

Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail on Saturday with a campaign rally held in Minden, Nevada where he spoke for 88 minutes.

Trump was campaigning for GOP Senate nominee Adam Laxalt, who is challenging Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, along with gubernatorial hopeful Joe Lombardo, who is taking on Gov. Steve Sisolak. Trump is also backing election denier Jim Marchant for secretary of state.

"Biden and his Left-wing handlers are turning America into a police state," Trump warned. We have a weaponized Department of Justice and F.B.I."

Trump also said the world will be destroyed if Ukraine doesn't agree to a deal with Russia.

"We must demand the immediate negotiation of a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine, or we will end up in World War III and there will be nothing left of our planet all because stupid people didn't have a clue, they didn't have a clue," Trump said. "They don't understand, they really don't understand."

Dark music played over the end of Trump's speech, as has occurred at his Sept. 3 rally in Pennsylvania, Sept. 17 rally in Ohio, Sept. 23 rally in North Carolina, and Oct. 1 rally in Michigan.

Likewise, much of the rest of Trump's speech was the standard fare he has offered at the four other rallies he has held since the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago.

On Sunday, Trump will be hosting a rally in Arizona.

Watch below or at this link:

Days after NBC's "Saturday Night Live" struggled through the season premiere of the show's 48th season, the longtime sketch comedy show was discussed in Michigan's gubernatorial election.

Democratic Party Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is being challenged by Republican Tudor Dixon, who won the GOP nomination with the endorsement of Donald Trump.

"A new Tudor Dixon ad is so cringe-worthy that we had to double check to make sure it wasn’t a parody," the Detroit Metro Times' Steve Neavling wrote Wednesday. "The video features a group of leather-clad bikers complaining about COVID-19 restrictions, rising gas prices, and abortion rights."

The story was published under the headline, "New Tudor Dixon ad could be an ‘SNL’ skit gone bad."

"The video is dubbed with emotional orchestral music, and the acting is awful," the weekly reported.

After the group complains about Whitmer, the video reaches its climax.

"Okay, okay, I’m voting for the other chick. What’s her name?” a biker asks.

The other six characters replied, "Tudor Dixon."