"Where you can find almost anything with A Click A Pick!"
Go to content
US Monthly Headline News August 2023 - Page 1
Story by Jennifer Bendery

Jeffrey Clark, a former top Justice Department official under Donald Trump, was prepared to use the Insurrection Act to stay in power despite Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election, according to Tuesday’s federal indictment of the former president.

The indictment reveals a stunning Jan. 3, 2021, exchange between Clark, who is referred to as Co-Conspirator 4, and deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin. Philbin had previously warned Clark in December that “there is no world, there is no option in which you do not leave the White House [o]n January 20th.” He made the point again on Jan. 3 in an effort to dissuade Clark from assuming the role of acting attorney general under a fraudulent Trump presidency.

Philbin warned Clark that if Trump tried to stay in office despite no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, there would be “riots in every major city in the United States.” Clark replied, “Well, [Phibin], that’s why there’s an Insurrection Act.”

Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he engaged in criminal conspiracies aimed at subverting the 2020 presidential election results and keeping himself in power. The Morning Joe panel discusses Trump's arraignment and how some Republicans are responding.
Story by Tom Boggioni

During an appearance on MSNBC on Thursday afternoon as Donald Trump heads to Washington, D.C., where he will be arraigned on new charges of multiple conspiracies to steal the 2020 presidential election, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel ridiculed supporters of the former president for coddling him like a giant "toddler."

Speaking with hosts Chris Jansing and Andrea Mitchell, the SAGT made the point that the former leader of the free world was perfectly capable of understanding that he lost the election and that his efforts to overturn it were, in fact, a criminal act.

"You know, what I find to be almost comical that I'm hearing from those who are still supporting Donald Trump is the notion that, what if he didn't really know he lost?" she began.

"I don't know, what about all of the homicide cases that I perpetually prosecute? It would be like a defendant saying, 'I shot the person and the bullets hit them, but I didn't know it was going to kill them. I didn't have that kind of familiarity with how a gun works or how bullets work,'" she sarcastically suggested.
Story by Ed Mazza

A Republican group opposed to Donald Trump is launching a new ad campaign on Fox News that’s a lot different from the right-wing network’s programming right now.

While many of the network’s hosts defend Trump amid the federal indictment over his role in events leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the spot from the Republican Accountability Project urges “consequences” for the former president.

“Trump told them to fight,” the on-screen text states as clips of Trump urging his supporters to “fight like hell” is spliced with footage of the mob doing exactly that at the Capitol.

“Trump did this. He’ll do it again,” the text states. “Unless he faces consequences.”

The organization said the video is part of a six-figure ad campaign to run on Fox News nationally as well as in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin over the next week, including on “Hannity” and “Fox & Friends.”
More than 100 protesters and supporters gathered outside the courthouse.
By Tia Humphries, Katherine Faulders, Laura Romero, Soo Rin Kim, and Sarah Beth Hensley

Police and protesters -- for and against Donald Trump -- faced off outside the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., where the former president was arraigned Thursday afternoon.

More than 100 protesters gathered outside the courthouse before Trump's 4 p.m. arraignment. They were joined by a large police presence patrolling the area.

A handful of Trump supporters carried large campaign flags that said, "Trump for President '24" and "Finish The Wall." Another held a sign that said, "Trump won."
Story by By ED WHITE, Associated Press • 48m ago

DETROIT (AP) — An appeals court on Thursday overturned the drug conviction of a Black man, saying his rights were violated by a Detroit federal judge who was upset over delays in the case and declared: “This guy looks like a criminal to me.”

“Such remarks are wholly incompatible with the fair administration of justice,” the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy III, who is white, apologized nearly two years later when the case against Leron Liggins finally was ready for trial. He explained that he was mad at the time “and I regret it.”

Nonetheless, the appeals court said Murphy should have removed himself as Liggins' attorney had requested. The court threw out a heroin distribution conviction and 10-year prison sentence and ordered a new trial with a different judge.
Story by Alex Henderson

In the past, what was once Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District in Central Florida had strong DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs. But that changed on Tuesday, August 1, when all DEI programs were abolished in what is now the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

The Associated Press (AP) reports that the District officially announced that the programs were being eliminated along with any job duties related to them. "Also axed were initiatives left over from when the District was controlled by Disney supporters, which awarded contracts based on goals of achieving racial or gender parity," AP notes.
Opinion by Eric Levitz

Donald Trump conspired to nullify a presidential election and cling to power in defiance of the U.S. Constitution. That conspiracy culminated in an attempt to coerce the vice-president into subverting Congress’s formal count of Electoral College votes with the aid of an insurrectionary mob.

This much we’ve known for well over two years. There is little disagreement about whether today’s front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination tried to subvert democratic government in the United States (even as there is some debate about whether he consciously understood himself to be attempting as much). The more contentious question has been whether Trump violated any criminal statutes in the course of assaulting the rule of law.

On Tuesday, a federal grand jury found probable cause to believe that Trump’s actions were criminal. The Justice Department’s special counsel Jack Smith successfully indicted the former president on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and one count of conspiracy to impair others’ federal rights. The most serious of these charges are punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Story by Kelly McClure

Earlier this year, Rudy Giuliani was hit with a sexual harassment suit by former staffer Noelle Dunphy, now vindicated in her claims via the release of audio transcripts indicating the extent to which they're valid. Filed Tuesday in New York Supreme Court and certified by a court reporting agency, Dunphy tips her case with documentation of conversations with Giuliani in which he makes lewd comments about her body and propositions her sexually, saying such things as, "These breasts belong to me. Nobody else can get near these, okay? I don't care if they're flirting or they give you business cards. These are mine, you got it?"
Elliot Smith

Growing political instability means the U.S. will not regain its AAA rating with Fitch for the foreseeable future, according to Elliot Hentov, head of macro policy research at State Street Global Advisors. Global stock markets fell sharply on Wednesday after ratings agency Fitch downgraded the United States’ long-term foreign currency issuer default rating from AAA to AA+, citing “expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years” and an erosion of governance in light of “repeated debt-limit political standoffs and last-minute resolutions.”
After trying to use the Justice Department to delegitimize the 2020 vote, Clark has become a rising legal star for Republicans
By Isaac Stanley-Becker

In a conference room near the Capitol, young conservatives gathered in April to learn how to run for office — how to win and wield government power. Among the keynote speakers at the summit, hosted by a group devoted to “training America’s future statesmen today,” was Jeffrey Clark, the former senior Justice Department official who in 2020 sought to use federal law enforcement power to undo then-President Donald Trump’s defeat.

Clark, who accused the Biden administration of abusing its power, “really fired up our attendees and inspired them to get more active in the political process,” recalled Aiden Buzzetti, president of the Bull Moose Project, which takes its name from Theodore Roosevelt’s split with the Republican Party in 1912. Clark was chosen to speak, Buzzetti added, because of his “very unique résumé and experience with the federal government.”

Florida Disney World District Ends All, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Programs. On August 1, diversity, equity and inclusion programs were banned from Walt Disney World's governing district. . NBC reports that the news echoes Governor Ron DeSantis's agenda, which looks to curtail such programs in higher education and elsewhere. In a statement, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District said that it would also be eliminating its diversity, equity and inclusion committee.
Story by Milla

A lecturer posted a bulletin explaining how “Christian privilege” is linked to White supremacy and systemic racism at Native American and Indigenous Studies at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).

The display was added last year
Charmayne “Charli” Champion-Shaw, a professor at IUPUI, posted the controversial display in 2022, and it stayed there until recently, reports claim.

The display aimed to educate
The bulletin board display titled “Understanding Christian Privilege” was supposed to give insight into the benefits Christians allegedly have compared to others.
Story by Al Weaver

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Wednesday criticized Justice Samuel Alito’s claim that Congress has no authority to regulate the Supreme Court, calling his comments “unwise and unwelcome” as Senate Democrats push an ethics reform package for justices. Durbin fired back at the third longest-tenured member of the court over his recent remarks to The Wall Street Journal’s opinion page, saying in a statement that Alito “is not the 101st member” of the Senate.

The No. 2-ranked Senate Democrat also noted the Court has “resisted efforts” to work on an ethics reform, pointing to Chief Justice John Roberts’s decision to decline an appearance before the panel to discuss the ethics of justices. “Now, Justice Alito is providing speculative public commentary on a bill that is still going through the legislative process. Let’s be clear: Justice Alito is not the 101st member of the United States Senate,” Durbin said. “His intervention in Article I activity is unwise and unwelcome.
Story by Hunter Walker

Special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of former President Donald Trump details a sweeping criminal conspiracy to reverse his loss in the 2020 election. Smith described a marked shift away from legitimate election challenges toward a strategy in which the President and those close to him used “knowing deceit in the targeted states to impair, obstruct, and defeat the federal government function.” And Smith identified one day as the key turning point when the plot veered from political gamesmanship into deliberate falsehoods: November 13, 2020.

Text messages obtained by Talking Points Memo — most which have not previously been made public — paint a picture of what was going on behind the scenes in the White House during the crucial period the special prosecutor has zeroed in on. In particular, they reveal that Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and former Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward were among those who played key roles in elements of the alleged conspiracy from the moment Smith said it began.
Opinion by Philip Allen Lacovara, opinion contributor • 2h ago

Congress must enact two important structural reforms to save the Supreme Court from itself. The recent collapse in the public confidence in the court impels legislative action. Justice Samuel Alito and his acolytes have joined other justices to invoke a supposed shield against any such congressional action, asserting that it would run afoul of the constitutional “separation of powers.” That argument is as dangerous as it is specious.

Various recent surveys have demonstrated that confidence in the Supreme Court is at an all-time low, even when compared with earlier periods of public dissatisfaction with particular decisions or patterns of decisions. Moreover, for the first time, a vast percentage of the American public doubts the integrity of the justices, not just the soundness of their particular decisions.

The first structural reforms would require that the justices either adopt a clear, transparent, rigorous and enforceable code of conduct or have one fashioned by Congress. That need has become apparent in light of the drumbeat of disclosures about the ethically challenged behavior of virtually every one of the sitting justices. The Senate is trying to move forward with at least a first step along these lines.
Story by By JOEY CAPPELLETTI, Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Two Michigan allies of former President Donald Trump, including a former Republican state attorney general candidate, were charged in connection with an effort to illegally access and tamper with voting machines in the state after the 2020 election, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Attorney Matthew DePerno was charged with undue possession of a voting machine and conspiracy, while Daire Rendon, a former Republican state representative, was charged with conspiracy to commit undue possession of a voting machine and false pretenses, special prosecutor D.J. Hilson announced in a news release. Both were arraigned Tuesday afternoon, according to Richard Lynch, the court administrator for Oakland County’s 6th Circuit.

Michigan is just one of at least three states where prosecutors say people breached election systems while embracing and spreading Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
Veuer

Donald Trump was recently indicted yet again, this time on 4 charges related to the January 6th insurrection and attack on our nation’s capital. One of those charges was related to the former President attempting to install uncertified electors in swing states. Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.
Story by Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY

The man who gunned down 11 worshippers at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue in 2018 − the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history − will be sentenced to death.

Robert Bowers, 50, was found guilty on 63 criminal counts in June, including 11 counts each of obstruction of free exercise of religion resulting in death and hate crimes resulting in death. A judge will formally impose the sentence later, after a federal jury made the death sentence recommendation Wednesday.

Bowers was found eligible for the death penalty July 13, when jurors decided that he intended to kill, substantial planning went into the attack and he targeted vulnerable victims.
Story by Peter Suciu

Whole books will be written about the presidency of Donald Trump, with a focus on his greatest accomplishments and failures. Likewise, one only has to look as far as social media where supporters of the former president continue to tout the low gasoline prices, low unemployment, and his efforts to build bridges between Israel and its neighbors in the Middle East. It is absolutely true that Donald Trump did have some notable accomplishments, but his critics are correct in pointing out his numerous failures as well. Some on the left consider him one of the worst U.S. presidents ever. Here is a short sample of his mistakes while in office:

Donald Trump: The Great Divider
Former President Trump never promised to be a unifier, but he arguably divided the nation more than any president since the American Civil War. It is also true that Trump may have never been given a chance, as some of his critics refused to accept him as a legitimate president from the moment he won the 2016 election.

However, Trump's crass use of social media hardly helped matters, while he also resorted to name-calling and bullying in a way not seen in modern politics. Even the most ardent support of the former president must admit they'd like to see him put down the phone and not feel the need to constantly respond to everything via social media. It is unnecessary for him to offer opinions that are outside the realm of governing – but Trump simply cannot stop being Trump.
MSNNBC

Rachel Maddow highlights parts of the second federal indictment of Donald Trump that show Trump and his acolytes accepting the likelihood of violence in the course of seizing power that Trump failed to earn in the 2020 election and willing to use military force against the American people to enforce their will.
Opinion by Brad Reed

Historian Michael Beschloss on Wednesday linked former President Donald Trump to a long line of "monsters" in American history that have threatened to upend and destroy the American system of government.

Appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Beschloss drew a direct line from the American Civil War to Trump's efforts to illegally remain in power after losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.

"From time to time, America faces threats from monsters who want to destroy our democracy," he argued. "That happened in 1861 with the Confederacy. Abraham Lincoln and northern soldiers came to our rescue and saved the union."

Beschloss also pointed to similar stresses placed on the American system of government posed by the Great Depression, World War II, and the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Story by Matthew Chapman

Many of President Donald Trump's rivals have leapt to his defense following his indictment in the federal January 6 investigation — and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) is no exception.

"I remain concerned about the weaponization of Biden’s DOJ and its immense power used against political opponents," wrote Scott on Twitter/X. "What we see today are two different tracks of justice. One for political opponents and another for the son of the current president."

Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA), a former investigator for the House January 6 Committee, was quick to call out Scott's claim as nonsense. "This is poppycock pandering to the base," wrote Riggleman. "But mostly it’s a bat signal to the once again indicted Donald Trump that he’s all in for VP. Easy to read."
Story by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement

The White House is hitting back at U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) for placing a blockade on what President Joe Biden says are now more than 300 promotions and bonuses for members of America’s Armed Forces, which require Senate confirmation. “This you?” the Biden White House asked Senator Tuberville on Tuesday, posting headlines that directly refute the Alabama Republicans’ claim on Monday that “My holds are NOT affecting national security.”

Those headlines read: “Tuberville’s hold leaves Marines leaderless for first time in 164 years,” Army, Navy Will Be Latest Services Without Chiefs as Senator Maintains Block on Confirmations,” “Tuberville’s hold stalling more than 100 Air Force, Space Force promotions,” and “There Are Too Many Generals and Admirals, a Senator Stalling Military Promotions Argues.”

Many dispute Tuberville’s claim his holding up hundreds of promotions does not affect national security or military readiness. David Rothkopf, a well-known foreign policy, national security, and political affairs expert and author, on Tuesday also responded to Tuberville’s claim his blockade isn’t affecting national security.
Story by David Covucci

Federal prosecutors indicted former President Donald Trump today for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election, charging him with conspiring to defraud the U.S., conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiring against rights. Trump fans, as has become their new playbook, have immediately gone after the judge in the trial: Tanya Chutkan.

A special prosecutor has been investigating Trump's role in the Capitol riot and the effort to deny the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to President Joe Biden. “Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to remain in power,” the indictment says, highlighting that Trump knew his claims about having won the election were false and nonetheless proceeded in his efforts to deny the will of the American people.

The indictment notes that even in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Trump continued to pressure congresspeople to overturn the election. The charges come after years-long investigations by the FBI, Congress, and a special prosecutor, all of which have tried to prove Trump engaged in a criminal conspiracy to stay in power.
Story by By MARY CLARE JALONICK, BRIAN SLODYSKO and MEG KINNARD, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal indictment of Donald Trump on Tuesday marks the first time that the former president has been formally held accountable for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. And it adds new details to what was already known about his actions, and those of his key allies, in the weeks leading up to the violent Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.

The newest charges — Trump's third criminal indictment this year — include conspiracy to defraud the United States government and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, the congressional certification of President Joe Biden's victory. It describes how Trump repeatedly told supporters and others that he had won the election, despite knowing that was false, and how he tried to persuade state officials, his own vice president and finally Congress to overturn the legitimate results.
Story by hgetahun@insider.com (Hannah Getahun)

An unindicted co-conspirator working with former President Donald Trump to pass along an alleged fake slate of electors in 2021 said that they were told their actions may "appear treasonous," according to special counsel Jack Smith's indictment released Tuesday.

The scheme, in which unnamed attorneys gathered uncertified electors from swing states to provide electoral votes with false certifications to Congress, was part of an effort to "prevent President Joe Biden from receiving the 270 electoral votes necessary to secure the presidency" on January 6, 2021, per the indictment.

As these unnamed individuals began reaching out to lawyers to help with the plan, one person, only identified as co-conspirator 5 explained to co-conspirator 1 that they were told by a state official and state provisional elector that "it could appear treasonous" for the Arizona electors they had selected to vote on December 14, 2020 — the day that legal electors were to submit their ballots — if "no pending court proceeding..." to challenge election results was filed.
Story by Isaac Stanley-Becker, Spencer Hsu

A carload of White men who attacked an interracial couple with rocks and bricks. A member of the Ku Klux Klan who built a cross, wrapped it in sheets soaked in gas and oil and instructed two others to set it ablaze in front of the home of a family of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent. A social media influencer who spread misinformation aimed at preventing people from voting.

And now, a former president of the United States. When Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday and accused of trying to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election, he found himself in the unenviable company of defendants charged under a criminal statute dating to the Reconstruction era.

The statute, Section 241 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, was originally approved as part of the Enforcement Act of 1870. It was the first in a series of measures known as the Ku Klux Klan Acts designed to protect rights codified in the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, collectively called the Reconstruction Amendments. Section 241 makes it a crime to “conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person” exercising a right protected by the Constitution or federal law.
MSN

Former President Donald Trump -- already facing two indictments -- now faces a third set of charges after a grand jury handed up a wide-ranging indictment against him, alleging he undertook a "criminal scheme" to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Prosecutors say the alleged scheme, which allegedly involved six unnamed co-conspirators, included enlisting a slate of so-called "fake electors" targeting several states, using the Justice Department to conduct "sham election crime investigations," enlisting the vice president to "alter the election results." and doubling down on false claims as the Jan. 6 riot ensued. The six alleged co-conspirators include several attorneys and a Justice Department official.
Story by Travis Gettys

Donald Trump's legal costs have ballooned so much that his allies have set up a new defense fund that allows wealthy donors to anonymously contribute massive amounts, and there are few restrictions on how much it can spend.

The "Patriot Legal Defense Fund" was created July 19 and registered with the IRS as a political nonprofit under section 527 of the tax code, and while it won't pay the former president's own legal fees, it will pay lawyers for potential witnesses in various Trump cases -- and it will face few fundraising constraints, reported The Daily Beast.

“Federal law does not establish any limits on the amount of money that individuals or corporations can contribute” to these organizations, said Brett Kappel, a campaign finance attorney at Harmon Curran.

For example, Trump's political committees cannot accept donations over certain dollar amounts or take corporate money, this legal defense fund can raise any amount from almost any source to "pay for or help defray legal expenses related to defending against legal actions arising from an individual or group’s participation in the political process," according to its IRS filing.
Story by Gideon Rubin

A Washington Post columnist on Tuesday mocked House Republicans investigating Hunter Biden after what had been promoted as” bombshell” testimony apparently fizzled. Despite House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer’s (R-Ky.) claim that, “Every day this bribery scandal becomes more credible” during an appearance on Fox News on Monday, Philip Bump wrote for The Washington Post that he was wrong. “In fact, it is no more credible now than it was in early May, when Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) first introduced it," he wrote.

"But (Fox's Sean) Hannity and Comer have a vested interest in presenting the allegation as credible and a vested interest in suggesting that closed-door testimony from one of Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s former business partners, Devon Archer, added to that credibility.” Bump contended that Archer’s testimony did nothing to back up allegations that Hunter Biden influenced Joe Biden while he served as vice president.
Opinion by David Frum

jeopardy will go away if he can win the 2024 presidential election. That’s a big mistake. A Trump election in 2024 would settle nothing. It would generate a nation-shaking crisis of presidential legitimacy. Trump in 2024 means chaos—and almost certainly another impeachment. Trump’s proliferating criminal exposures have arisen in two different federal jurisdictions—Florida and the District of Columbia—and in two different state jurisdictions, New York and Georgia. More may follow.

As president, Trump would have no power of his own to quash directly any of these proceedings. He would have to act through others. For example, the most nearly unilateral thing that Trump could try would be a presidential self-pardon. Is that legal? Trump has asserted that it is. Only the Supreme Court can deliver a final verdict, which presents a significant risk to Trump, because the Court might say no. Self-pardon defies the history and logic of the presidential-pardon power. Would a Supreme Court struggling with legitimacy issues of its own take such a serious risk with its reputation to protect Trump from justice?
Story by Ari Blaff

Prestige Biotech, a Chinese medical company, operated an illegal laboratory in California where they bioengineered and infected almost 1,000 mice with diseases including HIV, E. Coli, malaria, and Covid-19.

The undercover lab was discovered in a warehouse in Reedley, Calif., when a garden hose was found to be illegally attached to the building. “There was a special room that was built housing about 1000 white lab mice,” a city manager, Nicole Zieba, told one local news outlet. “This is an unusual situation. I’ve been in government for 25 years. I’ve never seen anything like this,” she added. According to the official, at least 200 mice were found dead. The remainder were euthanized by the county.

Prestige Biotech was the largest creditor of the now defunct med-tech company Universal Meditech and took control of it following bankruptcy. The Chinese-run company did not have a license to operate in California.
Story by Justin Baragona

Ray Epps, the former Trump acolyte at the center of wild right-wing conspiracy theories about Jan. 6, is pushing back against the “absurdity” of podcaster Joe Rogan’s claim that he “clearly instigated” the Capitol riots and helped the federal government orchestrate a false flag.

During a broadcast of The Joe Rogan Experiment last week, the conspiracy-peddling comic once again pushed the unfounded claim that Epps was an undercover agent for the FBI who purposely incited MAGA supporters to storm the Capitol in an effort to damage then-President Donald Trump.

“The Jan. 6 thing is bad, but also, the intelligence agencies were involved in provoking people into the Capitol Building. That’s a fact,” Rogan declared before invoking unfounded theories about Epps’ supposed involvement in ginning up violence.

“I don’t know, but I do know that every other, I think that every other person who was involved in Jan. 6, who was involved in coordinating a break-in into the Capitol and then instigating people, they were all arrested,” he asserted. “This guy wasn’t. Not only that, but they were defending him in The New York Times, The Washington Post, all these different things saying Fox News has unjustly accused him of instigating when he clearly instigated, he did it on camera. I don’t know if he was a fed. I know a lot of people think he was a fed.”
Story by Travis Gettys

Republicans have rallied around country singer Jason Aldean after his song that apparently glorifies vigilante violence generated controversy and was removed by some channels – and a historian flagged that support as another alarming development in the GOP's ongoing radicalization.

The song, "Try That In A Small Town," seems to celebrate mob violence to preserve the mythical ideal of small towns – replete with retribution against Black Lives Matter protesters and flag-burning demonstrators – and despite being pulled from rotation by Country Music Television, it has been viewed millions of times on YouTube and adopted by right-wing culture warriors as a rallying cry, wrote The Bulwark columnist Thomas Lecaque.

"I was thinking of Aldean’s song as I watched the coverage of Trump’s rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, this past weekend, where the rhetoric of mob violence – or even of murder fantasies — was disturbingly on display," wrote Lecaque, a scholar of religious violence and apocalypticism and associate professor of history at Grand View University.
Story by Nikki McCann Ramirez

If cratering polling and campaign finance woes weren’t enough, the Florida Governor’s run for the Republican 2024 presidential nomination was also marred in recent weeks by two instances of poorly thought out posting. Leaked chat messages obtained by Semafor have revealed members of Ron DeSantis’ campaign staff discussing the creation and distribution of controversial videos to social media “anons” unaffiliated with the campaign.

In late June, the campaign’s rapid-response X (the social media company formerly known as Twitter) account posted a bizarre video attacking former President Donald Trump as being too accepting of LGBTQ+ individuals when compared to DeSantis. The video was widely criticized for its homophobic messaging. Last week, the campaign once again found itself in the midst of controversy when one of its staffers, Nate Hochman, retweeted a video from the pro-DeSantis account “Ron DeSantis Fancams” that featured an image of a Sonnenrad, a symbol that was co-opted by the Nazi regime.
Story by Zach Schonfeld

APennsylvania state judge ruled Monday that an election worker cannot sue former President Trump over statements he made sowing doubt in the 2020 election results while in office, finding the statements are protected by presidential immunity.

Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Erdos said Trump’ had immunity’s immunity covered a tweet he issued and comments he made remotely from the White House during a Pennsylvania state Senate committee hearing in November 2020. The statements, made without evidence, claimed fraud in Pennsylvania’s election tabulations.

“Other legal proceedings may examine the propriety of his statements and actions while he was the President and whether, as the plaintiffs in this and other cases contend, it was this conduct which served as the actual threat to our democracy,” Erdos ruled. “But this case is not the proper place to do so. Here, Trump is entitled to Presidential immunity.”
Headquarters will remain in Colorado rather than relocating to Alabama, as the Trump administration had planned
Associated Press

Joe Biden has decided to keep US space command headquarters in Colorado, overturning a last-ditch decision by the administration of his presidential predecessor Donald Trump to move it to Alabama while also ending months of politically fueled debate, according to senior federal officials.

The officials said Biden was convinced by the head of space command, Gen James Dickinson, who argued that moving his headquarters now would jeopardize military readiness. Dickinson’s view, however, was in contrast to air force leadership, who studied the issue at length and determined that relocating to Huntsville, Alabama, was the right move.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the decision ahead of the announcement.

The president, they said, believes that keeping the command in Colorado Springs would avoid a disruption in readiness that the move would cause, particularly as the US races to compete with China in space. And they said Biden firmly believes that maintaining stability will help the military be better able to respond in space over the next decade. Those factors, they said, outweighed what the president believed would be any minor benefits of moving to Alabama.
By GARY FINEOUT and KIMBERLY LEONARD

Good morning and welcome to Tuesday and the month of August.

BREAKING OVERNIGHT — The Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis-affiliated super PAC, Never Back Down, reported its finances for the first time late last night, showing who is donating money for the effort and how it’s being spent.

Unsurprisingly, many of the high-dollar donors are Florida-based businesspeople.

CAUGHT OUR EYE — Destin-based developer Jay Odom contributed $400,000 to the group aiding DeSantis’ 2024 presidential run, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

THE BACKSTORY — Odom was indicted in 2013 over a straw donation scheme supporting 2008 candidate Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign. He’s a well-known GOP donor who also played a central role in a controversy surrounding one-time state House Speaker Ray Sansom that ultimately led to Sansom’s resignation.

Other Floridians who made high contributions included:
Stef W. KightAlex Thompson

A former Hunter Biden associate told Congress that Hunter sold "the illusion of access" by putting his father on speaker phone with business partners, but that then-Vice President Biden never talked shop, according to Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) and a source familiar with the testimony.

Why it matters: Top Republicans called for an impeachment inquiry into President Biden ahead of Devon Archer's closed-door testimony Monday — and suggested that he boosted their case — while Democrats said there was no smoking gun tying Biden to his son's business entanglements.
The family of suspect Rex Heuermann say they've been treated like "animals" and have been experiencing "anxiety" in the fallout of his July 13 arrest.
By Marlene Lenthang

The estranged wife of the Manhattan architect charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings says her two children “cry themselves to sleep” and she has “no answers” for them when they ask about her husband’s arrest.

Asa Ellerup, 59, who has filed for divorce from suspect Rex Heuermann, spoke out in an interview with the New York Post Monday about the turbulent past few weeks she and her children, both adults, have endured.

Heuermann was arrested July 13, charged with three counts of murder in the deaths of three women, and said to be the prime suspect in the disappearance of a fourth woman. The group of women were known as the “Gilgo Four,” whose discoveries raised fears about a serial killer in the area.
Latest updates as Vallow is sentenced at Fremont County Courthouse, Idaho

“Cult mom” Lori Vallow has been sentenced to life in prison with no parole for the murders of her two children in a dramatic case that gripped the nation.

Vallow, 50, was convicted in May of killing her seven-year-old son Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 16-year-old daughter Tylee Ryan, who vanished in September 2019. She was also found guilty of conspiring to kill her husband Chad Daybell’s first wife, Tammy, who died in October 2019.

The verdict came after prosecutors convinced a jury that Vallow and Mr Daybell conspired with her brother Alex Cox to murder Tammy, JJ and Tylee as part of their bizarre cult beliefs – and for money.

Before the sentence was handed down, the court heard victim impact statements from several family members devastated by the harrowing saga, which has brought countless twists and turns over four years.
The metro of over 5 million people registered an average temperature — through days and nights — of 102.7 degrees, and reached at least 110 degrees 30 times
By Matthew Cappucci

A historically intense and long-duration heat wave has spent weeks baking the South and Southwest, bringing dangerous triple-digit temperatures to 70 million Americans. Phoenix, at the epicenter, just logged its hottest month on record — and the hottest month ever observed in a U.S. city.

Phoenix’s average temperature for July was a blistering 102.7 degrees, taking into account average daytime high of 114.7 degrees and overnight low of 90.8.

The previous highest monthly average temperature in a U.S. city was 102.2 degrees, set in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., in July 1996, according to the Arizona State Climate Office. Phoenix beat that mark by 0.5 degrees, a significant margin for such an already lofty record.
by ADRIAN SAINZ | Associated Press

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis police on Monday said officers shot a suspect after he attempted to enter a Jewish school with a gun and fired shots after he couldn't get into the building.

Assistant Police Chief Don Crowe said the suspect, whose identity has not been released, approached Margolin Hebrew Academy-Feinstone Yeshiva of the South around 12:20 p.m. He fired several shots and then left in a maroon truck.
Back to content