Liz Cheney says she wants Republicans to lose their House majority in 2024
Former Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney, one of Donald Trump’s greatest foes, says while she still believes in her party’s traditional principles, its co-option by the former president is a danger to democracy.
She would therefore like the party to lose its majority in the House of Representatives as a safeguard to prevent Speaker Mike Johnson from handing the election to Mr Trump if the result was thrown over to the lower chamber of Congress.
Ms Cheney also gave a dire warning that the US was sleepwalking its way toward dictatorship during an interview with CBS News on Sunday.
Meanwhile, federal court judges have dealt two legal blows in Mr Trump’s attempts to evade criminal charges and lawsuits stemming from his alleged attempts to overturn 2020 presidential results.
A long-awaited federal appeals court ruling on Friday determined that Mr Trump can be held civilly liable for inciting the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot in the wake of his 2020 loss.
In his federal election subversion case, Judge Tanya Chutkan determined that he also does not have presidential immunity to avoid charges in a case from US Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith.
Kenneth Chesebro begins cooperating in Nevada fake elector probe
The state-level criminal investigation into the 2020 election “fake electors” plot in Nevada has secured the cooperation of a key witness — Kenneth Chesebro, the lawyer who orchestrated the scheme to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state.
Both CNN and The Washington Post report that Mr Chesebro has agreed to meet with investigators in the state in a bid to avoid prosecution there.
He pleaded guilty to charges relating to the plot in Georgia and as part of that plea deal has agreed to cooperate with the prosecution in the sprawling racketeering case against former president Donald Trump and 14 other co-defendants.
Mr Chesebro also agreed to cooperate with any relevant cases in the future both inside and outside the state.
Oliver O’Connell4 December 2023 06:15
Trump does not have presidential immunity, judge rules
It comes as a long-awaited federal appeals court ruling also determined that Mr Trump can be held civilly liable for inciting the riots at the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021 in the wake of his 2020 loss.
Lawyers for Mr Trump had also tried to use his presidential “immunity” as a shield from the litigation.
In her ruling on Friday, Judge Chutkan said: “[The] defendant’s four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens.”
The decision tees up a legal fight over the scope of presidential power that could ultimately reach the US Supreme Court.
Oliver O’Connell4 December 2023 04:15
Speaker Johnson wrote intro for book filled with conspiracies and homophobia
In addition to writing the foreword, the Louisiana lawmaker actively promoted the book by Scott McKay, a politics blogger, CNN reported.
Indeed, the speaker pushed the book on social media and dedicated an episode of his podcast to it.
The Revivalist Manifesto includes conspiracies often championed by the far-right, including the infamous discredited “Pizzagate” hoax concerning a high-ranking paedophile ring in Washington DC, and the unfounded conspiracy that the Democratic National Committee’s emails were not hacked in 2016 but leaked.
Oliver O’Connell4 December 2023 03:15
Court rules Trump can be sued for inciting the Capitol riots
The judgement was passed down today in US District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Mr Trump’s attorneys attempted to use “presidential immunity” to shield him from civil action resulting from his incitement of the Capitol riot.
The appeals court was asked to determine whether Mr Trump has “demonstrated an entitlement to official-act immunity for his actions leading up to and on January 6 as alleged in the complaints.”
“We answer no, at least at this stage of the proceedings,” they wrote in a ruling on Friday.
Oliver O’Connell4 December 2023 02:15
Analysis: Trump’s violent rhetoric charts his campaign warpath
Oliver O’Connell4 December 2023 01:15
What’s next for Gavin Newsom ‘shadow campaign’?
The Fox News debate on Thursday between Florida governor Ron DeSantis and California governor Gavin Newsom was billed as the “Great Red vs Blue State debate,” a showdown between conservatism and liberalism itself.
But the spectre of the 2024 presidential election – and, well, maybe the 2028 one – hung over the conversation all night.
What exactly were these two men fighting for? And what comes next?
Josh Marcus reports from San Francisco.
Oliver O’Connell4 December 2023 00:15
Attorneys argue Trump can’t be on trial in Georgia if he’s president
Donald Trump shouldn’t be on trial in Georgia during his 2024 presidential campaign, and, if he wins that election, he shouldn’t be on trial until he leaves the White House, his attorneys told the judge overseeing a criminal case surrounding his efforts to overturn the results of the last election he lost.
The former president and leading candidate for the Republican nomination next year is criminally accused of joining a conspiracy to unlawfully subvert the state’s election results.
Prosecutors in Fulton County have proposed an August 2024 trial date, which his attorneys have called “election interference.”
Oliver O’Connell3 December 2023 23:15
Watch: Republicans would find defending Santos and Trump difficult and wanted to move on
Oliver O’Connell3 December 2023 22:45
Trump golf club staffer claims she was tricked into NDA after sexual harassment
A former server is suing Donald Trump‘s National Golf Club in Bedminster, alleging she was sexually harassed and coerced into sex by one of her supervisors before being tricked into signing an illegal NDA by Mr Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba.
Alice Bianco filed the lawsuit on Wednesday in New Jersey’s Middlesex County Superior Court, according to Politico.
Mr Trump is not named as a defendant in the suit.
The alleged incident began in 2021, when Ms Bianco, then 21, claims that a manager harassed her and tried to force a kiss on her. When she refused, she allegedly was given an “unfair job assignment” in retaliation. The situation culminated in her having to agree to have sex with the manager “as a quid pro quo for continued employment and ‘protection’”, according to the lawsuit.
The manager is also not named as a defendant.
Oliver O’Connell3 December 2023 22:15
Gaetz frets about House GOP’s precarious majority after Santos expulsion
Specifically, he believes that other GOP lawmakers may also soon exit the lower chamber of Congress.
He called the expulsion of Mr Santos “tactically stupid” in the context of the narrow majority.
Oliver O’Connell3 December 2023 22:01