Mary Trump Predicts Donald Trump’s ‘Going To Regret’ Having Cameras In The Courtroom

Posted on 22/08/2023 by Boris Clair

Mary Trump believes televising Donald Trump’s criminal trials might help deprogram some of his supporters ― and predicts the former president will come to regret it.

Trump is expected to appear in a Fulton County courtroom next month for his formal arraignment following his indictment on racketeering charges over an alleged conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.

Unlike federal or Manhattan courts, where Trump appeared for his first three arraignments, cameras are permitted in Georgia courtrooms with a judge’s approval.

“I think it’s going to have an enormous impact, because even for people who are his supporters and who think that this is a miscarriage of justice, this will be must-see TV,” the former president’s niece, a clinical psychologist and author, told MSNBC’s Katie Phang on Sunday.

“And Donald has always told them not to believe their lying eyes ― only to believe him,” she added. “However, when he’s the one they’re looking at, it’s going to be very difficult for him to spin away from what’s actually happening in front of our eyes.”

One of Trump’s attorneys, John Lauro, has pushed for cameras in the courtroom in the federal case concerning Trump’s attempted coup, telling CNN earlier this month: “I personally want the public to see what’s going on in this country right now.”

Democratic lawmakers have called for the same thing, arguing it’s important the public sees the strength of the evidence and how the trial is conducted

“I think it’s going to be monumentally important that there be cameras, at the very least in the Fulton County courtroom,” Mary Trump said, noting that Trump’s legal team had asked for cameras in federal court.

“I also think that it’s going to be something that Donald himself is going to regret,” she added. “And I think pretty quickly they’re going to find out that that’s really not something that they wanted after all.”

Watch the interview below.

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Tropical Storm Hilary Threatens California With ‘Life-Threatening’ Flooding

Posted on 21/08/2023 by Boris Clair

Tens of thousands were without power in Southern California on Sunday night after Tropical Storm Hilary brought damaging winds and the threat of “life-threatening flooding” to the region, prompting warnings across the state and as far north as Oregon and Idaho.

The centre of the storm made landfall in Southern California near Palm Springs on Sunday night after passing through Mexico. Emergency officials urged residents across the state to stay indoors and off flooded roads, and schools in Los Angeles and San Diego cancelled classes on Monday.

“THIS IS LIFE THREATENING FLOODING!!!!!!” the Los Angeles office of the National Weather Service wrote on Sunday night. The agency declared a flash flood warning for parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties into early Monday morning.

“You do not want to be out driving around, trying to cross flooded roads on vehicle or on foot,” Michael Brennan, the director of the National Hurricane Center, said during a news briefing, per The Associated Press. “Rainfall flooding has been the biggest killer in tropical storms and hurricanes in the United States in the past 10 years, and you don’t want to become a statistic.”

Maximum sustained winds were near 45 mph, but weather officials expected the storm to weaken into a post-tropical cyclone by early Monday. Large parts of California and Nevada were expected to see 3 to 6 inches of rain, with some areas experiencing up to 10 inches in total.

The intensity of the storm and the fact that a hurricane was heading toward California at all has already sparked concerns from climate scientists who have long warned such events will only become more frequent and more severe as climate change continues. It’s too soon to say if Hilary was made more severe by our warmer world, but researchers released a shocking report in 2020 that found climate change is already making hurricanes stronger.

Ex-Prosecutor Spots A Major Problem For Donald Trump That People Are Missing

Posted on 14/08/2023 by Boris Clair

Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, summed up one of the biggest challenges for Donald Trump’s legal team as the former president reportedly faces yet another indictment, this time in Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis’ investigation into his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

Mariotti, appearing on CNN, pointed out “how hard it is to defend a multi-front war in criminal defence.”

It’s the “one thing that people really underestimate” or miss,” he said.

“I have done it, myself personally,” said Mariotti. “It is very, very challenging to represent a client that is facing criminal indictment on multiple fronts.”

Why? Willis and her team “can focus like a laser on what they need to do to get a conviction,” explained Mariotti.

But Trump’s team “has to balance a bunch of different competing concerns.”

Decisions made in this case may impact the slew of other cases involving Trump, he said.

Willis’ reportedly expected indictment is “historic” because it would charge Trump “with this conduct while president,” he added. “It’s going to be a big challenge and it’s yet another thing for Trump’s team to deal with.”

Trump Flips Out In Hellishly Bizarre New Social Media Meltdown: ‘I Wasn’t Scared’

Posted on 07/08/2023 by Boris Clair

Donald Trump seems to have hell on his mind.

The former president invoked the perpetual flames of the underworld in two separate rants on Sunday against Representative Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, California) and the US women’s national soccer team.

Early in the day, he launched his attack on the former House speaker, who on Friday said Trump looked like a “scared puppy” during his arraignment last week on federal charges of election obstruction and conspiracy.

“I wasn’t ‘scared,’” Trump insisted in a post on his Truth Social website. “Nevertheless, how mean a thing to say! She is a Wicked Witch whose husbands journey from hell starts and finishes with her. She is a sick & demented psycho who will someday live in HELL!”

Trump wasn’t done raising hell just yet.

When the US women were eliminated from the World Cup later on Sunday, the former president ― like many others on the right ― was weirdly thrilled.

He called the loss “fully emblematic of what is happening to the our once great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden” and accused the players of being “openly hostile” to the country.

“WOKE EQUALS FAILURE,” he wrote, then took a shot at star player Megan Rapinoe. “Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!!!”

Trump’s critics raised hell in return:

Imagine if Joe Biden called Kevin McCarthy a “sick & demented psycho” who was going to Hell. Not just Fox but the entire ‘liberal media’ would lose their minds. He would be condemned even by members of his own Democratic Party.

But it’s Trump, so everyone just sighs & moves on. pic.twitter.com/5w1anPVnoC

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) August 6, 2023

The US Women’s Team is woke now, but they weren’t in 2019 when they won the World Cup with a roster that was mostly the same and led by the woman he singled out. They were unwoke, that’s why they won. Tragic. https://t.co/GcwHq9kwbW

— jordan (@JordanUhl) August 7, 2023

Donald Trump says that “Sick and demented psycho” Nancy Pelosi will someday “live in HELL”.

He’s always projecting. Always. pic.twitter.com/3QsVNbvubH

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) August 6, 2023

Megan Rapinoe and her teammates won TWO STRAIGHT world cups for their country. You INCITED AN INSURRECTION and brought great shame and dishonor on yours. They have more patriotism in their pinkies than you’ve got in your entire racist, bigoted, and traitorous ass. https://t.co/vZRjYOtn6i

— Daniel Miller (@DanielMillerEsq) August 7, 2023

Yo, GOP – we just going to keep pretending this is normal & okay? I wouldn’t let my family near the kind of lunatic that rants like this on the internet. pic.twitter.com/I0Ua1QxvqY

— Alyssa Farah Griffin (@Alyssafarah) August 6, 2023

it’s an unusually clear statement of how trump just revels in US failure and in imagining US destruction. presidents usually try to project optimism and hope. Trump thrives on the opposite—visions of american decline and apocalypse. https://t.co/y5z8pEs0ZE

— Noah Berlatsky (@nberlat) August 7, 2023

you’d think a guy who was president for 4 years would know Sweden basically tips over the woke-o-meter but maybe that was the week he was trying to buy Greenland or some shit https://t.co/NpXIXN5FVL

— shauna (@goldengateblond) August 7, 2023

Trump was provoked by Nancy Pelosi making a comment that he looked like a “scared puppy” at his arraignment. He responds by calling her a “sick & demented psycho who will someday live in HELL!”

She knows how to get under his skin. pic.twitter.com/VRQkycWfSr

— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) August 6, 2023

‘Trickster’ Cat At Shelter Caught On Video Opening Door Himself And ‘Strutting His Stuff’

Posted on 07/08/2023 by Boris Clair

A cat in a Nebraska animal shelter has made headlines for his skill with a door handle, but he’s still waiting for an adopter to open their door to him.

“Staff started to go crazy knowing they shut certain doors when they left at night but those same doors would be open in the morning……then today we discovered this,” the Capital Humane Society in Lincoln wrote on July 27 on Facebook.

The post included a video of a black cat named Grimsen leaping up and grabbing a door’s lever handle with his paws, managing to pull it down to let himself out.

“Grimsen is the ultimate trickster,” the shelter wrote.

The cat’s adoption listing also cites his ingenuity, calling Grimsen a “VERY smart guy” who “has managed to teach himself how to open lever style doorknobs and walk freely amongst the other shelter cats strutting his stuff.”

Early in the morning on the day of the Facebook post, the shelter staff noticed that three different doors were open and Grimsen was strolling the hallway. He was returned to the room he shares with two other cats, but around noon, “Grimsen was spotted walking down the hallway again,” veterinary and behaviour assistant Hillary Brandt told HuffPost in a Facebook message.

Not long after, Grimsen was once again returned to his room. This time, he was caught red-pawed opening the door.

Grimsen, probably coming up with another scheme.

Unfortunately for a freedom-loving feline like Grimsen, it’s important that doors remain closed, especially after business hours.

“Doors stay closed at night so we know all cats are behaving properly and not throwing parties after hours, making messes and possibly fighting with others who don’t play well with feline friends,” said Sierra Kurth, the shelter’s fundraising and grants coordinator.

Grimsen had to spend a night in a cat condo inside a locked office before the shelter was able to add a hook apparatus to the doorknob of his regular room to prevent him from getting out ― though he still made an attempt.

The feline’s chaos-causing ways were mostly met with approval by those who commented on the shelter’s video.

“I’m Grimsen’s lawyer,” read a top comment from one justice-minded Facebook user. “My client is innocent.”

His story made multiple local news headlines, with KLKN-TV declaring him the cat who “can’t be contained.”

But despite his number of fans, Grimsen, who came to the shelter as a stray in mid-June, was still looking for someone to adopt him as of Friday. Preferably someone with a good sense of humour.

“He is a very active and comical boy,” Brandt said.

And despite his exceptional intelligence, Grimsen is no snob. His adoption listing notes that he “loves all the pets that you can give him, even when he has escaped and his presence surprises you.”

Donald Trump Pleads Not Guilty, Again, This Time To Charges From His January 6 Coup Attempt

Posted on 03/08/2023 by Boris Clair

WASHINGTON — For the third time in four months, Donald Trump was dragged into a courtroom on Thursday and charged with felonies that could bring him years in prison, this time for his schemes to remain in power despite having lost the 2020 election that culminated in his violent January 6, 2021, coup attempt.

The former president, technically under arrest yet again while the judge set the conditions of his release, pleaded not guilty to four counts of conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstructing an official proceeding and unlawfully depriving voters of their civil rights.

Trump stated his name, his age, told the magistrate judge that he had not take any medication that would affect his ability to understand the proceedings, and then listened to her explain that he could face a cumulative 55 years if convicted on all four counts. He then stood and pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Judge Moxila Upadhyaya then warned Trump not to speak about the case with other witnesses, before informing him that he would not be required to appear personally at his next court date, August 28. That hearing will be before the US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has earned a reputation for handing out stiff sentences to January 6 insurrections who have been convicted in her courtroom.

As he has for each of the previous indictments against him, Trump remained defiant and claimed prosecutors were only charging him to hurt his campaign. “I AM NOW GOING TO WASHINGTON, D.C., TO BE ARRESTED FOR HAVING CHALLENGED A CORRUPT, RIGGED, & STOLEN ELECTION. IT IS A GREAT HONOR, BECAUSE I AM BEING ARRESTED FOR YOU. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” he wrote on his social media platform early on Thursday afternoon.

The arraignment took place at the E Barrett Prettyman federal courthouse on Constitution Avenue, just eight blocks from the White House, where Trump is accused of having carried out crimes with at least six as-yet-unnamed co-conspirators, but whose identities likely include advisers such as lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman.

The courthouse is also just four blocks from the Capitol, where a mob of Trump’s followers, incited by a rally where he continued pushing his lies that the 2020 election had been “stolen” from him, assaulted police officers to enter the building in an attempt to stop the congressional ceremony to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s win.

Trump supporters wave flags outside the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. District Court House ahead of Donald Trump's arrival on Aug. 3, 2023, ahead of his scheduled arraignment in Washington, D.C. — Trump supporters wave flags outside the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. District Court House ahead of Donald Trump’s arrival on Aug. 3, 2023, ahead of his scheduled arraignment in Washington, D.C.

The conspiracy to defraud and obstruction charges are based on Trump’s plan to get Republicans in seven states Biden won to submit fake slates of electors to the National Archives and the US Senate, with the goal of using these forged certifications to coerce then-Vice President Mike Pence into awarding Trump a second term. The civil rights charge is based on the argument that Trump disenfranchised millions of voters in those states by attempting to have their votes nullified.

The new indictment, unsealed on Tuesday, follows another federal indictment in June that charged Trump with illegally retaining secret documents at this Florida country club and then trying to hide them from authorities seeking their return. He was also indicted in New York City in April for falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush-money payment to a porn star in the days leading up to the 2016 election.

A fourth indictment against Trump is possible in Georgia, where the Atlanta-area district attorney is presenting evidence to a grand jury that Trump attempted to coerce state officials into overturning his loss to Biden in that state.

Trump would, if convicted in the cases to date, face decades in prison. But if he succeeds in regaining the White House in next year’s election, he would have the authority to end the federal prosecutions against him entirely and would likely be able to persuade state courts to suspend criminal cases against him for the duration of his presidency.

Despite all the criminal cases against Trump, though, his Republican rivals, with few exceptions, have been unwilling to criticise him for his actions that led to the charges, choosing instead to attack the prosecutions as politically motivated. Possibly as a result of this, Trump dominates the GOP field in polling for the 2024 nomination, with massive leads in national surveys and double-digit leads in the early-voting states.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Follow HuffPost UK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Whistleblower To Congress: ‘Non-Human’ Biologics Found At UFO Crash Sites

Posted on 26/07/2023 by Boris Clair

A former Air Force intelligence officer told Congress that the US government has a long-standing programme that retrieves unidentified flying objects, and said that “non-human” “biologics” were found at crash sites where the objects were recovered.

Retired Major David Grusch testified to a House committee on Wednesday as part of an investigation into reports of unidentified aerial phenomena.

In 2021, the Pentagon created a group to look into the phenomena after more than 100 sightings were reported. By the following year, the Pentagon said it had received “several hundreds” of new reports of unidentified aerial phenomena. The Pentagon has not confirmed that it has a programme to retrieve unidentified flying objects.

Grusch, who served for 14 years as an intelligence officer in the Air Force, told Congress he served as a representative on two Pentagon task forces investigating unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP, until earlier this year.

In his testimony, Grusch told lawmakers he was informed of “a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program” during the course of his work.

.@RepNancyMace asks about extraterrestrials: “If you believe we have crashed craft…do we have the bodies of the pilots…?”

David Grusch: “As I’ve stated…biologics came with some of these recoveries.”

Mace: “Were they Human or non-human?”

Grusch: “Non-human.” pic.twitter.com/TJVbIRp4jw

— CSPAN (@cspan) July 26, 2023

Asked by Republican representative Nancy Mace if the US government also has the “bodies of the pilots who piloted this craft”, Grusch suggested it might.

“As I’ve stated publicly … biologics came with some of these recoveries, yeah,” Grusch said.

“Were they human or non-human biologics?” Mace asked.

“Non-human,” Grusch responded. “And that was the assessment of people with direct knowledge of the programme I talked to, who are currently still in the programme.”

Ryan Graves, executive director of Americans for Safe Aerospace, David Grusch, former National Reconnaissance Office representative on the Defense Department's Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, and retired Navy Commander David Fravor arrive for House Oversight & Accountability Committee's National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee's hearing on "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency" at the U.S. Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 26, 2023. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz — Ryan Graves, executive director of Americans for Safe Aerospace, David Grusch, former National Reconnaissance Office representative on the Defense Department’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, and retired Navy Commander David Fravor arrive for House Oversight & Accountability Committee’s National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee’s hearing on “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency” at the U.S. Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 26, 2023. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

Grusch said in June that the federal government has multiple crafts of “non-human” origin.

“Well, naturally, when you recover something that’s either landed or crashed, sometimes you encounter dead pilots and, believe it or not, as fantastical as that sounds, it’s true,” Grusch told NewsNation at the time.

Ryan Graves, a former Navy pilot, testified at Wednesday’s hearing that he nearly collided with an unidentified object in 2014. He said in the years since he’s talked to others in the Navy who have described similar experiences.

“We were primarily seeing dark grey or black cubes inside of a clear sphere,” Graves said of the craft he saw. “Where the apex, or tips of the cube, were touching the inside of that sphere.”

Former Navy pilot Dave Fravor testified that he saw a “Tic Tac”-shaped object during a flight off the coast in California in 2004. He and his co-pilot during the incident, Lieutenant commander Alex Dietrich, previously spoke to CBS’s 60 Minutes” about the experience, describing that the object appeared to reach speeds so quickly it seemed to disappear.

Fravor told Congress he believes more pilots are reporting their findings now that there is less of a stigma surrounding the existence of unidentified aerial phenomena.

“Starting in 2017, when it all actually came out, it took that stigma away,” Fravor said. “Prior to that, if you had mentioned UAP you’d be laughed off the Hill, and now we’re sitting here today for a public testimony on what’s actually going on.”

Obamas’ Personal Chef Found Dead In Tragic Accident Near Their Martha’s Vineyard Home

Posted on 25/07/2023 by Boris Clair

The body of a former sous-chef at the White House, who went missing while paddleboarding in the waters of Edgartown Great Pond in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, has been recovered Monday, according to authorities.

The Massachusetts State Police have not released the identity of the paddleboarder, but The Associated Press and Chicago Sun Times reported that the victim was Tafari Campbell.

Both AP and the Sun Times report that Campbell was 45, though MSP says the body recovered was that of a 43-year-old male.

Campbell went to work for the Obamas when they left the White House. In a statement, Barack and Michelle Obama called Campbell a “beloved” part of their family.

“Tafari was a beloved part of our family. When we first met him, he was a talented sous chef at the White House — creative and passionate about food, and its ability to bring people together. In the years that followed, we got to know him as a warm, fun, extraordinarily kind person who made all of our lives a little brighter.”

“That’s why, when we were getting ready to leave the White House, we asked Tafari to stay with us, and he generously agreed. He’s been part of our lives ever since, and our hearts are broken that he’s gone,” said the pair, who purchased their 29-acre Edgartown property in December 2019.

MSP retrieved the male victim’s body around 10am just one day after he went missing. His body was found approximately 100 feet away from shore, by “deploying side-scan sonars” from a boat. Authorities said the “president and Mrs Obama were not present at the residence at the time of the accident”.

The search for Campbell initially began around 7.46pm on Sunday when Martha’s Vineyard police and fire agencies responded to a call about a male paddleboarder who was unable to stay above water.

Authorities say another paddleboarder was also with him on the pond at the time and witnessed him go under the water.

Multiple agencies were involved in the search, including the Coast Guard, Dukes County Sheriff’s Department, local police, Edgartown fire personnel and other island fire departments.

The State Police Detective Unit for the Cape and Islands District and Edgartown police are investigating the incident.

Trump’s Plan To Expand Presidential Powers Faces Republican Resistance

Posted on 20/07/2023 by Boris Clair

WASHINGTON ― Donald Trump’s sweeping plans to remake the presidency ― and give himself more power than ever if he is elected to the White House again ― have met with a chilly reception from members of his own party in Congress.

The former president and his allies are vowing to bring independent federal agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission under direct presidential control, revive the practice of “impounding” funds appropriated by Congress, and strip employment protections for thousands of civil servants in the executive branch, ostensibly to replace them with Trump’s own chosen political appointees.

The proposals, outlined in a New York Times story earlier this week, stem from years of Trump’s grievances about the so-called “deep state”, the media, and Congress itself standing in the way of his autocratic tendencies. They hinge on a thesis, long popular on the right, called “unitary executive theory”, a model where the president has sole power over the entire executive branch of government, including independent agencies and even federal prosecutors ― like, say, the ones investigating the president himself.

Republican Senator JD Vance, who has already endorsed Trump’s bid for a second term, said Trump’s power grab would be necessary to rein in the power of bureaucrats and agency officials. He called Trump’s plan to give the presidency even more power “necessary to have a constitutional republic”.

“To have true separation of powers, the president has to have the prerogative over the administration of laws,” Vance told HuffPost. “If you have all these alphabet soup agencies where the bureaucrats can’t be fired and aren’t under control of the president, you’ve effectively created a fourth branch of government totally unaccountable to the people. That’s a real problem.”

“What we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them,” Russ Vought, Trump’s former director of the Office of Management and Budget and a leading proponent of the power grab, told the Times.

There is some debate on the left about how seriously to treat the scheme, and whether it’s just campaign fodder that likely wouldn’t become law. For now, it is clear Democrats in Congress would unanimously oppose the plans, with at least some Senate Republicans prepared to join them. An expansion of presidential power would ultimately come at a steep cost to members of Congress, who prize their ability to oversee industries and appropriate funds.

Top Republican appropriators also voiced their opposition to the idea of reviving the president’s impoundment authority. Congress in 1974 passed a law banning the tactic after a fight with President Richard Nixon, who withheld $40 billion in funding that Congress had passed during in his first term in office. Reviving the practice would require another act of Congress.

“The Constitution is very clear about the role of Congress and the power of the purse, so I would not do so,” Senator Susan Collins, the top Republican on the Senate appropriations committee, told HuffPost.

“I don’t think I agree” with the plans of the Trump team, Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito, who also serves on the committee, said. “I want to have the independence of an appropriator.”

Republicans who serve on the Senate commerce committee were similarly wary of ways Trump could infringe on their power.

“I think those are independent agencies designed to be that way for obvious reasons, so I’m not sure what that accomplishes,” Senator John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican, told HuffPost, when asked if he would support bringing the FTC and FCC under presidential control.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz ― chair of the commerce committee, which oversees the two agencies ― didn’t endorse the plan, either. He instead shifted to bashing FTC Chair Lina Khan, a top target of Republicans due to her aggressive strategy in taking on big tech companies.

“I will say Lina Khan’s abuse of power of the FTC is going to add considerable momentum to congressional efforts to rein in out-of-control, supposedly independent agencies,” Cruz said.

Republican Senator Roger Wicker, who also serves on the commerce committee, said he “would have to look very, very carefully” at any proposal to bring the agencies under executive control. He expressed his desire to see the FTC and FCC act in a nonpartisan manner.

According to the Times, Trump’s allies are drafting an executive order that would require independent agencies to submit actions to the White House for review. The move, if enacted under a second Trump presidency, would likely face a legal challenge.

“I think it’s very important for us to remember that he can’t just wave a wand and invalidate the statutory structure for these expert agencies,” Democrat Senator Brian Schatz said of the twice-impeached former president. “It doesn’t matter what he thinks. The law is the law. If he wants to change the structure of the agency, then he’s going to have to ask someone to introduce a bill.”

Schatz said that if Trump wants to change the structure of federal agencies, he should do so by appointing commissioners who agree with him.

“It’s exciting to think of the new ways that Mr Trump would do damage, and it’s always worth worrying about, but the truth is there are statutes in place and he’s going to have to abide by them,” Schatz said.

Hunter Biden’s Lawyer Sends Cease-And-Desist Letter To Trump Legal Team

Posted on 14/07/2023 by Boris Clair

A lawyer for Hunter Biden sent a cease-and-desist letter to Donald Trump’s legal team on Thursday, warning the former president to stop spreading dangerous rhetoric online, ABC News first reported.

In the letter, attorney Abbe Lowell argued that Trump’s posts and language “could lead to [Hunter Biden’s] or his family’s injury”, citing several examples from recent months.

Trump has frequently targeted Hunter Biden — in fact, Lowell claimed in the letter that his name has appeared more than 20 times in Trump’s posts in July alone.

This week, Trump dragged in Hunter Biden’s name amid an investigation of a small baggie of cocaine found this month near a visitor entrance at the White House, suggesting the cocaine might have belonged to Hunter Biden, who is a recovering addict.

“You know, if Mr Trump does not, that Mr. Biden has neither committed nor been accused of the charges that your client is claiming … and that the Biden family was not at the White House (let alone in the vestibule) in the period when the cocaine was found,” Lowell wrote. The Secret Service concluded the cocaine investigation on Thursday with no suspect found.

A day later, Trump put up a post attacking David Weiss, the federal prosecutor who oversaw Hunter Biden’s tax investigation, according to the letter. Biden reached an agreement in June and will plead guilty to some federal charges. Trump called Weiss a “coward” and asserted that he “gave out a traffic ticket instead of a death sentence”.

“You may respond that this was a mere figure of speech. However, we have seen that what might pass as such a phrase when uttered by [rational] people is heard by too many in this country as some terrible injustice for which they must take physical and violent action,” Lowell wrote in the letter, referring to Trump’s alleged incitement of the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Throughout the letter, Lowell continued to cite notable examples of Trump using dangerous rhetoric and language to incite violence. Last month, Trump also posted on his social media site the alleged address of former President Barack Obama’s Washington, DC, residence, NBC News reported. The post was reshared by Capitol riot defendant Taylor Taranto, who was arrested June 29 after approaching Obama’s house while his van was parked nearby with weapons inside.

“This is not a false alarm,” Lowell wrote in the letter. “We are just one such social media message away from another incident, and you should make clear to Mr Trump ― if you have not done so already ― that Mr Trump’s words have caused harm in the past and threaten to do so again if he does not stop.”

Trump has faced legal repercussions for rhetoric he has spread both online and offline, which, as Lowell cautioned in the letter, has the potential to escalate if he doesn’t dial back on it. The attorney encouraged the former president’s legal team to explain to him “how his incitement can further hurt people and cause himself even more legal trouble”.

HuffPost reached out to Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina, who declined to comment.

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