'Bogus excuse': Ex-prosecutor debunks Trump's claim the gag order prevents his testimony – Raw Story
Sarah Burris is a long-time veteran of political campaigns, having worked as a fundraiser and media director across the United States. She transitioned into reporting while working for Rock the Vote, Future Majority and Wiretap Magazine, covering the Millennial Generation's perspective during the presidential elections. As a political writer, Burris has had bylines at CNN, Salon.com, BNR, and AlterNet and serves as a senior digital editor for RawStory.com.
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A former prosecutor is debunking Donald Trump's claim that he can't testify on Monday because of the gag order.
Responding to Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, saying she wouldn't recommend testifying with a gag order in place. But CNN legal analyst Elie Honig called it a fake excuse.
"I'm mystified by the attorneys blaming the gag order," the former prosecutor told Jim Acosta on Sunday. "It applies no matter where Donald Trump is. It applies to anything he might say on his social media feed, anything on the street, anything from the witness stand. He's not allowed to criticize the judge's staff. It's a very narrow gag order, and it doesn't matter whether he's on the stand or not. To me, that is a bogus excuse that I'm not buying at all."
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Acosta wondered if Trump would show up in court on Monday and rant outside the courtroom without being burdened with an oath.
Honig went on to explain that if Trump violated the gag order a third time, it would be "completely out of bounds" in his mind.
"That is something no one should be allowed to get away with," said Honig. "The thing is the penalties thus far have been minimal. He was fined $5,000 the first time, and $10,000 the second time. For Donald Trump, he could care less about that. If he continues to do this, the judge is going to have to decide how to actually enforce some discipline. So, there's a little bit of a staring match going on here. We'll see if Trump has the gall to do it again. If he does, the judge really has to stand up for his staff in a firm way."
See the full discussion in the video below or at the link here.
'Bogus excuse': Ex-prosecutor debunks Trump claim the gag order prevents his testimonyyoutu.be
In a debate over whether Donald Trump's fantasies about having a dictatorship were serious enough to warrant the past week of concern, former Fox host Geraldo Rivera said that the focus should instead be put on Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate who continued to enable Trump.
Speaking to CNN's Jim Acosta with former Mike Pence adviser Olivia Troye, Rivera said that they should be focusing on how Trump has already behaved like a dictator.
"Well, on Jan. 6th, he revealed, after two months of similar buildup to this process, that he's willing to stab the Constitution in the back to achieve his goal of staying in office," said Rivera. "That's what we should be focused on. We should be focused on all of those Republicans who, after Jan. 6th, closed ranks like Kevin McCarthy."
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He recalled that on and after Jen. 6, McCarthy gave a floor speech saying he was disgusted. He told the lawmakers under him that they were all done with Trump. Then he went crawling back to Mar-a-Lago. Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) claims McCarthy rushed to Trump's side because he "wasn't eating." Instead, Trump moved McCarthy from his call to abandon Trump, to forcing the then-minority leader to take a photo as they yucked it up at the club. The photo posted to social media showed the caucus Trump was still pulling the strings.
"And then the entire Republican Party virtually, maybe not Mike Pence or Olivia, his former aide, but the entire Republican Party had enforced voluntary amnesia," said Rivera. "They forgot how Donald Trump behaved on Jan. 6th. They forgot that he tried to impede the constitutional order. And, yet, he is still overwhelmingly the Republican probable nominee for the presidency of the United States. How can that happen? How can all of America be complicit in this scandalous conduct, Jim?"
Acosta agreed it was a big question before pivoting to one of Rivera's favorite people, Al Capone, who Trump name-dropped again in a speech Saturday. He asked why Trump seems to idolize the mafia leader.
Rivera dismissed it, saying it was nothing more than more "flamboyant rhetoric" from Trump. The "humble brag" from the ex-president is that he was indicted four times whereas Capone was only indicted once. Trump is either boasting he's worse than a mafia boss or he's somehow better about being caught.
Rivera said he's not embarrassed by the empty vault moment with Capone nor is he embarrassed about his former friendship with Trump
"When I look back on it — he is what he is," said Rivera. "If people want to vote for him, they have to know that they are absolutely allowing someone who flaunted his opposition to the Constitution of the United States. They want that person to be president."
He explained that he hasn't spoken to Trump since Nov. 13, 2020, and he doesn't anticipate they'll speak again, "because I'm absolutely opposed to him."
He went on to issue a kind of call to arms, saying "People have to wake up and stop, you know, being alarmist. We've got to fight. You've got to — we have to understand what the odds are, what the stakes are, what the choices are when you have Joe Biden on the one hand and Donald Trump on the other. People have to be clear-eyed about this. What's going to happen? Look what happened! Just one brief P.S. Look what happened to the Supreme Court of the United States because people lost sight of what was really important."
See the comments in the video below or at the link here.
Geraldo wants Americans to focus on Republican Trump enablers not the dictatorship pledgewww.youtube.com
Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) said that he will release the Jan. 6, 2021 video for the world to see, and it will include clips that will jeopardize the security of the Capitol, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said on Sunday.
Johnson said he would release every bit of the video, but then said he'll be blurring the faces of the insurrectionists because he doesn't want them to be captured by law enforcement. Law enforcement already has the video, however.
What Lofgren said she found most concerning, is that the House Select Committee investing the 2020 election overthrow attempt and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol intentionally held back videos that featured escape routes and security movements of the Secret Service to protect lawmakers.
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She began by saying that Johnson's blurring of faces is his own kind of "obstructing justice," but the committee ensured that the video was already handed to the FBI as part of their ongoing investigation.
"Now, we did not release a video that did not have rioters in it for the escape routes," she explained to MSNBC on Sunday. "We've tried to keep that, for security purposes, back. I guess they're going to let that go too. It endangers the institution, and the people in it.
Host Ayman Mohyeldin called it an interesting point, asking for her to confirm Johnson will release the footage that will reveal security movements in the Capitol.
"You are saying that he may release footage that the committee and Congress did not want to at the time for the reason of not jeopardizing the security and members of Congress and the functioning of Congress. He may release that footage and by doing so ultimately risk members of Congress down the road in the future? Knowing what these escape routes are?" he asked.
Lofgren said that Johnson said he intended to "release it all."
"I take him at his word," she explained. "And all of it shows some escape routes that the Capitol Police were very adamant should not be made public for security purposes. So, that would not be too wise. But really, they are trying to spin a brutal riot, where more than 160 Capitol police officers and metropolitan police officers were severely hurt. I mean, eyes gouged out, fingers lost. Injuries so severe some of them could not get back to work. And somehow, this was 'a picnic.' This was a walk in the park, and that was absurd."
Despite claiming he would release all 40,000 hours of it, thus far he's released 90.
She noted that the committee showed a lot of video from inside the Capitol, and every network was feeding the attack on the air on Jan. 6 for the public to watch.
"You can watch with your own eyes what happened. I was there. So, was Mike," Lofgren continued. "We were evacuated, and now to try to make it into something else is really — he must think people are stupid. They can convince them not to believe their lying eyes."
It's unclear when Johnson will drop the full video.
See her comments in the video below or at the link here.
Congresswoman: 'MAGA Mike' Johnson will share J6 video 'jeopardizing' Capitol securitywww.youtube.com
SEOUL — A U.S. F-16 fighter jet crashed in South Korea on Monday while on a training flight and the pilot has ejected, Yonhap news agency reported citing a military source.
The crash was near the U.S. Air Force base in Gunsan, Yonhap said.
South Korea's defense ministry spokesman could not immediately confirm the report. U.S. military officials in South Korea could not be immediately reached for comment.
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