'Trump's in trouble': Nixon lawyer says ex-president at risk after second ballot boot – Raw Story
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Maine on Thursday nixed the 45th president from being able to appear on the GOP primary election ballot, and John Dean believes it spells danger for The Don.
"Trump's in trouble," the Nixon attorney Dean said while appearing on CNN. "He's in trouble wherever this is raised and addressed."
Maine’s Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows formally barred Trump from being able to appear on the state’s presidential primary ballot based on the Civil War-era 14th Amendment, which disqualifies citizens from holding office if they "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the U.S. Constitution.
The Trump campaign vowed to appeal Bellows’ decision in Maine's courts in what is likely going to be headed to the nation's highest court.
ALSO READ: Trump’s Iowa Faith Leader Coalition includes bigots, advocate of killing Obama
The decision in Maine mirrors the Colorado Supreme Court's decision earlier this month that also decided to knock Trump from the ballot.
"I think the Maine decision is very solid," Dean noted. "It was fully briefed. There is ample due process in this proceeding. And they just lost by a straight, honest reading of the 14th Amendment."
Dean acknowledges that there will likely be a higher ruling coming from the Supreme Court, but he believes the case against Trump being able to run to become the 47th president is strong.
"I want to see those strict constructionists and originalists get around that language," he said. "How are they going to do it? I don't know… I don't know what they can do with it other than take him off the ballot."
Watch the video below or click the link.
It’s been an incredibly chaotic year in the U.S. House of Representatives, from Rep. Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) ousting as speaker and his subsequent resignation from Congress to the expulsion of former Rep. George Santos (R-NY). The House enters 2024 with another threat of a federal government shutdown, and special elections will decide who occupies the seats vacated by Santos and McCarthy.
In a report published by the conservative Washington Examiner on December 29, journalist Resse Gorman lays out some reasons why 2024 "is gearing up to be an intense time for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
"When the House returns from the holiday break on January 9," Gorman reports, "lawmakers will stare down several deadlines for critical legislation that must be passed in a short time frame."
POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?
A high priority on the list, according to Gorman, is government funding and avoiding a shutdown.
"Back in November," Gorman explains, "Congress passed a two-part continuing resolution that bifurcated when the appropriations bills would expire. Four of the bills are set to expire on January 19, and the remaining eight will expire on February 2."
Gorman continues, "The goal was to spend time working on the first four appropriations bills from when the stop-gap measure passed until when funding ran out. But, neither the House nor the Senate made progress on their spending bills, setting up an absolute sprint to pass legislation in the ten days they have from getting back in session to when the first set of government funding expires. The plan on how they will avoid a shutdown is unclear."
Other challenges for Johnson after the House returns on January 9, Gorman notes, include "reauthorizing and reforming Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act" and dealing with divisions within the House's small GOP majority.
READ MORE: Conservative political scientist slams Mike Johnson: 'Open obstruction of justice'
Gorman observes, "Johnson has followed the footsteps of his predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), by upsetting the hardline conservatives with just about every decision he's made — so much so that in his less than three months as speaker, Johnson's team has had to pull numerous bills.
“ … Going forward, Johnson will have difficulty keeping his conference together if he must rely on Democratic Party support for major legislation and inevitably anger conservatives in the process."
READ MORE: Mike Johnson's 'Christian nationalism' is 'a greater threat to America than al-Qaida': strategist
Hunter Biden’s attorney said Friday that Donald Trump will likely be forced to pay a huge amount of money to E. Jean Carroll — even more than the $5 million he's already been ordered to pay.
Bryan M. Sullivan told Newsweek Friday that the retired writer suing Trump — who has already been found liable for defamating her in a separate trial — will present a solid case to the jury next month, despite the former president’s best stalling efforts.
"E. Jean Carroll has a very strong case against Trump,” Sullivan told Newsweek, “and will likely lead to large punitive damages.”
In May, Trump was ordered to pay Carroll $5 million in damages after a jury found he sexually abused her decades ago, then defamed her by denying it. That case is being appealed.
A second trial involving another allegation of defamation is set to start next month.
Sullivan’s prediction comes a day after a New York appeals court refused to delay the case that's slated to begin on Jan. 16, until the Supreme Court could hear his presidential immunity claims.
Carroll is seeking damages linked to Trump’s denials that he did not sexually assault her in a luxury department store in the 1990s because she was a "nut job" and not his "type."
ALSO READ: Trump’s Iowa Faith Leader Coalition includes bigots, advocate of killing Obama
A U.S. District Court judge in September already ruled Trump was liable in that second defamation case, but the civil trial will decide damages.
Trump failed in an effort to challenge the $5 million payout in June.
Legal experts have echoed Sullivan’s suspicion that Trump will have to cough up a large amount of cash based on his billionaire bragging in his New York City civil fraud trial, which Carroll’s lawyers plan to introduce as evidence.
MSNBC analyst Lisa Rubin argued this could prove “problematic” for the former president, especially as she suspects his comments were off-the-cuff.
“Trump might have boasted about his wealth, understanding it could hurt him in Carroll’s case," Rubin wrote earlier this month.
"But my suspicion is that no one is holistically monitoring what Trump says."
The Biden camp is pushing an "upbeat narrative" that expects voters will see the threat Donald Trump poses and realize the 2024 election will be a choice between sanity and erraticism. But, according to NBC News' Eamon Javers and Peter Nicholas, there are plenty of "twists" that could upend that strategy.
One possibility is the fact that Biden could end up dropping out of the race. While some people think there's no conceivable way Biden could justify dropping out at this stage, his poll numbers are tanking, his age is taking a toll on his public image, and his son Hunter's legal troubles are mounting, NBC reported.
Also read: Boebert stumps columnist with claim she abandoned Colorado district for 'personal' reasons
But Javers and Nicholas wrote that staying in the race has its risks as well, especially in relation to Biden's age. What if he freezes up on camera Mitch McConnell style? He's already had a few falls — what if he as one that permanently injures him?
"Biden’s doctor proclaimed him 'fit for duty' in February, but voters have their own ideas of how a president should look, act and sound — and Biden isn’t measuring up on that score," they write.
Also posing trouble for Biden is a developing situation where mortgage rates and home prices are skyrocketing, causing severe housing gridlock.
Hackers also pose a threat, as 2024 faces meddling threats from hackers from a variety of countries, including Russia.
Read the full article over at NBC News.
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