RE-Indicted! Trump was RE-INDICTED

 From The New York Times:

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday issued a pared-down version of an indictment accusing former President Donald J. Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, stripping out some charges and tweaking others to help the case survive the Supreme Court’s recent ruling granting former presidents broad immunity.

The revised indictment, issued in Federal District Court in Washington, represented an attempt by prosecutors in the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, to preserve the bulk of their case against the former president while bringing the allegations into line with the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that former presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for many official acts taken while in office.

You can read it here. 

Some interesting parts.

In a list of co-conspirators, we find:

Co-Conspirator 6, a private political consultant who helped implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding.

Pennsylvania was one of those states.

And in the "Manner and Means" section, we find this:

The Defendant and co- conspirators organized fraudulent slates of electors in seven targeted states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin), attempting to mimic the procedures that the legitimate electors were supposed to follow under the Constitution and other federal and state laws. This included causing the fraudulent electors to meet on the day appointed by federal law on which legitimate electors were to gather and cast their votes; cast fraudulent votes for the Defendant; and sign certificates falsely representing that they were legitimate electors. Some fraudulent electors were tricked into participating based on the understanding that their votes would be used only if the Defendant succeeded in outcome-determinative lawsuits within their state, which the Defendant never did. The Defendant and co-conspirators then caused these fraudulent electors to transmit their false certificates to the Vice President, in his capacity as President of the Senate, and other government officials to be counted at the certification proceeding on January 6.

We'll note the change in the text of Pennsylvania's "fake elector" certificate. 

This is what it looked like:

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, on the understanding that if, as a result of a final non-appealable Court Order or other proceeding prescribed by law, we are ultimately recognized as being the duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America from the State of Pennsylvania, hereby certify the following...

I bolded/italicized what was added.

Then there's this:

The Defendant and co-conspirators attempted to enlist the Vice President, in his ceremonial role as President of the Senate at the January 6 certification proceeding to fraudulently alter the election results. First, using knowingly false claims of election fraud, the Defendant and co- conspirators attempted to convince the Vice President to use the Defendant's fraudulent electors, reject legitimate electoral votes, or send legitimate electoral votes to state legislatures for review rather than counting them. When that failed, on the morning of January 6, the Defendant and co-conspirators repeated knowingly false claims ofelection fraud to gathered supporters, falsely told them that the Vice President had the authority to and might alter the election results, and directed them tothe Capitol to obstruct the certification proceeding and exert pressure on the Vice President to take the fraudulent actions he had previously refused.

And, as we all know, this happened.

The White House switchboard logs show that Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano spoke on the phone with Donald Trump on the night of January 5.  After that call, Trump instructed the switchboard to notify the Vice President's office that they should expect a call from Mastriano.

Then there's this:

On November 25, the day after Pennsylvania's Governor signed a certificate of ascertainment and thus certified to the federal government that Biden's electors were the legitimate electors for the state, Co-Conspirator 1 orchestrated an event at a hotel in Gettysburg attended by state legislators. Co- Conspirator 1 falsely claimed that Pennsylvania had issued 1.8 million absentee ballots and received 2.5 million in return. In the days thereafter, a Campaign staffer wrote internally that Co-Conspirator 1's allegation was "just wrong" and "[t] here's no way to defend it." The Deputy Campaign Manager responded, "We have been saying this for a while. It's very frustrating."

That "event" at that Gettysburg hotel was Doug Mastriano's event.

The hearing on election irregularities in Gettysburg was historic. @PASenateGOP @SenatorArgall pic.twitter.com/DouU5fbkLs

— Senator Doug Mastriano (@SenMastriano) November 26, 2020

Does Doug Mastriano have any comment on Trump's re-indictment?

More Republicans Speak Out Against Trump

From USA Today:

More than 200 Republicans who previously worked for either former President George W. Bush, the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., or Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president in an open letter Monday obtained exclusively by USA TODAY.

The letter from alums of the three Republican presidential nominees prior to former President Donald Trump comes on the heels of a Democratic National Convention last week in Chicago that showcased Republican detractors of the GOP nominee. At least five former aides to former President George H.W. Bush also signed the letter, which has 238 signatures in all.

A similar group of about 150 anti-Trump former staffers of Bush, McCain and Romney pledged support for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

In case you missed the link above, you can read the letter here. 

From the letter:

At home, another four years of Donald Trump’s chaotic leadership, this time focused on advancing the dangerous goals of Project 2025, will hurt real, everyday people and weaken our sacred institutions. 

Abroad, democratic movements will be irreparably jeopardized as Trump and his acolyte JD Vance kowtow to dictators like Vladimir Putin while turning their backs on our allies. 

We can’t let that happen.

The USA Today, a few paragraphs later, added:

Over the weekend, a dozen prominent Republican attorneys who worked for former President Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush endorsed Harris for president. The group included conservative former federal appellate Judge Michael Luttig, who plans to vote for a Democratic president for the first time.

Following the links you get to this at Fox:

A dozen Republican White House lawyers who served in the administrations of then-Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush are endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris in her race against GOP nominee former President Donald Trump.

"We endorse Kamala Harris and support her election as President because we believe that returning former President Trump to office would threaten American democracy and undermine the rule of law in our country," the lawyers wrote in a letter that the signatories shared first with Fox News Digital.

That must've made so so many people happy at Fox "News."

 

Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster on Donald Trump

From CNN:

Until now, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster has held his fire about his stint in the Trump White House. McMaster served with distinction in key American conflicts of the past decades: the Gulf War, the Iraq War and the war in Afghanistan, but as McMaster recounts in his new book, “At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House,” in some ways, his most challenging tour as a soldier was his last one: serving as the national security adviser to a notoriously mercurial president.  

In his blistering, insightful account of his time in the Trump White House, McMaster describes meetings in the Oval Office as “exercises in competitive sycophancy” during which Trump’s advisers would flatter the president by saying stuff like, “Your instincts are always right” or, “No one has ever been treated so badly by the press.” Meanwhile, Trump would say “outlandish” things like, “Why don’t we just bomb the drugs?” in Mexico or, “Why don’t we take out the whole North Korean Army during one of their parades?”

And:

...McMaster writes that in the aftermath of his 2020 electoral defeat, Trump’s “ego and love of self… drove him to abandon his oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution,’ a president’s highest obligation.” McMaster adds, “The attack on the US Capitol stained our image, and it will take a long-term effort to restore what Donald Trump, his enablers, and those they encouraged took from us that day.

And from CBS:

His first real business meeting with Trump was a presidential daily brief, an intelligence briefing that all presidents get. McMaster said, "I have a distinct impression of that meeting of being really not very effective for the president. President Trump plays to an audience, and it was too big of an audience in the Oval Office."

Martin asked, "And would the audience play to him?"

"The audience would play to him. I describe the environment as an environment of competitive sycophancy," McMaster replied.

"Did he want advice, or did he want flattery?"

"The president wanted advice; he also wanted flattery. He really likes the adulation. In many ways he's kind of addicted to adulation from his political base, from people around him."

 A very stable genius, indeed.

VP Harris' Speech

You can read a transcript of the speech here.

President Biden's Speech

You can read it here.

Meanwhile, Outside

More sciency stuff from the scientivists at NOAA:

July 2024 was the warmest July on record for the globe in NOAA's 175-year record. The July global surface temperature was 1.21°C (2.18°F) above the 20th-century average of 15.8°C (60.4°F). This is 0.03°C (0.05°F) warmer than the previous July record set last year, and the 14th consecutive month of record-high global temperatures. This breaks the longest record warm global temperature streak in the modern record (since 1980) previously set from May 2015—May 2016. July 2024 marked the 48th consecutive July with global temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th-century average.

Climatologically, July is the warmest month of the year. As the warmest July on record, July 2024 was more likely than not the warmest month on record for the globe since 1850.

But probably not for long, sadly.

And now the chart:

Yep. It's still getting warmer out there.

Dave McCormick Is Lying About...Dave McCormick

 I caught this ad on the TEEVEE yesterday:

Classic career politician. Dishonest, weak, and unwilling to take responsibility for his destructive actions.

Here's the truth:

Bob Casey owns the greatest illegal immigration crisis in our nation's history—and it's killing thousands of Pennsylvanians with fentanyl. https://t.co/kMbeNfxaBL pic.twitter.com/ebYKA9J9vw

— Dave McCormick (@DaveMcCormickPA) August 11, 2024

And here's how the Connecticut resident starts:

At Westpoint we had a code: Cadets don't lie, cheat, steal or tolerate those who do. 

Bob Casey is lying about me and I won't tolerate it. I never made any investments in the makers of illegal fentanyl. Ever.

Did you catch the weasel word?  I'll reprint that last part to emphasize it:

I never made any investments in the makers of illegal fentanyl. [Emphasis added.]

See it now?  By adding the modifier, Dave has given away the game. He just hopes you won't notice.

And this is what I mean: By saying he never invested in the makers of illegal fentanyl, he's all but admitting he invested in the makers of legal fentanyl.

Now let's go take a look at what Dave's complaining about. In the tweet (are they still called tweets??) linked there's this text from the Casey campaign:

In 2021, we lost over 4,000 Pennsylvanians to fentanyl. 

That same year, my opponent invested in China’s main producer of fentanyl.

 Over at The Keystone, Sean Kitchen had the receipts:

However, federal tax forms show that Bridgewater Associates invested in China’s largest fentanyl producer, Humanwell Healthcare, when McCormick served as CEO of Bridgewater Associates.

In 2021, seven Bridgewater Associates hedge funds held close to $1.7 million in stock in Humanwell Healthcare, which is traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. 

A 2022 Rand Corporation report on comparing the production of opiates stated that Humanwell Healthcare produces 90% of China’s fentanyl. 

So the hedge fund did invest in China's main producer of fentanyl, right?

So Dave McCormick is lying by saying that Casey accused him of investing in illegal producers of fentanyl, right?

So what about that cadet code, Dave?

And how about applying the code to the guy you're supporting for president. Donald Trump owes nearly a half billion in fines for committing real estate fraud and for defaming a woman he sexually assaulted.

Note to Dave: "Fraud" is cheating and "defamation" is lying. And do I need to explain the sexual assault part?

Doug Mastriano's Former "Senior Counsel" In The News!

From The Washington Post:

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) reached a cooperation agreement Monday with Jenna Ellis, who was a legal adviser to Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign and was one of 18 defendants indicted in April on felony charges related to alleged efforts to try to subvert President Biden’s victory in the state four years ago, according to prosecutors.

The attorney general has agreed to drop nine felony charges against Ellis in exchange for her full cooperation with the investigation into the GOP plan to try to deliver Arizona’s 11 electoral votes to Trump instead of the rightful winner, Biden.

She was also connected to PA State Senator Doug Mastriano's campaign for governor:

Doug Mastriano, Pennsylvania’s Republican nominee for governor who has pushed Donald Trump’s election lies, said Monday that he had appointed Trump’s former campaign lawyer as a senior legal adviser to his own campaign. 

In case you've forgotten.

Anyway, you can find the plea agreement here. 

The important section seems to be this one:

Jenna Ellis shall waive the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and shall provide truthful information in any and all interviews given to representatives of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, and shall testify completely and truthfully at any time and any place requested by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, including at any state or federal grand jury proceeding, forfeiture proceeding, bond hearing, pretrial hearing, civil and criminal trial, retrial or post-trial hearing. Jenna Ellis agrees to answer all questions on direct, cross-examination and redirect examination truthfully and completely.

And there's also this:

All such information and testimony from Jenna Ellis shall be truthful, honest, candid, and complete with no knowing material false statements or omissions. Such information and testimony shall include all criminal activity known to Jenna Ellis.

And this:

Jenna Ellis shall neither attempt to protect any person or entity through false information or omissions nor falsely implicate any person or entity.

I realize the Arizona AG is looking for information regarding the Arizona fake elector scheme, but what do you think the chances are the Pennsylvania's fake elector scheme might also come up in any of those conversations?

Let's review.

The New York Times reported:

As they organized the fake elector scheme, lawyers appointed a “point person” in seven states to help organize those electors who were willing to sign their names to false documents. In Pennsylvania, that point person was Douglas V. Mastriano, a proponent of Mr. Trump’s lies of a stolen election who is now the Republican nominee for governor.

But even Mr. Mastriano needed assurances to go along with a plan other Republicans were telling him was “illegal,” according to a Dec. 12 email sent by Ms. Bobb that also referred to Mr. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City.

“Mastriano needs a call from the mayor. This needs to be done. Talk to him about legalities of what they are doing,” she wrote, adding: “Electors want to be reassured that the process is * legal * essential for greater strategy.”

Jenna Ellis has already admitted to lying about the 2020 election:

Jenna Ellis, a lawyer who represented President Donald J. Trump after his loss in the 2020 election, admitted in a sworn statement released on Wednesday that she had knowingly misrepresented the facts in several of her public claims that widespread voting fraud led to Mr. Trump’s defeat.

The admissions by Ms. Ellis were part of an agreement to accept public censure and settle disciplinary measures brought against her by state bar officials in Colorado, her home state. Last year, the officials opened an investigation of Ms. Ellis after a complaint from the 65 Project, a bipartisan legal watchdog group.

And Rudy Giuliani was disbarred for it: 

Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, federal prosecutor and legal adviser to Donald Trump, was disbarred in New York on Tuesday after a court found he repeatedly made false statements about Trump’s 2020 election loss.

The Manhattan appeals court ruled Giuliani, who had his New York law license suspended in 2021 for making false statements around the election, is no longer allowed to practice law in the state, effective immediately. 

And that's who the Trump campaign sent to convince Doug Mastriano of the "legality" of the fake elector scheme.

Any comment from Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano regarding these latest events?

 

 

The Donold Goes Full Racist

From The Washington Post:

Former president Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Vice President Harris of once hiding Black heritage she has routinely highlighted in her career, escalating his attacks on her racial identity in a combative interview with Black reporters.

Trump drew audible gasps and disbelieving laughter over the roughly 35-minute sit-down session as he berated a Black reporter who pressed him about past offensive comments, falsely claimed that undocumented immigrants were “taking” attendees’ votes, and suggested Harris “was Indian all the way” before “all of a sudden she made a turn” and “became a Black person.”

And so on.

And from TalkingPointsMemo:

Shortly after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his pick for Democratic nominee, Republican leadership in Congress quickly put out some guidance to lawmakers about how to message around Harris, the first Black, Asian American, woman vice president.

Perhaps aware of conference members’ worst impulses when presented with the platform to go after a woman of color presidential nominee, Republican leadership hurried to urge lawmakers to avoid commenting on Harris’ race when criticizing her. But the guidance was also an effort to course correct — some members of Congress had begun referring to Harris as a “DEI hire” almost immediately after Biden tapped her as his pick.

“This election will be about policies and not personalities,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told reporters after a closed door meeting with the Republican conference last week, during which Johnson and National Republican Congressional Committee chair Richard Hudson asked their colleagues to stick to attacking Harris over her Biden administration record.

“This is not personal with regard to Kamala Harris,” he added, “and her ethnicity or her gender have nothing to do with this whatsoever.”

Perhaps no one gave Donald Trump the memo.

Evidently not. 

As for Donald's "all of a sudden" stuff, let's look at the record:

NBC News from November 8, 2016

Kamala Harris, California’s Attorney General, made history Tuesday night, becoming only the second black woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

Facebook from February 18, 2016:

 And so on.

Racist Don.