Tag: Donald Trump

The Leading Presidential Candidates Face Ballot Issues: Trump in Two State Lawsuits, Biden in New Hampshire

Just the News

The two leading presidential candidates are facing ballot issues for the primaries next year, with former President Donald Trump going to court to be placed on the GOP ballot in two states and President Joe Biden opting out of being on the ballot of the first Democratic primary in New Hampshire. 

Trump is facing hearings in two lawsuits this week that each argue that the 14th Amendment’s “insurrection” clause in Section 3 bars him from running for the Oval Office again. Meanwhile, Biden’s campaign announced that the president will not be on the first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire next year. 

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Trump Continues to Dominate GOP Presidential Field in Latest Des Moines Register Iowa Poll

M.D. Kittle

With just two and a half months to go before the Iowa caucuses, former President Donald Trump has expanded his lead in the latest Des Moines Register/NBC/Mediacom poll.

But Trump’s lead could actually be bigger than indicated in the kickoff caucus state.

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ACLU Declares Trump Gag Order to Be Unconstitutional

Virginia Star Staff

On Wednesday, the far-left American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) made a surprising statement condemning a federal judge’s attempted gag order on former President Donald Trump.

As Politico reports, the ACLU’s statement came as a shock to many who support the group, as it had been one of Trump’s primary enemies during his presidency, frequently suing his administration to block many of his policies. But in a new friend-of-the-court brief, the ACLU agreed with Trump’s assertion that a gag order by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is a violation of his First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, as well as a violation of the public’s right to hear him speak.

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DOJ Inspector General Finds ‘No Evidence’ of Wrongdoing by Trump in FBI HQ Decision

Virginia Star Staff

The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) inspector general concluded in a Tuesday report that Former President Donald Trump did not inappropriately exert pressure on where to construct the FBI headquarters to protect his hotel from competition.

The investigation started in June 2019 following certain lawmakers and the media voicing worries regarding Trump’s possible influence on the FBI’s sudden choice to abandon its plan to construct a $3 billion suburban campus in Maryland or Virginia for its 10,000 workers in 2017, according to the report. The closeness to his former hotel in Washington, D.C. led some lawmakers to question whether he aimed to obstruct the land’s use for a potential rival hotel project, but the report found no evidence of that.

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Commentary: Gag Order Against Trump Is the Real Threat to Democracy

Virginia Star Staff

The reason you have not heard of a gag order on par with the one imposed on former President Trump is that it is highly unusual. Normally, in a criminal proceeding, there are no gag orders. To the extent they exist, they typically only bind the lawyers, who are admonished to adhere to the rules of professional conduct. Rarely—as in almost never—are criminal defendants forced into a gag order on such spurious grounds as they might “vilify and implicitly encourage violence against public servants who are simply doing their jobs.”

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Common Themes on Energy Policy Emerge Among Republican Presidential Candidates

Just the News

by Kevin Killough   In the past few years, America has seen high inflation rates and a faltering economy that some observers say will go into a recession. The latest conflict in the Middle East could likely pose a significant disruption in global energy supplies. Where the GOP contenders stand on energy policies…

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D.C. Judge Pauses Trump Gag Order in January 6 Case

Just the News

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Friday agreed to temporarily pause a gag order she imposed on former President Donald Trump while he appeals the decision.

Chutkan on Monday issued the order, prohibiting him from publicly attacking the court staff, the prosecution, and any potential witnesses. The judge is overseeing special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 case against the former president. Trump has vocally accused Smith of pursuing a political witch hunt against him to derail his 2024 White House bid.

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Trump Endorses Jim Justice in West Virginia Senate Race

Just the News

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday endorsed West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice in the state’s 2024 Senate race.

Justice, the state’s two-term governor, is currently seeking the Republican nomination and faces Rep. Alex Mooney in that contest. The winner of the primary will go on to seek the seat currently held by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who has yet to announce his reelection plans.

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Trump Gaining Ground with Young Voters: Poll

Virginia Star Staff

Former President Donald Trump is gaining ground with young voters ahead of 2024, and is faring better than President Joe Biden among the electorate, according to a Friday poll.

Trump is leading Biden among voters aged 18 to 29 by 2 points, as well as with 30- to 39-year-olds by 11 points, according to an Emerson College survey. Trump is also leading Biden in a head-to-head matchup 47% to 45% nationally, with 8% remaining undecided.

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Commentary: Biden’s Failures on Economy, Immigration, and Foreign Policy Are Driving Youngest Voters Away

Virginia Star Staff

President Biden’s failures with young voters goes far beyond the crippling double-digit declines in support he is suffering across battleground states compared to 2020. Democrats are utterly failing to secure loyalty from Gen Z leading into the 2024 election and are facing lower approval ratings from Zoomers than they are from slightly older Millennials.   

Gen Z voters – ages 18 to 24 – are emerging into a chaotic economy fraught with crippling inflation, waves of illegal immigration, rising crime, and an unstable world stage, and many are blaming Democrats to a degree that Obama-generation Millennial voters didn’t.

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Commentary: Trump Ahead in Battleground States

Virginia Star Staff

New polling from Redfield & Wilton Strategies shows Former President Trump ahead of President Biden in four out of six battleground states, including two he lost by razor-thin margins in the 2020 election. The data also shows Biden losing double-digits compared to 2020 exit polls with one group mainstream pundits seem to believe Democrats will always win – young people. Voters between 18 and 24 are moving away from Biden by double-digits compared to 2020 and in one state Trump is on track to win Gen Z by 29-percenatge points after losing them by 12 points in 2020.

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Commentary: Leaker of Trump Taxes Worked for Biden Beltway Donor That Just Won a Big New IRS Contract

RealClearWire

The Internal Revenue Service recently awarded a lucrative contract to help modernize its computer databases to the same Washington firm, Booz Allen Hamilton, that employed the man who pleaded guilty last week to stealing and leaking thousands of private tax returns of wealthy Americans, including former President Trump, according to records reviewed by RealClearInvestigations. 

The massive IRS theft is the third major breach of confidential and classified government information by Booz Allen contractors over the last decade – including Edward Snowden’s 2013 leak exposing the National Security Agency’s worldwide anti-terror surveillance program.

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Commentary: DOJ Gag Order on Trump’s Political Speech Threatens All Candidates for Public Office

Virginia Star Staff

“A TERRIBLE THING HAPPENED TO DEMOCRACY TODAY – GAG ORDER!”

That was former President Donald Trump on Truth Social on Oct. 16 following a gag order by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chukan forbidding him from criticizing Special Counsel Jack Smith in the Justice Department’s criminal case against Trump over allegations he somehow committed election fraud by challenging the results of the 2020 election.

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Commentary: If the Elections Were Held Today, Trump Would Defeat Biden – and Democrats Can’t Stand It

Virginia Star Staff

Few outside some bitter Republican circles are still arguing that Donald Trump can’t win the 2024 election. What was conventional wisdom a few months ago has fallen to pieces. Trump has already won the primary, not that Republicans have any reason to regret it: he is outperforming Joe Biden in the polls, despite being indicted four times, a remarkable feat that only Trump could pull off. Notably, Trump ran far behind Biden in 2020, when Trump barely “lost,” something that enraged many liberals at the time.

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Donald Trump Takes a Commanding Lead in Third-Quarter Fundraising for 2024 Presidential Candidates

Virginia Star Staff

Third-quarter fundraising numbers released Sunday provide a glimpse into the strengths of the 2024 Republican presidential campaigns as the primary season is fast approaching.

Former President Donald Trump out-raised the entire GOP primary field, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and conservative businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) third-quarter filings. Trump also enters the year’s final fundraising quarter with the most cash on hand, with South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott next in line, followed by DeSantis and Haley.

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Jack Smith’s Proposed Gag Order Against Trump Isn’t as Narrow’ as Claimed, Legal Experts Say

Virginia Star Staff
Special Counsel Jack Smith

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office’s requested gag order against former President Donald Trump is not quite as “narrowly tailored” as he claimed, legal experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Sept. 15 to issue a “narrowly tailored” gag order barring Trump from making public statements that are “disparaging and inflammatory, or intimidating” toward any “party, witness, attorney, court personnel, or potential jurors,” as well as any statements “regarding the identity, testimony, or credibility of prospective witnesses.” The scope and circumstances surrounding the request — which a hearing scheduled for Monday will consider — are far outside what is normal in criminal trials, experts told the DCNF.

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Ramaswamy Blasts Haley for ‘Irresponsible Reaction’ on Israel

M.D. Kittle

Divergent positions are emerging among GOP presidential candidates on U.S. involvement in Israel’s war against Iran-backed Hamas.

A day after former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley declared that it is time for Israel “finish off” the terrorist group, GOP presidential rival Vivek Ramaswamy blasted Haley for what he described as her “irresponsible reaction.”

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Trump Touts Travel Ban on Muslim Countries After Hamas Terrorists Invade Israel

Just the News

Former President Donald Trump touted his travel ban on Muslim-majority countries in a speech in New Hampshire after Hamas terrorists invaded Israel over the weekend, killing more than 900 people, including at least 11 U.S. citizens, in what was the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

Trump said Monday during a rally in Wolfeboro, N.H., that people are pouring into the United States across the southern border and, “we have no idea from where they come, the same people in many cases, the same people that just attacked Israel.”

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Haley Talking Tough in Iowa, Says U.S. Needs to Back Ukraine and Israel in Wars Brought by Thugs and Terrorists

M.D. Kittle

Asserting the U.S. must do all it can to help Israel “eliminate” the Hamas-driven terrorism that rocked Israel over the weekend, GOP presidential candidate and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley is striking an even more hawkish tone for U.S. involvement in two major theaters of war — Europe and the Middle East.

“I would tell Israel that whatever it is you need to, not just get your country back but to eliminate the terrorists, we should do because Hamas is saying, ‘Death to America,” and it is in our best interest to make sure that they are not doing anything that would harm Americans or harm our friends,” Haley told a smallish gathering of some 75 people Monday afternoon at a town hall event in Central Iowa.

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Hillary Clinton: ‘There Needs to Be a Formal Deprogramming’ of MAGA ‘Cult Members’

Virginia Star Staff

During an interview on CNN Thursday, failed 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called for the “formal deprogramming” of Trump supporters, labeling them as “MAGA extremists” and “cult members.”

“We had very strong partisans in both parties in the past, and we had very bitter battles over all kinds of things—gun control and climate change and the economy and taxes—but there wasn’t this little tail of extremism, waving, you know, wagging the dog of the Republican Party as it is today,” Clinton, 75, told host Christiane Amanpour.

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Liz Cheney Calls Trump’s Actions on January 6th as ‘Evil as You Can Imagine’

Zachery Schmidt

Liz Cheney said Thursday that what former President Donald Trump did on January 6th is as “evil as you can imagine” and as much of a “dereliction of duty of an American president we have ever seen.”

“[Trump was watching [the riot] on television, and he thought the mob was doing the right thing. And no matter how many times people pleaded with him to tell the mobs to go home, he wouldn’t do it,” the former Wyoming representative said in a talk at the University of Montana’s 2023 Mansfield Center Lecture series. “And did he not do it for over three hours, but in the middle of the violence, when the attack was happening, he sent out a tweet saying that Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what Trump wanted him to do.

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Commentary: Hillary’s ‘Deprogramming’ Wish and the FBI’s Latest Excuse to Hunt MAGA ‘Terrorists’

Julie Kelly

To the surprise of no one paying attention, Newsweek just confirmed the FBI is targeting supporters of Donald Trump in advance of the 2024 election. “The federal government believes that the threat of violence and major civil disturbances around the 2024 U.S. presidential election is so great that it has quietly created a new category of extremists that it seeks to track and counter: Donald Trump’s army of MAGA followers,” investigative journalist William M. Arkin reported on October 5.

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Legal Experts Say Summary Judgment of Fraud Against Trump by NY Judge Contains Legal Abuses

Rachel Alexander

New York Judge Arthur Engoron, a registered Democrat, granted summary judgment against Donald Trump last week in a case alleging real estate fraud by the former president. Not waiting for the trial to begin, where evidence would be produced, experts would testify, and discovery would conclude, Engoron revoked the licenses for Trump’s key properties, including Trump Tower and the Trump International Hotel, and set up a fast timeline to dissolve the Trump Organization and its connected entities. Engoron said Trump and his associates inflated the values of his properties, but several legal experts disagreed. 

Viva Frei, a lawyer who hosts a show with fellow lawyer Robert Barnes called Sidebar,  broke down his assessment of the case with Barnes in an 18-minute video on Monday. “It would seem that the REAL fraud is coming from the Court and from the corrupt Attorney General,” he said. “A breakdown of the absurdity coming out of New York from last night’s stream.”

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Second GOP Presidential Debate Was Sloppy, At Times Chaotic, Ultimately Forgettable, Critics Say

M.D. Kittle

Wednesday evening’s chaotic GOP presidential primary debate at times felt more like an episode of “Jersey Shore” than a showcase of the best and brightest minds in conservative politics.

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Second GOP Presidential Debate Turns Into a Rhetorical Brawl as Candidates Jockey for Position in Trump-Dominated Race

M.D. Kittle

In a second GOP presidential debate that often seemed more like a disorderly reality TV show, the Babylon Bee’s satirical news headline may have best captured the mood of viewers: ‘Mute Button’ Wins GOP Debate.

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Commentary: Biden’s Margin of Error Is Gone

Virginia Star Staff

Comparing current polling to 2020’s results, President Joe Biden cannot win reelection in 2024. To win in 2020, Biden had to roll up a big popular-vote margin to squeak to victory in the Electoral College. If current polls are correct, or even close, Biden’s needed popular support is nonexistent. And looking at the economy, it is hard to see from where it will come.

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Commentary: The Implications of Joe Biden’s Pending Political Demise

Virginia Star Staff

I’ve been saying, at The Spectacle podcast and elsewhere, that I refuse to make any assumptions about the 2024 presidential cycle. And let me offer the further caveat that Republican voters and conservative activists, not to mention current and prospective officeholders who wear that “R” next to their political names, had better pay a whole lot more attention to the structure of next year’s political cycle than to the personalities and candidates involved.

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Voters Overwhelmingly Side with the GOP on the Economy: Poll

Virginia Star Staff

Republicans hold a commanding lead among voters’ views toward which party handles the economy better as President Joe Biden continues to pitch his economic policy to the American people, according to a new NBC News poll.

Republicans lead Democrats 49% to 28% among registered voters surveyed on the economy, which is the largest lead in NBC polling since 1991, according to NBC News. Biden has sought to sell his economic policy, dubbed “Bidenomics,” to Americans, which consists of high-spending stimulus programs and green energy subsidies.

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GOP Presidential Candidates Prepare for Critical Second Debate Without Trump

M.D. Kittle

If Wednesday’s second GOP presidential primary debate proves to be anything like the first, we’re in for a night of political punches and maybe a rhetorical gang fight or two as the candidates look to score points in another Trump-less bout.

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Poll Showing Biden Leading Trump by 6 Points – if Former President is Convicted – Has DeSantis Backers Written All Over it

M.D. Kittle

A recent poll showing President Joe Biden ahead of Donald Trump in a 2024 rematch if the former president is convicted of the indictments he’s facing was conducted by the pollster working with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ super PAC.

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GOP Rep. Biggs Predicts 10 Million Illegal Aliens Will Have Entered U.S. by End of Biden Admin

Just the News

Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs on Thursday backed former President Donald Trump’s calls to conduct a mass deportation of illegal immigrants over the age of 14.

Addressing supporters in Iowa at a recent rally, Trump vowed to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to enable the widespread deportation effort.

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Trump Plans to Skip Debate and Visit UAW Members in Detroit, Michigan Dems Freak Out

Virginia Star Staff

Say what you will about former President Donald Trump, but he has a knack for ruffling the feathers of the elite while hob-knobbing with the regular folk and making connections.

While the Democrat Party likes to tout itself as the sole savior of the blue-collar worker, it’s the former president who is planning to speak to the rank-and-file in Detroit at an event next week. In fact, Trump plans to skip the second GOP presidential debate on September 27 to do so.

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Commentary: American Public Says Biden Is Not the Leader America Needs to Fix the Country

Virginia Star Staff

A giant new poll delving deep into the public’s views on President Biden, Former President Trump, the U.S. economy and their own economic situation reveals a people deeply unhappy with the direction of the country under President Biden. 

First, the latest CBS News/YouGov poll shows Trump beating Biden by one point 50% to 49%. While that’s well within the margin of error, other recent polls have shown Trump beating Biden by as many as six percentage points in the past three weeks. Whatever the metric, Trump is polling significantly better now than he was at any time in 2020, and that has Democrats worried.   

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Media Fumed over Trump’s Detention of Illegal Immigrants, Now Issue Has Boomeranged on Biden

Just the News
Border surge

Former President Donald Trump attracted intense media scrutiny and criticism over the detention of illegal immigrants. But now the issue has boomeranged on the Biden administration and his party, which is being cited by government watchdogs for poor conditions at  Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities during the surge at the southern border.

More than six million immigrants have illegally entered the United States during Joe Biden’s presidency. The influx appears to have placed considerable strain on facilities intended to accommodate fresh arrivals. Federal agencies are seemingly unable to provide adequate service in the face of the sheer volume.

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Commentary: Jack Smith’s Real-Life Bogeyman

Julie Kelly
Special Counsel Jack Smith

One must wonder if Special Counsel Jack Smith checks under his bed every night to make sure a large man wearing an oversized blue suit, long red tie, and MAGA hat isn’t there.

Smith, the public has been assured, is a nerves-of-steel prosecutor who has taken on some of the world’s most dangerous criminals during his time at the U.S. Department of Justice and The Hague. Following Smith’s appointment in November 2022, one former colleague swooned to the New York Times how Smith “has a way about him of projecting calm” and that “people look to him for steady guidance.”

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Trump’s Lawyers Argue Judge’s Failure to Recuse Will Cause ‘Irreparable Damage’ to Judicial System for ‘Generations’

Admin

Former president Donald Trump’s lawyers doubled down on their call for the judge hearing his 2020 election case to recuse in a Sunday court filing, arguing that her failure to do so would cause “irreparable damage” to the judicial system for “generations to come.”

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A Closer Look at Vivek Ramaswamy’s Bold Plan to Take Down the Administrative State

M.D. Kittle

GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy proposed a plan on Wednesday to halve the size of the federal administrative state in his first year in office — should he be elected.

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GOP Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Says He’d Win a Legal Challenge to His Plan to Slash the Administrative State

M.D. Kittle

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy knows there would be legal challenges to his sweeping plan to drastically reduce the size of the administrative state. The 38-year-old political outsider knows the big government left won’t give up the heart of the D.C swamp without a bruising fight.

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Kinder, Gentler Iowa Cattle Call of GOP Presidential Hopefuls Sees Ramaswamy, DeSantis, Haley Generate Most Buzz

M.D. Kittle

The latest cattle call of GOP presidential contestants — sans former President Donald Trump — mainly maintained Iowa nice, a departure from last month’s first fiery primary debate and a similar Christian conservative event in July hosted by conservative talk show host lightning rod Tucker Carlson.

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Swing State Poll Results Could Spell Big Trouble for Joe Biden

Virginia Star Staff

Former President Donald Trump appears to have an advantage against President Joe Biden in 2024 among key battleground states in the 2020 election, according to a Friday poll.

The states that had the narrowest margin of victory for either candidate last cycle were Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, with Biden winning all but North Carolina. Across those key swing states, Trump is ahead of Biden 41% to 35%, and 24% of voters remain undecided, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

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