As far as National Security and National Defense, I worry that MAGA folks are too busy with the peripheral nonsense's and are far removed from the crucial business of Defense.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson has inspired a new following from the extreme right, including some members of Congress, by asking: Why take Ukraine’s side instead of Russia’s? The arguments are vast for defending the sovereignty of democratic Ukraine, and most American adults should need no reminders why containing Moscow’s expansionist desires is essential for U.S. national security.
Carlson seems to be exploiting Americans’ exceedingly short memories and attention spans as he articulates a new Republican philosophy that is the exact opposite of everything the party’s iconic leader, Ronald Reagan, stood for. Carlson proposes embracing Russia as an ally and effectively excusing all of its past transgressions — of course including Russian President Vladimir Putin’s help engineering Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election.
“Why is it disloyal to side with Russia but loyal to side with Ukraine?” Carlson asked on his show last week to the applause of several GOP members of Congress. The reception was more chilly in 2019 when Carlson stated: “Why do I care [about] … what is going on in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia? And I’m serious. Why do I care? Why shouldn’t I root for Russia? Which I am.”
Here’s why. Putin was born and raised a communist, and actively assisted in the Soviet Union’s global expansion as a foreign intelligence officer. While he was rising through the ranks to become a KGB lieutenant colonel, Russia invaded Afghanistan, spawning four decades of upheaval and terrorism. Despite the Soviet Union’s collapse, Putin has never given up on reviving Moscow’s expansionist empire. Destabilizing Ukraine is key to that goal. Putin has armed and trained a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine. In 2014, insurgents and their Russian military advisers downed a Malaysian jumbo jet, killing all 298 people aboard.
That same year, Russia seized the strategic Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. Reports from Ukrainians living in Crimea today indicate heavy levels of political oppression persist. Dissent is crushed, and criticism of Putin is punished harshly — just as it is everywhere else where Putin rules.
But apparently Carlson thinks that’s just swell.
Putin has a habit of killing, poisoning, maiming or imprisoning his most vocal critics. When the United States works around the globe to isolate repressive regimes such as those in Iran, Syria and Venezuela, Putin boosts their military with economic aid.
Carlson’s apparently a big fan, as are memory-deprived GOP U.S. Reps. Matt Rosendale of Montana, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Paul Gosar of Arizona and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, to name a few.
Putin does all he can to stifle democracy, kill off his opponents, sabotage U.S. foreign policy and interfere with other nations’ sovereignty — including America’s. And Carlson has the gall to ask: “Why shouldn’t I root for Russia?” Perhaps Fox News should consider hosting Carlson’s next show from atop Ronald Reagan’s grave, just to drive home the point.
(CNN) — President Donald Trump on Saturday doubled down on his call for Russia to be readmitted into the G7 and blamed his predecessor for Russia's aggression in Crimea.
"I think it would be an asset to have Russia back in," Trump said during an impromptu press conference at the summit. "I think it would be good for the world. I think it would be good for Russia. I think it would be good the United States. I think it would be good for all of the countries of the current G7. I think the G8 would be better."
Russia was suspended from the group -- then known as the G8 -- in 2014 after the majority of member countries allied against its annexation of Crimea. It was the first violation of a European country's borders since World War II.
Trump suggested that Russia be allowed back into the global group despite their continued occupation of Crimea.
"I would say that the G8 is a more meaningful group than the G7, absolutely," Trump said. He also blamed former US President Barack Obama for Russia's move into that nation.
"You'll have to ask Obama, because he was the one that let Crimea get away" he said when asked about the annexation. "He allowed Russia to take Crimea. I may have had a much different attitude."
Former Obama National Security Council spokesman Ned Price told CNN that "today crystallizes precisely why Putin was so eager to see Trump elected."
"For Putin, this is return on his investment, and it's safe to say that his investment has paid off beyond even his wildest dreams," he said in a statement to CNN.
Trump's advocacy for Russia's readmittance to the powerful group of industrialized nations -- which he first voiced on Friday -- comes despite opposition from European allies.
On Saturday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he told Trump that asking Russia to rejoin the G7 is "not something we are even remotely looking at."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a press conference Friday that there was consensus that Russia should not return to the G7.
"We agree that a return by Russia to the G7 format cannot happen as long as there isn't any substantial progress in regard to the problems with Ukraine. That was the common view," she said.
"We (have) always been clear we should engage with Russia where it is in our interests, but we need to remember why G8 became the G7, it was because Russia illegally annexed Crimea," a European diplomat said Friday. "Since then we have seen an increase in Russian misbehavior and attempts to undermine democracy in Europe. It is not appropriate for Russia to rejoin until we see it behaving responsibly. Putin should get nothing for free."
This sentiment was echoed by a senior United Kingdom government source.
"The PM has always said we should engage with Russia but beware. We should remind ourselves why the G8 became the G7 -- it was after Russia illegally annexed Crimea," the source said. "Before any conversations can take place about Russia rejoining, it needs to change its approach."
French President Emmanuel Macron told journalists on Saturday that Russia could rejoin the summit if Moscow implemented the Minsk agreements, which were intended to enforce a solution the crisis in Ukraine.
"For four years, we have been saying we will extend again if and when the Minsk agreements are respected," Macron said. "We will, but only when and if the Minsk agreements are respected. So it's up to Russia now. As soon as the agreements are upheld, we will open the game. And that's really my wish. I'd like to have a G8 in Beatrix next year and that will be because the Russians fulfill the conditions of the Minsk agreements."
Lawmakers in the United States have condemned Trump's comments, which some have taken as the latest example of the US President's failure to condemn Russia for its interference in the 2016 election.
"The President has inexplicably shown our adversaries the deference and esteem that should be reserved for our closest allies," Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said in a scathing statement Friday.
Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse said in a statement, "Putin is not our friend and he is not the President's buddy. He is a thug using Soviet-style aggression to wage a shadow war against America, and our leaders should act like it."
Former Vice President Joe Biden denounced Trump's remarks, writing on Twitter, "Putin's Russia invaded its neighbors, violated our sovereignty by undermining elections, and attacks dissidents abroad. Yet our President wants to reward him with a seat at the table while alienating our closest democratic allies. It makes no sense."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday that Trump was turning US foreign policy "into an international joke, doing lasting damage to our country."
Special counsel prosecutors have secured evidence including daily notes, texts, emails and photographs and are focused on cataloging how Donald Trump handled classified records around the Mar-a-Lago resort and those who may have witnessed the former president with them, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation.
The new details come amid signs the Justice Department is taking steps typical of near the end of an investigation.
The recent investigative activity before a federal grand jury in Washington, DC, also includes subpoenaing witnesses in March and April who had previously spoken to investigators, the sources said. While the FBI interviewed many aides and workers at Mar-a-Lago nearly a year ago voluntarily, grand jury appearances are transcribed and under-oath – an indication the prosecutors are locking in witness testimony.
Another source familiar with the matter told CNN that Secret Service agents tasked with protecting the former president have been called to testify. The number of agents remains unclear. Fox first reported on the development.
The focus of both the mishandling of records and obstruction of justice probes has remained on the actions of the former president, the multiple sources familiar said. That includes prosecutors pursuing evidence of Trump’s intent to keep classified records after he left the White House, plus his knowledge that the records remained in his possession after the Justice Department demanded their return last May.
Witnesses are being questioned about what they saw in Trump’s private residential and work areas within the club, some of the sources said.
Investigators have also collected texts and notes from Molly Michael, Trump’s assistant, which detail what Trump was doing and who he was meeting with in his day to day.
The new evidence the team working for special counsel Jack Smith is focusing on is separate from what was obtained through a recent grand jury pursuit of Trump’s defense lawyer Evan Corcoran, a source told CNN. Corcoran spoke with the former president the day the Trump Organization received a subpoena for Mar-a-Lago surveillance tapes and at other pivotal moments last year, and the DOJ believes Trump used the lawyer to try to advance a crime.
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, accused the Justice Department of “prosecutorial misconduct” and leaks in the investigation, when asked to respond to recent developments in the classified documents investigation.
A spokesman for the special counsel’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The grand jury activity – expected to continue to occur at a frequent clip in the coming weeks – builds upon several known reactions Trump and others around him had to the DOJ’s attempt to reclaim classified records last year, and which prompted the FBI to obtain a judge’s approval to search Mar-a-Lago in August for classified records.
Some of the evidence the DOJ has used to persuade a judge to allow that search is still under seal.
The unprecedented search of the former president’s residence recovered more than a hundred documents marked as classified.
The grand jury activity also appears to be in line with more than two dozen subpoenas sent to aides and resort staff at Mar-a-Lago that has underlined investigators’ continued interest in what they saw or heard around the estate.
The FBI search came months after the DOJ had subpoenaed all classified documents and developed evidence, including by viewing the resort’s surveillance footage, that Trump hadn’t return all that he had. One aide has told investigators Trump directed him to move boxes from a basement storage room to his residential area in the club following the DOJ’s subpoena for all classified records, CNN previously reported.
Since then, the Justice Department has pushed for answers around how a box with classified records ended up in Trump’s office after the FBI search took place. Trump lawyers have downplayed items with classified markings they found at the resort late last year, such as an empty manila folder marked as containing a classified summary. One Trump defense attorney said the ex-president used the folder to block a light in his bedroom that kept him up at night.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Thursday defended the man arrested in connection with a high-profile investigation into leaked classified documents.
In a tweet just hours after the FBI arrested Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, 21, Greene, R-Ga., praised his alleged actions and implied President Joe Biden was "the real enemy."
“Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime. And he told the truth about troops being on the ground in Ukraine and a lot more,” Greene, a member of the Homeland Security Committee, said on Twitter. "Ask yourself who is the real enemy?”
Her comments were at odds with remarks from the handful of Republicans who weighed in on the arrest by praising law enforcement and calling for accountability over the leak.
Federal authorities continue to investigate the leak, which exposed U.S. intelligence about Russian efforts in Ukraine and spying on American allies.
Greene's remarks were met with backlash from some Democrats.
David Axelrod, the chief strategist of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, called Greene’s tweet about Teixeira “truly nuts,” while Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., accused her of siding with one of the country's "biggest traitors."
House Speaker Kevin "McCarthy’s top lieutenant is siding with one of the biggest traitors America has seen," tweeted Swalwell, who sits on the Homeland Security Committee with Greene. "I’m sorry, Marge, being white, male, and Christian is not license to betray your country and put the lives of thousands at risk. But this wouldn’t be the first time she sided with traitors."
In 2020, Greene tweeted that then-President Donald Trump should pardon WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is wanted on criminal charges after WikiLeaks published thousands of secret U.S. files, and Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who exposed U.S. surveillance programs.
President Biden on Saturday declared white supremacy “the most dangerous terrorist threat” to the American homeland, using a speech to graduating students at a historically Black university to elevate a debate that has already become central to his campaign for a second term.
Recounting the story of how he initially decided to run for the White House after seeing white supremacists marching in Charlottesville in 2017, Biden said the country continues to be in a “battle” against “sinister forces” that are determined to turn the clock back to more divisive times.
“I don’t have to tell you that progress towards justice often meets ferocious pushback from the oldest and most sinister of forces,” Biden said, after quoting former president Donald Trump’s equivocating response to the 2017 rally. “That’s because hate never goes away.”
The president avoided calling out Trump or his other Republican rivals by name, but the subtext of his remarks to the students of Howard University was unmistakable. His address came as many leading Republicans, including those currently vying for the GOP presidential nomination, argue that the nation’s focus on racial injustice has gone too far.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and others have attacked critical race theory, which examines how race is embedded in society, and criticized the push for diversity, equity and inclusion embraced by many institutions. They argue that such initiatives portray America as evil and tar all White people as racist.
Biden appeared to take on this sentiment directly Saturday, saying: “We know that American history has not always been a fairy tale. From the start, it’s been a constant push-and-pull for more than 240 years between the best of us — the American ideal that we’re all created equal — and the worst of us — the harsh reality that racism has long torn us apart. It’s a battle that’s never really over.”
Trump, who is leading the Republican presidential field, repeatedly made racially provocative divisive comments when he was in the White House, such as telling four congresswomen of color in 2019 to go back to “the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”
Biden has long attacked racism in American society, but Saturday’s setting made his remarks especially notable. The 80-year-old president, after recently launching what could be a tough reelection campaign, is aiming to appeal to young voters of color, who were key to his 2020 victory but have softened in their support for him over the past two years, according to public opinion polls.
In recent weeks, he has leaned into rhetoric and imagery aimed at shoring up his support among Black voters, declaring that he has made good on his promises to a community that in many ways saved his political prospects and propelled him into office. His reelection announcement video included several images of Vice President Harris and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black women to serve in those positions after they were selected by Biden.
Biden reiterated those and other accomplishments during his speech Saturday, while also presenting himself as a defender of Black Americans against the actions of Republican politicians. The result was a highly political commencement speech that helped clarify the vividly different America seen by the two parties: Republicans portray a country that has contorted itself with showy guilt and political correctness, while Biden depicts a nation that has made big strides but must remain vigilant against tenacious racism.
Biden criticized opponents who he says have embraced banning books about Black history, sought to undo the student debt relief his administration bills as key to racial equity, and failed to combat “political violence that has been unleashed and emboldened.” He pledged “to stand up against the poison of white supremacy, as I did in my inaugural address — to single it out as the most dangerous terrorist threat to our homeland is white supremacy.”
The audience of thousands of mostly Black students and their families broke out into applause, before Biden added: “And I’m not saying this because I’m at a Black HBCU. I say it wherever I go.” Biden was referring to historically Black colleges and universities.
Republicans argue that such comments do more to stir up racial division than to heal it, and GOP leaders were quick to blast the president for Saturday’s comments. The Republican National Committee took to Twitter to share a video titled “Joe Biden’s Racism Problem” that featured Biden making a number of gaffes while talking about race over the years.
“Nobody stokes more division than Joe Biden,” tweeted Jake Schneider, a researcher for the RNC.
Biden’s remarks come as racial issues have become even more fraught in the race for the presidency.
Trump told a CNN town hall Thursday that he would consider pardoning many of the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, if he is reelected, describing the mostly White insurrectionists as policemen, carpenters, electricians and “great people.” He called the Black police officer who shot and killed one of the rioters a “thug.”
DeSantis, who has rolled back diversity initiatives in Florida and rejected an Advanced Placement course on African American history, is also leaning into race issues as he prepares to mount a presidential bid.
Republicans have bristled at being associated with the “white supremacy” label, with some downplaying the threat posed by extremists and claiming Democrats’ concerns over the issue are little more than a political attack against Trump-supporting Republicans.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) sparked controversy last week by appearing to defend white supremacists in the military, telling radio station WBHM, “I call them Americans.” Tuberville, who endorsed Trump’s 2024 bid last year, later accused Democrats of equating Trump supporters with white supremacists.
Defending white nationalists, Tommy Tuberville fears a military that is ‘going wrong’
Amid this turbulent landscape, it is unclear if Biden’s heightened focus on calling out white supremacy will be enough to shore up his numbers among young voters of color.
He used his speech at Howard to tout his administration’s historic diversity and key victories on racial equity, including combating climate change and expanding funding for historically Black colleges and universities. But he also acknowledged areas where his administration has not been able to deliver on key components of his racial justice agenda, including police reform and voting rights.
“I know you’re frustrated that there are so many elected officials who refuse to pass a law that will do something,” he said of Congress’s failure to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
Biden pledged to continue working on those and other issues, making his case for a second term without saying as much.
Still, he has pivoted to more moderate positions on crime and immigration as the campaign approaches, giving him more work to do to win back young voters who have soured on his presidency, said Terrance Woodbury, a Democratic pollster.
“Young people view the Biden-Harris administration cautiously,” Woodbury said last week, before Biden’s commencement speech. “We have to correct for that in 2024.”
Federal prosecutors have evidence Donald Trump was put on notice that he could not retain any classified documents after he was subpoenaed for their return last year, as they examine whether the subsequent failure to fully comply with the subpoena was a deliberate act of obstruction by the former president.
The previously unreported warning conveyed to Trump by his lawyer Evan Corcoran could be significant in the criminal investigation surrounding Trump’s handling of classified materials given it shows he knew about his subpoena obligations.
Last June, Corcoran found roughly 40 classified documents in the storage room at Mar-a-Lago and told the justice department that no further materials remained at the property. That was later shown to be untrue, after the FBI later returned with a warrant and seized 101 additional classified documents.
The federal investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith has recently focused on why the subpoena was not compiled with, notably whether Trump arranged for boxes of classified documents to be moved out of the storage room so he could illegally retain them.
In particular, prosecutors have fixated on Trump’s valet Walt Nauta, after he told the justice department that Trump told him to move boxes out of the storage room before and after the subpoena. The activity was captured on subpoenaed surveillance footage, though there were gaps in the tapes.
The warning was one of several key moments that Corcoran preserved in roughly 50 pages of dictated notes described to the Guardian over several weeks by three people with knowledge of their contents, which prosecutors have viewed in recent months as central to the criminal investigation.
The notes revealed how Trump and Nauta had unusually detailed knowledge of the botched subpoena response, including where Corcoran intended to search and not search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, as well as when Corcoran was actually doing his search.
Although ordinarily off limits to prosecutors, the notes ended up before the grand jury in Washington hearing evidence in the case after a US appeals court allowed attorney-client privilege to be pierced because judges believed Trump might have used Corcoran’s legal advice in furtherance of a crime.
The notes described how Corcoran told Nauta about the subpoena before he started looking for classified documents because Corcoran needed him to unlock the storage room – which prosecutors have taken as a sign that Nauta was closely involved at essentially every step of the search.
Corcoran then described how Nauta had offered to help him go through the boxes, which he declined and told Nauta he should stay outside. But going through around 60 boxes in the storage room took longer than expected, and the search ended up lasting several days.
The notes also suggested to prosecutors that there were times when the storage room might have been left unattended while the search for classified documents was ongoing, one of the people said, such as when Corcoran needed to take a break and walked out to the pool area nearby.
In addition to his exchange with Trump, Corcoran described Trump’s facial expressions and reactions whenever they discussed the subpoena. The unusually detailed nature of his notes is said to have irritated Trump, who only learned about them after the notes themselves were subpoenaed.
The notes did not address why Corcoran only looked in the storage room, though he separately testified to the grand jury that while Trump did not mislead him about where to search, he did not say where to search either. The New York Times earlier reported a summary of his testimony.
Corcoran did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.
Constructing an obstruction case remains challenging, and prosecutors would need to show that Trump arranged for Nauta to remove boxes he expressly knew contained classified documents demanded by the subpoena, with the intention of concealing them from his lawyer’s search.
Trump’s legal team have consistently said the subpoena response was incomplete because Corcoran was not as thorough as he should have been, in part because he left it until right before the deadline and only realized when he got there just how many boxes were in the storage room.
A Trump spokesperson has previously said of the investigation: “This is nothing more than a targeted, politically motivated witch-hunt against President Trump that is concocted to meddle in an election and prevent the American people from returning him to the White House.”
To resolve the issue about the gaps in the surveillance footage, the special counsel most recently subpoenaed Matthew Calamari Sr, the Trump Organization’s security chief who became its chief operating officer, and his son Matthew Calamari Jr, the director of corporate security.
Both Calamaris testified to the grand jury earlier this month, the Guardian previously reported, and were questioned in part on a text message that Nauta had sent asking Calamari Sr to call him back about the justice department’s request for the tapes last year.
The justice department interviewed Nauta several times last year until prosecutors grew concerned that he failed to provide them with a complete and accurate account of his role in moving boxes that contained classified documents, according to two people familiar with the situation.
To force his cooperation, prosecutors threatened to charge him with lying to the FBI after he gave differing accounts over several interviews. But that incensed Nauta’s lawyer, who told the justice department his client would not talk again unless he was charged or offered an immunity deal.
After losing Nauta, investigators have turned to other witnesses who could shed light on his role. In recent interviews, they have asked whether Nauta removed boxes containing classified documents when he was in the storage room at the time of the subpoena, and where he went with them.
Donald Trump has been asking people close to him, including one of his personal attorneys, for the identities of senior FBI agents and Justice Department personnel who've been working on the federal investigations targeting him, Rolling Stone reported.
Sources tell Rolling Stone that Trump said that if he's elected, he'll “quickly” and “immediately” purge the agents from their positions.
Trump has also said that on "day one" of his new term he'll fire FBI Director Christopher Wray -- who he appointed in 2017 during his first term. '
Uncovering the names of those working on his cases won't be so easy, as Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton found out after filing a Freedom of Information Act request demanding information about “all employees hired by or detailed to the office of Special Counsel Jack Smith.” In April, the Justice Department denied the request due to it being an “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” and that it would “interfere with enforcement proceedings.”
“I don’t understand why it is that the names of prosecutors involved in a criminal investigation are secret," Fitton told Rolling Stone. "The Durham report shows it’s important we know who’s working there. We don’t want social security numbers or personal phone numbers, but certainly senior leaders and others who are pursuing this need to be disclosed.”
According to Rolling Stone, Trump plans to completely revamp the federal bureaucracy by installing "extreme loyalists" like Jeffrey Clark and Michael Flynn, who aided Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump also has pledged to sign an executive order that would make it easier to hire loyalists and fire nonpartisan civil servants.
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