[RD] Trump in Charge: The MAGA Presidency

I am not 100% sure what the story is here, but it seems to demonstrate that Trumps hand picked prosecutors are children who do not understand the functioning of the legal system.

My Signal exchange with the interim U.S. attorney about the Letitia James grand jury

It was 1:20 p.m. on the afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 11. I was lounging in my pajamas, idly scrolling through Netflix, having spent the morning reading news stories, occasionally tweeting, and watching TV. It was a rare day off.

Then my phone lit up with a notification. I glanced down at the message.

“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.

Lindsey Halligan—the top prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia—was texting me. As it turned out, she was texting me about a criminal case she is pursuing against one of the president’s perceived political enemies: New York Attorney General Letitia James.

So began my two-day text correspondence with the woman President Donald Trump had installed, in no small part, to bring the very prosecution she was now discussing with me by text message.

It is not uncommon for federal prosecutors to communicate with the press, both through formal channels and sometimes informally. My exchange with Halligan, however, was highly unusual in a number of respects. She initiated a conversation with me, a reporter she barely knew, to discuss an ongoing prosecution that she is personally handling. She mostly criticized my reporting—or, more precisely, my summary of someone else’s reporting. But several of her messages contained language that touch on grand jury matters, even as she insisted that she could not reveal such information, which is protected from disclosure by prosecutors under federal law.

As a legal journalist covering the Justice Department, I had never encountered anything quite like my exchange with Halligan. Neither had my editor. Over the last several days, he and I spoke with multiple former federal officials and journalists who cover the justice system. None could recall a similar instance in which a sitting U.S. attorney reached out to chastise a reporter about matters concerning grand jury testimony in an active case.

This may be what the complaint was about:

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Pardoned Capitol rioter arrested for allegedly threatening to kill top Democrat​

A man pardoned by US President Donald Trump for his role in the 2021 Capitol riot has been charged with threatening to kill the top Democrat in the House of Representatives.

Christopher Moynihan, 34, was arrested in the town of Clinton, New York, for making a terroristic threat to kill a member of Congress, New York State Police said. He has pleaded not guilty.

Moynihan allegedly planned to target Senate Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries during a speech to the Economic Club of New York scheduled for this week, according to court filings obtained by the BBC's US partner CBS News.

"I cannot allow this terrorist to live," Moynihan allegedly wrote in text messages.

According to court filings, Moynihan also wrote: "Even if I am hated, [Jeffries] must be eliminated, I will kill him for the future."

Jeffries, a lead contender to become Speaker should Democrats take control of the House, said he was grateful to police and federal agents for apprehending "a dangerous individual who made a credible death threat against me with every intention to carry it out".

"Unfortunately, our brave men and women in law enforcement are being forced to spend their time keeping our communities safe from these violent individuals who should never have been pardoned," he added.

Moynihan was sentenced to 21 months in prison in 2023 for breaching the Capitol on 6 January 2021 as part of the mob seeking to stop Congress from certifying that Joe Biden had won the 2020 election and to keep Trump in power.

Prosecutors said he was one of the first rioters to break through police barricades.

After he entered the Senate chamber, they said, he flipped through a notebook on a desk and took pictures with his phone, saying there had to be information in them they could "use against" lawmakers.

On Trump's first day back in office, he pardoned Moynihan and more than 1,000 other riot defendants, calling them "hostages" whose lives had been "detroyed". Several other pardoned rioters have also since been arrested for a variety of charges.

Last month, he posted a doctored video of Jeffries wearing a sombrero when talks on avoiding a government shutdown failed and accused him of favoring people in the country illegally over US citizens.

Political violence has turned deadly in the US this year. A man in June allegedly targeted Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota, killing one and her husband and wounding another. Then, in September, a Utah man allegedly shot and killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Moynihan is being held in a facility in Poughkeepsie and is next scheduled to appear in court on Thursday. He has been read his charges and pleaded not guilty, according to the local prosecutor.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2ej7ly369o
 

Trump refugee plan seeks 7,000 Afrikaners — and virtually no one else​

The administration’s rush to process thousands of White South Africans coincides with plans for overall admissions set as low as 7,500.

The Trump administration’s plan to overhaul the U.S. refugee resettlement process, including a drastic reduction in overall annual admissions, coincides with a concerted effort to prepare thousands of White South Africans to relocate to the United States through the system, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post and people familiar with the effort.

If the administration succeeds, almost all people admitted to the U.S. as refugees — as many as 7,000 from a maximum potential pool of 7,500 — could be Afrikaners, a group not traditionally eligible for the program but one that President Donald Trump says has been tyrannized by South Africa’s Black majority. The remainder may be chosen because of their ability to speak English or their views on “free speech,” people familiar with the matter said, upending a system that for decades had taken in people fleeing conflict and persecution from all over the world regardless of race or language.

The State Department has set a goal of processing 2,000 Afrikaners for resettlement by the end of October and an additional 4,000 by the end of November, according to two people familiar with the matter, speaking like some others on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the administration’s objectives.

Shortly after entering office, Trump issued an executive order temporarily halting the admission of most refugees, including those already vetted by the U.S. government, pending a review. Trump made an exception for Afrikaners who he has said face racial discrimination, a characterization rejected as unmoored from reality by South African officials and some Afrikaners themselves.
trump-tracker-180px.png


The initiative, begun in May, has experienced a slow start with fewer than 400 Afrikaners arriving as refugees in the United States through the end of September, people familiar with the matter said. The administration had an early goal of resettling 1,000 people by the start of this month, according to the documents reviewed by The Post and people familiar with the matter. When it became clear that was unrealistic, officials set a new target of getting 1,000 people processed for admission.
Others familiar with the situation said the administration’s resettlement efforts have been slowed at least in part by the Afrikaners themselves, with some changing their minds about relocating to the United States after going through security and medical screenings or electing to delay their journeys to sell property and belongings.

The State Department rejected any suggestion that it had failed to reach its resettlement goals, saying in a statement to The Post that the refugee program was operating “at record speed while upholding the highest standards” and that 700 Afrikaners were ready to travel to the U.S. when the ongoing government shutdown ends. “There are thousands of more people in the pipeline,” the statement says. “Unfortunately for additional vulnerable individuals seeking to escape persecution, no refugees will be admitted … until Democrats decide to reopen the government,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in an emailed response to questions.

In its final year, the Biden administration set the refugee admissions cap at 125,000, with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan among the top countries of origin. The Trump administration has said that approach posed a national security risk. “Any refugee admitted to the United States must be in the national interest of our country,” said Tommy Pigott, a spokesperson for the State Department.

The Trump administration is expected to announce soon that it is slashing the number of refugees it will resettle and putting a new focus on people who can speak English, according to a senior State Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plan. The cap could fall as low as 7,500, this person said and documents reviewed by The Post affirm. The administration has considered other ways it can radically change the refugee process. A recent report drafted by the State Department singled out “free speech advocates in Europe” as another group that could be considered in the future, said a former U.S. official who had seen the document, adding that it was clearly discussing far-right entities there. “There was no ambiguity of intent,” the former official said.

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment on the proposal to resettle Europeans. With the push to resettle Afrikaners, the United States also has cut out the international bodies that help coordinate resettlement efforts.
The United Nations’ refugee agency, for instance, had previously made referrals to the State Department, which in turn screened those candidates. But in South Africa, that step is being conducted in part by Amerikaners, an advocacy group founded by Sam Busà, a South African woman of British descent. Busà declined to comment.

Part of the vetting involves a security and biometric screening, an intensive process typically performed by the Department of Homeland Security that can take years in some cases. Under the Trump administration’s updated procedures, many Afrikaners are being vetted in as little as a week, people familiar with the matter said.

The State Department has acknowledged moving through the process more quickly but says standards remain high. Despite the Trump administration’s moves to fast-track the admissions process for eligible South Africans, the effort had proceeded slowly.
One significant issue, said people familiar with the matter, is the reluctance of some Afrikaners to relocate when the opportunity to do so is presented. During the third week of September, for instance, State Department officials booked and paid for 50 seats on commercial flights from South Africa to the United States, but only three people wound up traveling, one person said. In its statement to The Post, the State Department said, “This is not abnormal.” It’s often the case that seats on U.S.-bound flights are bought in bulk and that some end up canceled, the statement says. By sharply limiting the number of refugees overall who are allowed into the United States, the statement notes, the Trump administration has secured a “significant cost savings for the American people.”

The situation also is unusual as, traditionally, most refugees who seek resettlement have already fled their homes, often to a refugee camp or a third nation. In the past, many refugees “had already lost everything that they owned,” said Anne C. Richard, a senior official in the State Department’s refugee office during the Obama administration. Richard said that it was possible that some of the Afrikaners genuinely do qualify as refugees who merit resettlement but that the process appears to be working based on a quota rather than a need.
“Refugees have to make their case. They have to apply, and then their cases are reviewed,” she said. Instead, Richard said, the Trump administration seems to be “trying to make some sort of case about reverse racism rather than … having smart reforms.”

Though many of the less than 400 Afrikaners who have been resettled thus far appear comfortable in their new home, some have offered more cautious views of life in America, often focusing on difficulties finding employment or the higher cost of living.
Charl Kleinhaus, a South African farmer who arrived in the United States in the spring, was resettled in Buffalo but within days moved for a job he had found in South Dakota. In doing so, Kleinhaus — whose acerbic social media posts have faced backlash — relinquished the housing assistance and other resources he was eligible to receive through the U.S. government.

In an interview shared later on YouTube, Kleinhaus, who did not respond to requests for comment, said that a lack of domestic help was the biggest challenge for him. “There’s no kitchen lady you call to sweep the house, or clean the house, or stuff like that,” he said in the interview. “You do the work yourself.”

 
Birdjaguar said:
In an interview shared later on YouTube, Kleinhaus, who did not respond to requests for comment, said that a lack of domestic help was the biggest challenge for him. “There’s no kitchen lady you call to sweep the house, or clean the house, or stuff like that,” he said in the interview. “You do the work yourself.”
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Holy **** man these people really are worthless slugs
 

'Weaponization' group of U.S. officials reportedly helping Trump root out his perceived enemies​

Documents show nearly 40 people involved from across government​

A group of dozens of officials from across the U.S. government, including intelligence officers, has been helping to steer U.S. President Donald Trump's drive for retribution against his perceived enemies, according to government records and a source familiar with the effort.

The Interagency Weaponization Working Group, which has been meeting since at least May, has drawn officials from the White House, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA and the Justice and Defence departments, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, the IRS and the Federal Communications Commission, among other agencies, two of the documents show.

Trump issued an executive order on his inauguration day in January instructing the attorney general to work with other federal agencies “to identify and take appropriate action to correct past misconduct by the federal government related to the weaponization of law enforcement and the weaponization of the Intelligence Community.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard earlier this year announced groups within their agencies to “root out” those who they say misused government power against Trump.

Shortly after Reuters asked the agencies for comment on Monday, Fox News reported the existence of the group, citing Gabbard as saying she "stood up this working group."

Several U.S. officials confirmed the existence of the Interagency Weaponization Working Group to Reuters in response to the questions and said the group's purpose was to carry out Trump’s executive order.

“None of this reporting is new,” said a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

ODNI spokeswoman Olivia Coleman said, “Americans deserve a government committed to deweaponizing, depoliticizing and ensuring that power is never again turned against the people it’s meant to serve.”

The existence of the interagency group indicates the administration’s push to deploy government power against Trump’s perceived foes is broader and more systematic than previously reported. Interagency working groups in government typically forge administration policies, share information and agree on joint actions.

Trump and his allies use the term “weaponization” to refer to their unproven claims that officials from previous administrations abused federal power to target him during his two impeachments, his criminal prosecutions and the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

The interagency group's mission is "basically to go after 'the Deep State,’" the source said. The term is used by Trump and his supporters to refer to the president's perceived foes from the Obama and Biden administrations and his own first term.

Reuters could not determine the extent to which the interagency group has put its plans into action. The news agency also could not establish Trump’s involvement in the group.

Biden, Comey, others reportedly discussed​

Among those discussed by the interagency group, the source said, were former FBI director James Comey; Anthony Fauci, Trump's chief medical advisor on the COVID-19 pandemic; and former top U.S. military commanders who implemented orders to make COVID-19 vaccinations compulsory for service members.

Discussions of potential targets have ranged beyond current and former government employees to include former president Joe Biden's son, Hunter, the source said.

A senior ODNI official disputed that account and said there was “no targeting of any individual person for retribution.”

“IWWG is simply looking at available facts and evidence that may point to actions, reports, agencies, individuals, etc. who illegally weaponized the government in order to carry out political attacks,” the official said.

Lawyers for Comey and Hunter Biden did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and there was no immediate response from Fauci.

Reuters reviewed more than 20 government records and identified the names of 39 people involved in the interagency group. Five of the records concerned the interagency group, five pertained to the Weaponization Working Group that Bondi announced in February, and nine referred to a smaller subgroup of employees from the Department of Justice and several other agencies that remain focused on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol.

The source said an important player in the interagency group is Justice Department attorney Ed Martin, who failed in May to win Senate support to become U.S. attorney for Washington after lawmakers expressed concern about his support for January 6 rioters. Martin, who also oversees Bondi’s DOJ weaponization group, is the department’s pardon attorney.

Martin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other people working in or with the group include COVID-19 vaccine mandate opponents and proponents of Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, according to a Reuters review of their social media accounts and public statements.

A Justice Department spokesperson acknowledged that Bondi and Gabbard were ordered by Trump to undertake a review of alleged acts of “weaponization” by previous administrations but did not comment specifically on the Interagency Weaponization Working Group’s activities.

Reuters could not determine whether the group has powers to take any action or instruct agencies to act or if its role is more advisory.

Jan. 6 focus​

Another focus for the interagency group was retribution for the prosecution of the Jan. 6 rioters, said the source.

Bondi tasked the DOJ Weaponization Working Group with reviewing the J6 prosecutions. Some of the documents seen by Reuters show that a smaller sub-set of employees from across the government have been convening on the topic. The Justice Department denied in its statement to Reuters that a separate Jan. 6 group exists.

Among other issues the source recalled being discussed were the Jeffrey Epstein files, the prosecutions of Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, and the possibility of stripping security clearances from transgender U.S. officials. Reuters could not independently confirm these were the subject of discussions.

The White House official said the Epstein files “have not been part of the conversation.” The official also disputed Reuters’s characterization of what the working group has focused on.

Bannon did not respond to a request for comment. Navarro said his case was an example of Biden’s weaponization of government.

Vocal Trump backers​

The five documents pertaining to the interagency group indicate the involvement of at least 39 current and former officials from across the government.

Some people on the list Reuters compiled from the documents it reviewed related to the interagency group have amplified Trump’s false election fraud claims.

Two of the documents show the involvement of two CIA officers but Reuters could not determine what roles they may have played in the interagency group. The CIA is legally prohibited from conducting operations against Americans or inside the U.S. except under very limited and specific circumstances.

The CIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Officials from other federal agencies that have some involvement in the interagency working group, including the FCC, the FBI and the IRS, did not respond to requests for comment. The DOD did not respond to a request for comment.

A DHS spokesperson said the agency is working with other federal departments to “reverse the harm caused by the prior administration.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-fight-enemies-9.6946598
 
Report on how ICE recruits are "athletically allergic" (internal email quote) to the point where they can't even pass the newly lowered tests, law enforcement recruits and returning retirees are being waved through self-certifying, lower number of recruits than reported with many seeking multiple positions, and lack of equipment and space for the influx of recruits.

(original source behind paywall)

www.theatlantic.com

ICE’s ‘Athletically Allergic’ Recruits

Push-ups, sit-ups, and a brisk jog pose a threat to Trump’s deportation campaign.
www.theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com

(non-paywall source)

www.thedailybeast.com

Trump’s ICE Recruitment Blitz Hit by Basic Fitness Fiasco

The Department of Homeland Security’s hiring drive is coming apart amid a desperate lack of candidates in good enough physical condition for the job.
www.thedailybeast.com www.thedailybeast.com
 
They all want the $50,000 sign on bonus.
 
The chasm between the pro-Trump and anti-Trump informational environments is absolutely bonkers.

Regarding the specific WH renovations tho, I'd advise not going crazy about it - no one honestly cares about the East Wing (it doesn't have a show named after it), it's not a particularly historic building (only 80 years old), and the renovations are privately funded.
 
Acepox said:
The chasm between the pro-Trump and anti-Trump informational environments is absolutely bonkers.

Regarding the specific WH renovations tho, I'd advise not going crazy about it - no one honestly cares about the East Wing (it doesn't have a show named after it), it's not a particularly historic building (only 80 years old), and the renovations are privately funded.
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Personally, I'm having a fun time imagining what you would have been posting if it was Obama renovating the White House.
 
Acepox said:
The chasm between the pro-Trump and anti-Trump informational environments is absolutely bonkers.

Regarding the specific WH renovations tho, I'd advise not going crazy about it - no one honestly cares about the East Wing (it doesn't have a show named after it), it's not a particularly historic building (only 80 years old), and the renovations are privately funded.
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Do you remember when Trump announced the ballroom, he said that none of the East Wing would be touched and the addition would be independent of the original building? Do you know that there is a formal step by step process required to make any any physical changes to the WH and Trump ignored them all? Trump will be 80 years old next year. Can we demo him without regard to any due process?
 
Acepox said:
The chasm between the pro-Trump and anti-Trump informational environments is absolutely bonkers.

Regarding the specific WH renovations tho, I'd advise not going crazy about it - no one honestly cares about the East Wing (it doesn't have a show named after it), it's not a particularly historic building (only 80 years old), and the renovations are privately funded.
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I'm more concerned about how the White House (which does not belong to El Trumpo) is getting fundamental demolitions and rebuilding without any sort of public input.
The mad king redecorating his palace.
(Plus it looks like a tacky Staten Island wedding venue; which we shouldn't be surprised about as he ripped out much of the Rose Garden on a whim and replaced it with outdoor patio seating at Paneras.)
 
Birdjaguar said:
Do you remember when Trump announced the ballroom, he said that none of the East Wing would be touched and the addition would be independent of the original building? Do you know that there is a formal step by step process required to make any any physical changes to the WH and Trump ignored them all? Trump will be 80 years old next year. Can we demo him without regard to any due process?
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I don't think made up procedures particularly matter. Are they in the constitution? Probably not, right? This sentiment is a big part of why he was elected. I think Americans - and westerners more generally - are tired of being told nothing can ever happen because of this or that redtape.

Everything need not be bureaucratized. He has a clear mandate to enact a vision of greatness, and that's what he's doing with these renovations.
 
GoodEnoughForMe said:
Really just want to point out the sheer propaganda at play here.

The fox news article on the demolition of part of the white house;

repeats the claim it will be separate from the building itself

and

has zero pictures of the current demolition, just mock ups of the finished project.

The first 4 attachments are from Fox. The final is from literally everywhere else, including reality.
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In the middle of an ongoing government shutdown no less.

This is a classic "Let them eat cake" move by Trump.
 
Acepox said:
I don't think made up procedures particularly matter. Are they in the constitution? Probably not, right? This sentiment is a big part of why he was elected. I think Americans - and westerners more generally - are tired of being told nothing can ever happen because of this or that redtape.

Everything need not be bureaucratized. He has a clear mandate to enact a vision of greatness, and that's what he's doing with these renovations.
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"Made up procedures" is how you get paid, how taxes get collected, building codes established, sports games rules created, laws adjudicated in courts, etc. Trump was elected because he promised to release the Epstein files and bring prices down. Red tape has kept our air and water clean and cars safer to drive. Made up procedures is how congress operates. All of this "red tape" has produced extraordinary change in the lifestyle and technological improvements you would miss if it were gone. Are there downsides, sure, but they have made you life better nonetheless.
 
Birdjaguar said:
"Made up procedures" is how you get paid, how taxes get collected, building codes established, sports games rules created, laws adjudicated in courts, etc. Trump was elected because he promised to release the Epstein files and bring prices down. Red tape has kept our air and water clean and cars safer to drive. Made up procedures is how congress operates. All of this "red tape" has produced extraordinary change in the lifestyle and technological improvements you would miss if it were gone. Are there downsides, sure, but they have made you life better nonetheless.
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That's a very unidirectional vision which, if you turn down the temperature for just a moment, will come across just as ridiculously to you as it does to me.

See below a graph of the tax regulation growth. You can't possibly make sense of it or justify it all.

Not all regulation is good. Not all regulation needs to go. That's pretty obvious to anyone who takes a step back from partisanship for just a moment.
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@Acepox The tax code has grown in complexity for two major reasons: our economic opportunities has grown more complex over the decades and corporations and wealthy people have demanded ever more exceptions and loopholes to offset their tax bills.
 
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