Goldman, Dan Rep
hjr 54 2023
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AN 10 25
The Not Above the Law Coalition on Thursday released a report documenting how President Donald Trump’s administration has been corrupting every aspect of federal law enforcement.
The report, titled Trump’s “Crooked Cops”: The Corruption of Federal Law Enforcement, said that the president has “gone to extreme lengths to appoint top officials with no compunction about abusing their power to pervert justice to punish political enemies and favor political friends,” before showing how these appointees have swiftly eliminated their agencies’ independence from White House political pressure.
“Law enforcement that serves the political interests of the president rather than the public eliminates a core tenet of democracy, namely that we are a country of laws, not of men,” the report emphasizes.
The report begins by recounting how Attorney General Pam Bondi followed direct orders from the president to file criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey, while at the same time noting that she has overseen “a department-wide purge of career officials who were assigned to Trump’s criminal cases or who were suspected to be insufficiently loyal to Trump personally.”
Other Trump officials who feature prominently in the report include FBI Director Kash Patel, who is facing a lawsuit from former agents who have alleged they were fired as part of a “campaign of retribution”; Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who conducted an interview with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, and then moved her “to more comfortable, low-security accommodations” after she told him that Trump had no involvement in her former partner Jeffrey Epstein’s criminal activities; and White House border czar Tom Homan, who was allegedly caught on video accepting a $50,000 cash bribe from undercover FBI agents.
The report also takes a swipe at Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, who publicly pressured ABC to take late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel off the air mere hours before the network decided to suspend him.
“This was by no means the first instance of Carr weaponizing his regulatory enforcement power for political ends,” the report says. “His threats have been all the more significant as many media companies have business interests pending before the administration.
During a conference call announcing the report, Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY) described the Trump administration’s actions as ”so distressing and so disturbing,“ and vowed that he was ”not going to stand by while the Department of Justice is used to subvert the rule of law.“
Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY), a former federal prosecutor, said on the call that it was ”personally devastating“ to watch the corruption of the Justice Department, and he vowed that House Democrats would be ready to go with oversight investigations should they return to the majority after the 2026 midterm elections.
”Trump is trying to turn this government into his own personal fiefdom,“ said Goldman, who later described the weaponization of the Department of Homeland Security as ”downright scary.“
”We’re losing the fabric of our country,“ he said.
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AN 1025
In the wake of widespread outrage following a violent fire at a South Carolina judge's house that sent three people to the hospital, critics blamed MAGA, causing White House Deputy Chief of StaffStephen Miller to melt down, according to The Daily Beast.
South Carolina Judge Diane Goodstein, who ruled against the Trump administration in a high-profile voter registration case, was out walking her dogs Sunday when her beach house exploded in flames.
Judge Goodstein issued a temporary restraining order to block the Trump administration’s Department of Justice from getting access to the South Carolina Election Commission’s voter registration data, The Daily Best says.
Reports say Goodstein was already receiving death threats before the fire, which is being investigated as arson. Her husband Arnold, a former Democratic state congressman and state senator, , was forced to jump from the first floor to escape the blaze and was hospitalized with multiple broken bones.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) posted on his X account pointing his finger at Miller, saying, "Stephen Miller and MAGA-world have been doxxing and threatening judges who rule against Trump, including Judge Goodstein. Today, someone committed arson on the Judge’s home, severely injuring her husband and son. Will Trump speak out against the extreme right that did this??”
MIller immediately melted down on X, calling Goldman "deeply warped and vile," saying, “There is a large and growing movement of leftwing terrorism in this country. It is well organized and funded. And it is shielded by far-left Democrat judges, prosecutors and attorneys general. The only remedy is to use legitimate state power to dismantle terrorism and terror networks."
Miller continued his rant, saying, “While the Trump Administration has launched the first-ever government-wide effort to combat and prosecute illegal doxing, sinister threats and political violence you continue to push despicable lies, demented smears, malicious defamation and foment unrest. Despicable."
But Goldman had the last word.
"If you are trying to combat political violence, why don’t you condemn the political violence against a judge who ruled against you and your admin? It’s pretty simple: do you condemn all political violence or only that against your supporters?”
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BONDI HARMEET D INVEST EMPLOYEE REFUSE PRINT KIRK FLYER
AN 9 25
A takedown of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche by a U.S. lawmaker and former federal prosecutor received acclaim by critics of the Trump administration on Wednesday.
U.S. Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) slammed Blanche for suggesting that the loud protest of President Donald Trump at a D.C. restaurant qualifies for racketeering charges and prosecution.
“RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) is available to all kinds of organizations committing crimes and wrongful acts, not just organized crimes,” Blanche told CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins. “So … is it sheer happenstance that individuals show up at a restaurant where the president is trying to enjoy dinner and accost him with vile words and vile anger? … [I]s it completely random that they show up? Maybe. But to the extent that it’s an organized effort to inflict harm and terror and damage to the United States there’s potential investigation there.”
Trump spoke about being confronted by protesters at a Washington D.C. restaurant last week during a Monday press gaggle in the Oval Office.
READ MORE: Morning Joe predicts Trump’s rhetoric will lead to 'massive Democratic victories next year'
“… [T]hey should be put in jail. What they're doing to this country is really subversive," Trump said of protestors railing against his federalization of law enforcement in the capital city and calling for an end to hostilities in Gaza.
Collins pushed back on Blanche’s claim during his interview. “Were they inflicting harm or terror and damage to the United States ... by shouting in his vicinity?”
“That cannot be a serious question, said Blanche, who was Trump’s personal attorney defending him against multiple criminal indictments, including a case in which Trump was found guilty of using campaign money to bribe a woman for her silence over an alleged sexual escapade.
“People can protest the president,” Collins told Blanche, and Goldman agreed.
“I charged RICO cases. Yelling at the President is not a racketeering act and cannot be the basis for a criminal charge,” Goldman posted on X. “Blanche knows better. He is corrupting the DOJ with ridiculous comments like this.”
READ MORE: 'This is insane': Conservatives demand Trump official’s removal over 'hate speech' blunder BONDI
Social media backed up Goldman’s claim, with one commenter saying on X: “Wondering when it dawns on these guys that Trump will soon be gone and I mean in the permanent sense and what will they do with their careers? Who could possibly take them seriously?”
“To suggest that [Blanche] knows better is naïve, commented another X user, while a third said: “This echoes Trump's 2024 campaign vows to jail opponents, blurring protest with organized crime and chilling dissent.”
Another commenter questioned Blanche’s scope of knowledge: “Maybe he doesn’t know better … His ineffectual defense of Trump at trial certainly suggests either a corrupt or inaccurate understanding of the law.”
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omfg
AN 8 25
FASCISM
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has agreed to a request from U.S. Senator John Cornyn to locate the Texas Democratic state lawmakers who exited the state in an effort to deny Republicans a quorum—part of a broader attempt to block Governor Greg Abbott and President Donald Trump’s push to redraw congressional maps and boost GOP-held House seats, the Texas Republican announced Thursday.
“We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities,” Senator Cornyn said in a statement that referred to the Texas Democrats as “supposed lawmakers.”
Axios reported that “Texas issued civil warrants for the Democratic lawmakers, but local law enforcement can’t make arrests outside the state.”
The Texas Democrats are in Illinois, according to that state’s Democratic governor, JB Pritzker.
READ MORE: Governor Wants Maps to Reflect State’s ‘Christian Conservative Majority’ Says GOP Lawmaker
Legal and political experts are blasting the move.
“There’s literally no federal law applicable to this situation. None,” Governor Pritzker
Jessica Yellin on Wednesday, according to Axios.
“The key question here is on what grounds would the FBI be doing this,” wrote MSNBC Justice and Intelligence correspondent Ken Dilanian. “What is the crime they are investigating? The FBI can’t just use its vast surveillance powers to locate random citizens. In fact, that’s what conservatives have long been so concerned about re FISA authorities.”
“This is a patently unlawful, unconstitutional abuse of federal power,” constitutional law professor and political scientist Anthony Michael Kreis said on Thursday.
READ MORE: Trump Revives Constitutionally Conflicting Census Overhaul Plan
“We are in a deeply dangerous, illiberal place in America when the federal government will deploy law enforcement to force state legislators to act on legislation that’s contrary to their conscience and an attempt to undermine free elections,” Kreis added.
The Atlantic’s Dr. Norman Ornstein, a political scientist, addressed Senator Cornyn: “John, I understand your need to tilt crazy right to counter your lunatic primary challenger. But calling on the FBI to act illegally and wrongly to go after Texas Democrats is beneath you, and simply shameful. You used to believe in the law and the Constitution.”
Asking what “criminal interest” the FBI could have in this, U.S. Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) called it “yet another disgusting partisan abuse of power by the FBI,” and said that “any agent asked to assist should refuse to do so.”
Watch video of Governor Pritzker below or at this link.
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[## "We will not back down": Democratic lawmakers refused entry to Manhattan ICE facility
Salon
19 hours ago
Reps. Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman were refused entry to "observe" an ICE facility](https://www.yahoo.com/news/not-back-down-democratic-lawmakers-210527768.html)
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no lnx
alternet-
'My eyes are on you': Trump lawyers put on notice after plans to join administration
Tom BoggioniandRaw StoryNovember 17, 2024
According to former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, the slate of Donald Trump's personal lawyers who are being lavished with jobs in his administration have already been warned by one former DOJ official turned member of the House that their every move will be scrutinized.
Appearing on MSNBC's "The Weekend", Vance was asked for her reaction to the president-elect appointing three of his criminal defense lawyers, Todd Blache, Emil Bove and Dean John Sauer, to top DOJ posts.
With MSNBC host Michael Steele noting that Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) has stated, "Donald Trump has been clear that he intends to weaponize the DOJ for his partisan interests,” Goldman added, “but I expect Todd and Emil to adhere to those principles and the rule of law in the face of any pressure to do otherwise,” Vance was asked what the lawmaker was implying.
"I read Dan's comments a little bit differently, and our friend Mimi Rocha who's also in that office and is now the D.A. in Westchester County made similar comments to that," she explained. "I think what Dan is doing, he's level-setting expectations. He's talking to two of his former colleagues and he is saying, 'I know you. We were raised in the same Justice Department. We understand the rules. We get the importance of the rule of law. We don't let the political folks direct criminal prosecutions and my eyes are on you.'"
"I read his comments very clearly, as talking to two former colleagues and saying, you will not get a pass from me," she added. "So, I think that's frankly what a lot of former dDOJ people are doing."
"Look, there is no reason to have confidence in anyone who would agree to work for Donald Trump," she warned.
Watch below or at the link.
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an 2 24
when House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer's (R-KY) star witness, ex-FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, was arrested last week for allegedly lying about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, the party's impeachment inquiry began to fall apart. Then when reports came earlier this week that Smirnov had connections to Russian intelligence agencies — the party's efforts to oust the president went from bad to worse.
Several lawmakers are declaring the effort — which GOP House members have made their number one priority — officially "dead," according to TIME Magazine.
READ MORE:'We were warned': GOP rep says Smirnov indictment 'really undercuts' impeachment efforts
TIME's Eric Cortellessa reports, still, "Republican leaders insist the Biden inquiry is still very much alive, even with potential evidence that the Kremlin is advancing the effort to influence the 2024 election." He notes, "That’s come with other implications for the federal government. Next week, Congress will return from a two-week recess and have only three working days to pass a budget and avert a partial government shutdown. But House members will still be preoccupied with the Biden probe."
"Honestly, I’m surprised that they have this high a threshold for humiliation," Fox News' Jessica Tarlov said during a Wednesday segment.
"My sense is it’s not going to happen," Cortellessa reports US Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said. "We should determine the next president through the election."
On the other hand, US Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) is positive this latest development has officially killed the GOP's effort. "There's no question this is dead," he said. "To the extent that they continue to push forward with it, they are now doing it with a knowing asset of Russian intelligence. It is one thing to lead an investigation where you fail to find evidence to support unfounded conclusions. It is altogether something else when you are acting as an agent of Vladimir Putin."
READ MORE:Top GOP senator admits 'no evidence' on House Biden impeachment inquiry
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MASSIVE FAIL
224 fbi indict star witness impeach smirnoff, gop no back off russia disinfo
Informant’s arrest for allegedly lying to FBI could be bad news for Jim Jordan - Alternet.org
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an 5 23
former FBI field agent and key Republican witness on the House Judiciary Committee’s “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government” may have lied under oath about receiving financial aid from a Donald Trump ally, the Guardian reports.
Garret O’Boyle — described by the Washington Postas "a suspended FBI special agent from the Wichita Resident Agency in Kansas" — was a star witness last Thursday for the “weaponization” subcommittee, a Freedom Caucus brainchild purporting to uncover clear evidence that the U.S. government, “and in particular the Justice Department, has unfairly targeted conservatives,” as NBC News reports.
Per the Guardian, O’Boyle was asked at one point "whether Kash Patel, who held multiple roles in the Trump administration, is helping finance O’Boyle’s legal counsel.”
“Not that I’m aware of,” O’Boyle said, according to a transcript of the exchange.
"The answer has raised eyebrows because, during a previous interview with the House of Representatives’ [weaponization] subcommittee in February, O’Boyle disclosed that his legal fees are being paid by a nonprofit organisation called Fight With Kash, also known as the Kash Foundation and run by Kash Patel," the Guardian reports.
Indeed, a Democratic Staff Report published on March 2 reveals:
During their interviews, Garret O’Boyle and Stephen Friend both confirmed that they ha received money from Patel. Committee Democrats have determined that Patel’s support for them extends beyond that to helping them secure legal counsel and promoting them and their causes.
According to that report, O’Boyle told Democratic Committee staff, “[Patel] asked me how he could help. So I told him a little bit of my situation. And he said that he thinks he could get the nonprofit to help.”
As the Guardian notes, “Lying to Congress carries a penalty of up to five years’ imprisonment.”
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), who asked O’Boyle last week about Patel’s involvement, told the Guardian, “Mr O’Boyle’s answers in the subcommittee hearing on Thursday appear to contradict his previous testimony in the transcribed interview with subcommittee staff. In order to ensure witnesses are truthful when they come before the subcommittee, Chairman Jordan must determine whether or not Mr O’Boyle lied under oath on Thursday.”...
spox distort brave whistleblowers