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Ron Paul Scrutinized For Anti-Gay, Anti-Israel, Racist Newsletters

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Ron Paul is being scrutinized for anti-gay, anti-Israel, racist newsletters that were published two decades ago when Paul was not a member of Congress, but was the head of a consulting firm that bore his name, as did the newsletters. Although they were not published under his byline, the newsletters have his name at the top and often are written in there first person.

The New York Times reports:

The latest issue of The Weekly Standard, a leading conservative publication, reprised reports of incendiary language in Mr. Paul’s newsletters that were published about 20 years ago.

A 1992 passage from the Ron Paul Political Report about the Los Angeles riots read, “Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks.” A passage in another newsletter asserted that people with AIDS should not be allowed to eat in restaurants because “AIDS can be transmitted by saliva”; in 1990 one of his publications criticized Ronald Reagan for having gone along with the creation of the federal holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which it called “Hate Whitey Day.”

The magazine article largely matched a similar report in The New Republic in 2008, and it was written by the same author, James Kirchick. The passages were plucked from a variety of newsletters that Mr. Paul’s consulting business published during his years out of Congress, all of them featuring his name: Ron Paul Political Report, Ron Paul’s Freedom Report, Ron Paul Survival Report and Ron Paul Investment Letter.

Mr. Paul did not respond to an interview request, but repudiated the writings in 2008. Likening himself to a major news publisher, he said he did not vet every article that was featured in his newsletters. “I absolutely, honestly do not know who wrote those things,” Mr. Paul said in an interview on CNN at the time, adding that he did not monitor the publications closely because he was busy with a medical practice and “speeches around the country.”

Mr. Paul, who is a physician, had said his political persuasion as a libertarian precluded him from harboring such biased views because “I don’t see people in collective groups.”

On Monday, his deputy campaign manager, Dimitri Kesari, reiterated that Mr. Paul “did not write, edit or authorize” the language.

“He totally disavows what was said and disagrees with it totally,” Mr. Kesari said. “The only responsibility he takes is for not paying closer attention.”

The Weekly Standard adds these passages:

No conspiracy theory was too outlandish for Paul’s endorsement. One newsletter reported on the heretofore unknown phenomenon of “Needlin’,” in which “gangs of black girls between the ages of 12 and 14” roamed the streets of New York and injected white women with possibly HIV-infected syringes.

…

Paul gave credence to the theory, later shown to have been the product of a Soviet disinformation effort, that AIDS had been created in a U.S. government laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Three months before far-right extremists killed 168 Americans in Oklahoma City, Paul’s newsletter praised the “1,500 local militias now training to defend liberty” as “one of the most encouraging developments in America.” And he offered specific advice to antigovernment militia members, such as, “Keep the group size down,” “Keep quiet and you’re harder to find,” “Leave no clues,” “Avoid the phone as much as possible,” and “Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”

A webvsite titled ‘The Ron Paul News Letters” (from which the top image came), has a great deal more, including a photo of Rep. Paul with the leader of a white supremacist group, and many links and copies of the Ron Paul newsletters.

That’s the problem with anti-gay, anti-Israel, racist statements — that they always come back to haunt you. Of course, just not being a bigot is always a good idea…

Word to the wise.

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‘I Don’t Know—He Was Recommended’: Trump Struggles to Justify Latest Pardon

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October 23, 2025

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Just after pardoning the founder of Binance, President Donald Trump struggled to explain his decision — appearing unfamiliar with both the recipient and the legal issues surrounding the case that led to his conviction.

“President Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, “the convicted founder of the crypto exchange Binance, following months of efforts by Zhao to boost the Trump family’s own crypto company.”

Asked on Thursday why he chose to issue the pardon, and if it had anything to do with Zhao’s involvement with the Trump family’s crypto business, the President responded, “Who is that?”

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“The founder of Binance,” the reporter replied.

“The recent one, yes,” Trump said. “I believe we’re talking about the same person, ’cause I do pardon a lot of people.”

“I don’t know — he was recommended by a lot of people,” Trump continued. “A lot of people say that — are you talking about the crypto person?”

“Yes.”

“A lot of people say that he wasn’t guilty of anything,” the President declared. “He served four months in jail, and they say that he was not guilty of anything, that what he did —” Trump said before the reporter interjected.

“Well,” Trump responded, “you don’t know much about crypto, you know nothing about, you know nothing about nothing. You’re fake news.”

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“But let me just tell you that he was,” Trump said, “somebody that, as I was told, I don’t know him, I don’t believe I’ve ever met him. But I’ve been told, a lot of support. He had a lot of support, and they said that what he did is not even a crime.”

“It wasn’t a crime, that he was persecuted by the Biden administration, and so I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people.”

The Wall Street Journal also reported that a “pardon will likely pave the way for Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, to return to the U.S. after the company pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating U.S. anti-money-laundering requirements and was barred from operating in the country.”

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Image via Reuters 

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‘Blatantly Illegal’: Dems Probe Trump’s Push to ‘Steal’ Millions From Taxpayers

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17 hours ago

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October 23, 2025

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The top Democrats on the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees have issued a scathing letter announcing they are launching an investigation into President Donald Trump’s efforts to obtain $230 million in compensation for investigations conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice.

In that letter, addressed to President Donald Trump at “The White House (whatever’s left of it),” they describe his  efforts as “blatantly illegal and unconstitutional,” “comically unconstitutional,” a “shake down,” “theft,” and an “outrageous conspiracy.” CBS News Justice Correspondent Scott MacFarlane posted the three-page document to social media.

“Your plan to have your obedient underlings at the Department of Justice (DOJ) instruct the U.S. Treasury to pay you, personally, hundreds of millions of dollars especially at a time when most Americans are struggling to pay rent, put food on the table, and afford health care—is an outrageous and shocking attempt to shake down the American people,” wrote Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin and Oversight Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia.

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“The Founders feared presidents like you might one day be tempted to use their powers to steal U.S. taxpayer funds,” the two Democrats continued.

They described the U.S. Constitution’s Domestic Emoluments Clause, which they said prohibits any payment from the federal government or from the states, except for the president’s salary.

“Your plan to have your former criminal defense attorneys, including the Deputy Attorney General and the Associate Attorney General, sign off on your demand for an astronomical $230 million payout from the U.S. Treasury clearly violates this ban on additional payments,” they said, calling his demands “bogus.”

They allege that Trump waited until he “became President and installed your handpicked loyalists at DOJ, knowing that you could instruct them to co-sign your demand notes in secret behind closed doors, and then you could present the notes to the U.S. Treasury for cold hard cash courtesy of the American taxpayer. That isn’t justice, it is theft.”

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They add that they “urge you to renounce your plan publicly and assure the American people that their President is not pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars at their expense.”

The Democrats are asking the President to produce related documents and information by October 30.

READ MORE: ‘Amateur Historian’ Mike Johnson Hails Trump’s Ballroom as ‘Greatest’ White House Upgrade

 

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‘Pay to Play’: Trump Ballroom Donors List Draws Concern and Condemnation

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19 hours ago

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October 23, 2025

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President Donald Trump’s demolition of the White House East Wing and his plan to construct a 650-person ballroom in its place have attracted deep-pocketed donors, some of whom are now facing ethical concerns, or condemnation for supporting what many view as the needless erasure of American history and heritage.

“Apple, Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Google, Coinbase, Comcast and Meta are just some of the major companies who have made donations to build President Donald Trump’s proposed 90,000-square-foot ballroom, according to the White House,” CNN reported on Thursday.

The list of 37 names of corporations and individuals also includes HP, T-Mobile, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and family, and SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler and her spouse, Jeff Sprecher.

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One name missing from the White House’s list: President Donald Trump, who initially had said he would pay for the ballroom himself. TIME magazine reported that “Trump confirmed on Monday that some of the money for the ballroom would come from his personal funds.”

On Wednesday afternoon, as ABC News reported, Trump said the ballroom would be “paid for 100% by me and some friends of mine.”

CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere wrote: “Lots of companies with contracts and other business before the government on the list of donors to fund the president’s gold-colored ballroom.”

Critics are now blasting not only the President for demolishing the East Wing — which he had originally said would remain untouched — but also for raising pay-to-play ethics concerns, while turning their ire on the donors themselves.

Pointing to video of the demolition, veteran journalist Barbara Starr asked, “Curious….do donors to this ballroom want to be known for contributing to tearing down this piece of history? Is it good corporate PR?”

READ MORE: ‘Amateur Historian’ Mike Johnson Hails Trump’s Ballroom as ‘Greatest’ White House Upgrade

Last week, CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, wrote: “Any gifts to fund the White House ballroom need to be completely transparent so that the American people can judge for themselves what the funders are getting in return for their millions.”

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich on Tuesday also focused on ethical concerns.

“Trump’s ballroom donors include:

-Google, whose CEO thanked Trump for ‘resolution’ of an antitrust case
-Palantir, which has lucrative contracts with ICE
-Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, who would profit from Trump’s regulatory rollbacks for private equity”

“Pay-to-play,” he concluded.

On Thursday he added, “The biggest corporate donors to Trump’s ballroom either have big federal contracts, are currently doing business with the Trump family, or have active antirust cases before the courts. Everything is for sale.”

Professor of law and former chief White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter also called it “Pay to play.”

Last week, Painter told The New York Times, “This is payment for access, not just to the grounds of the White House but access to the president of the United States.”

READ MORE: ‘Sick’: Jeffries Torches Trump’s ‘Out of Control’ Press Secretary

 

Image via Reuters

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