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Thomas Roberts To Travel To Russia To Host Donald Trump’s Miss Universe — What Do You Think?

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Thomas Roberts will be the next host of Miss Universe, a joint Donald Trump-NBC venture. Roberts, an MSNBC anchor, says he campaigned “aggressively” for the opportunity after Andy Cohen, who had hosted the previous two years, announced he would not go to Russia because of Vladimir Putin‘s anti-gay laws.

“Courage is contagious,” Roberts proclaimed, in a post at MSNBC yesterday. “I have felt that way since coming out publicly in 2006. I’ve never regretted it.”

Roberts, who turned 41 this month and last year married his partner of 12 years, Patrick Abner, writes that he made the decision to go “partly because it is a huge, visible opportunity for LGBT people. Everywhere.”

I am not a special case. I am a good person, good spouse, good child, good sibling, good friend and hard worker. That is me. I am just like millions of LGBT people around the world. We are good, regular, hard-working people who come from solid families. So when I heard there was a chance at this assignment I aggressively went after it. Lo and behold the Miss Universe team, NBC Entertainment & the Trump team agreed and offered it to me.

He also says he wants to go because all children, “Russian, American or otherwise—need hope.”

We do them no favors by turning away now. We must be visible, we must show up, and, as Harvey Milk said, we must “give them hope.”

I go to prove there’s hope.

Roberts, who is a Roman Catholic, also explains that he and his husband are, when it comes to many things in life, like most Americans, “traditional.”

I am unafraid to tell you how traditional my husband and I are. After 13 years, we continue to foster and grow our life together, with highs and lows, the folly and the fights. The same things many long term couples experience. Simple things: Trash night, dog walks, the remote control. Tough things: Homophobia, job loss, death.

You can’t get more traditional than that and, above all, we love each other.

Acknowledging that there’s a “tremendous amount of hypocrisy” that goes with his work on equality and trip to Russia, Roberts explained his thinking this morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

Veteran LGBT journalist Karen Ocamb notes that “Roberts is not going as a journalist covering the pageant, where, like Anderson Cooper, he can insert himself into the story. And he’s no flamboyant Elton John or Liberace where someone looking at near-naked women is going to look over and say, ‘Hey, he’s gay!’ No one’s going to know or suspect or care because Roberts easily passes as straight. And I doubt Trump is going to let him shout his not-so-secret love from the highest hills, get arrested and become a celebrity test case for the anti-gay ‘propaganda’ law.”

She cautions that “Roberts must do a lot of pre-pageant publicity to let those LGBT people know he’s coming. And maybe then Trump will loosen the contract strings and let him appear on Moscow TV and talk about being a good gay with a good job and a loving husband. He does appear to be a good guy, after all. But Miss Universe is still a money-making venture—not a platform for LGBT or human rights. He might find juggling Trump harder to deal with than his Russian minders.”

Blogger John Aravosis, who has been one of the leading journalists reporting on the anti-gay hate in Russia, put it bluntly.

It’s not enough just to show up.

Clarence Thomas shows up.

So does Alan Keyes.

And Allen West.

Yet, the Republican party has not become any more concerned about African-Americans. The GOP does, however, have a few more token faces to wave at Independent voters to convince Indies of how welcoming the Republican party is to minorities.

One would also be at pains to argue that the presence of Ann Coulter, or Phyllis Schlafly, in the Republican party has done anything to temper the GOP’s war on women.  If anything, they’ve made it worse.

That’s not to argue that Thomas Roberts is the gay equivalent of Clarence Thomas or Ann Coulter, he most thankfully is not.  But bigots love an exception to a rule, and are perfectly capable of loving you as an anomaly, while continuing to hate your brethren. It’s why people fawned over Liberace half a decade ago, clueless – or careless – that the gayest man on the planet was queerer than a three dollar bill.

Any gay person who travels to Russia in an official capacity risks becoming homophobia’s beard.

There are many LGBT people and supporters of the LGBT community who believe any association with Russia, anything Russian, and anything perceived to be Russian, is a traitorous. There are others, perhaps like Roberts, who believe change comes by working from within.

What do you think about Roberts hosting Miss Universe in Russia?

Weigh in below.

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‘Disgraced’ Trump-Appointed Florida Judge Initially Assigned to Oversee Ex-President’s Criminal Case: Report

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June 9, 2023

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A federal judge whose highly-controversial rulings favoring Donald Trump were derided by legal experts and judges on a higher court, has been initially assigned to the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s criminal case against the ex-president, who appointed her to the bench three years ago.

Judge Aileen Cannon, known for agreeing to Trump’s request by assigning a special master to review the entirety of federal government documents the FBI retrieved from Mar-a-Lago last summer during the execution of a search and seizure warrant will, at least for now, oversee the government’s case allegedly charging Donald Trump with seven different felony categories in its classified documents probe, according to ABC News.

“The summons sent to former President Donald Trump and his legal team late Thursday indicates that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon will be assigned to oversee his case, at least initially, according to sources briefed on the matter,” ABC News reports.

READ MORE: Trump Lawyers Blindsided by Existence of Bombshell Recording – ‘They Don’t Know How to Defend This’: Maggie Haberman

“Cannon’s apparent assignment would add yet another unprecedented wrinkle to a case involving the first federal charges against a former president: Trump appointed Cannon to the federal bench in 2019, meaning that, if Trump is ultimately convicted, she would be responsible for determining the sentence – which may include prison time – for the man who elevated her to the role.”

Cannon, agreeing to Trump’s request to appoint a special master last September, also halted the Dept. of Justice’s use of those materials, which included at least one hundred classified documents, in its criminal investigation into Trump.

Harvard University professor emeritus of constitutional law, Laurence Tribe, called Judge Cannon’s special master decision “utterly lawless,” and said: “She has disgraced her position as an Article III judge.”

ABC News notes that “Legal experts [had] accused Cannon of handing Trump a series of head-scratching victories over the course of those proceedings,” and added, “Cannon’s order was ultimately thrown out in its entirety by an 11th Circuit Court of appeals panel, which found she overstepped in exercising her jurisdiction in the probe.”

The 11th Circuit issued a scathing rebuke of Judge’ Cannon’s decision to appoint the special master. One week later, without explanation or reasoning, she overruled the special master’s decision and extended deadlines – decisions which favored Donald Trump.

RELATED: ‘Pure Essence of Judicial Corruption’: Morning Joe Panelists ‘Stunned’ by Cannon’s Ruling on Classified Docs

Cannon is not the only judge whose name appears on the summons.

“In addition to Cannon, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart’s name also appeared on the summons sent to Trump on Thursday, the sources said,” ABC adds. “Reinhart, who was sworn in as a magistrate judge in 2018, is also familiar with the proceedings against Trump: he signed off on the initial search warrant of Mar-a-Lago last year and later ruled to unseal the search affidavit – decisions that made him the target of antisemitic jabs on the internet.”

The New York Times in August of last year reported, “in a segment on Fox News, a host showed a manipulated photo that appeared to show Judge Reinhart seated on a plane with Ghislaine Maxwell, Mr. [Jeffrey] Epstein’s companion who had been convicted last year of aiding Mr. Epstein in sexually abusing minors.”

Brian Kilmeade, the Fox News host, the following day tweeted: “Last night while subbing for Tucker Carlson, we showed you an image of Judge Bruce Reinhart w/ Ghislaine Maxwell that was sourced on screen to a meme pulled from Twitter & wasn’t real. This depiction never took place & we wanted to make clear that we were showing a meme in jest.”

READ MORE: SCOTUS ‘Surprise’ Voting Rights Decision Could – and Did – Have Big Implications for Democrats, Legal Experts Say

The Times noted “the scrutiny of Judge Reinhart has also prompted the local authorities to step up security. His synagogue canceled a Friday night Shabbat service last week in response to multiple antisemitic threats, and the police in his neighborhood said officers had intensified patrols near his house.”

Professor of Law Joyce Vance, an NBC News/MSNBC contributor and former U.S. Attorney responded to the news of Cannon’s assignment. Pointing to an earlier case as precedent, Vance says: “This is persuasive authority that Judge Cannon must step aside if the case falls to her as a permanent assignment. Her court & certainly the 11th [Circuit] won’t tolerate the damage it would do to their credibility if she failed to voluntarily recuse.”

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Trump Lawyers Blindsided by Existence of Bombshell Recording – ‘They Don’t Know How to Defend This’: Maggie Haberman

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June 9, 2023

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CNN on Friday morning obtained a bombshell transcript of a recording in which former President Donald Trump boasts of retaining “secret” military information that he never declassified while he was president.

Appearing on CNN shortly after this news broke, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman revealed that the former president’s team was essentially blindsided by this recording’s existence.

“I don’t think they quite know how to defend this… from what we have heard,” she said. “They were… startled by the existence of this tape. This tape was something that they learned existed when this aide to Trump testified. The prosecutors were already in possession of this tape. They didn’t get it from the aide, although it appears the aide had a copy when it was subpoenaed later, but this is has been described to us by multiple sources… as a really problematic piece of evidence for Trump.”

Haberman predicted that the recording’s existence would not change the Trump legal team’s overall defense strategy, however.

READ MORE: ‘He’s just not that smart’: Trump buried by Morning Joe for handing investigators all they need

“I think they are going to stick that their line: ‘He says things, he didn’t mean it a certain way,'” she said. “I am sure they can come up with all kinds of explanations for why he used the language he used. But it’s on tape.”

Trump is due in court in Miami next week to face seven felony counts related to his handling of top-secret government documents.

Watch the video below or at this link.

 

Image via Shutterstock

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Trump Indicted by Grand Jury: Reports

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June 8, 2023

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Donald Trump’s attorneys have been notified a grand jury has voted to indict the ex-president on numerous federal charges and ordered to appear in a Miami court next Tuesday, according to ABC News, CNN, and NBC News. Trump on his Truth Social account made a similar claim..

“Former President Donald Trump has been indicted in the special counsel’s classified documents probe, sources familiar with the matter tells CNN,” the network reports. “Trump has been charged with seven counts in the indictment, according to another source familiar with the matter.”

“We’re learning from our sources that there appears to be at least seven counts here,” ABC News’ Katherine Faulders reported on-air, ABC News online reports.. “This ranges from everything from the willful retention of national defense information to conspiracy to a scheme to conceal to false statements and representations.”

MSNBC on-air reports NBC News has confirmed the Trump indictment, and NBC News online reports the indictment is “in connection with his mishandling of more than 100 classified documents that were discovered last year at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, making the twice-impeached former commander-in-chief the first former president to face federal criminal charges.”

Watch this currently ongoing ABC News live streaming video:

In three separate entries on his Truth Social platform, Trump writes: “The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted,” along with several false allegations NCRM will not publish.

“I have been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM,” he adds.

He also declares he is “innocent.”

This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change.

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