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President Biden to Deliver National Primetime Address From Philadelphia on the ‘Battle for the Soul of the Nation’

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Riding high on a string of massive successes President Joe Biden will address the nation Thursday evening from Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to discuss “the continued battle for the Soul of the Nation,” the White House announced late Monday afternoon.

Last week Gallup reported President Biden’s approval rating had skyrocketed, jumping six points to 44%. That marker places him above former Presidents Donald Trump (41%), Barack Obama (43%), Bill Clinton (39%), Jimmy Carter (43%), and Ronald Reagan (41%) at this point in their presidencies.

“The president will lay out how America’s standing in the world and its democracy are at stake,” NBC News reports, citing a White House official. “Biden will highlight what he sees as progress over the past two years to protect our democracy, but note that rights and freedoms remain at risk.”

“He will make clear who is fighting for those rights, fighting for those freedoms, and fighting for our democracy,” the official said, NBC adds.

The Biden White House is quickly turning its earned political currency into opportunities to share the President’s vision, and for the first time in a long time, targeting Republicans whose own hypocrisy is evident as they attack his student loan debt forgiveness plan while having had tens or even hundreds of thousand of dollars – in one case over one million dollars – in PPP loans forgiven.

READ MORE: White House: Lindsey Graham’s Threat of ‘Riots in the Streets’ Proves Biden’s ‘Semi-Fascism’ Claim is Correct

“Biden’s primetime address on democracy this Thursday will come days after he warned that the ‘philosophy’ influencing the Trump movement is semi-fascist,” CBS News’ Robert Costa observes, “and as [Steve] Bannon keeps stoking talk of Christian nationalism on his podcast and as Trump calls for ‘a new election’ to be held.”

The Washington Post’s Tyler Pager adds that “Biden will be in Pennsylvania three times in the next week. Tomorrow in Wilkes Barre for a gun speech, Thursday in Philly for primetime address and next Monday in Pittsburgh for Labor Day parade.”

As NCRM reported last week, in recent months Biden has become a historic president, battling an opposition party fresh off an attempted coup, with a cult–like leader facing possible criminal charges on a variety of potentially unlawful acts, an evenly-divided Senate, a House with only a modest majority, all at a time of nearly unprecedented crises – domestic, international, and worldwide.

Despite all that, Biden has racked up big wins on longtime Democratic goals, including taxing corporations and the ultra-wealthy, signing into law the biggest climate change bill in history, making huge inroads on reducing drug prices, working to get what is now a massive reduction in gas prices and stabilization of inflation, helping millions of veterans access care for toxin-based cancers, signing the first major gun control law in decades, maintaining and even reducing historically low unemployment while overseeing historic job and wage growth, signing the first major infrastructure bill in decades, getting America’s first Black woman justice confirmed to the Supreme Court, removing the leader of al Qaeda, strengthening and expanding NATO while supporting Ukraine after Russia attacked the sovereign nation, and more.

READ MORE: ‘Shame if Anything Happened to It’: Former Federal Prosecutor Blasts Lindsey Graham’s ‘Organized Crime Types’ Threat

On November 1, 2020 then-candidate Joe Biden delivered a speech, also in Philadelphia, on the “Battle for the Soul of the Nation,” (photo, above) his main 2020 campaign theme.

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BREAKING NEWS

House Votes to Boot George Santos 311-114

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Representative George Santos (R-NY) has been expelled from Congress following a 311-114 vote; two House members voted “present.”

The expulsion of Santos follows a debate on his fate on Thursday. The vote required a two-thirds majority, or 290 of the 435-seat chamber. This is Santos’ third vote of expulsion; last month, a vote failed with 31 Democrats voting against, according to The Hill.

While the vote was decisive, some notable Republicans voted to save Santos, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN).

“We’ve not whipped the vote and we wouldn’t,” Johnson told CNN Wednesday. “I trust that people will make that decision thoughtfully and in good faith. I personally have real reservations about doing this, I’m concerned about a precedent that may be set for that.”

READ MORE: ‘If I Leave They Win’: Santos Claims ‘Bullying’ at Off the Rails Press Conference

Santos himself had harsh words for the House following the vote. Leaving the capitol building, he briefly spoke with reporters.

“The House spoke that’s their vote. They just set new dangerous precedent for themselves,” he told CNN. “Why would I want to stay here? To hell with this place.”

He then cut his time short, telling reporters, “You know what? As unofficially no longer a member of Congress, I no longer have to answer your questions.”

Santos also faces 23 federal charges, which include fraud, money laundering and misuse of campaign funds, according to CNN. He has pleaded not guilty. An Ethics Committee report found evidence that Santos used campaign funds for Botox and even an OnlyFans account.

On Thursday, Santos said he refused to resign because otherwise, “they win.”

“If I leave the bullies take place. This is bullying,” Santos said. “The reality of it is it’s all theater, theater for the cameras and theater for the microphones. Theater for the American people at the expense of the American people because no real work’s getting done.”

Santos also threatened to file a resolution to expel Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY). Bowman pulled a fire alarm in September. Bowman pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge, and said it was an accident. He said he thought the fire alarm would open a locked door as he rushed to a vote. Bowman paid a $1,000 fine.

There have only been six total expulsions from the House, including Santos. Santos is the only Republican to ever be expelled from the House.

The previous expulsion was in 2002, when Representative James Traficant (D-OH) was expelled after a 420-1 vote. Traficant had been convicted on 10 counts of corruption-related crimes.

Before Traficant, Representative Michael “Ozzie” Myers (D-PA) was the first representative of the modern era to be expelled. Myers got the boot following his conviction for accepting bribes. Myers couldn’t keep out of trouble; in 2022, he was convicted and sentenced to 30 months in prison on charges of election fraud.

Prior to Myers, the only expulsions from the House were in 1861, at the start of the Civil War. Henry Cornelius Burnett (D-KY), John William Reid (D-MO) and John Bullock Clark (Whig-MO) were all expelled for joining the Confederacy.

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BREAKING NEWS

Peter Navarro, Former Top Trump White House Advisor, Guilty of Criminal Contempt

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Peter Navarro, the controversial economist and former top Trump White House advisor, was found guilty by a jury on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress Thursday afternoon after a short trial that began on Tuesday.

Navarro refused to comply with a congressional subpoena issued by the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.

Legal experts had predicted a “quick conviction” after Navarro, called a “conspiracy theorist” who promotes “fringe” economic theories, had called no witnesses. The jury deliberated for under five hours. He faces up to two years in prison.

“The defendant chose allegiance to former President Trump over compliance with a subpoena,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi told the jury Thursday, as Politico reported. “The defendant chose defiance.”

“Our government only works when people play by the rules and it only works when people are held accountable when they do not,” Aloi also said, during closing arguments. “When a person intentionally and deliberately chooses to defy a congressional subpoena, that is a crime.”

READ MORE: Fani Willis Slams Jim Jordan’s ‘Illegal Intrusion’ in Scathing Rebuke: ‘You Lack a Basic Understanding of the Law’

Politico reported earlier that “ Navarro has long claimed that Trump told him to defy the committee’s Feb. 9, 2022 subpoena and assert executive privilege, a demand he said conferred immunity from having to cooperate with Congress’ investigation.”

“There’s no mistake, no accident,” prosecutor John Crabb told jurors, NBC News adds.

“That man thinks he’s above the law,” Crabb said. “In this country, nobody is above the law.”

READ MORE: ‘How Much the Former President Should Pay Her’: Judge Hands Trump Big Loss in E. Jean Carroll Case

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BREAKING NEWS

‘Look for a Quick Conviction Here’: Navarro Jury Could Reach a Verdict ‘Early This Afternoon’

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Peter Navarro‘s criminal contempt of Congress trial is moving quickly and the jury may come to a verdict as early as this afternoon, court watchers say.

Navarro, who has been called a “conspiracy theorist” who holds “fringe” and “oddball” economic views, is a former top Trump White House aide. He advanced “Big Lie” election fraud claims and refused to comply with a February, 2022 subpoena issued by the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. He was criminally indicted in June of 2022 by a federal grand jury.

The trial began Tuesday in D.C. federal court.

Just before 11 AM Thursday the case was handed to the jury, Politico’s Kyle Cheney reports.

READ MORE: ‘Going to Go Very Badly’: Marjorie Taylor Greene ‘Demanding’ Biden Impeachment Inquiry, GOP Strategist Warns Against

“Given the brevity of the case, a verdict is highly likely in the next few hours,” Cheney adds, noting: “If convicted, he faces up to one year on each of two counts — one for refusing to testify, one for refusing to provide docs.”

“Navarro has long claimed that Trump told him to defy the committee’s Feb. 9, 2022 subpoena and assert executive privilege, a demand he said conferred immunity from having to cooperate with Congress’ investigation,” Politico reports. “For months, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta wrestled with intricate questions about how executive privilege might apply to a former adviser to a former president, whether Navarro’s belief that Trump had invoked the privilege constituted a defense to the charges and how the Justice Department’s decision to charge him compares with its longstanding views of immunity for some senior executive branch officials from compelled congressional testimony.”

Wednesday evening, former top DOJ official Harry Litman noted, “Peter Navarro evidence already done, closing arguments tomorrow. Basically, it’s an incredibly simple case — he knew he had to comply with the subpoena, and he still thumbed his nose at it.”

Adding the the government called three witness but “Navarro called nobody,” Litman predicted: “Look for a quick conviction here.”

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