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Rumors Swirl as ‘Flight Risk’ Trump Claims FBI Took His ‘Three Passports’ – He Can Still ‘Ask for Asylum’

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Despite claiming he wants to help tamp down the anger across the country from his far-right base Donald Trump on Monday issued a statement complaining the FBI took his “three passports” when it executed a legal search warrant last week. Rumors are flying about what that might mean for his future, if true.

“Wow! In the raid by the FBI of Mar-a-Lago, they stole my three passports (one expired), along with everything else,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, The Independent reports. “This is an assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our Country. Third World!”

The FBI has no political opponent, it is not an assault given a judge signed off on the Bureau’s actions, and “Third World” is considered a derogatory and offensive term. There is also no confirmation that Trump’s claim is correct.

Attorney Tristan Snell, who successfully prosecuted the Trump University case for the New York Attorney General’s Office, notes, “Trump is still a flight risk even without passports. He could go to NYC, to the consulate of a country that does not allow US extradition (such as Russia), and ask for asylum.”

READ MORE: ‘Should Expect to Be Indicted’: Giuliani Now Target of Georgia DA Investigation Into Efforts to Overturn Election – Report

But freelance journalist Yashar Ali notes “as far as we know the State Department has not placed a hold on Trump’s passport (they usually do that when you owe a huge amount of tax). So he can easily go get a replacement passport if he wants. A same day passport! He has not been charged with a crime.”

“The FBI isn’t going to decide that someone who hasn’t been charged with a crime is a flight risk, that would be up to a judge,” he adds. “And passports weren’t listed on the property list.”

Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko just mocked the former president: “I have a passport and twitter account. Donald Trump has neither.”

READ MORE: Trump Makes False Claims About Classified Documents – And Obama

Jon Cooper, a former Draft Biden National Finance Chair offered this interesting observation: “Anyone else find it interesting that Trump looked for his passport in the first place?”

Former top FBI official Frank Figliuzzi says it’s “possible that Trump retained his red ‘government official’ passport, and a black ‘diplomatic’ passport, which he no longer has a right to. Those would be ‘government records’ seizable pursuant to the warrant.”

While Trump has not been charged with any crimes, last week, even before Trump claimed the FBI took his passports, some were saying he should have to give them up.

“Frankly speaking, Trump is a flight risk,” wrote Qasim Rashid, an attorney and human rights activist. “The judge should require he surrender his passport and his jet should be grounded.”

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‘He Reported to Me in Detail’: Netanyahu’s Boast on Vance Fuels Blowback

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As the U.S.-Iran peace talks failed over the weekend — at least for now — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly shared remarks with his Cabinet that are fueling blowback.

Vice President JD Vance led the peace talks, along with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff.

Axios’ Barak Ravid on Monday morning reported that “Pakistani, Egyptian and Turkish mediators will continue talks with the U.S. and Iran in the coming days in an effort to bridge the remaining gaps and reach a deal to end the war, according to a regional source and a U.S. official.”

Ravid also reported that Netanyahu told his Cabinet, “I spoke yesterday with Vice President J.D. Vance. He called me from his plane on his way back from Islamabad. He reported to me in detail, as this administration does every day, about the development of the negotiations.”

Netanyahu went on to say, “In this case, the explosion in the negotiations. The explosion came from the American side, which could not tolerate Iran’s blatant violation of the agreement to enter the negotiations. The agreement was that they would cease fire, and the Iranians would immediately open the gates. They did not do that. The Americans could not accept that.”

But Netanyahu’s claim that the American Vice President “reported” to him, and the administration has done so “every day,” drew anger.

“Netanyahu is claiming openly that the US Vice President and administration report to him in detail on a daily basis,” wrote journalist Saagar Enjeti.

“‘He reported to me.’ That’s the problem,” observed journalist and documentary filmmaker Sara Afshar.

“For Netanyahu to tell his cabinet that the Trump administration reports to him every day in detail is quite something. I don’t understand how any nativist or sovereignist would accept that,” noted Firas Modad, who writes about the Middle East on Substack.

“America is an Israeli puppet state,” responded economist and author Saifedean Ammous.

READ MORE: White House Fires Back After President’s Doctor Is Asked to Test Trump’s Mental Fitness

 

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Trump Is Promising Mass White House Pardons: Report

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President Donald Trump is promising mass pardons to White House staff, and has done so repeatedly, the Wall Street Journal reports.

“I’ll pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval,” Trump said in a recent meeting, to laughs, the Journal reported, citing people familiar.

“That radius,” the Journal added, “appears to be expanding as the president repeats the line. Another person who met with Trump earlier this year said the president quipped about pardoning anyone who had come within 10 feet.”

Trump at one point said he would hold a news conference to announce the mass pardons.

“The president has repeatedly raised the specter of pardons with White House aides and other administration officials, particularly when staff have suggested they could face prosecution or congressional investigations over decisions, people familiar with the comments said,” the Journal reported.

The Journal did not state if the pardons would be blanket pardons, but reported that those familiar with his remarks “said they weren’t aware of specific pardons being offered to specific people for specific acts.”

READ MORE: White House Fires Back After President’s Doctor Is Asked to Test Trump’s Mental Fitness

The report also noted that Trump has often seriously pursued actions he initially had joked about.

“It seems like he previewed many times his intent to use the pardon power to bail out those who carry out his agenda faithfully,” Liz Oyer, a former Trump Justice Department pardon attorney told the Journal. She also “said the offers could spur Cabinet officials and administration officials to behave more aggressively.”

While Trump did not pardon White House or other officials in conjunction with the events of January 6, 2021, on his first day back in office he did issue sweeping pardons to roughly 1,500 of those who were at the Capitol that day and later arrested.

READ MORE: ‘Only Reason They Are Alive’: Trump Again Threatens Iran in Unhinged Truth Social Post

 

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White House Fires Back After President’s Doctor Is Asked to Test Trump’s Mental Fitness

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The White House is fighting back after a prominent House Democrat demanded that the Physician to the President test Donald Trump’s mental fitness, citing the president’s recent remarks.

“At a time when our country is at war—especially when the war was initiated by the President without congressional declaration or consent—the American people must be able to trust that the Commander-in-Chief has the mental capacity to discharge the essential duties of his office,” Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin wrote to the President’s Physician, Captain Sean P. Barbabella, D.O., in a letter published by Punchbowl News.

“I therefore request that you conduct a comprehensive cognitive assessment of President Donald Trump, provide those results to Congress, and make yourself available to brief Congress on your findings.”

Congressman Raskin noted that experts “have repeatedly warned that the President has been exhibiting signs consistent with dementia and cognitive decline.”

“And, in recent days, the country has watched President Trump’s public statements and outbursts turn increasingly incoherent, volatile, profane, deranged, and threatening. His apparently deteriorating condition has caused tremendous alarm across the nation (and political spectrum) about the President’s cognitive function and continuing mental fitness for the office of President, and prompted concerns about the President’s well-being.”

Raskin noted that during the Biden presidency, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer called President Biden’s mental acuity “one of the greatest scandals in our nation’s history,” and subpoenaed the White House Physician.

He also noted that during that time, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan declared that a president who is not cognitively fit, “isn’t fit for office.”

Raskin offered some examples, including Trump’s recent message to Iran, which the Congressman described as combining “vulgarity and profanity, unprecedented threats of mass civilian destruction, and a sarcastic invocation of Islam on Easter morning—a bizarre display that shocked tens of millions of Americans and astonished observers across the political spectrum.”

Trump had written: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F——’ Strait, you crazy b——, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”

The New York Times had described Trump’s remarks as a “blistering threat” that “would have stood out on any day, much less on what most Christians consider the holiest day of the year.”

Raskin is insisting that Dr. Barbabella conduct “a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment of the President, including a formal cognitive screening instrument, and publicly release the results.”

Also, it asks him to provide “a detailed report on the President’s current mental and physical health status, including any medications he is currently taking and their potential,” and make himself available for a briefing under oath.

The White House wasted no time in responding, telling Courthouse News’ Benjamin S. Weiss: “Lightweight Jamie Raskin is a stupid person’s idea of a smart person.”

“President Trump’s sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the past four years when Democrats like Raskin intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people,” the White House added.

 

Image via Reuters 

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