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Marjorie Taylor Greene Takes Potshot at Biden in September 11 Tribute

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Monday marks the 22nd anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. While most politicians are keeping partisanship out of it—even, uncharacteristically, Donald Trump—Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene took the time to slam President Joe Biden in her tribute.

“Today, we remember the lives taken from us by the hands of Islamic terrorism 22 years ago. Americans are still dying and suffering from the toxic chemicals and dust they endured after the buildings fell. Let us also not forget the betrayal of everyone who died that fateful day by the Biden Administration who handed over weapons and ceded the territory we held in the Middle East to the Taliban, who works with Al-Qaeda, the very enemy we sought to defeat after decades of fighting and lost American lives,” Greene wrote on X, alongside a photo of firefighters lowering a flag to half-mast.

Greene’s comment makes reference to the pullout of American forces in Afghanistan in 2021. Though Biden announced that the full withdrawal would happen by September 11, 2021—the 20th anniversary of 9/11—it was completed on August 30 of that year.

READ MORE: ‘What They’re Doing for Golf Is So Great’: Trump Claims ‘Nobody’s Gotten to the Bottom of 9/11’ as He Hosts Saudi-Funded Event

Though the withdrawal happened in Biden’s administration, the deal was brokered with the Taliban by former President Trump, and the Biden administration placed the blame on him in a 2023 report from the National Security Council, the Associated Press reported. Biden was “severely constrained” by Trump’s moves, according to the report. The report said that at the start of Biden’s term, “the Taliban were in the strongest military position that they had been in since 2001, controlling or contesting nearly half of the country.”

It’s not as simple as merely blaming Trump, however. Trump’s deal included a clause that would have allowed the U.S. to back out of the deal in the event that peace talks failed, according to the AP—which they did.

“If he thought the deal was bad, he could have renegotiated. He had plenty of opportunity to do that if he so desired,” Chris Miller, former acting defense secretary at the end of the Trump administration told the AP. Biden countered by saying that had he gone back on the agreement, he would have had to send more troops to Afghanistan, which ran counter to Biden and Trump’s shared goal of pulling out of the country.

“The choice I had to make, as your president, was either to follow through on that agreement or be prepared to go back to fighting the Taliban in the middle of the spring fighting season,” Biden said at the time.

While Greene’s tribute to those lost in the September 11 attacks was partisan, tributes from her fellow Republicans stayed neutral.

“In the weeks that followed, we weren’t black or white; gay or straight; Democrat or Republican. We were all American. In the face of tragedy, we found unity. In the face of despair, we found renewed hope. Even as we pray that no calamity like it ever happens again, we can still long to be reunited once again as one nation under God,” Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy posted on X.

Even Trump kept things nonpartisan in a video posted to his social media platform, Truth Social.

“No one who lived through the horror of the September 11 terrorist attacks can ever forget the agony and the anguish of that terrible day. It was a terrible day. The images of dark plumes of smoke billowing over Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania—it was a beautiful field—are seared into our minds forever, we will never forget.

“Today on the solemn anniversary of those monstrous attacks, we remember the 2,977 precious souls who were savagely taken from us on that morning 22 years ago. Leaving a void that can never be filled—can never be filled. No matter what happens, it can never be filled. We will say a prayer for each of the beautiful families left behind whose pain is beyond comprehension. What they’ve gone through is not even believable.

“We honor the firefighters, the great New York PD—police department—what great people they are. They are so great. And the Port Authority officers, the Virginia, DC and Pentagon police and the military service members and other first responders—actually, all over the country—they acted with supreme heroism and they went to the site of the most heinous crime. They would leave other states far away and go to the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon, they go to Pennsylvania. When many cases gave their lives in the line of duty. God bless the memory of all of those who perished in the 9/11 attacks, we will never ever forget. Never forget you, we love you. God bless their families and God bless America. Thank you,” Trump said.

 

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Republicans Are Secretly Meeting With Allies of ‘Putin’s Buddy’ Orbán to End Ukraine Aid: Report

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Congressional Republicans are meeting in secret this week behind closed doors with allies of the far-right Christian nationalist authoritarian Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán. Those allies, including from a Hungarian government agency that reportedly organized a far-right U.S. group’s conference in Budapest, are working to support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s illegal war against Ukraine. GOP lawmakers, especially in the House but increasingly in the Senate, have been voicing strong opposition to the U.S. sending any additional funding to Ukraine.

“Members of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs and staff from the Hungarian embassy in Washington will on Monday begin a two-day event hosted by the conservative Heritage Foundation thinktank,” The Guardian reports. The Heritage Foundation, once considered the premier conservative think tank, by 2016 was a pro-Trump group. Now, Heritage is behind the massive Project 2025, which aims to install tens of thousands of pro-Trump loyalists into the federal government if the ex-president re-takes the White House.

“The first day,” The Guardian explains, “includes panel speeches about the Ukraine war as well as topics such as Transatlantic Culture Wars. It is expected to feature guests including Magor Ernyei, the international director of the Centre for Fundamental Rights, the institute that organized CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) Hungary.”

Orbán, called “Putin’s Buddy” just last week by Politico, is “a strongman who cultivates close ties with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and who is widely seen as having undermined democracy and rule of law at home.”

READ MORE: ‘Ballsy Move’: Experts Praise Special Counsel for Not Playing Trump’s ‘Stupid Reindeer Games’

In other words,” wrote U.S. Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL), “Far-right Republicans are conspiring with Hungary’s extremist Russian-sympathic PM Viktor Orbán to help former KGB dictator Putin defeat democratic Ukraine. Ronald Reagan and John McCain must be looking on in utter disbelief.”

Many are outraged that Republicans will be meeting with Orbán’s allies in D.C. while refusing to publicly acknowledge their attendance at the anti-Ukraine events. To date the guest list has not been published.

National security expert, former U.S. Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA), blasted the GOP’s secrecy: “A list of every representative in that meeting with Orban should be made available to the press. Public servants shouldn’t hide in the shadows— especially when discussing decisions with foreign leaders that could benefit Vladimir Putin.”

READ MORE: ‘They’re Coming After Our Children’: Watch Casey DeSantis’ Dystopian Fear-Mongering Ad

Conservative commentator Bill Kristol explained, “Heritage Foundation and Viktor Orbán are not simply against aid for Ukraine. They are against Ukraine. They hate Ukraine, because a) they’re pro-Putin, and b) they hate liberal democracy, especially one fighting to defend itself against a brutal dictator.”

National security and international law expert Eugene Vindman, a retired U.S. Army colonel whose twin brother made national headlines when he blew the whistle on Donald Trump and was mercilessly targeted for his actions, blasted both the Hungarian prime minister and the GOP: “Viktor Orbán is actively interfering in domestic politics and colluding with extremist republicans to help Vladimir Putin. This is dangerous. Republicans must stop putting Putin ahead of U.S. national security interests.”

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‘Ballsy Move’: Experts Praise Special Counsel for Not Playing Trump’s ‘Stupid Reindeer Games’

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Legal experts are applauding Special Counsel Jack Smith’s move to “leapfrog” a Trump effort to delay his D.C. case by claiming he has immunity from prosecution and appealing the decisions by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on that major question.

Trump is claiming he cannot be prosecuted for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election because he was president at the time, and is also claiming he cannot be prosecuted because he was impeached nay the House but not convicted by the Senate.

Legal experts and U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan have declared Trump is not immune from prosecution for criminal acts, with Judge Chutkan writing: “Defendant’s four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens.”

READ MORE: Clarence Thomas Vehemently Objects to LGBTQ Conversion Therapy Case Denial by SCOTUS

On Monday the Special Counsel appeared to have short-ciircuited Trump’s delay tactic by asking the Supreme Court to rule on this question: “Whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin.”

“It is hard for Trump to logically object to Smith’s request today for expedited Supreme Ct review since it is Trump who is claiming he [should] not be subject to the indictment at all,” writes former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann, a popular MSNBC legal analyst. “Expedited review only helps alleviate that harm, if he is correct (which he is not).”

Weissmann adds, “Note newest Smith team member: the storied appellate lawyer Michael Dreeben. Argued over 100 cases in Supreme Court, and was head appellate lawyer on SC Mueller team.”

“This is a really ballsy move,” declared former U.S. Attorney and Deputy Asst. Attorney General Harry Litman. “And who is Michael Dreeben? He plays a similar role in Mueller investigation but he was a very long time Deputy Solicitor General and probably the most respected Supreme Court advocate on criminal issues in the Dept.”

READ MORE: ‘They’re Coming After Our Children’: Watch Casey DeSantis’ Dystopian Fear-Mongering Ad

Steve Vladeck, the national security attorney and professor of law, adds, “if I were taking a criminal procedure issue to the Court, there’s no one I’d want as my special counsel *more* than Michael Dreeben.”

He also explains, “The bottom line of Jack Smith’s #SCOTUS filing is that he wants to ensure, one way or the other, that the issue of Trump’s constitutional immunity from the January 6-related prosecution is conclusively resolved by the end of the Supreme Court’s *current* term (i.e., June 2024).”

This is exactly the right move,” announced noted constitutional law scholar and Harvard University Professor Emeritus Laurence Tribe.  “And SCOTUS should agree to leapfrog the DC Circuit, just as it did in the Nixon tapes case. The issue is purely legal and delay hurts the country.”

Former 30-year federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, now an NBC News/MSNBC legal analyst sums up the Special Counsel’s move: “Unwilling to play Trump’s stupid reindeer games, Jack Smith takes the reins and seeks an expedited answer from the Supreme Court on Trump’s baseless claim that he is above the law and can’t be prosecuted for his crimes.”

Watch Weissmann’s explanation of Smith’s move below or at this link.

READ MORE: Jobs Report Forces Fox News to Admit Biden Economy ‘A Lot Stronger Than Anybody Understands’

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Jack Smith Asks SCOTUS to Rule on Major Trump Claim in ‘Unexpected Move’

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Special Counsel Jack Smith is asking the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court to rule on a major leg of Donald Trump’s defense, that he is immune from any prosecution for actions he took while President.

Smith’s question now before the justices: “Whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office or is constitutionally protected from federal prosecution when he has been impeached but not convicted before the criminal proceedings begin.”

MSNBC on-air called it “an unexpected and fascinating legal move.”

The justices can agree to take up the question or refuse.

The Special Counsel has requested an expedited decision.

READ MORE: Clarence Thomas Vehemently Objects to LGBTQ Conversion Therapy Case Denial by SCOTUS

U.S> District Judge Tanya Chutkan has already ruled Trump can be prosecuted for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump has appealed and is attempting to put the entire case on hold until a ruling has been made.

“Smith is attempting to bypass the appeals court,” the Associated Press reports. “The request filed Monday for the Supreme Court to take up the matter directly reflects Smith’s desire to keep the trial, currently for March 4, on track and to prevent any delays that could push back the case until after next year’s presidential election.”

 

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