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‘Trump Says His Threats Aren’t Threats’: Legal Expert Explains Latest Gag Order Twist

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Attorneys for Donald Trump on Friday responded to a filing from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office that provided a federal appeals court with more information to support their request for the gag order placed on the ex-president to be reinstated.

On Wednesday, in a separate case, New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron released 275-pages of transcripts from threats he and his court staff have received, in an effort to support his request for the narrow gag orders he imposed on Trump and his attorneys to be reinstated. Courthouse News Service described the threats as “vulgar, threatening and antisemitic,” “profanity-laden,” and reported they “ranged from crude and bigoted to downright chilling.”

“In the affidavit attached to Engoron’s filing,” CNS reported, court officer Captain Charles Hollon “outlined the safety concerns Engoron and his staff face due to Trump’s unwavering and derogatory social media posts. The threats are serious, he claims ‘not hypothetical or speculative.’ ”

READ MORE: ‘Monster’ Ted Cruz Blasted Over False Terror Attack Claim: ‘Truth Means Nothing to MAGA’

“The affidavit claims that his law clerk now experiences ‘daily doxing’ after Trump attacked her on social media back in October,” CNS adds.

Judge Engoron’s chief law clerk Allison Greenfield’s “personal cell phone number and personal email addresses … have been compromised,” Hollon wrote, noting: “She has been subjected to, on a daily basis, harassing, disparaging comments and antisemitic tropes. I have been informed by Ms. Greenfield that she has been receiving approximately 20-30 calls per day to her personal cell phone and approximately 30-50 messages per day.”

On Thanksgiving Day, the Special Counsel’s office (which also worked on Thanksgiving last year,) submitted a 26-page letter to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., directing the court’s attention to Judge Engoron’s filing, including the affidavit and 275-pages of  transcripts.

“Because the parties referenced this matter in their briefs, and the Court inquired at oral argument about evidence of ongoing threats and harassment, the Government respectfully submits Exhibit E (and the related documents, for completeness) as supplemental authority,” the Special Counsel’s office wrote.

“While Americans gave thanks,” MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin reports, “the Special Counsel’s office put their stuffing to the side & sent the DC Circuit the filing detailing the copious, vile threats against the judge overseeing the NY civil fraud trial and his law clerk.”

“And today,” Rubin adds, “Team Trump responded, insisting the information is irrelevant, could have been brought to the court’s attention earlier, and in any event, isn’t Trump’s problem because he never *directly* threatened the law clerk.”

READ MORE: ‘Denying Career Advancement to White Straight Men’: Stephen Miller’s Law Group Targets Macy’s

Trump’s attorneys called the affidavit and 275 pages of transcripts “irrelevant” to their federal case.

“To date,” they added, “the prosecution has never submitted any evidence of alleged ‘threats’ or ‘harassment’ to any prosecutor, court staffer, or potential witness in this case. This falls short of the ‘solidity of evidence’ required to justify a prior restraint.”

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, the popular MSNBC legal analyst, podcaster, and professor of law, sums up Trump’s attorneys’ response to the Special Counsel’s filing.

“Trump’s lawyers have responded to a 28(j) supplemental authority letter the special counsel sent to the court of appeals on Thanksgiving day,” she writes. “In short, Trump says his threats aren’t threats & if they are, he’s justified in making them.”

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CNN’s Pam Brown Spars With GOP Rep. Blaming High Prices on Biden

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CNN Anchor Pamela Brown sparred with U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan, the Chair of the House Republican Conference, who was blaming former President Joe Biden for soaring prices nine full months into the Trump administration. Trump during the presidential campaign promised to lower prices on day one.

“This isn’t a quick fix, right?” Congresswoman McClain told Brown on Monday. “The past four years dug a very deep hole for the American people.”

“It’s gonna take us a hot second to get out of it,” she insisted, “but I have all the confidence in President Trump that he absolutely is working for the American people to get us out of that devastating inflationary period under the last administration.”

Brown was not receptive.

READ MORE: ‘Not Right in the Head’: Notorious Far Right Leader Fuentes Goes Off on ‘Weird’ Trump

“But this administration is nine months in,” she reminded the Michigan lawmaker, “and President Trump had vowed to lower prices from day one, from very early on in the administration. So at what point is it?”

“Gas is down,” McClain declared. “Eggs is down.”

“I mean, we don’t talk about the price of eggs anymore,” she added. “Um, come on.”

“But those other areas,” Brown responded. “Other areas.”

“It’s gonna take a half second,” McClain insisted.

“Okay,” Brown said, moving on. “All right, Congressman.”

“I mean,” McClain continued, “if there was a silver bullet to get us out of this mess that was created under the Biden administration, I have the ultimate faith that President Trump could do it.”

“Unfortunately, there is a lot to unravel, and I don’t think you’re being quite as fair as he has — gas prices are down.”

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

“I did say that,” Brown replied, “No, no, I am being fair.”

Earlier, Brown had pointed to remarks U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) had made about the high cost of living, lamenting, “inflation crushed people in the past four and a half years, and the costs have not come down.”

“I myself can tell you, my apartment here in Washington, D.C., the electricity bill is $100 more than it was last year, ’cause you can look at your own bill and look at costs,” Greene said. “Prices have not come down.”

READ MORE: Trump’s ICE Expands Spy Arsenal and Eyes ‘Antifa’: Report

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Guns and Guided Missile Warheads: Trump Admin Surged Domestic Weapons Spending Report Says

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The Trump administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) has reportedly surged spending this year on domestic weapons — including guns, chemical weapons, explosives, and guided missile warheads — by 700 percent.

“Records from the Federal Procurement Data System reveal that ICE has increased spending on ‘small arms, ordnance, and ordnance accessories manufacturing’ by 700% compared to 2024 levels,” according to a report by Popular Information. “Most of the spending was on guns and armor, but there have also been significant purchases of chemical weapons and ‘guided missile warheads and explosive components.'”

“More weapons, more violence,” wrote Popular Information founder Judd Legum, noting that the “surge in spending on ICE weaponry has coincided with a wave of violent incidents by ICE officers.”

Legum pointed to several well-publicized incidents, including one recently where a Christian pastor, David Black, reportedly was shot in the head with a pepper ball.

READ MORE: ‘Not Right in the Head’: Notorious Far Right Leader Fuentes Goes Off on ‘Weird’ Trump

“In another September incident, an ICE officer dropped his gun while violently making an arrest and then pointed it at bystanders,” Legum wrote.

“All over the country, federal agents have shot, gassed, and detained individuals engaged in cherished and protected activities,” a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Illinois reads.

“What we’re seeing is a general escalation of violence and the use of excessive force by ICE officers,” Ed Yohnka of the ACLU Illinois told NPR.

“Late last month,” NPR also reported, “a local CBS reporter said a masked ICE agent fired a pepper ball at her car … causing her to vomit for hours. The reporter, Asal Rezaei, said there was no protest happening at the time. Broadview Police are now investigating.”

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

 

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‘Not Right in the Head’: Notorious Far Right Leader Fuentes Goes Off on ‘Weird’ Trump

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White nationalist influencer Nick Fuentes, who infamously once dined with President Donald Trump and Kanye West (Ye) at Mar-a-Lago, blasted the president last week as a “weird guy” who is “not right in the head.”

“Look, something’s wrong with him, man,” Fuentes told a viewer on his online streaming show, as Mediaite reported. “And I’m not saying that to be nasty, but like, he’s a weird guy.”

“And some of the stuff that he does, just the way that he’s always glazing himself, and repeats himself.”

READ MORE: ‘Existential Threat’: U.S. on Path to Authoritarianism Warn Ex-Intelligence Officials

“Something’s, he’s not right in the head, and I don’t know if that’s his psychology or if it’s just his age, but there’s something not right there, and anyone that’s been around him will tell you that,” Fuentes charged.

“He’s a weird dude,” he added. “Like, he’s an odd cat, and maybe you need to be to be as tough as he is, but he’s not sharp. If there was something wrong with him ten years ago, it was a lot less apparent, because ten years ago, he’s a lot more sharp, and, I think, compelling, and general, and now, he’s just slow and monotonous, and repeats himself, and seems to really not know what’s going on.”

Fuentes was responding to a viewer who had written, “Looks like your assessment of Trump as a tired old man is correct.”

“Saw a report today that lots of his view of Chicago or NYC is from old BLM riot clips people show him. He just wants to play golf, fly on AF1, have fancy dinner parties, sign Oval Office EOs, watch 80s movie and get told he is getting revenge on [John] Bolton.”

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

 

Image via Reuters

 

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