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Appeals Court ‘Skeptical’ of Trump’s Civil Fraud Conviction: Reports

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A New York appeals court five-judge panel appeared “skeptical” of the civil fraud verdict in the case charging Donald Trump, his company, some family members, and his Chief Financial Officer falsely overvalued and undervalued assets to obtain favorable loan rates and to pay less taxes. Judges appeared to suggest bans had a responsibility to beware.

Judge Arthur Engoron had imposed a $364 million sentence on Trump, which is approaching $500 millions with interest. Judges heard Trump’s appeal on Thursday.

The judges “seemed somewhat skeptical that the civil fraud verdict should hold,” HuffPost reports, “with one judge dubbing it an ‘disturbing’ amount and another suggesting that the ‘sophisticated parties’ Trump and Trump Organization engaged with were obligated to do their due diligence.”

READ MORE: Mark Cuban Amps Up Attacks on Trump: ‘The Family Business Is Now the Republican Party’

Judges also appeared to suggest New York Attorney General Letitia James may have gone too far.

“How do we draw a line, or at least put up some guardrails, to know when the AG [attorney general] is operating well within her broad — admittedly broad — sphere … and when she is going into an area that wasn’t intended for her jurisdiction?” Justice John Higgitt asked, The Hill reports.

The Washington Examiner, however, reported it “was not immediately clear where the panel might land once it reached a decision on the case. At times, the panel asked several pointed questions to James’s team of lawyers, while the judges appeared to listen more intently to the defense’s argument at other moments.”

Trump announced a press conference at Trump Tower for Thursday at 4:30 PM, although a topic was not included in the release.

READ MORE: Speaker Johnson and Top House Republicans Rush to Protect ‘Racial Arsonist’ Clay Higgins

 

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‘Wowza’: Economists Thrilled With ‘Huge’ Jobs Report and Wages Outpacing Prices

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The September jobs report is a stunning confirmation of just how “strong” and “resilient” the U.S economy is, according to economic experts who are celebrating Friday morning.

“US economy smashes expectations with 254,000 jobs added in September,” The Financial Times reports, “far outstripping expectations.”

“Wowza: HUGE jobs report,” exclaimed Professor of economics Justin Wolfers, a senior fellow at Brookings and a frequent guest on cable news. “This economic expansion that is motoring along.”

“This is a great September jobs report,” declared The Washington Post’s Heather Long. “The ‘soft landing’ is still on track.”

The New York Times’ economic reporter, Talmon Joseph Smith, summed up the news:

Economists had expected 140,000 to 159,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, continuing the Biden administration’s historic record of producing and maintaining unemployment at five-decade lows.

READ MORE: JD Vance Says ‘Yes’ Trump Won in 2020 Then Walks Away When Asked ‘Will You Concede?’

“Average hourly earnings grew 0.4% last month, and are now up 4.0% over the year. There’s no question that wages are running ahead of prices, and people are seeing meaningful real wage gains,” he added. Wolfers says he’s “been relentlessly optimistic about the economy for the past couple of years, and it’s felt lonely at times during the drumbeat of ‘recession’ talk, but it’s also been a pretty great place to be. If you were looking for what a soft landing looks like, this is it.”

Bloomberg News adds, “Unemployment for major ethnic groups — Black, White, Hispanic — fell, while the Asian unemployment rate held steady.”

President Biden, who worked with the dockworkers union to bring an extraordinarily fast end to their strike that ended after just three days this week, took a victory lap.

READ MORE: ‘Judicially Executed Cover Up’: Experts Say Jack Smith Filing ‘Major Indictment’ of SCOTUS

“Today, we received good news for American workers and families with more than 250,000 new jobs in September and unemployment back down at 4.1%,” President Biden said in a statement. “With today’s report, we’ve created 16 million jobs, unemployment remains low, and wages are growing faster than prices. Under my Administration, unemployment has been the lowest in 50 years, a record 19 million new businesses have been created, and inflation and interest rates are falling. And we’re seeing the power of collective bargaining to lift up workers’ wages—including the progress made by dockworkers on record wages with carriers, and port operators and the reopening of East Coast and Gulf ports.”

Biden also took a swipe at Republicans.

“Congress should pass our plan to build millions of new homes, expand prescription drug price caps, empower workers and protect the right to organize, and cut taxes for hardworking families. Congressional Republicans have a different plan—more giant tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations, ending the Affordable Care Act, undermining workers by cutting overtime and making it harder to organize, and imposing a national sales tax that would raise costs by nearly $4,000 per year. While they put billionaires first, we’ll keep fighting to grow the middle class.”

See the social media posts above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Biggest Whopper of the Night’: Vance’s ‘Heap of Lies’ on Abortion Was ‘Jaw-Dropping’

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Democrats Call for Trump-Appointed Scandal-Ridden Inspector General to Be Ousted

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Two House Democratic Ranking Members are calling for the removal of the Dept. of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, appointed by Donald Trump in 2019, accusing him of lying to Congress, misleading Congress, blatantly abusing his powers, and wasting millions in taxpayer dollars.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, in a statement following the release of a damning independent report say “Inspector General Cuffari’s extensive and shocking record of misconduct and obstruction is evidence that he has seriously compromised the public’s trust and is plainly not fit to serve in a position that requires him to guard the public interest and act beyond reproach.”

“Cuffari’s unprecedented misconduct in office has been underscored and exacerbated by his persistent and repeated obstruction of oversight efforts. Not only did he fail to fully and meaningfully comply with our investigation—he actively worked to undermine and thwart it.” They call his actions “an outrageous affront and embarrassment to the inspector general community and have undermined the reputation of the entire DHS Office of Inspector General.”

READ MORE: JD Vance Says ‘Yes’ Trump Won in 2020 Then Walks Away When Asked ‘Will You Concede?’

The Project On Government Oversight (POGO), a nonpartisan independent watchdog, on Wednesday released a report alleging Cuffari “waged a years-long campaign to derail and discredit investigations into allegations of his misconduct, which include claims he retaliated against whistleblowers.”

The independent report from the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) did not cite Cuffari’s actions in deleted texts scandal, but as NCRM reported in 2022, Cuffari appeared to have waited seven months to notify Congress of the missing text messages from the day before and day of the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

That means that four months after the January 6 insurrection the Dept. of Homeland Security knew Secret Service agents’ text messages, from the day before and day of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, were missing and did not inform Congress or the National Archives, which is required by law to retain those records.

RELATED: ‘Coverup of Treason’: Trump-Appointed IG, Under Investigation, Knew of Missing Secret Service and DHS Texts Far Earlier

The deleted Secret Service texts were not the only missing data at DHS.

“Text messages for President Donald Trump’s acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf and acting deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli are missing for a key period leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol,” The Washington Post reported in July 2022.

Cuffari also reportedly “declined to pursue investigations into Secret Service during Trump administration,” The Washington Post reported in 2021, and “blocked investigations proposed by career staff … to scrutinize the agency’s handling of the George Floyd protests in Lafayette Square and the spread of the coronavirus in its ranks.”

“Hundreds of Secret Service officers were either infected with the coronavirus or had to quarantine after potential exposure … as Trump continued to travel and hold campaign events during the pandemic.”

The White House says the report is “concerning, but Politico reports Republicans are circling the wagons around Cuffari.

“Firing Cuffari could spark outrage from Capitol Hill Republicans, who have praised him for investigating DHS’s trouble vetting people evacuated from Afghanistan and its inability to monitor all unaccompanied migrant children released from federal custody after traveling to the United States,” Politico reports. “As CIGIE’s investigation into Cuffari has unfolded, congressional Republicans have rallied around him, suggesting he is being targeted as punishment for criticizing the administration. In an occasionally contentious July hearing, House Oversight Republicans pressed the head of CIGIE on how his office handles investigations into inspectors general and raised concerns about the Cuffari probe.”

In 2023 Cuffari testified before Congress he had deleted text messages from his government-issued cell phone which he also stated he did not use for personal reasons. He alleged the texts he deleted were not considered government records.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Bullhorn’: MAGA Congressman Blasted for Using ‘Antisemitic Trope to Demonize Jews’

 

 

 

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JD Vance Says ‘Yes’ Trump Won in 2020 Then Walks Away When Asked ‘Will You Concede?’

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U.S. Senator JD Vance, less than 48 hours after refusing to correctly answer when asked if Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, faced the question again on Thursday — but this time instead of evading he answered it directly: “Yes,” the vice presidential nominee lied.

“Who won the 2020 election? Just answer — did Donald Trump win?” asked Jason Selvig, half of the political comedy duo “The Good Liars,” who frequently troll conservatives in videos that go viral.

“Yes,” Vance replied, strongly.

“He did win?” Selvig asked again, seemingly to confirm Vance’s response.

“Yup,” the Ohio Senator stated.

READ MORE: ‘Bullhorn’: MAGA Congressman Blasted for Using ‘Antisemitic Trope to Demonize Jews’

“So will you, will you concede, if your opponent gets more votes, will you concede?” Selvig pressed.

“I really feel bad for you man,” Vance appeared to say, as he turned into what appeared to be a hotel conference room, ducking Selvig and his camera. “I just want to know, if your opponent gets more votes, will you concede?”

“Completely disqualifying,” is how political scientist David Darmofal described Vance’s lie Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

“As this moment shows,” remarked attorney David R. Lurie, “Vance’s now confirmed status as an opponent of democracy is not going to be something he can quip away during the weeks before the election.”

READ MORE: ‘Judicially Executed Cover Up’: Experts Say Jack Smith Filing ‘Major Indictment’ of SCOTUS

Near the end of Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, Vance’s Democratic opponent, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, asked what became a historic question that was called it the “only moment from the VP debate that mattered.”

“Did he lose the 2020 election?” Walz asked Vance.

“Tim,” Vance replied, “I’m focused on the future.”

The Harris campaign quickly turned that into an ad which quickly went viral:

The full context of Walz’s and Vance’s interaction can be read here.

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Headaches’: Trump Under Fire for ‘Trivializing’ US Soldiers’ Traumatic Brain Injuries

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