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Paul Pelosi Among White House’s Carefully-Crafted State of the Union Guest List

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At 9:00 PM President Joe Biden will deliver his State of the Union Address, informing the American people most likely that the “state of our union is strong,” but First Lady Jill Biden will also be speaking to the American people, via a lengthy and carefully-crafted list of guests she and the White House have invited, in full sight of the tens of millions of people expected to watch – and the Republicans in the room.

Dr. Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will host the White House’s 26 guests, who are a representation of the Democrats’ wider agenda, including some of the left’s most important battles and achievements. The White House in a statement Tuesday said, “Each of these individuals were invited by the White House because they personify issues or themes to be addressed by the President in his speech, or they embody the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies at work for the American people. ”

Guests include a married same-sex couple who helped make Massachusetts the first state to legalize marriage equality in 2004. A hero who stopped a mass shooter from killing even more people. The mother and step-father of Tyre Nichols. A pregnant woman who nearly died because of Texas’ abortion ban. A DREAMer. A cancer-survivor. A caregiver to a Navy combat veteran. A mother whose son battled lead poisoning due to contaminated drinking water. A member of Navajo Nation and Registered nurse who is working to provide medical care and cancer treatment. Parents of a survivor of pediatric cancer. The Ambassador of Ukraine. A 10th grade computer-integrated manufacturing student. A father who lost his 20-year old daughter to a fentanyl overdose. And more, including Bono.

READ MORE: ‘National Security Nightmare’: Experts Concerned Melania Trump Was in Situation Room During ‘Major Military Operation’

Paul Pelosi, the husband to now-former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, will be by Dr. Jill Biden’s side. Republicans, including several expected to be sitting in the same room, mocked him when a Trump-supporting right-wing extremist and conspiracy theorist took a hammer to the 82-year old’s head, causing a “near-fatal” injury on October 28. Should President Biden mention Mr. Pelosi in his speech, Republican response would no doubt be attention-grabbing.

In its statement Tuesday the White House makes its intent clear: “The attack reportedly was politically motivated, with the intruder’s alleged intent to harm and kidnap the former Speaker. According to court filings, the intruder confronted Mr. Pelosi, asking ‘Where’s Nancy?,’ a similar chant of those responsible for the January 6th Capitol insurrection.”

President Biden appears to have taken the assault on Paul Pelosi very seriously. On November 1, he slammed Republicans, painting their refusal to condemn bad actors and bad actions as part of a much larger problem in America.

“I’ve been talking to Nancy Pelosi” about the attack on her husband, Biden said. “And look at the response—the so-called response from Republicans, making jokes about it and/or saying, “Well, you know, it’s not because of what’s being said and not said.'”

READ MORE: Right-Wing Outraged Over Falsely Thinking White House Press Secretary Said National Security Council Is Using ‘TikTok’

When “unstable people…hear every single day these outrageous lies—these outrageous lies across the board about everything; when they look at the internet and see what’s being said, stated and talk about, you know, where we keep children in basements to molest them and all these kinds of things—look what’s happened. And think however this guy is demonizing LBGTQ [LGBTQ]* population. Think how his opponent is demonizing anyone who disagrees with him,” he said.

“And so you wonder why—how this guy came breaking into Paul—and Paul is a friend, as—as is Nancy. I’ve known them for years and years,” Biden continued.

“And nobody on that party condemns it for exactly what it is. Says it’s not because when I made a comment about this is to be expected when you have leaders of the other party condoning the kind of conduct that is—that I’ve just discussed and others.”

Last year 38.2 million people watched President Biden’s State of the Union Address. These 26 people may be silent but together they will speak volumes about the agenda he has created.

 

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Bannon Will Be ‘Going to Prison’ After Criminal Contempt Conviction Upheld, Experts Predict

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A federal appeals court panel of three judges has upheld the criminal contempt of Congress conviction of Steve Bannon, the far-right provocateur and former Trump chief strategist and senior White House advisor. Legal experts say he can appeal but ultimately he will he headed to prison.

Bannon had refused to comply with a subpoena lawfully-issued by the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.

“Bannon was sentenced to four months in jail in 2022 by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols after a jury convicted him of two counts of contempt of Congress,” Politico reports Friday. “But Nichols, a Trump appointee, agreed to postpone the jail term while Bannon appealed the decision, agreeing that the complex mix of laws that govern executive privilege and testimonial immunity for White House aides could be overturned by higher courts.”

The appeals court panel includes judges appointed by President Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden, according to CNN’s Zachary Cohen.

In their ruling the judges wrote: “Public accounts indicated that Bannon had predicted on a January 5, 2021 podcast that ‘all hell [wa]s going to break loose’ the next day,” and noted, “In addition to the podcast prediction, Bannon had reportedly participated in discussions in late 2020 and early 2021 about efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.”

READ MORE: House Ethics Committee Extends Investigation Into ‘Ultra MAGA’ Congressman

Politico noted the “three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Bannon’s argument, saying the former aide and prominent podcaster had no legal rationale for his blanket refusal to appeal before the Jan. 6 committee — and that long-standing case law.”

Bannon is a peddler of conspiracy theories whose podcast “was crowned the top peddler of false, misleading and unsubstantiated statements among political podcasts,” according to The New York Times, citing a Brookings study.

“Bannon is unlikely to have to report to prison immediately,” NBC News reports.

Legal experts weighed in on the question of prison for Bannon.

READ MORE: ‘Undisguised Corruption’: Critics Slam Trump for ‘Selling the White House’ to Big Oil

“And now it’s time for Bannon to be given a date to report to the federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his sentence,” remarked MSNBC and NBC News legal analyst Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor.

“Bannon is effectively out of appeals,” observed professor of law and MSNBC legal analyst Joyce Vance, former U.S. Attorney. “He can delay a little bit longer, asking for the full court to review the decision en banc & asking SCOTUS to hear his case on cert, but neither one of those things will happen. Bannon is going to prison.”

Professor of law and former chief White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter remarked, “it’s slammer time.”

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House Ethics Committee Extends Investigation Into ‘Ultra MAGA’ Congressman

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The House Committee on Ethics has announced it is extending its investigation into U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) after an initial referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics. Congressman Jackson is a self-described “ultra-MAGA” Republican who has spread various conspiracy theories and was demoted by the Pentagon after his retirement from the military.

While the Ethics Committee is always reserved in its announcements, and did not state the issue it is investigating, it did note it will “announce its course of action in this matter on or before Monday, June 24, 2024.” Thursday’s announcement follows announcements in April and May of 2022 confirming its investigation into Rep. Jackson.

In September of 2021 the Office of Congressional Ethics, a separate, nonpartisan, and independent office, launched an investigation into Congressman Jackson, the former Physician to the President under both Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Dr. Jackson also served as the Chief Medical Advisor to the President under Trump, a position created by the now-indicted ex-president.

In May of 2022 the Office of Congressional Ethics released documents stating it had “found ‘substantial reason to believe’ Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) spent campaign funds on personal expenses,” Forbes reported at the time.

READ MORE: ‘Literally Willing to Take Bribes’: Report of Trump Promise to Big Oil Fuels Concerns

The Office had referred its findings to the House Ethics Committee one month earlier.

Congressman Jackson “refused to cooperate with the review,” CNN reported in 2022, noting it was “not the first time Jackson has come under scrutiny. Last year, the Pentagon inspector general outlined a scathing critique of his behavior, saying he drank alcohol and took sleeping pills while serving as a White House physician – and made ‘sexual and denigrating’ comments about a female subordinate. Jackson disputed the report’s findings.”

The New York Times in March reported on Dr. Jackson’s military demotion.

“In a report completed three years ago, the Pentagon found that Rear Adm. Ronny L. Jackson had mistreated subordinates while serving as the White House physician and drank and took sleeping pills on the job. The report recommended that he face discipline,” according to The Times. “Now it turns out that the Navy quietly punished him the next year. Though he had retired from the military in 2019, he was demoted to captain — a sanction that he has not publicly acknowledged.”

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Last summer at a Texas rodeo Congressman Jackson attempted to assist a person experiencing a medical event, but was “briefly detained” by law enforcement officers, his office stated, after reportedly refusing to move away from the woman.

According to The Texas Tribune, Jackson spewed multiple profanities at a trooper.

“’You are a f*cking full-on dick!’ Jackson told the trooper after being brought off the ground, according to bodycam footage provided by the Department of Public Safety. ‘You better recalculate, motherf*cker!'”

“I’m gonna call the governor tomorrow and I’m gonna talk to him about this sh*t because this is f*ckin’ ridiculous,” Jackson also reportedly said. “F*ckin’ ridiculous.”

The Tribune reported Jackson’s “office has emphasized he was ‘not drinking,’ though the sheriff’s report challenges that assertion.”

READ MORE: Johnson Demands All Trump Prosecutions Cease, Vows to Use Congress ‘In Every Possible Way’

 

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‘Literally Willing to Take Bribes’: Report of Trump Promise to Big Oil Fuels Concerns

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Bombshell reports from The Washington Post and Politico are fueling concerns over the promises 2024 Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump reportedly has been making to “Big Oil.”

“What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign,” is The Washington Post’s headline.

“Donald Trump has pledged to scrap President Biden’s policies on electric vehicles and wind energy, as well as other initiatives opposed by the fossil fuel industry,” The Post reported.

“You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.”

“Giving $1 billion would be a ‘deal,’ Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people,” The Post added.

“Political contributing is often a type of legalized bribery,” The Bulwark’s Marc Caputo remarked. “But the way Trump is so explicit about making a ‘deal’ is going to raise eyebrows.”

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It has.

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, an attorney and University of California, Berkeley professor of public policy issued this warning:

“Trump asked Big Oil execs to give him $1 billion for his campaign. He promised lower taxes and a rollback of Biden’s climate regulations and clean energy programs in return. Trump is literally willing to take bribes in exchange for the destruction of the planet. Be warned,” Reich wrote.

U.S. Rep. Gabe Amo (D-RI) also issued a warning: “Donald Trump is saying the quiet part out loud. Re-electing him will guarantee ‘deals’ that work against our climate future. He cares more about campaign donations from oil tycoons than the fate of future generations and the health of our planet. Take him at his word.”

“We cannot believe this,” wrote government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). “Donald Trump essentially told a room full of oil executives ‘raise a billion dollars for me and I’ll get rid of the regulations that you want.’ This is blatantly corrupt behavior.”

READ MORE: Johnson Demands All Trump Prosecutions Cease, Vows to Use Congress ‘In Every Possible Way’

Former LA Times reporter Steve Weinstein called it, “Bribery straight up.”

“Wow,” exclaimed U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) “a report today finds donald trump demanded a straight up billion dollar bribe from oil executives. Republicans want to sell you out to big oil to line their pockets.”

Liberal Super PAC American Bridge 21st Century wrote: “New reporting uncovered Trump is already planning to sell the White House to the highest bidder. He’s demanding a $1 billion bribe from oil execs in exchange for massive tax cuts and the repeal of environmental protections and clean energy investments.”

Josh Dorner, a communications executive, responded to the Washington Post’s Heather Long’s summation of the paper’s report, by writing: “Bribery, how does it work?”

Marketing executive Jason Karsh, also responding to Long’s post, wrote: “How cool is it to have a presidential candidate so broke and so corrupt that he’s asking for bribes out in the open. I mean, he’s a Republican so nothing will happen, but this is so clearly what the founders intended, it’s just … *wipes a tear*”

California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom commented, “Big Oil is literally writing up Executive Orders for Trump to sign on Day 1 — with the promise of $1 billion in return. He’s giving away our planet in return for cash. Have we just accepted this as the new norm??”

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Laurie Garrett in a lengthy social media thread reached back into history and compared Trump’s alleged billion-dollar request to the Teapot Dome scandal. “Until now, it was the biggest presidential corruption case in US history,” she wrote.

“The Teapot Dome Scandal was, in the 1920s, the greatest threat to the integrity of the US Presidency the Nation had experienced. Not only was Big Oil bribery unfolding, but Harding, a golfer and womanizer, & had a child out of wedlock,” she noted in one post.

See the social media posts above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Ran a Bribery Center Blocks From the White House’: Comer Mocked for Claiming No Evidence of Trump Influence Peddling

 

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