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Trump Desperate to Keep Any Possible Criminal Evidence From Supreme Court: Legal Expert

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Donald Trump’s decision to allow one of his lawyers to speak before a grand jury on Friday morning, instead of appealing all the way to the Supreme Court, may have been made out of fear of what the justices on the nation’s highest court might see if they reviewed the case.

According to MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin, under normal circumstances, the former president would have dragged out a legal fight over attorney-client privilege that would have kept attorney Evan Corcoran from testifying under oath about Trump’s possession of government documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort that led to the FBI showing up with a warrant.

As Rubin notes, the fact that Trump let Corcoran testify over three hours raised eyebrows.

“For one, yes, it is indeed unusual, if not unheard of, for a lawyer to be litigating against a party one day and then testifying under court-ordered examination by that same party the next one,” she wrote before suggesting Trump and his legal team were looking at the long game when he might need the predominantly conservative Supreme Court to lend him a helping hand.

RELATED: Revealed: Emails show how Trump lawyers drove Michael Cohen to turn on the president

Writing, “Trump has made clear he believes this Supreme Court — controlled by conservative justices, three of whom he appointed — owes him one,” she added, “My hunch is that Trump’s team let Corcoran’s testimony happen because of what’s likely involved in any request to pause, much less, review a crime-fraud-related ruling: the evidence.”

“Put another way, if Trump had petitioned the Supreme Court to stay Corcoran’s testimony and document production, the justices would have seen some, if not all, of what Judge Howell and the three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit have already reviewed: proof that Trump misled Corcoran and engaged in criminal conduct,” she elaborated.

Rubin went on to note that Trump would likely appeal any conviction to the Supreme Court, writing, “And for someone whose one last hope, if he is ultimately charged or tried by any of the multiple entities now investigating him, is that same Supreme Court, letting the justices see evidence of his alleged crimes now would be a bridge too far.”

“Trump can’t afford to lose the Supreme Court yet,” she suggested.

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Judge Rebukes Trump Admin for Defying SNAP Payment Deadline

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A federal judge chastised the Trump administration for defying his order issued last week to fully distribute SNAP payments by Monday, or at least partially by Wednesday. The administration had said it would release 65 percent of the funds but offered no timeline for doing so.

Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. of the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island sharply rebuked the Trump administration “for what he said was defying his order to make full SNAP payments by Nov. 5,” Politico’s Kyle Cheney reported on Thursday. “He has ordered USDA to make the *full* payment to states by tomorrow.”

“It’s likely that SNAP recipients are hungry as we sit here,” McConnell said, according to Cheney.

READ MORE: ‘Make Lots of Trump Babies’: Dr. Oz Highlights Midterm Goals

The judge alleged that “Trump and his allies have admitted to withholding SNAP benefits for ‘political reasons’ rather than to preserve child nutrition programs, which the judge said was a pretext,” Cheney also reported.

Judge McConnell cited a Truth Social post President Trump made in which he vowed to hold up the SNAP funds. The President wrote that food stamp benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”

The White House later walked back the President’s remarks, claiming he was referring to any future shutdowns.

The judge “said Trump’s Truth Social post was essentially an admission of his ‘intent to defy the court order,'” according to Cheney.

“The defendants failed to consider the practical consequences associated with this decision to only partially fund SNAP,” McConnell said, according to the Associated Press. “They knew that there would be a long delay in paying partial Snap payments and failed to consider the harms individual who rely on those benefits would suffer.”

READ MORE: Democratic Rep. Interrupts Speaker Johnson — Accuses Him of ‘Lies’

 

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‘Make Lots of Trump Babies’: Dr. Oz Highlights Midterm Goals

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Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, shared a few of his goals for next year’s midterms with reporters.

Speaking from the Oval Office on Thursday, Oz promoted Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” platform.

“We’ve dropped the [price of] infertility drugs to make lots of Trump babies — I’m hoping by the midterms,” he told reporters, as HuffPost reported.

READ MORE: ‘Clown Show’: House Dem Leader Slams ‘Divorced From Reality’ Senate GOP Head

Praising President Donald Trump’s plan to lower prices on popular GLP-1 weight loss drugs, Oz said, “America will have to get fit in order to rightsize the health care system.”

Dr. Oz has talked about making “Trump babies” before.

“Now I know what you’re all thinking, and you’re probably right, that there are going to be a lot of Trump babies,” Oz said in October at a White House event focused on making in vitro drugs more accessible. “I think that’s probably a good thing.”

“But it turns out the fundamental, creative force in society is about making babies,” he continued. “It’s about creating. And this country, the one that President Trump is leading so beautifully has been a country of abundance, not scarcity.”

READ MORE: Democratic Rep. Interrupts Speaker Johnson — Accuses Him of ‘Lies’

 

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‘Clown Show’: House Dem Leader Slams ‘Divorced From Reality’ Senate GOP Head

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As the federal government shutdown enters its 38th day with no end in sight, the Speaker of the House and the House Democratic Minority Leader appear united — on one aspect only: blaming the Senate.

Amid reports that a few Senate Democrats might agree to vote to reopen the government if Republicans guarantee a date-certain vote on restoring the Affordable Care Act subsidies, Speaker Mike Johnson appeared to attempt to scuttle that potential bargain on Thursday.

Asked if he would assure that the House would vote on restoring the Obamacare subsidy funding, which would be the basis of a Senate deal, Johnson refused.

READ MORE: ‘Really Hurting’: U.S. Job Cuts Surge to Decades-Level High Amid Trump Recession Fears

“No, because we did our job, and I’m not part of the negotiation,” the Speaker told reporters on Thursday. “The House did its job on September 19th” when it passed a continuing resolution to fund the government through November 21. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has effectively declared that legislation is dead, unless he can change the end date.

“I’m not promising anybody anything,” Johnson continued. “I’m gonna let this process play out.”

Over on the Democratic side of the aisle, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted the Senate Majority Leader.

“Not a partisan thing, a patriotic thing: We have to decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis,” Jeffries declared.

“And John Thune is divorced from reality,” he charged.

“I mean, it’s a clown show over in the Senate,” Jeffries continued.

READ MORE: Democratic Rep. Interrupts Speaker Johnson — Accuses Him of ‘Lies’ 

“Fourteen, fifteen times, you bring the same partisan Republican spending bill?” he said, referring to the House-passed continuing resolution that Leader Thune has been putting before the Senate several times a week.

“Expecting a different result? That’s the classic definition of legislative insanity. Doing the same thing, over and over and over again,” he said while blasting Thune, saying he “has no ability to actually negotiate in good faith.”

Weeks ago, Jeffries told MSNBC, “what I’m saying is that we need an ironclad path forward that decisively addresses the Republican healthcare crisis.”

“In terms of the Affordable Care Act, you know, this is a group of people, Republicans, who have tried to repeal the Affordable Care more than 70 different times since 2010. They can’t be trusted on a wing and a prayer. We need a real path forward to address the crisis that Republicans have visited upon the American people in terms of healthcare, the cost of living, and affordability.”

READ MORE: Trump to Talk About Cost of Living Next Year White House Says

 

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