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‘That’s Not Factual’: CNN Anchor Destroys Republican Threatening to Remove Biden From the Ballot

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A CNN anchor on Monday destroyed arguments made by the long-term Republican Secretary of State of Missouri, who threatened last week to remove President Joe Biden from the 2024 presidential election ballot in response to Colorado and Maine removing Trump, because two other elected Republican politicians have accused him of “insurrection.”

“You think that when the Supreme Court takes this up, they are going to side with President Trump, is that correct?” CNN’s Boris Sanchez asked Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.

“They are going to side against people being thrown off the ballot in this sort of manner,” said Ashcroft, pausing to craft his response.

“The brief that I will be filing with the United States Supreme Court is not going to say that President Trump is a bad person. It’s not going to say that he’s a good person. What it’s going to say is that this extrajudicial means of removing people from the ballot is catastrophic to our country, if it’s allowed to continue, because if Democrats can do it, you know that Republicans will do it, and if Republicans will do it, then Democrats will do it more.”

While Sanchez did not respond to Ashcroft’s claim, the Colorado case was not brought by Democrats but by GOP and independent voters. But Sanchez was prepared and citied the Missouri state constitution to fact-check Ashcroft’s claims.

“To that point, Secretary, in order to remove President Biden from the ballot, according to your state constitution, you would need to go to court. What do you think would be your strong –” Sanchez said before being interrupted.

READ MORE: ‘I Won the Election and He Was the Loser’: Biden, Showing Anger and Passion, Torches Trump

“No, not not at all,” Ashcroft claimed.

“Your state constitution actually states that the Secretary of State lacks authority to assess qualifications of a candidate to determine whether to place a candidate’s name on a primary ballot. That’s according to Section 115-387 of your state constitution,” Sanchez explained.

“What I’m saying is, if the Supreme Court upholds the rolling out of Colorado,” Ashcroft began before Sanchez reminded him that Colorado “went to court to disqualify Trump from the ballot, so you, according to your constitution, we need to go to court.”

“Sir. Sir. Sir. Let’s just be clear,” Ashcroft urged. “First of all, you’ve already said you’re not an attorney. And you don’t know what happened in Colorado.”

“I know what happened in Colorado,” Sanchez retorted. “What I said was that I didn’t read through all of the evidence specifically to be able to qualify whether there was hearsay or not. To get back to my question, you say that you would decide to remove Joe Biden from the ballot in your state, according to your state constitution, which I just read to you from, it says you need to go to court. I’m asking you what you think your strongest argument is.”

“And I continue to try to answer your questions and you continue to try to tell me stuff that just isn’t true,” Ashcroft alleged.

“That’s not factual sir,” Sanchez charged. You made an accusation about me not knowing something, I’m sure to clarify it for you.”

He then again asked, “What is the strongest argument you would make in court to remove Joe Biden from the ballot?”

In a different portion of the interview, Sanchez asked Ashcroft, “what would then be your justification for removing Joe Biden from the ballot in Missouri. Has he engaged in your mind in some kind of insurrection?”

“There have been allegations that he’s engaged in insurrection,” Ashcroft alleged.

“How so?” Sanchez pressed.

“Please let me finish,” Ashcroft said, with Sanchez stating, “You can’t say something like that and not back it up.”

After complaining he was being interrupted, Ashcroft asked, “Are you scared of the truth?

“I’m not terrified of the truth at all. It seems like you might be,” Sanchez quipped.

READ MORE: ‘Big Deal’: Trump Jr. Ignores Dad Is Accused of Sex With ‘Many Girls’ in New Epstein Doc Dump

After mentioning “allegations,” Ashcroft said, “President Trump has never been adjudicated in court law.”

“What did Joe Biden do, in your mind, that equates insurrection? What allegations are you talking about?” Sanchez demanded.

“Um, I have seen allegations from the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, that has said that Joe Biden has been part of insurrection or rebellion,” Ashcroft replied. We’ve seen governor of Florida say the same thing.”

“Insurrection over what? What did the [Lt. governor of Texas say that Joe Biden was causing an insurrection over? If you’re gonna make the claim, give me give me some specifics. Are you just gonna tie the governor of Texas or Florida? And not actually say what they are arguing? Do you know what they are arguing?

Watch both portions of the interview above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘We Need to Turn Mickey Mouse Into a Nazi’: How the Far Right Openly Plots to Attack the Left

 

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‘On Day One’: Trump Vows to End Protections for LGBTQ Students

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Donald Trump says the day he enters the Oval Office for a second term he will end anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ students implemented by the Biden administration.

Serving up a scattershot series of complaints with the hosts from the Philadelphia-based right-wing talk radio show “Kayal and Company” on Friday, Trump compared LGBTQ+ protections to a “cuckoo’s nest.”

“A lot of things don’t make sense, having to do with what they’re doing, from the border to all of the men playing in women’s sports. I mean, the world is like a cuckoo’s nest right now with what they do,” Trump declared.

One of the hosts alleged President Joe Biden has engaged in “manipulation” of Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools that receive federal funding. She claimed parents now have to “pinch some pennies” to be able to afford private Christian schools for their children, to remove them from the enhancements that go into effect this summer.

“Many schools are grappling with what they’re going to do,” she said, “because as of August 1, as you know, because of Biden’s manipulation of Title IX, these kids, the school boards, have no choice, they’re meeting right now they, many of them perplexed, and they don’t know what to do, Mr. President, because they’re so upset over this that at August 1 a biological boy can change in a locker room.”

READ MORE: ‘Rejection of Trump’: 1 in 5 Indiana GOP Voters Just Cast Their Ballot for Nikki Haley

Trump replied, “It’s crazy. Crazy.”

“We’re going to end it on day one,” Trump vowed. “We’re going to change it on day one. It’s going to be changed. We’re going to end it. That’s right.”

“The whole thing is crazy. Look, it’s like men playing in women’s sports. It’s like open borders for the world to come in. Send all their prisoners. We’ll take as many as you can give us. Send all their people from mental institutions.”

“We’ll get that changed. Tell your people not to worry about it. It’ll be signed on day one. It will be terminated,” Trump promised, vowing to end the LGBTQ+ protections which include protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.

On his first day in office, President Biden implemented “the most far-reaching of any federal protections yet” for LGBTQ+ people, according to NPR.

In an explainer on the new expanded rules, Ms. Magazine reports “The 2024 regulations prohibit discrimination not only on the basis of sex, but also on the basis of sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”

According to GLAAD, which is tracking “the Biden administration’s executive orders, legislative support, speeches and nominations that affect LGBTQ people and rights,” President Biden has made 337 “moves” in 1206 days.

Listen to a short clip below or at this link.

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

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Ari Fleischer Offers Donald Trump Advice Attorney Says ‘Effectively’ Violates Gag Order

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A Fox News panel discussing the Trump New York criminal trial debated whether or not the indicted ex-president could attack the judge’s daughter, with former Bush 43 press secretary Ari Fleischer insisting he should, and claiming doing so would not violate the terms of the gag order.

“President Trump needs to stop calling the judge ‘conflicted.’ He needs to explain why he’s conflicted,” Fleischer said Friday to a panel that included former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. “Every day of the trial he goes in there, he says, ‘the judge is conflicted, conflicted bigger than I’ve ever seen anywhere in my life.’ He doesn’t explain how or why. He needs to say that the judge’s daughter works for a Democratic political consulting firm that does anti-Trump business. He needs to explain it. Otherwise, it’s just an assertion with no proof. And the President if he’s going to say it, back it up. Explain.”

“I think that’s a violation of the gag order, is it not?” a Fox panelist replied.

“No, he can criticize the judge,” McEnany responded.

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

“Not the judge but the family,” the panelist added.

“But when he says the judge is conflicted, you can still explain how and why, and I think comply with a gag,” Fleischer insisted.

The panelists then agreed Donald Trump has been “measured” in his remarks.

National security attorney Brad Moss weighed in on social media, posting the relevant portion of the gag order and writing that Fleischer “effectively recommends Trump violate the terms of the gag order.”

The gag order in part reads: “Defendant is directed to refrain from” … “Making or directing others to make public statements about (1) counsel in the case other than the District Attorney, (2) members of the court’s staff and the District Attorney’s staff, or (3) the family members of any counsel, staff member, the Court or the District Attorney, if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with, or to cause others to materially interfere with, counsel’s or staffs work in this criminal case, or with the knowledge that such interference is likely to result.”

Despite Trump’s repeated attacks, an ethics panel last year cleared Judge Juan Merchan of any issues surrounding his daughter’s work.

On Monday, Judge Merchan warned Trump he may throw him in jail if he violates the gag order again.

Watch below or at this link.

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

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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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