Free Republic

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker will return the witness stand today for the second day of Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial over covering up “hush money” payments to a porn star. Pecker will resume testimony where he is expected to detail the inner workings of a scheme he, Trump and his “fixer” lawyer Michael Cohen devised to buy up and bury bad news during the 2016 presidential election. Trump is on trial for allegedly fudging business records to conceal a $130,000 payoff to Stormy Daniels made before the 2016 presidential election. The 72-year-old ex-CEO of the Enquirer’s parent company,...

“Look, we have a majority of one, OK? It’s not like he can go and do whatever he wants to do,” Trump, 77, told radio host John Fredericks on Real America’s Voice Monday night. “I think he’s a very good person. You know, he stood very strongly with me on NATO,” added Trump, referring to a campaign rally in which he urged member states to pay more for their common defense — or he would let Russia “do whatever the hell they want.” “I think he’s trying very hard,” the 45th president concluded.Johnson (R-La.) bucked the majority of his conference...

Alec Baldwin’s scuffle with a loudmouthed anti-Israel agitator at a New York City coffee shop spilled out onto the sidewalk, new photos obtained by The Post show. An irate Baldwin, 66, was seen struggling with the woman out the front door and down the stoop of Maman, an upscale cafe on University Place in Greenwich Village, after she had accosted him inside on Monday and demanded he declare “Free Palestine” as she filmed him. Footage of the encounter, first posted online by the woman herself, cut off after Baldwin took a swipe at her phone — and new photos appear...

The New York judge overseeing former President Trump’s hush money trial said Monday that Trump cannot attend arguments on presidential immunity at the Supreme Court next week. ... The decision to not allow Trump to be in Washington, D.C., on April 25, when the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on a presidential immunity claim Trump is making in his federal criminal case, came just before the New York trial adjourned Monday. “Arguing before the Supreme Court is a big deal, and I can certainly appreciate why your client would want to be there, but a trial in...

Shares of Trump Media plunged more than 17% in the pre-trading hours after the company filed to issue millions of additional shares of stock. ... Shares of Trump Media plunged more than 11% on Monday after the company filed to issue millions of additional shares of stock. Trump Media’s dramatic slide came as Donald Trump headed to a Manhattan court to begin jury selection for his criminal trial on hush money-related charges. Trump is the majority stakeholder in the company. Trump Media, which created the Truth Social app and trades under the stock ticker DJT on the Nasdaq, fell nearly...

By forming the Supreme Court majority that would finally reverse Roe v. Wade and restore the right of the people and their elected representatives to protect unborn children and their mothers in the law, President Trump can truly be called the most consequential pro-life president in history. ... Since the 2022 midterms, however, a narrative has taken hold that the life issue costs Republicans elections and is better left to the states, anyway – a narrative that threatens this great accomplishment. With policy platforms suddenly having very real consequences, many candidates became fearful, listened to consultants and opted for the...

Former President Donald Trump lost three major legal challenges in the past week, including his efforts to dismiss a racketeering case on First Amendment grounds. Here is a look at the rulings in three separate cases this week in Georgia, Florida, and New York. New York judge denies Trump’s attempt to delay hush money trialNew York Judge Juan Merchan denied the former president’s attempt to delay his criminal hush money trial on Wednesday, after Trump claimed he was protected under presidential immunity. Merchan said that Trump had plenty of opportunity before March to claim presidential immunity in the case. Trump...

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowed Friday to appoint a special counsel to review cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot against rival Donald Trump and his supporters if Kennedy wins the Oval Office — arguing one can oppose the former president but still be “disturbed by the weaponization of government against him.”“As President, I will appoint a special counsel — an individual respected by all sides — to investigate whether prosecutorial discretion was abused for political ends in this case, and I will right any wrongs that we discover. Without the impartial rule of law,...

US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Thursday denied a motion filed by former President Donald Trump seeking to dismiss the criminal charges against him in his classified documents case. Trump, 77, had argued that under the Presidential Records Act of 1978 he had the authority to designate sensitive documents as his personal property after leaving the White House. Cannon ruled that “the Presidential Records Act does not provide a pre-trial basis to dismiss” the 40 charges against the former president. She further noted that prosecutors “make no reference to the Presidential Records Act” in the indictment against Trump and did...

Documents for Donald Trump's $175 million bond in his New York civil fraud case were rejected by a court because a current financial statement was not included. On Wednesday, a message on the New York State Supreme Court's electronic filing system showed Trump's "Bond/Undertaking" had been "returned for correction."New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ruled in February against Trump; his two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump; and others associated with the Trump Organization. They were accused in a lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James of inflating the former president's net worth and the...

Unless you are deeply immersed in politics, you likely missed a major development over the last three weeks: Since his State of the Union speech, President Joe Biden has seen a marked reversal of his fortunes. Indeed, since Biden addressed the nation in early March, polling shows that Biden is gaining ground, as former President Donald Trump now leads Biden by only one percentage point according to the RealClearPolitics polling average — Trump’s smallest lead since January. In the Quinnipiac poll released last week, Biden led by three points, 48 percent to 45 percent, bringing the total to 12 national...

Just before former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina suspended her presidential campaign Wednesday morning, former President Donald Trump insulted his former rival — as well as her supporters — before inviting them to support him. "Nikki Haley got TROUNCED last night, in record setting fashion," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "Much of her money came from Radical Left Democrats, as did many of her voters, almost 50%, according to the polls." After cheering his Super Tuesday performance, Trump invited Haley's supporters to join him in "the greatest movement in the history of our Nation" to defeat President...

The biggest individual contributions to Donald Trump's and Robert F. Kennedy Jr's 2024 presidential Super PACs in January both came from the same longtime Republican mega-donor, according to filings. Timothy Mellon, heir to the Mellon banking fortune, donated $5 million to the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. fundraising attempts in January, as well $5 million to a Super PAC supporting the Democrat-turned-independent's presidential bid the same month, Federal Election Commission (FEC) listings reveal. Mellon, the grandson of former U.S. treasury secretary Andrew Mellon, is known to be a longtime donor to Republicans such as Trump. He gave $20 million to the Trump-aligned...

And so it begins. Nine months still to go before the next US presidential election and already the Republican party favourite and former President Donald Trump is sending eyebrows and blood pressure skywards in Nato capitals with his provocative statements. And yet they will delight many of his supporters. Suggesting at a rally in South Carolina that he would "encourage" aggressors (for example Russia) "to do whatever the hell they want" with Nato countries that fail to pay their dues has prompted an immediate condemnation from the White House. A spokesman called the comment "appalling and unhinged", saying it was...

Former President Donald Trump‘s penchant for punishing GOP detractors is trickling down to Congress as some of his most ardent supporters are using loyalty to the former president as a litmus test for the Republican Party. Since launching his bid for the 2024 presidential election, Trump has kept a continuous calculation of those who have thrown their support behind him and, more importantly, those who have not. For those who have considered other candidates, the former president has been quick to decry their disloyalty and even vow to make them suffer politically. “Bob Good won’t be electable when we get...

Donald Trump said people "JUST HAVE TO LIVE WITH" presidents who "CROSS THE LINE."He posted the lengthy all-caps rant on Truth Social early Thursday morning.A DC appeals court is weighing whether Trump should have criminal immunity.Donald Trump is once again claiming that presidents should have total immunity from any crimes they commit while in office — this time, with an all-caps rant posted to Truth Social.~snip~"A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES MUST HAVE FULL IMMUNITY, WITHOUT WHICH IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM/HER TO PROPERLY FUNCTION," Trump wrote on his social-media platform in the early hours of Thursday morning. "ANY...

Vivek Ramaswamy has been one of the more interesting candidates in the 2024 Republican primary. Once a staunch critic of January 6th and a supporter of COVID-19 surveillance apps, the businessman reinvented himself as a conservative firebrand. More importantly for his popularity, he has run a campaign that has gone out of its way to be supportive of Donald Trump. Because of that, Ramaswamy has earned the praise of much of the former president's influencer network, including those connected to organizations like TPUSA and CPAC. He's often been cited as the premier example of how to run against Trump (as...

Former Gov. @LarryHogan endorses @NikkiHaley on #CNNSOTU: "It's time for the party to get behind Nikki Haley."

Donald Trump won’t deliver his own closing statement at his New York civil fraud trial after all — after the judge said he needed to stick to “relevant, material facts.” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron emailed Trump attorney Christopher Kise Wednesday saying he was assuming the 77-year-old former president wouldn’t agree to the “lawful limits” and “therefore, he will not be speaking in court tomorrow.” Kise first notified the judge in a January 4 email that after the lawyers give their arguments in the $370 million case on Thursday, “President Trump plans to present argument at closing as well,”...

Former President Donald Trump, in a new court filing Monday, again urged a Georgia judge to dismiss his Fulton County election interference charges on First Amendment grounds, arguing that the indictment against him is "categorically invalid" because it seeks to criminalize "core political speech." "President Trump enjoys the same robust First Amendment rights as every other American," said the new filing from Trump attorneys Steve Sadow and Jennifer Little. "The indictment here does not merely criminalize conduct with an incidental impact on protected speech; instead, it directly targets core protected political speech and activity." The new filing supports the arguments...