Free Republic

Joseph Tacopina, the trial lawyer on Donald J. Trump’s legal team with the most successes defending high-profile clients, will no longer represent the former president in his criminal trial in Manhattan, according to a notice sent to the court on Monday. Mr. Tacopina also withdrew on Monday from another case in which he was still legally representing Mr. Trump: an appeal of the verdict in a lawsuit brought by the writer E. Jean Carroll. Mr. Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation last year and was ordered to pay Ms. Carroll $5 million. It was not clear why...

On his last day as president on Jan. 20, 2021, Donald Trump stood in a snapping wind and waved goodbye to relatives and supporters before he took his final flight on Air Force One back to Mar-a-Lago. No elected Republican of any stature showed up at Joint Base Andrews for the bleak farewell. Trump, at that moment, was a pariah among Republican elites. The party’s leaders in the House and Senate, Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell, blamed him for the Capitol siege. Party fundraisers assured donors they were done with him. On conference calls, House Republican leaders contemplated a “post-Trump”...

For 74 years, the NATO has been America’s most important military alliance. Presidents of both parties have seen NATO as a force multiplier enhancing the influence of the United States by uniting countries on both sides of the Atlantic in a vow to defend one another.Donald Trump has made it clear that he sees NATO as a drain on U.S. resources by freeloaders. He has held that view for at least a quarter-century.In his 2000 book, “The America We Deserve,” Trump wrote that “pulling back from Europe would save this country millions of dollars annually.” As president, he repeatedly threatened...

For Donald J. Trump, a new set of New York Times/Siena College polls captures a stunning, seemingly contradictory picture. His 91 felony charges in four different jurisdictions have not significantly hurt him among voters in battleground states. Yet he remains weaker than at least one of his Republican rivals, and if he’s convicted and sentenced in any of his cases, some voters appear ready to turn on him — to the point where he could lose the 2024 election. Snip---------------- If the former president is convicted and sentenced — as many of his allies expect him to be in the...

During President Donald J. Trump’s years in the White House, his aides began to refer to the boxes full of papers and odds and ends he carted around with him almost everywhere as the “beautiful mind” material. It was a reference to the title of a book and movie depicting the life of John F. Nash Jr., the mathematician with schizophrenia played in the film by Russell Crowe, who covered his office with newspaper clippings, believing they held a Russian code he needed to crack. The phrase had a specific connotation. The aides employed it to capture a type of...

A maintenance worker for the former president recounted helping to move boxes into a storage room a day before a Justice Department official came seeking the return of classified material. The day before a key meeting last year between a lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump and officials seeking the return of classified documents in Mr. Trump’s possession, a maintenance worker at the former president’s private club saw an aide moving boxes into a storage room, according to a person familiar with the matter. The maintenance worker offered to help the aide — Walt Nauta, who was Mr. Trump’s...

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida all but declared his presidential candidacy on Thursday afternoon, telling donors and supporters on a call that only three “credible” candidates were in the race and that only he would be able to win both the Republican primary and the general election. “You have basically three people at this point that are credible in this whole thing,” Mr. DeSantis told donors on the call, organized by the super PAC supporting him, Never Back Down. “Biden, Trump and me. And I think of those three, two have a chance to get elected president — Biden and...

Former President Donald Trump recently told aides to hire Laura Loomer, a far-right, anti-Muslim activist with a history of expressing bigoted views, for a campaign role, according to four people familiar with the plans. Trump met with Loomer recently and directed advisers to give her a role in support of his candidacy, two of the people familiar with the move said. On Tuesday, after Trump’s arraignment in New York, Loomer attended the former president’s speech at Mar-a-Lago, his resort and residence in Palm Beach, Florida. Some of Trump’s aides were said to have concerns that such a hire would cause...

NBC) New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman on Sunday said former President Trump is “very anxious” about possibly being indicted as part of a New York probe into an alleged hush-money payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels. Trump posted on Truth Social Saturday to say he thinks he’ll be arrested on Tuesday as the Manhattan district attorney’s office pursues the payment that came amid his 2016 presidential run. “Protest, take our nation back!” Trump wrote.

As former President Donald Trump faces likely criminal charges, his campaign is preparing to wage a political war. With an indictment looming from the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, Trump’s campaign is laying the groundwork for a broad attack on Bragg, a Democrat. According to two of Trump’s political allies, the campaign will aim to portray any charges as part of a coordinated offensive by the Democratic Party against Trump, who is trying to become only the second former president to win a new term after leaving office. It is unclear what data points, if any, the Trump team plans...

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida has sharply broken with Republicans who are determined to defend Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, saying in a statement made public on Monday night that protecting the European nation’s borders is not a vital U.S. interest and that policymakers should instead focus attention at home.###“While the U.S. has many vital national interests — securing our borders, addressing the crisis of readiness with our military, achieving energy security and independence, and checking the economic, cultural and military power of the Chinese Communist Party — becoming further entangled in a territorial dispute between Ukraine and Russia is not...

Are we back to this nonsense again? Remember the hush payments Stormy Daniels was receiving, which led to her soliciting the legal advice of now-ex-attorney Michael Avenatti, which ended with her losing her lawsuit against Donald Trump, including paying the former president’s attorney fees? Yeah, that’s back in the news because someone at The New York Times went off half-cocked and said that criminal charges would likely be filed against the former president. It’s ‘the walls are closing in’ part LXXXVII, and it’s not happening, according to NYT reporter Maggie Haberman (via Mediaite): "ANDERSON COOPER: I mean, how do you...

I have some genuine questions and I have no malice against Ron DeSantis or his supporters but a few things trouble me about him! He has the tacit support of the Bushes. I know they want anyone but Trump but as one Freeper put it: Will he blow kisses back? What does having their support mean? Does it mean Karl Rove becomes an advisor? Campaign cash, staff and what not? Think about it. It's not just some throw away endorsement by them it comes with serious muscle, donors, etc. He's also visiting Texas instead of CPAC. Will he be hanging...

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida will make his debut appearances in three early presidential primary states in the next several weeks, according to two people briefed on his plans, selling his performance in his own state as he lays the groundwork for an expected presidential campaign. Mr. DeSantis is tentatively expected to appear in Iowa during the first half of March, making stops in Davenport and Des Moines, according to the people briefed on his schedule who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the plans publicly. Shortly after, he is expected to appear in Nevada, an early primary...

Former President Donald Trump spent part of his Monday disputing a report that he’s conjuring up nicknames for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who’s widely viewed as his strongest potential ​rival in the 2024 Republican primary. “All of the Fake News is reporting that I spend large amounts of my time coming up with a good ‘nickname’ for Ron DeSanctimonious, who is obviously going to give the presidential ‘thing’ a shot,” the 76-year-old Trump said Monday on his Truth Social platform. “They are all 100% wrong, I don’t even think about it — A very unimportant subject to me!!!” he added....

Donald Trump has rolled out some new insults for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as tensions continue to boil between the two potential 2024 rivals, a new report claimed on Sunday. The former president has taken to calling the young conservative leader 'Meatball Ron' in reference to his appearance during private conversations, people familiar told the New York Times. He also reportedly now calls him 'Shutdown Ron' over his state's brief economic and social lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the report suggests Trump and his campaign are making the pandemic a central issue in their attacks against DeSantis. Trump's...

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida prizes preparation and the way it allows him to control his political narrative. But suddenly, he was on the verge of going off message. He had traveled to a Central Florida warehouse this past week to promote a $2 billion tax cut proposal when he was confronted with the inevitable: an especially ugly attack from former President Donald J. Trump that seemed to warrant a strong response. Mr. Trump had insinuated on social media that Mr. DeSantis behaved inappropriately with high school girls while he was a teacher in his early 20s. As a reporter...

The Republican Party may be girding for a brutal internal war amid the wreckage of its midterm elections — and Donald Trump is ready to “burn it all down” if he can’t keep his grip on the GOP, predicts New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. Who or what remains standing after such a clash is far from clear, she noted Friday. The throw-down is likely to begin next week when Trump is expected to announce that he’s running again for president, against the advice even of some of his allies. Trump has already been trashing potential primary rivals, including Florida...

Former President Trump on Thursday apologized to his wife Melania Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity for reports circulating about their reaction to his endorsement of Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz, dismissing the accounts as “fictional stories.” “I’d like to apologize to Melania and Sean Hannity for all of the Fake News and fictional stories (made up out of thin air, with no sources despite them claiming there are!), being dumped on you by reporters and ‘News’ Organizations who know these stories are not true,” Trump said on Truth Social.

Donald Trump is said to be 'livid' this morning and 'screaming at everybody' after a lackluster performance by Republicans in the midterms - and is even rumored to be blaming his wife Melania for advising him to endorse defeated Pennsylvania candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz. The House and Senate both still hang in the balance today despite the promised 'red tsunami' of Republican support. While results in key swing states like Arizona and Georgia are still pending, many are calling Trump the biggest loser of the night with Republicans swearing him off, and throwing their weight behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis...