Free Republic

Judge Aileen Cannon knew the Justice Department’s recent history of bad behavior related to all things Donald Trump would repeat itself. How right she was. Judge Aileen Cannon was right. In her controversial order authorizing the appointment of a neutral third-party to review the classification status of documents seized during the FBI’s pillage of Mar-A-Lago last summer, Cannon cited as a main concern the Justice Department’s chronic habit of leaking to the news media. Leaks hinting at what FBI investigators allegedly found, including perhaps nuclear secrets, were reported by reliable media apparatchiks just a few days after the FBI’s unprecedented...

President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and Mark Meadows were named as co-conspirators in Michigan’s alternate elector lawfare case against 16 Republican electors. Last July Democrat Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel criminally charged 16 dueling ‘Trump electors’ in the state’s 2020 election. The charged defendants are: Kathy Berden, 70, of Snover William (Hank) Choate, 72, of Cement City Amy Facchinello, 55, of Grand Blanc Clifford Frost, 75, of Warren Stanley Grot, 71, of Shelby Township John Haggard, 82, of Charlevoix Mari-Ann Henry, 65, of Brighton Timothy King, 56, of Ypsilanti Michele Lundgren, 73, of Detroit Meshawn Maddock, 55, of Milford James Renner,...

An Arizona grand jury has indicted former Donald Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows and lawyer Rudy Giuliani along with 16 others in an election interference case. The indictment released Wednesday names 11 Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring that Donald Trump beat Joe Biden in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election. It shows seven other defendants whose names were not immediately released because they had not yet been served with the charges. The Associated Press was able to determine the identities of the unnamed defendants based on their descriptions in the indictment. One is described as...

On Thursday Mollie Hemingway at The Federalist confirmed our reporting from February last year. A new book from Mike Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman admits that a widely misunderstood phone call, on which Willis’ political prosecution rests, was illegally recorded. That means the entire prosecution could crumble with defendants having a new avenue to challenge Democrat lawfare.

Former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Inside” that “everybody should vote for” President Joe Biden if they wanted democracy to survive. Partial transcript as follows: HUTCHINSON: Donald Trump isn’t a Republican. And, yes, maybe, by name, he considers himself a Republican, but Donald Trump cares more about authoritarian rule than he does our rule of law. He doesn’t care about preserving our Constitution. He cares about leveraging it for his own power and his own gain. So, when we look at this next election, we need to think about, if we want our democracy to...

In an appearance Tuesday morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said the news that Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former White House chief of staff, had been granted immunity for grand jury testimony is a “deadly” development for Trump. “You don’t give Mark Meadows immunity unless the evidence he has is unimpeachable,” Christie said. “I want all Republican voters to understand this. What’s going to be happening in March? He’s going to be sitting in a courtroom in Washington, D.C., with Mark Meadows 20 feet away from him saying he committed crimes in front of me on...

Ryan Fournier @RyanAFournier Yesterday I put up a tweet alleging that Mark Meadows wore a wire in the White House during the last stretch. I’ve spoke with some of my sources again, and now it seems that information was wrong and incorrect. In fact, two of them retracted their statements on the matter entirely. I apologize for putting something out without it not being 100% accurate. That’s on me and I’ll do better next time. I also apologize to Congressman Meadows, and his staff for having to field questions on the issue. There seems to be some dark forces behind...

Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that the walls were closing in on former President Donald Trump while discussing ABC News reporting that former President Donald Trump’s last chief of staff Mark Meadows was granted immunity to testify under oath in the federal election interference case. Schiff said, “I think it is very big news. In a way, it’s not surprising. People never expected Mark Meadows to be a Steve Bannon, you know, gleefully riding into jail on behalf of Donald Trump. That is not Mark Meadows. He never signed up to go to jail. He...

Former President Donald J. Trump said he hoped Mark Meadows — his final White House chief of staff and a co-defendant in a sweeping racketeering indictment in Georgia stemming from efforts to thwart the 2020 election — was still “loyal” to him. Mr. Trump made his comment during a lengthy interview with Kristen Welker, the new moderator of NBC’s “Meet The Press,” broadcast on Sunday morning. Mr. Trump has been warned by the federal judge in a case also stemming from his efforts to stay in office, brought against him by the special counsel Jack Smith, to avoid saying anything...

MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace said Wednesday on her show “Deadline” that Mark Meadows, who served as chief of staff under former President Donald Trump, was so “exposed” in the Georgia criminal RICO case he is “naked with his rear end hanging out.” After playing clips from The House Select Committee investigating January 6, Wallace said, “I want to deal with this intent and this knowledge of illegality first, so, Cippolone and Jacob, based on their testimony to the committee, are the ones saying in all of these meetings to anyone that’s listening that the plot is illegal, the fake electors...

A federal judge denied former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ request for an emergency stay of a ruling that sent his Georgia election interference case back to state court, a court filing showed Wednesday. Meadows, former President Donald Trump’s final chief of staff, had asked U.S. District Judge Steve Jones to pause his ruling pending an appeal in a higher court. But Jones sided with Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis, who on Tuesday urged the judge to reject Meadows’ latest move in his ongoing push to try and move his case to federal court. Meadows “has not shown...

Mark Meadows' latest court flop increases the pressure facing the co-defendants charged alongside Donald Trump in the Georgia election interference case to flip on the former President and cooperate with the prosecution, one former federal prosecutor told Insider. In a Friday ruling, US District Court Judge Steve Jones denied Meadows' bid to move the prosecution against him to federal court. In his ruling, Jones argued that when Meadows urged Georgia's secretary of state to "find" enough votes to declare Trump the winner of the state in the 2020 election, his behavior fell outside the scope of his official duties of...

Ajudge is set to rule soon on the first Georgia 2020 election co-defendant’s attempt to move their charges to federal court, a decision that could prove decisive for the future of Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis’s (D) criminal case. Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows wants U.S. District Judge Steve Jones to allow him to switch courts to attempt to get his charges thrown out on immunity grounds. It would also widen the jury pool to less Democrat-heavy areas and likely prevent a televised trial allowed by state law. If Meadows succeeds, legal experts say...

Testimony this week in federal court by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reportedly contradicted claims that former President Donald Trump insisted he violate his oath of office by fabricating enough votes to win the state. As Breitbart News has long noted, the media have misrepresented the January 2021 phone call between Trump and Raffensperger, quoting Trump as telling Raffensperger that he should “find” the votes necessary for him to win. In fact, Trump said “I just want to find” the votes, referring to his own state of mind. Moreover, the context was that Trump believed he actually had won...

“I don’t know that I did anything that was outside my scope as chief of staff,” Meadows testified. Over the course of his testimony, Meadows repeatedly emphasized that he was acting squarely in his role as the president’s top aide in each one of the eight incidents – called overt acts – outlined in the indictment. His justifications ranged from being a gatekeeper to Trump’s schedule to making sure the president was informed of developments of interest There was a federal interest, he said, in the fair and accurate administration of state elections. Under cross-examination Cross pressed Meadows on whether...

U.S. District Judge Steve Jones denied requests made by Mark Meadows and Jeffrey Clark to avoid arrest in Fulton County while their requests to move the case to federal court are pending. Both Mr. Meadows and Mr. Clark, both former federal officials, have been named as defendants in an indictment against former President Donald Trump and 16 others. Their actions in the former president's challenge of the Georgia election results have led to them being charged with violating the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis alleges that their actions constituted a "criminal...

In court papers filed in federal court for the Northern District of Georgia on Tuesday, Mark Meadows asked a judge for an immediate ruling on his effort to move his Fulton County case to federal court or an order that would prevent Fulton County's district attorney from arresting him. “Granting removal immediately and notifying the state court is the most efficient way to effectuate relief,” they wrote. “Alternatively, the Court can effectuate relief by issuing an order to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis — who is a party to the matter before the Court—prohibiting her from arresting or causing...

Mark Meadows, who served as former President Trump’s White House chief of staff, is urging a judge to dismiss criminal charges brought against him last week alongside his former boss. Meadows insisted he is immune from Fulton County (Ga.) District Attorney Fani Willis’s prosecution because the allegations are connected to his role as a federal official. COURT BATTLES Meadows asks for Georgia charges to be dismissed BY ZACH SCHONFELD - 08/21/23 11:13 AM ET SHARE TWEET Mark Meadows, who served as former President Trump’s White House chief of staff, is urging a judge to dismiss criminal charges brought against him...

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows officially filed Tuesday to move the case brought against him by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis into federal court, just a day after he was indicted along with former President Donald Trump and 17 others on charges of attempting to overturn Trump's election loss in the state. The filing from Meadows' attorney George Terwilliger and Atlanta-based attorney Joseph Englert is based on a federal law that they argue requires the removal of criminal proceedings brought in state court to the federal court system when someone is charged for actions they allegedly...

The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office will hold a press conference Monday night after the latest Trump indictment is processed. 19 Republicans were indicted, including President Donald Trump. Other Republicans include: Rudy Giuliani Mark Meadows John Eastman Jeff Clark Mike Roman David Shafer Kenneth Chesebo Jenna Ellis Ray Smith Robert Cheeley Shawn Still Stephen Lee Harrison Floyd Trevian Kutti Sidney Powell Cathleen Latham Scott Hall Misty Hayes Their crime was challenging the stolen 2020 election. This is NOW a crime. The rules of the elections were unconstitutionally changed in all of the Swing States in 2020. It led to massive...