Breitbart published a leaked version of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, including the names of an FBI special agent and supervisor agent, on Friday. The agents both signed their names on receipts for property seized from Trump’s home, including boxes of classified documents that reportedly may have included nuclear secrets. A redacted version of the warrant, which omitted the names of the agents, was officially released hours later.
“It’s also worth noting that they published the names of the FBI agents, which serves no purpose other than opening them up to threats and harassment,” legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti tweeted. “Breitbart is also confused about what ‘SSA’ means. It refers to Supervisory Special Agent, a FBI supervisor.”
MORE..
In a Dec. 5, 2019 interview, Trump told Bob Woodward: “I have built a nuclear—a weapons system that nobody’s ever had in this country before…” Woodward wrote that he confirmed this with sources who were surprised Trump had disclosed it. (Rage, p. 185)
Trump continued: “…We have stuff that you haven’t even seen or heard about. We have stuff that Putin and Xi have never heard about bout before. There’s nobody—what we have is incredible.”
Dr. Harold N. Bornstein, who for a time was President Donald J. Trump’s personal physician and who had attested that Mr. Trump would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency,” died on Friday. He was 73.
His death was announced on Thursday in a paid notice in The New York Times. It did not give a cause or say where he died..
The drama continues as the climactic series finale of the Trump administration gets ready to air.
Trump has become the only president now impeached twice, Mitch McConnell hints the trial could be January 19, only hours before the inauguration of Joe Biden!
There is a good chance that the trial will occur in full AFTER Trump leaves office.. Creating an interesting beginning for the initial days of the new Administration..
The impeachment passed the House with 10 Republicans voting in favor of it, compared to 2019 in the last impeachment trial no Republicans voted for it..
Since Twitter’s purge, Parler was shut down by app stores and eventually Amazon decided who gets to be on their vast internet servers. Again, applauded but a few, just a very few, are shocked that Jeff Bezos has that much power!
And since this big ‘cleaning’ online, the following has happened: Rumors have persisted and rapidly been sent around the world that 1) the Pope was arrested during a blackout this weekend, 2) The Italian Prime Minister is in jail, 3) ATM machines all over the nation are not working and 4) Bible ‘experts’ all over were posting videos that they were given secret messages about the end times coming.
Additionally, upcoming dates in January of armed mass protests were being planned, just as Congress plans the Impeachment sequel, almost a spinoff series at this point of the Trump Reality Show.
So with all of these dangerous accounts gone, it seemingly became even more increasingly easy to spread misinformation for fun.
I get the sense of quite a few users at 4CHAN having a blast with spreading the website “the conservative beaver” about the Pope’s indictment that your grandparents most likely have spread to their friends on Facebook..
THE SCARY SIDE OF MAYHEM
Parler was reportedly being used to help assist in planning chaos.. As a result, effectively all other businesses shut them down. There will undoubtedly be antitrust suits and allegations of corporate monopoly, but somehow life started to move so fast since 2021 began, it is difficult to keep up. And it makes you look old fashioned not to join along..
Just a few news clips on Parler before proceeding:
The FBI has also received information in recent days on a group calling for “storming” state, local and federal government courthouses and administrative buildings in the event President Donald Trump is removed from office prior to Inauguration Day. The group is also planning to “storm” government offices in every state the day President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated, regardless of whether the states certified electoral votes for Biden or Trump.
“The FBI received information about an identified armed group intending to travel to Washington, DC on 16 January,” the bulletin read. “They have warned that if Congress attempts to remove POTUS via the 25th Amendment, a huge uprising will occur.”
Washington has suddenly become tense since January 6. The newest memo has added misery to the discomfort..
The abrupt resignation of Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf added to the mounting tension in Washington ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration next week.. Wolf announced that “the evolving security landscape” had led to a decision to begin security for the inauguration on Jan. 13. The efforts were originally scheduled to begin on Jan. 19…
ONLY HOURS TO GO UNTIL THE END OF THE TRUMP SHOW.. PEOPLE SUDDENLY ON PINS AND NEEDLES OVER WHAT THE CLIMACTIC SERIES FINALE WILL INCLUDE..
If you rested for a mere few hours this week, you couldn’t keep up with it. The last time I looked at Steve Lookner, his bloodshot eyes were giving out from endless hours of broadcasting online!
The mayhem that ensued during the Battle of the Don was the only thing on the nation’s (and world’s) mind since January 6 when the Capitol Hill mob attacked Washington DC..
Since then, countless MAGA supporters, including the man who sat in Nancy Pelosi’s office and the other who cheerfully stole her podium, have been arrested.
Donald Trump has been removed from Twitter for the rest of his life. Thousands of other accounts related to QANAN have been purged. Google, Apple, and now Amazon have deplatformed Parler after a number of posts were made on that site showcasing attempts to organize further mass violence.
A few points of information necessary for consideration:
There was so much news that it was hard to process: Reports of explosive devices, an armed standoff, a shooting and evacuations. Viewers were able to see some of it with their own eyes, but most of the information was secondhand, from tweets and phone calls and emailed dispatches from congressional reporters, many of them locked in the Capitol..
Only later did it become clear that lawmakers feared for their lives; that some of the attackers were hunting for congressional leaders; that there could have been a massacre.
And hunting Mike Pence, the Vice President?
Several have pondered whether Trump’s words in his January 6 speech to his followers was meant to create a hostile coup and a dangerous plot to murder his own vice President! Immediately as the violence began, Pence was ushered out and hidden for safety..
An extremely important and remarkable Twitter thread from Seth Abramson not only documents some important moment’s from Trump’s speech that professors will study for decades to come, but how some of the anger was purposely directed at Pence for the crowd to get hidden messages..
Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said at least one laptop had been stolen from his offices, while another protester was seen brandishing Pelosi’s mail outside the Capitol in the aftermath.
The Senate Parliamentarian’s office was ripped apart by the rabble, with footage showing the floor of her rooms covered in files taken from drawers and cabinets.
And finally, developing late Saturday.. Impeachment II may have a friend in the Senate for conviction: PA Senator Toomey..
“I do think the President committed impeachable offenses,” Toomey told Fox News. The senator, who has said he is not going to run for reelection in 2022, would not say whether he would vote to impeach Trump should there be a Senate trial, saying he is not certain what kind of articles of impeachment would be passed by the Democrat-led House of Representatives.
Toomey said he believes Trump’s “behavior this week does disqualify him from serving. But we’ve got 10 days left, 11 days left.””I don’t know whether logistically it’s actually really even possible or practical and I’m not sure it’s desirable to attempt to force him out, what a day or two or three prior to the day on which he’s going to be finished anyway,” Toomey said. “So I’m not clear that’s the best path forward.”
President president Donald Trump tonight has posted a bizarre video on his Twitter account, 12 hours after his initial ban in relation to the violence on Capitol Hill yesterday.
The video appears to show the president conciliatory about the violence, Even stating he called in the National Guard immediately. Something that is probably debatable..
The typical debate ensued sued. Pro-Trumpers saying that he should go to Parlor, while the anti-Trump crowd serenading him a goodbye. .
But a few others hypothesized something else. Some thing dare we say conspiratorial? The strange imagery of the video seemed bizarre, it looked pixelated, and at points trumps mouth did not even seem to match the words that were coming out..
We have been told how easy deep deep fakes are to make, perhaps easier now than ever before we are told…
Before the violence began a the Capitol, the President addressed a crowd of faithful at a “Stop the Steal” rally in DC that the media was at fault, that the election was stolen, and it was time to fight…
Minutes later, as Trump went into his secure limo despite saying he would tell his supporters he would “walk down” with them, MAGA supporters began to break through police lines as storm the United States Capitol building.
Images that graced us today included Trump supporters taking over the halls of Congress, sitting in the Speaker’s chair and posting for a photo, and even sitting in the offices of Congresspersons and rummaging through their paperwork.
Among the harrowing moments: People scaling walls, a shooting, the floor of the Congress being attacked and guarded by a few armed security officials…
Twitter deleted a pre-taped video of Trump telling people to “go home” and subsequently suspended Trump’s account for 12 hours.. many called for a deletion and more..
Never in recent memory have the events of a single 24-hour period so shaken two presidencies, the very Capitol of the United States and the nation itself as they did on Wednesday.
The effects will ripple out for years to come, and the full consequences will be left for historians to sort out. It seems likely, though, that the chances that other Republicans will see Mr. Trump as the leader of their party after he leaves office have been diminished significantly. As Mr. Trump himself tried to remind his supporters after violence broke out, Republicans like to be seen as the party of law and order, and that is hardly the image he is now projecting.
WE will all have to come to grips with this moment in time.. and with time comes perspective. While so many are quick to have an immediate reaction to moments in real time, at unique historical point like this, it is better to refrain from comment and final judgement.. as the historical events have yet to change and end.
Joe Biden has been officially named the President Elect as of 4am today. But will he be the 46th president? Or 47th?
Moments in time captured by screenshot and photographic evidence of anarchy at the nation’s capitol. The world watched, by the way. THAT should be as scary as what we saw yesterday.
Perhaps before we get into a few headlines and snippets of news, we should take a pause.
A deep, deep breath. Inhale..
If you thought the high speed railway of 2020 news would slow, you were mistaken. It turned into a monster freight train running of its tracks in some macabre October surprise, thanks to the coronavirus.
News headlines blazed around the global last night when President Donald Trump revealed that he and First Lady Melania had tested positive for COVID-19. As did the head of the Republican Party.. as did a Senator. As did Hope Hicks. As a matter of fact, the outbreak at the White House has been so fast and free that a Axios established a constantly updated page called Trump Coronavirus Tracker.
This is how the AP branded the breaking October surprise story:
News that the world’s most powerful man was infected with the world’s most notorious disease drew instant reactions of shock, sympathy, undisguised glee and, of course, the ever-present outrage and curiosity surrounding everything about President Donald Trump.
Trump’s announcement Friday, on Twitter, that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus, and the deep uncertainty that accompanied it, flashed across screens large and small, upending countless plans and sparking comment everywhere from presidential offices to the thousands looking to weigh in on social media.
The positive test reading for the leader of the world’s largest economy adds more uncertainty to investors’ worries, especially about its effect on the Nov. 3 election between the Republican president and Democrat Joe Biden. U.S. stock futures and most world markets fell on the news as did the price of oil.
CRICKETS AND DRAMA
The silence was deafening from the White House for most of Friday. Speculation was rampant about Joe Biden, who got tested twice today and is reportedly negative. Also rumors abounded about Mike Pence, who also reportedly is negative for COVID..
But how as the President himself doing? Things seemed sketchy and mysterious.
The White House initially said the president had mild symtoms. But the time Larry Kudlow was on cable news today, he said it was ‘moderate’ .. The First Lady Tweeted she was doing fine.
But there was nothing from the President.
Finally near the evening hour–after the stock market closed for Friday–news swiftly spread that the President was experiencing a fever.. he had a cough.. he was fatigued.. Also reported: He was given a cocktail of drugs to try warding off effects of the virus.
CHOPPER COUGH
By 5pm tonight, breaking news alerts across the world and social media declined into madness when it was announced that Donald Trump was being taken to Walter Reed Medical Center.. potentially for days..
In the midst of the media mania, White House official Alyssa Farah says power has not been transferred to Vice President Pence.
“The President is in charge,” she said, adding she is not aware of any additional coronavirus cases.
x x x
The President is in charge. Let that statement sink in.. dwell on those words to consider just what state of affairs, and what a nail biter of a moment we are in .. American history textbooks will undoubtedly speak of this year. But they will also capture this very day. This day that we all have lived through..
The path that this event takes next will be left to a higher power or natural fate. The future of American Democracy will be left to those who live in this Democratic Republic.
The world is watching.. And all we want to do is close our eyes.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
There is some comfort in remembering that we have been here before (kind of) .. while no two or three events are comparable and all are unique, there is some precedent for what we are living through.
During Johnson’s last months in office, the President was hospitalized with the flu at the Bethesda Naval Hospital.
The media then, unlike today’s feeding frenzy, did not cover the event in the same manner that you’d expect.. They called Johnson’s battle with the pandemic a the “sniffles.” Doctors said he should simply rest.
And this may ring a bell: The White House called it a chest cold and low grade fever… Meanwhile, this was the state of affairs for the President with “sniffles:”
Back during the famous Spanish Flu (that we have often written about on this site) another United States President would acquire a pandemic. Woodrow Wilson began to feel ill on April 3, 1919. He got a fever, was unable to move, and went to bed.
He had contracted the Spanish flu, so bad that the President’s physician wrote confidentially to the White House, and it had made Wilson “violently sick.”
Wilson was in Paris for the treaty negotiations following the end of the First World War. It was at this even that he became ill. At that very decisive moment in global history.
Wilson recovered from the influenza, but suffered a severe stroke six months later, and was incapacitated through the remainder of his Presidency.. Some speculate that the Spanish Flu led to his death due to a body ravaged by that virulent pandemic.
But Wilson’s name is uniquely absent from virtually all historic stories about the Spanish Flu. He did not address it in public at all, nothing. Never. He had no time for the pandemic that was destroying the lives of so many around the United States–and they were having mask debates and school closings just like today. Instead he focused on the war.. and finally his unspoken words came back to harm his gravely..
And some other honorable mentions in history:
Dwight Eisinhower had heart issues and a heart attack. The nation at that time rallied around the guy they liked, Ike.
William Henry Harrison was only 32 days into his term as the ninth president of the United States when he became the first president to die in office. People blame his 2 hour long Inauguration Speech as to how he contracted either Typhoid fever or pneumonia.
Zachary Taylor died just 16 months after being sworn in as the 12th president of the United States. On July 4, 1950, Taylor had attended Fourth of July festivities on a scorching day in Washington, D.C., then returned to the White House where he ate cherries and drank iced milk and water. That night, he fell ill with stomach cramps that were diagnosed as cholera.
In 1923, Warren Harding died of a heart attack.
In 1945, beloved longtermed president Franklin Roosevelt died of a stroke.
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.
John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
And Ronald Reagan spent days in the hospital and almost died (we did not get told that then however) .. but survived and gained incredible fame as the Teflon Gipper when he made the joke, “Honey I forgot to duck.”
William McKinley was shot, and was initally reported to be recovering. And in good spirits.
James Garfield was shot in 1881. A long vigil began, and Garfield’s doctors issued regular bulletins that the American public followed closely throughout the summer of 1881.. His condition fluctuated; fevers came and went, he struggled to keep down solid food, and he spent most of the summer eating only liquids.
x x x
So exhale now. We have been through worse before.. And we may be through worse in the future again.
Time is never on our side.
And we’ve said this for years: No one ever said it was fun living through history.
Donald Trump is planning to freeze downloads of the TikTok and WeChat apps by banning them from Apple and Google app stores starting Sunday, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce on Friday.
Phillip asked Trump whether he wanted Matt Whitaker, the newly-appointed acting attorney general, to rein in Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
“What a stupid question you asked,” Trump replied. “What a stupid question and I watch you a lot and you ask a lot of stupid questions.”
In response, CNN said through its Twitter feed that Phillip’s question wasn’t stupid. “In fact, she asked the most pertinent question of the day,” CNN said. Trump’s insults “are nothing new. And never surprising,” CNN said.
