June 2024 - Page 37 of 53 - American Brushfire

🎬 Rand Paul talks Fauci’s upcoming hearing. Fauci lied. He committed a felony. It’s clear there was a massive cover-up from the beginning. @GenWa…

by | Jun 2, 2024 | General Warz

Rand Paul talks Fauci’s upcoming hearing. Fauci lied. He committed a felony. It’s clear there was a massive cover-up from the beginning.

@GenWarz 🦅🇺🇸

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Victory for Teacher Barred From Praying in the Presence of Students

by | Jun 2, 2024 | Aggregate

The American Center for Law and Justice (SCLJ) announced a victory in its fight for a public school teacher’s right to pray.

SCLJ filed suit on behalf of teacher Staci Barber against the Katy, Texas, Independent School District. The school district told Barber it was illegal for her to pray where students could see her, even in a parking lot.

The litigation stems from an incident when Ms. Barber was brought into her principal’s office after she had gathered with two friends and fellow teachers to pray at the school flagpole prior to her workday.

The principal told them that it was against the law for the teachers to pray publicly where students could see them, even denying them the ability to pray in the parking lot.

SCLJ shares that as part of their litigation, the court found that since the school has updated its policy in response to their demand letter, “[A]t present . . . there is no language in the Employee Handbook that explicitly prohibits praying in the presence of students.”

This ruling effectively prevents the school from violating our client’s right to pray even if students might see her.

SCLJ shared news of the victory:

It is a tremendous win for our client because she can now pray when she desires as this case continues to trial.

Because of our initial legal demand, the school removed some language from its policy. But despite Katy Independent School District’s (ISD) purported attempt to correct its policy, our client was still unable to engage in any prayer in the presence of students or to pray publicly, even off the clock, when she was on school grounds. When the school did not respond to our repeated attempts to get this policy corrected and make sure our client could pray, we had no choice but to file this major lawsuiton our client’s behalf to protect her right to pray.

In our lawsuit on behalf of this teacher, we sought a preliminary injunction. Yesterday the judge issued an order regarding our request for an injunction. The judge found that there is no imminent danger of our client being banned from praying in the presence of students anymore because “while it is true that the Employee Handbook originally forbade prayer in the presence of students . . . at present . . . there is no language in the Employee Handbook that explicitly prohibits praying in the presence of students.”

Thus, after many months of the school district refusing to stipulate that our client could pray in the presence of students, the court has now ordered it. And if the school punishes her when she resumes praying while students are present, we can come back to the court with this and hold the school accountable. This ruling represents a major win for what we sought in this lawsuit, and. the order will help protect our client and others like her at Katy ISD.

The post Victory for Teacher Barred From Praying in the Presence of Students appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Even RINO Mitt Romney is Denouncing Trump’s Sham Conviction, Calls It ‘Political Malpractice’

by | Jun 2, 2024 | Aggregate

Even the notorious RINO and former presidential candidate Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah is denouncing the sham conviction of President Donald Trump.

In a rigged trial orchestrated by New York Democrats in conjunction with the Biden White House, Trump was found guilty of all 34 charges of falsifying business records related to a hush-money payment made to adult porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.

Romney, who makes no secret of his disdain for the former president and has tried to sabotage him at every turn, argued that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should never have let the case go to trial.

“Bragg should have settled the case against Trump, as would have been the normal procedure. But he made a political decision,” Romney reportedly told his biographer McKay Coppins, a writer at the Atlantic.

“Bragg may have won the battle, for now, but he may have lost the political war,” he continued. “Democrats think they can put out the Trump fire with oxygen. It’s political malpractice.”

Last month, Romney also made the case that Joe Biden should pardon Trump because it would make him seem like the bigger man.

“You may disagree with this, but had I been President Biden, when the Justice Department brought on indictments, I would have immediately pardoned him,” he said in an interview with MSNBC.

“I’d have pardoned President Trump. Why? Well, because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned a little guy.”

Meanwhile, other Republican Senators have warned that they will create havoc in the Senate unless the White House stops politically persecuting its opponents.

Strongly worded statements are not enough.

Those who turned our judicial system into a political cudgel must be held accountable.

We are no longer cooperating with any Democrat legislative priorities or nominations, and we invite all concerned Senators to join our stand. pic.twitter.com/H0CzIjXgwC

— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) May 31, 2024

“The White House has made a mockery of the rule of law and fundamentally altered our politics in un-American ways,” read a letter led by Mike Lee, also of Utah, and signed by several other Senators. “As a Senate Republican conference, we are unwilling to aid and abet this White House in its project to tear this country apart.”

The post Even RINO Mitt Romney is Denouncing Trump’s Sham Conviction, Calls It ‘Political Malpractice’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

34 REASONS the Bragg-Biden Show Trial Should Have Been TOSSED OUT — Each One Alone Providing Grounds for a Mistrial

by | Jun 2, 2024 | Aggregate

Justin Lane/Pool/Getty Images

1. Unconstitutional Gag Order that prevented President Trump from criticizing the trial, exposing the many conflicts that should have forced the judge to recuse himself, and the railroading of his fundamental due process rights.

2. Judge Merchan’s many, many conflicts of interests – all of which were disqualifying. His daughter, Loren Merchan, is President of Authentic Campaigns, a political consulting firm that hires the likes of the Biden-Harris Campaign, Adam Schiff, Ilhan Omar, and many other far left Democratic lawmakers. Loren’s firm has made tens of millions off these clients – Juan Merchan, through his daughter, had a direct financial stake in the outcome of this trial, a flagrant breach of the canons of legal ethics, both under the ABA and NY State, that under any other judge would have been grounds for a recusal.

3. Judge Merchan’s wife was previously employed by Letitia James, the Attorney General of New York State who campaigned on “getting” Donald Trump.

4. Bragg’s Lead Prosecutor was Matthew Colangelo, the former #3 official at the DOJ. We are told Colangelo graciously decided to step down from his prestigious office to work for a lowly state DA’s office – of course, a reasonable inference would be that he was directed to do so by the Biden Regime to persecute his leading political opponent in Donald John Trump.

5. Statute of Limitations (2 years, NY State) had long expired for the business records falsification scheme that served as the primary charge brought against Trump. For this reason, the case was passed over by the DOJ and even Alvin Bragg over seven years because it was so weak. Only once Bragg felt political pressure, externally via Clinton attorney Mark Pomerantz, who previously worked in Bragg’s office, and internally via Colangelo, a Biden lackey, did Bragg buckle under the political weight and press charges.

6. Venue in bright-blue Manhattan, a borough that voted for Joe Biden over Donald Trump at almost a 9 to 1 clip, prevented the President from ever getting a fair trial, because the pool of jurors was naturally biased against the 45th President, and could not possibly rule fairly and impartially (8 of the 12 cited the NY Times as their main source of news). Any pro-Trump jurors who were considered chose to self-select out themselves because they claimed they “could not rule fairly.” Case in point: no way in hell is the burden of proof met on any of these charges, and yet the jury pool consisted of two lawyers, who evidently believed just that. No reasonable juror, and especially no reasonable lawyer-juror, would have found that the elements of every single crime brought against Trump met the burden of proof of beyond a reasonable doubt.

7. Election Interference: This was not a new case: it had been circulating in various court systems, federal and state, for years. These charges were only brought this year to interfere with the 2024 presidential race, period. President Trump is now the leading presidential candidate, by every reputable poll, and the frontrunner by significant margins, a gap that has only expanded over time. There is no reason why this case should be brought now, six months before Election Day, unless there was a conspiracy to prevent President Trump from being on the campaign trail in key swing states, like PA, MI, AZ, and GA, which is exactly what occurred.

8. Stormy Daniels’ Testimony was unnecessarily detailed and flagrantly prejudicial against President Trump. Bragg’s Prosecutors asked her about her impressions on the Access Hollywood Tape, which should have never been allowed and have absolutely no bearing on anything. They also probed her on intimate, irrelevant details about her alleged affair with the President, including such inappropriate, salacious, and prejudicial questions as whether he wore protection, and where she testified to a “power imbalance” – all part of a character assassination campaign to smear his image before the jury.

9. Greatest Liar of All Time Michael Cohen’s Testimony, on which the entirety of the Prosecutor’s case was based, was unreliable, prejudicial, and grounds for reversible error; he contradicted himself and committed perjury on the stand in this proceeding. He admitted to lying and committing perjury in the past, which resulted in his prosecution and imprisonment. He admitted to waging a political vendetta against Donald Trump because of his previous conviction; he admitted to stealing tens of thousands of dollars from the Trump Organization, lying before a Congressional Committee, and financially profiting off this ongoing trial – and verdict, among other serious crimes.

10. Bragg’s Theory of The Case was flawed from start to finish – and unconstitutional. He claimed, under NY state law, that ordinarily the business falsification charge is deemed a Class A misdemeanor under the State penal code, which had expired by the SOL. However, by combining that misdemeanor with another misdemeanor, under the same law, Bragg claimed you can elevate the underlying crime to a felony, which has a longer statute of limitations than a misdemeanor and thus, in his view, is still actionable. The problem is that nothing in the NY State penal code spells this out expressly, or even implicitly: there is nothing that says combining two misdemeanors is sufficient to contrive a felony. This is a bespoke crime intended to fit a one defendant and one defendant only: Donald John Trump.

11. Several other problems persist with the above: 1) whether combining two class A misdemeanors to create a class E felony is supported by any legal precedent at all, or logically makes sense (it doesn’t);

12. 2) whether combining two misdemeanors to contrive a felony is constitutionally lawful – i.e., does not violate due process or is constitutionally operative as an unlawful bill of attainder, etc.; and

13. 3) even if that combination establishes a theory of liability to raise a misdemeanor into a felony, whether doing so to circumvent a long-expired SOL does not also violate due process?

14. The Second alleged crime, that Bragg combined with the business falsification crime, to contrive a felony, is inapplicable to President Trump. Bragg maintained that President Trump violated state campaign law. But that is problematic for at least two reasons:

15. 1) President Trump ran for President, a federal office, and not state office – and thereby, state campaign law does not apply to him;

16. 2) to the extent state campaign law does apply or is controlling, it is preempted (i.e., barred) – based on President Trump’s office and acts – by federal campaign law. In short, this matter should have been brought under the FEC or DOJ, not state court. Merchan’s court had no jurisdiction whatsoever to prosecute the matter.

17. The State Election Law, to the extent it was lawfully controlling, established a predicate crime scheme that is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled in Ramos v. Louisiana that non-unanimous jury verdicts are a violation of fundamental due process rights. This is well-settled law. Federal precedent applies with equal force to state criminal court proceedings. Thus, the “mix and match” or “buffet” scheme that Merchan laid out, allowing the jury to select one of three predicate crimes under the relevant statute to reach a guilty verdict, is a flagrant violation of President Trump’s due process rights.

18. The three predicate crimes that Bragg’s theory of the case lays out: FECA violation, tax law violation, or record-keeping violation, each cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

19. The FECA violation should’ve been tossed out immediately, because a state court has no jurisdiction over the matter. The Federal Election Commission (“FEC”) has its own rules and procedures for administering election law violations, as well as a doctrine of sequencing that it is required to employ to administer disputes. This sequencing doctrine would require that Merchan refer any such FECA allegations to, for instance, the Federal Election Commission first, which might have primary jurisdiction over the matter, and then from there, the FEC might coordinate with the DOJ to prosecute any potential crimes. The point is: order matters; a rogue state court judge cannot unilaterally take up an issue belonging in federal court.

20. To the extent an alleged FECA violation controls here, there are a number of problems: 1) what statute are we talking about;

21. 2) how do we know that the alleged violation can be prosecuted as a crime, and isn’t just a civil matter;

22. 3) even if the alleged violation is a crime, how do we know

23. 1) such crime is a felony; and

24. 2) that crime can be adjudicated independently by an independent agency of the United States? In other words, does the FEC have the power to prosecute crimes unilaterally, and independently of the DOJ? That alone is sufficient grounds for a due process violation.

25. Again, we run into the issue of how 2 misdemeanor crimes mysteriously turn into an underlying felony. Is the law that any two misdemeanors creates a felony? Does it matter if the misdemeanor is a state crime versus an alleged federal crime? It cannot possibly be the case that all misdemeanors are created equal – nor can it be the case that if a jury found President Trump guilty of the predicate FECA misdemeanor, that the business falsification statute incorporates a federal misdemeanor to contrive a Class E felony. When has that ever been done before? Never!

26. Merchan has no knowledge of Federal Election Law. Typically, federal election law issues (FECA issues) are preempted by federal court. Putting all that to one side, however, considering that Merchan ignored all of that, and was hellbelt on prosecuting this nebulous crime in state court, he should have at least allowed an expert witness to opine on federal election law-related matters. That expert witness, former FEC Commissioner and government lawyer, Brad Smith, should have been allowed to testify on federal election law, a notoriously complex and highly specialized area of law. But Smith was not permitted to testify, because Merchan did not want the jury to hear expert testimony from someone competent in the relevant body of law. That prohibition of Smith’s testimony is prejudicial, and grounds for reversible error.

27. In addition to the FECA predicate crime issue, which is teeming with due process and other constitutional violations, both the alleged tax law violation, and general bookkeeping violation are also laden with due process problems.

28. Merchan has absolutely no authority to say that President Trump can be found guilty of violating “tax laws” or erroneously reporting a tax filing as a legal expense (when in fact, legally and definitionally, it was a “legal expense”); these two miscellaneous predicate crimes are constitutionally overbroad and cannot for those reasons alone satisfy the requisite burden of proof – due to concerns of being overbroad, Bragg’s theory of criminal liability violates due process as well.

29. Nondisclosure Agreements, Hush Money Payments, and “Catch and Kill” schemes are and have always been perfectly lawful; none of these things can serve as a basis for criminal liability, however controversial they might sound – nor too does consensual sexual activity, including out of wedlock sex, even with a pornstar, ever, ever impute criminal liability or the pretext of criminal liability upon the one doing the act. All of these acts are lawful, case closed.

30. Running for President of the United States, even if your name is Donald Trump, is lawful. It is not a “conspiracy” to run a presidential campaign, nor is it conspiratorial – let alone criminal – to take lawful measures to win a campaign. Under Bragg’s twisted theory, however, every single political campaign ever carried out in the history of the United States would be considered unlawful – including the presidential campaigns of Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama.

31. Stormy Daniels denied an affair with Donald Trump, in writing, multiple times over many years. That said, the Daniels-Trump story had long been in the public domain years before the 2016 presidential election. The NDA at issue was formalized in 2011, five years before the 2016 presidential election. How it is even possible that a 2011 NDA can be a component of a larger conspiracy to criminally manipulate the results of the 2016 race was never addressed. At trial, through the testimony of Hope Hicks and Madeleine Westerhout, what became crystal clear was that any such nondisclosure agreements were to protect President Trump’s family and had no bearing on the 2016 election.

32. Indeed, it is unclear just how the dissemination of the Daniels story, which was already widely distributed in the public domain by the time President Trump launched his 2016 campaign, would have impacted the race. By conflating the Daniels story with the Access Hollywood Tape, which was frequently referenced in the examinations of several key witnesses, Merchan allowed undue prejudice into his courtroom – providing a basis for reversible error. Stormy Daniels and Access Hollywood have absolutely nothing to do with one another; Access Hollywood had no bearing on any NDA agreements signed between President Trump’s counsel, and Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal, or anyone else. Asking Daniels, during her testimony, about her impressions of the Access Hollywood Tape was completely inappropriate for a courtroom and prejudicial. Conflating these facts, many of which were wholly inappropriate to bring into the courtroom, unfairly prejudices the jurors – because they serve no other purpose than to smear President Trump’s character.

33. The alleged bookkeeping error that was the basis for this entire criminal trial – marked as “legal expenses” – of which the President had no knowledge, as revealed in the testimony of Robert Costello and others, occurred after the President won the 2016 presidential election! How could the President unlawfully conspire to promote or prevent his election after he had already been elected to federal office? This entire trial operated like a bill of attainder, unlawful to the core.

34. The judge conducted this trial unfairly from start to finish, and treated the defendant, his attorneys, and his witnesses horrendously. He prevented President Trump and his lawyers from bringing in key expert witnesses. He admonished President Trump’s lead attorney, Todd Blanche, on the stand, and cast multiple, unnecessary wanton barbs at him. He excoriated the only pro-Trump witness he allowed to testify, Robert Costello, an experienced lawyer of the SDNY; at one dramatic point, in a complete and unprecedented breach of the code of judicial ethics, Merchan lost his composure and vacated the entire courtroom, press included, because he did not like Costello’s “tone” and “mannerisms” from the witness stand. Merchan allowed Bragg Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass to go on for hours in his summations – allowing Steinglass to explain fundamental aspects of the law, including the burden of proof, for the jury, even though he previously admonished President Trump’s lawyers from making even the slightest reference to the law. He also allowed Steinglass to go on wild tangents unrelated to anything having to do with the alleged crime, allowing discussions of “Bill Clinton” and “Monica Lewinsky” to enter the courtroom. Merchan had previously declared, like a tyrant, that only he can interpret the law in his courtroom. But then he allowed Steinglass to explain the law at great length, over and above the objections of President Trump’s attorneys. Merchan also buttered up the jurors to win over their sympathy, complimenting random things like their “note-taking” skills, attention, and timeliness. All these factors, in addition to everything stated above, are egregious breaches of professional and judicial ethics and serve as grounds for a mistrial.

The post 34 REASONS the Bragg-Biden Show Trial Should Have Been TOSSED OUT — Each One Alone Providing Grounds for a Mistrial appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

House Democrat Steps Forward and Calls on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to Pardon President Trump

by | Jun 2, 2024 | Aggregate

Credit: Washington Examiner

A Democratic congressman has stepped forward and publicly called on Gov. Hochul to pardon President Donald Trump after he was found guilty of bogus “crimes” by a NYC kangaroo court.

As the New York Post reported, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) issued this surprising plea in an X rant on Friday. He becomes the first known nationally elected Democrat to call for helping Trump.

But the pardon plea does not. Phillips explained in a tweet that a permanent conviction would fuel Trump because he “thrives on portraying himself as the victim.”

Thus, Hochul should pardon the 45th President for the good of America.

“Donald Trump is a serial liar, cheater, and philanderer, a six-time declarer of corporate bankruptcy, an instigator of insurrection, and a convicted felon who thrives on portraying himself as a victim,” Phillips wrote. “@GovKathyHochul should pardon him for the good of the country.”

Donald Trump is a serial liar, cheater, and philanderer, a six-time declarer of corporate bankruptcy, an instigator of insurrection, and a convicted felon who thrives on portraying himself as a victim.@GovKathyHochul should pardon him for the good of the country.

— Dean Phillips (@deanbphillips) June 1, 2024

Seemingly anticipating a backlash from his followers, Phillips doubled down by pointing out that the Democrat lawfare is only helping Trump.

“You think pardoning is stupid? Making him a martyr over a payment to a porn star is stupid,” he argued. (Election charges are entirely different.) It’s energizing his base, generating record sums of campaign cash, and will likely result in an electoral boost.”

You think pardoning is stupid?

Making him a martyr over a payment to a porn star is stupid. (Election charges are entirely different.)

It’s energizing his base, generating record sums of campaign cash, and will likely result in an electoral boost.

— Dean Phillips (@deanbphillips) June 1, 2024

As The Gateway Pundit readers may know (we would not blame you for not noticing), Phillips mounted an ill-fated Presidential primary challenge to Joe Biden because he felt the current White House occupant was a surefire loser in November. He then ended his campaign in March.

The New York Post reported that a pardon was “unlikely,” citing a source close to Hochul.

“I cannot imagine a world where she would consider doing this, this makes no sense,” said the source.

The post House Democrat Steps Forward and Calls on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to Pardon President Trump appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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🎬 Rand Paul talks Fauci’s upcoming hearing. Fauci lied. He committed a felony. It’s clear there was a massive cover-up from the beginning. @GenWa…

Victory for Teacher Barred From Praying in the Presence of Students

Even RINO Mitt Romney is Denouncing Trump’s Sham Conviction, Calls It ‘Political Malpractice’

34 REASONS the Bragg-Biden Show Trial Should Have Been TOSSED OUT — Each One Alone Providing Grounds for a Mistrial

House Democrat Steps Forward and Calls on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to Pardon President Trump

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