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GGoss
GGoss's Journal
GGoss's Journal
February 13, 2023
Link: https://www.thebulwark.com/one-more-sign-that-special-counsel-jack-smith-is-dead-serious/
One More Sign That Special Counsel Jack Smith Is Dead Serious - TheBulwark
One More Sign That Special Counsel Jack Smith Is Dead Serious - TheBulwarkThis weekend brought the strange news that Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating Donald Trump, asked the grand jury to issue a subpoena to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago office for an empty folder. Why?
The Guardian reports that last month, Smith subpoenaed the folder, marked “Classified Evening Briefing,” even though Trump’s lawyers told him it had nothing in it. This tells us something important: that Smith is serious about pressing forward with a case against Trump for his 18 months of obstructing government efforts to get back all government documents he stashed at his Florida estate.
When zealous prosecutors are intent on bringing a case, they leave no stone unturned. Trump has told reporters that he thought keeping folders marked classified was “cool.”
The Guardian reports that last month, Smith subpoenaed the folder, marked “Classified Evening Briefing,” even though Trump’s lawyers told him it had nothing in it. This tells us something important: that Smith is serious about pressing forward with a case against Trump for his 18 months of obstructing government efforts to get back all government documents he stashed at his Florida estate.
When zealous prosecutors are intent on bringing a case, they leave no stone unturned. Trump has told reporters that he thought keeping folders marked classified was “cool.”
Link: https://www.thebulwark.com/one-more-sign-that-special-counsel-jack-smith-is-dead-serious/
February 13, 2023
I'm really starting to like Twitter, lol !
If Stupid Could Fly...
https://twitter.com/Msgargoyle13/status/1624829862904217600I'm really starting to like Twitter, lol !
February 11, 2023
Trump's tower at 40 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan is on "lender watch" as it faces mounting financial difficulties, reported the Huffington Post on Friday.
"The vacancy rate at the 72-story building — Trump’s most valuable — jumped to almost 18% in the third quarter of last year, according to a monthly filing on the building’s remaining $126.5 million mortgage, Bloomberg reported. Expenses, meanwhile, have reportedly risen 11% since the origin of the 2015 mortgage," wrote Mary Papenfuss. "Wells Fargo, which is servicing the mortgage on 40 Wall Street, 'has reached out to the borrower for a status of leasing developments' and the plans to improve the property’s performance, according to the filing, Bloomberg reported."
Business at Trump's properties has been in decline for years, as his controversial presidency made the Trump brand less desirable to tenants. The problem was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which crashed demand for office space all over Manhattan.
Trump, who acquired 40 Wall Street in 1995, has long bragged about owning the historic skyscraper. He even bragged after 9/11 that with the downing of the Twin Towers, it was now the tallest building in the city — which was not true.
Link: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-tower-lender-watch/?cx_testId=6&cx_testVariant=cx_undefined&cx_artPos=1&cx_experienceId=EXC93HV4HK4I#cxrecs_s
Trump's Wall Street tower on 'lender watch' as vacancies spike and expenses soar - RawStory
Trump's Wall Street tower on 'lender watch' as vacancies spike and expenses soar - RawStoryTrump's tower at 40 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan is on "lender watch" as it faces mounting financial difficulties, reported the Huffington Post on Friday.
"The vacancy rate at the 72-story building — Trump’s most valuable — jumped to almost 18% in the third quarter of last year, according to a monthly filing on the building’s remaining $126.5 million mortgage, Bloomberg reported. Expenses, meanwhile, have reportedly risen 11% since the origin of the 2015 mortgage," wrote Mary Papenfuss. "Wells Fargo, which is servicing the mortgage on 40 Wall Street, 'has reached out to the borrower for a status of leasing developments' and the plans to improve the property’s performance, according to the filing, Bloomberg reported."
Business at Trump's properties has been in decline for years, as his controversial presidency made the Trump brand less desirable to tenants. The problem was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which crashed demand for office space all over Manhattan.
Trump, who acquired 40 Wall Street in 1995, has long bragged about owning the historic skyscraper. He even bragged after 9/11 that with the downing of the Twin Towers, it was now the tallest building in the city — which was not true.
Link: https://www.rawstory.com/trump-tower-lender-watch/?cx_testId=6&cx_testVariant=cx_undefined&cx_artPos=1&cx_experienceId=EXC93HV4HK4I#cxrecs_s
February 10, 2023
Another newly elected Republican House member has had doubt cast on her backstory after a deeply-reported Washington Post profile found several discrepancies.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has described herself as a Hispanic conservative who grew up poor, survived a home invasion and lost her grandmother to HIV/AIDS due to heroin use. But those details have come as a surprise to family members and friends who knew her before she entered politics about five years ago, reported the Washington Post.
“She had everything, what she needed and more,” said her aunt Jolanta Mayerhofer, "and not only did [her mother] Monica provide for her, but my father-in-law did, too.”
Luna grew up in Los Angeles and joined the U.S. Air Force in 2009, at age 19, the Post reported. Friends who knew her then, when she used her given last name of Mayerhofer, say she described herself variously as Middle Eastern, Jewish or Eastern European and supported then-president Barack Obama. She was a registered Democrat as recently as August 2017.
Link: https://www.rawstory.com/anna-luna-biography/
Another Santos? Cracks found in newly elected GOP lawmaker's backstory - RawStory
Another Santos? Cracks found in newly elected GOP lawmaker's backstory - RawStoryAnother newly elected Republican House member has had doubt cast on her backstory after a deeply-reported Washington Post profile found several discrepancies.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has described herself as a Hispanic conservative who grew up poor, survived a home invasion and lost her grandmother to HIV/AIDS due to heroin use. But those details have come as a surprise to family members and friends who knew her before she entered politics about five years ago, reported the Washington Post.
“She had everything, what she needed and more,” said her aunt Jolanta Mayerhofer, "and not only did [her mother] Monica provide for her, but my father-in-law did, too.”
Luna grew up in Los Angeles and joined the U.S. Air Force in 2009, at age 19, the Post reported. Friends who knew her then, when she used her given last name of Mayerhofer, say she described herself variously as Middle Eastern, Jewish or Eastern European and supported then-president Barack Obama. She was a registered Democrat as recently as August 2017.
Link: https://www.rawstory.com/anna-luna-biography/
February 10, 2023
But it was former FBI agent Peter Strzok who made it clear Pence is "pretty much the last step before you approach Trump."
Pence, he explained, was present for several of the meetings where Trump and his political advisers were trying to come up with a strategy to overturn the election.
During the Jan. 4 and 5 meeting, Strzok recalled that John Eastman reportedly told Trump about the fake electors' scheme and that certain states should be "set aside" or delayed. That's when the question was posed about whether it was lawful. Pence wrote about the moment in his own book where even Eastman agreed that it would never hold up in court, even at the Supreme Court.
"The reason that's important is if Trump is going to try and claim that he acted on the basis of the advice of counsel, you need to know what those discussions were in terms of saying is this lawful, isn't it?" he continued. "The reason we know about all those conversations is that Mike Pence ran an editorial at the beginning of November last year about all of these meetings in advance of his book coming out where he talked about all that."
Link: https://www.rawstory.com/mike-pence-donald-trumps-subpoena/?traffic_source=Connatix
Pence is the last 'step before you approach Trump': Former FBI agent says - RawStory
Pence is the last 'step before you approach Trump': Former FBI agent says - RawStoryBut it was former FBI agent Peter Strzok who made it clear Pence is "pretty much the last step before you approach Trump."
Pence, he explained, was present for several of the meetings where Trump and his political advisers were trying to come up with a strategy to overturn the election.
During the Jan. 4 and 5 meeting, Strzok recalled that John Eastman reportedly told Trump about the fake electors' scheme and that certain states should be "set aside" or delayed. That's when the question was posed about whether it was lawful. Pence wrote about the moment in his own book where even Eastman agreed that it would never hold up in court, even at the Supreme Court.
"The reason that's important is if Trump is going to try and claim that he acted on the basis of the advice of counsel, you need to know what those discussions were in terms of saying is this lawful, isn't it?" he continued. "The reason we know about all those conversations is that Mike Pence ran an editorial at the beginning of November last year about all of these meetings in advance of his book coming out where he talked about all that."
Link: https://www.rawstory.com/mike-pence-donald-trumps-subpoena/?traffic_source=Connatix
February 10, 2023
WASP (from left) Frances Green, Margaret Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborn leave their B-17, called Pistol Packin' Mama, during ferry training at Lockbourne Army Air Force base in Ohio. They're carrying their parachutes.
National Archives
In 1942, the United States was faced with a severe shortage of pilots, and leaders gambled on an experimental program to help fill the void: Train women to fly military aircraft so male pilots could be released for combat duty overseas.
The group of female pilots was called the Women Airforce Service Pilots — WASP for short. In 1944, during the graduation ceremony for the last WASP training class, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Forces, Henry "Hap" Arnold, said that when the program started, he wasn't sure "whether a slip of a girl could fight the controls of a B-17 in heavy weather."
"Now in 1944, it is on the record that women can fly as well as men," Arnold said.
A few more than 1,100 young women, all civilian volunteers, flew almost every type of military aircraft — including the B-26 and B-29 bombers — as part of the WASP program. They ferried new planes long distances from factories to military bases and departure points across the country. They tested newly overhauled planes. And they towed targets to give ground and air gunners training shooting — with live ammunition. The WASP expected to become part of the military during their service. Instead, the program was canceled after just two years.
Link: https://www.npr.org/2010/03/09/123773525/female-wwii-pilots-the-original-fly-girls
Speaking Of Female Military Pilots: 'Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls' - NPR
Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls - NPRWASP (from left) Frances Green, Margaret Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborn leave their B-17, called Pistol Packin' Mama, during ferry training at Lockbourne Army Air Force base in Ohio. They're carrying their parachutes.
National Archives
In 1942, the United States was faced with a severe shortage of pilots, and leaders gambled on an experimental program to help fill the void: Train women to fly military aircraft so male pilots could be released for combat duty overseas.
The group of female pilots was called the Women Airforce Service Pilots — WASP for short. In 1944, during the graduation ceremony for the last WASP training class, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Forces, Henry "Hap" Arnold, said that when the program started, he wasn't sure "whether a slip of a girl could fight the controls of a B-17 in heavy weather."
"Now in 1944, it is on the record that women can fly as well as men," Arnold said.
A few more than 1,100 young women, all civilian volunteers, flew almost every type of military aircraft — including the B-26 and B-29 bombers — as part of the WASP program. They ferried new planes long distances from factories to military bases and departure points across the country. They tested newly overhauled planes. And they towed targets to give ground and air gunners training shooting — with live ammunition. The WASP expected to become part of the military during their service. Instead, the program was canceled after just two years.
Link: https://www.npr.org/2010/03/09/123773525/female-wwii-pilots-the-original-fly-girls
February 10, 2023
Former President Donald J. Trump’s legal jeopardy appeared to intensify in January when prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office began to present evidence to a grand jury about Mr. Trump’s role in paying hush money to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign.
The beginning of witness testimony before the recently impaneled grand jury was a clear signal that the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, was nearing a decision about whether to charge Mr. Trump, raising the stakes in the longest-running criminal inquiry facing the former president.
Mr. Bragg’s inquiry is one of several in which federal and state prosecutors are scrutinizing Mr. Trump.
Here is where the notable inquiries involving the former president stand:
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/article/trump-investigations-civil-criminal.html
Donald Trump Faces Several Investigations. Here's Where They Stand. - NYT
Donald Trump Faces Several Investigations. Here’s Where They Stand. - NYTFormer President Donald J. Trump’s legal jeopardy appeared to intensify in January when prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office began to present evidence to a grand jury about Mr. Trump’s role in paying hush money to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign.
The beginning of witness testimony before the recently impaneled grand jury was a clear signal that the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, was nearing a decision about whether to charge Mr. Trump, raising the stakes in the longest-running criminal inquiry facing the former president.
Mr. Bragg’s inquiry is one of several in which federal and state prosecutors are scrutinizing Mr. Trump.
Here is where the notable inquiries involving the former president stand:
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/article/trump-investigations-civil-criminal.html
February 10, 2023
The first major criminal charges that Donald Trump could face for interfering in the 2020 election might come from Atlanta — and what happens in Georgia isn’t expected to stay in Georgia.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said her decision is “imminent” on whether to indict the former president, which would make him the first US president charged with a crime. That decision will have a ripple effect on the Justice Department’s special counsel probe and other investigations circling Trump.
If Willis goes first, that case would road-test possible testimony, helping to determine what evidence holds up in court and providing a blueprint for prosecutions involving other battleground states where Trump and his supporters tried to undermine President Joe Biden’s win.
Legal experts say nothing stops a US special counsel overseeing the federal Trump probe from pursuing similar charges at the federal level, regardless of what Willis ultimately does.
Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-07/trump-charges-in-ga-over-2020-election-could-lead-to-bigger-fed-case
Trump Charges in Georgia Over 2020 Could Lead to Bigger Fed Case - Bloomberg
Trump Charges in Georgia Over 2020 Could Lead to Bigger Fed Case - BloombergThe first major criminal charges that Donald Trump could face for interfering in the 2020 election might come from Atlanta — and what happens in Georgia isn’t expected to stay in Georgia.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said her decision is “imminent” on whether to indict the former president, which would make him the first US president charged with a crime. That decision will have a ripple effect on the Justice Department’s special counsel probe and other investigations circling Trump.
If Willis goes first, that case would road-test possible testimony, helping to determine what evidence holds up in court and providing a blueprint for prosecutions involving other battleground states where Trump and his supporters tried to undermine President Joe Biden’s win.
Legal experts say nothing stops a US special counsel overseeing the federal Trump probe from pursuing similar charges at the federal level, regardless of what Willis ultimately does.
Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-07/trump-charges-in-ga-over-2020-election-could-lead-to-bigger-fed-case
February 10, 2023
Late on the first Sunday of 2021, news broke of President Donald J. Trump’s call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of Georgia, asking him to “find 11,780 votes” to help contest the 2020 election. The next morning — Monday, Jan. 4 — was Fani Willis’s first day in the office as the district attorney for Fulton County, which encompasses most of Atlanta, as well as suburbs like Sandy Springs, East Point and Alpharetta. “Not the second day,” she told me when I met with her in November. “My very first day in this office — in that conference room, it’s all over the TV.” She found herself hoping that the secretary of state might have been “in another county when it happened,” she said, laughing darkly. He was not. And so, Willis said, “I’m stuck with it.”
Outside Atlanta, Willis is now best known for this singular potential criminal target. Trump’s efforts to interfere in the outcome of the election in Georgia, in both phone calls to local officials and, potentially, as part of a scheme to organize alternate electors, have been under investigation by Willis’s office since February 2021. The Trump lawyer Rudolph Giuliani and the former White House counsel Pat Cipollone have testified before a special grand jury; so have former Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Raffensperger himself. In January, the special grand jury completed its investigatory work, submitting a report to Willis’s office and to a Superior Court judge, based on which Willis may or may not send evidence to a regular grand jury to seek criminal charges against Trump or his allies. If she does, there is every indication that she might bring one of her favorite prosecutorial tools to bear: racketeering charges, as laid out in the state’s RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) statute. RICO is more famously used to prosecute the Mafia and criminal street gangs.
Trump has attacked Willis on his Truth Social platform as a “young, ambitious, Radical Left Democrat ‘Prosecutor’ from Georgia, who is presiding over one of the most Crime Ridden and Corrupt places in the USA.” For a national audience not paying close attention to Atlanta politics, this claim might not sound fantastical. Willis, 51, is a Democrat and the first Black woman to serve as Fulton County district attorney — the first woman, period — and her victory in 2020 came amid a wave of reform-minded progressive prosecutors’ winning seats: George Gascón in Los Angeles, Chesa Boudin in San Francisco, Kim Foxx in Chicago, Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, Alvin Bragg in Manhattan.
But it was evident from the outset that Willis would represent something quite different. In July 2021, six months into her tenure, she appeared before the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, which holds bimonthly public meetings in an assembly hall in downtown Atlanta, to request additional personnel. By the time she spoke, the session had already stretched over eight hours, including several public comments questioning the integrity of the 2020 election. She was joined by Fulton County’s Sheriff Patrick Labat, who wore a tactical vest that made him look as if he’d arrived straight from a hostage situation. Willis had dressed more business casual — a black V-neck blouse with bell sleeves, her hair braided and pulled back — but it immediately became clear who would be taking charge.
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/02/magazine/fani-willis-trump.html
She Took On Atlanta's Gangs. Now She May Be Coming for Trump. (Fani Willis) - NYT
She Took On Atlanta’s Gangs. Now She May Be Coming for Trump. - NYTLate on the first Sunday of 2021, news broke of President Donald J. Trump’s call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of Georgia, asking him to “find 11,780 votes” to help contest the 2020 election. The next morning — Monday, Jan. 4 — was Fani Willis’s first day in the office as the district attorney for Fulton County, which encompasses most of Atlanta, as well as suburbs like Sandy Springs, East Point and Alpharetta. “Not the second day,” she told me when I met with her in November. “My very first day in this office — in that conference room, it’s all over the TV.” She found herself hoping that the secretary of state might have been “in another county when it happened,” she said, laughing darkly. He was not. And so, Willis said, “I’m stuck with it.”
Outside Atlanta, Willis is now best known for this singular potential criminal target. Trump’s efforts to interfere in the outcome of the election in Georgia, in both phone calls to local officials and, potentially, as part of a scheme to organize alternate electors, have been under investigation by Willis’s office since February 2021. The Trump lawyer Rudolph Giuliani and the former White House counsel Pat Cipollone have testified before a special grand jury; so have former Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Raffensperger himself. In January, the special grand jury completed its investigatory work, submitting a report to Willis’s office and to a Superior Court judge, based on which Willis may or may not send evidence to a regular grand jury to seek criminal charges against Trump or his allies. If she does, there is every indication that she might bring one of her favorite prosecutorial tools to bear: racketeering charges, as laid out in the state’s RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) statute. RICO is more famously used to prosecute the Mafia and criminal street gangs.
Trump has attacked Willis on his Truth Social platform as a “young, ambitious, Radical Left Democrat ‘Prosecutor’ from Georgia, who is presiding over one of the most Crime Ridden and Corrupt places in the USA.” For a national audience not paying close attention to Atlanta politics, this claim might not sound fantastical. Willis, 51, is a Democrat and the first Black woman to serve as Fulton County district attorney — the first woman, period — and her victory in 2020 came amid a wave of reform-minded progressive prosecutors’ winning seats: George Gascón in Los Angeles, Chesa Boudin in San Francisco, Kim Foxx in Chicago, Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, Alvin Bragg in Manhattan.
But it was evident from the outset that Willis would represent something quite different. In July 2021, six months into her tenure, she appeared before the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, which holds bimonthly public meetings in an assembly hall in downtown Atlanta, to request additional personnel. By the time she spoke, the session had already stretched over eight hours, including several public comments questioning the integrity of the 2020 election. She was joined by Fulton County’s Sheriff Patrick Labat, who wore a tactical vest that made him look as if he’d arrived straight from a hostage situation. Willis had dressed more business casual — a black V-neck blouse with bell sleeves, her hair braided and pulled back — but it immediately became clear who would be taking charge.
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/02/magazine/fani-willis-trump.html
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