If Fani Willis’ Get-Trump Case Were Legit, Democrats Wouldn’t Be So Desperate To Keep It In The DA’s Office

MARGOT CLEVELAND JANUARY 25, 2024.1/3

Fani Willis Fallout Proves The Fulton County Indictment Is Garbage

Democrats are desperately fighting to keep the Fulton County prosecutor’s office in charge of the Georgia criminal case pending against Donald Trump and his associates. And that tells you all you need to know about the merits of the get-Trump prosecution launched by the now-falling Democrat star Fani Willis.

“Fani Willis’s Grand-Slam Indictment Against Donald Trump,” blared one headline from last August, championing the news that the Democrat-elected county prosecutor had charged Trump and 18 others in a sprawling 41-count indictment. For months, Willis wore the crown of the country, being honored everywhere from the local Atlanta Business League to the Apollo Theater in Harlem, whereshe received the title of 2023’s Most Influential Black American. She was reportedlyeven up for Time’s Person of the Year.

What a Difference a Scandal Makes

But now The New York Times hasrun an op-ed calling for Willis to take a leave of absencefrom the Fulton County district attorney’s office.

Wednesday’s opinion piece, “Why Fani Willis Should Step Aside in the Trump Case in Georgia,” authored byClark Cunningham, a professor of legal ethics at Georgia State University, follows from the growing scandal surrounding Willis’ hiring of Nathan Wade as special prosecutor in her targeting of Trump and his co-defendants.

According to a joint motion to dismiss and motion to disqualify filed earlier this month by defendant Michael Roman — the Trump 2020 campaign’s director of Election Day operations — Willis was having an affair with the still-married Wade when she hired him as a special prosecutor. Roman’s motion also charged that Willis personally benefitted from the money paid to her alleged lover because Wade then used those taxpayer funds to pay for Willis to accompany him on vacations on both the Norwegian and Royal Caribbean cruise lines.

Roman’s motion alleged thatWillis appointed Wade to serve as a special prosecutor without the approval of the Fulton County Board of Commissionersand even though the district attorney’s office had many more qualified attorneys already on staff. Yet from Nov. 1, 2021 to Oct. 31, 2022,Willis paid Wade nearly $300,000 — $100,000 more than Willis’ annual salary of $198,266.66.

Since Oct. 31, 2022, Willis has entered additional successive contracts with Wade, setting a $250-per-hour billing rate for her alleged lover. According to Roman’s motion, to date,Willis has likely paid Wade close to or more than $1 million. These facts establish a disqualifying conflict of interest, Roman posits, as they both have a personal interest and stake in Roman’s conviction. That conflict, the defendant argues, deprives him of his due process rights to a fundamentally fair trial.

The Left Claims No Conflict

After news of the alleged affair quieted somewhat, we saw the first effort to safeguard the prosecution of Trump and his co-defendants by the Fulton County district attorney’s office. Theanti-Trump online forum Just Securityled the effort with a veritabletreatiseon Georgia’slaw on prosecutorial disqualifications. The nearly 4,000-word article presented the case for “Why Fani Willis Is Not Disqualified Under Georgia Law.”

In it, the Just Security authors bemoaned the consequences of an “unfounded disqualification of Willis.” Willis’ disqualification, they argued, would “unjustifiably threaten to delay the case unnecessarily… because when the District Attorney herself is disqualified, thematter is transferred to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of the State of Georgiafor reassignment.” …

https://thefederalist.com/2024/01/25/if-fani-willis-get-trump-case-were-legit-democrats-wouldnt-be-so-desperate-to-keep-it-in-the-das-office/

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On the other hand, “if Willis were otherwise sanctioned by ethicsor county government authorities as a result of any separate inquiries (e.g. into her hiring decision involving Wade), itwould not have this effect,” the article noted, in anot-so-subtle suggestion on how the court can split the baby here. Then the case can remain in the Fulton County district attorney’s office, the article concluded.

But why would that matter? The authors tell us:

A likely delay in the prosecution of Trump and his co-conspirators occasioned bymoving the case is inconsistent with the public interest. There is a paramount need to resolve the question as soon as possible of whether Trump previously criminally abused the office he is seeking to recover.

In other words, to ensure Trump is convicted before the November 2024 election, Roman’s motion to disqualify the Fulton County DA’s office must be denied. But to placate the public,Wade should voluntarily resign, the article suggested in compromise.

Wednesday’sop-edin The New York Times similarly stakes out the position thatthe prosecutionof Roman and his co-defendants, particularly Trump,must continue in Fulton County— so much so that toavoid the risk of an independent prosecutorbeing appointed by the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of the State of Georgia, the author entreats Willis “to take a personal leave of absence andturn over control of the district attorney’s office, and the case against Mr. Trump, to acareer deputy district attorney.” (The entire legal system in GA from the police, to the counties, to the courts, to the State Attorney General, to the Supreme Court are corrupt as hell. Along with the Bar and professors that teach the law.)

The author, Clark Cunningham, explains this recommendation flows from his study of “the legal consequences that might come if Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade are found to have a conflict.” Taking a personal leave rather than risking the court disqualifying the entire Fulton County DA’s office,Cunningham claims, is “the judicious and farsighted course” of action for Willis.Cunningham even called it “an act of public service by Ms. Willis,” explaining it “offers the best option for keeping the criminal case on track and holding Mr. Trump and his co-defendants accountable for their actions in the 2020 election if that is the just outcome.” (Keep in mind this is the ethics professor at GSU, the same University that allowed cyber tracking and spying on Trump in the oval office, is there any surprise there?)

But in explaining how that is “the best option,”Cunningham gives away his game— that it is not necessarily a“just outcome” he wants, but aconviction of Trumpand one that arrivesbefore the 2024 election.

If presiding Judge Scott McAfee grants Roman’s motion, “it could bring the entire case to a halt,” the op-ed explained, stressing that “under Georgia law, if a district attorney is disqualified, so is the entire staff of the district attorney’s office.” And unlike the Just Security analysis of the conflict of interest, Cunningham sees areal risk in the disqualificationof Willis and her office.

As Cunningham put it, thedefendants will argue Willis “acquired a personal interest or stake” in their convictions, with Trump and his alleged co-conspirators likely arguing, “Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade concocted the extensive special grand jury investigation — which has spanned about seven months and involved some 75 witnesses — and the subsequent 98-page, 41-count indictment against 19 defendants, to make money for themselves byenabling Mr. Wade to bill the D.A.’s office more than $650,000for working on both the grand jury investigation and the prosecution of the indictment.”

While acknowledging he didn’t know whether the defendants’ argument would succeed, Cunningham highlighted several unusual factors in the case, including Wade’s lack of obvious qualifications and that his prior prosecutorial experience was limited to misdemeanors. Add to that the fact thatWade received compensation far exceeding that of even Willisand then spent those funds on Willis. (Cunningham actually points out every ethical and legal guidelines they violated with this justification to continue to do it)

Ashleigh Merchant, the Georgia-based attorney who exposed Willis’ relationship with Wade — as well as the alleged conflict of interest, when she filed Roman’s motion to disqualify Willis and the Fulton County DA’s office —sees Cunningham’s essay as confirming her client’s position.

https://thefederalist.com/2024/01/25/if-fani-willis-get-trump-case-were-legit-democrats-wouldnt-be-so-desperate-to-keep-it-in-the-das-office/

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“Professor Cunningham’sopinions reflect the reality that Ms. Willis’ actions are indefensible under Georgia lawand, as we pointed out, threaten to greatly undermine the public’s confidence in the eventual outcome of this case,” Merchant told The Federalist. “That is exactly why we have asked that both she and Mr. Wade be removed from the case.”

But even=Cunningham admits what he perceives as the real risk of Willis’ continued involvement in the case: that disqualifying Willis and her office would send the case to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, where an independent prosecutor would be appointed to take the case over from Willis.

“And that’s where things could really go off the rails,”Cunningham cautioned. “Take one precedent: On July 25, 2022,Ms. Willis was disqualified from prosecuting Burt Jones, who was then a state senator, after she hosted a fund-raiser for Mr. Jones’s eventual opponent in the race for lieutenant governor.Eighteen months later, the PACGA still hasn’t appointed a special prosecutor, and Mr. Jones, now lieutenant governor, has not even been indicted.”

But in the eyes of the Georgia State University law professor, “Delay is not even the worst possible outcome for the case if Ms. Willis is disqualified.” Rather, theworst possibilitywould be that the prosecutor appointed by the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia “could decide to reduce or dismiss charges against some or all of the defendants, including Mr. Trump.”

One need only fear that outcome, however,if a criminal conviction, as opposed to justice, were the end goal. And one would only worry that an independent prosecutor would reduce or dismiss some or all the charges against Trump and his co-defendants if those charges should never have been brought in the first instance.

That theanti-Trump brigade is so forcefully pushing to keep the criminal prosecution of Trumpin the hands of the Fulton County DA’s office, even if that means Willis must step aside,speaks volumes to the frivolousness of the indictment.

Whether fellowDemocrats pressure Willis to follow Cunningham’s scriptremains to be seen, but with Judge McAfee ordering the DA to file a written response to allegations of a conflict of interest by Feb. 2, 2024, we should know soon.

But Democrats, from their efforts to keep this case in Fulton County, have already made clear that they know Willis’ case against Trump is bunk.

(This whole treatise by Cunningham and friends proves that Trump and supporters have no way to beat the charges because even those tasked with teaching the law, along with most in government, not only hate Trump, they are desperate to cover up the cheating by the SOS, Governor and AG. While 70% in GA are Trump supporters. The “elite” hate Trump because he represents Justice to the people.)

https://thefederalist.com/2024/01/25/if-fani-willis-get-trump-case-were-legit-democrats-wouldnt-be-so-desperate-to-keep-it-in-the-das-office/

Mark Meadows Enlisting Legal Legend Paul Clement In Fulton County Defense Indicates Case Could Head To SCOTUS

Paul Clement Leads Appeal In Mark Meadows Case1/3

Margot Cleveland. JANUARY 15, 2024

Paul Clement, a former solicitor general and appellate attorney who has scored some of themost significant victoriesbefore the United States Supreme Court,recently joined the powerhouse legal team representing Donald Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Clement has already upped the ante with the petition he filed earlier this month in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit by highlighting thatunless Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ criminal vendetta against Meadows is removed to federal court, Republican prosecutors will have a green light to eke out revenge.

In that petition,Clement asked the entire 11th Circuit to reconsider the earlier decisionby a three-judge panel holding that Meadows could not remove to federal court the criminal case Willis launched against him last year.

Clement’s strong reputation signals that should the 11th Circuit deny rehearing — or grant rehearing and again hold that Meadows cannot remove the case under federal statute —Meadows’ legal team is prepared to seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Having Clement on the Supreme Court’s petition for review will add an invaluable gravitas to the case.

“We are all extremely pleasedto have a Supreme Court and appellate litigator of Paul’s stature, experience, and expertise on this legal team,” George Terwilliger of Terwilliger Law PLLC, and one of Meadows’ co-counsels who also served as No. 2 in George H.W. Bush’s Justice Department, told The Federalist.

Willis’ Lawfare

In August 2023, Willis, the elected prosecutor in deep-blue Fulton County, Georgia, charged Meadows and 18 others, including former President Trump, in a sprawling, 98-page indictment. Of the 41 counts the county prosecutor patched together against the various Trump-connected defendants,only two targeted Meadows.

First, in Count 1 of the indictment, Meadows was charged with an alleged racketeering conspiracy to “change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.” Willis identified eight actions Meadows allegedly took in furtherance of that supposed conspiracy —“each took place during his service as Chief of Staff.”

Willis, who is now facing her own scandal, also charged Meadows in Count 28 with allegedly soliciting a public officer to violate his oath of office. Thatsecond charge rests on Meadows facilitating a telephone callbetween then-President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. The indictment claims that during that call, Trump “asked Raffensperger to unlawfully influence the election’s outcome.”

Of course, as has been hammered repeatedly, a transcript of the Jan. 2, 2021 call shows Trump did not ask Raffensperger’s office to “influence the election’s outcome,” much less do so “unlawfully.” Rather, the attorneys representing Trump in his post-election challenge to the Georgia count “ticked off the numerous categories of illegal votes of which they had concrete evidence — some 25 categories.”The state court had refused to act on Trump’s legal case challenging the election results, so his legal team “asked the secretary of state’s office to investigate the problem.”

Yet Willis convinced a grand jury made up of Fulton County residents to indict Meadows based on that bogus premise. And with some 73 percent of Fulton County voters casting their ballot for Joe Biden in 2020 compared to 26 percent favoring Trump, when the indictment dropped, Meadows understandably worried a stacked get-Trump jury would convict him of the charged crimes merely because he was the former president’s chief of staff.

Attempt to Remove

So the day after the Fulton County indictment dropped, Meadows filed legal documents to remove the state criminal case against him to a federal court in the northern district of Georgia, based on a federal statute codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1).That federal statute provides that “any officer (or any person acting under that officer) of the United States,” may remove to a federal district court a “criminal prosecution that is commenced in a State court,” that is “for or relating to any act under color of such office…”

https://thefederalist.com/2024/01/15/mark-meadows-enlisting-legal-legend-paul-clement-in-fulton-county-defense-indicates-case-could-head-to-scotus/

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Federal district court Judge Steve Jones, a Barack Obama appointee, held that Meadows had failed to show “a nexus” or a “causal connection” between the “heart” of the Fulton County criminal charges and Meadows’ asserted official authority. Jones concluded that Meadows could not remove the case to federal court under Section 1442(a)(1). The court then remanded, or sent back, the case to the Fulton County state court for Willis’ prosecution to continue there.

Meadows’ legal team promptly appealed the federal trial court’s decision, with the case docketed at the 11th Circuit, which hears appeals from federal district courts located in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. Before the briefing of the appeal, the 11th Circuit directed the parties toaddress a question the Fulton County prosecutor had not raised, namely whether Section 1442(a)(1) even applied to former federal officials.

Following briefing and oral argument before a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit, the court held on Dec. 18, 2023, that Meadows could not remove the Fulton County criminal case to federal court under Section 1442(a)(1)because that section applied only to “officers” and not “former officers.” In the opinion, authored by Judge William Pryor, a George W. Bush appointee, the court reasoned that the ordinary meaning of the term “officers,” does not include “former officers.” It further reasoned that because Congress had expressly created removal jurisdiction for former civil officers in Section 1442(b), the language variation confirmed Section 1442(a)(1) did not subject former officers to removal proceedings.

Section 1442(b) provides that “[a] personal action commenced in any State court by an alien against any citizen of a State who is, or at the time the alleged action accrued was, a civil officer of the United States and is a nonresident of such State,” removal to federal court is permitted. The 11th Circuit explained that Congress’s inclusion of the “who is, or at the time the alleged action accrued was,” language in this removal statute showed lawmakers did not intend for Section 1442(a)(1) to apply to “former officers,” since no similar language was included in that provision.

The 11th Circuit’s panel decision hedged its holding, however, by ruling that “[e]ven if section 1442(a)(1) applies to former officers, we would still affirm because Meadows fails to prove that the conduct underlying the criminal indictment relates to his official duties.” Here, the court held Meadows needed to establish “a causal connection between the charged conduct and asserted official authority.”

The 11th Circuit then reasoned that Meadows’ culpable “act” was his alleged association with the conspiracy that sought to overturn the 2020 election. Meadows’ “color” of office did not include superintending state election procedures or electioneering on behalf of the Trump campaign, the court continued, and therefore, “Meadow’s association with the alleged conspiracy was not related to his office of chief of staff.”

Judge Robin Rosenbaum, an Obama appointee, and Judge Nancy Abudu, a Biden appointee, joined Pryor’s decision. Judge Rosenbaum, however, authored a separate concurrence joined by Judge Abudu, which noted that Meadows was not entitled to removal under Section 1442(a)(1) because he “has not established the State has charged him for or relating to an act under color of his office as White House chief of staff.”The concurrence sought to highlight the “nightmare scenario” the court’s holding created — and entreat Congress to promptly amend the statute to prevent future possible political prosecutions. Judge Rosenbaum posited:

Imagine that the day the President of the United States leaves office, sixteen states where his policies were unpopular indict him and all his Cabinet members, simply for carrying out their constitutionally authorized duties.

Paul Clement on Board

Following the Dec. 18, 2023 ruling rejecting Meadows’ attempt to move the Fulton County state prosecution to federal court, formerSolicitor General Paul Clement filed an appearance in the 11th Circuit. On Jan. 2, Clement filed a petition for rehearing, asking the entire 11th Circuit to reconsider the opinion of the three-judge panel.

Clement’s petition for rehearingpresented a perfect-to-the-letter argumentfor why the 11th Circuit should rehear Meadows’ appeal and hold that he had the right to remove the criminal case to federal court. That is to be expected, asClement is one of the best — if not the best — appellate advocates of this century. As The Washington Post wrote over a decade ago, “conservative and liberal lawyers agree” that when Clement “is on his game, he is a grandmaster.” (Chess term)

https://thefederalist.com/2024/01/15/mark-meadows-enlisting-legal-legend-paul-clement-in-fulton-county-defense-indicates-case-could-head-to-scotus/

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Under Section 1442(a)(1), the concurrence continued, “the former President and Cabinet members would have no guarantee that a federal court,” would ever consider whether the U.S. Constitution protected the previous administration from local state court prosecutors. And “given the local sentiment that led to the indictments in this hypothetical,” Judge Rosenbaum noted, it is entirely possiblethis scenario would deny the former president and his cabinet a fair, correct, and prompt resolution of the politically motivated charges.

“In short, foreclosing removal when states prosecute former federal officers simply for performing their official duties canallow a rogues state’s weaponization of the prosecution power to go unchecked and fester,” Judge Rosenbaum wrote. But because that is how Congress wrote Section 1442(a)(1), and the court’s job is to “faithfully interpret the laws as they are written,” the two judges joined the majority opinion, holding that removal is not available to former officers. Simultaneously, however, they “urge[d] Congress to promptly add former federal officers to a revision of Section 1442(a)(1).”

Clement has only perfected his game over the last dozen years.He can now boast of having argued more than 100 cases before the United States Supreme Court, where he once clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia. One of those casesincluded the landmark case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, wherein Clement represented the petitioners who challenged New York’s law barring ordinary, law-abiding citizens from carrying handguns outside their homes for self-defense. TheSupreme Court sided with Clementand his clients, ruling that New York’s law violated the Second Amendment’s guarantee of the right to keep and bear arms.

While Clement hasn’t won all his Supreme Court appeals, as Clement’s former boss — another former solicitor general for the United States,Kenneth Starr — told The Washington Post: “You want him; he is the best advocate of his generation.”

Whether his advocacy succeeds remains to be seen, but in arguing for rehearing in the 11th Circuit,Clement revealed a tripwireDemocrats appear oblivious to — namely that if “officers” for purposes of Section 1442(a)(1)does not include “former officers,” then any one of the“Nation’s 2,330 chief local prosecutors, distributed across jurisdictions red and blue,” will have “a green light to make a name for themselves by filing ‘day-after’ indictments.”

It may be Trump now, but tomorrow it could be Biden and his cabinet. Andsuch “open season” will not be limited to the executive branch, Clement also highlights, because the federal removal statutes that authorize members of theHouse, Senate, and judiciary to remove a case to federal court all use the identical term “officers.” Thus, “any disgruntled constituent or litigant could sue any outgoing congressperson or federal judge” in state court, following Willis’ script.

There is a delicious irony: The same arguments Willis madebefore the 11th Circuitcould be applied to a future criminal case against Willis or her legal team. With recent reporting alleging Willis paid her lover, Nathan Wade, to help with the get-Trump prosecution — including paying Wade to fly to D.C. to speak with the Biden administration about the case —it isn’t hard to imagine a red-county prosecutor crafting a RICO conspiracy charge similar to the one Willis droppedon Trump and his associates.

And while Congress could step in, after watching Democrats weaponize the government to get Trump and any Republicans who dared stand with him, why would they?

>>20355890

I want to but the iphone cannot make the ‘’’ in all one direction. Thanks

>>20353829 Trump's Inflection Point Began Where No One Was Looking: East Palestine (PN)

Trump's Inflection Point Began Where No One Was Looking: East Palestine

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EAST PALESTINE, OHIO – THE SLEET AND RAIN WERE UNFORGIVING HERE ON FEB. 22, 2023, THE DAY FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP CAME TO THIS SMALL COLUMBIANA COUNTY VILLAGE. DESPITE THE WEATHER AND CONCERNS ABOUT WHAT WAS IN THE AIR OR WHAT KIND OF CHEMICAL WAS LURKING IN THE POOLS OF MUD THEY WERE WALKING IN, FOLKS BY THE HUNDREDS LINED UP ALONG MAIN STREET AS TRUMP'S MOTORCADE, FILLED WITH STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT, SIRENED ITS WAY INTO TOWN.

Men and women, young and old, children, teenagers and a couple of dozen Amish families all waited in the icy rain along the designated route in anticipation of Trump showing up to their town, just under a month after a 38-car Norfolk Southern train dumped poisonous residue into the air. First, there had been the fiery derailment, whose immediate effects went on for two days, followed by a controlled burn that released hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air and water.

If you had lived within a mile from here, you had been evacuated two days after the derailment when a temperature change in one of the derailed train cars caused officials to fear a violent shrapnel-laced explosion with the potential of a mass catastrophe. They were also deeply concerned about one of the valves in a tank car carrying vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen, that they noticed had malfunctioned.

If you had visited here for weeks as I had, reporting about the disaster you understood, more than anything else, thatthe people here wanted to know that those in power would help them. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, just weeks post swearing-in, was here multiple times. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Gov. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, also came. However, the person with the most power, President Joe Biden, had not come, nor would he ever.

Vance told me that Trump did a great service to the residents of East Palestine by forcing the political class to care about them.

"His visit filled the leadership vacuumleft behind by Joe Biden's indifference toward this disaster," he said. "It sent a clear messageto the rest of the country that these people are our fellow Americans and we can't leave them behind."

Dressed in a white shirt with trousers and draped in a black overcoat, the former president did what so many other residents in this area did that dreary day: rolled up and tucked his pants into what looked like brown Carhartt waterproof steel-toed boots and walked through the village.

Trump's arrival happened at a low point politically.Some of his faithful supporters still felt the sting of the midterm losses, in particular in the Senate with the candidates he supported in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, with many blaming him for picking flawed people who could not win over other primary candidates who, according to polls, would have been stronger.

Polling at the time showed him in a close possible race with Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., who had not yet announced he was running. There were even flags around the village before Trump's arrival supporting both Trump and DeSantis in several different yards.

While the shift toward Trump in the polls would not happen for at least a month after his visit here he started gaining steam in March when news broke of the indictment from the Manhattan district attorney I wrote down in my rain-smudged reporter's notebook that day thatif he is able to resurrect the magic of 2016,understanding the forgotten man and woman and the dignity of work,it started here, the day he showed up when Biden refused.

East Palestine resident Tammy Tsai stood along Main Street and watched Trump roll in despite the rain, along with husband Rick Tsai, who had arrived ahead of her. Before Feb. 3, the actress and her husband were talking about an early retirement to their family's cabin and taking life a little slower.

One year later, their placid life has changed. He has gone from fishing to a man on a mission to document what has happened here and to help his neighbors and friends who have been long forgotten after the camera crews left. He and Tammy supplied water to his community and raised tens of thousands of dollars for workers when the local Family Dollar store abruptly closed. And the once-apolitical chiropractor is now running for the seat that Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, vacated to become president of Youngstown State University…

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/01/30/trumps_inflection_point_began_where_no_one_was_looking_east_palestine_150401.html

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Tammy Tsai said she followed along on foot as Trump visited here that day. "He was at the Roadhouse first, then he went to Brittain Motors. Neither time I got close enough to shake his hand,but I could really observe people's reactionsat both, then outside of McDonald's."

"You are not forgotten," Trump saidat the press conference, during which he stood with cases of bottled "Trump" water he brought for the residents of this quaint village of 5,000 along the Ohio border with Pennsylvania.

Flanked by Vance, Mayor Trent Conaway and other local elected officials, Trump added, "In too many cases, your goodness and perseverance were met with indifference and betrayal."

Tammy Tsai saidTrump had the right instincts to show up here.

"In a lot of ways, we are the symbol or poster child of the kind of place Washington forgets. President Biden underscored that by not coming then or now or ever," she said.

She emphasized it was massively important for Trump to show up. "Unless you experienced what we did, unless you understood what it is like to be discarded as not important enough,Trump showing up for us showed he cared," she said. "There will always be people who said it was a stunt.Well, he didn't have to do it, but he did. That is more than I can say for President Biden."

Newsweek searched through the 380 messages released from the White House press pool from the date of the crash, Feb. 3, 2023, to the day Trump arrived here, revealing no direct statements from Biden on East Palestine.Biden finally did, however, tweet about it the day before Trump arrived.

By Feb. 27, when pressed,Biden said he had no plans to show up.

"Showing up matters,"Marcy Ford explained from her home in nearby Darlington, Pennsylvania, where the runoff from the derailment and subsequent controlled burn sent chemicals in the creeks toward her hometown.

Ford, who owns a farm in East Palestine, got very close to Trump that day and said she wanted to make sure she chronicled it because of what it meant to her.

"Before him, I had been a Democrat,"she said. "I switched parties because of the way he spoke directly to the concerns. I have voted for him both times since then."

Paul Sracic, a political science professor at Youngstown State University,explained that Trump's rehabilitation within the Republican ranks is multifaceted. "It is significantly impacted by perceptions that he's being unfairly treated by the judicial system, and he's being targeted, that there's a rallying effect there, but that's not the whole story," he said.

Sracic saidTrump's instinct to show up here last year is classic Trump 2016, when he was at his best.

"This is now the heart of Trump country, the border that Ohio and Pennsylvania share that stretches from Ashtabula and Erie down to Youngstown, Wheeling and the Western Pennsylvania counties that border it," Sracic said. "And to remind people he was physically there for them at a time when they were hurt and worried is often the thing that he likes to do is say,'Look, I'm there. I'm ready to fight for you,' and in this case, provide and be there."

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/01/30/trumps_inflection_point_began_where_no_one_was_looking_east_palestine_150401.html

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"It was an important moment in his rehabilitation," Sracic added in the autopsy of what candidates got wrong. "We often forget to talk about what Trump got right, and this was one of those moments that were pivotal that people have overlooked."

While the national press have been focused all year on what Trump says about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and his legal proceedings,what they have missed reporting are the moments Trump was also selectively engaged in places and things voters care about.

In the end, his legal troubles may matter a lot entrance polling heading into the Iowa caucuses showed if Trump were convicted, a third of those voters said he would be unfit to serve but the error made in reporting on this race is the sin of omission. You cannot continue to make the mistake of ignoring the stuff he does that's not pertaining to him but is pertaining to the voters.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/01/30/trumps_inflection_point_began_where_no_one_was_looking_east_palestine_150401.html

It’s obvious why Bidan is coming to East Palestine now. NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH!

0:48

https://rumble.com/embed/v47x34l/?pub=4

>>20356109

Did Bidan show up yesterday? There should be a ton of news on it, with no citizens coming out to see him.