Trump Attorneys Reveal Stunning Evidence Of Potential ‘Extortion’ By Stormy Daniels’ Lawyer

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump presented compelling evidence to a Manhattan jury on Thursday, suggesting that Stormy Daniels’ attorney Keith Davidson engaged in potential extortion. In a recorded phone call from April 2018 between Davidson and Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, Davidson is heard claiming that Daniels berated him and pressured Cohen for money, indicating a desire for it “more than anything.”

The recording, rife with explicit language, featured Davidson saying that Daniels was furious with him, allegedly calling him a “p—y” and urging Cohen to resolve her claims promptly. “She wanted this money more than you can ever imagine,” Davidson told Cohen in the call as reported by The New York Post. “I remember hearing her on the phone saying, ‘You f–king Keith Davidson. You better settle this goddamn story.’” Davidson added that Daniels was fearful that if Trump lost the election, “we lose all f–king leverage” and “this case is worth zero.”

Daniels, however, firmly denied berating Davidson. “No, I did not, actually; I never yelled at Keith Davidson,” she testified in court, adding, “It sounds like a threat from Keith Davidson.”

The phone call and ensuing testimony form part of a larger narrative being crafted by Trump’s legal team, which aims to cast doubt on the credibility of Daniels’ account of her relationship with the former president. Daniels herself is at the heart of the trial against Trump, offering what she characterized as a consensual yet uncomfortable account of her alleged encounter with him.

In her testimony, Daniels recounted the details of her secret rendezvous with Trump, which she claimed occurred after the then-real estate mogul allegedly wooed her into his hotel suite. She testified that Trump coaxed her into having sex by suggesting it would help her “get out of the trailer park.” Daniels stated that she felt “blacked out,” although she was neither drunk nor drugged. “My hands were shaking so hard,” she testified.

Despite the sensitive nature of her allegations, Judge Juan Merchan imposed strict limits to prevent the trial from devolving into an inquiry into Trump’s personal behavior. More than 50 objections were sustained during Daniels’ testimony as Judge Merchan sought to keep the focus on the alleged 2016 campaign finance conspiracy and not delve into Trump’s history of alleged misconduct. Daniels has always denied being a victim of any criminal behavior, describing her encounter with Trump as consensual.

Nonetheless, Daniels’ story prompted Trump’s legal team to point to the prejudicial nature of her testimony, suggesting that it could unfairly bias the jury against their client. They invoked the recent Harvey Weinstein case as an example of the pitfalls of introducing salacious evidence to sway a jury. Trump’s attorneys have already moved for a mistrial and are preparing for an appeal if necessary.

https://trendingpoliticsnews.com/just-in-trump-attorneys-reveal-stunning-evidence-of-potential-extortion-by-stormy-daniels-lawyer-mace/

Georgia State Election Board Member Misrepresents 6,000-plus Ballot Recount Discrepancy – Heavily Favored Joe Biden

On Tuesday, the Georgia State Election Board (SEB) heard several election complaints, including the long-anticipated SEB 2023-025 submitted in July 2022. After almost two years, investigators for the SEB and Georgia Secretary of State’s Office presented their findings. The claimants were not permitted to speak during the hearing. That hours-long presentation will be covered in-depth in a follow-up article.

During the discussion of Complaint 2023-025, however, another reference was made regarding Complaint 2021-181 (and 2022-025), which was based on the “Risk-Limiting Audit” (full hand-count) that Fulton County performed after the 2020 Presidential Election. This resulted in a heated but limited debate between a SEB Member and the complainant.

Rossi, a Georgia resident, has been investigating the 2020 Presidential Election and subsequent elections in the State of Georgia for several years. In September 2021, Rossi submitted evidence to Governor Brian Kemp’s office evidencing “36 inconsistencies” that contradicted the Risk Limiting Audit Report findings regarding the Fulton County hand-count of the 2020 Election. Rossi’s findings only involved the approximately 148,000 absentee ballots cast in Fulton (out of more than 520,000 total ballots cast).

The “36 inconsistencies” consisted of double and triple-counted batches of ballots that accounted for over 6,000 ballots incorrectly counted and reported. Based on the analysis, Rossi stated there would be a net gain of 4,081 votes for President Trump in Fulton County’s 148k absentee ballots alone if the incorrectly counted Biden votes were removed.

Despite over-counting by more than 6,000 ballots, a 4% difference from the machine-counted absentee ballots, the hand-count “audit” somehow matched the machine count (742 vote difference out of all ballots cast). This has never been explained nor corrected by the Georgia SOS.

On November 17th, 2021, Governor Kemp sent a letter and report outlining his office’s findings and confirming Rossi’s report to the SEB for further review. In the letter, Kemp stated that “the 36 inconsistencies…are factual in nature, pose no underlying theories outside of the reported data, and could not be explained by my office after a thorough review.” Kemp’s office spent almost seven weeks reviewing Rossi’s data and findings.

On June 8th, 2023, more than a year after investigators reported to the SEB regarding the complaint, the SEB and Fulton County entered into a Consent Order regarding discrepancies than 6,000-count when comparing the November 3rd machine count to the full hand count. The Consent Order, however, does not mention the ballots in totality but rather only references the “36 inconsistencies”. By phrasing it as “36 inconsistencies,” it sounds much less significant compared to “6,000 extra ballots with a net gain of 4,081, or more than 1/3 the margin of victory statewide.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/part-1-georgia-state-election-board-member-misrepresents/

Johnson Vows to Protect Jack Smith Hours After Democrats Save His Speakership

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) wasted little time after 163 Democrats voted to save his speakership to announce he would not use Congress’s constitutional power of the purse to stop special counsel Jack Smith’s “lawfare” against Donald Trump.

The Speaker, in some of his earliest public comments after Democrats saved his gavel, refused to make any attempt to defund Smith’s office as it continues its prosecutions of Trump.

“That’s not something you wave a wand and just eliminate the special counsel as a provision,” Johnson told Politico. “There is a necessity for a function like that, because sometimes the Department of Justice — which is an executive branch agency — can’t necessarily, without a conflict of interest, investigate or prosecute the president who’s their boss, or the president’s family.”

When asked straightforwardly if he would write language eliminating Smith’s job into appropriations bills, Johnson replied “no.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/05/09/johnson-vows-protect-jack-smith-hours-after-democrats-save-his-speakership/

Hollywood Mogul, Democrat Donor Haim Saban Blasts Biden for Withholding Arms from Israel

Haim Saban, the Hollywood mogul and Democratic Party mega-donor, blasted President Joe Biden for withholding weapons from Israel in its war against Hamas, sending an email to the president’s aides that was published Thursday.

As Breitbart News reported this week, the Biden administration withheld a shipment of bombs from Israel over a disagreement with Israel’s decision to attack the last Hamas stronghold in Rafah. President Joe Biden also claimed Wednesday that Israel had used American weapons to kill Palestinian civilians, and said that the U.S. would also refuse to supply Israel with artillery rounds.

Saban raised $4.5 million for the Biden campaign at a fundraiser in February. A close associate of the Clintons, he claimed during the 2016 presidential election that then-candidate Donald Trump was “dangerous” for Israel.

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2024/05/09/hollywood-mogul-democrat-donor-haim-saban-blasts-biden-for-withholding-arms-from-israel/

Former PM Tony Abbott launches a blistering rebuke of COVID-19 pandemic leaders after bombshell pandemic report

Former prime minister Tony Abbott in a scathing rebuke has said state and territory leaders' overreach during the COVID-19 pandemic eroded Australia's democracy.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has backed fresh criticism of Daniel Andrews and other COVID-era leaders, claiming the premiers' overreach eroded Australia's democracy.

The former Victorian premier and other state and territory leaders have landed in hot water for adopting health decisions during the pandemic which were not backed by medical advice, according to former federal health minister Greg Hunt’s submission in the federal government’s inquiry into COVID-19.

Now, Mr Abbott has expressed fresh disapproval of COVID-19 era leaders, saying “the policy to deal with COVID-19 turned out to be far worse than the disease itself”.

“When you go back and look at this honestly and dispassionately, you'd have to say that the first mistake that governments made was throwing out the carefully prepared pandemic plans that we all had in panic in early March 2020, because of the dire photographs coming out of overwhelmed Italian hospitals,” he said.

Mr Abbott said there was “no doubt” government’s “ceased being a democracy and became a kind of a doctocracy” at the time.

Victoria implemented stringent curfews, a 5 kilometre radius, as well as the state’s choice not to use ADF personnel at hotel quarantine facilities.

The state of emergency in Victoria was extended for four additional weeks in April, a move the government claimed help slow the spread of coronavirus and save lives.

Residents and businesses who did not follow COVID-19 restrictions were subject to on-the-spot fines from Victoria Police who were granted additional powers.

Victoria's tough measures were backed by advice from former state health minister Jenny Mikakos and then chief health officer professor Brett Sutton.

In his submission, Mr Hunt said despite references to "medical advice", some decisions made by the then Victorian premier lacked such advice from the Commonwealth and chief health medical officers.

“And my fear is that without a fair dinkum Royal Commission type inquiry into the whole response to COVID. Next time a pandemic happens, and it will, we'll take the over the top response to this one, as the model for all future actions,” Mr Abbott said.

“But the last thing we want to be is locked up, for several years, again, in response to a disease that turned out to be relatively mild.”

https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/former-pm-tony-abbott-launches-a-blistering-rebuke-of-covid19-pandemic-leaders-after-bombshell-pandemic-report/news-story/c56acd09f962233e0fb158fa4198a479

Xi’s whirlwind European tour, playing mediator to mixed reviews

The question is, will the US see this as a benefit or continue to play critic?

When Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in France this week, the world’s conflicts were top of mind. Press reports tended to fixate on whether French President Emmanuel Macron could press Xi to distance himself from Russia. But ultimately, the leaders’ focus drifted farther south.

In a wide-ranging joint statement, Xi and Macron “expressed their opposition to an Israeli offensive on Rafah,” called for an “immediate and sustainable ceasefire,” railed against the possibility of regional escalation, and even endorsed the idea of a worldwide truce to coincide with this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.

The statement reflected a remarkable shift in China’s diplomatic approach to the world — or, perhaps more precisely, a remarkable shift in how powerful states now treat Beijing. After decades of playing a secondary role in world politics, China is now getting used to the great power treatment, making itself visible wherever diplomacy is happening.

Examples abound: Last year, China sent shockwaves through Washington when it oversaw the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, a major step in reducing tensions between two of the most hostile powers in the Middle East. And, as the war in Ukraine drags on, China has dispatched a special envoy to push for negotiations, securing high-level meetings with officials on both sides of the conflict.

Beijing has even taken on a larger role in that most sensitive of issues: the Israel-Palestine conflict. China hosted Fatah and Hamas — the leading Palestinian factions — for reconciliation talks last week, and observers expect that this mediation role could continue in the coming months and years.

From Washington, this can all look a bit frightening. After three decades of unipolarity, many U.S. policymakers still cling to the idea that America and its allies are the sole guarantors of international peace. A rising China, in the minds of many, must mean a falling U.S.

But experts say that a deep breath is in order. Despite these latest moves, Beijing still has a ways to go before it surpasses Washington in its ability to shape geopolitics. As China grows into its new role, there are no shortage of opportunities for cooperation on issues that matter deeply to each country, especially in places where the U.S. is no longer seen as a credible go-between.

There may even be openings to influence Beijing’s approach to the world in ways that gel better with U.S. interests.

China’s growing role in diplomacy is thus not a threat but an opportunity. The question remains: Will the U.S. seize it?

Three cheers for stability

Above all, China and the U.S. share one essential goal in the Middle East: stability. Students of contemporary politics will note that neither side has done a particularly good job of securing that goal in recent years. But limited cooperation could help provide a path forward for the region.

China has long professed support for the liberation of Palestine through a two-state solution, a goal that it sees as crucial to solving the problems that plague the Middle East. In the early days of the war between Israel and Hamas, Chinese officials walked a tightrope by maintaining trade ties with Israel while refusing to condemn Hamas. But it carefully avoided any direct involvement in the conflict.

Now, China appears to be taking a more active role, expanding its criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza in what many experts view as an attempt to curry favor with the Global South through a topic in which the U.S. has taken a distinctly unpopular stance.

The Beijing talks, however, signal more room for cooperation. Hamas and Fatah have for years failed to bridge the rupture created by their brief civil war that lasted between 2006 and 2007. After convening in Beijing last month, the groups thanked China for its efforts “to help strengthen Palestinian internal unity and reached an agreement on ideas for future dialogue,” according to China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/xi-jinping-europe/

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