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Trump says if he takes office, he'll fire special counsel Jack Smith 'within 2 seconds'
Story by DAN MERICA and ERIC TUCKER
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump said Thursday that if he wins the White House, he will fire special counsel Jack Smith “within two seconds” of taking office.
Trump was asked during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt whether he would first pardon himself or terminate Smith to remove the legal cloud hanging over him. Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022, has charged the former president over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his mishandling of classified documents.
“It’s so easy. I would fire him within two seconds,” Trump responded. “He’ll be one of the first things addressed.”
Trump, who regularly assails Smith and has suggested before that he would fire him if he were president, called Smith a “crooked person.”
Trump, if elected, could order the Justice Department to remove Smith. Trump probably would not be able to do it on his own because Smith is not a presidential appointee.
When Trump, while president, was investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller, Trump urged his then-White House counsel, Don McGahn, to press the Justice Department to terminate Mueller. McGahn refused.
Smith has brought two federal cases against Trump. One, accusing him of illegally retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, was dismissed in July, a decision that Smith is appealing. The other, charging him with plotting to overturn the 2020 presidential election, has been delayed by a Supreme Court opinion conferring broad immunity for official acts made while president.
After Trump said he would fire Smith, Hewitt raised the possibility that Congress could impeach Trump over that move. Trump said he did not believe that would happen.
“I don’t think they’ll impeach me if I fire Jack Smith,” Trump said. “Jack Smith is a scoundrel.”
Democrat Kamala Harris’ campaign has sought to use revelations from Smith’s investigations into Trump against the Republican candidate. They released an ad earlier this month that featured video from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and headlines from Smith’s investigation.
“He knew what he was doing,” the ad shows on screen.
While Trump criticized Smith, he praised U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the Trump appointee who dismissed the classified documents case against the former president in July.
“We had a brave, brilliant judge in Florida,” Trump said. “She’s a brilliant judge, by the way. I don’t know her. I never spoke to her. Never spoke to her. But we had a brave and very brilliant judge.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-says-if-he-takes-office-hell-fire-special-counsel-jack-smith-within-2-seconds/ar-AA1sRz8Q
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Trump Says He’s Open to Pardoning Hunter Biden Even Though He’s a ‘Bad Boy’: I ‘Wouldn’t Take it Off the Books’
Zachary LeemanOct 24th, 2024
Former President Donald Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday that he’s “open” to pardoning Hunter Biden even though he’s a “bad boy.”
While discussing some of his own legal woes during the interview, Trump was asked by Hewitt if he would offer President Joe Biden’s son a pardon if he gets a second term in office.
“I wouldn’t take it off the books. See, unlike Joe Biden, despite what they’ve done to me, where they’ve gone after me so viciously, despite what, and Hunter’s a bad boy. There’s no question about it. He’s been a bad boy. All you had to do is see the laptop from hell,” Trump said, referencing the infamously abandoned laptop that contained numerous lewd images and videos, some of which was published by the New York Post just before the 2020 presidential election.
Since the laptop, Hunter Biden has dealt with multiple legal issues. Last month he pleaded guilty to three felonies and six misdemeanors related to tax evasion in a Los Angeles court. He’s facing sentencing on Dec. 16. That guilty plea followed the president’s son being found guilty on three gun charges in Delaware. He’ll also face sentencing for those charges in December.
Trump said he believes that Hunter Biden’s legal troubles are not good for the country, and he boasted he “could have easily” gone after Hillary Clinton as president, referencing chants from MAGA crowds to “lock her up.”
“I happen to think it’s very bad for our country. I was, I think you know this, but most people don’t, because most people aren’t of your talent. I could have gone after Hillary,” the former president said. “I could have gotten Hillary Clinton very easily. And when they say lock her up, whenever they said lock her, you know, they’d start, 30,000 people, lock her up, lock her up. What did I do? I always say take it easy, just relax. We’re winning. Take it easy. Take it easy. I could have had her put in jail. And I decided I didn’t want to do that. I thought it would look terrible.”
Trump added, however, that he “didn’t know” at the time that “they would play dirty with me,” referring to his multiple impeachments from the House while he was president and the criminal cases being handled by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Trump vowed that he would immediately fire Smith, calling him a “scoundrel,” saying he went “too far” with the FBI raid of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago property for classified documents.
“Jack Smith is a scoundrel. He’s a very dishonest man, in my opinion, very dishonest man,” he said. “And he’s a mean man. He’s a mean man, but his problem is, he’s so mean that he always goes too far like the raid of Mar-A-Lago.”
https://www.mediaite.com/radio/trump-says-hes-open-to-pardoning-hunter-biden-even-though-hes-a-bad-boy-i-wouldnt-take-it-off-the-books/
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Army ordered to release records on Trump visit to Arlington National Cemetery
By Ross O'Keefe
October 23, 2024
A federal judge ordered the Army to release records related to former President Donald Trump’s August visit to Arlington National Cemetery.
The Army alleged that a cemetery employee was “abruptly pushed aside” after attempting to enforce a rule prohibiting political activities at the cemetery.
American Oversight, a government ethics watchdog group, previously asked U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman to force the Army and the Defense Department “to make timely determinations” on a Freedom of Information Act request they had submitted regarding the visit.
“Defendants shall produce responsive, non-exempt records on or before October 25, 2024,” Friedman said in a Tuesday filing granting a preliminary injunction.
American Oversight submitted its FOIA request in late August to Arlington National Cemetery “seeking records with the potential to shed light on the events” from the incident.
“Specifically, American Oversight requested any report, including an incident report, regarding the alleged incident,” American Oversight personnel wrote in an earlier filing. “This request would capture records, to the extent they exist, about ANC’s efforts to enforce and investigate any potential inappropriate political activity in a location where it is prohibited by law.”
American Oversight asked to expedite its request, but attorneys for the government suggested it would be unfair to do so. The watchdog group’s request “would effectively allow” them “to jump the line ahead of other FOIA requests” the Army and DoD are working on.
“Rather, the plain language of FOIA’s expedited processing provision requires that an agency process an expedited FOIA request ‘as soon as practicable’ and imposes no limit for the processing time,” the attorneys said.
“With the election just two weeks away, the American people have a clear and compelling interest in knowing how the government responded to an alleged incident involving a major presidential candidate who has a history of politicizing the military,” Chioma Chukwu, American Oversight’s interim executive director, said in an emailed statement to the Hill.
“These records belong to the public, and we’re pleased the court agreed on the need to expedite our request,” Chukwu said. “We look forward to receiving the incident report and making it available to the public.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/presidential/3200943/army-records-donald-trump-arlington-national-cemetery/
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Trump: 'Lowlife' John Kelly 'Made Up Story' Out of 'Pure TDS Hatred'
Former President Donald Trump is hitting back after his former White House chief of staff John Kelly claimed Trump praised Hitler and his generals.
"Thank you for your support against a total degenerate named John Kelly, who made up a story out of pure Trump Derangement Syndrome Hatred," Trump wrote Wednesday on Truth Social. "This guy had two qualities, which don't work well together. He was tough and dumb. The problem is his toughness morphed into weakness, because he became Jello with time!"
John Kelly warned in Tuesday interviews with The New York Times and The Atlantic the Republican nominee meets the definition of a fascist and his former boss suggested the Nazi leader "did some good things."
Kelly has long been critical of Trump and previously accused him of calling veterans killed in combat "suckers" and "losers."
In his interview with the Atlantic, Kelly recalled that when Trump raised the idea of needing "German generals," Kelly would ask if he meant "Bismarck's generals," referring to Otto von Bismarck, the chancellor who oversaw the unification of Germany.
"Surely you can't mean Hitler's generals," Kelly recalled asking Trump – to which the former president responded, "Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals."
Trump said the stories Kelly told were lies.
"Even though I shouldn't be wasting my time with him, I always feel it's necessary to hit back in pursuit of THE TRUTH," he added. "John Kelly is a LOWLIFE, and a bad General, whose advice in the White House I no longer sought, and told him to MOVE ON! His wife once told me, at Camp David, John admires you tremendously, and when he leaves the Military, he will only speak well of you. I said thank you."
https://www.newsmax.com/us/hitler-fascist-fake-news/2024/10/24/id/1185295/
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The US elections are under attack from hostile countries – and more is coming, Microsoft says
Andrew Griffin
Thursday 24 October 2024
Hacks and similar online behaviour can have a ‘significant’ impact on elections, report warns
The upcoming US elections are being hacked by hostile states, Microsoft has claimed.
There are “sustained influence efforts by Russia, Iran, and China aimed at undermining US democratic processes”, according to the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center.
Their work includes amplifying divisive messages, attacking election-related websites, sharing stolen and private material and using generative AI to make misleading posts, Microsoft said.
Those attacks are likely to step up as the election approaches on 5 November, Microsoft warned. It said that such attacks can “significantly impact public perception and electoral outcomes” and warned that “early detection and fact-checking remain essential to countering these efforts and maintaining election integrity”.
The attacks include an army of Chinese-controlled social media bots is attempting to influence voters in Alabama, Texas and Tennessee, while denigrating US Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.
The operation represents a coordinated interference effort against down-ballot races, experts say, in which the fake accounts are denigrating U.S. Representative Barry Moore of Alabama, US Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, Tennessee US Senator Marsha Blackburn and Rubio, all Republicans.
The troll network has “parroted antisemitic messages, amplified accusations of corruption and promoted opposition candidates,” according to Microsoft.
The group responsible is known as Taizi Flood, which has been previously associated with China’s Ministry of Public Security, researchers say. The lawmakers were each targeted because they had denounced Chinese government policies historically, the report notes.
A spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington said China “has no intention and will not interfere in the US election” and that such claims are “full of malicious speculations.”
An Iranian hacking group is also actively scouting U.S. election-related websites and American media outlets as Election Day nears, with activity suggesting preparations for more “direct influence operations,” Microsoft said.
The hackers, dubbed Cotton Sandstorm by Microsoft and linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, performed reconnaissance and limited probing of multiple “election-related websites” in several unnamed battleground states, the report said. In May, they also scanned an unidentified US news outlet to understand its vulnerabilities.
“Cotton Sandstorm will increase its activity as the election nears given the group’s operational tempo and history of election interference,” researchers wrote. The development is particularly concerning because of the group’s past efforts, they said.
A spokesperson for Iran’s mission to the United Nations said that “such allegations are fundamentally unfounded, and wholly inadmissible”.
“Iran neither has any motive nor intent to interfere in the U.S. election,” the spokesperson said.
In 2020, Cotton Sandstorm launched a different cyber-enabled influence operation shortly before the last presidential election, according to US officials. Posing as the right-wing “Proud Boys,” the hackers sent thousands of emails to Florida residents, threatening them to “vote for Trump or else!”
The group also released a video on social media, purporting to come from activist hackers, where they showed them probing an election system. While that operation never affected individual voting systems, the goal was to cause chaos, confusion and doubt, senior US officials said at the time.
Following the 2020 election, Cotton Sandstorm also ran a separate operation that encouraged violence against US election officials who had denied claims of widespread voter fraud, Microsoft said.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which is coordinating the U.S. federal effort to protect the election from foreign influence, referred Reuters to a past statement that said: “Foreign actors, particularly Russia, Iran and China, remain intent on fanning divisive narratives to divide Americans and undermine Americans’ confidence in the US democratic system”.
https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/us-election-russia-china-hack-micrsoft-cyber-attack-b2634889.html
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