Comedian and HBO host Bill Maher attempted to claim that President Donald Trump has largely been treated like any other president — but Lara Trump, the president&#8217;s daughter-in-law, stopped him in his tracks.
Maher spoke with Trump — the wife of President Trump&#8217;s second son, Eric — on his &#8220;Club Random&#8221; podcast, and she made the point that her entire family had been put through the wringer over almost a decade. Maher pushed back, arguing that it was simply a part of being a public figure — and that it may have been more pronounced simply because he was the President of the United States — but Lara Trump thought otherwise.
WATCH:
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🚨NEW: <a href="https://twitter.com/LaraLeaTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LaraLeaTrump</a> *ISN&#8217;T HAVING IT* when Bill Maher claims her family was treated just like other presidents&#8217; families🚨
TRUMP: &#8220;Our family has been scrutinized, attacked under a microscope — I would probably argue more than any family.&#8221;
MAHER: &#8220;Well, of course — because… <a href="https://t.co/GG7MCjjyoO">pic.twitter.com/GG7MCjjyoO</a>
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonJournoDC/status/1992952437729104264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Our family has been scrutinized, attacked under a microscope — I would probably argue more than any family,&#8221; Trump began.
&#8220;Well, of course — because your father-in-law is the president,&#8221; Maher pushed back.
&#8220;It&#8217;s not just that he&#8217;s the president — it&#8217;s that he&#8217;s Donald Trump as the president,&#8221; Trump argued. &#8220;They&#8217;ve gone after all of us in such an aggressive way.&#8221;
&#8220;They would go after anybody,&#8221; Maher was not convinced. &#8220;They didn&#8217;t go after Obama and Clinton in an aggressive way?&#8221;
&#8220;Not like this, Bill,&#8221; Trump insisted.
Maher still made it clear that he wasn&#8217;t buying it: &#8220;Oh, please.&#8221;
&#8220;Really!? When did you see Obama and Clinton&#8217;s residences, personal private property, raided by the FBI?&#8221; Trump asked. &#8220;When did they have indictments against them to put them in jail for the rest of their life that everybody can agree were a little outrageous, Bill? Like, really!?&#8221;
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Maher agreed that the raid on Mar-a-Lago was probably &#8220;over the top,&#8221; but went on to say that if he didn&#8217;t want his bathroom raided, Trump &#8220;probably shouldn&#8217;t be keeping files in [the] bathroom.&#8221;
Eric Trump faced a similar line of questioning in early November when &#8220;The Daily T&#8221; host Tim Stanley asked, &#8220;Some of the siege that you faced — and I understand why it was very personal and distressing — can you accept that some of it was just people legitimately disagreeing with your father’s policies and using every lever available, as people generally do in politics, in order to push back?&#8221;
The president&#8217;s son said that he certainly understood some attacks would come with public life, but argued it was &#8220;different than raiding somebody’s house. That’s different than subpoenaing their children with the intent to literally try and bankrupt a company,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;That’s different than calling every financial institution and telling them to debank a person. That’s different than making up dirty dossiers saying that there were golden you-know-whats happening with prostitution when it was totally fabricated and paid by the opposition.&#8221;

US-REPUBLICAN-CONVENTION-PARTIES-ELECTION-POLITICS-VOTE

Bill Maher Says Trump Has Been Treated Like Any Other President. His Daughter-In-Law Disagrees

Bill Maher Says Trump Has Been Treated 'Like Any President.' His Daughter-In-Law Disagrees

Bill Maher

Comedy

Donald Trump

Lara Trump

Lawfare

Media

Politics

State Attorney General Letitia James (D-NY) called on Monday for the mortgage fraud charges against her to be dropped, arguing in a 22-page filing that President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration had engaged in &#8220;outrageous government conduct&#8221; in bringing the case in the first place.
Attorneys representing James argued in the filing that the charges themselves were &#8220;patently unconstitutional,&#8221; according to a CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/letitia-james-mortgage-fraud-charges-dropped-outrageous-government-conduct/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&amp;linkId=879195998">report</a>. They claimed that several officials within the Trump administration had embarked upon &#8220;months of unethical behavior&#8221; culminating in the allegation that she&#8217;d bought property in the state of Virginia, calling it a &#8220;second home&#8221; to secure a lower interest rate but instead turning it out as a rental property.
&#8220;If this brazen, continuous disregard for the law and the Constitution is not outrageous government conduct, nothing is,&#8221; the attorneys claimed, naming Fair Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte, top Justice Department official Ed Martin, and interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan in the filing.
Pulte was the one who sparked the investigation into the New York Attorney General — who had herself run on a platform of &#8220;getting Trump&#8221; and then willed a case into reality in her attempt to follow through. Pulte referred James for prosecution, but her attorneys claimed that he had &#8220;transformed the little-known agency into a weapon to be brandished against President Trump&#8217;s political enemies.&#8221;
They also attacked the Justice Department&#8217;s special attorney for mortgage fraud, Ed Martin – who called for James to resign shortly after the charges were filed — arguing that he &#8220;has engaged in a well-documented series of actions that cannot be described as anything but outrageous.&#8221;
&#8220;The letter was not an attempt to investigate the facts, nor did it hide his plain intention to pressure the sitting Attorney General of New York to resign from office or face criminal prosecution,&#8221; the lawyers said, also asserting that it represented a violation of &#8220;various codes of professional responsibility and ethics,&#8221; among other things.
They were equally displeased with Halligan, and claimed that the case against James amounted to &#8220;vindictive prosecution.&#8221;
The attorneys concluded by claiming that the Trump administration was out to &#8220;punish AG James for daring to take a stand against the President—both in this Court and by making the investigation of her so public and intrusive that the pre-trial process itself serves as punishment.&#8221;

New York State Attorney General Letitia James makes an

Letitia James Wants Her Fraud Case Tossed Because Of ‘Outrageous Government Conduct’

Letitia James Wants Her Fraud Case Tossed Because Of 'Outrageous Government Conduct'

Fraud

Letitia James

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attempted to run defense for embattled late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel, but newly vindicated meme-maker Douglass Mackey got the last laugh.
Clinton took to X to voice her opinion, claiming that she would never attempt to silence a comedian who said something she didn’t like or found to be “offensive.” She also linked to a longer conversation she’d had on the topic with Columbia University Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo for The New Yorker.
“Jimmy Kimmel and other late-night comedians have certainly said things about me that I found offensive, even outrageous,” Clinton said. “It never crossed my mind to call up the networks and say, ‘Hey, get rid of this guy.’ Because that’s not how America works.”
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Jimmy Kimmel and other late-night comedians have certainly said things about me that I found offensive, even outrageous.
It never crossed my mind to call up the networks and say, &#8220;Hey, get rid of this guy.&#8221; Because that&#8217;s not how America works.
More in my conversation…
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) <a href="https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1969790254115922137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
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But Mackey, who ultimately served time in prison for a 2016 meme — encouraging people to “Avoid the Line. Vote from Home,” and “Text ‘Hillary’ to 59925” — pushed back on the twice-failed presidential candidate.
“Madame Secretary: It crossed your mind to call up Sen. Klobuchar, the FBI and the DOJ and have me arrested for a humorous meme about your campaign,” Mackey posted in response to Clinton. “You then celebrated my unlawful and wrongful conviction, which was later overturned by a federal appeals court. Sit down.”
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Madame Secretary:
It crossed your mind to call up Sen. Klobuchar, the FBI and the DOJ and have me arrested for a humorous meme about your campaign.
You then celebrated my unlawful and wrongful conviction, which was later overturned by a federal appeals court.
Sit down. <a href="https://t.co/KtVM7Dp2hV">https://t.co/KtVM7Dp2hV</a>
— Douglass Mackey (@DougMackeyCase) <a href="https://twitter.com/DougMackeyCase/status/1969882718369694183?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Mackey was not the only one to push back on Clinton’s claim, though. When one person asked @Grok to weigh in on whether or not Clinton had ever attempted to “get rid of” certain types of speech, even the X AI bot had something to say.
“Yes, Hillary Clinton has called for US government action on misinformation. For instance, in 2024 she suggested civil or criminal charges for Americans spreading propaganda (MSNBC interview). In 2021, she urged governments to ‘rein in’ social media disinformation (Chatham House talk). In 2016, she said fake news must be addressed quickly by leaders (Capitol Hill speech). Sources: Yahoo, Newsweek, NPR,” the response read.
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Yes, Hillary Clinton has called for US government action on misinformation. For instance, in 2024 she suggested civil or criminal charges for Americans spreading propaganda (MSNBC interview). In 2021, she urged governments to &#8220;rein in&#8221; social media disinformation (Chatham House…
— Grok (@grok) <a href="https://twitter.com/grok/status/1970195858525425857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
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A number of others also pointed out that Clinton, despite her declared interest in free speech, had turned off the replies to her post.

Former Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton’s Portrait Unveiled At The State Department

Conservative Influencer Targeted By Biden Admin Blasts Hillary Clinton After She Defends Kimmel

General

Hillary Clinton

Jimmy Kimmel

Memes

Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) called out judicial activists during a Monday Fox News appearance, arguing that the district court judges attempting to rein in President Donald Trump were stepping outside their prescribed authority and &#8220;taking it upon themselves to usurp really important power.&#8221;
Schmitt joined anchor Harris Faulkner on &#8220;The Faulkner Focus&#8221; to discuss the growing number of district court judges issuing nationwide injunctions against President Trump&#8217;s executive actions, and he predicted that ultimately, the Supreme Court was likely to side with the president.
Schmitt began by describing the situation as a 21st century phenomenon and noting that previous presidents really had not been faced with this particular challenge.
&#8220;In the first — less than 100 days of President Trump&#8217;s administration here, you&#8217;ve seen more injunctions than the 12 years between Obama&#8217;s two terms and Joe Biden, so these judges are more than willing to play an outsized role beyond their Article III authority.&#8221;
Schmitt noted that there was legislation in progress that would clarify beyond question that a district court judge&#8217;s power would only extend to the parties involved — and that the Trump administration was already fighting those injunctions that had already been issued.
&#8220;As these cases make their way up to the Supreme Court, President Trump is going to be successful because he&#8217;s either operating as Commander-in-Chief — or controlling the programming and personnel of the Article II branch.&#8221;
WATCH:
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Sen. <a href="https://twitter.com/Eric_Schmitt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Eric_Schmitt</a>: &quot;These judges are more than willing to play an outsized role beyond their Article III authority&#8230; As these cases make their way up to the Supreme Court, President Trump is going to be successful because he&#39;s either operating as Commander-in-Chief &#8212; or… <a href="https://t.co/J5FE4xxOeK">pic.twitter.com/J5FE4xxOeK</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1909267090432733335?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Schmitt went on to accuse the judges of effectively usurping the president&#8217;s legitimate authority when they used blanket injunctions to try to stop him from deporting criminal illegal aliens.
&#8220;I think a lot of these judges are taking it upon themselves to usurp really important power,&#8221; he said. &#8220;For example, when President Trump declared a predatory incursion of these criminal violent gangs, he&#8217;s well within his Article II executive power to deport them. He can do that. The judge, by stepping in there — Judge Boasberg, by stepping in the case that we&#8217;re talking about &#8230; that is like that judge dictating missile strikes or deciding troop movements. Those are national security issues.&#8221;
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Senator <a href="https://twitter.com/Eric_Schmitt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Eric_Schmitt</a>: &quot;I think a lot of these judges are taking it upon themselves to usurp really important power&#8230; when <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> declared a predatory incursion of these criminal violent gangs, he&#39;s well within his Article II executive power to deport them.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/Nb3UlEkeYf">pic.twitter.com/Nb3UlEkeYf</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1909267307680915663?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Schmitt concluded with the assessment that Trump was on &#8220;firm ground&#8221; when it came to those cases reaching the Supreme Court, but he said that it was also important to continue to address the judicial overreach legislatively.

The 2024 Republican National Convention

Missouri Sen. Torches Activist Judges For Overreach: They ‘Usurp Really Important Power’

Eric Schmitt

Executive

Judges

President Donald Trump and his team unveiled a new piece of artwork that now hangs just outside the Oval Office in the White House — his now iconic mugshot, taken in Georgia in 2023.
”New office art just dropped,” the Rapid Response team posted, sharing a photo.
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New office art just dropped <a href="https://t.co/XNVfdmEHEG">pic.twitter.com/XNVfdmEHEG</a>
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1890385341481152734?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Dan Scavino shared a still photo and a brief video showing where the photo was hanging, just outside the Oval Office door.
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<a href="https://t.co/CU3bQX2S4J">https://t.co/CU3bQX2S4J</a> <a href="https://t.co/QhUnRDCcUN">pic.twitter.com/QhUnRDCcUN</a>
&mdash; Dan Scavino (@Scavino47) <a href="https://twitter.com/Scavino47/status/1890521827627200563?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The New York Post noted that the framed piece was not just the mugshot itself, but the Post’s front page on the day that the mugshot went public.
“Post’s front page of Trump mug shot adorns wall outside Oval Office,” the outlet noted.
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Post’s front page of Trump mug shot adorns wall outside Oval Office <a href="https://t.co/ZbdmotG6r5">https://t.co/ZbdmotG6r5</a> <a href="https://t.co/vXQ1kUx3B3">pic.twitter.com/vXQ1kUx3B3</a>
&mdash; New York Post (@nypost) <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1890455241276919969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The consensus on X was that Trump had succeeded yet again in trolling the very people who had used politically-motivated prosecutions to attempt to sideline him ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“They framed Donald Trump’s mug shot and put it on the White House wall. This is so bad a** that it’s surreal,” one posted.
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They framed Donald Trump’s mug shot and put it on the White House wall.
This is so bad ass that it’s surreal.<a href="https://t.co/Zm3GUl97J4">pic.twitter.com/Zm3GUl97J4</a>
&mdash; Philip Anderson (@VoteHarrisOut) <a href="https://twitter.com/VoteHarrisOut/status/1890459351334195677?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Clay Travis added, “Democrats really thought the Trump arrest and mugshot would end him politically. Instead he now has the mugshot picture hung just outside the Oval Office.”
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Democrats really thought the Trump arrest and mugshot would end him politically. Instead he now has the mugshot picture hung just outside the Oval Office. <a href="https://t.co/3w8lLfDKQe">pic.twitter.com/3w8lLfDKQe</a>
&mdash; Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1890467839884103951?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“Everyone who walks into the Oval office has to see Trump’s epic mugshot,” Libs of TikTok posted. “It’s a reminder of what they did to him and why he won.”
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Everyone who walks into the Oval office has to see Trump’s epic mugshot.
It’s a reminder of what they did to him and why he won. <a href="https://t.co/22qJKDSgqC">pic.twitter.com/22qJKDSgqC</a>
&mdash; Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1890461193980031157?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“Trump’s Mugshot now Hangs Outside the Oval Office. A symbol of defiance and resilience greets all who enter,” Rep. Wesley Hunt added.
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Trump’s Mugshot now Hangs Outside the Oval Office.
A symbol of defiance and resilience greets all who enter. 🦅 
 <a href="https://t.co/qB6KNHDTkX">pic.twitter.com/qB6KNHDTkX</a>
&mdash; Wesley Hunt (@WesleyHuntTX) <a href="https://twitter.com/WesleyHuntTX/status/1890466993729409027?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“Legendary! President Trump hangs his mugshot in the White House. Can’t wait for the leftist media meltdown,” the Media Research Center posted.
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Legendary! President Trump hangs his mugshot in the White House.
Can’t wait for the leftist media meltdown.<a href="https://t.co/JdQrfSOHkC">pic.twitter.com/JdQrfSOHkC</a>
&mdash; Media Research Center (@theMRC) <a href="https://twitter.com/theMRC/status/1890517044036010195?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The Washington Examiner’s White House correspondent Christian Datoc observed, “West Wing mugshot is peak Trump.”
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West Wing mugshot is peak Trump <a href="https://t.co/I0rlWsQ4rk">https://t.co/I0rlWsQ4rk</a> <a href="https://t.co/q6o7W5dcKV">pic.twitter.com/q6o7W5dcKV</a>
&mdash; Christian Datoc (@TocRadio) <a href="https://twitter.com/TocRadio/status/1890412351230181727?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

President Trump Signs Executive Orders At The White House

Trump Hangs Mugshot Outside Oval Office: ‘So Bad-A** That It’s Surreal’

2024 Election

Mugshot

Radio host <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/charlamagne-tha-god-questions-whether-dems-lied-about-trump-threat">Charlamagne tha God</a> said New York officials should just throw out their case against President-elect Donald Trump because he won the election.
During his radio show “<a href="https://dailycaller.com/2024/11/20/who-are-we-fooling-charlamagne-urges-new-york-to-throw-trumps-whole-case-away/">The Breakfast Club</a>” on Tuesday, the host talked about <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-sentencing-in-hush-money-case-indefinitely-adjourned">New York Justice Juan Merchan&#8217;s</a> upcoming decision on the Trump hush money case, and said the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should just end the case against the president-elect, after Bragg asked Merchan to postpone it until 2029.
“New York City, just throw the whole thing away, alright? Cut it out. Who are we fooling?” the radio host said. “Who are we fooling?”
“Nothing’s going to happen to Trump, and nobody wants that retribution that he may deliver hanging over their head,” he added. “Just — he won the election. It is what it is. Cut ties, sever your losses, throw the whole case away. Come on. Who are we fooling, y’all? Who are you fooling, like seriously?”
“And if you push it back for four years, that might give him more reason to stay, okay?” the host continued, while laughing.
Trump’s legal team has also argued that the case against the president-elect should be dismissed. Bragg’s team of prosecutors has said that some action should be taken after Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in May, as previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-sentencing-in-hush-money-case-indefinitely-adjourned">reported</a>.
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Charlamagne on Alvin Bragg pushing to suspend Trump&#8217;s case until 2029: &#8220;New York City, just throw the whole thing away, alright? Cut it out. Who are we fooling? &#8230; Nothing&#8217;s going to happen to Trump, and nobody wants that retribution that he may deliver hanging over their head… <a href="https://t.co/bnu3n2EHjf">pic.twitter.com/bnu3n2EHjf</a>
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonJournoDC/status/1859239793361666340?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2024</a></blockquote>
Following the election, the radio host made headlines when he questioned whether Vice President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kamala-harris">Kamala Harris</a> and other Democrats lied about the threat <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump">Trump</a> was to so-called “democracy.”
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a>
“I will say this: I’m glad everybody’s having a sense of optimism because the reality is we have no choice, because we’re here now,” Charlamagne said. “Donald J. Trump is going to be the 47th president of the United States of America, like it or not, and we all hope for the best for this country. That’s all we can do.”
“But don’t y’all find it strange that now that he’s won, they’re not calling him a threat to democracy?” he added. “They’re not calling him a fascist. I mean, damn, on Monday, they was just calling him that.”
“I would think that, you know, if you really believe that, then somebody’s speech would be about how America effed up and how things are about to be really bad,” the host continued. “It just makes you wonder how much of it did they really believe, or how much of it was just politics. That’s all.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/charlamagne-tha-god-questions-whether-dems-lied-about-trump-threat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Charlamagne Tha God Questions Whether Dems Lied About Trump Threat</a>

Charlamagne tha God

Charlamagne Tha God Says New York Should Throw Out Trump Case: ‘He Won The Election’

Charlamagne Tha God Says New York Should Throw Out Trump Case: 'He Won The Election'

Celebrities

Charlamagne Tha God

Kamala Harris

New York

U.S.

Regular CNN legal analyst Elie Honig took Special Prosecutor Jack Smith apart over the unprecedented manner in which he used his position to get his findings on former President Donald Trump before the general public prior to the presidential election on November 5.
In a Thursday op-ed for New York Magazine titled &#8220;<a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/jack-smith-october-surprise-donald-trump.html?utm_campaign=nym&amp;utm_source=tw&amp;utm_medium=s1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jack Smith&#8217;s October Cheap Shot</a>,&#8221; Honig conceded that there was some new information in the lengthy brief Smith filed — which Judge Tonya Chutkan then made public — but that the value of that information was compromised by the fact that there was &#8220;no defending&#8221; the route Smith had been willing to take to ensure Trump was tried by the court of public opinion prior to Election Day.
Smith had initially wanted to try Trump before the election, Honig noted, but when that failed, he pulled out all the stops — and &#8220;bent ordinary procedure to get in one last shot, just weeks before voters go to the polls.&#8221;
After a brief paragraph explaining that the filing did, in fact, give some new insights into what then-President Trump was doing and who he was talking to during the riot on January 6, 2021, Honig pivoted to Smith&#8217;s legal tactics and alleged that Smith&#8217;s intent was all but certainly designed to impact the 2024 election.
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&#8220;The larger, if less obvious, headline is that Smith has essentially abandoned any pretense; he’ll bend any rule, switch up on any practice — so long as he gets to chip away at Trump’s electoral prospects,&#8221; Honig declared. &#8220;At this point, there’s simply no defending Smith’s conduct on any sort of principled or institutional basis.&#8221;
&#8220;&#8216;But we need to know this stuff before we vote!&#8217; is a nice bumper sticker, but it’s neither a response to nor an excuse for Smith’s unprincipled, norm-breaking practice,&#8221; Honig continued, adding that if the DOJ had moved more quickly at the outset, they might have been able to get through the trial before the election.
In addition to violating several procedural norms, Honig concluded by arguing that Smith had also violated a major DOJ policy – namely, he was not ever supposed to &#8220;select the timing of any action &#8230; for the purpose of affecting any election.&#8221;
&#8220;Smith’s conduct here violates core DOJ principle and policy. The Justice Manual — DOJ’s internal bible, essentially — contains a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/jm/jm-9-85000-protection-government-integrity#9-85.500">section</a> titled &#8216;Actions That May Have an Impact on the Election,'&#8221; Honig explained. &#8220;Now: Does Smith’s filing qualify? May it have an impact on the election? Of course. So what does the rule tell us? &#8216;Federal prosecutors … may never select the timing of any action, including investigative steps, criminal charges, or statements, for the purpose of affecting any election.'&#8221;

Former President Donald Trump Indicted In January 6 Investigation

‘October Cheap Shot’: Elie Honig Takes Jack Smith Apart Over 11th Hour Trump Brief

'October Cheap Shot': Elie Honig Takes Jack Smith Apart Over 11th Hour Trump Brief

Jack Smith

A recent Columbia Law School graduate whom the school praised for exemplifying its “spirit” attempted to bully The Daily Wire into censoring an article on the school&#8217;s partisan behavior with an email that seemed to threaten a reporter’s children and dog.
Luke Cronin emailed The Daily Wire earlier this month to complain about a year-old <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/columbia-law-students-call-kavanaugh-a-rapist-egged-on-by-radical-academic-department" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article from this reporter</a> on campus extremism. Cronin, a former editor of the Columbia Law Review and recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, advised The Daily Wire to “take down Mr. Rosniak’s [sic] writing.” He did not claim that the article was inaccurate, instead saying it referenced remarks he made on social media that have since been hidden from the public.
Cronin, writing from his Columbia email address, concluded his missive with an ominous postscript containing specific details about this reporter&#8217;s place of residence, family members, and pet, expressing his wish that they have &#8220;gotten what they deserve.&#8221;
In March 2023, The Daily Wire reported that Columbia&#8217;s law school had a collective meltdown because its official Instagram page posted a picture of some students meeting with Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Virtually all of the law school&#8217;s race-based student clubs, such as the Black Law Students Association, said they would no longer help Columbia recruit minorities in retaliation for the photo op.
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The Daily Wire noted that students who objected to the meeting accused Kavanaugh of raping Christine Blasey Ford, even though such accusations against the justice have never been proven. Cronin, then a &#8220;Leadership Fellow&#8221; at Columbia, was one of the students who made a baseless accusation against Kavanaugh.
&#8220;Kavanaugh sexually violated Dr. Ford,&#8221; he wrote on the school&#8217;s Instagram post.
This summer, Cronin graduated and entered the job market. Shortly thereafter, he petitioned The Daily Wire to scrub his comments from its factually-accurate article. The timing suggests Cronin may have been looking to shield his partisan comments from potential future employers as he pursues a career in big law.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-787051" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/columbia-cronin.jpg" alt="Columbia University - Luke Cronin" width="1610" height="750" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/columbia-cronin.jpg 1610w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/columbia-cronin-300x140.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/columbia-cronin-1024x477.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/columbia-cronin-768x358.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/08/columbia-cronin-1536x716.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1610px) 100vw, 1610px" /></div>
Cronin spent last summer as a summer associate at <a href="https://www.quinnemanuel.com/the-firm/news-events/quinn-emanuel-successfully-represents-a-cat-owner-after-a-harrowing-near-fatal-accident/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Quinn Emanuel</a>,  where he worked on the case of a homeless person whose cat plummeted out a window. Summer associates at big law firms like Quinn Emanuel virtually always receive permanent job offers after passing the bar exam. But a spokesman for the firm told The Daily Wire Cronin “does not have an offer to return to the firm.”
Thirteen judges have said they <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/13-federal-judges-we-wont-hire-columbia-u-students-unless-serious-consequences-for-protesters-significant-changes-in-faculty" target="_blank" rel="noopener">will not hire</a> Columbia law grads as law clerks due to an “explosion of student disruptions, anti-Semitism, and hatred for diverse viewpoints&#8221; at the school, saying it has become an &#8220;incubator of bigotry.&#8221;
At the time he commented on the Kavanaugh photo, Cronin was a Davis Polk Leadership Fellow. The fellowship page said he &#8220;hopes to use the Davis Polk Leadership Fellowship to build an outreach organization which directly serves unhoused folks in Morningside Heights and in Harlem&#8221; and &#8220;connect unhoused individuals with legal issues to legal service providers.
“As someone who has experienced housing insecurity, Luke hopes to build a bridges [sic] between his peers at Columbia and with <a href="https://leadership-initiative.law.columbia.edu/content/2022-2023-fellows" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unhoused folks</a>,&#8221; a university website reads.
In April 2024, Columbia gave Cronin its &#8220;Campbell Award, which is presented to a graduating student at each School who shows exceptional leadership and <a href="https://archive.is/grKNl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Columbia spirit</a>.&#8221;
The award said Cronin uses &#8220;he/him/his&#8221; pronouns and &#8220;helped represent asylum-seeking clients.&#8221; It said he &#8220;was selected to join the Clerkship Diversity Initiative, the Academic Scholars program, as well as the Tony Patiño Fellow-elect.&#8221; The Academic Scholars program is a scholarship that pays half of tuition for students who Columbia faculty believe would make good law professors. The Tony Patiño Fellowship pays an additional $17,500 a year for students who Columbia faculty believe show &#8220;good citizenship.&#8221;
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Columbia University president Minouche Shafik <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/columbia-university-president-minouche-shafik-resigns-after-far-left-pro-hamas-protests" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resigned</a> earlier this month amid criticism of how the school has handled anti-Semitic protests since Hamas&#8217;s Oct. 7 invasion of Israel, including the student takeover of an academic building. The school has adopted a color-coded security system in light of the frequent disruptions on its campus. Columbia is currently at an &#8220;Orange Level,&#8221; meaning people seeking to enter campus must go through a checkpoint and show ID.
Columbia University did not return a request for comment.
Cronin&#8217;s response to the Kavanaugh photo and The Daily Wire&#8217;s story was not out of place on campus. The Center for Engaged Pedagogy at Columbia University&#8217;s sister school, Barnard College, used its official Instagram account to comment &#8220;WTF is wrong with you&#8221; on the Kavanaugh photo.
When The Daily Wire asked the Center’s director, Melissa Wright, for comment last year, the comment request — which included the reporter’s phone number and email — was used to doxx the reporter. In a juvenile prank, his contact information was entered into dozens of spam websites, cult and far-left mailing lists, and dating sites. Wright has since been promoted from interim director to executive director.
Related:<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/law-school-pays-for-gay-dance-party-to-quell-uproar-following-diversity-offices-promotion-of-civility"> Northwestern Law School Pays For ‘Gay Dance Party’ To Quell Uproar Following Diversity Office’s Promotion Of ‘Civility’</a>

Columbia University New York # 1

Columbia Law School Grad Threatens Daily Wire Reporter’s Family, Dog

Anti-Racism

Brett Kavanaugh

College

Columbia University

The following is an edited transcript of an interview between Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley and founder of the Dhillon Law Group, Harmeet Dhillon on a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/weaponized-lawfare-against-trump-conservatives-sunday-extra" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sunday Extra Edition of Morning Wire</a>.
Republicans have increasingly sounded the alarm over the use of the justice system against not just President Trump, but his associates, his legal counsel, and even his supporters. From the handling of the January 6 cases to federal and state-level lawsuits against Trump and his allies, conservatives say the era of politically-driven “lawfare” is upending American principles and having a widespread chilling effect on free speech and freedom of association. 
JOHN: Joining us now to discuss the “lawfare” trend is Republican Party official and Dhillon Law Group founder, Harmeet Dhillon. Thank you for coming on. First, let&#8217;s start at the top, with Donald Trump. We&#8217;ve seen an unprecedented series of cases brought against a former president and the leading presidential candidate. Are the “conspiracy theorists” correct? Is this a concerted effort to take down a presidential candidate coordinated at the highest levels of his rival political party? 
HARMEET: You start with the January 6 committee investigation. That was used as, first of all, an extended commercial for Democrats producing primetime theater out of hauling citizens, including prominent advisors and supporters of President Trump in front of Congress to answer staged questions as if it&#8217;s a TV show. It was produced like that. In fact, some of the production included Nancy Pelosi&#8217;s daughter being there and at the January 6 proceedings somehow coincidentally filming a documentary.So you start with that and then the evidence that was gathered in that whole process was ultimately used and parceled out to other prosecutors. So first of all, it was all handed off to the special counsel appointed through Merrick Garland, who is, of course, answerable to the president. And he&#8217;s gone on to do two different prosecutions in two different courts.Of course that&#8217;s also purposeful to give the maximum amount of effort to have multiple proceedings happening at the same time — tying up the president, his team, his supporters with lawfare in that regard. And then you have the two state criminal prosecutions and one civil prosecution in New York, both of which are on the criminal side, incredibly flimsy. In one case, the Georgia prosecutor and her team are shown in logbooks as having made multiple visits to the White House. And in the Alvin Bragg prosecution in New York that just concluded, you have a very senior United States Department of Justice —a number three official — Michael Colangelo, sort of lent out, second to the DA&#8217;s office in New York to help them. And so all of this points to DC, points to coordination at the highest levels of the Democratic Party and points to using the events of (now almost four years ago) January 6, as a way to block Republicans from getting elected and specifically to convict President Donald Trump. And timing it all to have a crescendo during an election year.
JOHN: From what you&#8217;ve seen in terms of reception from the public of these lawsuits, the conviction in New York, the ongoing lawsuits, including a lot of the setbacks for the prosecution, with appeals and delays on these lawsuits, including in Georgia, is this tactic working against Trump?
HARMEET: Well, it&#8217;s working in one sense, which is it&#8217;s given Democrats a talking point and the hope is to persuade non-committed voters, and certainly Democrats and Independents, to stay away from him. And that&#8217;s a talking point that is resonating with some people, I&#8217;m sure. At the same time, I think the overreaching aspect of it and the coordinated aspect of it and the multiple attempts to use extremely flimsy efforts to “get Trump” has created a sympathy backlash, certainly amongst wavering Republicans. And I would say from what we&#8217;ve seen, he has increased support in certain minority communities that he hasn&#8217;t had before. I think people are viewing president Trump as being the unfair victim of persecution here. 
JOHN: Now it&#8217;s not just Trump who&#8217;s faced what many say is legal persecution. A lot of people associated with him, including former attorneys have been indicted. Can you speak to that? What have we seen in terms of lawyers targeted for what appears to be political or ideological reasons?
HARMEET: Well, this is unprecedented in the United States. What we have seen is multiple attorneys being prosecuted. First of all, indicted in some of these criminal cases involving the alternate electors. And you&#8217;ve seen that in Wisconsin, you&#8217;ve seen it in Arizona with multiple electors and you&#8217;ve seen it in Georgia. In some cases you have the same person getting indicted multiple times, including after they plead guilty. This has happened to Jenna Ellis, for example, and Kenneth Chesebro as well. They&#8217;ve still, after pleading guilty in Georgia, been indicted in other courts. That&#8217;s unprecedented. You&#8217;ve seen Bar investigations being brought against lawyers for President Trump.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/weaponized-lawfare-against-trump-conservatives-sunday-extra" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LISTEN: Hear the full interview with Harmeet Dhillon on a Sunday Extra Edition of Morning Wire.</a>
JOHN: Right.
HARMEET: Again, we have not seen that in the past. In California, John Eastman has lost his Bar license in the trial here, and in addition to being indicted in other courts. Sidney Powell has also been dragged into Bar court, although she just survived a challenge in Texas. Doesn&#8217;t mean she&#8217;ll survive it in other jurisdictions. So the purpose here is, first of all, yes, they painted with a broad brush and indicting people, but I think the intention of that effort is to scare lawyers away from representing President Trump. And every lawyer in the litigation world pretty much has partners and employees, and pressure is brought to bear on these lawyers who want to support President Trump as a lawyer by saying, you know, you might get indicted, you might lose your license, you might lose your livelihood if you do this. and so the easiest thing for a lawyer to do in that circumstance is to decline the representations.It&#8217;s not worth it for most people. That is not something we&#8217;ve seen in prior years. We&#8217;ve had some very shady behavior by leading Democrats, and no one went after the Bar licenses of the lawyers who did their faithful duty under our legal system to represent them. So, that is extraordinary demagoguery from the top in the Democratic Party.
JOHN: Could this have a broader chilling effect on attorneys representing conservative clients — high-profile conservative clients writ large?
HARMEET: Oh, I think it has had that effect. 100%. From a risk management perspective, a lot of the law firms you saw step up to represent President Trump, in 2016 for example, won&#8217;t have anything to do with him today. And it&#8217;s become controversial amongst lawyers. I&#8217;m one of President Trump&#8217;s lawyers, I&#8217;ve been representing him for several years now, and so are many, many lawyers at my law firm. There are very good lawyers representing him who&#8217;ve come together to do that, but the pool is definitely narrower than it used to be. And so, that&#8217;s the goal. And when you see the lawyers who were indicted and the electors who were indicted in these multiple jurisdictions — Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, and Georgia — some of them have had a hard time finding counsel. Nowhere has this been more acute than in D. C., where the folks who were indicted for participation in January 6 have had a very difficult time finding lawyers in D.C. who can represent them. I probably get requests on a rolling basis every month from people, and there&#8217;s just a very small handful of lawyers to choose from. It&#8217;s deliberately done in such a way that people are not getting fair trials.
JOHN: You mention the J6 cases. Broadening this out, we have seen the prosecution of people who are average citizens and we&#8217;ve also seen some whistleblowers on the Right. For example, Dr. Eithan Haim from Texas, who blew the whistle on trans procedures being conducted at a hospital there. We&#8217;ve also seen some journalists that lean Right who the DOJ and other major entities have gone after. Is this truly a broader trend in terms of prosecution of conservative citizens? 
HARMEET: Yes, it&#8217;s extraordinary. And you can contrast what&#8217;s happened starting with January 6. We protect peaceful protest in our country and if it gets out of hand, yes, as a protester, you may be prosecuted, arrested, certainly. usually ticketed. You might have to answer for minor misdemeanor offenses. Or not. If you were a BLM protester in the summer of 2020, for example, where there was significant property damage, rioting in multiple American cities, nothing really happened to you. There was no accountability. That includes protests in D.C., where protesters even created disturbances in the Capitol. But the way the January 6 protesters were treated, including folks who simply just walked through open doors with no evidence of having pushed a cop, broken a window, or done anything even remotely violent. Some people I know have been indicted and prosecuted and convicted of oral conduct, just saying words on the steps of the Capitol. That&#8217;s unprecedented. And that has definitely been used on a rolling basis to really terrorize supporters of the Right. That&#8217;s just one example. I mean, you&#8217;re seeing journalists get prosecuted. You&#8217;re seeing this physician, Dr. Eithan Haim — in Texas of all places — be prosecuted for an alleged HIPAA violation. Who knew that one could be prosecuted for that? In fact, one can only be prosecuted for it if the whistleblowing happens to target a sacred cow of the Left, which is the lie that you can change your sex through surgery and that children are appropriate vehicles for that experimental procedure. So, today, anybody who seeks to challenge liberal orthodoxy barriers — and is smart, and is reading the media — is pausing and thinking twice because we have crossed so many different barriers in our civil and criminal conduct today that never were crossed before. Prosecuting lawyers, prosecuting whistleblower physicians, prosecuting journalists. We&#8217;re becoming desensitized in a way to the shocking excesses of the Biden administration and its supporters. 
JOHN: In your view, what can be done to reverse this trend?
HARMEET: Well, some conservatives would like to turn it back by threatening similar retribution when we have power In my view, two wrongs don&#8217;t make a right. There may be some need to prosecute officials who exceeded their constitutional bounds – I think that&#8217;s fair – who conspired to deny Americans of their right to free speech. That&#8217;s appropriate. We have conspiracy law in this country. But overall, I think the way we win this is to stand up to it. Make ourselves too numerous. We have to win elections. And then we have to govern fairly and appropriately. That may seem Pollyanna-ish, but I am a profound believer in our United States Constitution and in freedom of speech, including the freedom of speech of people who disagree with me. So I would not recommend that a Republican administration ignore the Constitution. But I do think the officials who conspire to suppress truthful speech about vaccines, about the pandemic, about the 2020 election, about BLM rioting and violence — I think that&#8217;s illegal. We should stop it, we should punish it, and we should make sure it doesn&#8217;t happen again in our country. And we should not be afraid to get to the bottom of it. I think our Republican leaders in Congress have been too shy to really do hard hitting probes and demand accountability. For example, people are being prosecuted in our country, advisors to President — Trump, Peter Navarro, Steve Bannon — are being prosecuted for the identical conduct as the current Attorney General himself, refusing to respond to a subpoena from Congress. The Biden Attorney General did the same thing, just simply ignored subpoenas. Well, the guys and gals in Congress have inherent criminal contempt authority. I understand that Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has introduced a measure that says if the current Attorney General doesn&#8217;t respond by next week, then they can go after him and arrest him through the Sergeant at Arms. I&#8217;d love to see that, because fair is fair. I don&#8217;t think anyone should have been prosecuted, certainly either of the two presidential advisors. They had immunity, and they were prosecuted and convicted in, I think, rigged proceedings nonetheless, and we really can&#8217;t have that. So hopefully at least that particular wrong is righted. That&#8217;s what I think we need – we need to really get smart on the Right and be prepared for these tactics and understand the rules of engagement have changed and meet those changes.
JOHN: Well said. In the end, I think a lot of Americans are shocked and very troubled by what has taken place over the last few years. And it really shaken the confidence in the justice system, the courts. And it&#8217;s sad to watch. Thank you so much for coming on.
HARMEET: Thank you. All right, take care.
* * *
Catch the full interview with Harmeet Dhillon on the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/weaponized-lawfare-against-trump-conservatives-sunday-extra" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sunday Edition of Morning Wire</a>.

Attorney Harmeet Dhillon California’s national committeewoman for the Republican National Committee poses for a photograph at her office in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

‘Unprecedented’: Harmeet Dhillon On Weaponized Lawfare Against Trump & Conservatives

'Unprecedented': Harmeet Dhillon On Weaponized Lawfare Against Trump & Conservatives

Courts

Democrats

January 6

Joe Biden

Leftists

Morning Wire

Readers Pass

Film director Oliver Stone defended former President Donald Trump in an interview that was published over the weekend against the criminal trials that he faces.
Speaking with Variety, Stone, who is a staunch opponent of the former president, <a href="https://variety.com/2024/film/news/oliver-stone-cannes-documentary-lula-donald-trump-trials-hugo-chavez-1236008565/">compared</a> the trials that Trump faces with the trials that other world leaders face.
&#8220;The charges on both sides of the Trump-Biden election are pretty wild,&#8221; Stone said. &#8220;It’s a new form of warfare. It’s called lawfare. And that’s what they’re using against Trump. And I think there’s interesting parallels here in America, as well as all over the world, you’re seeing this kind of behavior. [Trump’s] got four trials and some of these charges, whether you’re for him or against him, they are minor.&#8221;
The interviewer said that when Stone started talking about Trump, a publicist for Stone&#8217;s new documentary, &#8220;Lula,&#8221; which is about Brazil&#8217;s far-left president, tried to get Stone to talk about something else, but Stone waved him off.
He later suggested that the U.S. needs to reform its election systems and political systems to be more like Europe so that there are more parties to choose from instead of it always being just two political parties clashing.
“If you’re a poor man or a middle-class man it’s very hard to run for office in the United States, unless you have money and corporate sponsors,&#8221; he later added. &#8220;Money controls politics in the United States. If you go to European countries, you’ll find that their elections are very mandated. The British elections are very low cost, or they used to be until recently. In France, they have election rules. And we need that in the United States. Let’s get the money out of the politics.”
&#8220;Look at the [two] parties,&#8221; he later added. &#8220;We should be multi-party and we should have public money in politics like they do in Poland. Or look at the English and the French models.”

“Lula” Photocall – The 77th Annual Cannes Film Festival

Film Director Oliver Stone Defends Trump Amid Criminal Trials: ‘It’s Called Lawfare’

Film

Hollywood

Oliver Stone

Special counsel Jack Smith&#8217;s January 6 case against former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> fails to pass the &#8220;banana republic test,&#8221; according to Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/alan-dershowitz">Alan Dershowitz</a>.
During a discussion with Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck, Dershowitz argued that prosecutors will not be able to prove Trump acted with a &#8220;corrupt motive&#8221; as he allegedly sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election over claims that it was stolen.
Still, the inquiry is escalating as Trump is campaigning as the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/in-first-rally-since-being-hit-with-expanded-charges-trump-calls-on-gop-challengers-to-drop-out">GOP frontrunner in the 2024 race</a> for the White House, setting up a possible general election rematch with President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>, Dershowitz noted.
&#8220;This just doesn&#8217;t satisfy the banana republic test. In banana republics, presidents prosecute their political opponents and the stronger their political opponents are in the polls, the more likely they are to be prosecuted,&#8221; Dershowitz said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Alan Dershowitz tells <a href="https://twitter.com/glennbeck?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@glennbeck</a>: &quot;This doesn&#39;t satisfy the Banana Republic test. In Banana Republics, presidents prosecute their political opponents and the stronger their political opponents are in the polls, the more likely they are to be prosecuted.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/uTUnom7MPG">pic.twitter.com/uTUnom7MPG</a>
&mdash; TheBlaze (@theblaze) <a href="https://twitter.com/theblaze/status/1686808031831408679?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Dershowitz pointed to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/latest-presidential-polls-trump-desantis-in-dead-heat-with-biden">polling showing</a> Trump and Biden virtually tied in a head-to-head matchup. He said any indictment against the former president &#8220;better be the strongest indictment in American history&#8221; with &#8220;smoking gun&#8221; evidence.
The four-count indictment <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-responds-to-latest-criminal-indictment-reminiscent-of-nazi-germany">brought on Tuesday</a> is &#8220;flawed&#8221; and &#8220;filled with speculation,&#8221; Dershowitz said, adding that it does not meet the &#8220;Nixon standard&#8221; established when former President Richard Nixon&#8217;s Republican allies turned against him during the Watergate scandal.
Trump has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstructing an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. He is expected to be arraigned in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
Among Smith&#8217;s defenders is former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal, who <a href="https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1686503121470500864">told MSNBC</a> that the special counsel was &#8220;picked as an independent, career prosecutor.&#8221; He said attacks on &#8220;the Biden Justice Department&#8221; for &#8220;going after&#8221; Trump are &#8220;poppycock.&#8221;
On the other side of the argument is George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, who wrote an <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2023/08/02/trump-indictment-2020-election-jan-6-not-legally-sound/70509753007/">op-ed published by USA Today</a> saying Smith aims to &#8220;criminalize false political claims&#8221; in a way that will &#8220;bulldoze through the First Amendment and a line of Supreme Court cases.&#8221;
Trump faces two other indictments in a documents-related case brought by Smith and a hush-money case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. He may also be charged in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/georgia-prosecutor-ready-to-go-with-trump-case">2020 election inquiry in Georgia</a>. Trump has broadly denied any wrongdoing and claims he is the target of a political &#8220;witch hunt.&#8221;
Dershowitz, who defended Trump in his first impeachment trial, previously claimed to Fox Business that Smith&#8217;s documents-related case against the former president <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/alan-dershowitz-trump-indictment-pass-richard-nixon-test">failed to pass the Nixon test</a> and &#8220;may be the most dangerous indictment in political history.&#8221;

Alan Dershowitz

Dershowitz Argues Trump Case ‘Doesn’t Satisfy The Banana Republic Test’

Dershowitz Argues Trump Case 'Doesn't Satisfy The Banana Republic Test'

2020 Election

The Stanford Law diversity dean who helped protesters shut down a speech by a conservative judge comes from a privileged family and is following in the footsteps of her mother &#8211;who once ran training sessions that accused Buddhists of being &#8220;too white.&#8221;
The Daily Wire reported this week that Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Tirian Steinbach spoke last year at a “grieving session” for a transgender student who committed suicide and then turned the floor over to her mother, who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-stanford-laws-diversity-dean-protesters-poached-their-trans-martyr-from-federalist-society" target="_blank" rel="noopener">compared the student favorably to 9/11 hijackers</a>, claiming that neither felt listened to.
Steinbach’s mother is Sala Steinbach, who was originally Marilyn Steinbach but took the alternate name after embracing Buddhism in the 1990s, and quickly began running radical Critical Race Theory sessions that posited that western Buddhism was too white and full of racists.
The dean’s father is Alan Steinbach, a chemistry professor who held a prestigious position at the Marine Biological Laboratory just off of Martha’s Vineyard, where a pleasure boat was registered in Sala’s name, according to public records reviewed by The Daily Wire.
He inherited that position from his father, Henry Burr Steinbach, a University of Chicago professor who led the laboratory in addition to being assistant director of the National Science Foundation, director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and president of the American Society of Zoologists and the Society for General Physiologists, according to his obituary in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/24/obituaries/henry-b-steinbach-professor-of-biology-and-director-of-lab.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Times</a>.
When she was known as Marilyn, Steinbach&#8217;s mother lived a charmed live, <a href="https://academeblog.org/2018/01/14/mlk-j-b-s-call-and-the-march-for-jobs-and-freedom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cavorting in Paris</a> as a young woman who aspired to be a dancer. In 1963, she went to a Paris cafe where she later described people “sitting around drinking café lattes and discussing the March on Washington” and decided to go back to America to listen to Martin Luther King’s speech. She went to Skidmore College and joined the radical Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). She met her husband when he placed a call from his graduate school looking for a way to transport busloads of students to a protest of the Vietnam war, Tirien wrote in 2018.
Sala’s maritime life off of Martha’s Vineyard instilled in her a love of nature, which then led her to Buddhism.
“My spiritual home is Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. It’s a place with deep dharma practice, beautiful gardens, acres of flowers and vegetables,” she <a href="https://archive.ph/d7rOw">wrote</a> in 1996.
But there was also a problem: Like her daughter, Buddhists in America were mostly white.
“As an institution, Green Gulch is passionately involved with ecology. The people there are, with some exceptions, European Americans. I want them to care for and work for the health and beauty and safety of human diversity as passionately as they do for biodiversity,” she wrote.
<div id="attachment_537361" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-537361" class="size-medium wp-image-537361" src="https://dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/alan-steinbach-300x194.png" alt="Alan Steinbach, father of Stanford Associate Dean Tirien Steinbach. Marine Biological Laboratory screenshot" width="300" height="194" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/04/alan-steinbach-300x194.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/04/alan-steinbach-891x576.png 891w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/04/alan-steinbach-768x496.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/04/alan-steinbach-1536x993.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/04/alan-steinbach-2048x1324.png 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Alan Steinbach, the father of Stanford Associate Dean Tirien Steinbach. Marine Biological Laboratory screenshot</div>
She began running hardcore Critical Race Theory exercises on San Francisco Buddhists, ordering them to stand on opposite corners of the room depending on their identity politics group, and then hurl out invectives against the others, asking questions like, “When you were a child, what were you told about the group across from you? &#8230; What are some of the names used to refer to that other group?”
She teamed up with a white Buddhist to work on an anti-racist project, before accusing that woman of being a racist. “You and I are in deep trouble… You don’t know the power of ‘Whiteness,’” Sala <a href="https://inquiringmind.com/article/1202_14_gates_alchemy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Barbara Gates, her would-be collaborator, Gates wrote. “I don’t want to be alone in these conversations in case someone—probably in all innocence—expresses unexamined racism that might be hurtful to me.”
When Dean Steinbach brought her mother to an event marking the life of a transgender student who had committed suicide, Sala drew on her Buddhist beliefs, saying a monk had told her the day after the September 11, 2001 attacks that “I don’t know what those men were thinking, but I know that no one was listening to them, or at least they felt that way,” and that the same applied to the student, according to Federalist Society chapter president Tim Rosenberg, who attended the event. The transgender student was in fact a member of the conservative group, but the dean later sided with students protesting it, purportedly for being a threat to transgender lives.
Like her mother, Dean Steinbach combined her privilege and tantial grip on an “oppressed” identity to make a career out of calling out hidden bigotry in the most unlikely of places—in her case, the elite campus of America’s top-ranked law school, in uber-liberal Palo Alto.
Despite only one of her four grandparents being fully black, the dean’s diversity job resting on a resume that included serving as vice president of the Law Students of African Descent. “In 2017, she launched the Coalition for Equity and Inclusion in Law (CCEIL), a Bay Area regional cohort of law and policy organizations dedicated to advancing greater cultural equity, inclusion, and diversity in the sector,” her Stanford <a href="https://law.stanford.edu/directory/tirien-steinbach/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">biography</a> says.
Fighting for the oppressed was lucrative work. In the year ending March 2021, she made $253,000 for working 38 hours a week as the chief program officer for the American Civil Liberties Foundation of Northern California, according to <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/940279770/202230319349301623/full" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tax filings</a>. Three months later, she took the job at Stanford, which presumably came with a pay increase.
Steinbach did not return a request for comment.
Part 1: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-stanford-laws-diversity-dean-protesters-poached-their-trans-martyr-from-federalist-society">How Stanford Law’s ‘Diversity Dean,’ Protesters Poached Their Trans Martyr From Federalist Society</a>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meet-the-seattle-schools-woke-indoctrination-czar-who-married-a-child-molester">Meet The Seattle Schools Woke Indoctrination Czar Who Married A Child Molester</a>

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Stanford Law’s ‘Diversity Dean’ Who Lectured Judge Grew Up In Wealth, Privilege

Stanford Law's 'Diversity Dean' Who Lectured Judge Grew Up In Wealth, Privilege

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Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

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