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  • Rudy Giuliani Is Not Ruling Out Running for Mayor of New York Again

    Rudy Giuliani Is Not Ruling Out Running for Mayor of New York Again

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    Need some comic relief in these stressful hours before the polls close on November 5? You’re in luck: thoroughly disgraced former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has not completely ruled out the prospect of making another bid for Gracie Mansion.

    The New York Post reports that Giuliani “is exploring running for New York City mayor next year,” according to unnamed political insiders. Reached for comment on Sunday, Giuliani told the outlet that while a campaign for office is “unlikely” and he is, as of now, “not running,” he is “not going to say never, ever, ever.” As a reminder, Giuliani was mayor of New York from 1994 to 2001, and despite the fact that it was during this period that he went on an infamous rant about ferrets, he left office largely respected, with some people regarding him as a hero who could conceivably go on to become president.

    Of course, fast forward a few years and you’d be hard pressed to find an individual who has since hit rock bottom as hard as, and as many times as, ole Rudy. A mere sampling of his downfall since leaving office has included:

    All of which would make it exceedingly difficult to actually win a mayoral race, but very, very funny nevertheless.

    Despite “not running” at the moment, Giuliani had plenty of thoughts to share with the Post concerning his would-be competition. “Everyone running for mayor looks like they’re from Red China,” he told the outlet. “They don’t look American. I’m concerned about the city becoming a Democratic dictatorship.” Then he claimed that “The only time since Fiorello LaGuardia a century ago that city government was honest was under me and Mike Bloomberg,” bolding adding: “If you don’t have a Republican or independent mayor, you will have corruption at City Hall.”

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  • Elon Musk Built a Compound for His 11 Children and Their Moms, Keeps Offering “Friends and Acquaintances” His Sperm: Report

    Elon Musk Built a Compound for His 11 Children and Their Moms, Keeps Offering “Friends and Acquaintances” His Sperm: Report

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    Elon Musk is obsessed with procreation. We know this because (1) he frequently says things like, “A collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far” and (2) he’s fathered nearly a dozen children with three separate women, and presently appears to be trying to at least double or triple those numbers, with whoever will accept his offer of DNA.

    The New York Times reports that in addition to the women he’s already had children with, Musk has “offered his own sperm to friends and acquaintances.” One of those acquaintances, according to the Times, was former independent vice presidential candidate Nicole Shanahan, whom Musk reportedly proffered his DNA to in 2022; Shanahan, who would go on to become Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, is said to have declined. Other people whom the richest man in the world similarly offered his seed to include “a married couple he had met socially only a handful of times,” according to two people who witnessed his proposal, which reportedly took place last year at a dinner party “at the home of a well-known Silicon Valley executive.” (It’s not clear how the couple responded.)

    Musk, his lawyer, and the head of his family office did not respond to requests for comment from the Times. A representative for Musk did not respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment.

    The Times story follows similar reporting from The Wall Street Journal, which ran an article in June about Musk’s “boundary-blurring relationships with women at SpaceX.” According to the outlet, a woman who directly reported to Musk “alleged that [he] had asked her on multiple occasions to have his babies, according to people familiar with the allegations.” While that woman reportedly said no, not all people who have worked for Musk have turned down his offers. In 2022, Business Insider reported that Musk had fathered twins with Shivon Zilis, a top executive at Neuralink, another company owned by the billionaire. Musk has since fathered a third child with Zilis; throw in the five kids he had with his first wife, Justine Musk, and the three with Claire Boucher, a.k.a. Grimes, and that puts his tally at at least 11. “At least” because Musk has previously tried to keep various children a secret, and with the way he goes around offering to father relative strangers’ children, there could very well be others out there. (Representatives for Boucher did not return respond to the Times’ requests for comment, nor did Zilis or Shanahan. Representatives for Shanahan and Boucher did not respond to Vanity Fair’s request for comment.)

    Not surprisingly, attempting to single-handedly boost the global birth rate is not the only creepy thing Musk has been up to. He has also, according to the Times, built a Texas compound in the hopes of housing all of his offspring and their mothers there, in some weird Big Love–style situation:

    On a quiet, leafy street of multimillion-dollar properties, one stands out: a 14,400-square-foot mansion that looks like a villa plucked from the hills of Tuscany and transplanted to Austin, Texas. This is where Elon Musk, 53, the world’s richest man and perhaps the most important campaign backer of former President Donald J. Trump, has been trying to establish the cornerstone of an unusual family compound, according to four people familiar with his plans.

    Mr. Musk has told people close to him in recent months that he envisions his children (of which there are at least 11) and two of their three mothers occupying adjoining properties. That way, his younger children could be a part of one another’s lives, and Mr. Musk could schedule time among them.

    Unfortunately for Musk, not everyone is jazzed about the idea. According to the Times, only Zilis has moved in with her kids. Boucher is currently “in a protracted legal fight with Mr. Musk and has so far steered clear.” Musk’s children with his first wife are all late teens or older, and he’s estranged from at least one of them.

    Musk is currently doing everything in his power to elect Donald Trump, a man who knows a little something about having large numbers of children with numerous woman. Meanwhile, Trump’s running mate appears to be as equally obsessed with procreating as Musk is, and believes that anyone who chooses not to become a parent is worthy of scorn.

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  • Trump’s Immigration Guy Offers Alternative to Family Separation: Deporting Entire Families

    Trump’s Immigration Guy Offers Alternative to Family Separation: Deporting Entire Families

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    One of the most horrific and inhumane policies practiced by Donald Trump’s first administration was the separation of migrant families—a sadistic program that caused irreparable harm made even worse by the Trump White House’s refusal to pay for mental health services for the people it scarred. As of January 2024, i.e. years after the policy was suspended due to deafening backlash, some children had not yet been reunited with their parents.

    Asked twice during the vice presidential debate if he and Trump would again break up families during a second term, JD Vance chose not to answer. Meanwhile, Trump has defended the practice of separating families, claiming it was an effective deterrent.

    But Tom Homan, who served as Trump’s acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement from January 2017 to June 2018—and who Trump has said would join a second administration—apparently has another idea: just deport entire families. Including, presumably, ones with citizens among them.

    Asked during an interview with 60 Minutes if there is a way to “carry out mass deportation,” which Trump has pledged to do, “without separating families,” Homan told reporter Cecilia Vega, “Of course there is. Families can be deported together.” Discussing a hypothetical wherein an undocumented grandmother is found in a home where the government is targeting someone else for removal, he said he would let a “judge decide” if that grandmother should also be deported. “If I’m in charge of this,” he added, “my priorities are public safety threats and national security threats first.”

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    Trump has vowed to “carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American History,” starting on “day one.” At a conference earlier this year, Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s family separation program, said of the plan: “You grab illegal immigrants and then you move them to the staging ground and that’s where the planes are waiting for federal law enforcement to then move those illegals home. You deputize the National Guard to carry out immigration enforcement.” (On Sunday, Miller declared, “America is for Americans and Americans only,” a line with disturbing historical parallels.)

    Homan is not the only one who’s suggested that a Trump administration might deport US citizens. Last week, the former president himself declared that prosecutor Jack Smith should be thrown out of the country, suggesting that (1) Trump believes taking legal action against him is grounds for removal and (2) that he can deport US citizens.

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  • Ron DeSantis Just Signed 4 Bills Into Law That Will Make Life Hell for Transgender People

    Ron DeSantis Just Signed 4 Bills Into Law That Will Make Life Hell for Transgender People

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    Ron DeSantis has been waging a hugely bigoted war on the LGBTQ+ community for more than a year now, and if you’re wondering what the proof for such a statement is, we’ve got three words for you: “Don’t Say Gay.” On Wednesday, that war continued, when the Florida governor signed four bills into law that will make life hell for trans people.

    One of those laws criminalizes using a bathroom that does not correspond to one’s assigned gender at birth. (The rule applies to bathrooms in adult correctional institutions, schools (including colleges), juvenile correctional facilities, jails, and “public buildings that are owned or leased by the state, a state agency, or a county, city, or special district.”) The crime in question would be trespassing, if you can believe it.

    Another law prohibits doctors from offering gender-affirming care—like puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery—to minors, even if they have their parents’ permission. It also gives Florida courts the power to interfere when minors go out of state for treatment, despite the fact that DeSantis, once upon a time, claimed to believe that “A limited government is much more likely to be a competent government.” (Last week, the governor signed legislation into law that allows health care providers and insurance companies to refuse care on “religious, moral, or ethical” grounds, a move that is expected, per Insider, “to disproportionately affect transgender people seeking care.”

    Rounding out what Equality Florida has dubbed DeSantis’s “Slate of Hate” was the signing of a bill blocking minors from watching “adult live performances” (read: drag shows), and another that says schools can’t make teachers or students to use the correct pronouns of trans people. The text also makes it easier to get books banned in school libraries, because if there’s one thing Ron DeSantis hates, it’s knowledge, about anything. “If a parent wants to engage in [discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation] with their kid…then that’s up to them, but we should not be putting that in the curriculum in school,” DeSantis said Wednesday. (For those of you keeping up at home, parents should have a right to decide what their kid learns about in school, but not if their trans child should be allowed to receive gender-affirming care. That’s for Ron to decide.)

    As he’s done in the past, DeSantis assembled a group of children to surround him as he signed the bills, because while he believes children are too young to hear the word “gay,” they are apparently not too young to be used as political pawns.

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    Representative Lauren Boebert does not take her own advice re: marriage/Jesus

    Somehow we do not expect her to stop giving it out to other women, though. Per Insider:

    On Tuesday, Boebert announced that she filed for divorce from her husband, Jayson Boebert, citing irreconcilable differences.… News of Boebert’s impending divorce comes after years of advocating for the traditional American marriage and family unit—the “union of one man and one woman.” Boebert’s website still says that she believes “strong families are the foundation of American society.” On the same page, she rages about “anti-family leftists” and touts her efforts to protect “family values.”

    Boebert has previously brought up her Christian faith while advocating for women to stay in rocky marriages. “Are you struggling in your marriage? Begin to speak life into your marriage. Ladies, you were called to something great in your marriage. The power that you have in Christ, for your marriage, is unmatched,” Boebert told an audience at the Cornerstone Christian Center during an event in June. “And if you start chasing Jesus, with everything that you have, I promise you that your husband will chase you, chasing Jesus,” Boebert added. 

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  • Donald Trump Hath Provoked the Ire of the Village People

    Donald Trump Hath Provoked the Ire of the Village People

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    Donald Trump has made a lot of enemies over his nearly eight decades on earth, and with good reason: He’s a sexual predator who ran a sham university and sham charity, separated migrant families to disastrous ends, implemented racist polices, and tried to overturn the results of a free and fair election because he couldn’t just admit he lost. But this week he earned a new and perhaps surprising enemy: the Village People.

    Yes, we speak of the ’70s-era band best known for songs like “Y.M.C.A.” and “Macho Man.” On Monday, Karen Willis, the band’s manager and the wife of its lead singer, sent Trump’s lawyer a cease and desist demanding that the ex-president stop using impersonators, after a video of a group of Village People look-alikes performing “Macho Man” at Mar-a-Lago went viral. “Since that time we have been inundated with social media posts about the imitation performance [which] many fans, and the general public as well, mistakenly believe to be that of the actual VILLAGE PEOPLE in violation of the Lanham Act,” Willis wrote. “Therefore, the performance has, and continues to cause public confusion as to why Village People would even engage in such a performance. We did not.” She added: “Though my husband has tolerated your client’s use of his Village People music, we cannot allow such use by him to cause public confusion as to endorsement.”

    If Trump fails to “cease and desist any such further unauthorized use of the Village People image in association with the songs and his campaign (or in his personal capacity),” Willis said the group will sue to stop the use of not only “Village People trademarked image and trade dress, but of the music as well.”

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    In response, Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina told TMZ—quite rudely!—“I will only deal with the attorney of the Village People, if they have one, not the wife of one of the members.” He added that “they [the members of the band] should be thankful that President Trump allowed them to get their name back in the press. I haven’t heard their name in decades. Glad to hear they are still around.”

    In other Trump legal news, he’s still trying to get Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis booted from her criminal investigation into his attempt to overturn the election results in Georgia. Per The Washington Post: 

    An Atlanta-area prosecutor investigating whether Donald Trump and his allies broke the law when they sought to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia asked a judge Monday to dismiss a motion by Trump’s attorneys seeking to throw out evidence gathered by a special-purpose grand jury, claiming the former president is trying to block an investigation before “any charges are filed.” The prosecution filing was in response to a March 20 motion by Trump’s Georgia-based legal team that sought to block the release of a final report issued in January by the special grand jury and “preclude the use of any evidence derived” from its investigation, claiming it was “conducted under an unconstitutional statute” and “through an illegal and unconstitutional process” that violated Trump’s due process rights. In a response filed late Monday afternoon, Fulton County district attorney Fani T. Willis (D) said the motion—which was joined last month by Cathy Latham, a Georgia Republican and alternate Trump elector who has been named as a target in the investigation—was “procedurally flawed and advance[d] arguments that lack merit.”

    Willis wrote in the filing that Trump and Latham “are not content to follow the ordinary course of the law. They seek to ‘restrain’ a criminal investigation before any charges are filed or even sought; they ask that the judicial system place them above and apart from the common administration of the criminal law; and they do so by raising arguments for which they have no standing, or which they failed to timely join, or which they have already failed, or which have no basis in law at all.”

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  • Surprise: Ex–White House Employees Say Trump Behaved Grossly With Women While President

    Surprise: Ex–White House Employees Say Trump Behaved Grossly With Women While President

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    By now you‘ve likely heard the news that on Tuesday, Donald Trump was found liable for sexually abusing (and defaming) writer E. Jean Carroll, and was ordered to pay her $5 million. Given that Trump has spent decades evading and all repercussions for his actions; has been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct (he has denied all allegations); and literally claimed on tape that it’s okay for “stars” to sexually assault people, the outcome felt monumental. And by the way, if you’re wondering whether Trump—now a certified sexual predator—refrained from behaving inappropriately with women while he was serving as president, the answer is: Of course he didn’t.

    Speaking to CNN, Alyssa Farah Griffin, former White House director of strategic communications and assistant to the president, told host Jake Tapper: “I have countless pieces of what I considered impropriety in the White House that I brought to the chief of staff because I thought the way he engaged with women was dangerous.”

    “You brought to Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, or other chiefs of staff, incidents that you witnessed of Donald Trump behaving inappropriately with women?” Tapper asked.

    “I did as well as former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham and others,” Farah Griffin said. “Nothing that rises to [E. Jean Carroll] level but things that I would consider improper and that I had a duty to report.”

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    Incidentally, Stephanie Grisham also appeared on CNN on Tuesday, and she told anchor Erin Burnett: “There was specific staffer…that [Trump] would request for her to be on constant trips when it wasn’t her turn…he one time had one of my other deputies bring her back so that they could ‘look at her ass’ is what he said to him. And I wrote about this in my book so this is nothing new for me to be saying publicly…I sat down and talked to her at one point asked her if she was uncomfortable. I tried everything I could to ensure she was never alone with him. I did take it to a couple different chiefs of staff including Mark Meadows…at the end of the day what could they do other than go in there and say, ‘This isn’t good sir,’ and you know Donald Trump will do what Donald Trump wants to do…when you’re dealing with the president of the United States, again, there’s no HR group or HR representative to go to, to talk to about these kinds of things.”

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    Grisham added: “With this one staffer it was really bad, to the point that I was extremely uncomfortable…every senior staff member knew it…it happened with her a lot. I did everything I could to keep her off of trips actually and to stay with her if she was alone because I was really nervous about what could happen.”

    In other news re: Trump and yesterday’s verdict, members of the Republican Party have, not surprisingly, lined up to shamelessly defend the guy. Marco Rubio declared, “The whole case is a joke,” while Senator Tommy Tuberville, last seen trying to help Trump overturn the 2020 election, said the outcome “makes me want to vote for him twice.”

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  • Thanks to E. Jean Carroll, Trump Is Now Running for President With the Words “Certified Sexual Predator” Next to His Name

    Thanks to E. Jean Carroll, Trump Is Now Running for President With the Words “Certified Sexual Predator” Next to His Name

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    On Tuesday afternoon, less than three hours after it began deliberations, a Manhattan jury found Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s—and for defaming her when he called her a liar when she went public with her allegations in 2019. The jury did not find him liable for rape, and the $5 million won’t make much of a dent in his net worth, even considering he’s nowhere near as rich as claims to be. And yet, this was obviously an incredible moment, and turn of events, considering that Trump has essentially never once been held accountable for a lifetime of horrific behavior.

    That horrific behavior was on display throughout the two-week trial, including last week when the jury heard from Trump, via taped deposition, in which he doubled down on the right to sexually assault people and told Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan, “You wouldn’t be a choice of mine either, to be honest.” He added: “I wouldn’t in any circumstances have any interest in you.”

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    Days earlier, jurors had heard from one of Carroll’s friends, Lisa Birnbach, who told them that the writer had called her minutes after the sexual abuse occurred, “breathless, hyperventilating, emotional,” and said, “Lisa, you’re not going to believe what happened to me.”

    Shortly after the verdict was announced, Trump took to Truth Social to tell his followers: “I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE – A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!” While being deposed in the civil case, he’d mistaken a photo of Carroll for his second wife, Marla Maples, calling into question his gross claim that he could not have attacked Carroll because she supposedly was not his “type.”

    Tuesday‘s outcome is, of course, far from the only legal matter currently facing Trump. Last month, he was charged with 34 class E felonies stemming from various hush money payments he made leading up to the 2016 election. He is also under criminal investigation by the Fulton County district attorney’s office for trying to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, as well as the Justice Department for both trying to overturn the election and his handling of classified documents and possible obstruction. In all three cases, should he be indicted and found guilty, prison time is on the table.

    Trump has said any current and future legal woes will not stop him from running for president. And currently (and extremely depressingly), his supporters do not appear to have any problem voting for a guy who’s been accused of a whole bunch of f–ked up s–t. As The New York Times noted late last month, Trump’s poll numbers have only been on the rise, with one showing him winning 62% during the Republican primary. On the other hand, he now has to run with the phrase “noted sexual abuser” next to his name—petition to put it next to the “R” on the ballot!—and that’s not a bad thing.

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  • Oklahoma Governor Claims PBS Is Indoctrinating Children, Because Republicans Are Contractually Obligated to Say This S–t Now

    Oklahoma Governor Claims PBS Is Indoctrinating Children, Because Republicans Are Contractually Obligated to Say This S–t Now

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    Late last month, Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt vetoed funding for his state’s public television network, despite the fact that the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority is the most watched Public Broadcasting Service in the country, with more than 650,000 viewers tuning into its programming every week. Why did Stitt pull the cash? You can probably hazard a guess.

    Speaking to Fox News Digital, Stitt, a Republican, said, “You know, the big, big question is why are we spending taxpayer dollars to prop up or compete with the private sector and run television stations? And then when you go through all of the programing that’s happening and the indoctrination and over-sexualization of our children, it’s just really problematic, and it doesn’t line up with Oklahoma values.” Among the content that Stitt apparently finds objectionable is a segment called “Let’s Learn,” which features a children’s book called The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish; a gay character in Work It Out Wombats!; LGBTQ+ characters on Clifford the Big Red Dog; and a same-sex wedding featured on Odd Squad. 

    There is, of course, no evidence whatsoever that these programs are trying to indoctrinate or harm children. (Rather, the programs are showing kids that it’s okay for people to be different.) But according to Stitt, the idea that it’s okay to be different is not a “value” all of his constituents subscribe to—and it’s apparently his job to defend those people. “Oklahoma taxpayers are going, ‘Hey, hang on, time out for just a second. That’s not my values,’” Stitt told Fox. “I’m just tired of using taxpayer dollars for some person’s agenda. I represent the taxpayers.”

    Incidentally, as KTUL pointed out after Stitt vetoed the funding bill, OETA airs more than just TV shows; tornado warnings and Amber Alerts are also among its services. But apparently Stitt is more concerned about protecting Oklahomans from seeing two gay people get married than warning them about catastrophic weather events.

    Stitt, of course, is just one of countless Republicans whose new pet cause is to protect children from the mere existence of LGBTQ+ people. After expanding its dystopian “Don’t Say Gay” law to all grades through 12th last month, the Florida state legislature passed a bill that would prevent teachers from using students’ correct pronouns, which Ron DeSantis is expected to sign. Meanwhile, numerous states are trying to ban drag shows, while others want to prevent drag queens from merely reading to children. Last week, Stitt made it a felony to provide gender-affirming care to minors. Harper Seldin, a staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, called the law “a dangerous attack on the rights of families and their transgender youth who call Oklahoma home,” adding: “Governor Stitt and the politicians targeting trans youth have ignored the voices of parents, medical providers, and transgender youth themselves, instead choosing to put their politics between doctors and their patients.”

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    Report: Jill Biden is trying to stop Biden from eating “like a child”

    He may be 80 but Joe Biden’s diet apparently skews (much) younger. Per Axios:

    There’s a delicious (surf and) turf battle inside the Biden White House—over the president’s plate. The food fight has pitted Joe Biden—who prefers carbs over greens—against First Lady Jill Biden, who has been pushing the commander in chief to eat more fish and veggies whether he likes them or not (he doesn’t). Why it matters: The internal tug-of-war over Joe Biden’s diet is just one of many public and private steps being taken by close aides and the first lady to keep the 80-year-old president healthy as he prepares to run for a second term.

    State of play: Some Biden aides have long noted that he eats “like a child,” with a food palette that skews beige. His favorite dishes include peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, BLTs, pizza, cookies, spaghetti with butter and red sauce, and ice cream that he occasionally makes into a full sundae, according to current and former Biden aides.

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  • Report: “Nearly Everyone” Who Works at Mar-a-Lago Has Been Subpoenaed by the Prosecutors Investigating Trump

    Report: “Nearly Everyone” Who Works at Mar-a-Lago Has Been Subpoenaed by the Prosecutors Investigating Trump

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    Donald Trump started the week on trial for rape and as the subject of multiple criminal investigations— and somehow ended the week in what very much appears to be an even more perilous legal situation.

    On Thursday, the jury that will decide whether to find the ex-president liable for allegedly raping writer E. Jean Carroll in a department store dressing room in the mid-’90s heard him double down on the right to sexual assault people and, bizarrely, tell Carroll’s lawyer she wouldn’t be a “choice” of his. Meanwhile, the federal investigation into his handling of classified documents—and possible attempt to obstruct justice— is said to be “intensifying,” which is presumably not a happy development in Palm Beach.

    The New York Times reports that, according to people familiar with the matter, prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith have not only subpoenaed “nearly everyone who works at Mar-a-Lago,” but have also “obtained the confidential cooperation of a person who has worked for [Trump]” at the private resort, as they ramp up their effort “to determine whether Mr. Trump ordered boxes containing sensitive material moved out of a storage room there as the government sought to recover it last year.” The witness in question has reportedly provided investigators “with a picture of the storage room where the material had been held,” though little else is known about what other information might have been relayed. The cooperation of an insider, whose identity has not been revealed, is said to possibly be a “significant step” in Smith’s investigation. In addition, Smith’s team is said to have subpoenaed the software company that handles surveillance footage at Mar-a-Lago; on Thursday, CNN reported that prosecutors have “been asking questions in recent weeks about the handling of surveillance footage” from Trump’s club. Matthew Calamari Sr., the chief operating officer of Trump’s family business, and his son, Matthew Calamari Jr., the director of security for the company, were expected to testify before a grand jury this week.

    According to the Times, a subpoena was also issued to the Trump Organization for “records pertaining to Mr. Trump’s dealings with a Saudi-backed professional golf venture known as LIV Golf, which is holding tournaments at some of Mr. Trump’s golf resorts.” While it’s not clear what LIV Golf would have to do with the investigation, Trump and his son-in-law have an exceedingly friendly relationship with the Saudis, so…who knows! The Times also notes that a “related line of inquiry for Mr. Smith’s team is whether Mr. Trump misled one of his lawyers, M. Evan Corcoran, about the movement of classified documents around Mar-a-Lago,” leading Corcoran to help draft a sworn statement—signed by another Trump lawyer—that said all classified documents had been turned over to the Justice Department, a statement that turned out to be very much not true.

    The Washington Post reported last month that the Justice Department and FBI had “amassed fresh evidence pointing to possible obstruction” by Trump. According to the outlet, which spoke to people familiar with the probe, investigators had “gathered new and significant evidence that after the subpoena was delivered, Trump looked through the contents of some of the boxes of documents in his home, apparently out of a desire to keep certain things in his possession.” In addition, investigators were said to have found evidence suggesting that Trump told people to mislead government officials in early 2022, when the National Archives was working with the DOJ to recover documents Trump had taken with him when he left the White House, which, y’know, seems pretty bad.

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  • Ron DeSantis Backers Urge Him to Jump Into 2024 Race ASAP, as Pudding Boy’s Poll Numbers Bite the Dust

    Ron DeSantis Backers Urge Him to Jump Into 2024 Race ASAP, as Pudding Boy’s Poll Numbers Bite the Dust

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    Something you may be surprised to hear is that Ron DeSantis has not yet actually announced he is running for president in 2024. Oh, sure, with his trips to DC to drum up Republican support, the memoir he released in February, and the overseas tour he’s currently on, he sure seems like a guy who is quite obviously gunning for the White House, but officially, he is not. And according a new report, the Florida governor’s backers are desperate for him to jump in ASAP—with some fearing it might already be too late.

    NBC News reports that a number of DeSantis’s allies are “urging him to declare as early as May 11, to counter the creeping national narrative that former President Donald Trump is the overwhelming front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination.” After a post-midterms honeymoon period in which the dominant consensus was that the Florida governor was the future of the Republican Party—and that Trump was an old news loser—the ex-president has surged in the polls. In the most recent one released on Tuesday, Trump held a massive 37-point lead over DeSantis among potential GOP primary voters. “A good politician knows when their moment is and they seize the opportunity; there’s no question that the door is swinging against DeSantis,” Dennis Lennox, a Michigan-based GOP strategist told NBC News. “Gov. DeSantis is the only Republican who can beat Trump. He is the only Republican who can beat Joe Biden. But he’s starting to look like a Scott Walker in 2015, Newt Gingrich in 2012, and Fred Thompson in 2008—maybe even a Chris Christie, who ended up not getting into the race.” (Christie opted against running in 2012, which many politicos—including, apparently, DeSantis—see as a missed opportunity.)

    In addition to allowing unfavorable comparisons to take hold, DeSantis’s decision to mostly not respond to Trump’s near-daily attacks on him have also been cause for concern. Among other things, the ex-president has hammered the Florida governor on his record on Medicare and Social Security; blasted him over his war against Disney; and implied he may have groomed high school girls while working as a teacher. He’s also claimed, more than once, that DeSantis cried while begging him for a gubernatorial endorsement in 2018; that he would be working at a “Pizza Hut” if it wasn’t for the former president; and that DeSantis may have a small penis.

    (Asked about Trump’s grooming claims, DeSantis told reporters: “I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden. That’s how I spend my time. I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans.”)

    The decision to not jump into the race yet has also given the country time to take a closer look at DeSantis and, in many cases, decide they don’t like what they see when they see him:

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  • Disney Sues Ron DeSantis for Being a Colossal Asshole

    Disney Sues Ron DeSantis for Being a Colossal Asshole

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    There is perhaps no greater example of Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s authoritarian, anti-free-speech, anti-business, anti-everything-that-he-doesn’t-approve-of proclivities than his feud with Disney, which began when the company spoke out against his bigoted “Don’t Say Gay” law and was subsequently punished—at numerous turns—for doing so. And while the governor and possible 2024 presidential candidate may have assumed he could ultimately steamroll the company into submission, that does not appear to be the case. Because on Wednesday, Disney sued DeSantis and other state officials alleging a “targeted campaign of government retaliation.” Or as we’ve previously put it, Ron DeSantis f–ked with Disney, and Disney f–ked back.

    The company’s suit accuses the governor of “orchestrat[ing]” a retaliation campaign “at every step” as payback that violates protected speech, a campaign, it says, that “now threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights.”

    “Disney regrets that it has come to this,” the company said in the lawsuit. “But having exhausted efforts to seek a resolution, the Company is left with no choice but to file this lawsuit to protect its cast members, guests, and local development partners from a relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials.” The suit was filed shortly after a new governing board that was handpicked by DeSantis passed a resolution voiding an agreement that allowed the theme park and resort to retain control of much of its business operations. DeSantis moved to strip Disney’s self-governing powers after it criticized a law preventing Florida teachers of kindergarten through third grade from discussing gender identity and sexual orientation. (When Disney originally spoke out against the Parental Rights in Education legislation, it applied to just those lower grades; last week, the state’s Department of Education expanded it to all grades at DeSantis’s request.)

    (Now would probably be a good time to mention the incredible fact that Ron and his wife, Casey DeSantis, got married at Disney World. Yes, they’re those people. As he wrote in his memoir: “Casey’s family was what one might call a family of Disney enthusiasts. They loved going to Disney World. Being the dutiful groom, I deferred to her.” DeSantis, though, had one stipulation: “My only condition was that no Disney characters could be part of our wedding. I wanted our special day to look and feel like a traditional wedding. I didn’t want Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck in our wedding photos.”)

    In a section of the suit that is sure to rankle DeSantis, who likes to claim that Florida is the freest state in America and also that he’s a business-friendly conservative, Disney writes:

    “Disney wishes things could have been resolved in a different way. But Disney also knows that it is fortunate to have the resources to take a stand against the State’s retaliation—a stand smaller businesses and individuals might not be able to take when the State comes after them for expressing their own views. In America, the government cannot punish you for speaking your mind.”

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    In a statement, Taryn Fenske, DeSantis’s communications director said, “This lawsuit is yet another unfortunate example of their hope to undermine the will of the Florida voters and operate outside the bounds of the law. We are unaware of any legal right that a company has to operate its own government.”

    Last week, DeSantis threatened to try to change state law in order to subject Disney’s theme park to new inspections. Then he suggested his hand-selected board would look into raising the company’s taxes and that the land next to Disney World might be turned into a rival park or perhaps a state prison.

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  • Biden Kicks Off Second Bid for Office as Trump Goes on Trial for Rape

    Biden Kicks Off Second Bid for Office as Trump Goes on Trial for Rape

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    No one knows what’s going to happen between now and 2024. But assuming Ron “Pudding Boy” DeSantis doesn’t start surging in the polls—and Robert Kennedy Jr.’s lock on the anti-vaxxer vote doesn’t clinch him the Democratic nomination—it’s looking extremely likely that the presidential election will be a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

    Given how the last number of years have panned out, it probably feels a little strange to compare and contrast the two men, as though reasonable arguments could be made for either side. It would be sort of like making plans for a Friday night and asking your friend if they’d rather catch a movie or get cancer. But just for yuks, a few data points to consider would be that only one of the candidates:

    • Has been charged with 34 class E felonies stemming from various hush money payments he made before running for president the first time;
    • Regularly professes his admiration for a literal war criminal, in addition to the other authoritarians and dictators he loves;
    • Is largely responsible for Roe v. Wade being overturned;
    • Incited a violent insurrection that left multiple people dead;
    • Continues to demand violence from his supporters.

    Oh, and only one of them is currently on trial for allegedly raping a woman.

    Yes, on the same day that Joe Biden formally launched his reelection bid, jury selection began in the civil trial over journalist E. Jean Carroll’s claims that Donald Trump raped her in a department store in the mid-1990s—and then defamed her when he accused her of lying about the alleged assault for personal gain. Trump has called Carroll’s allegations, among many others things, “a con job,” a “hoax” and “a complete scam.” He has also insisted that he couldn’t have raped Carroll because she was supposedly not his “type.” (In addition to being beyond gross, this claim does not actually appear to be true; in a deposition with Carroll’s lawyer, Trump mistook a photo of her for his second wife, Marla Maples.)

    It’s not clear how the jury will rule, though things were not looking great for Trump even before the trial kicked off. Last month, a judge rejected his legal team’s appeal to prevent the infamous Access Hollywood tape being used as courtroom evidence; as a reminder, it was on that tape that Trump was heard telling host Billy Bush: “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful [women]. I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.” The same judge ruled that Carroll’s attorneys can use testimony from Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, who have both accused Trump of sexual assault. (Leeds has claimed that Trump tried to put his hand up her skirt on flight from Texas to New York in 1979; Stoynoff has alleged that when she was visiting Mar-a-Lago as a reporter for People magazine in 2005, Trump pinned her to a wall and forcibly kissed her.)

    Trump has faced allegations of sexual misconduct from at least 26 women, all of which he denies. During her 1990 divorce deposition, Ivana Trump reportedly said that Trump had raped her the prior year, after ripping out handfuls of her hair. (She later claimed she had not accused him in a “literal or criminal sense.”)

    Before he was charged by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Trump insisted he would not drop out of the 2024 race if indicted. No one’s asked what he’ll do if he’s found liable for rape, but presumably the answer is the same.

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  • Trump Asks for Delay in Rape Trial Because Jurors Will Be Thinking About His Alleged Hush Money Crimes

    Trump Asks for Delay in Rape Trial Because Jurors Will Be Thinking About His Alleged Hush Money Crimes

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    Donald Trump’s attorneys asked a federal judge on Tuesday to delay the start of a sexual assault and defamation trial against the ex-president, arguing that he would be unable to get a fair shake because…well, jurors would be thinking about all the other crimes he’s allegedly committed.

    Citing a “deluge of prejudicial media coverage” related to his indictment and arraignment by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Trump’s lawyers requested that the April 25 trial, based on writer E. Jean Carroll’s accusation that Trump raped her in the mid-’90s, be put off till next month. “President Trump can only receive a fair trial in a calmer media environment than the one created by the New York County district attorney,” his legal team wrote, referring to prosecutor Alvin Bragg’s case against the ex-president, in which he was formally charged last week with 34 class E felony counts of falsifying business records in relation to hush money payments made to a porn star, a Playboy model, and a doorman who claimed Trump had a secret love child. “Holding the trial of this case a mere three weeks after these historic events will guarantee that many, if not most, prospective jurors will have the criminal allegations top of mind when judging President Trump’s defense against Ms. Carroll’s allegations.”

    In 2019, Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a dressing room at a Manhattan department store. Trump denied doing so, called Carroll a liar, and creepily claimed that he couldn’t have sexually assaulted her because she wasn’t his “type.” (Later, during a deposition, Trump mistook a photo of Carroll for someone who presumably was his type: Marla Maples, his second wife.) Carroll initially sued the then president for defamation, and then added a suit accusing him of rape, which she was able to bring decades later thanks to a New York law that allows civil actions after the criminal statute of limitations has run out.

    In February, Trump’s legal team tried to ban the infamous Access Hollywood tape—in which Trump bragged about grabbing women “by the pussy” without their consent—from being played at trial, presumably because they know how bad it makes him sound. Calling the recording “irrelevant and highly prejudicial,” lawyers Alina Habba and Michael Madaio argued that the tape, per the Associated Press, “might unjustly be used to suggest to jurors that Trump had a propensity for sexual assault and therefore must have raped Carroll.” Which might have had something to do with Trump’s telling Access Hollywood host Billy Bush: “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful [women]. I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.” US district judge Lewis Kaplan denied that request last month, in addition to the one made by Team Trump to block Carroll from using the testimony of Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, two other women who have accused the ex-president of sexual misconduct. (For the record, Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by at least 26 women and has denied any and all allegations against him.)

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