Former President Donald Trump's promised press conference to refute the allegations in the indictment handed up by the Fulton County District Attorney's Office is now very much in doubt, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
Sources tell ABC News that Trump's legal advisers have told him that holding such a press conference with dubious claims of voter fraud will only complicate his legal problems and some of his attorneys have advised him to cancel it.
Georgia election workers passing around USB sticks like vials of heroin or cocaine. Voting machines altering ballots. Thousands of felons, underage voters and even dead people casting ballots like a zombie apocalypse.
These were among the false and baseless allegations Donald Trump and his allies spread about the 2020 election. The Justice Department and Georgia state investigators found no evidence of widespread fraud. Former Attorney General Bill Barr called the allegations “complete nonsense.”
On Monday they became evidence of a broad criminal conspiracy allegedly led by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis cobbled together an indictment detailing 161 separate acts sprawled across a half-dozen states and Washington, D.C., that she says fueled a criminal enterprise.
The narrative tracks closely with the revelations from the House special committee that investigated the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and riveting testimony during 2022 hearings. But rather than ending in a thick report, the criminal allegations threaten prison time.
Here is a sample of what some of the most prominent defendants other than Trump are accused of doing in Georgia:
Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump's lawyers who claimed familiarity with voter fraud from his experience running for mayor in New York and as a former U.S. attorney, advocated claims of voter fraud that were debunked by state and federal officials.
The indictment cites Giuliani, along with Trump lawyers Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell, for falsely claiming election fraud in Georgia and other states during a news conference Nov. 19, 2020, at the Republican National Committee headquarters.
Giuliani made the claims in a series of December 2020 meetings with Georgia lawmakers, according to the indictment:
On Dec. 3, in a meeting with members of a state Senate Judiciary subcommittee, Giuliani falsely claimed that 96,600 mail-in ballots were incorrectly counted and that voting machines in Michigan recorded 6,000 votes for President Joe Biden that were supposed to go to Trump.
On Dec. 10, in a meeting with members of the state House Governmental Affairs Committee, Giuliani’s statements alleged that election workers at State Farm Arena stole votes in plain sight, that 12,000 to 24,000 ballots were illegally counted and that election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss were “passing around USB ports as if they’re vials of heroin or cocaine." Freeman and Moss testified at a U.S. House hearing that they were passing ginger mints.
On Dec. 30, in a meeting with members of a Judiciary subcommittee, Giuliani’s statements included 2,560 felons voting illegally and 10,315 dead people voting.
The indictment said Giuliani called Georgia’s legislative leaders – Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller and House Speaker David Ralston – in December urging a special legislative session.
Besides the racketeering count, Giuliani was charged with three counts of soliciting lawmakers to violate their oath of office, three counts of making false statements and six conspiracy counts dealing with forgery and false statements for the recruitment of fake electors.
Giuliani said Tuesday on his podcast that he was indicted for being a lawyer and that a "two-tiered system of justice is no justice at all."
MSNBC aired newly obtained footage on Wednesday evening showing Donald Trump ally and longtime GOP operative Roger Stone dictating what sounds a lot like the core of the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
In the video, Stone dictates a message saying that “any legislative body” can send their own electors to the Electoral College “on the basis of overwhelming evidence of fraud.”
No such evidence has ever been presented, and Trump and his allies lost in the courts at every turn, including in cases before judges Trump himself had nominated.
But Stone claimed state legislatures could overturn those results anyway to “accurately reflect the president’s legitimate victory in their state, which was illegally denied him through fraud.”
He also said Trump allies must lobby via “personal contact” with lawmakers, which is what happened, in many cases with Trump himself calling and pressuring people to overturn the election results.
Nearly two-out-of-three Americans said they would probably not or definitely not support former President Donald Trump in a new poll ahead of the 2024 race for the White House.
The poll, conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that 53% of Americans say they would definitely not support Trump if he is the Republican nominee next year, and 11% say they probably wouldn’t support him in November 2024.
Trump was indicted on 13 counts by a grand jury in Georgia earlier this week for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. That marks his fourth indictment of the year and comes amid his mounting legal troubles in other civil cases.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot"for today:
Starting with Iraq, ASHARQ AL-ASWAT reports:
Iraq no longer required the presence of "foreign combat forces" on its territories to combat ISIS, announced Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Monday.
Sudani was speaking during a meeting with commanders of the Armed Forces and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), members of the Ministries of Interior and Defense, and the military forces that took part in the war against the ISIS terrorist organization.
PRESS TV quotes him saying:
"Today, Iraq does not need foreign combat forces, and we are conducting advanced dialogues in order to determine the form of future relationship and cooperation with the international coalition," he said.
“The Iraqis have become, after the liberation battles, more united than ever before… All Iraqis fought in one trench from all nationalities, religions, sects and components."
What a load of garbage. His remarks, the prime minister himself.
Do they need foreign troops? No, they don't. But he's not calling for them to leave. And it was just last week that Iraq's Minister of Defense Thabit Muhammad al-Abassi was in DC meeting with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to discuss the new agreement as the DoD press release noted:
This meeting looks beyond the defeat of the Islamic State and is an outgrowth of a visit Austin made to Baghdad in March. "We are interested in an enduring defense relationship within a strategic partnership," said Dana Stroul, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, during an interview last week.
Many officials are calling this an agreement on establishing a "360-degree relationship" -- meaning it would be a whole-of-government strategic partnership for years.
For years.
Years.
Foreign troops not needed but US troops to continue "for years."
Iraq's prime minister was lying to the Iraqi people.
His statement came on the heels of reports from Anbar province in western Iraq that said planes carrying an unknown number of US soldiers, advisors, and civilians arrived at Ain al-Asad air base.
“Ain al-Asad base witnessed an unusual movement of military transport aircraft that landed inside the air base with the US warplanes overflying the base to secure the arrival of these planes,” the source explained.
Qaani's visit aims to discuss the recent strategic agreement between the Iraqi government and the US, disagreements between the Iraqi militias and the Iraqi government and the need for de-escalating the conflicts.
"Qaani has urged leaders within the coordination board of the Islamic resistance to stop all military operations against the US and the global coalition forces at this time," the source outlined.
I had paid only peripheral attention to Wolf’s antics as they unfolded—they were just one of many bizarre things swirling around Occupy during that eventful fall. One day the camp buzzed with rumors that Radiohead was about to perform a free concert—only to discover that it was an elaborate prank. Next, Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and Russell Simmons actually did drop by, entourages in tow. Then it was Alec Baldwin’s turn. In this circus atmosphere, a midcareer writer getting handcuffed while unsuccessfully ordering around protesters half her age was barely a blip.
After the bathroom incident, though, I started paying closer attention to what Wolf was doing, newly aware that some of it was blowing back on me. How often does this identity merger happen? Enough that there is a viral poem, first posted in October 2019, that has been shared many thousands of times:
If the Naomi be Klein
you’re doing just fine
If the Naomi be Wolf
Oh, buddy. Ooooof.
Over the years, there have been plenty of oofs. In the decade since Occupy, Wolf has connected the dots between an almost unfathomably large number of disparate bits of fact and fantasy. She has floated unsubstantiated speculations about the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden (“not who he purports to be,” hinting that he is an active spy). About US troops sent to build field hospitals in West Africa during the 2014 Ebola outbreak (not an attempt to stop the disease’s spread, but a plot to bring it to the United States to justify “mass lockdowns” at home). About ISIS beheadings of US and British captives (possibly not real murders, but staged covert ops by the US government starring crisis actors). About the results of the 2014 Scottish referendum on independence, which the “no” vote won by a margin of more than 10 percentage points (potentially fraudulent, she claimed, based on an assortment of testimonies she collected). About the Green New Deal (not the demands of grassroots climate-justice movements, she said, but yet another elite-orchestrated cover for “fascism”). She has even spotted plots and conspiracies in oddly shaped clouds.
And just like in that overheard Manhattan bathroom, every time she floated one of these theories, I would hear about it—only now on that infinitely scrolling bathroom wall known as social media. “I can’t believe what Naomi Klein said.” “Has she lost it?” “The real victim here is Naomi Klein.”
I came to think of her as Other Naomi. This person with whom I have been chronically confused for over a decade. My doppelganger.
Crazy Naomi Wolf is lusting over Donald Trump (seeing him gives her "pangs" and the realization that, gasp, "he had been our bully") and dreaming of a Donald Trump ticket with Robert F. Kennedy Junior.
Kids, if a Naomi Wolf approaches, find an adult immeditely.
Our public education institution is under attack. DeSantis’ crusade on the “woke” and “porn” in the schools is nothing more than a Trojan Horse. He is heavily funded by donors from the Heritage Foundation, as is Moms For Liberty. Their goal is to cause so much chaos and frustration in the public schools so they can dismantle public schools and turn them into charter schools for profit.
The truth of the matter is transgender people want to be included in society. There are a number of people who are against this. In their attempts to shut down this topic, they have created fear and panic. Transgender people make up less than two percent of the population. They are not a threat to your children. Children are not getting their genitals cut off. This is against the law and there isn’t one case of this happening in this country.
Change is scary and that is what is happening. I encourage you to educate yourself about this topic. Seek out medical professionals that treat transgender people. Get the facts, not the hype.
Vanessa Reynolds, Pensacola
Well we can be wrong. And boy, were we.
Somewhere in the Sun no doubt pleased arm pit fetishists throughout the land. If Chesney flashing his pits does it for you, ABC provided you with enough multiple orgasms to last a lifetime.
Other than on the arm of Renee Zellweger, this was our first time seeing Chesney. And we quickly realized that something more was going on than Chesney's desire to demonstrate, repeatedly, that, yes, he had hit puberty and sprouted body hair.
What if, we wondered, Liza Minnelli woke up one morning with two left feet? She would still have the song in her. She would still need to express herself through movement.
If that day should ever come, Minnelli will owe a huge debt to Kenny Chesney who is bravely pioneering The Dance of the Arms while others without dancing feet simply accept their lot in life. "Jazz hands"? That's so last millenium. This is arm choreography at it's most energetic. Chezney with a Z!
Little Miss Show Biz strode around the stage. Sometimes he did the wave all by himself. Sometimes he pointed at the audience in a sudden burst of arm movement! Sometimes he did an extended pointing session, sweeping the arm back and forth. Sometimes he threw both arms suddenly into the air in an All . . . That . . . Jazz kind of maneuver. The arms need to be bare. They are his legs.
Kenny sleeveless is like a dancer in short-shorts.
Watching him blowing kisses and move around gesturing wildly, our question wasn't, "Why did Renee leave him?"; our question was, "Did she ever see him onstage before she married him?"
The indictment of ex-President Donald Trump in Georgia, the fourth in five months, is the most serious so far. It outlines, in nearly 100 pages of detail, how Trump and dozens of co-conspirators, some indicted, some not yet, engaged in a conspiracy to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.
Though limited to a single state, the indictment gives a much fuller picture than the federal indictment brought two weeks ago of the efforts by Trump and his aides to steal Georgia’s electoral votes, won by Democrat Joe Biden by a margin of 11,799 votes. It charges, among others, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Trump’s top campaign lawyers Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Kenneth Chesebro, outside consultants like John Eastman and high-ranking officials of the Georgia Republican Party.
Eighteen percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters said they supported the Florida governor, which is his lowest level of support in Quinnipiac’s polling of the GOP primary this year. Former President Trump, on the other hand, clocked in at a whopping 57 percent support among Republican and Republican-leaning voters. Quinnipiac noted that DeSantis was only 6 points behind the former president in February, but now he finds himself trailing Trump by 39 points.
-
-
-
Omar Montes: Tiny Desk Concert3 hours ago
-
-
Bradley Cooper's nose7 hours ago
-
-
Easy Shrimp Tacos in the Kitchen7 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
Tim Tebow comes out . . .7 hours ago
-
-
