The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tech Billionaire Invests Heavily In Smartmatic Lawsuit Against Fox News

Tech Billionaire Invests Heavily In Smartmatic Lawsuit Against Fox News

Any hope that executives at Fox News could stiff-arm and drag out the defamation lawsuit filed against them by voting technology company Smartmatic following the 2020 presidential election took a serious hit after a billionaire investor came to their rescue.

According to a report from the Washington Post, billionaire Linkedin co-founder Reid Hoffman has invested millions in the company that will allow it to bolster their legal battle with the media giant.

With Fox having already settled with Dominion Voting Systems to the tune of $787.5 million to make their 2020 election conspiracy defamation case go away, Smartmatic can now avoid being forced to drop their suit due to lack of funds.

The video player is currently playing an ad.

Noting that Hoffman was a behind-the-scenes backer of New York writer E. Jean Carroll's lawsuits against Donald Trump that led to the former president getting hit with $89 million in judgments, the tech billionaire is once again a player in a lawsuit tied to Trump — in this case his election loss.


As the Post's Jeremy Barr is reporting, Hoffmann explained his move in a statement, writing: “Smartmatic built a global business by using technology to better engage citizens, regardless of party or ideology, by making voting simple and trustworthy,” before adding, “After Donald Trump lost in 2020, however, Smartmatic became a target of the defamatory campaign to overturn his defeat.”

Speaking for Hoffman, spokesperson Dmitri Mehlhorn elaborated, "Not only is Smartmatic a great investment in terms of financial returns, this was a way to provide capital that would allow the truth to be found in the courts. This is a company that is a great company with a great CEO, and this case is a great case.”

The Post report goes on to note that "billionaires have previously wielded unexpected influence in media defamation battles. Peter Thiel, who co-founded PayPal, paid about $10 million to help finance a lawsuit filed by the wrestler Hulk Hogan against Gawker Media. Thiel had taken a dislike to Gawker after the gossip-focused website published unflattering articles about him and his associates. When Hogan won a $140 million judgment against Gawker, the company was forced into bankruptcy.(Hoffman was an early executive at PayPal, and both he and Thiel are part of the 'PayPal mafia.')"

Hoffman spokesperson Mehlhorn admitted, "When Reid deploys financial capital, that always has a philosophical element of protecting the rule of law. We’ve always thought the court system was an important part of the battle to protect America from MAGA.”

In a statement to Raw Story, Fox News wrote: “As a report prepared by our financial expert shows, Smartmatic’s damages claims against FOX News are highly implausible, disconnected from reality and on their face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms, so their alliance with a high profile Democratic donor and longtime supporter of President Biden to fund their lawsuit is entirely predictable. We remain ready to defend this case surrounding extremely newsworthy events when it goes to trial next year.”

You can read more here.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Why Is Trump's 'Concierge Doctor' Concealing Basic Facts About His Health?

Why Is Trump's 'Concierge Doctor' Concealing Basic Facts About His Health?

The most recent report on Donald Trump's health is being questioned by an expert on aging who would like to provide the public with answers about the "projected life span and health" of President Joe Biden and the former president who is making a third run for the Oval Office.

In a deep dive into the background of Trump's new doctor, Dr. Bruce A. Aronwald, a 64-year-old osteopathic physician, the Washington Post is reporting the New Jersey physician is a longtime member of the former president's Bedminster, New Jersey golf club who specializes in wealthy clients serving as a "concierge" doctor.

As the report from the Post's Michael Kranish notes, a central focus of the 2024 presidential election is the health of the 81-year-old Biden and the 77-year-old Trump, and details about Trump's health are severely lacking.

A November letter about Trump's health, written by Aronwald and released by the former president's campaign, stood in stark contrast to a White House report on Biden's health, with the Post reporting it lacked "specifics like blood pressure and medications, the letter had just three paragraphs without specific numbers proclaiming that Trump was in 'excellent health' and had 'exceptional' cognitive ability. It did not disclose Trump’s weight."

An attempt by the Post to ask for more specifics was rebuffed after a visit to the doctor's office, with the doctor explaining, "There is no need for President Trump to release another medical report in addition to the one he recently made public. The President is strong physically and sharp cognitively, and he’s in excellent health overall.”

According to S. Jay Olshansky, "the lead author of a 2020 report in the journal Active Aging" on the relative health of Biden and Trump, there is not enough information to adequately address the former president's health status four years later.

"In his Nov. 23 letter about Trump’s health, Aronwald said he had conducted the most recent examination of Trump on Sept. 13, 2023. While not providing any specific numbers or names of prescription medication, Aronwald wrote that Trump’s 'overall health is excellent,' that his physical exams were 'well within the normal range and his cognitive exams were exceptional.' The letter also said that Trump’s cardiovascular studies were normal and cancer tests were negative," the report states.

According to aging expert Olshansky, "the full medical records are extraordinarily valuable. They tell a story about health prospects for survival going forward. You can’t really do a thorough assessment of life span and health span without the medical records.”

As for Aronwald, Ira Monka, the president of the American Osteopathic Association, stated he is well regarded in his field, telling the Post, his colleague is a "top concierge doctor," adding, "You get to that point, you could not get there if you were not a solid fundamentally strong primary care doctor.”

You can read more here.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Aussie Leader Gleefully Torches Ted Cruz Over COVID ‘Lecture’

Aussie Leader Gleefully Torches Ted Cruz Over COVID ‘Lecture’

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was on the receiving end of an international smackdown after he tweeted about Australia's COVID-19 rates, only to have Australia's Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner fire back, telling the Texas Republican, "You know nothing about us."

Read NowShow less
Pauline Bauer at the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection.

Capitol Rioter Who Sought To Lynch Pelosi Cites ‘Biblical’ Defense

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

According to a report from the Daily Beast's Kelly Weill, one of the Capitol rioters taken into custody by the FBI has chosen to represent herself on charges of multiple counts of violent entry, disruptive conduct, and obstruction of Congress -- and is citing the Bible as part of her defense.

Prosecutors maintain that Pauline Bauer, owner of a Pennsylvania pizza parlor, took part in the January 6 insurrection and reportedly told Capitol police to "bring Nancy Pelosi out here now… we want to hang that f*cking b*tch."

Weill reports that Bauer is using a sovereign citizen defense -- saying she doesn't recognize the laws of the U.S. government -- and that she is operating under "divine guidance."

According to the report, "Prosecutors allege that Bauer tried organizing buses to transport people to D.C. for a rally that preceded the riot, and that while in the Capitol rotunda she told police that she wanted to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi," with Weill adding, "But in what experts describe as an inadvisable legal strategy, Bauer has demanded to represent herself in court, appeared to threaten a court clerk with prison time, and declared herself a 'self-governed individual' with special legal privileges."

In a Zoom appearance before the court, Bauer told the judge, "I am here by special divine appearance, a living soul," before adding, "I do not stand under the law. Under Genesis 1, God gave man dominion over the law."

The report goes on to add that, since that time, Bauer last week "... listed a series of strange alternative spellings of her name in a document that she (incorrectly) claimed freed her from some government control."

"Bauer appears to have attempted multiple avenues of sovereign legal strategy. In one recent filing, she appeared to threaten a court clerk with prison time, noting that it would be the penalty for failing to properly log her filings," the Beast's Weill wrote, adding, "Evidence from before and on January 6 appears to show Bauer involved in the day's chaos. According to court documents, Bauer attempted to organize busloads of people to attend a D.C. rally that preceded the riot... During the riot, she allegedly stormed the Capitol rotunda and told a police officer that the crowd would further storm the building if Pelosi and other officials were not released to the mob. 'You bring them out or we're coming in,' she allegedly said, according to a transcript of a police body camera included in the court record."

You can read more here.

Staged Photo, Golf Outing: Where Was Trump During Raid?

Staged Photo, Golf Outing: Where Was Trump During Raid?

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Sunday morning the White House photographer for former President Barack Obama suggested that members of Donald Trump’s administration,  along with the president, posed for a Situation Room picture in the wake of a U.S. military raid that resulted in the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi at a time other than the White House claimed.

Pete Souza, the former director of the White House Photography Office, noted that the timestamp of the photo did not match up with the reported time of the operation.

On Twitter, he wrote:  “The raid, as reported, took place at 3:30 PM Washington time. The photo, as shown in the camera IPTC data, was taken at “17:05:24”

In a separate tweet, he wrote, “It’s entirely possible that the raid was still going on at 5:05 pm. Before drawing definite conclusions about the photo, reporters need to nail down the actual timeline of the raid.”

You can see the tweets below:

 

 

 

GOP Legislators Revolt Against Trump’s G-7 Doral Scheme

GOP Legislators Revolt Against Trump’s G-7 Doral Scheme

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Already reeling from criticism from within his own party for withdrawing U.S. troops in Syria setting off the slaughter of Kurds by invaders from Turkey, Donald Trump is now being openly condemned by GOP lawmakers over his decision to hold next year’s G7 conference at one of his golf resorts.

According to a report from the Washington Post, Republicans are openly complaining that the president’s decision is putting them on the spot when asked to defend the president’s blatant play to personally profit from the annual get-together.

Noting that they spoke with over 20 GOP lawmakers about the G7 decision, the Post reports, “A growing number of congressional Republicans expressed exasperation Friday over what they view as President Trump’s indefensible behavior, a sign that the president’s stranglehold on his party is starting to weaken as Congress hurtles toward a historic impeachment vote.”

“Many said they were repulsed by Trump’s decision to host an international summit at his own resort and incensed by acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney’s admission — later withdrawn — that U.S. aid to Ukraine was withheld for political reasons. Others expressed anger over the president’s abandonment of Kurdish allies in Syria,” the report continues.

According to Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL), the president’s latest actions are making him consider impeachment.

“I’m still thinking about it, you know?” Rooney told reporters. “I’ve been real mindful of the fact that during Watergate, all the people I knew said, ‘Oh, they’re just abusing Nixon, and it’s a witch hunt.’ Turns out it wasn’t a witch hunt. It was really bad.”

Another claimed he would not back the president’s decision.

“You have to go out and try to defend him. Well, I don’t know if I can do that!” stated Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID). “I have no doubt that Doral is a really good place — I’ve been there, I know. But it is politically insensitive. They should have known what the kickback is going to be on this, that politically he’s doing it for his own benefit.”

Another senior GOP lawmaker, who wished to remain anonymous, chimed in that the president is continually forcing Republicans to “defend the indefensible.”

Avid Trump defender Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) also was dismayed about how Trump’s self-dealing looked.

“I would encourage those at the White House to look at the optics and appearance of this,” he explained. “Even the appearance of impropriety is something we need to take into consideration. I have concerns about this.”

Outgoing Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-MI), who has already been critical of the Trump and has claimed to have to defend the president led him to decide to not run for re-election, suggested the president handed the Democrats another weapon in the impeachment battle.

“I’m not sure the wisdom of that” Doral decision, he remarked, adding, “It just further fans the flames that the Democrats have been ranting about.”

You can read more here.
CNN Host Calls Out Hypocrisy Of Graham And Pompeo On Oversight

CNN Host Calls Out Hypocrisy Of Graham And Pompeo On Oversight

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

In concluding editorial comments on CNN’s “State of the Union,” host Jake Tapper used the words of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to point out their hypocrisy as they provide cover for Donald Trump.

As the CNN host noted, “The White House sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week suggesting that President Trump is not going to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry thumbing his nose at the notion that the U.S. government was designed with three co-equal branches specifically to offer checks and balances on each other.”

“When President Obama was in the White House, there was lots of oversight on the Fast and Furious scandal and the Benghazi tragedy — we covered it,” he continued. “There were whistleblowers — we covered them. Journalists who covered and citizens who followed Benghazi may find it stunning to find Republican members of Congress trash-talking whistle-blowers and the oversight responsibilities of the House.”

With that, Tapper introduced clips of Pompeo and Graham ranting about oversight when it involved a Democratic administration before making his point.

Now, that [Rudy] Giuliani is in the Ukraine scandal, Giuliani hasn’t made it clear whether he’s going to honor the congressional subpoena aimed at him,” Tapper observed. “The arguments that Democratic presidents needed to comply with congressional oversight is correct — that’s how the system was set up. If you only apply constitutional standards to the other political party and not to your own, then those aren’t principles — they’re tactics.”

Watch below:

 

White House Aides Reportedly Frantic To Dump Giuliani

White House Aides Reportedly Frantic To Dump Giuliani

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

According to a report from Politico, aides to Donald Trump want Rudy Giulini to just go away as his legal problems swamp him and he continues to damage his own case by going on TV and melting down.

Summing up the former New York mayors relationship with the president, one Trump adviser stated, “Rudy right now needs to focus on himself and not Ukraine.”

“For weeks, prominent Republican advisers have been privately imploring President Donald Trump to sideline Rudy Giuliani after a barrage of inconsistent, combative and occasionally cringe-inducing media interviews, according to three people familiar with the conversations,” Politico reports, adding. “The constant sniping from staff could ultimately force Trump to dump his long-valued fixer, as he has done with former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and countless other ousted officials, like ex-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former chief strategist Steve Bannon.”

With one Trump adviser saying, “Rudy Giuliani needs to stop talking,” some in the White House feel that even if Trump pushes Giuliani away, he won’t leave.

On Friday, Trump seemed to start putting distance between himself and his on-again, off-again attorney, telling reporters, “I spoke to him yesterday, briefly. He’s a very good attorney and he has been my attorney.”

According to one former White House official who helped President Bill Clinton with his impeachment inquiry, Trump has only himself to blame for using Giuliani who now has his own legal problems that may consume him before the House finishes with the president.

“It’s so messed up,” Dan Goldberg explained. “You’d think a president would want to have competent counsel if you’re talking about fighting for your political life. We’re so far not seeing that with the caliber he’s been using.”

According to Michael Gerhardt, a University of North Carolina law professor, Giuliani’s only purpose at the moment is to go on TV and that seems to backfiring.

“That’s helping facilitate the political arguments the president is making,” he said. “But at some point, if impeachment gets any traction, you’re going to need somebody that can speak more clearly and more powerfully with respect to the different points of the impeachment articles that may be drafted and ratified.”

A staffer associated with Trump’s re-election campaign agreed.

“I think he’s massively hurting,” the aide confided. “His TV appearances are so confused and contradictory, he’s creating an impression of internal chaos.”

“He’s inarticulate,” added a Republican who is close with Trump. “Rudy hurts the president with inconsistent, confusing messages.”

You can read more here.

Sen. Graham Denounces Trump Over Betrayal Of Kurdish Allies In Syria

Sen. Graham Denounces Trump Over Betrayal Of Kurdish Allies In Syria

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) took to Fox News on Monday morning to harshly criticize President Donald Trump’s decisions to pull U.S. military forces out of Syria putting America’s Kurdish allies at risk of being slaughtered by Turkish forces.

Graham began by making a statement on Twitter, writing, “I don’t know all the details regarding President Trump’s decision in northern Syria. In process of setting up phone call with Secretary Pompeo. If press reports are accurate this is a disaster in the making, ” before adding, “Also, if this plan goes forward will introduce Senate resolution opposing and asking for reversal of this decision. Expect it will receive strong bipartisan support.”

According to CNN’s Jim Sciutto, Graham went further on Fox & Friends, saying the South Carolina Republican also stated: “ISIS is not defeated. This is the biggest lie being told by this administration.”

You can see video below:

You can see the tweets below:

 

Former Trump Org VP: ‘He May Quit’ Over Impeachment

Former Trump Org VP: ‘He May Quit’ Over Impeachment

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Appearing on CNN’s Reliable Sources on a day when the White House refused to provide the morning cable TV shows with anyone who might defend Donald Trump, a former high-ranking executive in the Trump Organization said it is apparent the president is unraveling at the prospect of being impeached.

Speaking with CNN host Brian Stelter, Barbara Res — who was a principal in getting Trump Tower built — said Trump seems to be in a downward spiral.

“Telling the Russians that he didn’t care about election meddling, that was a stupid thing to have said,” she explained. “I never thought of him as stupid, that surprised me. Otherwise, no, this is Trump. Sometimes I say Trump-squared, since I knew him. He’s had many, many years of fame and fortune, getting richer, now he does believe he’s a stable genius and does believe he can shoot somebody on 5th Avenue, and so far it looks like he can.”

Asked by the host what will happen to Trump if he is impeached, Res said it may not reach that point.

“I think he does a lot to save face,” she explained. “I could give you examples, but we don’t have time. But there are some things he can’t control. We’re now at the point where he can’t control this, he can’t do anything about this.”

“It would be very, very bad for him to be impeached,” she continued. “I don’t know that he would be found guilty, but I don’t think he wants to be impeached. I think that’s what this panic is about. My gut tells me he’ll leave office, resign, or make a deal, depending on what comes out.”

Watch below:

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore
Scaramucci Says Ukraine Texts Show ‘Rank Criminality’

Scaramucci Says Ukraine Texts Show ‘Rank Criminality’

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Appearing on CNN’s “New Day” with host Alisyn Camerota, former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci called the release of State Department texts that show a clear pattern of trading aid for help in digging up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden an example of the “rank criminality’ at the heart of Donald Trump’s White House.

Speaking with the CNN host the morning after devastating State Department texts were released showing officials working to help the president with political considerations while using foreign aid to Ukraine as bait, Scaramucci said the revelation is devastating for the embattled White House.

After the CNN host read a selection from the texts, she asked the former Trump confidant what they sounded like to him.

“I hear rank criminality,” he shot back. “I hear pressure on American diplomats coming from above to push them to do things that are actually a revocation of the Constitution. And so the president will — his defense will be he can’t control those guys, he’ll say all that sort of nonsense.”

“But the very, very good news is we have the president on tape now saying that he wants to disavow his oath to the constitution and — ” he continued before being interrupted.

“What part are you talking about?” Camerota pressed.

“I mean, there’s several things he’s done,” he replied. “He’s admitted openly at the U.N.. he had no problem asking the Ukraine for favors, he admitted that openly. He declared himself yesterday, ‘please ask the Chinese government’ to go after Vice President Biden. Now we’re learning he may have had a conversation with [Chinese] President Xi as well, so it’s totally disgusting.”

“The thing that is surprising to me, because you and I have been talking about this for two months, I would have thought that the [GOP] leadership in the Congress would have broken with him by now,” he added. “The Republican leadership in the Congress, what are these guys doing? That’s the thing I don’t understand because I would have predicted the president having a complete Trump meltdown, very predictable, he was starting in the summer. But where’s the leadership?”

Asked to sum up the revelations, Scaramucci labeled them a “full blown disaster.”

Watch below:

Epstein Found Dead In Jail Cell, An Apparent Suicide

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

The New York Post is reporting that financier Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead in his jail after apparently committing suicide.

The reports states, “Convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein died overnight in an apparent suicide, law enforcement sources told the Post Saturday.”

“A gurney carrying a man who looked like Epstein was wheeled out of the Manhattan Correctional Center around 7:30 a.m. and headed to New York Downtown Hospital. A call for a reported cardiac arrest came in at 6:38 a.m., Fire Department sources said.”

More details to come as they are released.