Trump Lies

The Insider reports: On Fox News, prime-time personality Sean Hannity falsely insisted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, not former President Donald Trump, was to blame for the violence at the US Capitol. “Don’t forget, President Trump requested increased National Guard support in the days leading up to January 6,” Hannity claimed last December, asserting that the request was rejected by …

The Washington Post reports: The Justice Department is investigating President Donald Trump’s actions as part of its criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to four people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors who are questioning witnesses before a grand jury — including two top aides to Vice President Mike Pence — have asked in recent days …

“The penalties should be very, very severe. If you look at countries throughout the world, the ones that don’t have a drug problem are ones that institute a very quick trial – death penalty sentence – for drug dealers. “It sounds horrible, doesn’t it? But, you know what? That’s the ones that don’t have any problem. It doesn’t take 15 …

NBC News reports: Attorney General Merrick Garland left open the possibility that former President Donald Trump could be prosecuted in connection with inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in an exclusive interview Tuesday with NBC News. “Look, we pursue justice without fear or favor,” Garland told NBC News’ Lester Holt, when asked whether indicting a former president would “arguably tear …

Reuters reports: Former Vice President Mike Pence distanced himself from Donald Trump’s repeated falsehoods about a stolen 2020 election on Tuesday, saying hours before the former president due to speak in Washington that conservatives need to focus on the future to win. “I don’t know that the president and I differ on issues. But we may differ on focus. I …

The New York Times reports: In emails reviewed by The New York Times and authenticated by people who had worked with the Trump campaign at the time, one lawyer involved in the detailed discussions repeatedly used the word “fake” to refer to the so-called electors, who were intended to provide Vice President Mike Pence and Mr. Trump’s allies in Congress …

ABC News reports: The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is in active discussions with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for his testimony behind closed doors, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News. Pompeo is tentatively scheduled to speak with the committee in the coming days, sources said. The recent outreach to …

CNN reports: Former President Donald Trump was reluctant to give a speech on January 7, 2021, that strongly condemned the violence at the US Capitol the day before and crossed out key lines in a draft, according to a new video released by the House January 6 committee that includes interview footage and the draft document. Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria …

The Hill reports: Former President Trump tore into Fox News’s flagship morning program on Monday, lashing out at its hosts for their coverage of his polling as he eyes another run for president in 2024. Trump was referencing the network’s coverage of a new Turning Point USA poll, released on Sunday, that showed the former president well ahead of every …

Politico reports: Dozens of family members and survivors of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack will head to former President Donald Trump’s Bedminster golf club next week to protest the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf event there. Brett Eagleson, a founder of the group 9/11 Justice, told POLITICO the group will hold a press conference on Friday morning down the street from …

Mediaite reports: Trump recalled a chapter from his presidency when he flew to Iraq on Air Force One to assess the battle against ISIS, and he spoke of how they had to dim the lights on the plane to avoid detection. Trump kept on expressing concern that he couldn’t see the runway, and he recalled “I told my wife how …

The Hill reports: “If the department were now to take the position that you can’t investigate or indict a former president, then a president becomes above the law. That’s a very dangerous idea that the founders would have never subscribed to,” Rep. Adam Schiff said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Even more dangerous, I think in the case of Donald …

Mediaite reports: Ex-president Donald Trump went long and went off when he spoke on Saturday at the Turning Points Action conference in Tampa, Florida, telling his audience that he was “so off-script” and mowing through a host of grievances and enemies on his list. “People like crazy Nancy Pelosi — she’s nuts. I’m telling you, she’s a nut job,” said …

From the Wall Street Journal editorial board: Mr. Trump took an oath to defend the Constitution, and he had a duty as Commander in Chief to protect the Capitol from a mob attacking it in his name. He refused. He didn’t call the military to send help. He didn’t call Mr. Pence to check on the safety of his loyal …

From the New York Post editorial board: As his followers stormed the Capitol, calling on his vice president to be hanged, President Donald Trump sat in his private dining room, watching TV, doing nothing. For three hours, seven minutes. To his eternal shame, as appalled aides implored him to publicly call on his followers to go home, he instead further …

CNN reports: Secret Service investigators were scrutinizing the phones of 10 Secret Service personnel that contained metadata showing text messages were sent and received around January 6, 2021, but were not retained, two sources told CNN. The scrutiny came after the Department of Homeland Security inspector general asked for the text records last year of 24 individuals at the Secret …

Axios reports: Former President Trump’s top allies are preparing to radically reshape the federal government if he is re-elected, purging potentially thousands of civil servants and filling career posts with loyalists to him and his “America First” ideology, people involved in the discussions tell Axios. The impact could go well beyond typical conservative targets such as the Environmental Protection Agency …

CNN reports: Steve Bannon’s attorney Evan Corcoran veered several times into subjects the court wouldn’t allow him to discuss with the jury as he wrapped up his closing argument for Bannon’s innocence. A patter of objections from the Justice Department team that the judge agreed with led to a rocky final few minutes of Bannon’s case. Among other things, Corcoran …

The Hill reports: A Washington, D.C., police officer corroborated previous testimony Thursday that former President Trump got into a “heated discussion” about going to the Capitol with his supporters after his speech on Jan. 6, 2021. The Jan. 6 panel presented clips of testimony from Sgt. Mark Robinson (Ret.) of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, who was assigned to Trump’s …

Politico reports: Two of the senior-most aides to former President Donald Trump — Tim Murtaugh, communications director for his reelection campaign, and Matthew Wolking, a campaign spokesman — slammed their candidate for failing to acknowledge the death of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick in the days following the Jan. 6 attack. Murtaugh called Trump’s silence “shitty.” He then said: …