Gordon Sondland, one of the witnesses who testified against President Trump during the Ukraine impeachment saga, is supporting Trump's presidential campaign in 2024.
Trump's former ambassador to the European Union shared his stunning endorsement with MSNBC, leaving liberal anchor Ari Melber visibly agitated.
Among Democrats, it's self-evident that the January 6th, 2021, riot was a threat to democracy that disqualifies Trump from ever holding public office again.
But Sondland, who previously condemned Trump over January 6th, said he sees much bigger threats after four years of Biden and Harris.
“I’ve now lived four years under the Biden-Harris policies and I have to say that those policies are not only becoming an existential threat to our country’s way of life, but to our allies as well,” Sondland said.
Melber started to loudly interrupt, shouting, "I’m going to let you finish, but this is so striking. You said it was a ‘no for me’ after that, after Jan. 6. And here we are right now, and you’re saying it’s a yes for you?"
"It is a yes, for me. It is an absolute yes for me," Sondland said. "That is how badly the Biden-Harris team have prosecuted their job."
Not letting the issue go, Melber continued to bring up Sondland's past comments on January 6th. Melber suggested that Sondland was arguing that January 6th was an "attack on democracy" that is "bigger than any policy."
But Sondland explained that Harris and Biden have lost him on both the policy front and the "democracy" issue, noting that Democrats' desired electoral reforms could result in "massive voting irregularities."
"I am seeing so many attacks on democracy that eclipse Jan. 6th," Sondland said.
It isn't news that the media are obsessed with January 6th. Outside of glossy cable news studios, however, most Americans are worried about crime, the border, and the cost of living.
Sondland, a hotel magnate, emphasized that "policy matters," noting Democrats have "decimated" his city of Portland, Oregon, and "they don't want to fix it."
"Businesses are suffering. My own business is suffering solely for political reasons, and it’s all fixable and they don’t want to fix it," he said.
How will talking heads like Ari Melber react if Trump wins the election? Will they call that an attack on democracy too?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s famous actress wife, Cheryl Hines, wants a divorce after she was "blindsided" by his extramarital affair with a journalist.
The Curb Your Enthusiasm actress believed her husband's "philandering" days were over when his texting relationship with journalist Olivia Nuzzi surfaced, Kennedy biographer Jerry Oppenheimer reported in the Daily Mail.
A longtime friend of Hines told the Daily Mail that she had no illusions about Kennedy's sexual compulsions when she married him - their relationship had started as an affair when Kennedy was still married to his second wife Mary Richardson.
In 2012, Richardson killed herself while divorcing Kennedy, whose diary Richardson had discovered. In it, he recorded affairs with 37 women and talked about "lust demons."
Hines had believed her 70-year-old husband had conquered his family's famous vice when the Nuzzi scandal emerged. Now, Hines is "thoroughly embarrassed and furious about his adulterous actions" and "she wants out."
"Cheryl was always very aware that Bobby had a long history of womanizing. She herself had become very publicly involved with him when he was still married to his second wife, so his playing around wasn’t anything new to her," a friend told the Daily Mail.
“However, she firmly believed Bobby, in his seventh decade and with political aspirations, finally had his sex demons under control, and appeared settled down in their seemingly bucolic Southern California domestic life.”
"But she now feels totally blindsided and humiliated. His affair with that woman, Olivia Nuzzi, has wreaked-havoc on their marriage."
Sources previously told PageSix that the septuagenarian Casanova "love bombed" Nuzzi, who met Kennedy while covering his independent presidential campaign - and that they carried on an intimate affair over the phone.
Kennedy has denied the affair took place, with friends of his portraying Nuzzi as the instigator of the relationship.
Kennedy faced backlash from his party and his own famous Democratic family after suspending his campaign to endorse President Trump in August. Democrats shamed Hines, as well, who Kennedy admitted wasn't thrilled about his decision.
The endorsement has added tension to their marriage, sources told PageSix. Indeed, some allege that Hines, a lifelong Democrat, had made peace with her husband's wandering eye and is considering a divorce mainly because of his political conversion.
“She knew she was getting in with a Kennedy, who are known for being infamous womanizers,” said a source. “But she never signed up to be a member of Trump World!”
They don't call it the Trump curse for nothing.
Despite predictions that Donald Trump would lose support from attacking Taylor Swift, the pop star's endorsement of Kamala Harris has actually cost her at least 2 million listeners on the streaming platform Spotify.
Chartmetric, a music streaming analytics company, shared the startling data with The Wrap.
On September 10, the night Swift waded into the presidential race, the singer had 94 million Spotify listeners in the past month. But two weeks later, that number had fallen to 91.9 million.
Meanwhile, Swift also experienced a 10% drop in YouTube views after her endorsement, which came immediately after the presidential debate on September 10 following months of anticipation and some prodding from the left.
Swift cited Harris' views on social issues, including abortion, and signed the message as a "childless cat lady," a snarky dig at J.D. Vance.
“I’m voting for Kamala Harris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them,” Swift said. “I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”
Trump was later criticized for writing, "I hate Taylor Swift!" on Truth Social, with some warning he would alienate voters.
Bu public polling has suggested Swift is not as popular or influential as commonly believed. A recent NBC news poll found that Swift's favorability among registered voters fell from 40% in 2023 to 33% this year.
The drop likely reflects the impact of Swift's intervention in an extremely polarized presidential race, which polls have shown is neck-and-neck. Indeed, according to NBC, Swift is facing a Republican backlash, with 47% of Republicans sharing negative views of Swift, compared to 26% the year before.
But independents also view her less favorably, with 26% saying they like Swift compared to 34% in 2023. On the other hand, 58% of Democrats view Swift favorably, an increase from 53% last year.
Other polls have shown that most voters are unfazed by Swift's endorsement, with an Ipsos/ABC News poll finding that 81% of voters do not care.
While no one can question Swift's success as a musician, her recent involvement in electoral politics is clearly a risky business decision.
Meanwhile, it's unclear that Swift's endorsement will benefit Harris, who has seen a cooling in popularity since her summer of "joy" ended. So far, there is no sign that Swift has altered that trajectory.
A prominent left-wing legal pundit predicts that the Supreme Court will side with Donald Trump as he fights an appeal from prosecutor Jack Smith to revive criminal charges over classified documents.
In a stunning move in July, federal judge Aileen Cannon threw out the documents case after ruling that Smith was appointed improperly. Smith has brought the case to the 11th Circuit Appeals court.
Smith has argued that Cannon's decision contradicts long-standing precedent on appointing Special Counsels. Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor and frequent critic of Trump from the left, predicted in a recent podcast that the 11th Circuit will see things Smith's way.
But Kirschner warned that the Supreme Court's "radical" conservative wing might vindicate Trump in the end, like the court has done in some other high-profile cases.
"We know that all bets are off when it comes to what that radical right-wing six-justice block of the Supreme Court will do to try to continue to help Donald Trump," Kirschner said.
This summer, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that presidents are presumptively immune from prosecution, forcing Smith to recalibrate his indictment in a separate January 6th case and slowing down his already delayed prosecution further.
But the court's conservative bloc hasn't been as uniformly favorable to Trump as Kirschner described. Amy Coney Barrett, for example, sided with the liberal wing in a separate January 6th case that touched on charges that Trump faces.
In separate comments to Newsweek, Kirschner conceded that he is "pretty confident" the Supreme Court will overrule Judge Cannon, despite his apparent belief that conservative jurists are biased in Trump's favor.
He noted that other justices failed to join Justice Clarence Thomas when he cast doubt on Smith's authority in the immunity case.
"If other justices found it persuasive, they would have joined or they could've joined. Right?" Kirschner asked.
It isn't just conservative jurists who are casting a skeptical eye on legal efforts against Trump. Last week, a Democratic appeals court in New York called the $454 million verdict in Trump's civil fraud case "troubling," raising the possibility Trump could win a reversal in the future.
Still, many Democrats can't help but a see a corrupt pattern in Trump's court victories. Maybe the problem isn't with the courts, but the partisan prosecutors driving these cases.
Senate Republicans are signaling plans to block Kamala Harris from adding justices to the Supreme Court if she wins the presidency.
With Republicans seen as likely to regain the Senate this fall, Democrats might be locked out of appointing new justices even if Harris wins the high-stakes presidential race.
Democrats are fighting an uphill battle to retain narrow control of the Senate, as Republicans eye pickups in states like Montana, Ohio, and West Virginia.
Two senior Republicans, John Thune (Sd.) and John Cornyn (Tx.), both expressed skepticism of helping Harris in interviews with CNN.
“We’ll cross the bridge when we come to it,” Thune said. “But, you know, it probably depends on who it is and that’s the advantage of having a Republican Senate.”
Likewise, Texas senator Cornyn said he isn't likely to support Harris if she picks a radical liberal.
"If I’m in a position to make the decision, I’m not going to schedule a vote on some wild-eyed radical nominee, which I know she would love to nominate. But that would be my intention," he said.
The president nominates Supreme Court picks, who then have to be confirmed by the Senate. In recent years, confirmation battles have grown more contentious with America's deepening political divide.
The bench shifted rightward under President Trump, who appointed three justices, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh. Joe Biden confirmed a single justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, but her appointment did not upset the court's 6-3 majority.
The conservative Supreme Court has been a powerful check on the agenda of the Biden-Harris administration, curtailing sweeping policies on everything from student loans to the environment.
Democrats have blasted the court as "extreme" and an extension of a Trump-led assault on "democracy." But the reforms Democrats have pushed, from term limits to court packing, have little chance of getting past Republicans who see the demands as politically motivated.
Senate Republicans haven't shied from obstructing Democrats' Supreme Court picks in the past. Democrats have never forgiven then-Senate majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for blocking Barack Obama's pick to replace the late Antonin Scalia, Merrick Garland, in 2016.
Democrats still point to McConnell's move as a justification to pack the court.
McConnell announced his retirement from Senate leadership this year, setting the stage for Republicans to choose a new leader after the November elections.
Given the seeming immaculate stock trading prowess shown by both Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her husband, it's no wonder they continue to draw attention as they continue to amass their personal fortune.
Many, on both sides of the political aisle, believe that Pelosi has used her powerful position in Congress -- for years -- to gain information that only she would be privy to in order to direct her husband to make lucrative stock trades.
According to Breitbart, the Pelosis amazingly timed stock trading superpowers were once again on display, which was so obvious that it even drew criticism from former President Donald Trump.
Trump, during a press conference in New York last week, said that he believes Pelosi should be prosecuted for insider trading.
Trump argued that just a day prior to Visa being sued by the Department of Justice that her husband was aware and knew to unload several thousand shares of the stock before it took a dive.
"Nancy Pelosi has a little problem because her husband sold their Visa stock. They had a lot of Visa stock, one day before Visa, it was announced that Visa is being sued by the Department of Justice. Think of that," Trump said.
Trump added, "Nancy Pelosi sold vast amounts of Visa stock one day before the big lawsuit that we all read about a few days ago, was brought against Visa. You think it was luck? … Nancy Pelosi should be prosecuted for that."
🚨 Trump Calls for the Arrest of Nancy Pelosi
🚨🚨🚨🔥🔥🔥
Pelosi sold $500k worth of VISA stock one day before the DOJ announced their lawsuit against VISA..Drop a . If you’d like to see Nancy Pelosi perp walked pic.twitter.com/OsMLNEwVZM
— World life (@seautocure) September 26, 2024
The Post noted that Trump's timeline wasn't accurate in the sense that it was a day before the DOJ sued the financial institution.
The Post cited financial disclosures which show that Pelosi’s husband, Paul, “unloaded 2,000 shares of Visa stock worth between $500,000 and $1 million on July 1,” noting that on Tuesday, “less than three months after the massive transaction, Visa was hit with a DOJ lawsuit alleging that the company illegally monopolized the debit card market.”
However, Trump accused the former Democratic House Speaker of knowing that the lawsuit was coming, hence the sale of at least $500,000 worth of the company's stock before the lawsuit was announced.
Users across social media weighed in on their opinions on whether or not members of Congress should be able to trade stocks, given that many of them are privy to insider information before the public.
"Absolutely not, I'm sick of all these corrupt politicians who make millions by being elected. That's what's wrong with our current government," one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "They make it so obvious, yet nothing is ever done. They get richer while breaking the rules and continuing to get away with it."
Currently, a bipartisan group of lawmakers are still attempting to severely restrict their colleagues from engaging in any kind of trading while they hold office.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh made interesting statements regarding the Chevron ruling earlier this year that torched the power of federal agencies.
According to Bloomberg Law, while speaking at Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law in Washington the Supreme Court justice stated that the Chevron ruling shouldn't be "over read."
Kavanaugh drew on his experiences working for former presidents and noted that he saw firsthand how difficult it was for presidents to push bigger legislative pieces through Cogress.
He added that the pressure was often on federal agencies to "push the envelope" as far as regulations were concerned.
Kavanaugh explained why he believes Loper Bright, the case that resulted in the Chevron reversal, shouldn't be "over read."
"To be clear, don’t over read Loper Bright," Kavanaugh said Thursday during his speech.
He added, "Oftentimes Congress will grant a broad authorization to an executive agency so it’s really important, as a neutral umpire, to respect the line that Congress has drawn when it’s granted broad authorization not to unduly hinder the executive branch when performing its congressional authorized functions, but at the same time not allowing the executive branch, as it could with Chevron in its toolkit, to go beyond the congressional authorization."
He then elaborated on the pressure he said federal agencies felt from the executive branch regarding getting new regulations in place when big pieces of legislation couldn't not pass through Congress.
Oh please, Justice Kavanaugh pleads that SCOTUS killed Chevron Deference with the best of intentions.
Let us appoint an agency to oversee ethics at the Supreme Court and give it specific powers and instructions. https://t.co/t1xAjp9Mv7
— Freebird1967 (@Freebird19671) September 28, 2024
“Even if the agency thought this is not the best reading of the statute, there would be pressure to go forward," Kavanaugh said.
The sickening part is that Kavanaugh said that judges would uphold the regulations "when they thought the executive was acting beyond the scope of the statute."
During his remarks on the Chevron case, he called the outcome a "course correction" according to Broadband Breakfast.
"What we did in Loper Bright – in the Chief Justice's opinion – was I think a course correction, consistent with the separation of powers to make sure the executive branch is acting within the authorization granted to it by Congress," Kavanaugh said durin his speech.
That was followed by his warning to not "over read" the ruling.
In a rare show of humility, aggressively partisan CNN offered a limp apology for broadcasting a fake picture of Donald Trump.
Some of the network's top hosts, including Anderson Cooper, blasted the "digitally altered" image to millions, anchor Pamela Brown admitted.
The segments focused on Trump's alleged ties to right-wing activist Laura Loomer., who shared a video of the on-air retraction.
"Friday evening and on Saturday, CNN aired a number of segments that briefly showed an image of former President Donald Trump and Laura Loomer taken from social media,” Brown told viewers. “On review, this image had been digitally altered by a third party and should not have been included. We regret the error."
WATCH:
CNN @CNN was just forced to issue an on air retraction after @andersoncooper and other hosts ran fake & photoshopped pictures of me and President Trump on air last week in an effort to demonize me for the crime of flying on his plane to the Presidential debate. pic.twitter.com/bdXJHG2doF
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) September 26, 2024
Some on the left, including comedian Bill Maher, have baselessly claimed that Trump and Loomer are having an affair.
Loomer threatened to sue Anderson Cooper for sharing the "defamatory" image, which appeared to imply a level of intimacy between her and Trump.
“If you do not issue a retraction in writing on X for showing fake and photoshopped pics of me and President Trump in an effort to spew a sick, misogynistic, and defamatory attack against me, I will sue you, the same way I’m going to sue @billmaher,” Loomer wrote in a post.
“How much of a coward do you have to be to use fake pics to defame me and @realDonaldTrump and then not apologize yourself? Issue a retraction in writing and on air or else you’re getting sued.”
Loomer is known for sharing incendiary claims, including the conspiracy theory that 9/11 was an inside job.
Trump dismissed rumors earlier this month that Loomer is working for his campaign after she traveled on his plane to the September 10 presidential debate.
"Laura Loomer doesn’t work for the Campaign. She’s a private citizen and longtime supporter. I disagree with the statements she made but, like the many millions of people who support me, she is tired of watching the Radical Left Marxists and Fascists violently attack and smear me, even to the point of doing anything to stop their Political Opponent, ME!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Kamala Harris has asked Trump to debate on CNN in late October, but Trump declined, saying it's too late with early voting underway.
Jared Kushner's foreign-backed investment firm has made no profits, despite reaping millions in management fees, the New York Times reported.
The new information was shared by the Democrat-run Senate Finance Committee, which is investigating Kushner's foreign financial ventures since he left the Trump White House. Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump worked as top advisers to the former president.
Senate Finance chair Ron Wyden (OR) said Kushner's firm Affinity Partners had "not distributed a penny of earnings back to clients,” raising concerns about influence peddling.
During his time in Washington, Kushner cultivated close ties with Saudia Arabia and its crown prince as he handled foreign policy matters in the Middle East.
After leaving the Trump administration, Kushner started a private equity firm that has been largely backed by foreign investors. Affinity Partners notably received $2 billion from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.
“Affinity’s investors may not be motivated by commercial considerations but rather the opportunity to funnel foreign government money to members of President Trump’s family, namely Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump,” Wyden wrote in a letter to the firm.
According to Wyden, Affinity Partners has received over $112 million in fees since 2021 from investors but has so far returned nothing in profits.
The firm, which formed in 2021, dismissed the charge as a political attack, adding it is not unusual for private equity firms to take several years to make profit.
“Partisan politics aside, Affinity Partners is an S.E.C.-registered investment firm that has always acted appropriately and any suggestion to the contrary is false,” Chad Mizelle, Affinity Partners’ chief legal officer, said in a statement. “We are fortunate to have the support of some of the world’s most sophisticated investors and work hard on their behalf every day.”
Kushner has said he has no plans to work for his father-in-law again, and Ivanka has also shown little interest in getting back into politics.
If Trump wins the presidential election, the controversy over his son-in-law's business could become an unwanted distraction. Democrats are certain to use whatever scandals they can, real or imagined, to undermine Trump's authority.
“A potential future Trump administration will have financial motives to make foreign policy decisions that may be counter to the national interest in order to ensure Kushner and Ivanka Trump continue to collect millions of dollars in fees from foreign governments through Affinity,” Wyden wrote.
Concerns for Barron Trump's safety have increased in light of two assassination attempts on his father - as the youngest child of President Trump begins college in New York under heavy Secret Service protection.
In new photos obtained by The Sun, 18-year-old Barron was flanked by bodyguards with conspicuous bulletproof vests under their shirts - a reminder of the deadly threats the Trump family has faced.
Barron has been commuting to school from Trump Tower in Manhattan, where his father was based for years before relocating to Florida.
President Trump was golfing in West Palm Beach on September 15 when a crazed gunman was caught trying to kill him. Secret Service noticed the barrel of a rifle poking through the bushes and opened fire.
Ryan Routh was taken alive, and he was charged this week with attempted assassination after initially facing gun charges.
The Trump family faced years of threats and vicious rhetoric before President Trump was shot in the ear by a gunman on July 13 at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Trump has credited his life-saving movement of the head to divine intervention.
Trump was also briefed this week on an Iranian plot to kill him as revenge for Trump's decision to take out top general Qassem Soleimani in 2020.
The Senate voted unanimously to boost Secret Service protection for presidential candidates this week.
As Trump seeks the presidency for a third time, his youngest son is just beginning his college education at Stern Business school in lower Manhattan.
Trump has spoken proudly of his son, who towers at 6'9" and bears a striking resemblance to his U.S. president father.
"He's a very high aptitude child, but he's no longer a child," the former president told the Daily Mail recently. "He's just passed into something beyond child-dom," Trump added. "He's doing great."
According to students there, Secret Service has already intervened to stop classmates from taking selfies with Barron.
It's not surprising that Barron has garnered attention on campus, but classmates say he is doing his best to keep a low profile.
"Obviously he's very known. Not even just from his status. Also just physically, you can tell [who he is] he's clearly really tall," freshman Aaruush said.
The student said Barron isn't flaunting the Trump name.
"You know he's trying to be as normal as possible."