Lawyers for former President Donald Trump filed paperwork with the appeals court in New York asking for the $500 million civil fraud verdict against him to be overturned because it is "egregious" and "erroneous."
Trump's main arguments against the huge civil penalty were that some of the allegations were past the statute of limitations, no one was harmed by Trump's actions, and that other businesses will leave the state if the huge fine is found to be legitimate.
The brief was 116 pages long, and among other points it made was that the verdict effectively gives Attorney General Letitia James "limitless power to target anyone she desires, including her self-described political opponents."
A lot of the arguments against Judge Arthur Engoron's judgment against Trump were similar to ones he presented during the trial, but that doesn't mean the appeals court won't find them valid. Trump's lawyers called the verdict "draconian" and said it "violates centuries of New York case law."
If the court determines that Engoron ignored valid grounds for dismissal, it could upend the entire verdict and James's gleeful threats to seize his property if he doesn't pay up.
Trump posted a bond of $175 million after no bond agency would give him the full amount. If he wins the appeal, he will get it all back.
Trump is on a roll with legal victories. The Supreme Court threw a major monkey wrench into the criminal indictments against him by declaring he has immunity for all official acts and some others.
The classified documents case against him was then dropped by Judge Aileen Cannon because she determined that Special Counsel Jack Smith was illegally appointed.
The Georgia election interference case has been postponed until after the election, and the sentencing for the New York falsified business documents case has been postponed until mid-September with the judge expressing doubt about whether it could even take place because of the immunity ruling.
These cases were trumped up by Democrat prosecutors in Democrat-dominated areas, and they're all falling apart under scrutiny by courts with actual legitimacy like the Supreme Court.
The whole idea was to make Trump look like a criminal so no one would want to vote for him in November, but that has backfired spectacularly and the majority are not buying any of it.
Oral arguments in this case that was intended to hurt him financially will be in September, although it's still New York and he may not have a great chance of a fair verdict here.
Some of Trump's arguments were already considered by the same court and rejected.
He may have to go to the Supreme Court yet again for relief.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-NY) demanded in an X post on Sunday that Vice President Kamala Harris invoke the 25th Amendment on President Joe Biden after he stepped down as the Democrat nominee for president in 2024.
If Joe Biden does not have the cognitive ability to seek reelection, he does not have the cognitive ability to serve the remainder of his term. Tomorrow I will introduce a resolution calling on Kamala Harris to invoke the 25th amendment and assume the duties of acting President. pic.twitter.com/El10ourh5T
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) July 21, 2024
"If Joe Biden does not have the cognitive ability to seek reelection, he does not have the cognitive ability to serve the remainder of his term. Tomorrow I will introduce a resolution calling on Kamala Harris to invoke the 25th amendment and assume the duties of acting President," she wrote, along with the text of her resolution.
The resolution noted that "for years it has been clear to the American people that President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was experiencing severe cognitive decline and was mentally incapable of discharging the powers and duties of his office."
She also noted that Biden's debate performance raised "new concerns" about his cognitive state.
According to Mace's logic, Biden's decision to step down from the 2024 election means he is incapable of being president until then, but is that really fair?
I mean, looking at him day after day, he clearly is not capable of doing the job as president.
But it is possible that he thinks he can handle it until January 2025, but not until January 2029.
Biden's departure will completely change the trajectory of the 2024 election.
He and most other Democrats have endorsed Harris, but she has worse approval ratings than Biden.
She would be a historic president, however, and may gain votes from women other voters who want to see the first female president who is also Black and South Asian.
Biden posted his intention to step down from his re-election bid on X, and no one has seen him since.
He said in his letter that he would explain his decision at a later date, but the detached way the announcement was made has raised questions about whether he actually knows about it, or whether his staff posted on his behalf.
He tested positive for COVID last week and is self-isolating.
A former Colorado election official has asked the Supreme Court for an emergency intervention to stop her trial on charges of leaked voting machine passwords.
Tina Peters, who served as Mesa County’s clerk and recorder during the 2020 election cycle, has been charged with giving a security company access to voting machines in 2021.
Peters has filed a request with the Supreme Court arguing that federal election protections give her immunity from the state’s prosecution and that means that the Supreme Court must prevent her trial from taking place.
In her application, she argued "An injunction stopping the state trial while this court considers this case is necessary to preserve the status quo and prevent an irreparable injury to the institutional interests of the federal government and to Ms. Peters’ right not to be subjected to state trial for executing her duty under federal law."
Peters argues that her duty is to preserve election records as Colorado’s chief election official and thus she has immunity for her actions.
The controversy began after Colorado announced it would be upgrading its election management systems after the conclusion of the 2020 presidential election.
In response to this, Peters hired Gerald Wood to help her back up Dominion voting machines as part of her duty to preserve election records. Peters was concerned about the possibility of election fraud in the 2020 election and was committed to preserving all records in the event of an investigation.
In response to her decision to hire a private entity to back up the machines, Peters was hit with a whopping seven felony counts related to attempting to influence a public servant, impersonation, and identity theft.
To accompany those felonies, Peters was also hit with misdemeanor charges of official misconduct, violating her duties, and failing to comply with the Colorado secretary of state.
She has pled not guilty to all charges and argued that the case against her is a political hitjob due to her support for former President Donald Trump and her beliefs that there were irregularities in the 2020 presidential election.
By all accounts, Peters is in dire straights and doesn't have friends in Colorado which is why she is appealing to the conservative Supreme Court that might be willing to hear her case out.
Peters argued, "Arising as it does from the Constitution’s foundational allocation of power between the federal and state governments, it is critically important that the immunity provided by the supremacy clause for federal actors contending with hostile state officials be properly applied."
Looking at the intent behind Peters's actions and the extreme response from the state of Colorado, it certainly appears that Peters is being railroaded for political reasons.
It remains to be seen if the Supreme Court will pull the trigger and grant her request to sort this mess out.
J. Michael Cline, the founder of movie ticket firm Fandango, is dead after he jumped from the 20th floor at the Kimberly Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
In a statement on Thursday from law enforcement, Cline appears to have jumped on his own and at this time there is no foul play suspected.
Cline, who was 64 years old, left behind a note saying, "So sorry. I can’t explain the pain of f— up this much. I love you all."
While this doesn't give much to go off of, we do know that Cline was an entrepreneur which means that there could have been any number of stressors that pushed him to the edge.
Cline leaves behind six children that he shared with his wife Pamela.
Cline had a long and distinguished career as he founded Fandango in 2000 and worked with that company until 2011 when he left.
Fandango was so successful that it was purchased by NBCUniversal and is now the go-to service for buying movie tickets.
The pandemic hit the company hard as the entire movie industry was shut down and theaters closed for months on end. While Cline wasn't working for Fandango at the time, it's likely he had a significant financial interest in the company that was adversely affected by the shutdowns.
Cline was well educated as he attended Cornell University and Harvard Business School and this set him up for success in his future business endeavors.
He founded the company Acumen, an outsourcer of lab operations for large hospitals, in 2010. He also founded Accolade, a vendor of health services for large employers and hospital systems, in 2007 and worked as founder and chairman through 2022.
He was deeply involved in medical services which would have benefited him greatly during the pandemic but all of this information is speculative and there is still no concrete evidence on what drove Cline to jump from the 20th floor of the Kimberly Hotel.
For now, answers on Cline's sudden suicide will have to wait as law enforcement continues their investigation into his death.
Anytime a significant figure who is as powerful as Cline suddenly dies it raises questions. It's clear he was under immense mental stress but the question is what was the exact cause of that stress.
While it could have simply been a matter of bad mental health, Cline left behind six children which indicates that it's possible there was something more to this tragedy.
An appeals court has blocked the implementation of President Joe Biden's SAVE student loan forgiveness plan while it considers the merits of a lawsuit by conservative states against the initiative.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals was responding to a lawsuit against SAVE by Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Dakota, Ohio and Oklahoma.
The suit argued that the Biden administration was "trying to impose an extraordinarily expensive and controversial policy" with the loan forgiveness and income-driven repayment options.
Federal judges in Kansas and Missouri had already blocked parts of the plan temporarily in June as other suits take place.
A total of $168.5 billion has so far been forgiven for 4.76 million borrowers.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told Axios in an emailed statement on Thursday that the borrowers impacted by the block would have their loans placed on an interest-free forbearance until the courts make a final decision on the plan.
Borrowers will be notified of the change, he said.
"Our administration will continue to aggressively defend the SAVE Plan," a spokesperson for the administration said.
On the same day the injunction was handed down, Biden canceled another $1.2 billion in loan debt for 35,000 public service workers using the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which it overhauled.
The program allows firefighters, teachers, police, and employees of nonprofits to get their loans forgiven after making 10 years of payments.
Before this addition, 946,000 borrowers have had $69.2 billion forgiven through the program.
Prior to Biden's election, only 7,000 borrowers had received forgiveness in the 13 years the program was in place.
Republicans have accused Biden of buying votes with student loan forgiveness programs, and have criticized them for shifting the student loan costs to taxpayers, some of whom have not attended college, had not taken student loans, or had paid off their balances before debt forgiveness was available.
A Wall Street Journal editorial in April noted that "the best way to buy votes is with other people's money," and the Biden administration is doing exactly that with the money you and I pay in taxes.
Following the breakdown in the most basic of security defenses, much of the nation has been awaiting an explanation of the events surrounding the shooting of former President Donald Trump.
Fox News reported that The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general has moved forward with an investigation into the Secret Service's security decisions surrounding the former President Trump's rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend.
After the shooter was identified, it was discovered that the shooter was an amateur. It was also found that his perch was one where such an amateur could pull off a kill shot, and was reportedly not within the Secret Service's perimeter.
Questions about how that could be considered sufficient security have coursed through a nation irate at the idea of what could have been the result of Saturday's shooting.
The agency stated in a brief notice posted to the inspector general's website that the purpose of the investigation is to "Evaluate the United States Secret Service’s (Secret Service) process for securing former President Trump’s July 13, 2024 campaign event," which was the site of an assassination attempt against Trump.
No specific date was offered for the start of the investigation. The notice was one of numerous ongoing cases that the inspector general's office is currently investigating.
An independent assessment of the security at the rally had already been directed by President Biden.
On Wednesday, there are still questions regarding the manner in which Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old shooter, was able to ascend a building and fire at Trump and rally attendees in Butler, Pennsylvania.
In a Tuesday interview, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle asserted that her agency was "solely responsible" for the security measures in the area.
Despite the fact that other events in the state necessitated Secret Service protection, Cheatle informed CNN that no assets from the rally were diverted on the day of Trump's shooting.
"At that particular site, we divided up areas of responsibility, but the Secret Service is totally responsible for the design and implementation and the execution of the site," Cheatle said.
Separately, Cheatle told ABC News that the agency knew about the building's security flaws when the shooter positioned himself to shoot at Trump.
"That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, there's a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn't want to put somebody up on a sloped roof," the director said.
"And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside."
In the latest example of aggressive pre-digestion of infomration by mainstream media, the editor of an unnamed major news outlet is calling one of the iconic photos of former President Donald Trump "propaganda," according to Fox News.
The news broke that the former president was shot in the side of the head almost simultaneous to the historic photos hitting the internet, thanks to the magic cellular service and other forms of communications at the site of the attack.
While no one is claiming that the photo is not entirely accurate and a correct depiction of the events of the day, one major editor doesn't want a photo of Trump with blood on his face, looking defiant, to make the rounds any longer.
According to a source, an unnamed picture editor at a major news organization believes that it is "dangerous" for the media to promote the historic photo.
The photo in question was of former President Trump standing up after the assassination attempt that occurred on Saturday. The photo editor also believed that the media group he works for would be providing "free PR" for the Trump campaign.
According to an Axios media trend assessment published on Tuesday, the iconic image's "overuse" can "pose risks."
The report cites unnamed photographers who allegedly told the outlet that promoting the viral photos could be a type of "photoganda" because the Trump campaign will make use of them to "further their agenda, despite the photographers' intent of capturing a news event."
Trump was battered to the ground at a rally on Saturday when a gunshot grazed his right ear, but the photograph recorded his defiant reaction seconds later.
As the Secret Service escorted the former president off the platform, an American flag flew over his head, and blood splattered across his face, he raised a fist to the cheering crowd.
Photojournalist Evan Vucci of the Associated Press shot the iconic shot that quickly became the talk of the internet and made headlines across the world.
A picture editor and photographer "from a major news outlet" reportedly told Axios that the media shouldn't use the shot "despite how good it is" because it would put the former president in a positive light.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Vucci has covered thousands of events like this for the AP since 2003. He told Fox News Digital that he knew he was witnessing a historic moment as shots were fired at the former president.
Vucci told Fox News Digital on Monday from Milwaukee, where he was preparing to photograph the Republican National Convention, "I was literally just thinking about doing the best possible job I could, because I knew that this was a moment in American history that I had to be at the top of my game for."
"The amount that publications have been using Evan's photo is kind of free PR for Trump in a way, and it's dangerous for media organizations to keep sharing that photo despite how good it is," the editor told the outlet.
The shot after the shot, which has been hailed as instantly iconic, is expected to appear on the cover of Time magazine's upcoming print edition.
One of the most divisive, admired, and hated political figures in American history, Trump, could be eternally altered in the eyes of some, according to some analysts.
According to Fox News, The Washington Post’s art critic, Phillip Kennicott, called it "a photograph that could change America forever."
The judge in a case prosecuted by Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis has been replaced and a new judge assigned after it was revealed that he met with a witness and prosecutors without the defense being present.
Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause ruled Monday to grant a defense motion to remove Judge Ural Glanville. The case, which has been going on since November, was reassigned almost immediately to Judge Shukura Ingram.
"This court has no doubt that Judge Glanville can and would continue presiding fairly over this matter it the recusal motions were denied," Krause wrote. "But the 'necessity of preserving the public's confidence in the judicial system' weighs in favor of excusing Judge Glanville from further handling of this case."
Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffrey Williams, and 27 other defendants were indicted on racketeering, drug, and gun charges for allegedly participating in the street gang Young Slime Life, or YSL, which is also the name of Williams' record label.
Williams claims the label stands for Young Stoner Life, and is not related to the gang, however.
The case blew apart when defense attorney Bryan Steel somehow found out that witness Lil Woody, whose real name is Kenneth Copeland, and prosecutors met with the judge on June 10 but excluded defense counsel.
The meeting concerned threats to jail Copeland if he continued to refuse to testify.
The judge then demanded to know how Steel found out about the meeting and held him in contempt when he refused to say. He sentenced Steel to 20 days in jail, but an appeals court threw out the jail sentence.
Willis is better known as the prosecutor who charged former President Donald Trump with similar racketeering charges as well as obstruction for allegedly trying to overturn election results in Georgia between November 2020 and January 2021.
That case is on hold while an appeal of a ruling against replacing Willis is heard. A hearing in that appeal was just scheduled for December, meaning the case won't move forward until after the election.
At issue then will be whether any of the charges can still go forward after the Supreme Court ruled former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution for official acts during their tenure.
Trump's team asked for Willis to be replaced after it was discovered that she was engaged in a sexual relationship with her lead prosecutor Nathan Wade.
The relationship is still being investigated, particularly the question of whether any funds were diverted to Wade that were then spent on vacations for the two of them.
Willis has denied all wrongdoing in the matter, and Wade stepped down from the case after a judge ruled that both of them could not stay on it.
A spokesperson for the Kremlin in Russia said the "atmosphere" put forward by President Joe Biden is responsible for the shooting of former President Donald Trump on Saturday.
"We do not think and do not believe that the attempt to eliminate presidential candidate Trump was organized by the current government," Dmitry Peskov said Sunday, according to Russian state news agency, Tass.
"But the atmosphere that was created by this administration during the political struggle, the atmosphere around candidate Trump, it is precisely this that provoked what America is facing today," Pescov added.
Pescov tied $53 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine to the shooting, saying that if the U.S. had spent some of that money on its own security, the shooting in essence wouldn't have happened.
Peskov said the current U.S. government prefers to "resolve all issues from a position of strength, including and primarily in world affairs."
"Now the violence has essentially been transferred inside the country," Peskov said. "After numerous attempts to remove candidate Trump from the political arena, first using legal instruments, courts, the prosecutor's office, attempts to politically discredit and compromise the candidate, it was obvious to all outside observers that his life was in danger."
Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for Russia's Foreign Ministry, said in agreement with Pescov that funds that supported Kyiv should be used to "finance the American police and other services that are supposed to ensure law and order inside the U.S."
Trump was shot in his right ear around 6:15 p.m. Eastern time in Butler, Pennslyvania while speaking to a crowd of several thousand people at a rally there.
He was whisked off the stage by the Secret Service, who along with local police apparently failed to notice a gunman 150 feet away on the roof of a nearby building until just before the shooting began.
Before he was taken off the stage, though, he put his fist in the air and told the crowd to "fight."
He was treated at a local hospital and released Saturday night. He is now in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, where he is expected to emphasize unity among Americans.
President Joe Biden said in an address to the nation Sunday night that he condemned the shooting and also called for unity and for a cooling off of the rhetoric in the campaign.
He initiated a full investigation into the shooting and the failures of security around it.
Following Biden's remarks, Trump posted a two-word response on Truth Social: "UNITE AMERICA!"
Two suspects have been arrested in connection with a string of five shootings in and around Charlotte, North Carolina, one of whom has been identified as an illegal immigrant.
18-year-old Carlos Roberto Diaz and a 16-year-old juvenile were arrested in connection with the spree of shootings that have led to charges ranging from first-degree murder to shooting into an occupied dwelling.
The juvenile was charged with first-degree murder, and additional charges are expected to come in the coming days.
Diaz faces a host of charges including one count of first-degree murder, two counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle, one count of felony conspiracy to commit murder, five counts of attempted murder, two counts of shooting into an occupied dwelling, and one count of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury.
Diaz is in the U.S. illegally and immigrated from Honduras and had an encounter with Border Patrol when he crossed the border in 2019 at the age of 14.
The shootings that took place last week have become part of an increasingly overbearing nightmare for innocent Americans who are watching the country devolve into violence and chaos thanks to President Joe Biden's open borders.
Thousands upon thousands of unvetted immigrants, often young men, have poured into the United States causing violence and unrest thanks to Biden's refusal to close the border and order deportations.
Diaz and his 16-year-old accomplice are just two individuals who are a part of this growing problem and we know that Diaz should never have entered the United States.
What's worse is the motives for this event seem to be entirely random as the 16-year-old reportedly told police that he and Diaz decided to go on a crime spree after they went to a party together. The pair would go on to commit five different shootings which happened in about 30 minutes following that party.
Anthony Blocker, a neighbor, told the media "You got people now just going by and shooting because they don’t have anything to do. Yeah, that’s scary. That’s scary. I’m glad we no longer have that in our community."
While violent crime certainly existed prior to Biden throwing the borders open, things have gotten much worse since Biden stepped in and decided to let in thousands of unvetted young men.
Biden's border policies have been an abject failure and the American people are paying the price for it. Incidents of random violence committed at the hands of illegal immigrants are countless and Biden owes Americans an explanation.
Thankfully, a reckoning is coming as Americans have a chance to render a referendum on Biden's policies in November's presidential election.
Americans largely disapprove of Biden's border handling and it is a major issue that former President Donald Trump is running on. We can only hope this madness ends before more victims are terrorized by offenders who aren't even supposed to be here.