The Justice Department has been discussing settlements with two former officials from Donald Trump’s first term who — like the president — claim they’re owed major payouts from the US government as victims of politically-motivated actions.
The administration has been in talks since at least late summer to resolve lawsuits brought by Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and former senior White House lawyer Stefan Passantino, according to court filings. Flynn is seeking $50 million for what he alleges was a wrongful prosecution, while Passantino says a House committee probing the 2020 election harmed his reputation by leaking private information.
The negotiations mark a shift from the Justice Department’s position during the Biden administration, when government lawyers successfully fought both cases. Flynn lost the first round of his civil damages lawsuit last year. The US attorney’s office in Atlanta was defending a judge’s decision to toss out Passantino’s claims as recently as June.
By September, though, lawyers in Flynn and Passantino’s cases had notified courts about the settlement talks. The developments are the latest example of how the administration is seeking to provide legal relief and potentially taxpayer-funded compensation for those Trump considers aligned with him or wronged by his perceived political enemies.
Flynn pled guilty. Now he wants 50 million. And I would guess Trump will happily give it to him because he is appealing for 230 million himself!
The settlement agreement depends entirely upon the DOJ to make the decision. I think you can see the problem here.
As you may have heard, GOP Senators stuck a provision in the Continuing Resolution that would allow any senators for whom the January 6th special counsel obtained judicial warrants to look at their phone records, to sue for $500,000. The House Republicans are upset because they didn’t get a piece of that action and are raising hell. It’s enough to have the GOP Senators involved to back off saying they never wanted the money they just want Jack Smith’s head on a pike for having the temerity to see whether or not Trump was trying to get them to join his coup.
They are citing “separation of powers.” Lolololol!!!!!
I don’t know if this matters as much as people say it does but I think it’s worth mentioning:
ROGAN: “Trump is saying they stole the f*ckin’ election. And I feel like if you say that, you've got to have some really good evidence — 4 years later, no one has an answer… and now a Republican bought the Dominion voting machine company.”
The scale at which the President is profiting is staggering. Perhaps past presidents snuck out with a million or so — a briefcase full of cash. This time, it's billions, which you should visualize as a fleet of school buses filled with Benjamin Franklins. pic.twitter.com/2cHOxqgcJw
President Trump has been dining with Wall Street bigwigs. He has embarked on an opulent revamp of the White House at a time when Americans are struggling to pay their bills. He has expressed support for granting visas to skilled foreigners to take jobs in the United States. He approved a $20 billion bailout for Argentina, helping a foreign government and wealthy investors at a moment when the U.S. government was shut down.
For a president who returned to office promising to avoid foreign entanglements, make life more affordable and ensure that available jobs go to American citizens, it has been a significant departure from the expectations of his loyal base. And it is starting to open a rift with his supporters who were counting on a more aggressively populist agenda.
The divisions within Mr. Trump’s movement, spawned by his own actions, have been only amplified by the latest developments on a story that he has been doing his best to quash: his relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Much of the president’s MAGA movement, and many of his top aides, pushed for years for all the investigative files on the Epstein case to be made public, insisting that a rich and well-connected man — and his network of wealthy and powerful friends — needed to be held accountable for any abuse of young women.
It’s taking a toll. This survey is probably an outlier but the trend is clear:
According to a new poll from the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, just a third of respondents — only 33 percent — said they approve of how Trump is managing the federal government. That’s a 10 percent drop from the number of Americans who said they approved of his management in a similar survey taken in March.
The survey of 1,143 adults, conducted from Nov. 6 to Nov. 10, also found that Trump’s approval rating among self-identified Republicans has taken a hit amid what was the longest government shutdown in history.
The poll found that just 68 percent of GOP-identified respondents said they approve of Trump’s management of the federal government, down from 81 percent who said they approved in March.
Trump self-soothes by telling himself that the polls are all hoaxes. But on some level he knows they aren’t. With the exception of the Epstein mess, which he seems genuinely upset about, I’m not sure he cares much anymore. He’s enjoying the love he gets from all the important people who are working him for favors and never has to face the voters again. He’s really semi-retired, spending at least half of his time redecorating, socializing and Mar-a-lago and playing golf. I think he is content with bullshitting himself into believing that his legacy will be what he deems it to be.
Other Republicans don’t have that luxury. This is starting to take a toll as you can see by the high profile defection of Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The latest YouGov/Economist polling, conducted between November 7 and 10, shows that Trump’s support among the oldest voters has fallen sharply since October. Last month, Baby Boomers were evenly split, with 49 percent approval and 49 percent disapproval. In the new November data, approval drops to 42 percent while disapproval climbs to 57 percent—a 15-point net decline in just one month.
I think it’s because he’s obviously demented. They (we) recognize it when they see it. They’ve also been around long enough to know just how corrupt his behavior is. I think they fooled themselves into believing that it was all a hoax but the evidence is accumulating.
As I mentioned in my first Saturday offering, Donald Trump in a Truth Social post Friday morning directed A.G. Pam Bondi to investigate others associated with the late, convicted sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein. He is desperate to deflect attention from himself and the Epstein files the public demands released. Trump left off “Thank you for your attention to this matter” in this case, but Bondi got the message five by five. But note that Bondi took a full 3 hours and 37 minutes to respond to Donald Trump’s 10:35 a.m. order via Truth Social.
Surely you can do better, Pam. Usually, Trump’s people are pretty snappy about shouting, “Yes, sir! How high?” whenever he says jump.
Why not a competition on the White House South Lawn? Let’s see who can jump faster and higher for their king. Consider it a trial run for the UFC fight the former reality TV star has planned there for the country’s 250-year anniversary. His entire boot-licking cabinet, plus Stephen Miller and OMB Director Russ Vought. Open the games with a solemn quote from King Lear: “Which of you shall we say doth love us most?“
The prize? A preemptive pardon bordered with gold leaf.
Make it a benefit for one of Trump’s phony charities where proceeds wind up in his pocket. He’d love that. The world will take bets on the winner and on which competitor will fill her/his rivals with lead shot.
As some day it may happen that a victim must be found
Donald Trump is acting like a cat obsessively scraping the sides of the litter box to hide any signs of the poop he’s already covered up. He is desperate, desperate not only to derail release of government-held Epstein files but to change the subject. Or turn whatever is in them into a story about anybody else. Anybody Democrat.
In a transparent attempt to distract from the many times his own name appears in the documents from the Epstein estate members of the House Oversight Committee released Wednesday, President Donald J. Trump asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Democrats whose names appeared in the documents. He singled out former president Bill Clinton, former treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers, and Reid Hoffman, who founded LinkedIn and who is a Democratic donor.
Although the attorney general is the nation’s chief law enforcement officer and is supposed to be nonpartisan in protecting the rule of law, Bondi responded that the Department of Justice “will pursue this with urgency and integrity.” Maegan Vazquez and Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post note that reporters have already covered the relationship of Epstein with Clinton, Summers, and Hoffman for years, and that in July, Justice Department officials said an examination of the FBI files relating to Epstein—a different cache than Wednesday’s—“did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”
“Don’t bother me with details, just do it.” That is the clear message Trump sent Bondi via Truth Social post.
In normal times, it would be a major scandal for the President to direct his AG to criminally investigate his political opponents to deflect from his own involvement in a major scandal — and for the AG to immediately announce she is doing it. The Epstein scandal and cover up just got even bigger.
Courtesy of a Wall Street Journal graphic, we can see what Trump is desperate to cover up. Trump isn’t just mentioned in the emails released by the Epstein estate. He’s mentioned in over half and far more than the people he’s siccing AG Pam Bondi on.
Wag the Dog
Turning from cats to dogs, Trump sees Venezuela as an easy target for deflecting attention from the Epstein files. See Wag the Dog, the 1997 film summarized thusly: “Shortly before an election, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to fabricate a war in order to cover up a Presidential sex scandal.”
Two months ago, Charlie Sykes asked, “Is The Dog About To Be Wagged?” He noted a deployment of stealth fighters to Puerto Rico.
“Why would you need F35 stealth fighter jets for a counternarcotics mission?” asked Fox News Chief National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin.
Since then, Trump has diverted the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, to the Caribbean. It arrived “on Tuesday, adding to the capability of the United States to strike boats suspected of carrying drugs or targets on land in Venezuela as the Trump administration weighs further military steps aimed at ousting the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro.”
Sykes added in September:
And what better distraction from badeconomicnewsEpsteinglobalhumiliations than a quick, bloody war with a country led by a leftist dictator? A country not only rife with gangs and drugs, but with massive oil reserves. What’s not to like?
Yes, Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio would like to topple the government of Venezuela and President Nicolás Maduro. And Secretary Pete Hegseth is eager to flex his Crusader tattoos. But as I say regularly, Republicans love a twofer.
Canada’s Daily Scrum News considers how starting a war with Venezuela might help Trump’s Epstein file problem:
To understand why requires returning to the core definition of wagging the dog. In political terms, it describes a leader facing a domestic storm so powerful, so revealing, or so personally damaging that the only available move is to create a crisis bigger than the scandal itself. The external threat becomes the story; the internal decay becomes background noise. The war, or threat of war, becomes an anesthetic powerful enough to mute outrage, paralyse critics, and redirect the nation’s emotional energy outward. It is not a conspiracy. It is a pattern, one that has appeared throughout history: during impeachment proceedings, economic downturns, collapsing approval ratings, corruption investigations, electoral disasters, and national humiliation. It is the oldest sleight of hand in the repertoire of empire.
And, hoo-boy, does Trump have a plateful of economic problems of his own creation.
And then comes the most explosive destabilizer of all: the Epstein files. Their contents, their implications, and their potential connections pose a direct threat to the highest circles of American power. The release of information, the opening of sealed documents, and the revelations about networks of influence, wealth, and exploitation create an existential political crisis. The question is not what is in the files, but who. The fear is not speculation—it is exposure. In this atmosphere, with the public demanding accountability and figures across the political and financial elite preparing for reputational devastation, the impulse to shift national focus elsewhere grows irresistible.
This is where Venezuela becomes the stage.
Donovan Martin Sr, Editor in Chief of The Daily Scrum considers the possibility that starting a war with Venezuela might have been a premeditated move by Trump:
In the end, the question becomes whether this escalation is a strategic defence of national interest or a strategic defence of political survival. The indicators point heavily toward the latter. The American public, and the global community, now stand at a pivotal moment. If the path to war with Venezuela proceeds unchallenged, the world may soon witness not only a catastrophic conflict but one born not of necessity, not of emergency, but of calculated distraction. A war designed not to protect America, but to protect the president. A tail powerful enough to drag the entire dog into the fire.
When President Donald Trump told reporters on Sept. 5 he’d started looking at sending the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, he said it was because of something he saw on television.
He said the city was being destroyed by paid agitators. “What they’ve done to that place, it’s like living in hell,” he said, a comment that became an internet meme as some Portland residents juxtaposed it with tranquil images of the city.
Trump didn’t say which channel he watched; he said at one point he saw something “today” and at another “last night.”
The evening before, on Sept. 4, Fox News aired a two-and-a-half-minute segment spotlighting protests outside a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Portland. Similar footage aired the morning of Trump’s remarks. The president went on to announce Sept. 27 on Truth Social that he would send troops, saying that he was “authorizing Full Force, if necessary.”
He later said he’d told Oregon’s governor, Tina Kotek, that “unless they’re playing false tapes, this looked like World War II. Your place is burning down.”
ProPublica examined months of Fox News’ coverage and reviewed more than 700 video clips posted to social media by protesters, counterprotesters and others in the three months preceding the Sept. 4 broadcast.
The review found that the news network repeatedly provided a misleading picture of what was happening in Portland.
They used footage from 2020 and mislabeled the dates off actions on the screen. And:
Fox News chyrons about Portland the week of Trump’s remarks carried phrases like “violent demonstrators,” “protesters riot,” “anti-I.C.E. Portland rioters” and “war-like protests.” One host said protesters were attacking federal officers.
The same thing happened later when Trump saw a segment on Nigeria and ordered Hegseth to get ready to invade to “save the Christians.”
Fox news is Trump’s most important adviser. That’s not news, we know that. But with Trump being so unrestrained and violent, their lies are even more dangerous than they used to be. And they know exactly what they’re doing.
BREAKING: Tucker Carlson announces he is releasing evidence tomorrow proving the FBI is lying about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania by Thomas Crooks
Joe Rogan and Elon Musk pointed out the INSANE inconsistencies
BREAKING: Tucker Carlson announces he is releasing evidence tomorrow proving the FBI is lying about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania by Thomas Crooks
Joe Rogan and Elon Musk pointed out the INSANE inconsistencies
– The assassins house was PROFESSIONALLY scrubbed – His home was scrubbed so well there wasn’t even silverware left in the home – No footprint on the internet – No social media footprint (completely wiped) – He was in a BlackRock commercial – Joe Rogan says some individuals inside BlackRock may have “recognized that it’s beneficial to them if he gets assassinated” – There was never a formal report – There was never press conferences where they detailed all the information they know currently and where the investigation stands at the moment – He was a very young g kid there with a rangefinder (used to measure distances, very suspicious) – CNN streamed it live, which Joe Rogan does not believe they did for any other rally. And certainly not for a rally that’s in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania – They wouldn’t let people be on that roof because the Secret service lady said it was sloped and it was dangerous – The snipers that were on the other roof was a, a steeper pitch (It made no f*cking sense) – Random people saw him and pointed him out on the roof with a gun for a long time before it happened – The kid had 5 phones – His body was immediately cremated – There was some indications that there was a phone that had been traveling from outside the FBI offices in D.C to where this kid lived multiple times
We need answers.
I don’t know what they are suggesting. If it’s a cover up by the Deep State, by this time Trump, Bondi, Patel and the rest are all in on it. Considering that it was an attempt on Trump’s life it must be really deep.
That’s Joe Rogan, the guy everyone says is the avatar of the Real American to whom we are required to pay attention. Tucker Carlson is going full Nazi. And Elon is well, Elon.
The Trump administration has directed visa officers to consider obesity — and other chronic health conditions such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes — as reasons to deny foreigners visas to the United States.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told U.S. consulates and embassies around the world about the changes in a Nov. 6 cable, according to a copy obtained and verified by The Washington Post. The move broadens current medical screening beyond contagious diseases and gives visa officers new justification to reject applicants, in the Trump administration’s latest effort to curb the flow of immigration.
“You must consider an applicant’s health,” said the State Department cable, which was reported earlier by KFF Health News. “Certain medical conditions — including, but not limited to, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, cancers, diabetes, metabolic diseases, neurological diseases, and mental health conditions — can require hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of care.”
The cable then suggests that consulates consider obesity in determining whether to grant visas, mentioning that it can cause sleep apnea, high blood pressure and clinical depression.
I frankly don’t know why anyone would ever want to come here at this point. We are a pariah country and for good reason. Apparently, our government has decided that we are the Master Race and cannot allow any inferior foreign vermin to enter.
