With 99.2 percent of the vote counted, the Superior Electoral Court of Brazil has announced that former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won his country’s presidential election (again) over current President Jair Bolsonaro.
After spending general election campaign funds during the primary (big no-no), he also filed his quarterly report with the Federal Election Commission late. All that could mean a fine of around $17,000. Continue reading “Madison Cawthorn Could Face Huge Campaign Fine”
Just in case you needed any more proof what a grifter Madison Cawthorn is, The Daily Beast reports the soon-to-be-unseated congressman spent general election campaign donations during his primary – that he lost.
The Trump name has been dumped from a signature West Palm Beach condominium in the wake of the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol.
Last week, the board of the Trump Plaza condominium voted unanimously to change the legal name of the twin-tower complex. As a result, former President Donald Trump no longer will have a condo bearing his name across the water from his island enclave on Palm Beach.
The 32-story, twin-tower complex decided to cut its last link with Trump following his actions in inciting the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The condo’s Jan. 19 vote cleared the way for residents to cast a ballot to choose a new name for the luxury condo, where units sell from $1 million to more than $4 million.
“The Trump brand is damaged, so rebranding the complex is a wise move,” said Burt Minkoff, a real estate agent with Douglas Elliman on Palm Beach.
It’s not just Florida, either. Data shows buildings in Manhattan bearing the Trump name have seen their value drop by half.
“The Trump name is probably pretty radioactive right now,” realtor Mark Cohen told Business Insider.
Donald Trump (photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr – CC License)
With the Electoral College affirming the results of the 2020 presidential election this week, followed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recognizing President-elect Joe Biden as the winner, one might think Donald Trump would begin to accept the reality that his time in the White House is coming to an end.
Yet even amid the intractable movement of the transition and the hurried lame-duck activity — some of which he is participating in himself — Trump is steadfastly refusing to acknowledge that he lost.
In his moments of deepest denial, Trump has told some advisers that he will refuse to leave the White House on Inauguration Day, only to be walked down from that ledge. The possibility has alarmed some aides, but few believe Trump will actually follow through.
“He’s throwing a f***ing temper tantrum,” an adviser said. “He’s going to leave. He’s just lashing out.”
The White House declined to comment for this report.
“Temper tantrums, lashing out, talking about not leaving the White House. Trump is not 4, right? He's 74,” @ErinBurnett says.
Donald Trump was apparently so upset the Supreme Court didn’t hand him the election (as he’d planned) that he refused to come down to his own White House holiday party superspreader event.
But he did make time for a Twitter rant…because of course.
It’s worth pointing out that Team Trump lost dozens and dozens of baseless lawsuits in trying to steal the election. He lost in federal courts, appellate courts, and now the Supreme Court wouldn’t even let his peeps in the door. He lost to conservative, Republican-appointed judges, he even lost to judges he appointed.
It’s time, Donnie. It’s time to find some dignity.
#TrumpMeltDown quickly began trending on Twitter.
At the White House Christmas Party, guests were informed about 10 minutes ago that the president won't be joining them to make remarks.
I WON THE ELECTION IN A LANDSLIDE, but remember, I only think in terms of legal votes, not all of the fake voters and fraud that miraculously floated in from everywhere! What a disgrace!
Who is a worse governor, @BrianKempGA of Georgia or @dougducey of Arizona??? These are two RINO Republicans who fought against me and the Republican Party harder than any Democrat. They allowed states that I won easily to be stolen. Never forget, vote them out of office!
The Supreme Court had ZERO interest in the merits of the greatest voter fraud ever perpetrated on the United States of America. All they were interested in is “standing”, which makes it very difficult for the President to present a case on the merits. 75,000,000 votes!
The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed last weekend’s ruling dismissing the lawsuit brought by Team Trump in Pennsylvania that was argued by Rudy Giuliani.
The 21-page ruling by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals was a complete repudiation of Mr. Trump’s effort to halt Pennsylvania’s certification process and a full-throated affirmation of a decision last Saturday by Judge Matthew W. Brann of Federal District Court in Williamsport, Penn., who dealt the Trump campaign its initial defeat in the case.
“Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy,” Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee, wrote on behalf of the appeals court. “Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.”
Trump’s lawyers have already announced they plan to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court where Trump believes his 3 handpicked justices would give him a win.
BUT – most legal eagles doubt the high court would be willing to take up a case where the evidence is lacking and ultimately won’t change the outcome of the race. Even if SCOTUS were to take the case and rule in Trump’s favor, Biden would still have 286 votes in the Electoral College – far more than the required 270 to win the White House.
As Judge Bibas writes:
“Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.”
There is no chance SCOTUS will review the suit dismissed by Judge Brann seeking to block Pennsylvania’s certification. The lawyers representing the President are either delusional or intentionally misleading him and his supporters.
The US Court of Appeals has totally destroyed Trump’s claims in Pennsylvania. The opinion, written by Trump appointee Steve Bibas, is devastating. It didn’t even bother holding oral argument, saying the “claims have no merit.”
A federal judge has thrown out the Trump campaign’s lawsuit in Pennsylvania hoping to stop the certification of ballots there likening Team Trump’s arguments to Frankenstein’s monster, saying it appeared “haphazardly stitched together.”
A federal judge in Pennsylvania dismissed on Saturday night a lawsuit by the Trump campaign that had claimed there were widespread improprieties with mail-in ballots in the state, ending the last major effort to delay the certification of Pennsylvania’s vote results, which is scheduled to take place Monday.
In a scathing order, Judge Matthew W. Brann wrote that Mr. Trump’s campaign, which had asked him to effectively disenfranchise nearly seven million voters, should have come to court “armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption” in its efforts to essentially nullify the results of Pennsylvania’s election.
But instead, Judge Brann complained, the Trump campaign provided only “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations” that were “unsupported by evidence.”
BREAKING: Federal judge dismisses Trump campaign's last lawsuit seeking to delay certification of Pennsylvania's election results. pic.twitter.com/oYi0wLHQUe
"This Court has been presented with … speculative accusation … unsupported by evidence. In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state."
"Plaintiffs’ only remaining claim alleges a violation of equal protection. This claim, like Frankenstein’s Monster, has been haphazardly stitched together from two distinct theories in an attempt to avoid controlling precedent."