(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) President Donald Trump issued a strong rebuke of the federal prosecutors overseeing what has been described as the second assassination attempt against him.
In a press statement, Trump accused the Biden-Harris DOJ of “mishandling” and “downplaying” the deadly threat he faced earlier this month, citing the lack of strong charges and public information of what transpired that day.
“The charges brought against the maniac assassin are a slap on the wrist,” the former president added in a statement shared on Truth Social.
“It’s no wonder, since the DOJ and FBI have been coming after me nonstop with Weaponized Lawfare since I announced my first Historic Campaign for the Presidency,” the former president continued.
Ryan Wesley Routh, believed to have plotted to kill Trump on Sept. 15, was only charged with two counts related to illegal weapon possession.
This marked the second assassination attempt on Trump in two months, following Thomas Matthew Crooks’s attack during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where one person was killed, and two others were injured.
The Republican candidate for president minced no words in his many legal battles against the DOJ and Democrats, from the Russian collusion probe to both impeachments.
“The DOJ and FBI have a Conflict of Interest since they have been obsessed with ‘Getting Trump’ for so long,” Trump continued in the same statement. “It’s very difficult to trust the Biden/Harris DOJ/FBI to investigate the assassination attempts, due to Election Interference and the FAKE CASES brought against me, including their control over local D.A.s and A.G.s.”
Even FBI Director Christopher Wray faced criticism from Trump. “What he said was disgraceful, especially since it was witnessed LIVE by millions of people, and he was forced to immediately retract,” Trump said, referencing Wray’s debunked claim that the president was never grazed by a bullet.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) “Do as I say, not as I do,” seems to be the motto of an infamous Democrat running for the Senate.
Maryland Senatorial Candidate Angela Alsobrooks exploited tax loopholes for which she did not qualify, saving thousands of dollars while viciously advocating for raising taxes on Americans, CNN reported on Sunday.
Alsobrooks, a Democrat running against Larry Hogan in 2024, failed to pay the proper taxes on two properties she owned in D.C. and Maryland after applying for a low-income senior citizens’ tax break.
Notably, Alsobrooks is the executive of Prince George’s County, overseeing its finances and tax collection.
According to a CNN investigation, Alsobrooks claimed over a decade of homestead tax exemptions for both of her homes. However, these exemptions are exclusively meant for a taxpayer’s primary residence, not two homes. This tax break allowed her to save at least $2,600.
The 53-year-old Democratic politician also benefited from a senior citizens’ tax break on her Washington home, which cut her tax bill in half.
Alsobrooks was able to save $14,000 using these breaks from 2005 to 2017 despite not residing in the nation’s capital. Even worse is the fact that these breaks are reserved for low-income, senior citizens and D.C. residents only.
Hogan, the former Maryland governor, rebuked the Alsobrooks scandal in remarks to ABC 47, calling out her apparent hypocrisy of backing tax hikes while milking tax breaks.
“I don’t know all the details of it, but it’s concerning obviously,” Hogan said. “I need to look into it. For someone who’s talking about raising taxes on hard-working people at the federal, state, and local level, to have not paid her own taxes is something that she’s going to have to answer for.”
He added, “And, ya know, somebody that’s gaming the system for their own gain while they’re talking about sticking it to everyone else seems to be kind of disingenuous.”
Alsobrooks’ senior adviser, Connor Lounsbury, swiftly engaged in damage control, claiming ignorance of the loopholes she did not qualify for. The adviser affirmed that the Democratic candidate is working with attorneys to amend her tax situation.
Alsobrooks senior adviser Connor Lounsbury swiftly did damage control, claiming ignorance over the loopholes she did not qualify for. The adviser affirmed that the Democrat candidate has retained legal counsel to work on the issues.
“She was unaware of any tax credits attached to that property and has reached out to the District of Columbia to resolve the issue and make any necessary payment,” Lounsbury claimed
In separate statements, Lounsbury claimed that the tax breaks “resulted in no financial gain for” the politician, vaguely affirming that Alsobrooks paid more in taxes.
Angela Alsobrooks responds to claims she saved thousands with improper tax exemptions. Her senior adviser Connor Lounsbury issued a statement to @7NewsDCpic.twitter.com/ApHpZAXz8o
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) President Joe Biden suggested that White House staff have barred him from inviting young girls on stage, defying these orders during a White House event on Monday.
“I thought when I got to be president, I’d get to do things that I want to do. But my staff tells me what I can’t do,” Biden complained while celebrating the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League champions.
It was then that Biden—who has faced accusations of inappropriate behavior including kissing, hugging and touching—called young girls to join him on stage.
“But I’m going to do it anyway,” he declared. “All the young women, young kids out there, that are out there, come on up and do this one. Stand behind me. Just come on.”
As reported by the New York Post and captured by several livestreams, Biden then urged the “guys” to join him as well.
Following Biden’s invitation, several young women joined him at the podium while he shook their hands, as onlookers stood by. Around four young girls and two boys accepted Biden’s offer.
Biden’s bizarre remarks followed his 2019 apology video for numerous accusations of inappropriate interactions with women.
Tara Reade, a former congressional staffer, accused Biden of sexual assault during her time working for him in 1993. Biden has categorically denied the accusations, while legacy media have conveniently moved on.
This apology was issued in 2019 as Biden launched his 2020 presidential campaign.
“I want to talk about gestures of support that I’ve made to women and some men that have made them uncomfortable,” Biden said in a video shared on Twitter.
“I’ve always tried to make a human connection. That’s my responsibility, I think… It’s the way I’ve always been. It’s the way I try to show I care about them and listening,” the president added.
Social norms are changing. I understand that, and I’ve heard what these women are saying. Politics to me has always been about making connections, but I will be more mindful about respecting personal space in the future. That’s my responsibility and I will meet it. pic.twitter.com/Ya2mf5ODts
(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The House Task Force investigating the first assassination attempt on Donald Trump will hold its first public hearing 9:30 a.m. Thursday on Capitol Hill. Meanwhile, the Task Force has also expanded its authority to investigate the more recent attempt on Trump at his Florida golf course.
The Task Force has yet to announce who will be testifying at the hearing, but it looks to be focused on the federal security failures at the deadly July 13 Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The hearing’s title is, The Ongoing Investigation of the Butler, Pennsylvania Security Failure: The Secret Service’s Reliance on State and Local Law Enforcement.
The Trump Shooting Task Force is holding its 1st hearing next week, which will be open to "credentialed" media.
Thursday’s hearing will come six days after the Secret Service released a summary of the findings of its Butler rally internal review. Most of Secret Service’s internal findings have already been documented through congressional testimony, news media investigations and other public statements.
However, Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe did confirm last Friday that his agency’s snipers at Butler knew someone was on the rooftop by 6:10 p.m.—more than 90 seconds before the shooter, Thomas Crooks, opened fire.
My biggest takeaway from today's presser was that the Secret Service snipers *definitely* knew someone was on the AGR rooftop by 6:10 p.m. — about 90 seconds before the shooting began
Reacting to last Friday’s report, Task Force Chairman Mike Kelly, R-Penn., and ranking member Jason Crow, D-Colo., released the following statement: “We encourage Acting Director Ronald Rowe to follow through on his commitment to hold employees of the Secret Service accountable for the failures of July 13. We also expect him to continue cooperating with the Task Force’s ongoing independent investigation.”
Also on Friday, the U.S. House passed legislation by unanimous consent expanding the jurisdiction of the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump to include the second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on Sept. 15 in West Palm Beach, Florida.
House today passed legislation by unanimous consent expanding the jurisdiction of the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump to include the second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on September 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. pic.twitter.com/qEfUocT1jg
“We have requested a briefing with the U.S. Secret Service about what happened and how security responded,” the Task Force said on the day of the second assassination attempt.
“We are thankful that the former President was not harmed, but remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in all of its forms. The Task Force will share updates as we learn more.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) The U.S. House passed a bill last week to deport and make inadmissible criminal foreign nationals convicted of domestic violence and sex-related offenses, including sex crimes against children. It passed with bipartisan support but with the majority of Democrats, 158, voting against it.
The bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act “to provide that aliens who have been convicted of or who have committed sex offenses or domestic violence are inadmissible and deportable.”
This includes stalking, child abuse, child neglect, child abandonment, violation of protective orders, including credible threats of violence, repeated harassment, and conspiracy to commit a sex offense as grounds for deportation, according to the bill language.
It also includes crimes defined in the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006: child sex offenders, sexual predators, child sex traffickers, using minors in a sexual performance, soliciting a minor to practice prostitution, producing or distributing child pornography, transporting with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, among others.
The greatest number of Democrats by state who voted against it are 36 from California, 13 from New York, 12 from Illinois, and nine from Texas, according to an analysis of the vote by The Center Square.
In Massachusetts and Maryland, where violent offenders are being arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, eight and seven Democrats, respectively, voted against deporting such offenders.
These Democrats voted against some current practices of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers who under the Biden-Harris administration are arresting sex offenders thousands of miles from the border in major cities.
In Boston, Baltimore and New York, for example, ICE ERO agents are arresting foreign nationals who illegally entered the country after being previously deported and who were convicted of crimes in other states.
In Massachusetts, ICE ERO Boston officers recently arrested a Brazilian national charged with indecent assault and battery against a Nantucket resident over age 14. They also arrested a Salvadoran national charged with numerous sex crimes against a child on Nantucket Island, including child rape and indecent assault and battery.
They also recently arrested a Guatemalan national convicted of molesting a Missouri minor. He was previously deported, illegally reentered the country and has an extensive criminal history, according to ICE.
In another case, they arrested a Guatemalan national charged with raping a Massachusetts resident. This is after he was convicted of assault and battery on a family or household member and arraigned on two counts of rape and indecent assault and battery on a person over 14. ICE said, “he posed a significant threat to the members of our community.”
In another case, they arrested an 18-year-old Haitian national charged with indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 in Massachusetts.
In Maryland, ICE ERO Baltimore officers apprehended a Mexican national in Gaithersburg convicted of sex crimes against a minor. He illegally entered the U.S. at an unknown date and location and has an extensive criminal history.
They also arrested a sex offender from Honduras who was convicted of sex crimes against a minor. He was previously deported and has an extensive criminal record.
They also arrested a Honduran national illegally in the U.S. who was convicted of raping a Maryland resident. His “landmark arrest” was the 153rd noncitizen sex offender arrested in Maryland this fiscal year, ICE reported.
ICE-ERO-New York officers recently arrested a Honduran man and sex offender who was previously deported four times. He was most recently convicted by a court in Philadelphia for unlawful sexual contact with a minor, indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old, among other charges. He also has an extensive criminal history.
Several House Democrats said they voted against the bill claiming it would hurt victims. Others said it was a political bill in an election year and attacked its author, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-SC. Others claimed the bill didn’t close a loophole in the law that Mace and others claim it does.
Despite their claims, ICE field office directors repeatedly argue it is necessary to deport sex offenders. In their press releases, they repeatedly describe the violent crimes committed against Americans and against migrants, including children.
Their focus as law enforcement is “on prioritizing public safety by apprehending and removing egregious noncitizen offenders” who present a “significant threat to our youngest residents and the community as a whole.”
ICE agents will “relentlessly pursue heinous predators who prey on our children and remove them from the United States,” they maintain.
The 158 Democrats voting against the bill “shows the American people they care more about illegal aliens than our women and children,” Mace said.
(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A Secret Service officer reportedly shot himself in the foot Saturday night while he was near the Israeli ambassador’s residence in Washington DC.
“According to USSS, the agent was on duty during the ‘negligent discharge’ while he was handling his weapon shortly before 8 p.m. in the area of 32nd and Fessenden streets Northwest,” a local DC news station reported Saturday.
“His injuries were not life threatening, and the officer was taken to a hospital for evaluation and treatment. USSS says no one else was injured in the incident.”
According to reporter Susan Crabtree, the officer wasn’t a special agent, but instead was a Uniformed Division Officer attached to the Secret Service’s Foreign Missions branch.
“These officers protect more than 500 foreign diplomatic missions in the Washington Metropolitan Area. They respond to complaints and calls for assistance primarily from foreign embassy personnel,” Crabtree reported.
UPDATE: This was a Uniformed Division Officer attached to the Secret Service's Foreign Missions branch, not a special agent, who shot himself in the foot (literally) last night.
These officers protect more than 500 foreign diplomatic missions in the Washington Metropolitan… https://t.co/GaQwh16D6x
“One source says the UD Officer shot himself in the foot, i.e. in a ‘negligent discharge’ with a duty rifle near the Israeli ambassador’s residence. Not a great time for a shooting, misfire or not, outside that residence to occur—to say the least.”
The Secret Service misfire recalls the agency’s recent security failures—most notably, in Butler Pennsylvania, where Donald Trump was nearly assassinated on July 13. In that event, a local officer who abandoned his post before the shooting was also revealed to have shot himself last December.
“Police Sergeant Gregory Nicol was in his office at the Monaca Police Station on December 15 when he unholstered his duty weapon to show it to another officer. His firearm accidentally discharged in the process, in what is being described as a ‘freak accident,’” the BeaverCountian reported in January, citing two unnamed law enforcement sources.
“The round when through-and-through the officer’s leg, which was subsequently placed in a tourniquet. Nicol was transported to Heritage Valley Beaver where he was treated for soft tissue injuries and released. The officer missed a week-and-a-half of work before returning to full duty.”
Nicol went on to infamy at Butler for leaving his post—a post that would have given him a view of Thomas Crooks on the rooftop.
According to ABC, Nicol left his sniper’s post after he spotted Crooks. He went downstairs and moved through the building trying to shadow Crooks, who was outside, and keep eyes on him. But Nicol reportedly lost sight of Crooks as the counter sniper made his way down to the building’s first level.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
(Headline USA) “Paper or plastic” will no longer be a choice at grocery store checkout lines in California under a new law signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom that bans all plastic shopping bags.
California had already banned thin plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and other stores, but shoppers could purchase bags made with a thicker plastic that purportedly made them reusable and recyclable.
The new measure, approved by state legislators last month, bans all plastic shopping bags starting in 2026.
State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, one of the bill’s supporters, said people were not reusing or recycling any plastic bags. She pointed to a state study that found that the amount of plastic shopping bags trashed per person grew from 8 pounds per year in 2004 to 11 pounds per year in 2021.
Blakespear said the previous bag ban passed a decade ago didn’t reduce the overall use of plastic.
Twelve states, including California, already have some type of statewide plastic bag ban in place, according to the environmental advocacy group Environment America Research & Policy Center.
The California Legislature passed its statewide ban on plastic bags in 2014. The law was later affirmed by voters in a 2016 referendum.
The California Public Interest Research Group said Sunday that the new law finally meets the intent of the original bag ban.
“Californians voted to ban plastic grocery bags in our state almost a decade ago, but the law clearly needed a redo,” said the group’s director Jenn Engstrom. “With the Governor’s signature, California has finally banned plastic bags in grocery checkout lanes once and for all.”
A coalition of three California recyclers and manufacturers do not support the ban of plastic bags.
Roxanne Spiekerman, a representative for the group, stated, “This ill-advised approval will create a cascade of problems for every Californian.”
“These lawmakers chose to enact legislation that they know is flawed despite specific examples, studies, and polls that show banning plastic film grocery bags hurts consumers, businesses, is not what Californians want, and does not help the environment or limit plastic waste,” Spiekerman added.
(Headline USA) The man accused in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump at a golf course in Florida left behind a note saying that he intended to kill the former president and kept in his car a handwritten list of dates and venues where Trump was to appear, the Justice Department said Monday.
The new allegations were included in a detention memo filed ahead of a hearing Monday at which the Justice Department was expected to argue that 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh should remain locked up as the case moves forward.
The details are meant to buttress prosecutors’ assertions that Routh is a threat to public safety with a premeditated plan to kill Trump — a plot officials say was thwarted by a Secret Service agent who spotted a rifle poking out of shrubbery on the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing.
Who among us would NOT let a guy like Ryan Routh drop a box off at your house and leave it there unopened for month? Totally normal behavior pic.twitter.com/0pFfbQpuLi
The note was placed in a box dropped off months earlier at the home of an unidentified person who did not open it until after last Sunday’s arrest. The box also contained ammunition, a metal pipe, building materials, tools, phones and various letters. The person who received the box and contacted law enforcement was not identified in the Justice Department’s detention memo.
One note, addressed “Dear World,” appears to have been premised on the idea that the assassination attempt would be unsuccessful.
“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job,” the note said, according to prosecutors.
An attorney for Routh didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Monday morning.
Cellphone records cited by the Justice Department indicate Routh traveled to West Palm Beach from Greensboro in mid-August, and that he was near Trump’s golf club and the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence “on multiple days and times” between August 18 and the day of the apparent attempted assassination.
He was arrested on Sunday afternoon after a Secret Service agent who was scoping the Trump International Golf Club for potential security threats saw a partially obscured man’s face, and the barrel of a semiautomatic rifle, aimed directly at him. The agent fired at Routh, who sped away before being stopped by officials in a neighboring county.
The Secret Service has said Routh did not fire any shots and never had Trump in his line of sight.
The Justice Department also said Monday that authorities who searched his car found six cellphones, including one that showed a Google search of how to travel from Palm Beach County to Mexico.
They also found a list with dates in August, September and October and venues where Trump had appeared or was scheduled to, according to prosecutors. A notebook found in his car was filled with criticism of the Russian and Chinese governments and notes about how to join the war on behalf of Ukraine.
The detention memo also cites a book authored by Routh last year in which he lambasted Trump’s approach to foreign policy, including in Ukraine. In the book, he wrote that Iran was “free to assassinate Trump” for having left the nuclear deal.
Routh is charged with illegally possessing his gun in spite of multiple felony convictions, including two charges of possessing stolen goods in 2002 in North Carolina, and with possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. More serious charges are possible in the weeks ahead.
(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) The husband of one of the two moderators in next week’s CBS News debate featuring vice presidential candidates J.D. Vance and Tim Walz appears to have made two donations of $250 apiece to the controversial Lincoln Project during the 2020 election.
Records from the Federal Election Commission show that Ali “Yado” Yakub, the husband of Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan, contributed on July 2 and Sept. 26 of that year to the anti-Trump super-PAC.
Screenshot of Ali ‘Yado’ Yakub’s donations in 2020 to the Lincoln Project / IMAGE: FEC.gov
Voting records confirmed that the address listed was the residence of Yakub, who was registered as a Republican, and Brennan, who was registered as an independent.
Many have observed that registration offers no indication about political preference, with Democrats during the recent primary—in which President Joe Biden ran largely uncontested—frequently changing their party identification to vote against Trump.
Yakub also made contributions to ActBlue in 2019, including two that were earmarked for the primary campaign of future Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Headline USA reached out to both Brennan and Yakub by phone and email but received no response.
The Lincoln Project—founded by high-profile NeverTrump ex-Republicans Rick Wilson, George T. Conway III, Steve Schmidt, Reed Galen, John Weaver and Jennifer Horn—initially appeared to be a sort of principled response by members of the GOP establishment to Trump’s takeover of the party.
However, it quickly became clear that some of its members were growing increasingly unhinged with Trump Derangement Syndrome.
The group lost all credibility when, in January 2021, allegations emerged that co-founder John Weaver had engaged in sexual impropriety with young, male staffers and had allegedly solicited boys as young as 14.
The bombshell led to an exodus of the group’s more influential figures, such as former John McCain campaign chief Steve Schmidt, who had become a registered Democrat the month prior.
Only two of its charter members—Rick Wilson and Reed Galen—are currently associated with the group, which has grown more radical and outlandish, notoriously engaging in a stunt in which it staged a fake neo-Nazi rally and attempted to blame Trump supporters.
It also has run ads pushing blatant disinformation, such as attempting to suggest that Trump would monitor and arrest people for attempting to obtain an abortion. Trump has repeatedly emphasized that the issue is now at the state level and will remain so if he is re-elected, while noting that he personally favors exceptions for abortions in a set of specific, narrowly tailored circumstances.
Moreover, the Lincoln Project has sought to falsely tie Trump to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which he has repeatedly disavowed and denied any association with. The project launched in April 2023, well before Trump was the presumptive nominee, and was designed as a series of policy proposals for use by whichever candidate prevailed.
It is unclear whether Yakub’s donations would violate any CBS newsroom ethical policies, many of which would likely apply only to Brennan herself.
However, CBS News, like many mainstream media outlets, recently amplified attacks on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito that suggested the conservative jurist should recuse himself from Trump-related cases due to his wife’s decision to display Revolutionary War-era flags that have been associated with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.
Consequently, the network may have created at least the reasonable perception of bias by its own standard, particularly if Brennan’s moderation is believed to favor Walz over Vance in the Oct. 1 matchup.
The revelation of Brennan’s indirect ties to the Lincoln Project via Yakub comes amid lingering sensitivities about moderator bias following reports that ABC News may have colluded with the Kamala Harris campaign in the Sept. 10 presidential debate.
A whistleblower affidavit alleged that the network agreed to give Harris access to question topics, avoid certain questions and unilaterally “fact check” the statements—many of them verifiably true—of former President Donald Trump.
Breaking – Here is the ABC whistleblower affidavit stating how ABC arranged a bias, anti-Trump debate. There are several pages after the verification page that were specifics about the job the whistleblower did and a transcript of the recordings he had made. pic.twitter.com/JM9vvXbxok
“The American people deserve transparency and accountability from the mainstream media and full accounting of whether ABC News coordinated with the Harris campaign to skew the debate’s questions and fact-checking in favor of the Vice President,” Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, wrote in a letter to the network and the Harris campaign last week.
Goldberg declined to speculate on the prospect of bias in the upcoming debate in a text-message to Headline USA.
“Predictions are hard — especially when they’re about the future,” he wrote. “Yogi [Berra] said that.”
He likewise deferred in commenting on the current level of bias at his old network.
“Been away from cbs news for a very long time and would have no valuable insight,” he wrote.
Another prominent CBS News alumna and well-known media-bias critic, Sharyl Attkisson, was slightly less reluctant.
“I don’t watch CBS and honestly have no idea about the culture! Almost everybody I knew is gone,” she told Headline USA via text message.
However, based on her continuing work in the field, she was able to venture her own belief that the ABC whistleblower was correct in saying corporate influences had impacted journalistic integrity over the past decade.
“I suspect you are correct,” she wrote. “There was a sea change in 2015 time period in which media fairness and accuracy devolved faster than any previous time I know of.”
Attkisson resigned in 2014 from the network and proceeded to write the best-selling book Stonewalled about her fight against “obstruction, intimidation and harassment” during the Obama era.
At the time, the president of CBS News was David Rhodes, who was the brother of leading Obama White House propagandist Ben Rhodes.
She has continued to chronicle the decline of American journalism in two series on her website: “Media Mistakes in the Era of Trump” and “Media Mistakes in the Era of Biden.”
Seven of Robinson’s staff announced their resignations, including top adviser Conrad Pogorzelski, after the allegations surfaced late last week that Robinson had made inflammatory and controversial posts, including to a pornographic chatroom.
“I appreciate the efforts of these team members who have made the difficult choice to step away from the campaign, and I wish them well in their future endeavors,” Robinson said in a statement. “I look forward to announcing new staff roles in the coming days.”
Only three staffers remained as of Sunday: two spokespeople and a security guard, said the Axios report.
The offending posts were purportedly made on accounts linked to Robinson’s personal email between 2008 and 2012—six to 10 years before an impassioned pro-Second-Amendment speech at an April 2018 Greensboro City Council launched him into the public spotlight and began his political journey from humble beginnings.
In addition to several posts that hinted at unusual sexual fetishes, Robinson, who is black, also appeared to praise Adolf Hitler and argue that some people deserved to be enslaved, CNN claimed.
He has denied that the posts are his, although he acknowledged in his memoir We Are the Majority! that he had made some provocative posts in the past that were construed as being anti-Semitic, and that he had apologized for them.
Robinson, who was trailing Democrat Attorney General Josh Stein in the polls before the CNN piece, pledged last week to fight on following the scandal, reiterating that projections had “consistently underestimated Republican support in North Carolina for several cycles now and with a large portion of the electorate still undecided as we continue to ramp up our efforts across the state.”
However, some feared that Republican voters might follow suit if the once-rising GOP star fails to confront the allegations in a more direct and forceful way.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. suggested that if they were demonstrably untrue, it was incumbent on Robinson to press forward with a defamation suit against CNN.
“If they’re not true, he has the best lawsuit in the history of the country for libel,” Graham told NBC News’s Meet the Press on Sunday.
“If I were him, I would hire me the best lawyer I could find,” Graham added. “I’d sue the hell out of CNN.”
He noted that because of the high stakes involved for North Carolinians—and the prospect that it could impact the presidential race—Robinson “has an obligation to defend himself” because “this is hanging over his campaign.”
The Trump campaign, which has maintained a heavy presence in the state recently, with polls showing a razor-thin lead over Democrat nominee Kamala Harris, appeared to distance itself from Robinson at recent events in Raleigh and Wilmington, where the GOP candidates for Robinson’s current job as lieutenant governor—Hal Weatherman—and state attorney general—U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop—were invited to speak but the gubernatorial candidate was snubbed.
Despite the public recusals from Republican candidates and office-holders, however, many continued to express their support for Robinson on social media and elsewhere, noting what appeared to be a double-standard in his treatment versus that of other high-profile politicians who have made controversial statements—including Trump himself.
The situation seemed, in some ways, to parallel the 2016 “October surprise” in which Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton released a 2005 Access Hollywood recording of Trump making lewd comments that he later dismissed as “locker-room talk.”
But the issue proved to be a liability for Clinton as many noted her selective outrage over Trump’s boorish remarks while shrugging off the multiple allegations of sexual harassment and assault that had been brought against her own husband and associates like Harvey Weinstein.
Some may likewise question whether Robinson’s alleged comments—which did not appear to be serious if they were, in fact, true—should disqualify him after his four years of demonstrated leadership, or whether they added precisely to the working-class, Everyman appeal that led voters to connect with him in the first place.
Supporters have pointed to the fact that Democrats—notably those on leftist news networks like CNN—have previously celebrated anti-Semitism, fetish culture and other issues related to the alleged posts that they are now imbuing with their performative outrage.
If Robinson does push through, however, and turn the scandal into a liability for Stein, Harris and other Democrats who have embarked on yet another “high-tech lynching,” as he said Thursday, invoking the words of Justice Clarence Thomas, it is essential that he continue to receive institutional support, as well as popular support.
Undoubtedly, Democrats will not let such an opportunity rest if they sense blood in the water and can leverage their own advantages—including the media and the federal government—to attack Robinson with everything they have.
In light of the recent lawfare attacks on Trump and others, including the arrest and incarceration of meme-creator Douglass Mackey over a 2016 post that told Democrats to text their votes for Hillary Clinton, it is not unfathomable to think that Attorney General Merrick Garland might seek to initiate a federal hate crime investigation against Robinson for his alleged posts.
While there is currently a seven-year statute of limitations against prosecution for any such federal crime not involving death, the New York case in which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg colluded with the Justice Department and Judge Juan Merchan to convict Trump shows that corrupt prosecutors applying an “ends justifies the means” philosophy to attain a particular political outcome are not above taking liberties with the rule of law.
But as with Trump, the DOJ’s targeting of Robinson for his alleged “hate crimes” could also backfire, turning him even more sympathetic and heroic by taking him back to his roots as a man with his back to the wall fighting against a system that is rigged in favor of the powerful and inaccessible to the common folk.
