CARVILLE: Dems Must Exploit COVID Crisis Since Trump Can Only Win by Cheating

Ben Sellers
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‘It’s plain as day: Republicans can only win by chilling the right to vote…’

Democratic Strategist Fires Back at Bernie: 'At Least I'm Not a Communist'
James Carville / IMAGE: MSNBC via Youtube

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Fresh off his feud with socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., former Clinton crony James Carville, a leading defender of the old-guard Democratic Establishment, fueled a conspiracy theory that President Donald Trump would have to “cheat” to be re-elected.

“Despite all the many warnings, Republicans ran down the rabbit hole with Trump so far they can no longer see the sun—and now it’s time they pay the price,” Carville claimed in an opinion piece published by NBC News.

He went on to promote several left-wing talking points that have been brazenly pitched to help Democrats cheat by skirting long held election rules and conventions.

“It’s plain as day: Republicans can only win by chilling the right to vote,” he claimed.

Echoing several partisan House Democrats, such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and James Clyburn of South Carolina, Carville suggested that the Left should continue its efforts to use emergency coronavirus relief packages as a way to attain its partisan election objectives.

“[D]uring this moment of crisis, it is now the single most important political imperative of elected Democrats to demand as many measures to protect and expand the right to vote in the coming stimulus bills as possible,” he said.

Among these are push for court-forced gerrymandering, as well as opposition to voter ID laws and the federally mandated cleaning of voter rolls—based on a law passed during the Clinton presidency.

“If all elections were fair, there wouldn’t have been a Republican president since before Bill Clinton,” Carville said, attempting to cast former two-term President George W. Bush as illegitimate.

Several blue localities have actively resisted cleaning their voter rolls of inactive voters—including those who have moved away or died, and felons who are no longer eligible in many states.

“Unless a person has died, they cannot be illegitimately removed from voter rolls and should get a ballot sent right to their mailbox like everyone else,” Carville falsely claimed.

Only a handful of states currently send ballots to all eligible voters.

While Democrats have attempted to use the coronavirus panic as justification to move to a mail-only ballot system, voting integrity watchdogs and Republicans, including Trump, have sounded the alarm at the suspicious ploy, noting the increased potential for fraud and ballot mishandling that would result.

History Repeating….

Left-Wing Outlet: Joe Biden's Agenda 'Far More Liberal than Hillary Clinton's'
Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden / IMAGE: CNN via Youtube

Carville cited polls to make his case that presumptive Democrat nominee Joe Biden stood poised to coast to victory.

“Despite having gone through President Donald Trump’s impeachment ringer … Biden has never been down to Trump in the polling averages the entire primary—and is frequently up by double digit margins, nationally,” Carville said.

The polls suggested that Biden currently maintained a roughly 6-point advantage over Trump, although the gap has narrowed considerably since the start of the year after peaking around 10 points during House Democrats’ impeachment probes in November and December.

Likewise, in April 2016, Democratic nominee-in-waiting Hillary Clinton enjoyed a 10-point advantage over Trump, which narrowed to 3 points, on average, immediately prior to her losing the election.

Clinton’s reliance on inaccurate and biased polling resulted in her ignoring several key battleground states.

Carville, likewise, boasted of Biden’s lead in some of the same places.

“He is up in North Carolina, he is up in Arizona, he is up in Wisconsin, has never been down in Michigan or Pennsylvania, and is even up in what has become the political no man’s land of Ohio,” Carville claimed.

Although the former vice president has nary been seen for several weeks since the coronavirus forced him to shelter at his Delaware home, he received key endorsements from Sanders on Monday and from his ex-boss, former President Barack Obama, on Tuesday.

Many had openly wondered why Obama hesitated for as long as he did.

Yet, Biden also encountered some damaging headlines as a credible rape accusation from a former staffer threatened to derail him.

Tara Reade, who worked in the office of Biden, then a Delaware senator, said he cornered her and forcibly penetrated her with his finger.

Left-wing media—in particular, the New York Times—faced critical scrutiny after attempting to downplay the accusations, with many noting the hypocritical contrast with their coverage of claims against Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Questions also abound—from both the Right and Left—about Biden’s apparent cognitive decline. While always prone to making gaffes, his flubs have become increasingly apparent in recent months.

But one of the most crucial factors is attributable to Carville himself, who famously explained of Clinton, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Trump’s ability to re-stabilize his formerly bullish prosperity will be crucial to his success, with Democrats hoping to extend shelter orders indefinitely—or at least through early November.

They will face an uphill battle in efforts to milk the crisis, as many already see clear indicators that the pandemic is on the decline, and a growing number of citizens protesting the draconian stay-at-home orders.

As COVID Wanes, Citizen Groups Demand States Reopen

Ben Sellers
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‘Every person has learned a harsh lesson about social distancing. We don’t need a nanny state to tell people how to be careful…’

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) With about two weeks left until many of the state-issued shelter-in-place decrees end, some restless citizens are starting to demand that America reopen for business and return to work sooner than laters.

In North Carolina, a Facebook group called #ReopenNC, which had gotten more than 26,000 members as of Tuesday morning, held a protest outside the state capitol in downtown Raleigh.

“We want to Reopen NC,” said Ashley Smith, one of the administrators of the group, told WCNC. “Our economy cannot stand for this.”

Although police arrested at least one the protestors for violating Gov. Roy Cooper’s stay-at-home orders, many remained undeterred, according to CBS 17. Some retreated to their cars but continued honking their horns as police used a bullhorn to try to disperse them.

Similar demonstrations occurred last week in Ohio and Wyoming, reported Fox News.

Meanwhile, in Michigan, where Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer‘s restrictions have been among the most draconian—including a ban on “travel between two residences”—a group called Michiganders Against Excessive Quarantine had received well over 300,000 members as of Tuesday and was planning a rally for April 30.

A second group in Michigan, titled “Operation Gridlock,” was being led by the Michigan Conservative Coalition and planned a “drive-by” demonstration in Lansing on Wednesday, with at least 15,000 cars expected to participate.

“People with issues are having trouble seeing a doctor because everyone is focused on the virus” one of the organizers, Meshawn Maddock, told Fox News. “My husband and I are checking in on my in-laws, but even doing that is now breaking the law.”

Michigan reportedly totaled about 25,000 total confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,600 deaths on Tuesday—around 6 percent of the national death total.

As has been the case with most urban areas with high populations of lower-income residents, Detroit has been among the hardest areas hit. Wayne County, one of several that divides the metropolitan region, has the third-highest number of deaths in the country, with just over 700 as of Tuesday.

However, that number is far eclipsed by New York County, where more than 7,300 deaths accounted for roughly 30 percent of the total U.S. mortality rate, according to the data from Johns Hopkins University.

Even so, several of the U.S. hot zones—or those that were projected to be ravaged by the pandemic—already are reporting a decline in new cases, including New York.

Many of the dramatic projections of an apocalyptic toll have been revised drastically downward. And several regions are said to be over-reporting their COVID deaths due to the loose guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that allow them to count anyone suspected of having it.

The result is a growing skepticism and cynicism among those who see the greater devastation being the economic impact of the closures.

Fox News reported that “16.8 million Americans have lost their jobs in the last three weeks—meaning one in ten working Americans was out of a job.”

Fearmongering media and left-wing partisans continue to justify the curtailment of personal liberty and the economy-killing restrictions, suggesting that “contrarian” opponents are in denial of the virus and have been given false information.

Many, however, support measures to prevent its spread, while simply demanding that common-sense be restored to mitigate, rather than exacerbate, the negative fallout.

“Every person has learned a harsh lesson about social distancing,” Maddock said. “We don’t need a nanny state to tell people how to be careful.”

Even New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, despite his state, which just passed the 10,000 mark in COVID deaths, having accounted for more than 40 percent of the nationwide total, acknowledged that an indefinite shutdown was not in the cards.

“We should start looking forward to ‘reopening’, but reopening with a plan and a smart plan because if you do it wrong, it can backfire,” Cuomo said recently during a meeting with five other northeastern governors.

“What the art form is going to be here is doing that smartly and doing that productively and doing that in a coordinated way—in coordination with other states in the area and doing it as a cooperative effort where we learn from each other where we share information, share resources, where we share intelligence.”

However, President Donald Trump—who has been enthusiastic about returning the country to normal as quickly as possible—questioned Cuomo’s suggestion that he and the other left-wing governors would be holding the reins.

He reiterated on Tuesday that he had ‘total’ authority over when to reopen.

Trump pointed to Cuomo’s hypocrisy in demanding extensive emergency help from the federal government while threatening to sue if the president usurped his autonomous decision-making ability.

In a separate tweet, Trump seemed to suggest that if Democratic governors and other leaders attempted to push beyond the limits of reason, .

In the 1962 Marlon Brando film, based on a 1932 novel of the same name, the crew aboard the title ship takes charge and sets the captain adrift, only for the crew to then turn on the new “captain” when he tries to reinstate order, setting the ship ablaze.

During his daily press briefing on Monday, Trump outlined his own plans for reopening the country, indicating that the U.S. was “very close.”

CNN, MSNBC Halt Coverage of Virus Briefing After Trump Exposes Fake News Media

Contributing Author
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‘We are cutting into what was not a White House coronavirus briefing…’

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) CNN stopped its live coverage of President Trump’s coronavirus press briefing on Monday evening, characterizing the briefing as “propaganda” and an attempt to “rewrite history.”

Several of CNN’s chyrons throughout the press briefing described Trump as an “angry” man who was having a “melt down.”

At one point, the network stopped its coverage of the briefing completely.

The White House was airing a video compilation of positive news clips praising Trump’s handling of the coronavirus:

“To play a propaganda video at taxpayer expense in the White House briefing room is a new — you can insert your favorite word here in this administration,” CNN anchor John King said when the network cut away.

As several online users pointed out, CNN’s coverage of the press briefing is further proof that the network isn’t trying to hide its bias any longer.

MSNBC also stopped its live broadcast of the briefing when Trump began playing the video.

“We are cutting into what was not a White House coronavirus briefing,” MSNBC host Ari Melber told viewers as the network cut away.

Trump has slammed CNN and MSNBC as “fake news” repeatedly.

“It’s very sad when people write false stories,” Trump said after playing the video on Monday evening. “I would love to be able to say that we have a very honest press. And I don’t mind being criticized, but now when they’re wrong. Not when people have done such a great job.”

Gov. Whitmer Backs Off Extreme Restrictions After She’s Threatened w/ Lawsuit

Contributing Author
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‘…needlessly shutting down large sectors of the economy…’

Gretchen Whitmer photo
Gretchen Whitmer/Photo by University of Michigan’s Ford School (CC)

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) After a pro-life activist filed a federal lawsuit against her, Democrat Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer agreed to back down and allow peaceful protests to continue throughout the Wuhan virus pandemic.

The activist, Andrew Belanger, took Whitmer and several Detroit police officers to court after they attempted to arrest him and a handful of other pro-lifers, who were holding signs in front of Scotsdale Women’s Center and Family Planning, on March 31.

More than eight officers showed up at the protest and warned Belanger that he was violating Whitmer’s shelter-in-place order.

The order, however, does not forbid individuals from being outside, as long as they respect the federal government’s social distancing guidelines.

But Belanger was told that pro-life protests are not “essential,” and must therefore be stopped.

Belanger was handed a citation. He filed a federal lawsuit against Whitmer and the Detroit Police Department shortly thereafter.

Whitmer’s office then issued a clarification that “persons may engage in expressive activities” as long as they adhere to social distancing guidelines. According to Whitmer spokeswoman Tiffany Brown, this exception for protests “was always the case,” she told the Detroit News on Friday.

“The constitutional protections remain in place and the governor is fully committed to protecting them,” Brown said.

Whitmer’s latest executive order, however, suggests otherwise. While many states are beginning to release plans to roll back social distancing restrictions, Whitmer signed an executive order last week tightening Michigan’s restrictions. The state’s stores must now “close areas of the store that are dedicated to carpeting, flooring, furniture, garden centers, plant nurseries, or paint.” Residents are not allowed to use their motorized boats, but they can kayak. And citizens are forbidden from traveling to their vacation homes, their neighbor’s house, or to see their relatives.

The arbitrary restrictions have created unnecessary confusion in the state. At least two Michigan residents were prevented from buying child car seats — an accessory that is required by law — because the stores were unclear on what Whitmer’s order does and does not consider essential. Whitmer’s office told the Detroit News that her order does not apply to child car seats, but refused to admit responsibility for the confusion.

Whitmer’s new restrictions have led to frustration throughout the state. An online petition demanding that Whitmer be recalled has garnered more than 200,000 signature in just a few days.

“Recall Governor Whitmer. Her failure’s (sic) during the Covid-19 Corona Virus is (sic) causing more Michiganders to get sick,” the petition, created by John Powell, states. “Closing and banning various non essential businesses and activities while leaving others open. Further promoting the pandemic.”

GOP House members urged Whitmer to amend her latest executive order, calling it “far too restrictive.”

“Instead of needlessly shutting down large sectors of the economy and further restricting the lives of residents, we believe amending Executive Order 2020-42 can achieve our shared goal of protecting public health while also beginning the slow process of resuscitating our economy,” six Michigan Republicans wrote in a letter to Whitmer on Tuesday.

Judicial Watch Sues NC Election Officials for Refusing Clean 1 Million from Voter Rolls

Contributing Author
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‘We expect this lawsuit will cause North Carolina to take the simple steps necessary to clean from its rolls…’

ICE Requests All North Carolina Voting Records Due to Non-Citizen Voters 2
IMAGE: WNCT-TV9 via Youtube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) A conservative nonprofit filed a lawsuit against North Carolina election officials last week for failing to clean two of its counties’ voter rolls.

After analyzing North Carolina’s voter registration data, Judicial Watch found that the state has nearly 1 million inactive and ineligible voters on its rolls, meaning, 1 million voters registered in the state have not voted for more than five years.

About 17% of North Carolina’s registrations were inactive in 2019, according to data provided by the state itself. Compare that to the median inactive rate of 9.6%.

And in at least 19 of North Carolina’s counties, that inactive rate was closer to 20%, with at least three counties surpassing a 25% inactive rate.

Yet the state’s election officials, and at least two of its counties, have failed to take action, the lawsuit alleges.

The election officials are required by law to clean up these voter rolls and remove the deceased citizens, felons and former residents from their registered voters list.

But North Carolina has dragged its feet, reportedly implementing a program to appease the courts, but then failing to publicly provide records that prove the program is actually cleaning the state’s voter rolls, Judicial Watch alleged.

“Dirty voting rolls can mean dirty elections, and Judicial Watch must insist that North Carolina follows federal law to clean up its voting rolls,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.

“We want cleaner elections, as the law requires, and we expect this lawsuit will cause North Carolina to take the simple steps necessary to clean from its rolls the names of voters who have moved away or died,” Fitton said.

North Carolina’s refusal to clean its voter rolls enables voter fraud within the state, according to a report by RealClearPolitics. Voters are able to take advantage of absentee voting, the report found, as they did in a 2016 election in St. Louis.

In fact, widespread violations of absentee-ballot laws had become such a problem in the city’s voting totals that Missouri officials had to hold a new election.

They discovered that fake absentee ballots had been used as a weapon against Missouri House candidate Bruce Franks, who lost the primary election to another Democrat. But after the voter fraud was discovered, a new election was held, and Franks won.

Similarly, accusations of absentee ballot fraud in a 2018 congressional election led the state to investigate North Carolina’s 9th District, which Republican Mark Harris won by a narrow margin of just over 905 votes.

Amid complaints and a formal probe from partisan members of the State Board of Elections, Harris withdrew due to health complications. A special election later resulted in then-state Sen. Dan Bishop, also a Republican, winning by a more decisive margin.

Mississippi Mayor Defends Drive-In Church Ban, but Waives $500 Fines

Contributing Author
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‘Me and my wife were both in the car together, and both of us got tickets…’

Mississippi Mayor Defends Drive-In Church Services Ban, Says Residents Won't Have To Pay $500 Fines
Errick Simmons / IMAGE: Delta Daily News via Youtube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) After facing backlash, a Mississippi mayor issued a statement assuring citizens they would not need to pay the $500 tickets that police issued to them for attending drive-up church services during the coronavirus pandemic.

Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons banned drive-in church services ahead of Easter Sunday, even though such services do not directly violate the federal government’s social-distancing guidelines.

He refused to lift his order, and as a result dozens of Greenville residents who attended drive-in services were ticketed, according to WLBT.

“The police started coming up and we said, ‘Well, we think we’re in our rights,’” said Lee Gordon, a Greenville resident who attended Temple Baptist Church’s Easter service on Sunday.

“And they started issuing tickets, $500 tickets, it may have been 50—I mean 20 to 30 tickets,” Gordon said. “Everybody got one, it wasn’t per car. Me and my wife were both in the car together, and both of us got tickets.”

At least one church in the area has threatened legal action against Simmons if he does not lift the order. But the most Simmons has done to relax his restriction is waive the $500 fines.

The order itself will remain in place as long as the state’s shelter-in-place order is in place, he said.

Simmons accused his critics of launching a “smear campaign” against him, which has resulted in death threats against him and his family, he said.

“This is not a time to play politics, especially with these unnecessary attacks and false narratives,” Simmons said on Monday, according to the Washington Times.

This criticism is necessary, however, when the rights of religious citizens are in question, said Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative nonprofit litigation group that filed a legal challenge against Simmons’s executive order last week.

“It’s disappointing to see the city of Greenville continue this unconstitutional, unwarranted ban on drive-in church services,” ADF said in a statement.

“This church has taken on creative ways to minister to people in its community without access to social media,” it said. “The city’s order is baseless, and so we intend to continue aggressively pursuing our case against it in court.”

Gun-Rights Groups Sue N.M. Gov. for Closing 'Non-Essential' Firearm Stores

Joshua Paladino
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‘That right does not correspond to a right to congregate in a store … amid an unprecedented global pandemic…’

New Mexico Governor Orders National Guard to Withdraw from Border, Calls Immigration Crisis a 'Charade'
Michelle Lujan Grisham / IMAGE: Bloomberg Politics via Youtube

(Joshua Paladino, Liberty Headlines) Gun shops and Second Amendment groups joined to file a federal lawsuit against New Mexico’s Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and other state officials for the unconstitutional order to shut down firearm stores and shooting ranges.
“By arbitrarily, capriciously—and unconstitutionally—targeting those who lawfully sell firearms and ammunition, New Mexico is depriving citizens of their natural and fundamental right to keep and bear arms,” the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit. “Uncertain times are precisely when fundamental rights—like the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense—must be protected.”
In response to the coronavirus crackdown, Grisham employed her emergency powers to close what she deemed to be non-essential businesses, which included gun stores and ranges.
The NRA Institute for Legislative Action is a party to the lawsuit. The language used in the complaint bore strong similarities with recent suits filed by gun-rights groups in other areas, including Los Angeles,California, and Raleigh, North Carolina, both of which saw local sheriffs attempting to close or delay gun rights as a result of the health crisis.
“Politicians imperil our families by declaring our fundamental right of self defense ‘non-essential’ while they free criminals,” said Jason Ouimet, executive director of NRA-ILA, in a press release.
“As always, the NRA and its membership will continue to fight every hypocrite who enjoys armed security while denying American families their essential access to firearms, he said.”
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit asked the federal court to declare that Second Amendment-related businesses are essential, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
Other Democratic governors, including Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, have determined that gun stores and rangers are essential, and they have exempted them from business closure decrees, NRA-ILA reported.
Grisham spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett responded to the lawsuit in an email to the Santa Fe New Mexican.
She said New Mexico “has taken and will continue to take an extremely broad view of what is considered non-essential to public health amid this pandemic.”
As of April 12, New Mexico had 1,245 confirmed cases and 26 deaths, KOB4 reported.
“While we as an administration unequivocally support the constitutional right to purchase a firearm, we recognize that right does not correspond to a right to congregate in a store and infect neighbors and workers and public safety officers amid an unprecedented global pandemic,” Sackett said.

Arkansas Gov. Defends Decision Not to Order Statewide Lock-Down

Contributing Author
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‘You’re not going to win simply by a lockdown…’

Arkansas Gov. Defends His Decision Not to Implement Shelter-in-Place Order: 'You're Not Going to Win By Locking Down'
Asa Hutchinson / IMAGE: Youtube

(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson defended his decision to hold off on implementing a statewide shelter-in-place order, arguing that the social distancing measures his government has implemented have been far more effective.

“If we need to do more we will do more,” Hutchinson told CNN on Sunday. “It’s always an option on the table if we have to shelter-in-place.” But, Hutchinson added, the “targeted approach” he’s taken continues to “prove to be successful.”

Arkansas has asked citizens to wear masks while in pubic and practice social distancing, which means limiting group gatherings to 10 people or less and maintaining a six-foot distance.

Arkansas’s localities have dictated the policies from there, Hutchinson explained, noting he has a “good partnership” with the state’s mayors, and that he’s been able to help individual counties put in place curfews or close parks as needed.

Hutchinson acknowledged that other hard-hit states have had to implement stricter regulations, but that’s not what’s needed in Arkansas, he said.

“It just reflects the flexibility a state needs,” he said. “I applaud New Jersey and New York. They’ve had to really lock down.”

When asked if he thinks shelter-in-place orders go too far, Hutchinson said, “Not at all.”

But Arkansas’s situation just isn’t comparable to the other states, Hutchinson added. Arkansas’s health department reported 1,226 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with only 80 hospitalizations. The state’s hospitals have 8,000 available beds, Hutchinson said.

Arkansas is “beating that trend line” of projected COVID-19 deaths, and the state’s health officials are already optimistic that the number of cases has peaked and that “our tough time is behind and we’re going to be getting better,” Hutchinson explained.

“We have masks and social distancing and the people of Arkansas have embraced that. That gives you success,” Hutchinson said, adding later, “We want to take the long-term approach to this and you’re not going to win simply by a lockdown.”

NY Gov. Cuomo Praises Trump During Howard Stern Interview

Contributing Writer
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‘He has delivered for New York…’

1
Andrew Cuomo / IMAGE: MSNBC via Youtube

(Michael Barnes, Liberty Headlines) New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo praised President Donald Trump on Monday morning for “delivering for New York” amid the Wuhan coronavirus crisis.

New York City is the epicenter for coronavirus infections and deaths in the United States, and Cuomo went out of his way to acknowledge Trump’s leadership during an interview on “The Howard Stern Show.”

“He has delivered for New York,” Cuomo said emphatically.

“The Army Corps of Engineers, we built thousands of beds. He sent the Navy Ship Comfort to New York. He has delivered for New York. He has,” he said.

Both Cuomo and Trump are native New Yorkers, as is Howard Stern.

Despite past grievances and several antagonistic prompts from Stern, Cuomo painted a complementary picture of the president and talked about their ability to set aside politics and help those suffering from the virus.

He also dismissed the media perception that Trump has denied federal help to those who’ve criticized him.

Stern said that “comforts me.”

Stern asked Cuomo if he thought Trump was happy that his brother, CNN host Chris Cuomo, had contracted the coronavirus.

Chris Cuomo and CNN regularly smear Trump, and he regularly fires back at what he calls the “fake news” network.

Again, Gov. Cuomo set the record straight.

“The President always makes a point of saying to me, ‘How is Chris? Is he doing okay?’” he said.

“He always makes the point to say that about Chris and always remembers my mother,” Cuomo continued.

Cuomo comes from a family of New York Democrats. His father, Mario, was a three-term governor.

Stern famously endorsed the elder Cuomo’s Republican rival, George Pataki, in the 1994 election and was instrumental in Pataki’s victory by many accounts.

Andrew Cuomo chalked up his nasty public spats with Trump to political disagreements and attributed part of Trump’s confrontational style to New York’s unique culture.

According to the New York Times, New York has had 195,031 confirmed cases and 10,056 deaths as of April 13—by far the most in the country.

BARR: Indictments May Be Coming in FBI’s Fake Russia-Collusion ‘Sabotage’

Ben Sellers
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‘I think what happened to him was one of the greatest travesties in American history…’

(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Attorney General William Barr offered strong indications that the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of the events surrounding the FBI’s Russia collusion conspiracy could be wrapping up, with indictments possibly on the way.

During an interview last week with Fox News’s Laura Ingraham, Barr acknowledged that Trump had every right to be upset over the falsely concocted scandal that marred much of his early presidency.

“I think what happened to him was one of the greatest travesties in American history,” Barr said.

“Without any basis they started this investigation of his campaign,” Barr continued. “And even more concerning, actually is what happened after the campaign—a whole pattern of events while he was president to sabotage … or at least have the effect of sabotaging the presidency.”

According to an analysis by The Hill, Barr’s statement could go even far than what he actually said.

His use of strong terms like “travesty” and “sabotage” hinted that the lawman likely has the evidence to support it.

“Attorney General Barr communicates in a clear, understandable, calm-as-a-summer-evening manner uncommon in Washington,” wrote Hill contributor Kevin R. Brock. “He undoubtedly did not get to his current position without being a skilled litigator, whose first rule is never make a statement to the court that you can’t back up.”

The website Just the News likewise supported Brock’s suspicion in an article highlighting 13 recent revelations that the FBI investigation was a hoax.

Chief among them was the recently declassified footnotes that had been redacted in Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz‘s report on the FBI’s mishandling of the Russia hoax.

The report, released in December, found at least 17 critical flaws in the process through which agents received warrant approval from the secretive FISA court to spy on Trump campaign staffers.

Nonetheless, Horowitz seemed to suggest—based only on interviews with those involved in the conspiracy—that the FBI had a justifiable cause for initiating the “Crossfire Hurricane” sting into allegations that Trump was working with the Kremlin.

But the newly unmasked footnotes revealed that agents were aware, prior to launching the investigation, with their primary—and possibly only—source, the discredited Steele Dossier, which was commissioned by the Hillary Clinton campaign.

The FBI relied on the back-channel husband-and-wife duo of Bruce and Nellie Ohr to obtain the supposed research from fervently anti-Trump former British spy Christopher Steele.

Horowitz determined that the FBI should have realized after follow-up interview that the research was unreliable. However, new indications are that they should never have launched it to begin with.

Barr’s criminal investigation, being led by special prosecutor John Durham, is more expansive in its scope than the independently run Horowitz probe.

While the inspector general was limited only to the FBI’s role, Durham has the authority to empanel a grand jury and issue indictments, much like the Mueller investigation did in its probe of Trump officials.

It is known that the probe has traveled to Europe to interview some of the original sources of the allegations, and it also has interviewed former non-FBI officials like Obama-era CIA chief John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

“It is a safe bet that Mr. Durham is collecting evidence beyond the self-serving statements of the FBI principals involved,” wrote Brock. “It also is now a safe bet that his findings will respectfully disagree with Mr. Horowitz’s.”

The inspector general’s reports have not exonerated corrupt officials like former FBI Director James Comey, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and counterespionage agent Peter Strzok, but they have stopped short of recommending them for prosecution.

But unlike Horowitz’s findings, Barr assured viewers that the Durham conclusions would result in consequences for those found to have committed wrongdoing.

“[I]f people broke the law, and we can establish that with the evidence, they will be prosecuted,” he said.

The Russia hoax is one of many sagas that have lent themselves to a deep mistrust in institutions including the federal bureaucracy and the mainstream media—a fact made all the more apparent during the fearmongering and sweeping authoritarian demands of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Conservative-leaning pollster Scott Rasmussen revealed on Monday that 65 percent of Americans believe that the FBI may be illegally spying on them without probable cause.

As Brock said in light of Barr’s recent statements, a lot now rests on the conclusion of the Durham report—as well as what follows it.

“These are incredibly hopeful words to many Americans who have come to believe—after the 2008 Wall Street-driven financial collapse, after the numerous Clinton family schemes and scandals, and after the wasteful Mueller ‘investigation‘—that the powerful are never held accountable,” he wrote.

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