Scott O'Grady, Trump Pentagon nominee spreads debunked conspiracies and tweets suggesting Trump declare martial law
(CNN)President Donald Trump's nominee to become a senior Pentagon official spread debunked conspiracies on Twitter that called Trump's election loss to Joe Biden a "coup" attempt and shared tweets that suggest Trump should declare martial law.
Scott O'Grady, a former fighter pilot and Trump loyalist, repeatedly retweeted tweets that falsely stated Trump won the election in "landslide fashion" and that millions of votes were stolen from the President.
On November 25, O'Grady retweeted a tweet that said, "Trump won & Biden & his Comrades will now attempt a coup," next to a photoshopped image of Biden beside Xi Jinping, the President of China.
On December 2, he retweeted an account that shared an article that said former national security adviser Michael Flynn had shared a petition that called for martial law. He then retweeted the same account which suggested that Trump should declare martial law. "I don't know who needs to hear this," the account said, "But calling for martial law is not a bad idea when there is an attempted coup against the president and this country happening right now."
Martial law
The tweet references a petition Flynn shared on Twitter calling for Trump to declare martial law and order a new presidential election. The petition falsely called November's presidential election "fraudulent" and called on Trump to have the military oversee a new election. Attorney General William Barr said in an interview published Tuesday that there is no evidence that widespread fraud occurred during the election.
In the aftermath of the election, Trump himself has spread numerous conspiracies and falsehoods alleging that Democrats and other outside forces have stolen the election from him. He has also upended management in the Defense Department by making wholesale changes in the Pentagon's civilian leadership since firing Defense Secretary Mark Esper by tweet November 9, ousting at least three other officials and replacing them with perceived loyalists.
CNN's KFile reviewed O'Grady's tweets and media appearances and found that O'Grady shared other debunked election conspiracies and that he also degraded top military and intelligence officials. In a radio interview, he called former President Barack Obama and military generals "sworn socialists," and advocated that the military justice system should bring back treason charges. He retweeted a tweet that called former Defense Secretary James Mattis a "traitor."
He tweeted that Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a star witness during the Trump impeachment hearings, should be charged "for insurrection because he is a biased liberal political operative" and said on a radio show that it was "disgusting" for Vindman to testify against Trump. He also spread a baseless claim that the whistleblower in the impeachment saga dated the daughter of House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff.
O'Grady was nominated by the White House to become an assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs at the Pentagon, a key position within the Department of Defense's policy shop overseeing operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The position is a political appointment, and if O'Grady is confirmed, he would only fill the role until the start of the Biden administration.
His nomination, which was sent to the Senate on Monday, comes as the Pentagon's top civilian officials have been hastily replaced with perceived Trump loyalists and conspiracy theorists despite some lacking credentials -- and in some cases, lacking Senate confirmation -- for the positions.
CNN has reached out to O'Grady and the Defense Department for comment but has received no response. CNN has also reached out to Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee for comment, but received no response.
In the aftermath of this year's presidential election, O'Grady has taken to retweeting dozens of conspiracies and falsehoods about the results, all of which allege that Trump won the election or that the election results were tampered with or covered up.
On November 19, O'Grady retweeted a tweet that falsely claimed Hillary Clinton and George Soros were involved in allowing foreign interference in the presidential election.
On November 23, O'Grady retweeted a user who falsely claimed, "They stopped counting votes when @realDonaldTrump was winning "in landslide fashion."
On November 25, O'Grady retweeted a baseless accusation that Brian Kemp and Brad Raffensperger--the governor, and secretary of state, of Georgia, respectively—may be covering up information about election results in Georgia.
"Brian & Brad seem to have something to hide," the tweet said. "We need to find out what it is. I suspect they are hiding the TRUTH."
Trump lost Georgia to President-elect Biden by more than 12,000 votes. Though Georgia implemented an automatic recount, state officials say they have seen "no substantial change" in the results.
On November 27, O'Grady retweeted the false claim that Trump won California, despite the fact that Trump lost the state by more than 5 million votes.
Behind Enemy Lines
O'Grady has also signaled support for attorney Sidney Powell after the Trump campaign severed ties with her after she expressed beliefs that a network of communists, CIA agents, Democrats, Republicans, and Hugo Chavez, the dead former president of Venezuela, worked with Dominion Voting Systems to steal the election from Trump.
O'Grady has also shared or interacted with other online conspiracies not related to the election.
On November 25, he retweeted a tweet that asked if the Covid-19 virus was partisan since it seemed to be disproportionately impacting Republican politicians over Democrats.
In February 2020, O'Grady retweeted a tweet with a pro-QAnon hashtag. The far-right conspiracy theory claims that a cabal of Satan-worshiping Democratic politicians and celebrities abuse children and are working toward overthrowing Trump.
Before O'Grady established himself as a Trump loyalist, he first rose to fame when he served as a fighter pilot whose plane was shot down over war-torn Bosnia in 1995. The air force captain ejected himself from the plane and evaded capture for nearly a week before being rescued by US Marines. The 2001 film "Behind Enemy Lines" had a similar plotline to O'Grady's experience and he later sued the film studio and then settled the suit for an undisclosed amount.
After leaving active military service in 2001, O'Grady obtained a theology degree and launched a speaking and writing career about his time in Bosnia. He co-chaired the Veterans for Trump campaign effort in 2020.While a representative of Veterans for Trump, O'Grady alluded to other conspiracies. In a radio interview from the spring of 2020, O'Grady said "open-source unclassified material" shows that Covid-19 was created out of a lab in China. There is no evidence for this and the conspiracy has been widely rejected by the scientific community.
In 2019, he also tweeted, "Europe is going to face a serious problem in our lifetime with the growing muslim [sic] populations inside their countries. It's not going to be a pretty outcome in my opinion."
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The one person who this may apply to is the President himself. Precedent was set when President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon before any charges were levied at the former president. That has not been pressed to this day.Originally posted by snapper View Post
To meet this standard Trump would have to resign before the end of his term and Pence sworn in, then Pence pardoning Trump.
Beyond that all bets are off.Leave a comment:
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The scale of that legal prophylaxis, Trump preemptively pardoning 20 more of his cohorts, and the necessity of doing that as perceived by the insiders who would seemingly know best, is indicative that the Trump administration may have been a largely criminal enterprise.Originally posted by TopHatter View PostLast edited by JRT; 04 Dec 20,, 15:47.Leave a comment:
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Not sure a 'pre-emptive pardon' can make sense presuming that no one person can be 'above the law'. Suppose I 'forgive' any and all future crimes a person might be guilty of; they could roam around mass murdering people.Leave a comment:
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He wasn't entirely honest with his supporters when he said he was going to drain the swamp. He left out the part where he was then going to re-stock the swamp.Originally posted by TopHatter View Post
As if we'd need yet more proof that the Trump Administration is nothing but a crime syndicate
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Trump mulls preemptive pardons for up to 20 allies, even as Republicans balk
President Donald Trump is considering preemptively pardoning as many as 20 aides and associates before leaving office, frustrating Republicans who believe offering legal reprieves to his friends and family members could backfire.
Trump’s strategy, like much of his presidency, is nontraditional. He is eschewing the typical protocol of processing cases through the Justice Department. And he may argue that such preemptive pardons for his friends and family members are necessary to spare them from paying millions in legal fees to fight what he describes as witch hunts. Those up for clemency include everyone from Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to several members of his family — all people who haven’t been charged with a crime. Weighing on Trump’s mind is whether these pardons would look like an admission of guilt.
Republicans, as they often have when Trump appears about to bulldoze through another norm, are expressing some initial hesitation — but they’re not telling him to stop.
“That is in a category that I think you’d probably run into a lot of static,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.). “That’s charting new territory, I’m guessing. I don’t think that’s ever been attempted before.”
The result is yet another looming showdown between Trump and the broader Republican Party.
And the potential squabble has taken on added significance as Trump prepares to leave the White House next month. The GOP is grappling with how closely it wants to remain aligned with Trump after his presidency. While the president has turned off voters with his controversial actions — including his past use of the pardon power to spare allies — he retains a loyal following and is mulling a 2024 presidential run. More imminently, Republicans need Trump’s base to turn out in the Jan. 5 Georgia Senate runoff elections, which will decide which party controls the Senate.
GOP senators said Trump would be stepping on political landmines if he grants clemency to his family and associates, even as they noted presidents have broad pardon authority. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a Trump ally and a former state attorney general, acknowledged that such a move by the president would be unprecedented.
“I’m not sure what form it would take. It’s kind of an interesting legal question,” he said. “I’m not aware of analog.”
Trump has not made any decisions about pardons as he and his team contemplate both the legal considerations and political consequences, according to three people familiar with the discussions, all of whom speak to the president. Some around Trump are worried the president could tarnish his legacy or harm a future campaign if he’s too expansive with his 11th-hour pardons.
Roughly 20 top aides and associates are on tap for a potential pardon, though the list is evolving, according to one of the people. The list includes Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who run the family’s namesake business, and Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, a husband-and-wife duo who are both senior aides at the White House. All four were involved in Trump’s reelection campaign.
Trump has even mused on Twitter that he has “the absolute right to PARDON” myself — a legally contested (but untested) claim.
Still, Trump is hesitant to pardon any of them, particularly Giuliani, because it may appear that members of his inner circle are criminals, said one of the three people, who spoke to Trump this week. The Giuliani pardon has been discussed more seriously, the person added.
A Republican who speaks to Trump and supports his potential 2024 bid predicted the pardons would not hurt the president. “It’s a big deal to Beltway types but not regular Americans,” the person said.
The pardons would be designed to prevent Trump’s allies from being ensnared in any more federal investigations.
Trump Jr. had been investigated for contacts that he had during the 2016 with Russians offering damaging information on his father’s 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton. Later, congressional investigators told the Justice Department that Trump Jr. may have lied to them during their examination of Russia’s 2016 election interference.
Kushner similarly received scrutiny for providing inaccurate information to federal authorities about his contacts with foreigners when he applied for his security clearance.
Neither was charged.
But the clemency would not extend to any state charges, congressional investigations or lawsuits — of which there are plenty.
The New York attorney general and the Manhattan district attorney, for example, have been investigating the Trump Organization for possible financial fraud. D.C. authorities also sued the Trump Organization and Trump’s inaugural committee, alleging the committee misused funds and funneled money back to Trump’s company. Ivanka Trump gave a deposition in that suit earlier this week.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), like other Democrats, has described the possibility of these preemptive parsons as “a gross abuse of the presidential pardon authority.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did representatives for the Trump children and Giuliani.
Some Republicans argued that pardons for Trump or his family would be unnecessary, suggesting the potential moves would simply create problems and be seen as an admission of guilt.
“I don’t know what he would pardon himself for. He’s not been accused of any crime,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), adding: “We’ll deal with those things if they happen.”
“I know why he pardoned [Michael] Flynn, because Flynn was railroaded,” said incoming Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), referring to Trump’s former national security adviser who was pardoned last month after pleading guilty to lying to the FBI. “But I don’t know what the others have done wrong that they’d need to be pardoned.”
As for Trump himself, lawyers continue to debate whether a president can pardon himself. But they generally agree a president can pardon individuals preemptively, though it’s not done often. Even the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney indicates it would be “highly unusual.”
Past presidents have done it, though — the most famous example being President Gerald Ford's preemptive pardon of Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal.
“There’s no doubt that this is not what clemency is intended for,” said Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor and clemency expert who serves as a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. “It’s bad for the institution of clemency and the good that it can do. But that’s a different question about whether or not it’s illegal.”
The Constitution gives the president the power “to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.” That typically either comes in the form of a commutation — which reduces or eliminates a sentence, but does not wipe away a conviction — or a full pardon, which disposes of all legal consequences from a crime.
“It’s perfectly constitutional for presidents to do them and they are common at the end of terms,” said Scott Jennings, who worked for President George W. Bush and is close to the Trump White House. “Good judgment is essential and hasn’t always been exercised.”
In many cases, Trump has bypassed the lengthy, multi-level process for clemency that has been conducted at the Justice Department for more than a century. Instead, he has made decisions himself in consultation with a handful of aides.
“There is a standard DOJ process for pardoning someone, but sometimes Trump also just ignores that and does it himself,” said a Republican close to the White House.
Through October, Trump had granted 27 pardons and commuted 11 sentences, according to the U.S. Pardon Attorney's office.
Many have been for headline-grabbing individuals: 19th Century suffragist Susan B. Anthony, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Bush adviser Scooter Libby and former Trump adviser Roger Stone, who lied to Congress.
“If you simply turn back on that regular process [and say], ‘I’m going to get my recommendations from Fox News and campaign donors who managed to make it into the Oval Office and anybody else who wants to bring me a case, no, I don’t think that’s right,” said Margaret Love, a former U.S. pardon attorney who now represents applicants for presidential pardon. “That’s ignoring the regular process and the ordinary people who don’t have that kind of access.”
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As if we'd need yet more proof that the Trump Administration is nothing but a crime syndicate
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NY AG James vows to continue Trump investigation
New York Attorney General Letitia James has vowed to continue her office’s investigation into President Donald Trump’s businesses that are based in the state.
James issued a statement following a speech made by Trump at the White House yesterday in which he quoted James without providing a source for the quotes attributed to her and blasted investigations into his business affairs.
Because some of Trump’s businesses are in New York they fall under James’ jurisdiction. Manhattan Distrct Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. also has been conducting an investigation into Trump’s business affairs.
The accredited White House press corps was banned from attending Trump’s speech, which the White House sent out via Facebook. The major television networks declined to carry the speech, which lasted 46 minutes and had been posted on teleprompters for Trump to read.
Most of the speech consisted of repeats of numerous lies previously told by him about the conduct of the election, including claims that he won, and included new allegations of election misconduct for which he provided no evidence.
In the portion dealing with the New York investigations, Trump stated: “I hear that these same people that failed to get me in Washington have sent every piece of information to New York, so that they can try to get me there. It’s all been gone over, over and over again. For $48 million you go through tax returns, you go through everything.
“The New York attorney general, who recently ran for office campaigned without knowing me stating, ‘We will join with law enforcement and other attorneys general across this nation in removing this president from office.’ I never met her. It’s important that everybody understand she’s better. ‘It’s important that everybody understands,’ she said, ‘that the days of Donald Trump are coming to an end.’ And all it’s been, is a big investigation in Washington and New York and any place else that can investigate because that’s what they want to do.”
In her statement issued shorty before 8 last night, James said: “As the independently elected attorney general of New York, I have a sworn duty to protect and uphold state law. Last year, after Michael Cohen’s testimony, our office opened an investigation into the financial dealings of the Trump Organization. That investigation continues today. Unlike the president and the unfounded accusations he hurled today, we are guided by the facts and the law, and the politics stop at the door. Period.”
Cohen had served for a decade as Trump’s attorney and close business associate. He alleged in Congressional testimony, numerous interviews and the book “Disloyal” that Trump’s businesses engaged in numerous improprieties.
As part of James’ investigation, Trump’s son Eric was ordered to testify in a deposition during which he was questioned by investigators from James’ office. The deposition was carried out via video conferencing. Neither Eric Trump, his attorneys, nor James’ office provided details as to the content of the deposition.
It was learned that another Trump child, Ivanka, sat for a deposition by investigators from the Washington, D.C., attorney general’s office on Dec. 1. That was in connection with a lawsuit filed by the attorney general’s office against the Trump Organization and the Presidential Inaugural Committee alleging the misuse of inaugural committee funds. Documents have been subpoenaed from Ivanka Trump, first lady Melania Trump and others in connection with that investigation.
The New York Times reported Dec. 1 that President Trump has had discussions with advisors about issuing presidential pardons to his children, son-in-law Jared Kushner and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani who has been serving as Trump’s personal attorney. A presidential pardon applies to violations of federal law and does not shield its recipient from prosecution for violating state laws.
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I love Trump's narcissistic go-to line "I never met her"....Gotta diminish her in any way he can...as if that makes the slightest bit of difference.
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Given that Donald J. Trump is now a close personal friend of Kim Jung-un, Supreme Leader of North Korea, it must have been mail-in votes for Trump that they were delivering. I cannot imagine that Kim would do anything that would harm Trump. Perhaps the boats were operated by the North Korean Postal Service, delivering completed ballots from US registered voters now living at Trump owned assisted living centers located in North Korea. The NewsWeek story did not provide any of these missing details.Originally posted by TopHatter View PostLeave a comment:
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Man....that is some AWESOME fuel mileage!Originally posted by JRT View Post
I know the Navy is jealous!Leave a comment:
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No doubt that there are some red-hatted Trumpsters who will choose to believe Roger Stone.
Was it some North Korean galley slaves who may have rowed these boats to Maine from North Korea? Must have been quite the trip. Perhaps Roger Stone might collaborate with Oliver Stone to create an animated documentary video for Donald J. Trump and his red-hatted Trumpsters to watch.
Originally posted by NewsWeek
...Last edited by JRT; 03 Dec 20,, 18:24.Leave a comment:
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Former Trump campaign manager says he and Jared Kushner 'both paid the price' for telling the president the truth
The former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a wide-ranging interview on Fox News on Tuesday that he "paid the price" for telling the president the truth.
When the host Martha MacCallum asked about reports that President Donald Trump yelled at him over the phone after learning of poor poll numbers, Parscale said: "I didn't like lying to him. I like telling him the truth."
Parscale was demoted from his post at the helm of the campaign in July, replaced by Bill Stepien.
In September, Parscale's wife called the police to their home, saying Parscale loaded a firearm and threatened to harm himself.
But Parscale told MacCallum that the president never reached out to him and that they had not spoken since.
"And it's pretty hurtful," Parscale said. "But it's probably just as much my fault as his. I love that family. And I gave every inch of my life to him, every inch."
Parscale also offered insight into how Trump responds to tough news and how others in the campaign — whom he described as "D-level people" — capitalized on the president's desire for staffers to paint a rosy picture.
The former campaign manager said both he and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior advisor, were relegated from their perches atop the campaign when Trump's polling numbers dipped. Parscale said their willingness to be frank with Trump might have contributed to that.
"Sometimes that came with a lot of — a lot of painful days, after knowing that I might have let him down or made him upset," Parscale said. "But a lot of those D-level people that hung around him, they just told him what he wanted to hear.
"They were yes-men. And I wasn't going to be a yes-man."
Parscale, who has been less than truthful about his work in the past, described Kushner and himself as unsung heroes in the story of the campaign's demise.
"I was going to be a get-it-done man," he said. "And I did it for [Trump]. I did it for the family. I did it for this country, because I feel like somebody needed to be the one telling him the truth. And I think Jared did too.
"I think we both paid the price for that sometimes."
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What kind of dumbshit gives his loyalty to a loathsome c*nt like Donald Trump?Leave a comment:
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Ivanka Trump was deposed Tuesday in DC attorney general's inauguration lawsuit
(CNN)Ivanka Trump, the President's daughter and adviser, sat for a deposition Tuesday with investigators from the Washington, DC, attorney general's office as part of its lawsuit alleging the misuse of inaugural funds, according to a court filing.
In January, the DC attorney general's office sued the Trump Organization and Presidential Inaugural Committee alleging they abused more than $1 million raised by the nonprofit by "grossly overpaying" for use of event space at the Trump hotel in Washington for the 2017 inauguration.
Depositions of witnesses as part of the lawsuit have been underway over the past several weeks.
Tom Barrack, chairman of the inaugural committee, was deposed on November 17, according to the court filing.
The attorney general's office has also subpoenaed records from Barrack, Ivanka Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and Rick Gates, the former inaugural committee deputy chairman, the filing said.
According to the lawsuit, Gates "personally managed" discussions with the Trump hotel about event space.
In December 2016, Gates wrote to Ivanka Trump that he was "a bit worried about the optics of PIC [Presidential Inaugural Committee] paying Trump Hotel a high fee and the media making a big story out of it," according to the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, Gates agreed with the hotel's managing director and Trump family members to pay $175,000 per day for the committee to reserve space for four days.
The committee's own event planner -- Stephanie Winston Wolkoff -- advised against the transaction, telling the committee and the Trump family that the charges were at least twice the market rate, the lawsuit states.
Wolkoff "noted unease with the offer during an in-person meeting with President-elect Trump and Ivanka Trump," said DC Attorney General Karl Racine. She also sent a follow-up email to both Ivanka Trump and Gates to "express [her] concern," according to the attorney general. "The Inaugural Committee accepted the contract anyway," the lawsuit alleges.
Wolkoff will be deposed next week, according to sources familiar with the matter.
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4 years of grifting is finally coming back to haunt the Trump Family.
Imagine: in a few short weeks, Donald Trump will be unable to hide behind the presidency and have to actually obey an AG-ordered deposition.
"I don't know"
"I don't recall"
"I don't know"
"I don't recall"
"I don't know"
"I don't recall"
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