Federal Judge Calls Trump's Voter Fraud Claims 'Fiction,' Denies Attempt to Restrict Mail-In Voting

Source: Law & Crime

A federal judge in Montana on Wednesday rejected the Trump campaign's attempt to restrict new rules increasing citizen's access to mail-in voting, calling the campaign's claims of widespread voter fraud "a fiction."

In a 46-page order, Judge Dana L. Christensen of the U.S. District Court in Montana refused the campaign's request for an injunction aimed at stopping Gov. Stephen Bullock's (D) from allowing all eligible voters to cast mail-in ballots. Christensen, an appointee of President Barack Obama, found that plaintiffs' stated reason for seeking the injunction - the "cognizable risk of ballot fraud" - had no basis in reality.

"In many respects, this case requires the Court to separate fact from fiction," Christensen wrote. "Central to some of the Plaintiffs' claims is the contention that the upcoming election, both nationally and in Montana, will fall prey to widespread voter fraud. The evidence suggests, however, that this allegation, specifically in Montana, is a fiction."

Christensen emphasized that the plaintiffs had been given ample opportunity to support their claims with evidence, but were unable to, particularly in light of the state's recent success in conducting its primary elections through mostly mail-in ballots.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/federal-judge-calls-trumps-voter-fraud-claims-a-fiction-denies-campaigns-attempt-to-restrict-mail-in-voting/

Chris Wallace says he didn't anticipate Trump flouting the debate rules

Republican Pollster Rasmussen Shows Trump Cratering

SHOCK POLL: Trump Craters in Rasmussen Poll as Biden Gains 7 Point Swing in One Week

By Charlie Nash
Sep 30th, 2020

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden gained eight points in just one week according to the latest weekly Rasmussen poll.

Up eight points, Biden now sits at 51 percent, while President Donald Trump sits at just 43 percent.

The poll does not include responses to Tuesday evening’s first presidential debate.

....

According to Rasmussen, the latest poll also “finds Trump with 79% support among Republicans,” while “Biden has 84% of the Democrat vote and has reclaimed the lead among voters not affiliated with either major party.”

Rasmussen, a Republican-tilted pollster, is one of Trump’s favorites.

More:

https://www.mediaite.com/election-2020/shock-poll-trump-craters-in-rasmussen-poll-as-biden-gains-7-point-swing-in-one-week/

Trump communications director blames Obama for Trump's failure to pay federal income taxes

CNN anchor Jim Sciutto and Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh battled for nearly 10 minutes in an explosive collision ahead of the debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

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But the tension escalated even further after Murtaugh made a snide reference to the fact that Sciutto previously worked in the State Department during President Barack Obama’s administration.

“That refund that you’re referring to was made possible under a law signed by your former boss, Barack Obama, that allows people to claim losses in previous years and carry them forward,” Murtaugh said.

“Don’t go personal here, Tim Murtaugh,” Sciutto shot back. “Don’t go personal here. I worked as chief of staff for the U.S. ambassador to China.”

“It’s not personal, it’s a fact,” Murtaugh said. “President Obama signed that law.”

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/dont-go-personal-here-cnn-segment-goes-way-off-the-rails-as-jim-sciutto-clashes-with-trump-campaign-spox-on-presidents-taxes/

Trump literally can't afford to lose the election

By Peter Weber

It isn't a new idea that President Trump is better at playing a billionaire on TV than earning enough money to be one in real life. But The New York Times got the goods to prove it — 18 years worth of tax documents, from 2000 to 2018 — and released the first bombshell Sunday night (while promising to "publish additional articles about our findings" in coming weeks). It's a doozy.

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But "the picture that perhaps emerges most starkly from the mountain of figures and tax schedules prepared by Mr. Trump's accountants is of a businessman-president in a tightening financial vise," deep in debt with the bill coming due, the Times reports. That raises the troubling question of whether Trump can literally afford to lose power on Nov. 3 — and what he might do to prevent an electoral defeat and financial ruin.

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Along with more than $300 million in loans coming due in the next four years for which he is personally responsible, Trump might have to pay back the federal government more than $100 million, including interest and penalties, if the Internal Revenue Service determines he improperly obtained the $72.9 million tax rebate. Trump has valuable assets he might be able to sell (but really doesn't want to) — but he also currently serves as the top executive of the same federal government that includes the IRS and America's federal prosecutors.

If you think Trump wouldn't lean heavily on Attorney General William Barr or Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to protect his personal finances in a second term, or that Barr or Mnuchin are above tipping the scales even a bit, Trump might have a bridge to sell you. Or a condo. Mnuchin's refusal to hand Trump's tax returns over to congressional investigators, and the Justice Department's half-successful defense of that decision, are the reason we are learning what's in Trump's tax filings from The New York Times.

More:

https://theweek.com/articles/940021/trump-literally-cant-afford-lose-election

WAPO: Trump attempted to exploit his elderly father in order to save himself from financial ruin

Donald Trump, facing financial ruin, sought control of his elderly father’s estate. The family fight was epic.

“It was basically taking the whole estate and giving it to Donald,” Trump’s sister said in secretly recorded audio

By Michael Kranish
Sept. 27, 2020

Donald Trump was facing financial disaster in 1990 when he came up with an audacious plan to exert control of his father’s estate.

His creditors threatened to force him into personal bankruptcy, and his first wife, Ivana, wanted “a billion dollars” in a divorce settlement, Donald Trump said in a deposition. So he sent an accountant and a lawyer to see his father, Fred Trump Sr., who was told he needed to immediately sign a document changing the will according to his son’s wishes, according to depositions from family members.

It was a fragile moment for the senior Trump, who was 85 years old and had built a real estate empire worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He would soon be diagnosed with cognitive problems, such as being unable to recall things he was told 30 minutes earlier or remember his birth date, according to his medical records, which were included in a related court case.

Now, those records and other sources of information about the episode obtained by The Washington Post reveal the extent of Fred Trump Sr.’s cognitive impairment and how Donald’s effort to change his father’s will tore apart the Trump family, which continues to reverberate today.

More:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/politics/donald-trump-father-will/

We need to delegitimize the Supreme Court and the best way to do that will be to prosecute Trump

Expose him as a criminal after he leaves office. Investigate and prosecute every single instance of lawlessness.

Every. Single. One.

Exposing the lawlessness will prove to the majority of Americans that he was never a legitimate president and therefore his Supreme Court appointments will be illegitimate as well.

Biden should then either add more justices to the illegitimate court or ignore the rulings of the illegitimate court.

Focus on the prize, people.

November 3rd is what it's all about and even Trump knows it.

Don't get distracted by his most recent illegitimate Supreme Court pick.

Eyes on the prize.

Trump promises seniors $200 prescription drug gift certificates, but questions abound

I'm sure he would like the gift certificates to have his name on them....

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https://www.statnews.com/2020/09/24/seniors-200-gift-certificates-prescription-drug/

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday pledged to send $200 prescription drug coupons to 33 million Medicare beneficiaries “in the coming weeks,” a nakedly political ploy to curry favor with seniors who view drug prices as a priority.

Trump’s promise comes less than six weeks before Election Day, and represents the latest step in his administration’s (and his campaign’s) efforts to amass health care talking points, even if their actions do little to save Americans money.

The administration is getting its authority to ship the coupons from a Medicare demonstration program, a White House spokesman told STAT in a statement. The nearly $7 billion required to send the coupons, he said, would come from savings from Trump’s “most favored nations” drug pricing proposal. That regulation has also not yet been implemented — meaning the Trump administration is effectively pledging to spend $6.6 billion in savings that do not currently exist. The cards, he said, would be “actual discount cards for prescription drug copays.”

Lindsey Graham suggests 2020 election will be decided by the Supreme Court and not voters.

Go fuck yourself, Lindsey....

FBI has not seen evidence of widespread voter fraud, Director Wray tells senators

Source: CNBC

FBI Director Christopher Wray said Thursday that the bureau has not seen evidence of widespread voting fraud, an assertion that undercuts President Donald Trump’s recent warnings about the integrity of the election.

“We have not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it’s by mail or otherwise,” Wray told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Wray’s remarks come a day after Trump again claimed, without evidence, that mail-in voting is susceptible to massive fraud, perhaps by foreign adversaries. The president refused Wednesday to commit to a peaceful transition of power if Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins the November election, citing concerns about “the ballots.”

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/24/fbi-has-not-seen-evidence-of-widespread-voter-fraud-director-wray-tells-senators.html