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Donald Trump defended hosting the rapper formerly known as Kanye West at Mar-a-Lago, writing on Truth Social on Thursday that “the AP story, written by the talented and very unreliable Jill Colvin, whom I unfortunately met at White House, it’s Fake News.” “We have very strong security, especially with the extremely talented Secret Service agents on the premises, but when I know someone like I did Ye, we’re not going to make my guests strip, get thrown against walls and otherwise beaten up. Anonymous sources do not exist. Stories to the contrary are FAKE NEWS!” Mr Trump did not mention Ye’s recent anti-Semitic comments on Infowars, in which he praised Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. “I see good things about Hitler,” Ye told host Alex Jones. “You can’t say out loud that this person ever did anything good and I’m done with it,” he added. “I’m done with classifications. Every man has something valuable to bring to the table, especially Hitler.”
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VIDEO: Treasury Makes Trump Taxes Available to House Committee
Treasury Making Trump Taxes Available to House Committee Gustaf Kilander1 December 2022 21:15 1669926633
Hogan is raising money amid speculation of a White House bid
Term-limited Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan raised money and launched a political action committee Wednesday amid speculation he will run for president in 2024, telling hundreds of supporters he will make a decision after he leaves office in January. The governor acknowledged speculation about his political future in a speech to supporters. “Next year, I’m going to sit down and talk with my family, talk with my friends and decide how I can best serve our great nation,” Hogan said. Hogan, who has been a vocal critic of Trump, would be an underdog in a Republican primary, a point he made in his speech. “I know there’s no shortage of negatives, but I’ve always been the underdog and people have always counted us out, but every time we beat the odds,” Hogan added. The Republican candidate Hogan endorsed for governor, Kelly Schultz, lost the GOP primary for governor in Maryland to Trump-endorsed Dan Cox. Cox, however, narrowly lost the November general election to Democrat Wes Moore. The Associated Press December 1, 2022 8:30 p.m 1669923933
House committee says lax oversight helped facilitate PPP fraud
Financial technology companies abdicated their responsibility to control fraud in applications for a federal program designed to help small businesses stay open and keep workers employed during the pandemic, a report by the House investigative committee said. on Thursday. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis launched its investigation into the companies in May 2021 following public reports that the companies were linked to a disproportionate number of fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loans. Former President Donald Trump launched the Payroll Protection Program to help small businesses stay open and keep their workers employed. President Joe Biden kept the program and funneled money to more low-income and minority-owned companies. In total, $800 billion was spent on the program. Fintech companies screened PPP applications for lenders, who would ultimately distribute PPP money to businesses. The report said that two startups, Blueacorn PPP and Womply Inc. — which looked at one in three funded PPP loans in 2021 — were associated with significant rates of PPP loan applications with fraud indicators. It said the companies used questionable audit procedures and business practices when reviewing the loans, leading to the “unnecessary loss of taxpayer dollars,” the report said. The companies “took billions in taxpayer fees while becoming easy targets for those who tried to defraud the PPP.” The Associated Press December 1, 2022 7:45 p.m 1669921233
VIDEO: Supreme Court Rejects Trump’s Call to Stop Democrats on His Tax Returns
The Supreme Court rejects Trump’s call to stop Democrats from filing his tax returns Gustaf Kilander 1 December 2022 19:00 1669918533
The Jan. 6 panel will release all evidence and witness transcripts along with a final report this month
The select committee is to release all its evidence – including transcripts of testimony – along with its final report by the end of this month, according to one of its members. Appearing on CNN, Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren said the committee wants to make sure it doesn’t leave its findings open to attack by Republican leadership now poised to take control of the House. “It was clear that they would want to undermine the work we have done,” he said, “but we will prevent that. We will publish all the information we have collected so that it cannot be selectively edited and spun.” Confirming that “everything” would be released, Ms Lofgren refused to commit to an exact publication date, explaining that the vagaries of the official legislative printing process meant it could not be printed. However, he confirmed that the report should be expected by the end of this month. He also said the committee was preparing to publish the report in an “interactive” format, although he did not say what that would entail. The committee’s summer hearings saw the video on a panel screen with testimony from various witnesses close to Donald Trump himself, including former attorney general Bill Barr, former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Trump’s daughter Ivanka. Andrew Naughtie1 December 2022 18:15 1669915850
Catch up: Why House Democrats want Trump’s tax returns
Donald Trump has lost his battle to block House Democrats from receiving his tax returns just in time for the Ways and Means Committee to review them before Republicans regain the majority in January. If you’re just getting to the story, John Bowden explains what’s going on and why Mr. Trump has fought so hard and so long to keep his finances private. Andrew NaughtieDecember 1, 2022 5:30 p.m 1669914005
January 6, investigators subpoena the videographer
Director Alex Holder’s documentary about the 2020 presidential election and Donald Trump’s bid to overturn it received plenty of press this summer, as it featured interview footage of key members of Trump’s inner circle before and after the attack on the US Capitol . It has faded somewhat since then, given the sheer volume of evidence and testimony revealed by the January 6th select committee – but now it appears Mr Holder is having a moment of relevance again, with Justice Department investigators subpoenaing him over raw footage that drew on The Day of the Rebellion Itself: Andrew Naughtie December 1, 2022 5:00 p.m 1669912200
Herschel Walker has not answered questions from reporters in nearly two months
Republican candidate Herschel Walker hasn’t answered questions from reporters in nearly two months as the Georgia Senate race heads into a runoff next week. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Mr. Walker’s last conversation with reporters was in early October. It remains unclear if he’ll tussle with reporters on the trail again before the race ends on December 6, but at his events he’s increasingly kept away from the media: Mr. Walker lost one vote to one of his fellow Republican hopefuls in the state, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who said he came out of the polls after an hour in line only to vote for neither Mr. Walker nor Kemp. Mr. Walker’s campaign manager is not amused by the news. Andrew Naughtie1 December 2022 16:30 1669910405
The January 6 rioter claims he was drunk before the attack
The hundreds of defendants on Jan. 6 who tried to convince judges to extend leniency made a number of arguments, the most common being some version of the claim that they were “caught up” in the events on Capitol Hill after simply showing up to protest peacefully. Others, however, take a different approach: Andrew Naughtie December 1, 2022 4:00 p.m 1669908664
Lofgren: ‘Everything’ Will Be Released On January 6th
The Jan. 6 select committee is set to release all its evidence — including transcripts of testimony — along with its final report by the end of this month, according to one of its members. Appearing on CNN, Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren said the committee wants to make sure it doesn’t leave its findings open to attack by the Republican leadership now in control of the House. “It was clear that they would want to undermine the work we have done,” he said, “but we will prevent that. We will publish all the information we have collected so that it cannot be selectively edited and spun.” Andrew Naughtie1 December 2022 15:31
