Oppenheimer Wins Big at the 2024 Oscars — Full List of Winners

The Oscar 2024 ceremony took place at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.

Jimmy Kimmel, returned to host the Academy Awards for the second year in a row and fourth overall.

“Oppenheimer” won big at the 2024 Oscars, with 13 nominations and awards in major categories including best director, best actor, and best picture.

“Barbie,” the other half of the dual box-office Barbenheimer sensation, received eight nominations but won only one on Sunday night for best song.

Other big winners at the 96th Academy Awards were “Poor Things,” which won awards for hair and makeup, production design, and costume design, and Cillian Murphy, who won best actor, continuing his winning streak after winning similar awards at the 2024 Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and Screen Actors Guild Awards for the title role in “Oppenheimer.”

Emma Stone won best actress for her role in “Poor Things,” defeating Lily Gladstone, who became the first Native American to be nominated for best actress for her role as Mollie Burkhart in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

Oscars 2024: Full winners list of Academy Awards 2024

Best picture

  • “Oppenheimer” — Winner
  • “American Fiction”
  • “Anatomy of a Fall”
  • “Barbie”
  • “The Holdovers”
  • “Killers of the Flower Moon”
  • “Maestro”
  • “Past Lives”
  • “Poor Things”
  • “The Zone of Interest”

Best supporting actress

  • Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers” — Winner
  • Emily Blunt, “Oppenheimer”
  • Danielle Brooks, “The Color Purple”
  • America Ferrera, “Barbie”
  • Jodie Foster, “Nyad”

Best animated short film

  • “War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko” — Winner
  • “Letter to a Pig”
  • “Ninety-Five Senses”
  • “Our Uniform”
  • “Pachyderm”

Best animated feature film

  • “The Boy and the Heron” — Winner
  • “Elemental”
  • “Nimona”
  • “Robot Dreams”
  • “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”

Best original screenplay

  • “Anatomy of a Fall” — Winner
  • “The Holdovers”
  • “Maestro”
  • “May December”
  • “Past Lives”

Best adapted screenplay

  • “American Fiction” — Winner
  • “Barbie”
  • “Oppenheimer”
  • “Poor Things”
  • “The Zone of Interest”

Best makeup and hairstyling

  • “Poor Things” — Winner
  • “Golda”
  • “Maestro”
  • “Oppenheimer”
  • “Society of the Snow”

Best production design

  • “Poor Things” — Winner
  • “Barbie”
  • “Killers of the Flower Moon”
  • “Napoleon”
  • “Oppenheimer”

Best costume design

  • “Poor Things” — Winner
  • “Barbie”
  • “Killers of the Flower Moon”
  • “Napoleon”
  • “Oppenheimer”

Best international feature film

  • “The Zone of Interest,” United Kingdom — Winner
  • “Io Capitano,” Italy
  • “Perfect Days,” Japan
  • “Society of the Snow,” Spain
  • “The Teachers’ Lounge,” Germany

Best supporting actor

  • Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer” — Winner
  • Sterling K. Brown, “American Fiction”
  • Robert De Niro, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
  • Ryan Gosling, “Barbie”
  • Mark Ruffalo, “Poor Things”

Best visual effects

  • “Godzilla Minus One” — Winner
  • “The Creator”
  • “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”
  • “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
  • “Napoleon”

Best film editing

  • “Oppenheimer” — Winner
  • “Anatomy of a Fall”
  • “The Holdovers”
  • “Killers of the Flower Moon”
  • “Poor Things”

Best documentary short film

  • “The Last Repair Shop” — Winner
  • “The ABCs of Book Banning”
  • “The Barber of Little Rock”
  • “Island in Between”
  • “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó”

Best documentary feature film

  • “20 Days in Mariupol” — Winner
  • “Bobi Wine: The People’s President”
  • “The Eternal Memory”
  • “Four Daughters”
  • “To Kill a Tiger”

Best cinematography

  • “Oppenheimer” — Winner
  • “El Conde”
  • “Killers of the Flower Moon”
  • “Maestro”
  • “Poor Things”

Best live action short film

  • “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” — Winner
  • “The After”
  • “Invincible”
  • “Knight of Fortune”
  • “Red, White and Blue”

Best sound

  • “The Zone of Interest” — Winner
  • “The Creator”
  • “Maestro”
  • “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
  • “Oppenheimer”

Best original score

  • “Oppenheimer” — Winner
  • “American Fiction”
  • “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”
  • “Killers of the Flower Moon”
  • “Poor Things”

Best original song

  • “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie” — Winner
  • “It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony”
  • “I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie”
  • “The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot”
  • “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon”

Best actor

  • Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer” — Winner
  • Bradley Cooper, “Maestro”
  • Colman Domingo, “Rustin”
  • Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers”
  • Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”

Best director

  • Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer” — Winner
  • Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”
  • Yorgos Lanthimos, “Poor Things”
  • Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
  • Justine Triet, “Anatomy of a Fall”

Best actress

  • Emma Stone, “Poor Things” — Winner
  • Annette Bening, “Nyad”
  • Lily Gladstone, “Killers of the Flower Moon”
  • Sandra Hüller, “Anatomy of a Fall”
  • Carey Mulligan, “Maestro”

Source: CF

Jan. 6 Committee Suppressed Testimony on Trump Push for National Guard: Report

The Jan. 6 congressional committee allegedly falsely claimed it did not have evidence showing former President Donald Trump’s administration requested National Guard assistance, according to a report detailing a “hidden transcript” that was recently released.

“The former J6 Select Committee apparently withheld Mr. Ornato’s critical witness testimony from the American people because it contradicted their pre-determined narrative. Mr. Ornato’s testimony proves what Mr. Meadows has said all along: President Trump did in fact offer 10,000 National Guard troops to secure the U.S. Capitol, which was turned down,” Georgia Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk said in a statement on Friday.

Loudermilk released a transcript of former White House deputy chief of staff Anthony Ornato’s interview with the congressional committee investigating Jan. 6 on Friday, following the Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway, also a Fox News contributor, reporting, “Former Rep. Liz Cheney’s January 6 Committee suppressed evidence” that the Trump administration pushed for 10,000 National Guard members to be on the streets.

Ornato’s interview was conducted in January 2022, and attended by Cheney, among other members on the committee. In addition to serving as deputy chief of staff under Trump, Ornato served in the Secret Service for decades.

The committee, which included seven Democrats and two now-former Republican Congress members, Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, concluded that it found “no evidence” that the Trump administration called for 10,000 National Guard members to Washington, D.C., to protect the Capitol.

Trump has long claimed that he requested the National Guard but that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., failed to act on the request. Amid and following the congressional committee’s investigation, media outlets such as the Washington Post “debunked” Trump’s comments, repeatedly awarding him “Four Pinocchios.”

Loudermilk on Friday released a transcript of Ornato’s interview with the committee detailing that he overheard then-White House Chief of staff Mark Meadows asking D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to request as much protection for D.C. as she needed.

“When it comes to the National Guard statement about having 10,000 troops or any other number of troops, do you recall any discussion prior to the 6th about whether and how many National Guard troops to deploy on January 6th?” a staffer with the committee asked Ornato.

“I remember he had – he was on the phone with [Bowser], and we – I had walked in for something, and I was there, and he was on the phone with her and wanted to make sure she had everything that she needed. Because I think it was the concern of anti and pro groups clashing is what I recall. And not anywhere near the Capitol, this was just out on the mall area or at the event; and wanted to know if she needed any more guardsmen,” Ornato responded, according to the transcript reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Ornato went on to cite the “10,000” guardsmen number, according to the transcript, arguing Trump wanted “to make sure that you have enough.”

“And I remember the number 10,000 coming up of, you know, the President wants to make sure that you have enough. You know, he is willing to ask for 10,000. I remember that number. Now that you said it, it reminded me of it. And that she was all set. She had, I think it was like 350 or so for intersection control and those types of thing not in the law enforcement capacity at the time. And then that’s the only thing I recall with that number 10,000 National Guard guardsmen,” he continued.

Bowser ultimately asked for just over 300 National Guard members, who she requested would not be armed and only work to assist the local police department.

Ornato said in his interview with the committee that after Bowser refused additional National Guard members, the White House requested the Defense Department have a “quick reaction force” on hand.

“The only thing I remember with DOD and the National Guard was even though the mayor didn’t want any more National Guard in D.C., that a request was made to have kind of a, lack of better term, a quick reaction force out at Joint Base Andrews being that it was a military installation,” Ornato said in his interview, according to the transcript.

“I remember Chief Meadows talking to DOD about that, I believe. I remember Chief Meadows letting me know that, ‘Hey, there was going to be National Guard that’s going to be at Joint Base Andrews in case they’re going to need some more, we’re going to – the Mayor would need any, we’re going to make sure they’re out there.’”

Cheney’s spokesman Jeremy Adler told Fox News Digital on Sunday morning that the Federalist’s report is “flatly false.”

“The Federalist report is flatly false. No transcripts were destroyed, and as this letter (which has long been public) describes in detail, the Committee adhered to its obligations to allow the Secret Service to protect sensitive security information for interviews of its agents before preserving that testimony in the archives,” Adler said in a statement.

“Also, relevant content of the Secret Service transcripts was summarized in multiple places in the report… This is all a continuation of efforts to lie about and cover up Donald Trump’s culpability for January 6th,” he added, providing links to summarized Secret Service transcripts.

Cheney also took to X this weekend and referred to the report as “BS” while responding to a tweet posted by Mark Levin.

Levin responded to Cheney on X, saying: “I wrote it, moron. You’re a pathetic disgrace and demagogue. And have exposed yourself for all time. Funny how you avoid public debates with your detractors, including me. Coward. You should consider professional help.”

Meadows was reportedly worried about the crowd size ahead of Jan. 6, including from left-wing protesters, according to the Federalist’s report, which pointed to Ornato’s transcript detailing members of the Trump administration wanted to ensure there were enough troops on the streets.

“And, again, the crowd sizes were, you know, the organizers were saying, you know, there may be 50,000 here. So that’s where it started, I think, to scare the chief a little bit of how many people were coming in for this event, and wanted to make sure that they would be able to bring in National Guard if needed for this size of this many people inside D.C.,” Ornato said.

When supporters of former President Trump ultimately breached the Capitol, Ornato said in his interview that the White House called on acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller to deploy assistance.

“So then I remember the chief saying, ‘Hey, I’m calling secretary of defense to get that [quick reaction force] in here,’” Ornato said.

“[T]he constant was, you know, where is the National Guard? Why isn’t – you know, we’ve got to get control of this,” Ornato added.

“But, you know, [Meadows] understood the urgency, that’s for sure. And he kept, you know, getting Miller on the phone, wanting to know where they were, why aren’t they there yet,” he later added.

Hemingway detailed in her report that Ornato’s testimony matched what former Trump administration aide Kash Patel said during testimony amid Colorado’s failed efforts to boot Trump from the ballot over claims his 2024 presidential run violates the 14th Amendment.

“Mayor Bowser wrote a letter herself on approximately Jan. 4.… declining further requests for National Guard services outside of the 346 National Guardsmen already authorized,” Patel said late last year in testimony.

“The authorization came in beforehand. It was relayed to the appropriate officials in D.C. and the Capitol Police. It was declined, and we acted when their request finally came in on January 6,” he continued.

The judge in the Colorado case determined Patel was not a credible witness.

Mark Hemingway, senior writer at Real Clear Investigations, also responded to Cheney’s tweet to Levin this weekend, saying Cheney was using “disingenuous circular logic” by citing Patel is not being a credible witness.

Last year, a group of Colorado voters brought a lawsuit arguing Trump should be deemed ineligible from holding political office under a Civil War-era insurrection clause and that his name should thus be barred from appearing on the 2024 ballot. The group said Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters breached the U.S. Capitol, violated a clause in the 14th Amendment that prevents officers of the United States, members of Congress or state legislatures who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution from holding political office.

The case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which unanimously ruled in Trump’s favor, allowing him to remain on the Colorado ballot and squelching other states’ efforts to remove the former president from their ballots.

Ornato said the Trump White House on Jan. 6 continually asked, “What’s taking so long?” to deploy assistance to the city, but the rollout was allegedly riddled with hangups.

“Every time [Meadows] would ask, ‘What’s taking so long?’ It would be, like, you know, ‘This isn’t just start the car and we’re there. We have to muster them up, we have to’ – so it was constant excuses coming of – not excuses, but what they were actually doing to get them there,” he said. “So, you know, ‘We only have so many here right now. They’re given an hour to get ready.’ So there’s, like, all these timelines that was being explained to the chief. And he relayed that, like, you know – he’s like, ‘I don’t care, just get them here,’ you know, and ‘Get them to the Capitol, not to the White House.’”

The Jan. 6 report detailed that Gen. Mark Milley said Vice President Mike Pence had called acting Secretary Miller at least two times calling for National Guard presence, while Meadows had allegedly called to “kill the narrative that the Vice President is making all the decisions.”

“In contrast, according to General Milley, Chief of Staff Meadows called and said, ‘We have to kill the narrative that the Vice President is making all the decisions. We need to establish the narrative, you know, that the President is still in charge and that things are steady or stable,’ or words to that effect. I immediately interpreted that as politics, politics, politics,’” the report states.

The report states Trump did not personally make a call.

Just days before Jan. 6, 2021, an op-ed penned by former defense secretaries, including Liz Cheney’s father Dick Cheney, argued against involving the military in election disputes. Hemingway cited a report in her piece that Liz Cheney “organized” the op-ed and had allegedly “‘secretly orchestrated’ a pressure campaign to prevent the Defense Department from deploying resources on January 6, 2021.”

Trump has meanwhile previously claimed that Cheney “deleted” evidence that his administration wanted a greater presence of National Guard members.

“Why did American Disaster Liz Cheney … ILLEGALLY DELETE & DESTROY most of the evidence, and related items, from the January 6th Committee of Political Thugs and Misfits. THIS ACT OF EXTREME SABOTAGE MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR MY LAWYERS TO PROPERLY PREPARE FOR, AND PRESENT, A PROPER DEFENSE OF THEIR CLIENT, ME. All of the information on Crazy Nancy Pelosi turning down 10,000 soldiers that I offered to to [sic] guard the Capitol Building, and beyond, is gone,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Jan. 1, 2024.

The committee’s final report determined that Trump “never gave any order to deploy the National Guard.”

“President Trump had authority and responsibility to direct deployment of the National Guard in the District of Columbia, but never gave any order to deploy the National Guard on January 6th or on any other day. Nor did he instruct any Federal law enforcement agency to assist. Because the authority to deploy the National Guard had been delegated to the Department of Defense, the Secretary of Defense could, and ultimately did deploy the Guard,” the report states.

In his Friday statement and transcript release, Loudermilk claimed the committee “hid” Ornato’s testimony. Loudermilk is chairman of the House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight, which is looking into the Jan. 6 committee’s handling of the investigation.

“This is just one example of important information the former Select Committee hid from the public because it contradicted what they wanted the American people to believe. And, this is exactly why my investigation is committed to uncovering all the facts, no matter the outcome,” Loudermilk said in his statement.

Source: CF

Rep. Byron Donalds Gives Update on Status of Biden Impeachment Inquiry, Reveals Three Major Pieces of Evidence

On Sunday, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) spoke to Fox News, revealing the most convincing pieces of evidence that Republicans in the House have gathered, which he claims proves that Joe Biden was involved in his family’s alleged influence-peddling scheme.

Donalds appeared on “Sunday Morning Futures,” with host Maria Bartiromo, updating her, along with the American public, on the impeachment inquiry into Biden, and connection with other influential members of his family, including his son, Hunter. Bartiromo asked if Donalds could share some of the “key evidence” in the inquiry. 

“We now know that Hunter Biden did bring Joe Biden to this dinner at Cafe Milano,” Donalds began. “It has been talked about in various deposition transcripts from Tony Bobulinski to Devin Archer. When we asked Hunter Biden, he couldn’t recall. You have the text message famously about requesting money from Chairman Zhao. The money showed up a week later. Hunter Biden, under oath, said he was high, can’t remember the text message. But photos from the laptop from hell demonstrate that he actually was at Joe Biden’s house on the day that the text message was sent. So you have Hunter Biden contradicting himself. That’s evidence piece number one.”

“Evidence piece number two is the fact that you have money that flows to Jim Biden on the same day checks are cut to Joe Biden, and then there’s calling it a loan, but there are no loan documents that exist. That’s number two,” he continued. 

“And then number three, and most importantly, I think, if you’re talking impeachment, Joe Biden has woefully violated immigration law in the United States. He has also violated Supreme Court ruling when it comes to student loans, and he does it with impunity. So, I believe it’s partly the oversight investigation, but it’s also the willfulness of Joe Biden to ignore the Supreme Court and to not faithfully take care to execute the laws of the United States when it comes to border security,” Donalds concluded.

A recent report from the Daily Caller claims that Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer has called on Hunter Biden to appear before a hearing, entitled “Influence Peddling: Examining Joe Biden’s Abuse of Public Office” on March 20, alongside his former business associates Devon Archer, Tony Bobulinski and Jason Galanis. The hearing aims to scrutinize President Joe Biden’s involvement in his son’s foreign business dealings.

“Given his repeated calls for a public hearing, we fully expect him to appear for a scheduled hearing on [March 20th] alongside his former business associates,” a source familiar with the matter told the Caller.

At the time, Comer stated that House Republicans had found evidence that “Joe Biden knew about, participated in, and benefited from his family cashing in on the Biden name.”

“Multiple witnesses have testified Joe Biden allowed his family to sell him as ‘the brand’ around the world to enrich the Biden family,” Comer stated.

Source: Resistthemainstream

Megyn Kelly Rips Katie Britt’s Republican SOTU Rebuttal: ‘She Embarrassed Herself’

Megyn Kelly, a prominent voice on Sirius XM, didn’t hold back in critiquing Republican Alabama Sen. Katie Britt’s reaction to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.

Kelly characterized the rebuttal as “totally cringe,” emphasizing Britt’s “over-the-top emotions.”

During her broadcast Friday, Kelly continued to analyze Britt’s performance, pointing out what she deemed as embarrassing moments, especially when discussing the Southern Border. 

Kelly expressed her views explicitly, stating, “Okay, she embarrassed herself.”

“She embarrassed the Republicans,” Kelly continued, “and she embarrassed women. It was a disgrace. I was horrified by her performance, and I really think that it’s going to take her years to rebound from that performance.”

WATCH:

Josh Hammer, the host of “America on Trial with Josh Hammer,” also provided a straightforward assessment, likening Britt’s demeanor to “an insecure, high school junior” attempting to “swoon before the star quarterback.” 

Hammer criticized the entire performance, saying, “The whole thing is beyond over-the-top. I was never a huge fan of Katie Britt in the first place, to be honest with you.”

While acknowledging the lackluster nature of Britt’s rebuttal, Hammer raised questions about the overall quality of recent State of the Union responses, suggesting a broader issue within the Republican Party. 

Kelly argued that the party’s focus on identity politics is overshadowing the selection of a competent candidate for such a crucial task.

Outkick columnist Mary Katherine Ham offered her perspective, suggesting that Britt’s rebuttal “could have been more effective” if she had toned it down. 

Meanwhile, “The View” co-hosts criticized the decision to place a woman in a kitchen for the rebuttal, interpreting it as a symbol reminiscent of a 1950s stay-at-home mother.

Source: Resistthemainstream

Biden Apologizes for Calling Laken Riley Murderer an “Illegal”: They “Built the Country”

President Joe Biden apologized over the weekend for calling the illegal alien who allegedly murdered a young woman in Georgia an “illegal” during his recent State of the Union speech.

The young woman — 22-year-old Georgia nursing student Laken Riley — was brutally murdered allegedly by Venezuelan national Jose Ibarra, who is reportedly an active gang member.

Biden faced significant blowback from Democrats for correctly calling Ibarra an “illegal,” which comes as the party tries to court the millions of illegal aliens who have entered the U.S. under Biden.

“I noticed the look of surprise on your face when you walked into the chamber and you saw Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. It was priceless,” MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart said to Biden during an interview that aired on Satuday.

“You feigned shock at seeing her. But during your response to her heckling of you, you used the word ‘illegal’ when talking about the man who allegedly killed Laken Riley.”

“Undocumented,” Biden interrupted. “An undocumented person.”

“And I shouldn’t have used ‘illegal,’ it’s undocumented,” Biden claimed, even though the correct legal terminology is, in fact, “illegal alien.”

“And look, when I spoke about the difference between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about at the border was his, the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people polluting the blood,” he continued. 

“And I talked about what I’m not going to do, what I won’t do, I’m not gonna treat any, any, any of these people with disrespect. Look, they built the country. The reason our economy is growing. We have to control the border and more orderly flow, but I don’t share his view at all.”

“So you regret using that word?” Capehart pressed.

“Yes,” Biden responded.

WATCH:

Source: CF

Lara Trump, Michael Whatley Elected as New RNC Chairs

The Republican National Committee (RNC) on Friday officially voted to make Michael Whatley and Lara Trump its new chair and co-chair, respectively, cementing former President Trump’s remaking of RNC leadership as he sets his sights on November.

RNC officials gathered in Houston for the group’s leadership meetings, where they agreed to replace outgoing chair Ronna McDaniel, who resigned amid discord with Trump during the primary process.

Speaking to RNC members, Whatley vowed that the organization “will be focused like a laser on getting out the vote and protecting the ballot.”

“In less than eight months, we are going to determine the fate of not only the United States but of the entire world,” he said. “And this body, the RNC, is going to be the vanguard of a movement that will work tirelessly, every single day to elect our nominee Donald J. Trump as the 47th president of the United States, flip the Senate, expand our majority in the House of Representatives.”

Whatley, who has served as chair of the North Carolina GOP and RNC general counsel, is a Trump loyalist who has echoed the former president’s rhetoric about “election integrity” in the wake of the 2020 election, which Trump has falsely claimed was fraudulent and stolen.

In a 2021 appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference panel on “protecting elections,” Whatley spoke at length about his efforts to recruit hundreds of attorneys and volunteer poll watchers in North Carolina. He has also spoken skeptically about mail-in and absentee voting unless they are paired with voter ID requirements.

Trump would likely exert pressure on the RNC to pursue legal challenges if November’s election doesn’t go his way, just as he did in 2020.

Lara Trump will serve as co-chair and will have a major focus on fundraising. The RNC has lagged far behind Democrats in bringing in cash over the past year, a setback heading into what will be a lengthy and bruising general election campaign.

Speaking to RNC committee members on Friday, Lara said the RNC had already received a check for $100,000 and pointed to the importance of fundraising and encouraging early voting, something that the GOP has at times struggled to rally around.

“We’ve got to play the game a little bit differently. We have to encourage people to do things like early voting,” she said.

The ex-president’s daughter-in-law told Newsmax last month she would spend “every single penny” to ensure Trump’s election.

Trump has coasted through the GOP primary, winning all but two contests through Super Tuesday. He is expected to cross the delegate threshold this month to make him the presumptive nominee, formally setting up a rematch against President Biden.

It is typical for a candidate to merge with the party apparatus once they are the presumptive nominee, and Trump’s campaign and the RNC will be able to jointly fundraise and share data and other resources once he has the requisite number of delegates.

A major question moving forward is whether the party will pay Trump’s legal bills. The former president is facing 91 felony charges across four investigations, and he recently was ordered by a New York judge to pay $355 million in a civil fraud case.

Trump’s campaign has spent millions of dollars on legal fees over the past year, leaving his operation at a significant cash disadvantage compared to President Biden’s campaign.

Chris LaCivita, a top Trump campaign adviser who is moving over to the RNC to oversee day-to-day operations, dismissed the idea that the party would foot the bill for his legal costs, though it has done so in the past.

“The fact of the matter is not a penny of the RNC’s money or, for that matter, the campaign’s money has gone or will go to pay legal fees,” LaCivita told The Associated Press.

Some RNC members have expressed reservations about the possibility of the party covering Trump’s legal costs. Mississippi committeeman Henry Barbour proposed a non-binding resolution stating RNC funds could not be used for Trump’s legal bills, but it failed to garner enough support.

Source: CF

Biden Botches Laken Riley’s Name During SOTU Speech

President Biden stunned listeners Thursday as he veered from his highly partisan State of the Union address script to call out Georgia nursing student Laken Riley’s murder last month by an illegal immigrant — erring twice by calling her “Lincoln.”

Biden, 81, began his campaign-style speech by highlighting his best-polling positions — railing against former President Donald Trump on issues such as abortion, NATO and the Capitol riot — but was derailed by persistent Republican heckling, finally responding to their demands that he say Riley’s name hours after the House passed legislation in her honor to require migrants who commit certain crimes be sent to federal custody.

The president then held up a pin bearing Riley’s name, which Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) had handed him on his way into the chamber, with Biden telling the congresswoman, “I know how to say her name.”

“Lincoln — Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal,” Biden said, both botching her name and using a term considered politically incorrect by most Democratic officeholders.

“That’s right, but how many of the thousands of people being killed by illegals —” he began as Greene interrupted him with continued heckling over his border policies.

The president did not correct himself after botching Rliey’s name before adding: “To her parents, I say my heart goes out to you. Having lost children myself, I understand.”

Biden pivoted quickly to arguing for a stalled Senate bipartisan bill, which conservatives balked at last month over provisions they say bless rather than counter the current White House policy of quickly releasing most migrants who request asylum after illegally crossing the border.

The president emphasized the bill also had funding to boost the processing of asylum claims, as Senate GOP negotiator James Lankford (R-Okla.) nodded along and mouthed “that’s true” — and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) shook his head and rolled his eyes.

“Look, if we change the dynamic at the border — people pay the smugglers $8,000 to get across the border because they know if they get in the country, it’s six to eight years before they have a hearing…. But if it’s only six weeks, the idea is it’s highly unlikely that people will pay that money and go all that way, knowing that they’ll be able to be kicked out quickly,” Biden said.

Republicans had hounded Biden for not addressing Riley’s murder since her body was found Feb. 22 on the University of Georgia’s campus.

Authorities say Riley was killed by 26-year-old Venezuelan migrant Jose Antonio Ibarra, who was released near El Paso in September 2022 pursuant to Biden administration policies and subsequently busted by police but not held in jail for allegedly endangering a child in New York and shoplifting in Georgia.

Republicans accuse Biden of unleashing the border crisis by terminating former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy that required most asylum seekers to await rulings on their claim while staying south of the border.

Staten Island GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis pressed Biden to use his existing presidential authority to reverse course on border policy shortly before his speech, pulling him aside as he walked down the central aisle of the House chamber.

Malliotakis “told him to secure the border, Americans are dying. He used his authority to dismantle it, he can use it to put it back together,” her spokeswoman Natalie Baldassarre told The Post.

Republicans note that Biden largely ignored the border issue until recently — with the White House initially insisting a surge in crossings that coincided with Biden taking office was simply seasonal or a reflection of global issues and not US policies.

December saw an all-time monthly record with more than 302,000 people arrested for illegally entering from Mexico — equivalent to the population of Pittsburgh.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in January that more than 85% of those detained for illegally crossing the border were being released into the US — up from 71% in October and 74% in November.

Asylum seekers are entitled to work permits after an initial 180-day wait period and a massive asylum processing backlog means that an actual adjudication of their claims could take nearly a decade.

A record of about 2.5 million people — nearly the population of Chicago — were apprehended after illegally crossing the US-Mexico border in fiscal 2023, which ended Sept. 30, in addition to an estimated 670,000 “gotaways” who evaded authorities.

Fiscal 2022 previously set a record with nearly 2.4 million apprehensions along the border — up from 1.7 million in fiscal 2021, which at the time had been considered by Republicans a crisis.

The House impeached Mayorkas on Feb. 13 for allegedly failing to enforce the country’s laws and for allegedly misrepresenting the degree of border security in congressional testimony.

The Senate trial of Mayorkas, who attended the State of the Union, has not yet been scheduled.

Source: CF

Revealed: VP Harris-Fani Willis Tie

The defense attorney who originally unearthed the revelation that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was romantically linked with special prosecutor Nathan Wade appeared before the Georgia State Senate on Wednesday to share her knowledge with a committee created to investigate Willis’ actions.

Merchant detailed how she learned of the relationship between Willis and Wade, whom the district attorney appointed to prosecute the Georgia election case against former President Donald Trump, and explained she learned of a meeting between Willis and Vice President Kamala Harris during her investigation.

“I did an open records for the White House access, and we have records that Ms. Willis and the Mayor of Atlanta were at a meeting with the Vice President,” Merchant told the Georgia State Senate.

The logs obtained by Merchant show the meeting occurred on February 28, 2023.

Merchant is the defense attorney for Michael Roman, a former Trump administration opposition researcher indicted alongside the former president in Willis’ election racketeering case.

Earlier in her testimony, Merchant explained how she retrieved the text messages she exchanged with Terrence Bradley, the former law partner to Wade.

Though he later testified he was only speculating, Bradley texted Merchant extensively in what she claims was a bid to help her prepare her legal filings against Willis.

Referring to text messages that appear to show Merchant and Bradley collaborating on a legal filing, she explained, “These are things that he had told me. I sent him a copy of the motion that weekend, I wanted him to review it.”

She added, “He responded that everything looked good,” and “he wanted me to make some changes, because I had not included the information about how much money he had received, I only included the money Wade had received.”

Merchant also testified that Bradley “did not want” Willis or Wade to learn he was helping her client, Roman.

Both Willis and Wade testified separately that their relationship began in early 2022 after she appointed him as special prosecutor, but the text messages Bradley claimed in text messages to Merchant their relationship began as early as 2019. He later testified these text messages were only speculation.

Since his testimony, two witnesses have come forward offering to testify that Bradley told them Willis and Wade were in a relationship before early 2022.

Merchant also told the senators how she learned Willis was in a relationship with Wade.

“We met for about an hour,” she explained. “He said they had been together, they met at this conference, Nathan was still married. Mr. Bradley was upset because of what happened in the divorce. They were still married, and he essentially just left her after meeting Ms. Willis and dropping the kids off at college.”

The Georgia State Senate successfully created a committee to investigate Willis’ behavior after a legal filing by Roman, written by Merchant, revealed the existence of a relationship between Willis and Wade.

Multiple defendants now argue that Willis should be dismissed from the case because she financially benefited from the appointment of Wade, who has received more than $650,000 from Fulton County taxpayers. After being appointed special prosecutor, Wade used his company credit card to purchase luxurious vacations he shared with Willis.

Willis and Wade separately testified that she repaid him in thousands of dollars of unrecorded cash transactions and by paying for incidental and entertainment expenses during their travels.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is considering whether Willis should be disqualified from the case and stated that he was likely to decide by March 15.

Source: CF

Biden to Propose Massive Tax Rises in Tonight’s SOTU

During President Biden’s State of the Union, he will unveil his plan to raise the minimum corporate tax by a whopping 40% as well as implement a tax on the rich that would be at least 25%.

Biden would raise the corporate tax rate to 28% and the corporate minimum tax to 21%. Currently, the minimum corporate tax rate stands at 15% after Biden implemented that earlier in his presidency. Biden would also refuse companies tax deductions for employees making over $1 million.

“The President is proposing to levy a 25 percent minimum tax on the wealthiest 0.01 percent, those with wealth of more than $100 million,” the White House stated.

Former President Trump, the presumptive GOP 2024 presidential nominee, would reportedly make the tax cuts he implemented in his first term – which reduced corporate taxes from 35% to 21% — permanent.

During Trump’s administration, the four quarters preceding January 2019 saw real gross domestic product soar more than 3 percent, the best since the second term of George W. Bush’s presidency 13 years before.

Wharton Business School finance professor Joao Gomes, who was awarded the University of Pennsylvania’s Marshall Blume Prize in 2018, recently warned that the nation’s massive $34 trillion debt could presage an economic meltdown in 2025.

“As we discuss promises about ‘what we’re going to do with tax and programs,’ it’s going to be important to put it in the context of ‘Can we afford that?’” Gomes told Fortune. “It’s a really obvious moment in history for us to say: ‘Okay, what are our choices; what can we feasibly do; who has the better plan?’ I suspect neither party is interested in that, and it might all be pushed under the rug.”

“Toward the latter part of the decade we will have to deal with this,” he continued. “It could derail the next administration, frankly. If they come up with plans for large tax cuts or another big fiscal stimulus, the markets could rebel. Interest rates could just spike right there, and we would have a crisis in 2025. It could very well happen. I’m very confident by the end of the decade one way or another, we will be there.”

“The most important thing about debt for people to keep in mind is you need somebody to buy it. We used to be able to count on China, Japanese investors, the Fed to [buy the debt]. All those players are slowly going away and are actually now selling. … If at some moment these folks that have so far been happy to buy government debt from major economies decide, ‘You know what, I’m not too sure if this is a good investment anymore. I’m going to ask for a higher interest rate to be persuaded to hold this,’ then we could have a real accident on our hands,” Gomes stated.

Source: CF

Trump Challenges Biden to Televised Debate. Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere.

Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will debate President Joe Biden “anytime, anywhere, anyplace” as the two men turned their attention toward a general election rematch a day after dominating Super Tuesday primaries.

“It is important for the Good of our Country, that Joe Biden and I Debate issues that are so vital to American, and the American people,” Trump wrote on the Truth Social media platform. “Therefore, I am calling for Debates, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE!”

Trump declined to take part in Republican primary debates and has been critical of general-election candidate matchups hosted by the long-standing Commission on Presidential Debates. But on Wednesday, he said he would go toe-to-toe with Biden in commission debates — or even debates hosted by the Democratic National Committee — if the president will agree.

Biden has not yet said whether he will debate Trump before the November election. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre deflected a question from Fox News earlier Wednesday about whether dodging debates would cast doubt on Biden’s “acuity.”

“Talk to the campaign,” Jean-Pierre said.

In a statement, Biden campaign spokesperson Michael Tyler declined to address whether the president would debate, suggesting that’s a discussion for later date.

“I know Donald Trump’s thirsty for attention and struggling to expand his appeal beyond the MAGA base — and that’s a conversation we’ll have at the appropriate time in this cycle,” Tyler said.

“But if he’s so desperate to see President Biden in prime time, he doesn’t have to wait! He can join the tens of millions of Americans who will tune in to watch the State of the Union tomorrow night. He might even learn a thing or two about bringing people together and actually delivering for the American people.”

Biden and Trump debated twice in 2020, when the middle meeting of three scheduled debates was canceled following Trump’s refusal to conduct it virtually due to Covid-19.

Source: CF