House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveils 25th Amendment bid, questions President Trump's fitness to serve

[Lori Price]

News Updates From CLG

10 October 2020 

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Previous edition: Upbeat Trump 'continues to improve' as doctor says he may be discharged Monday

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveils 25th Amendment bid, questions President Trump's fitness to serve | 09 Oct 2020 | House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled legislation Friday that would allow Congress to intervene under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove the president, insisting it's not about President Donald Trump but inspired by the need for greater congressional oversight of his White House. Pelosi has been raising questions about Trump's mental fitness since his COVID-19 diagnosis and demanding more transparency about his health. The bill would set up a commission to assess the president's ability to lead the country and ensure a continuity of government. It comes one year after Pelosi's House launched impeachment proceedings against Trump. Just weeks before the Nov. 3 election, with no hopes of the bill becoming law, the rollout was quickly dismissed as a stunt by Trump's team and top allies.

Trump: Pelosi Hopes to Use 25th Amendment to Replace Joe Biden with Kamala Harris | 09 Oct 2020 | President Donald Trump told conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh on Friday that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi hopes to use the 25th Amendment to get rid of Joe Biden if he wins the election and replace him with his running mate, Kamala Harris. Earlier on Friday, Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) introduced a bill to create a "commission" that would evaluate the mental and physical fitness of the president -- and initiate a process of removing the president from office, if necessary. The two Democrats cited the fourth section of the 25th Amendment, which provides that Congress can create a body with the power to replace the president upon "written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office." Limbaugh, who hosted the president in what was billed as the largest "virtual rally" in history, chimed in that Pelosi's new 25th Amendment bill was a "trial run" for replacing Biden. Trump also tweeted his claim.

Loeffler unveils resolution condemning Pelosi for comments on 25th Amendment | 09 Oct 2020 | Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) is slated to introduce a resolution condemning Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Deranged-Calif.) for "politicizing the 25th Amendment." The resolution comes after the California Democrat expressed support for a bill that would create a "Commission on President Capacity " to gauge whether the president is capable of serving in the role and invoke the 25th Amendment if needed. Republicans have deemed the Democratic-led bill -- which was unveiled the week after the president was diagnosed with COVID-19 -- a publicity stunt ahead of Election Day, though Pelosi argued the legislation is not intended to be a direct swing at President Trump.

Pompeo says he expects more Clinton emails to be released before election | 09 Oct 2020 | Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday he expects his agency will release more of Hillary Clinton's emails in the coming weeks after President Trump publicly urged him to be more aggressive in going after the former secretary of State and other political rivals. "We've got the emails, we're getting them out. We're going to get all this information out so the American people can see it," Pompeo said during an interview on Fox News. "We're doing it as fast as we can. I certainly think there'll be more to see before the election," he added when pressed about the timing.

DNI declassifies Brennan notes, CIA memo on Hillary Clinton 'stirring up' scandal between Trump, Russia --Source said Brennan's handwritten notes were taken after briefing Obama on the matter | 06 Oct 2020 | Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Tuesday declassified documents that revealed former CIA Director John Brennan briefed former President Obama on Hillary Clinton's purported "plan" to tie then-candidate Donald Trump to Russia as "a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server" ahead of the 2016 presidential election, Fox News has learned. Ratcliffe declassified Brennan's handwritten notes -- which were taken after he briefed Obama on the intelligence the CIA received -- and a CIA memo, which revealed that officials referred the matter to the FBI for potential investigative action. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence transmitted the declassified documents to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees on Tuesday afternoon. "Today, at the direction of President Trump, I declassified additional documents relevant to ongoing Congressional oversight and investigative activities," Ratcliffe said in a statement to Fox News Tuesday.

Trump gets third 2020 Nobel Peace Prize nomination --Trump is reducing US involvement in wars, one of his nominators said | 30 Sept 2020 | President Trump received his third 2020 Nobel Peace Prize nomination in September, this time from a group of Australian law professors. "What he has done with the Trump Doctrine is that he has decided he would no longer have America involved in endless wars, wars which achieve nothing but the killing of thousands of young Americans and enormous debts imposed on America," Australian legal scholar David Flint told Sky News Australia on Sunday. "He's reducing America's tendency to get involved in any and every war." Flint praised the president's role in brokering a peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

White House adviser says troops in Afghanistan to be reduced to 2,500 in 2021 | 07 Oct 2020 | President Trump's national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, said Wednesday that the U.S. would scale back its troop presence in Afghanistan to 2,500 by the beginning of 2021. "When President Trump took office, there were over 10,000 American troops in Afghanistan. As of today there are under 5,000 and that will go to 2,500 by early next year,” O’Brien said during an event at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, according to Reuters. Later Wednesday, Trump, who has long pledged to withdraw American troops from foreign military engagements, said that he hoped to have "the small remaining number" of U.S. troops in Afghanistan home by the end of the year...

Truer words never spoken: Trump: Pentagon Leaders Want War to Keep Contractors 'Happy' | 07 Sept 2020 | President Donald Trump said Monday that top Defense Department leaders want to keep waging wars in order to keep defense contractors "happy." At a White House news conference Monday, Trump repeated his claim that the story [source-less story alleging Trump made disparaging comments about U.S. troops] was a "hoax" and said: "I'm not saying the military's in love with me. The soldiers are." However, he added, "The top people in the Pentagon probably aren't because they want to do nothing but fight wars so all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy." ...Defense Secretary Mark Esper, whom Trump appointed, was defense contractor Raytheon Co.'s chief Washington lobbyist before he became Army secretary in 2017.

New England Journal of Medicine says people refusing MANDATORY coronavirus vaccines should be severely punished, locked in their homes and fired from their jobs | 06 Oct 2020 | The New England Journal of Medicine, the same fake science rag that committed total fraud to dishonestly smear hydroxychloroquine and protect the interests of vaccine companies, is now saying that all human beings must be forced to take mandatory [deadly] vaccines. Those who refuse should face severe punishment, the NEJM insists, and insidious measures should be pursued to make sure no one can challenge the punishments in a court of law. Source: Ensuring Uptake of Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2, October 1, 2020, N Engl J Med 2020; 383:1296-1299 "[B]ecause of the infectiousness and dangerousness of the virus, relatively substantive penalties could be justified, including employment suspension or stay-at-home orders for persons in designated high-priority groups who refuse vaccination," says the NEJM paper.

White House security official reported to be gravely ill with COVID-19 | 07 Oct 2020 | A White House security official is reportedly "gravely ill" after contracting COVID-19 in September, Bloomberg reports. The publication identified the official as Crede Bailey, who heads the White House’s security office. He has reportedly been receiving hospital care since September. According to Bloomberg, which cited four sources familiar with official’s condition, Bailey grew sick before the Rose Garden event held on Sept. 26, in which President Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

Cleveland Officials Traced COVID Cases Back to the Debate...Before Trump Was On-Site | 06 Oct 2020 | Officials for the City of Cleveland said 11 cases of the coronavirus could be traced back to the Sept. 29 presidential debate. The cases were a result of debate pre-planning and set-up, with the majority of cases impacting out-of-state travelers, particularly debate organizers and members of the media. The news comes after President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for the virus... Before the event, the Cleveland Clinic, which oversaw the health and safety measures at the debate, said there was a very low risk level of exposure. "Based on what we know about the virus and the safety measures we had in place, we believe there is low risk of exposure to our guests," the Cleveland Clinic said in a statement before Tuesday's debate. Even though 11 cases were traced back to the pre-debate planning, the Cleveland Clinic made one thing clear: every single person with credentials who went into the debate had to have a negative coronavirus test.

Trump campaign sends pizzas to supporters outside Walter Reed Medical Center | 05 Oct 2020 | The Trump campaign sent pizza to supporters gathered outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as the commander-in-chief continues his battle against coronavirus inside. Video captured by journalist Brendan Gutenschwager Sunday night showed a crowded swath of supporters being offered pizza while outside the Bethesda, Md., hospital where he is being treated. The pizza, according to Politico, was sent over by the Trump campaign... On Friday evening, just hours after being admitted to Walter Reed, the commander-in-chief sent White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows out to thank the first supporters who had arrived outside. "The president saw you, he said to come out here and thank you all with these chocolates," before offering the cheering crowd candy bars. Later that night, Meadows confirmed again that the president had sent him out to greet the supporters in a statement to Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle.”

Jets' coronavirus test a false positive, game with Cardinals still on | 09 Oct 2020 | All Jets players and coaches have tested negative for COVID-19, and Sunday’s game against Arizona will be played on time. The Jets posted a statement on social media Friday night, hours after their training facility was closed due to a presumptive positive coronavirus test for one player. "This evening, we received negative PCR COVID-19 test results for all players, coaches and personnel," the team said... During the summer, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford had a similar false positive.

Suspect Charged in Gretchen Whitmer Kidnap Plot Had Anarchist Flag, Hates Police | 08 Oct 2020 | United States attorneys in Michigan charged six individuals on Thursday with an alleged plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and overthrow the state's government. The feds have charged Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, and Brandon Caserta, the Detroit News reported. Twelve individuals were charged in all... Several media outlets, including the New York Times and the UK Daily Mail have attempted to cast the individuals as “right-wing” and “Trump supporters,” but at least one suspect, Brandon Caserta, held views more nuanced than that. Breitbart News reviewed Caserta’s Facebook profile shortly before it was deleted. In several YouTube videos, Caserta opined about rights and the illegitimacy of government. “The Constitution is illegitimate,” he said in one posted on May 16, 2020, which was removed after Caserta’s account was terminated. “Authority doesn’t exist, dude,” Caserta said, seated in front of an anarchist flag, “and, like, the law doesn’t exist.”

FBI says it foiled plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer | 08 Oct 2020 | A militia group planned to violently depose Michigan’s government and abduct Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), the FBI said in a federal affidavit filed Thursday. "Several members talked about murdering 'tyrants' or 'taking' a sitting governor," an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit. "The group decided they needed to increase their numbers and encouraged each other to talk to their neighbors and spread their message." At least six men have been charged in connection with the alleged terror plot, identified as Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta. Their arrest was first reported by The Detroit News. The FBI says it investigated [and instigated?] the alleged plot through a combination of undercover agents and confidential informants for several months.

Ohio's Franklin County sees nearly 50K voters getting wrong absentee ballots, elections officials say | 09 Oct 2020 | Nearly 50,000 voters in Franklin County -- Ohio's most populous county -- received incorrect absentee ballots in the mail, elections officials said Friday, revealing a major glitch that appeared to affect one in five ballots the county had sent so far. Officials promised to have new ballots mailed within three days to the 49,669 voters who received the wrong ones. A list of voters who got the wrong ballot will be posted on the Franklin County Board of Elections website.

NJ mail carrier accused of dumping 1,875 pieces of mail, including voting ballots, in dumpsters | 07 Oct 2020 | The Department of Justice has charged a mail carrier for dumping mail, including ballots, in two dumpsters in New Jersey. According to a DOJ statement, 26-year-old Nicholas Beauchene was arrested and charged with one count of delay of mail and one of obstruction of mail. If found guilty of both charges, he faces up to five years and six months in prison and a 255,000 fine... Beauchene is accused of dumping 1,875 pieces of mail in two dumpsters, one in North Arlington and the other in West Orange. The mail in the North Arlington dumpster contained 98 general election ballots; mail found in the West Orange dumpster had one general election ballot. All of the mail, according to the DOJ, was eventually delivered.

Over 2,000 LA County Voters Received 'Faulty' Ballots with No Way to Vote for President | 06 Oct 2020 | Over 2,000 voters in Los Angeles County received "faulty" ballots which lacked a section to vote for the President of the United States, the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's office confirmed on Monday. According to the Los Angeles Times, roughly 2,100 voters received the flawed ballots, missing the section to cast a vote for the office of the presidency. The outlet reported that the ballots were primarily confined to those in the Woodland Hills area... The massive error follows the executive order Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) issued in May, requiring the state to send all registered voters absentee ballots ahead of the November 3 election. 

Carrollton mayoral candidate jailed on 109 felony counts in vote fraud case --Zul Mirza Mohamed faces 25 counts of unlawful possession of a ballot and 84 counts of fraudulent use of a mail ballot application. | 08 Oct 2020 | A Carrollton mayoral candidate was arrested Wednesday and faces 109 felony charges related to accusations of voter fraud, Denton County authorities said. Zul Mirza Mohamed, 39, faces 25 counts of unlawful possession of a ballot -- all second-degree felonies -- and 84 counts of fraudulent use of a mail ballot application -- all third-degree felonies... Mohamed was arrested and was being held in the Denton County jail. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday that his election fraud unit assisted the Sheriff's Office in arresting Mohamed. 

Hartford receives $350K grant from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's 'safe elections' initiative | 01 Oct 2020 | With four weeks until the November election, more than a dozen temps have taken over Hartford's council chambers with printers, scanners and seemingly endless piles of absentee ballot applications. Last week, the Hartford clerk's office learned it will be getting extra help to pay for the election, a 350,000 grant from a nonpartisan organization called the Center for Tech and Civic Life. The award is a small piece of the 250 million gift Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan announced Sept. 1 to support safe and secure stolen elections across the country. Already, the city has processed 3,000 applications for the general election and received another 2,000. In an average presidential election cycle, the city only receives about 3,000 applications for absentee voting.

Steve Scully has history of blaming 'hackers' for posts made on his Twitter account --The C-SPAN host's previous hacking claims date back to 2012 and 2013 | 09 Oct 2020 | Presidential debate moderator Steve Scully claimed through a statement by C-SPAN Friday that he believed his Twitter account was "hacked" after a tweet showing him reaching out to outspoken Trump foe Anthony Scaramucci went viral Thursday night. However, resurfaced tweets show that Scully has a history of blaming hackers for his social media posts. The "Washington Journal" host appeared to reach out to the former White House communications director, who has become a vocal supporter of Joe Biden, in the now-deleted tweet that read: "@Scaramucci should I respond to trump." Both the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) and C-SPAN have issued statements claiming Scully didn't actually send that tweet. C-SPAN's statement said Scully "did not originate the tweet," adding that the CPD was investigating the incident "with the help of authorities," who were unidentified... However, critics who remain skeptical of Scully's "hack" claim dug up old tweets showing him blaming hackers for other tweets that were made on his account.

Trump, Biden campaigns clash over debate timing, formats | 08 Oct 2020 | The campaigns for President Trump and Democratic nominee former Vice President Joe Biden clashed over the timing and format of the remaining two presidential debates Thursday, raising questions about whether the debates will take place at all. Trump's campaign is seeking to delay the final two debates by one week after the president pulled out of next Thursday's event to protest the organizing commission's decision to make the debate virtual. The Biden campaign said it will not agree to the delays, but instead wants the final debate to be a town hall style event to make up for next week's scuttled showdown. The confusion and public demands come after the Commission on Presidential Debates shook the campaigns with an early morning statement announcing that next Thursday's debate...would take place virtually, instead of in person, following the president's coronavirus diagnosis. Trump reacted with fury, immediately announcing that he would not participate in a virtual debate and accusing the commission of seeking to protect Biden by moving the debate to a safer and more predictable setting.

Telemundo Deletes Twitter Poll following VP Debate After Kamala Gets Crushed by Pence 74% to 26% | 08 Oct 2020 | Following the vice presidential debate between Democrat Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence in Salt Lake City Wednesday evening, Telemundo News posted a poll on Decision 2020 -- "Who won the debate?" Pence mopped the floor with Kamala winning 76% to 24%. This was too much for those at Telemundo, so they deleted the poll. It's gone.

Joe Biden doubles down on court packing: 'You'll know my position' after the election --Biden has repeatedly avoided answer questions on whether he supports expanding the Supreme Court | 08 Oct 2020 | Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is remaining silent on whether he supports a move by many progressives to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court if the Democrats win back the White House and take control of the Senate in November's elections. Asked Thursday by reporters if he supports such a move, Biden once again refused to answer, saying "you'll know my position on court-packing the day after the election." The former vice president once again described the question as a distraction to what he termed the main issue -- the push by President Trump and the Republican majority in the Senate to quickly move before Election Day to confirm Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative federal appeals court judge nominated by Trump to succeed liberal-leaning Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Biden suggests people were able to quarantine because 'some Black woman was able to stack the grocery shelf' in viral clip --Critics blasted the Democratic nominee on social media | 05 Oct 2020 | Joe Biden has landed in hot water over a viral clip of him suggesting why people were able to quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic. "They're saying, 'Jeez, the reason I was able to stay sequestered in my home is because some Black woman was able to stack the grocery shelf,'" Biden is heard saying in the clip. The 10-second clip, which was originally shared on Sept. 29 [but the media 'forgot' to cover it], was just a snippet of comments the Democratic nominee made during a Sept. 15 roundtable with veterans in Tampa, Fla.

Video shows Seattle-area teacher scold 10-year-old for admiring Trump - mom --'I admire Donald J. Trump because he is making America great again,' the student wrote | 06 Oct 2020 | A Seattle-area middle school teacher scolded a 10-year-old student and briefly kicked him out of his virtual classroom last week after the child said he admires President Trump, his mother said. Brendan Stanton, a sixth-grade teacher at Perry G. Keithley Middle School in Tacoma, asked his students on Friday to name a person they admire and to state why. Students were supposed to type their answers in a chat room. "I admire Donald J. Trump because he is making America great again," the child wrote, "according to the Jason Rantz Show." "And because he is the best president the United States of America could ever, ever have. And he built the wall so terrorists couldn't come into in the U.S. Trump is the best person in the world. And that's why I had admire him." Stanton reportedly booted the child from the chat and proceeded to berate Trump without saying his name. The child's mother, Elsy Kusander, told Fox News she overheard Stanton and recorded his remarks.

As our (un)civil war escalates towards the real thing, America is in throes of unrest unlike any in our 244-year history By CLG Founder Michael Rectenwald (Opinion) | 05 Oct 2020 | Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the US is on course for civil war. One third now support political violence. The first Civil War's death toll won't be beaten, but the second's nation-destroying potential will be unequalled. The American left and right no longer inhabit a common moral universe. In fact, that imagined universe does not exist. The old, cherished political notions no longer apply, if they ever did. Not only are the terms 'left' and 'right' complete misnomers under the current configuration, but the players are not as they seem, or as they are made out to seem. First, Trump is hardly the stereotypical right-wing despot that the 'resistance' makes him out to be, his rough demeanor and coarse rhetoric notwithstanding. At the same time, the Democrats are hardly the vaunted champions of the 'working class' as imagined under the old dispensation. Instead, the resistance to Trump is actually led by an entrenched political establishment, although their supporters apparently remain unimpressed by this minor detail.

Hurricane Delta weakens to category 2 storm ahead of landfall | 09 Oct 2020 | Hurricane Delta is a category 2 storm now moving north-northwest and is heading for landfall in southwest Louisiana. Landfall is expected Friday night between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. According to the latest National Hurricane Center update, Delta has 110 mph winds and is moving north at 13 mph. The storm is about 80 miles from Cameron Parish. Hurricane Delta is now the third major hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. 

380 whales dead in worst mass stranding in Australia's history --More than 450 long-finned pilot whales became stranded in harbour in Tasmania with rescuers managing to save about 50 | 23 Sept 2020 | About 380 pilot whales were confirmed dead in Tasmania's west on Wednesday afternoon with rescuers fighting to save the remaining 30 that are still alive. More than 450 long-finned pilot whales were caught on sandbanks and beaches inside Macquarie Harbour, with a rescue effort starting on Tuesday morning. Some 50 whales have been rescued and coaxed back to the open ocean. Rescuers were focused on 270 whales stranded near the town of Strahan, but on Wednesday morning a further 200 whales about 10km away in the same harbour were discovered from a helicopter. Officials later confirmed all had died. The stranding is likely one of the largest on record globally and is the worst in Australia’s history.

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CLG News Editor-in-Chief: Lori Price. Copyright © 2020, Citizens for Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved.