supporters so he could spend their money on himself. just before he left office former president trump pardoned steve bannon for those federal charges. but it wasn t just been, it was four guys, including bennett, who got charged with a fraud back in 2020. it was only bannon who got pardoned. today, of the three other guys, the three other codefendants got charging that same scheme two of them pled guilty. they pled guilty. they admitted stealing millions of dollars in donations from trump supporters who thought they were paying for one of trump s border wall schemes when in fact these guys were just stealing the money for themselves. you would think that trump supporters might hold it against trump right? you think they d hold against ben and but you think they particularly hold against trump that he d pardon steve bannon in that scheme to steal from trump supporters. but apparently, nobody holds against bannon nobody holds against trump. it s kind of a mask is anything thank you sir,
spoke today at stanford university in california. talking about disinformation online. how bad it is for democracy, he put forward some ways that social media companies and public policy should change in his view to try to mitigate some of the harm of disinformation. he also found a way and making that argument to use the word, sewage, sewage. in what i thought was an absolutely pitch perfect way. democratic backsliding isn t restricted to distant lands. right here, in the united states of america, we just saw a sitting president deny the clear results of an election. and help incite a violent insurrection at the nation s capital. not only that, but a majority of his party, including many
allegedly waiting to be brought into play when needed. if you look at things that say, representative liz cheney has said on the floor of the house about the behavior of former president trump and others. the idea is that perhaps the charge here, that may ultimately arise is a conspiracy to obstruct congress, and the work of congress. that has been the justice department s, kind of, go to charge to describe the very unique political crime that was committed on january 6th, which is simply that, by obstructing the peaceful transition of power, that was the crime that was committed. so look we don t know what s
putin pays trump. when kevin mccarthy reportedly told that to his republican colleagues in the house, in 2016, that is when trump was running for president. speaker the house at the time as republican paul ryan, kevin mccarthy was the number two republican in the house, right under the speaker, he is a majority later, he s the one who reportedly said i think putin pays trump. now, at the time, mr. mccarthy reportedly made those comments, donald trump wasn t just one of the 17 different republicans who is running in the presidential primary that year. he wasn t just a random candidate among them all, it was clear, by the time those comments were made by mr. mccarthy, that trump was going to win the nomination. by the time mccarthy said that, i think putin pays trump, trump had basically cleared the field of the other competitors. he was just a month away from
the healthy skepticism about the attorney general saying that everybody involved at every level will face accountability here. what is your bigger picture view as to whether or not the justice department is willing to make even politically fraught determinations, if that s where these suits part of the suits and boots investigation, as you described, it might lead? look, you quoted attorney general garland in your introduction. you know, he said that he s going to file the evidence where it goes. if you look at the case filings, right, it s very very clear, and has been from before the emergence of this kind of, expanded vision of this case, that the justice department is very homed in on what s effects, former president trump s words and actions had on people on the ground. it s apparent in, charging documents, it s apparent in