Tom Boggioni is a writer, born, raised and living in San Diego — where he attended San Diego State University. Prior to writing for Raw Story, he wrote for FireDogLake, blogged as TBogg, and worked in banking, marketing and construction.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are sitting down with CNN's Jake Tapper and Dana Bash to discuss healthcare in the U.S. and the state of American policies on CNN Tuesday evening.
You can watch the debate below:
The historic criminal trial of former President Donald Trump may see a historic prison sentence should the jury render a guilty verdict.
That's the thinking by Tristan Snell, the former New York State assistant attorney general who took the real estate mogul to task before he became president and helped bring about the demise of Donald Trump’s Trump University.
In an interview with Scott Dworkin in the Substack newsletter The Dworkin Report, Snell said he predicts some form of prison sentence is “very likely” once the trial ends.
ALSO READ: Revealed: What government officials privately shared about Trump not disclosing finances
The 45th president is facing a 34-count criminal indictment accusing him of falsifying business records to prevent six-figure payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and buried stories in the National Enquirer involving ex-Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal — both claiming they had sexual affairs with him — from going public weeks before the 2016 election.
Snell successfully probed Trump University, which ultimately shuttered and settled with the feds for $25 million after aggrieved students proved that they were suckered to master his "secrets of success".
Dworkin said Snell told him he believes Trump's prison prospects are fruits of the resistance
“All of us in The Resistance, we’ve all played a very big role in getting to this day,” Snell told him. “I don’t believe we would be here if it weren’t for how much people went berserk after Alvin Bragg tried to shut this investigation down. I believe the political winds blew so fiercely and he had to rethink his decision … We as citizens locked it in.”
But not everyone agrees with Snell. Georgia State law professor Anthony Michael Kreis said "Snell is right about 1/100 times he offers an opinion— and very often makes outlandish claims at that."
"Every expert of the NYS criminal system that I know has said that a first time offender in a case like this is very unlikely to get prison time," according to Kreis.
Former President Donald Trump has just gone through the first week of his criminal hush payment trial in Manhattan — and it's already hurting him politically, said commentator Molly Jong-Fast on MSNBC's "Deadline: White House" on Friday evening.
The conventional wisdom for months has been that the Trump trials, and particularly the Manhattan trial, will not significantly impact him, with large numbers of voters simply not caring about it. But this ignores that a great many non-Trump supporters would need to vote for Trump to get him elected — and, Jong-Fast said, this trial makes it less likely.
ALSO READ: Revealed: What government officials privately shared about Trump not disclosing finances
"I have never bought that," said anchor Nicolle Wallace. "And I found it so disorienting that I sat through a bunch of Trump speeches. He does deal with Mar-a-Lago. He says the [Presidential Records Act]. It's his defense for the facts in the Mar-a-Lago case ... his events start now with this whacky song recorded in prison by the insurrectionists. He's wrapped up in the crimes he allegedly committed in Mar-a-Lago and on January 6th. He wants nothing to do with these facts."
"And he's also running on, I'm not a criminal, but I did crimes, but they are not crimes when you're president," said Jong-Fast, adding that she can't imagine how "middle of the road voters" would accept any of that. "He's sitting here in a courthouse. He's maybe dozing off, maybe not, he looks tired, he's bored, he's complaining it's cold."
"He's fallen asleep twice," agreed Wallace.
"And the reality is this is not a good look for a presidential candidate," said Jong-Fast. "There's a reason that people running for president don't go through criminal trials. There's a reason they avoid scandals like this one. Voters don't like it. It may seem obvious... but I think we as pundits have cooked ourselves into such a frenzy... the reality is this is a bad look."
Watch the video below or at click here.
House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-Louisiana) job is in deeper peril after a third House Republican officially endorsed Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's (R-Georgia) motion to vacate him.
According to NBC News, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) is now joining Greene's campaign to strip Johnson of the gavel, along with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky). With three Republicans on board, Johnson could lose his job if all Democrats also vote in favor of the motion in the event Greene brings it to the floor.
"Johnson is done," an unnamed House Republican supporting Johnson told NBC. "It’s sad.”
READ MORE: 'Chaos': MTG moves to oust Johnson as Gaetz says Democrat Jeffries could be speaker
Another Republican speaking anonymously told NBC that Greene now "has the votes" to force Johnson out unless Democrats vote to save him. Democrats have previously indicated that they would back Johnson if he holds a vote on sending more funding to Ukraine.
Massie – who officially joined Greene's effort earlier this week after the speaker announced his plans to hold votes on four separate foreign aid bills — said he expects Johnson to prevail after the initial motion to vacate. However, the Kentucky Republican is holding out hope that the vote will indicate to the speaker that he has lost the confidence of the House Republican Conference and will resign on his own.
“The strategy all along has been to ask the speaker to resign in a fashion like John Boehner resigned, where John Boehner cleaned the barn and said, 'I’m leaving and you’ve got plenty of time to replace me,'" Massie told NBC. "So, in that circumstance, we didn’t end up with the speaker-less House. ... Just like when you leave a job, you give two weeks' notice, we’re looking for Mike’s notice.”
He added that Johnson's resignation would be preferable to a vote to force him out, which could allow for the possibility of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) to become speaker despite Republicans having larger numbers. Because Republicans only have a few seats more than Democrats in the House of Representatives, Massie said it's possible that the fractious process of having multiple candidates and multiple votes for speaker could prompt some Republicans to simply vote for Jeffries just to bring the House back to regular order.
READ MORE: 'We'll protect him': Dems say they'll side with Johnson after MTG files motion to vacate
"If Johnson would do it in the manner that John Boehner did it, there’s no chance to go into the minority because it’s not fought out on the floor," Massie said. "Jeffries is not on the ballot when we do this in conference. And so that's the goal."
Greene first suggested bringing a motion to vacate Johnson after the speaker worked with Democrats to pass a $1.2 trillion appropriations bill to avoid a government shutdown in March. While she has not yet officially introduced the motion, she told the Wall Street Journal that she may do so as retaliation for his work to pass the four foreign aid bills to fund U.S. allies overseas like Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, rather than on additional border security measures on the Southern border.
"If a package is put forward by the speaker that would fund Ukraine and not secure the border, [the motion to vacate] should be called up and it should be supported," an unnamed House Republican told the Journal earlier this month.
Click here to read NBC's report in full.
READ MORE: 'Just throwing stuff at the wall': MTG losing GOP support as she threatens Mike Johnson
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