Mike Huckabee

Wednesday, during a press conference in Kentucky, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, 81, again froze and stared silently for 30 seconds. He then seemed to have trouble understanding questions for another minute or so before shaking it off and finishing. Afterward, staffers attributed it to briefly feeling “lightheaded,” the same explanation they gave when it happened last month.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mcconnell-freezes-again-during-kentucky-press-conference

I’m sure we all wish Sen. McConnell the best and will pray for his good health, but these incidents, along with Sen. Diane Feinstein, 90, signing over her power of attorney and President Biden’s increasing incoherence, have fueled growing talk about the advanced age of our top leaders, and whether it's time for them to retire and pass power on to a younger generation, like people in their 60s and 70s.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mcconnell-freezes-again-during-kentucky-press-conference

This is a touchy subject for several reasons. First, of course, once people have that kind of power and prestige, it’s hard to give it up. Also, McConnell might be concerned about the future of the GOP with its slim Senate minority, an important election coming, and his state having a Democratic Governor to appoint his replacement. Then there are those office holders who simply aren’t able to see how badly they’re doing and seriously believe they can hang on for another, say, four years.

To be clear, this isn’t entirely about age. Piers Morgan noted that he recently talked to Mick Jagger, who is only a few months younger than Biden, but still runs around a stage for over two hours and never forgets a song lyric. He also mentioned that Queen Elizabeth II was sharp as a tack up until her death at 96. There are many such examples, but everyone ages differently, and some have accompanying health issues, like the fall Sen. McConnell took recently that put him in the hospital. Many wonder if these spells might be a lingering effect of that.

While I’ve long been a fan of term limits, I don’t think that should prevent someone who’s older from holding office (in fact, if you’re a 90-year-old Republican in good mental and physical health who would like to enter politics, and you can beat AOC, please run for Congress.) That’s more a matter of preventing career politicians. I don’t think older people shouldn’t hold office, but I don’t think they should stay in office until they’re incapable of holding office and then keep on holding office anyway, just to keep power in the Party. If nothing else, their families should love them too much to let that happen.

I also don’t like seeing how the left is trying to use this issue to push for mandatory retirement ages for Supreme Court Justices, which, like their endless, baseless ethics assaults on Clarence Thomas, is just a transparent attempt to force conservative Justices off the Court to be replaced with younger leftist activists. Thomas is 75, Samuel Alito is 73, and Ketanji Brown Jackson is only 52, but I know which ones I’d trust to have the best understanding of the law and the Constitution.

Speaking of the attacks on Justice Thomas, over 100 former law clerks of his have written an open letter refuting the recent “malicious” attacks on his character and integrity. They call him “a man of greatest intellect, of greatest faith, and of greatest patriotism," and say, "The picture (his critics) paint of the Court and the man for whom we worked bears no resemblance to reality."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/over-100-former-clerks-of-clarence-thomas-defend-integrity-and-character-in-open-letter/ar-AA1fX7kb

To be fair, nothing that liberals say these days bears any resemblance to reality.

Mike Huckabee

The Biden Administration keeps claiming that the border is closed, even though it has literally welded the gates open to let illegal migrants pour in and is selling the border wall materials as scrap metal.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2023/08/28/biden-admin-says-border-is-closed-migrant-releases-in-texas-continue/

Biden’s Department of “Homeland Security” under Alejandro Mayorkas issued NTA’s (Notices to Appear in court) to more than 820,000 border crossers just between January 1st and July 31st of this year alone. As RFK Jr. pointed out in our interview, those court dates are now seven years in the future, even if they bother to show up (which most won't.)

https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2023/08/28/catch-and-release-bidens-dhs-issues-court-dates-to-820k-border-crossers-released-into-u-s/

And on the eve of September 11th, the FBI is scrambling to find more than a dozen Uzbek nationals who entered seeking asylum earlier this year, after the feds discovered that they traveled to our border with the help of a smuggler tied to ISIS. At least there’s no evidence yet that they are terrorists themselves, but that’s the type of thing we used to find out BEFORE we let them into the US.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/29/migrants-entered-us-with-help-of-smuggler-who-has-ties-to-isis-report/

When border state Governors began busing some of the flood of illegal entrants to northern blue cities and states who actually voted for this insanity, the leaders there and their media bootlicks dismissed the action as “petty” and “childish.” As the full buses kept coming, they whined that it was “cruel” and “inhumane.” And now that they’ve gotten a taste of the results of the policies they thought they'd only be inflicting on border states, and with their parks and hotels overrun with unvetted illegal immigrants and their social services facing bankruptcy, they’re learning that the term they were looking for all along was “effective.”

The New York Post reports that New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hocul are demanding emergency aid from Biden to deal with the illegal border invasion that he created. What they got in return was a “stunningly arrogant” letter from DHS Secretary Majorkas, giving them advice on how to deal with it and bragging about what the Administration has already done for them, like “allowing” access to a JFK Airport hangar to house 800 migrants.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/28/biden-admin-burns-new-york-in-migrant-crisis-again-worse-than-ever/

Antonio Majorkas giving advice to anyone on how to do their job is like Dylan Muvaney giving tips on how to sell beer.

Mike Huckabee

BY MIKE HUCKABEE

Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee team! 

With gratitude,

Mike Huckabee

DAILY BIBLE VERSE

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorry, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Revelation, 21:4

Mike Huckabee

News is breaking on Biden family corruption and cover-ups on a variety of fronts.

First, remember the story about cocaine found in a locker in the White House West Wing visitor area, near the Situation Room?  That seems so long ago. The “investigation” was closed after only a couple of weeks, with (amazingly) no photographic, fingerprint, DNA or any other evidence found and no leads at all.  There was never any word on who had the key, which you’d think would’ve had to be assigned.  So, the message to anyone who wants to sneak some white powder --- cornstarch, baking soda, arsenic, fentanyl, any kind of white powder --- into the WHITE HOUSE is, hey, it’s really easy and you won’t get caught!  They’ll just assume any powder coming in is coke for Hunter and look the other way.

Ironically, this coke may not have been for Hunter, but was perhaps more likely for someone else in “the Biden family orbit,” according to talk show host Dan Bongino, who worked for a decade as a Secret Service agent. Note that this is unconfirmed, but he still has contacts there and has just heard more about that theory from a source at the White House, not necessarily in the Secret Service but described as an “insider” and “not very political at all.” The source told him the cocaine was probably a deliberate delivery, a drug drop intended for “a member of the Biden family” who is not necessarily Hunter.

I don’t like having to report this, but Bongino’s source also described the Biden family as “trash.” Apparently, the source did not elaborate, at least not in a way that Bongino felt he could pass along.

The source “can’t prove” it wasn’t intended for Hunter, but claimed to be “getting some traffic that it could be another family member.”  Another contact of Bongino’s also stressed the “other family member” theory.

Press spokesperson Andrew Bates used the Hatch Act as an excuse to avoid answering questions about this.  Editor’s Note: The Hatch Act has nothing whatsoever to do with being able to comment on this story.  Bates, along with Karine Jean-Pierre, are not exactly artful dodgers.  They’re just dodgers.

Maybe someday we’ll know the story behind this, but it will be no thanks to the Secret Service and FBI, who are still much too busy checking out every possible Trump supporter who came to Capitol Hill on January 6, and even some who never even got there.  Bongino says the current director of the Secret Service, Kim Cheatle, needs to either reopen this case or resign.

https://www.westernjournal.com/bongino-cocaine-left-wh-wasnt-accident-delivery-according-insider/

In an update to the story about Biden emails requested by America First Legal (AFL), the White House has claimed executive privilege in withholding hundreds of them from that release.

AFL, the group founded by Stephen Miller, did obtain over 1,000 emails from its request to the National Archives, the vast majority of which were communications between the Office of the Vice President and Hunter’s firm Rosemont Seneca.  But 200 additional emails were held back because they “would disclose confidential advice between the President and his advisors, or between such advisors,” according to a letter from the National Archives.

Question:  since when does the government care about confidential advice between the President and his advisors?  I thought that concept was shot all to pieces when President Trump’s advisors were arrested and charged with conspiracy for giving Trump private and privileged legal advice. Recall that Biden rejected Trump’s claims of executive privilege over January 6^th private communications, and liberal media outlets praised that decision, claiming a President can’t use executive privilege to cover up potential wrongdoing.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/08/30/biden-asserted-executive-privilege-to-block-release-of-hundreds-of-emails-involving-hunters-business-and-vps-office/

Topping that story, the WASHINGTON TIMES reported that the National Archives is withholding the 5,400 emails they have in which Joe Biden used aliases, pending APPROVAL FROM BIDEN AND ALSO PRESIDENT OBAMA (!) to make them public.  These had been requested by Kentucky Rep. James Comer of the House Oversight Committee.

We’re just wondering what Obama has to do with this.  The WT is behind a paywall, but we also found this, which quotes an Oversight Committee aide as saying, “President Joe Biden promised the most transparent administration in history and we fully expect him to approve the release of the records.”  I wouldn’t hold my breath.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-obama-must-approve-release-of-alias-emails-sought-by-gop/ar-AA1g0AtA

Comer appeared on HANNITY Wednesday night to discuss the many trips Hunter made with his father on Air Force Two (generally sneaking off via the back stairs), and also the timeline his committee is assembling between communications Hunter had with Joe and the various money transfers.  “This influence peddling scheme continues to grow on a daily basis,” with the then-VP “front and center,” meeting with “every one of these people that he claimed he never met with and never spoke to.”

As for obtaining those “alias” emails being withheld by the National Archives, Comer said they’re going to have to open an impeachment inquiry.  It’s Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s call, he said, but “we’re there now.”  He also noted that Congress has legislative jurisdiction over the National Archives.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6336165655112

Hunter may be, as allegedly has been said, dumber than Zlochevsky’s dog, but this piece from the WESTERN JOURNAL shows how he used his various connections, at the White House and also the law firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, including former members of the Clinton administration, to help bring about the “deliverables” for Burisma.

https://www.westernjournal.com/explosive-new-hunter-biden-emails-reveal-help-take-ex-ukrainian-prosecutor-report/

In an update on the Jay Bratt story, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is asking why Special Counsel’s Jack Smith’s top aide was repeatedly meeting at the White House with people from the White House Counsel’s Office in the months leading up to the raid on Mar-A-Lago and subsequent indictment of President Trump.  Jordan has written to Attorney General Merrick Garland and White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, demanding answers.

“This new information raises serious concerns regarding the potential for a coordinated effort between the Department and the White House to investigate and prosecute President Biden’s political opponents,” Jordan wrote.

Recall that Bratt also has been accused by Stanley Woodward, who is defending Mar-A-Lago employee Walt Nauta, of mentioning Woodward’s impending judgeship when saying he didn’t think Woodward was “a Trump guy” and would “do the right thing” about getting his client to “flip” against Trump.  This is a very serious charge against the special counsel’s top aide, made by someone with an impeccable reputation.

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2023/08/29/house-demands-answers-on-highly-questionable-meeting-between-jack-smith-aide-and-wh-counsels-office-n2163197

And now we have allegations that in April, a top ‘Justice’ Department official, Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer, approached attorneys for IRS investigator/whistleblower Gary Shapley, saying he wanted to investigate Shapley’s claims of slow-walking and obstruction in Hunter’s case.  After Shapley attorney Mark Lytle briefed Weinsheimer in an April phone call, Weinsheimer slithered away to meet with Hunter’s then-lead attorney Chris Clark (!) and Delaware U.S. Attorney (recently appointed Special Counsel) David Weiss.

Days later, Weiss and Hunter’s attorneys agreed to that “sweetheart” plea deal, and Shapley and his entire team of investigators were pulled off the Hunter case.

In an exclusive interview with the U.K. DAILY MAIL, Lytle said, “In just two short weeks, Weinsheimer went from expressing an interest in the claims of wrongdoing by the IRS whistleblower to dismissing the claims of retaliation when the IRS agents were pulled off the case.”  The strategy had been to feign interest in Shapley’s story and milk Lytle for information and then go behind his back to Hunter’s defense and the prosecutors (same thing).

These are dirty, dirty lawyers.  (I’m reminded of the FBI agents who stopped by to see Mike Flynn for a “casual conversation.”)  We learn from this that it is sadly just not possible anymore to trust a government attorney or FBI agent, ever.

There’s more background here on that joke of a plea deal, in this must-read story.

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2023/08/29/house-demands-answers-on-highly-questionable-meeting-between-jack-smith-aide-and-wh-counsels-office-n2163197

Mike Huckabee

Since Jack Smith’s most recent round of charges against President Trump are based on the idea that he knew he legitimately lost the election because he was told that by “experts,” it seems reasonable to take a look at who these so-called “experts” were. Revolver News did that and dug up some jaw-dropping info. In addition to the expected round-up of Deep State intelligence spooks who’d spent his entire Administration lying to and about Trump and trying to frame and remove him, there was also an agency you might not have even heard of until recently called CISA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

https://revolver.news/2023/08/this-may-be-the-darkest-most-ridiculous-part-of-the-latest-trump-indictment/

This shadowy cabal came to public notice recently when the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Government revealed that CISA illegally set up a social media censorship division during the run-up to the election to pressure social media platforms to silence users, and then tried to cover it up when it was exposed. But (surprise!) it gets worse.

The founding director of CISA is Chris Krebs. The Foundation for Freedom looked into his past statements and discovered that he makes Joseph Stalin look like a Libertarian. To cite just a few examples:

He thought the Hunter Biden laptop looked like Russian disinformation but didn’t care if it was or not; the important thing was that the media not cover it before the election. He believed that every lawyer who represented conservatives challenging election irregularities should be permanently disbarred and banned from ever practicing law again. He hoped conservative news outlets would be bankrupted by Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuits, and that the same should happen to anyone in the media who questioned voting machines in 2020 (which he helped administer.) He had the same totalitarian views of anyone who questioned the government’s COVID-19 protocols, even wanting to censor humorous T-shirts. He even canceled his own Direct TV subscription just because they carried the conservative network OANN.

And Trump claims he didn’t believe it when people like this guy told him the election was on the up-and-up and his loss was totally legitimate? Well, obviously, he should be imprisoned!

(Please note, Mr. Smith, that I said that last part, so you can’t indict me, too. And if you claim I was just being sarcastic, I’ll say, “NO! Why, that’s RIDICULOUS!!”)

Mike Huckabee

BY MIKE HUCKABEE

Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee team! 

With gratitude,

Mike Huckabee

What a surprise:

The Trump-hating judge in his election interference trial in DC rejected his attorneys' request to delay it to 2026 because of the mountain of alleged evidence Jack Smith dumped on them to go through, and instead decided it will start on the day before Super Tuesday primary elections.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/08/28/trump-trial-date-jack-smith/?pnespid=pLY7VzlJbbwd3uTb9z6yQ5GGswquSpBlcvOn2etorU1mHaIHdNvb9iHeOj9jBIEG38REw8Nwuw

If election interference is such a crime, why aren't all the people behind these trials facing trial themselves?

Close to home

Another day, another highly questionable and tragic FBI raid on an American’s home, this time in Hendersonville, Tennessee, where we film “Huckabee.”

https://www.westernjournal.com/fbi-kills-yet-another-american-home-time-100-disabled-veteran/

At this writing, they’ve yet to release much information, but we do know that an FBI SWAT team showed up at Theodore Deschler’s home at 6 a.m. to stage an arrest raid, breaking out windows and firing flash grenades. Deschler was shot to death. His mother called it “a senseless act.” She said her son was a “100% disabled veteran” with severe PTSD, and “He didn’t have a weapon on him. He was just trying to get out of the house because it was filled with tear gas.”

The FBI has yet to explain what allegedly justified this deadly assault. A GoFundMe account has been set up for the family to raise money to try to repair their smashed and bullet-riddled home. You’ll find that and what little more we know at the link.

Tragic event

Former Canadian Olympic figure skater Alexandra Paul, who won a number of awards for ice dancing with her future husband Mitchell Islam, was killed in a seven-car chain reaction crash north of Toronto. She was 31. Her 10-month-old son was strapped into the back seat and survived.

https://www.westernjournal.com/beloved-olympic-figure-skater-31-killed-tragic-accident/

We extend our prayers and condolences to all who are affected by these tragic events.

Important Anniversary

August 28th marks the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr’s. historic “I Have a Dream” speech before a crowd of 250,000 during the 1963 March on Washington. As a kid growing up in the South at that time of Jim Crow laws, I was deeply moved by the Rev. King’s words about justice and brotherhood, and have always regarded him as a great spiritual leader, role model and American. His moving words helped me understand that racism is not just evil, it is a sin against the God who made us all in His own image.

That’s why it’s so upsetting to see how certain self-appointed spokespeople for black Americans are betraying his legacy. They use his name and image, but their goal of separating and judging Americans by race is the very antithesis of his dream, an America where we could all share a place at the same table and people were judged not by the color or their skin but by the content of their character. To serve their selfish and destructive political goals, they are busily reversing decades of racial progress.

I sometimes wonder, if he were alive today, would he be attacked by the left for preaching (yes, he was also a preacher, and a great one, which would also make him a target of the left) that our goal should be a colorblind society, a phrase they now revile as somehow racist. To understand radical leftists, you must remember that they constantly redefine terms to call things the opposite of what they are because nobody would follow them if they told you straight out what they really believe. That’s how we got today’s “anti-racism” movement that’s based entirely on judging people by their skin color. Or as we used to call that: “racism.”

This is a link to the history of the Rev. King’s speech, with photos and a full transcript. I urge you not to listen to those who will use this day to try to usurp his legacy and twist his words, but to go to the original source and watch or read that speech for yourself. It’s just as inspiring now as it was then, and sadly, just as timely.

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/i-have-a-dream-speech

August 28th marks the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr’s. historic “I Have a Dream” speech before a crowd of 250,000 during the 1963 March on Washington. As a kid growing up in the South at that time of Jim Crow laws, I was deeply moved by the Rev. King’s words about justice and brotherhood, and have always regarded him as a great spiritual leader, role model and American. His moving words helped me understand that racism is not just evil, it is a sin against the God who made us all in His own image.

That’s why it’s so upsetting to see how certain self-appointed spokespeople for black Americans are betraying his legacy. They use his name and image, but their goal of separating and judging Americans by race is the very antithesis of his dream, an America where we could all share a place at the same table and people were judged not by the color or their skin but by the content of their character. To serve their selfish and destructive political goals, they are busily reversing decades of racial progress.

I sometimes wonder, if he were alive today, would he be attacked by the left for preaching (yes, he was also a preacher, and a great one, which would also make him a target of the left) that our goal should be a colorblind society, a phrase they now revile as somehow racist. To understand radical leftists, you must remember that they constantly redefine terms to call things the opposite of what they are because nobody would follow them if they told you straight out what they really believe. That’s how we got today’s “anti-racism” movement that’s based entirely on judging people by their skin color. Or as we used to call that: “racism.”

This is a link to the history of the Rev. King’s speech, with photos and a full transcript. I urge you not to listen to those who will use this day to try to usurp his legacy and twist his words, but to go to the original source and watch or read that speech for yourself. It’s just as inspiring now as it was then, and sadly, just as timely.

https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/i-have-a-dream-speech

Mike Huckabee

BY MIKE HUCKABEE

Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee team! 

With gratitude,

Mike Huckabee

DAILY BIBLE VERSE

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Isaiah, 26:3

Mike Huckabee

On Thursday evening, President Trump turned himself in (I refuse to use the word “surrendered”) at the Fulton County jail, to be booked on 13 counts, including racketeering --- even though the act of challenging election results has never before been criminalized. Are you listening, failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams?

Before arriving at the jail, Trump shook up his legal team by replacing his lead attorney with Steven Sadow, who apparently anticipated Willis’ use of RICO and criticized this strategy as a way for prosecutors to introduce evidence that would not be admissible otherwise.  Sounds like a strong addition to the team.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/trump-legal-team-sadow/2023/08/24

The process of booking Trump took 15 minutes, and, yes, they did take a mug shot, the expression of which we think fits the occasion perfectly.  This is the seething rage of a fighter.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/donald-trump-mugshot-released-georgia-booking-first-ever-former-us-president

Trump also came in at 6’3” and 215 pounds.  As you’ll see, his good physical shape was dismaying to those on the left, and right now, we’ll take our amusement where we can get it.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trumps-booking-height-weight-sets-social-media-ablaze

Speaking of mug shots, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani says his symbolizes “a chance to fight for my country.”  Watch the video and be inspired.  “Fani Willis,” he said after his arraignment, “will go down in American history for conducting one of the worst attacks on the American Constitution.”

https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/rudy-giuliani-georgia-2020-election-case/2023/08/23

Jonathan Turley said Trump’s mug shot is an example of people seeing the same thing differently.  For Willis and the Democrats, the picture is a “trophy kill” to be admired, while for the other half of the country, it’s “a deeply upsetting moment, where they believe it’s the result of weaponizing our judicial system.”  (You know which side is correct about that, and so does Turley.)  He sees the disconnect being a reaction to the “overreach” that this case is.  Willis is “using the RICO statute for great advantage,” Turley said, referring to her desire to try all 19 defendants together, “because they’re all part of a ‘conspiracy.’”

Yes, Willis wants a big show trial.  But the allegations are “extremely weak,” Turley said, especially as pertaining to President Trump.  Willis will have trouble, he said, and “it’s going to get messy,” noting that the March trial date she set “really borders on the laughable.”  Question:  So why did she initially want to set her trial to start the day before the Super Tuesday primary elections? (Perhaps feeling the heat, at the last minute, Willis requested a new start date.)

Turley called this “criminalizing the challenging of elections,” when Democrats have certainly challenged their share.  “The whole case is based on this theory that Donald Trump really didn’t mean it,” he said --- that he didn’t really think he had won.  Even if that were true (it isn’t), Democrats challenged Trump’s election in 2016 on no grounds at all.  “In Donald Trump’s case, he insists that he does believe that Georgia could have been flipped with a recount.”

The way Fani Willis portrayed Trump’s phone call with Raffensperger, Turley said, “I think, is really evidence of the bias and unfairness…of this indictment.”

Sean Hannity, whose FOX NEWS show came on just after Trump was arraigned, started with a history lesson, which Huckabee readers will know:  Democrats challenged the results of a presidential election themselves, with an alternate slate of electors in Hawaii to support John F. Kennedy in case the count in that state turned out differently.  In another case, the extremely contentious presidential election of 1876, three states nominated alternate electors.  That is to say, ALTERNATE SLATES OF ELECTORS ARE NOTHING NEW, and nobody has ever been charged with a crime for this until now.

(And let’s not forget all these Hollywood celebrities who need to be indicted on RICO charges for attempting to influence electors in the 2016 election:

https://time.com/4603254/celebrities-electoral-college-donald-trump-video/ )

In fact, the left has gone so far this time, it’s almost beyond belief.  President Trump is looking at charges for 91 felonies, punishable by 700 years in prison.  Conveniently, all the trials are supposed to be starting during the time leading into the GOP primaries and the ‘24 general election.  What are the odds that it would just happen this way?

To do this, they had to stretch the law as far as it could conceivably go, and even farther, to try and stop the GOP candidate whom polls show is by far the strongest.  We’ve offered numerous opinions by noted legal experts that boiled down to “What the @#$%!”  Also note that Fulton County DA Fani Willis refused to say whether or not she’s had communications with Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office.  We all know that if she could deny that, she would.

Willis is currently in a fight to keep this trial in the Georgia courts, after defendants Mark Meadows and Jeffrey Clark filed motions to move their cases to federal court.  She argued Wednesday before the federal district court of Northern Georgia.  Here’s where they are with that…

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/fani-willis-trump-indictment-mark-meadows/2023/08/23/

Hannity shared a clip from CNN showing the deplorable conditions in the “notorious” (that’s the word often used) Fulton County jail --- filth, insects, overflowing toilets, broken air conditioning.  Someone might ask DA Willis why the conditions at her jail are so notoriously atrocious.  Is it because they were awaiting the arrival of Donald Trump and fantasizing about putting him in there?  Or is it just more general incompetence?

Dan Bongino suggested that Trump shouldn’t pay the $200,000 bail, knowing that the Secret Service had the authority to say that conditions inside the Fulton County jail were not safe for the President.  We would’ve loved to see the chaos that would have ensued if Trump had taken this tack.  Too bad we’ll never know, because he paid the bail and got the heck out of there.

Trump was subdued as he came out, saying to the press that “it’s a sad day for America,” and it was.  He said that what we’re seeing now is election interference, and it is. But he was more combative later, returning to Twitter (“X”) for the first time in two years to post his mugshot and this message: “ELECTION INTERFERENCE – NEVER SURRENDER!” and his website.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2023/08/24/trump-has-returned-to-twitter-heres-his-first-post-in-years-n2627521

FOX NEWS legal analyst Gregg Jarrett, appearing on Hannity’s show, reiterated what we already know:  that the DA would have to prove President Trump had a criminal state of mind; that is, that he was aware that what he was doing was unlawful.  “Everything we know about his conduct,” Jarrett said, shows that “he thought he was availing himself properly of the legal process.”  Exhibit A, Jarrett said, is Trump’s conversation with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, “in which he is complaining about ballot irregularities, faulty machines, valid votes that aren’t being counted, invalid votes that are being counted, election laws that are being violated, petitions that are being ignored, and in the end, he is demanding a recount and a review, which, by the way...Raffensperger has a duty to do.”  Trump was simply asking him to carry out his responsibility.

Jarrett pointed out that DA Willis lied in an earlier filing, claiming that Trump said, “YOU need to find 11,780 votes.”  But read the transcript of the call, and you’ll see that Trump wasn’t saying that at all.  He thought he had MANY thousands more legitimate, uncounted votes than that, and he was just letting them know that this was the number required.  “It’s perfectly lawful,” Jarrett said.  In fact, as Jonathan Turley said that if you do a statewide review in a state like Georgia, “that’s not a lot.”  It’s “not criminal --- it’s making a case for a recount.”

Also, it’s against the Canon of Ethics for prosecutors to run for office on a promise to put someone behind bars, Jarrett said.  “Their duty is to see that justice is done, not to gain a conviction based on their own ambitions and desire to advance their career.   That’s what Fani Willis has done, what Letitia James [has done], as well as Alvin Bragg.”

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6335523453112

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has opened an investigation into Willis’ indictment of Trump and the possible motivations behind it.  Among many other issues, like the suspicious timing of the case and Willis’ motivation, Jordan has questions about whether federal funds and/or federal law enforcement agencies or officials were used in the investigation into Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, John Eastman and a bevy of others who were indicted.

“The committee is demanding the DA’s office turn over all documentation of its use of federal funds, communications with the DOJ or its components, and any records of cooperation with officials of the executive branch.”  That might make interesting reading, unless they knew better than to put anything in writing.

Jordan cited “the threat that such state prosecutions can pose to the operations of the federal government.”  Indeed, legal experts have said they shouldn’t even be overlapping with federal prosecutions this way.

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/jim-jordan-donald-trump-probe

Jordan and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer appeared on the Hannity show Thursday night.  Jordan said they had three questions for Fani Willis:

1)  Did you coordinate with the Biden administration?

2)  Did you work with Special Counsel Jack Smith?

3)  Did you use federal funds to go after Trump?  (They know Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg did.)

What, you might ask, is the significance of using federal funds?  If she did that, her office is subject to congressional oversight.  If anyone needs some oversight, it’s her.

Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee

It’s generally acknowledged that U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, the judge who, apparently by luck of the draw, was handed President Trump’s J6 case, is not inclined to be lenient towards anyone she perceives to be associated in any way with the events of January 6, 2021.  In fact, some of her sentences in those cases have exceeded even those asked for by the prosecutors.  But did you know just how biased she is?

Judging by her own statements in the context of other J6 cases over which she presided, this 2013 Obama appointee is wildly, completely, undeniably, outrageously biased.  She has made it clear that she cannot wait to see Trump behind bars.  And yet, unless she’s recused from the case, an event unlikely to happen, she’ll be presiding at Trump’s trial --- before a DC jury, no less.  Talk about going through the motions of justice.

“Although judges often make comments from the bench,” investigative reporter Julie Kelly says, “Chutkan’s strident language raises questions about her impartiality in handling the case against the presumptive GOP nominee for president in 2024.”  Quite an understatement.

Kelly has a new piece at REALCLEAR INVESTIGATIONS that examines the politically charged rulings and incendiary statements Judge Chutkan has made in these cases.  If you’ve read her book, “JANUARY 6:  How Democrats Used the Capitol Protest to Launch a War on Terror Against the Political Right,” some of this information will be familiar to you, as Kelly used some of Judge Chutkan’s remarks to show the circular reasoning being employed to justify denying detainees bail and other basic rights.

For example --- this is cited in both the new article and the book --- Judge Chutkan, who herself believes that suspicions about election fraud are wild conspiracy theories --- said of defendant Donna Bissel, “As noted in the government’s sentencing memo, the defendant appears to be susceptible to believing outlandish and absurd conspiracy theories. To protect the public, it’s important to make sure that she does not fall victim to another lie or conspiracy and act out in a way that again jeopardizes public safety.  It’s one thing to believe in conspiracy theories in your basement, and it’s another thing act out on them and, for instance, to travel from Indiana to DC to storm the Capitol to overturn an election.”

It should be noted that Ms. Bissel’s crime was the huge threat to public safety known as “parading.”

But this is the judge Trump got.  Kelly has quote after quote showing that if anyone is being incendiary about January 6, it is Judge Chutkan.  She’s very emotional about it.  Sample quote, from the trial of Matthew Caspel in December 2022: “[Every] single time I watch the videos and look at the photographs of what was going on that day, I am struck anew by how horrible this was, by how violent and terrifying, and how outnumbered and vastly unequipped law enforcement officers were feeling that day as they were basically struggling for their lives and wondering if they were going to make it home to their kids.  I don’t know if we’ll ever recover from that.”

You know, if she’s still so concerned about “how outnumbered and vastly unequipped law enforcement officers were feeling that day,” she might want to know why President Trump’s approval of up to 20,000 National Guard troops was rejected by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  The presence of the National Guard would have kept the entire event under control.  She appears to be blaming the one person whose action, if it had been heeded, could have prevented the whole awful thing.

It seems this has never occurred to her.

This judge also apparently subscribes to the “Trump cult” idea --- that those who supported him did so because of the force of his personality and not because of legitimate concerns about our country.  In October 2022, she referred to this as “a blind loyalty to one person who, by the way, remains free to this day.”  (Implication:  but my courtroom will take care of that!!)  It’s hard to imagine any deeper bias.

In October 2021, at the sentencing of Matthew Mazzocco --- who spent only 12 minutes inside the Capitol and committed no violence --- she said, “He went there to support one man who he viewed had the election taken from him.  In total disregard of a lawfully conducted election, he went to the Capitol in support of one man, not in support of our country or in support of democracy.”

This is another defendant found guilty of “parading.”  He was sentenced to 45 days in jail.  This judge simply doesn’t understand: Trump supporters who attended the rally and participated nonviolently were there BECAUSE they supported democracy and thought it likely had been subverted.  Millions more still doubt the outcome and are nonviolently making our voices heard.  But Judge Chutkan’s remarks give the impression that she’d prefer to see all of us in jail --- you know, in the interest of public safety.

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz recently filed a resolution to condemn and censure Judge Chutkan for exhibiting “open bias and partisanship in the conduct of her official duties as a judge.”  It’s fine to have at least a symbolic protest like this, but there are no teeth to it.  A judge will typically be removed for bias only if it is seen outside a judge’s work as a judge, and as far as we know, Judge Chutkan has kept her bias within the confines of her courtroom (where it’s okay??)  One would hope that for a trial this high-profile and a judge this incredibly biased, Trump’s case could be an exception. 

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/08/23/with_her_many_statements_in_jan_6_courtroom_trump_judge_seems_the_pot_calling_the_defendant_inflammatory_974586.html

RELATED:  You have to see what Trump legal adviser John Eastman had to say when he was arraigned in Fulton County, Georgia, on Wednesday.  Eastman is an eminent legal scholar and law professor who has been smeared with ridiculous racketeering charges by a biased local DA, and he took a moment before his arraignment to deliver via reporters a law lecture to Fani Willis, since she obviously didn’t pay attention to those at Emory University.

Eastman eviscerated Willis for her outrageous conduct and lack of understanding of the law. He said she is attempting to criminalize people exercising their rights and lawyers doing their job, and that her destructive actions are already having “profound consequences for our system of justice.” Victoria Taft’s piece at PJ MEDIA is a must-read.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/victoria-taft/2023/08/23/trump-attorney-surrenders-to-georgia-da-but-not-before-a-scathing-lecture-on-the-constitution-n1721238

Mike Huckabee

BY MIKE HUCKABEE

Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee team! This morning's newsletter does not include my debate coverage.  That copy is so hot, I am waiting for it to cool down. Look for it in your inbox soon!

With gratitude,

Mike Huckabee

DAILY BIBLE VERSE

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

Matthew 7:7

Mike Huckabee

Of the latest legal strategy intended to keep President Trump off the ballot in ‘24, law professor Jonathan Turley said this:  “Quite frankly, I think this is the single most dangerous constitutional theory I’ve seen pop up in decades…”

He was speaking of the argument that under the 14^th Amendment, Trump can be barred from running for President again --- and from ever holding any office in the federal government --- after supposedly violating his oath of office and supporting an “insurrection” or “rebellion” against the United States.  Keep in mind, the 14^th Amendment was passed to deal with the political aftermath of the CIVIL WAR.  Now THAT was an insurrection.

As Turley said Tuesday night to Laura Ingraham, “That brings you to the original question:  what was January 6?”  Many citizens, including Turley personally, characterize it as a protest that became a riot.  And that’s what it was.  “It was not a rebellion or insurrection,” Turley said, while acknowledging that some disagree.  The problem, he said, is that Trump hasn’t been charged with insurrection or even incitement.  Special counsel Jack Smith notably did not charge him with either.

So, why didn’t he?  We all know he would’ve charged Trump with insurrection or incitement in a heartbeat if he’d had even the slightest evidence to make those charges stick, and that’s with the low bar required by a highly partisan DC court.  Consequently, if Trump can’t even be charged with incitement, how does the 14^th Amendment come into play?  It defies reason, but since when has that mattered to the left?  This plan is a shameful abuse of the 14^th Amendment for no other purpose than election interference.

Taking Trump off the ballot would disenfranchise many millions of people who would have chosen to vote for him.  It just shows that with all the lip service Democrats pay to claims of “disenfranchisement,” they doesn’t really care about that principle.  If it helps them win, they’ll gleefully disenfranchise as many Trump voters as they possibly can.

If there are any leftists reading this --- and I know there are --- just admit it, because you know it’s true.

Turley noted the irony when he said, “It’s a curious way to support democracy, by keeping your opponent off the ballot.”  He condemned the violence of the J6 riot just as we have from the beginning, though he was more critical of Trump’s speech.  “But that doesn’t mean it was a rebellion or insurrection,” he said.  There was no plan for it --- the rioters weren’t even armed --- and it obviously would’ve gone nowhere, as every force in government would’ve been aligned against it.

Since Trump was not charged with insurrection, he said, “this is a considerable reach in my view, and it’s dangerous.  And it could not have come at a worse time for our country.”

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6335389374112

Contrast this treatment of Trump with what Turley calls the “theatre of the absurd,” the ‘Justice’ Department’s kid-gloves handling of the Hunter Biden finance case.  Newly-appointed Special Counsel David Weiss has really dug himself into a hole.  He’s now the most controversial person Attorney General Merrick Garland could have picked to be special counsel, and yet somehow he is it.

Turley’s piece goes over some familiar territory, because our newsletter readers are already extremely well-informed on this case, but it at least tells you you’re not crazy in your assessment of it.  The big question now for Turley is “why, knowing the distrust over the past handling of the investigation, Garland would make an appointment guaranteed to further deepen that unease.”  Maybe the most openly partisan attorney general we’ve ever seen just assumed we’d sit back and take it.  Sorry to disappoint him.

https://jonathanturley.org/2023/08/22/garlands-theater-of-the-absurd-why-the-hunter-biden-scandal-is-no-longer-a-laughing-matter/#more-208822

South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham is calling for the removal of Weiss as special counsel, citing the revelation that it was only after two IRS whistleblowers came forward that he chose to indict Hunter Biden for ANYTHING.

“An independent special counsel is needed in this case,” Graham tweeted (I mean, “posted on X”).  “It is abundantly clear Mr. Weiss needs to be removed from the investigation of Hunter Biden.  To say this has been botched is an understatement.”

https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/lindsey-graham-david-weiss-hunter-biden/2023/08/22/id/1131629/?ns_mail_uid=8dde39ba-33ef-45bb-a47c-c2e7fe12ca2e&ns_mail_job=DM513102_08222023&s=acs&dkt_nbr=010504nrohor

Even some Democrats are concerned about the political fallout from the “special handling” of Hunter’s case.  And after getting no response from AG Garland, the GOP chairmen of the House Judiciary, Oversight and Accountability, and Ways and Means Committees, who together are doing the job of the DOJ in the Hunter investigation, have subpoenaed four IRS and FBI officials who were present at the meeting that proved to be the last straw and caused lead investigator Gary Shapley to blow the whistle.

“[The whistleblowers’] testimony raised serious questions about the federal government’s commitment to evenhanded justice,” they wrote.  “The DOJ [Office of the Inspector General] acknowledged they received information from the whistleblowers but have not indicated whether their office is meaningfully investigating the disclosures.”

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2023/08/21/subpoenas-have-been-issued-to-irs-investigators-who-blocked-hunter-from-serious-charges-n2627315

If Weiss is replaced, it won’t be the first time more than one special counsel has handled a case.  John Yoo pointed out Tuesday night that Ken Starr was not the first special counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton and Whitewater.  After the first special counsel, Robert Fiske, was seen as not doing a thorough or sufficiently timely job, political pressure led to his replacement.  That could happen again.  From the archives…

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-08-06-mn-24261-story.html

But nothing is simple:  DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz has informed the congressional committees that a “potential jurisdictional issue” might prevent him from investigating the IRS whistleblower claims.  His letter to them was light on explanation, so they wrote back asking for him to clarify.  “Based on your statements and the DOJ’s pattern of politically motivated actions,” they wrote, “we are concerned that the DOJ is limiting your office from fully investigating the disclosures provided to your office.”

To help them understand the scope of his investigation, they asked for specific documentation about the limitations he thinks he will have.  Horowitz needs to cite chapter and verse (well, law and/or regulation).  They want this by September 6.

Wouldn’t it be something if after the whistleblowers came forward because they were blocked in their investigation, the inspector general was blocked in his investigation of whoever blocked THEIR investigation?

https://nypost.com/2023/08/22/doj-ig-cites-potential-limitation-in-review-of-hunter-biden-coverup-claims/

Finally, try not to be too surprised, but at least seven prosecutors in Weiss’s office over the past several years are apparently Democratic donors, and one of them even appears to have a previously unreported relationship with the Biden family, at one time referring to Hunter Biden as “a good friend.”  The WASHINGTON EXAMINER has taken a closer look.

Hunter’s finances should never have been investigated out of the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s office.  For crying out loud, Hunter’s father was a VERY longtime U.S. Senator from Delaware before becoming Vice President, and his brother Beau was attorney general in Delaware before he passed away in 2015.  And now we learn that Hunter apparently had at least one good friend in that office (though, to be fair, he seems to have had friends in many places!).  The Delaware office simply should not have been handling this.  But I guess that’s just “the Delaware way.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/democratic-donors-biden-friends-weiss-office

Mike Huckabee

First, I want to once again thank Kentucky Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, for appearing this weekend on my TBN show. He has been doing the heavy lifting --- the job the ‘Justice’ Department should be doing but isn’t --- in the investigation into Biden family finances, and it was wonderful to be able to take some time with him on the show. If you missed it, here’s that link. This is a MUST-SEE…

SHOCKING Biden Actions REVEALED! | Rep. Comer, Seamus Bruner, & MORE | Huckabee - Read Mike's News Analysis - Mike Huckabee

Rep. Comer offered some news that would shock anyone who hasn’t been paying attention (like mainstream media reporters.) For instance, he said that so far, they’ve identified about $21 million in suspicious deposits, and they only have about a third of the bank records. And apparently, no income taxes were paid on any of that by these “The rich must pay their fair share” Democrats.

Rep. Comer also appeared Sunday morning on SUNDAY MORNING FUTURES with host Maria Bartiromo, providing more details surrounding Joe Biden’s use of aliases in White House correspondence that was copied to his son.  (Recall our report from last week about his use of aliases such as “Robert L. Peters,” “Robin Ware” and “JRB Ware.”)  All the emails copied to Hunter, he said, were specifically about Ukraine.

It’s very difficult to understand how Hunter Biden, described now by the White House as “a private citizen” merited being copied on these documents.  Sometimes he was the ONLY person copied.  Doesn’t look like much of a “firewall,” does it?

Comer said “the evidence is mounting every day,” including an obvious timeline, showing that then-Vice President Biden flew to Ukraine for the purpose of getting prosecutor Viktor Shokin fired.  Shokin, as you know, had been looking into Burisma Holdings, the corrupt Ukrainian energy company whose founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, had hired both Hunter and his business partner Devon Archer to be on its executive board, despite his alleged observation that Hunter was dumber than his dog.  According to a very reliable FBI confidential source, Zlochevsky had said he paid “$5 million to one Biden and $5 million to another Biden” to get Shokin fired.  Joe Biden later opened his big mouth and publicly bragged about threatening to withhold $1 billion in aid unless Shokin was immediately fired.

“That’s called a quid pro quo, Maria,” Comer said.  “And it’s pretty illegal, and it’s more evidence that Joe Biden was front-and-center in this influence peddling scheme.”

“What we’ve now learned is, Joe Biden was using a fake email bank to receive correspondence from his staff that he was copying Hunter Biden on.  I believe...Hunter had to prove value to the Burisma owners, that they were working on this, so he was forwarding those [emails] to the owners of Burisma.”  The emails would have confirmed to Zlochevsky that the Vice President was en route to Ukraine, fulfilling his end of the deal.

“Look, this is obvious,” he said, that Joe Biden abused his powers as Vice President for the sole purpose to protect his son, who was receiving millions and millions of dollars from this corrupt Ukrainian energy company, and this email ties Joe Biden and Hunter Biden into this corruption scheme, “without a shadow of a doubt.”

His current tally of the Bidens’ foreign-money loot is about $21 million (investigative journalist Peter Schweizer says it’s over $30 million. For more, here’s my interview from this weekend with Seamus Bruner, research director for Schweizer’s Government Accountability Institute, whose job is to “follow the money.”)

https://www.huckabee.tv/guests/seamus-bruner   

So, WHY were the Bidens getting all those cool millions?

As for potential interference in his committee’s investigation due to the appointment of Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss as special counsel (and we’ll get to more about that), Comer said, “We’re about to find out.”  That’s because they’re headed to court, trying to get more bank records that they think will “tell a whole lot bigger story” about Joe’s level of involvement and also how he personally benefited.  Banks have told the committee that “they’re under considerable pressure not to cooperate.”  The Bidens have “lawyered-up,” he said, and those attorneys know exactly where this is going.  “I mean, they are building Fort Knox around these bank accounts…”

He says he’s seeing obstruction as there has never been “in the history of congressional investigations.”  This obstruction comes from all sides:  the Biden legal team, the DOJ, the FBI, the Secret Service, the IRS, by the Democrats (of course) on their own committee, and now potentially by the special counsel.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6334869612112

REDSTATE is wondering why we’re just now hearing that newly-appointed Special Counsel David Weiss used to work alongside Hunter’s late brother and former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden.  Did you know anything about that?  Us, neither!  A must-read…

https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2023/08/20/knives-out-liberal-news-outlet-reports-on-special-counsel-david-weiss-past-association-with-beau-biden-n2162841

The DAILY CALLER reports several significant updates on the Hunter Biden case.  Following in the tracks of attorney Chris Clark, three more Hunter attorneys have left the case after charges against Hunter were dismissed in Delaware, to be refiled in DC and/or California.

All three attorneys are from the Democrat powerhouse law firm of Latham & Watkins:  Brian C. McManus, Timothy H. McCarten and Matthew S. Salerno.  They gave no reason, which legal expert Margot Cleveland finds “interesting.”  Recall that a Latham & Watkins staffer allegedly posed in a phone call as an assistant to Theodore Kittila, attorney for the House Ways & Means Committee, to try to prevent a filing with IRS whistleblower testimony to be presented to the judge.  Selerno attributed this to a “miscommunication.”  Right.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/08/19/hunter-bidens-latham-watkins-attorneys-motion-withdraw-from-case

“Mr. Biden has been advised of, and consents to, our withdrawal,” the motion reads.  “He also agrees this withdrawal will cause no material adverse effect or prejudice to him and remains completely satisfied with Mssrs. [Abbe] Lowell’s and [Richard] Jones’ continued representation of him.”

Unless there’s been more turnover among Hunter’s legal team than we know, this is the same bunch who threatened to put President Biden on the stand if Hunter were indicted on the firearms charge.  In October 2022, Chris Clark said in a 32-page letter (!) to prosecutors, leaked to POLITICO just last week, that the President testifying against his own DOJ would create a “constitutional crisis.”  It’s not clear if Clark’s withdrawal from the case last week had anything to do with the leak of that document.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hunter-bidens-defense-lawyers-vowed-put-president-biden-stand

Here’s the DAILY CALLER on the same story.  They quote from Clark’s letter to U.S. Attorney David Weiss: “President Biden now unquestionably would be a fact witness for the defense in any criminal trial.  This of all cases justifies neither the spectacle of a sitting President testifying at a criminal trial nor the potential for a resulting Constitutional crisis.”

Judging from the left’s persecution of President Trump and their trashing of practically every right in the Constitution when it comes to putting him on trial, I would say that “Constitutional crisis” has little meaning for them except as a threat to be used.  They’ll blow up the Constitution if it means getting what they want.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/08/19/hunter-biden-joe-witness-stand/?pnespid=r7Q.AT1LPvgF0_XFozmuS46I7gj1WoJwceXgkPI4pxhmaAZ1VM0fLpRNhw5hDugiIqpdRrsj_w

By the way, we just found some interesting commentary from a few weeks ago about Judge Maryellen Norieka’s refusal of Hunter’s plea deal.  Julianne Murray, an attorney representing the Heritage Foundation, was in the courtroom that day and says the judge “did a really good job of sniffing out that there was stuff that was not being said out loud.”

Mike Davis, founder and president of the Article III Project, said that “we now know there was an even sweeter secret deal:  today was supposed to be the end of all criminal charges involving the Biden family.  They were going to protect President Biden by sweeping under the rug today in Delaware all the Biden family crimes.”  They couldn’t write that into the plea agreement because of the political backlash, but that would have been the practical effect.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/07/26/incompetence-or-corruption-legal-experts-explain-what-judges-refusal-to-accept-hunter-biden-plea-deal-reveals/

And did you know that before whistleblowers started coming forward about the case, Hunter’s plea deal not only gave him “future immunity” but also didn’t require him to plead guilty to ANYTHING?  I am not kidding.  And the DOJ had apparently accepted it.  Talk about a “sweetheart” deal --- this would have been a big wet smackeroo right on the lips.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/08/19/doj-deal-hunter-biden-guilty/?

Mike Huckabee

BY MIKE HUCKABEE

Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee team! Thank you for subscribing!

With gratitude,

Mike Huckabee

DAILY BIBLE VERSE

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

Philippians 4:6

Mike Huckabee

If you’ve been reading the newsletter, you’re up to speed on the “Biden Inc.” investigation even before the news appears in most conservative media.  Most of yesterday was a re-hashing of what you already know.  But John Solomon broke significant news.

First, the backstory:  As you know, Hunter made a call to “DC” when he was at the Four Seasons Hotel in Dubai with his Burisma associates.  That was December 5, 2015.  Only five days later, Papa Joe Biden flew to Ukraine and spoke before their parliament.  That’s the same day he threatened to withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees unless the lead prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, was fired.  In March 2016, the prosecutor “resigned under pressure” from the Ukrainian president, who, in turn, had been pressured by then-Vice President Biden.    

Joe Biden has always maintained that, yes, he did push for Shokin’s firing, but it had nothing to do with Hunter’s connection to Burisma --- it was consistent with existing U.S. foreign policy recommendation, put together by an inter-agency task force.  But now Solomon has the State Department’s internal documents from that task force, courtesy of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and they tell a very different story.  The task force advised Biden in October 2015 that the $1 billion SHOULD be given to Ukraine, because the prosecutor’s office was doing a swell job with its anti-corruption efforts!

That was the last recommendation made by this task force.  They even put it in the form of handy talking points, which, according to State Department documents, Joe Biden related to the president of Ukraine in a phone call on November 4, 2015.  At that time, Joe told the Ukrainian president they would get the $1 billion guarantee.

But it was soon after this phone call that “life got tough inside the Biden family,” Solomon told Sean Hannity Monday night.  Reporters for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL and THE NEW YORK TIMES had begun asking questions about the investigation into Burisma Holdings and Hunter’s presence on the board, and Burisma “began to panic.”  So around Thanksgiving of 2015, Joe and his office worked on a “new talking point,” according to Solomon, “one they didn’t even share with the ambassador, who was in Kiev representing the United States…”  The White House decided they would call for the prosecutor to be fired if they wanted the money.

“Joe Biden wasn’t carrying out U.S. policy,” Solomon said.  “He CHANGED U.S. policy.”  In other words, the story being drilled into us by the media that Joe was only fulfilling existing foreign policy is a gigantic LIE.  Hey, what’s one more?

https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/hdfeds-urged-biden-give-ukraine-loan-guarantee-he

Solomon believes the whistleblowers in the Biden case “changed history.  There’s no doubt that them coming forward changed the dynamics inside the Justice Department and between [them and] Hunter Biden’s lawyers.”

He pointed to one document in particular that contradicts what we’ve been told about Hunter having no impact on foreign policy.  There’s a classified email to leaders in Washington from George Kent at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine (remember him from Trump’s first impeachment?), saying, “Somebody should tell Joe Biden his son Hunter undercut ALL of our anti-corruption activities in Ukraine.”

“The documents contradict everything we were told in the original narrative about Ukraine.”

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2023/08/21/new-stunning-docs-show-biden-withholding-ukraine-aid-over-prosecutor-contradicted-us-position-n2162892

Hannity also spoke with two House committee chairmen Monday night:  Jason Smith of Missouri, who chairs the Ways & Means Committee (the committee that deals with tax information), and Jim Jordan of Ohio, who chairs the Judiciary Committee.  They say more House subpoenas have been issued to IRS and FBI investigators involved in the Hunter case.

Recall from yesterday that Biden’s attorneys actually threatened the DOJ with putting President Biden on the stand and creating a “constitutional crisis” if Hunter had to face charges.  (As if they cared about causing a constitutional crisis.)  “The idea that Joe Biden’s gonna testify is ridiculous,” Jordan said Monday night.  “Can you imagine putting Joe Biden on the stand right now and him facing cross-examination --- I mean, there is NO WAY that’s gonna happen.  But this is the pressure campaign they were putting on the DOJ.”

Recall also that without the announcement of the whistleblowers getting ready to testify, Hunter’s “sweetheart” deal would have been twice as sweet, with all charges dropped.  Incredibly, Hunter would have received “future immunity” without having to plead guilty to ANYTHING.  The fact that the DOJ had agreed to this should tell you all you need to know about the politics of ‘justice’ in 2023.

The reason the IRS whistleblowers came forward was a “red line” that was crossed during a meeting on October 7, 2022, with Delaware U.S. Attorney (now Special Counsel) David Weiss and four other people, when Weiss allegedly told them he didn’t have independent authority to bring charges.  The two whistleblowers followed protocol by going first to the Ways & Means Committee because of the personal financial information involved in the case.

But did you know that Hunter’s attorneys demanded that the DOJ prosecute the whistleblowers?  Yes, it’s true.  Even though IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel had confirmed the rights of agency whistleblowers to make protected disclosures to Congress, Hunter’s attorneys called for them to be prosecuted because they’d divulged details about the probe to Congress, and what they said had “played a role in influencing the outcome.”  They said that for this reason, the whistleblowers broke the law and should be PROSECUTED.

What really happened was that, in revealing to Congress what they felt was wrong about the investigation, they helped prevent Hunter from getting an unacceptable sweetheart deal.  (NOTE:  Judge Maryellen Noreika helped, too.)  In other words, by allowing whistleblowers to “interfere,” the whistleblower law worked exactly as it was supposed to.

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky called this what it is:  witness intimidation on the part of Hunter’s attorneys.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/08/21/report-hunter-bidens-lawyers-push-doj-prosecute-irs-whistleblowers/

Jason Smith told Hannity that the two whistleblowers gave consistent testimony and characterized what they said as shocking.  “But you know who was not shocked about their information was the Department of Justice,” he said, “because, in fact, the [DOJ], just as the whistleblowers highlighted...used numerous tactics that delayed the investigation to such a degree that the statute of limitations expired for some of the most egregious crimes of 2014 and 2015 tax years.”

Of course, you know about their other transgressions, such as going straight to Hunter’s lawyers with tip-offs that interfered with the IRS investigation.  The DOJ and Hunter’s legal team really were working on the same side:  both sidin’ with Biden.

But then Jim Jordan brought up something mind-boggling that might get lost in all the other Biden corruption news.  We’ll let him tell it:

“...In 2019, Biden’s legal team wanted to meet with him to talk about things, and he said, ‘I can’t meet with you that day because I’M TALKING WITH THE IMPEACHMENT LAWYERS [emphasis ours].’  So, is he talking with Daniel Goldman, the lawyer for Adam Schiff?  ...Who’s he talking to?  Because it was all about Burisma…”

So...it was in 2019 that the FBI got Hunter’s laptop, and KNEW it was Hunter’s laptop, and knew all about Burisma, yet held onto it during Trump’s first impeachment when it would have been exculpatory for him.  Now we learn that Hunter himself was actually in contact with the Trump impeachment lawyers at this time!  What in blazes was going on here?  This has the potential to be the most shocking revelation yet.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6335146505112

Mike Huckabee

You have to wonder if leftwing “news” outlets that have been nothing more up until now than a Joe Biden protection service have gotten the word from their DNC masters that Joe needs to start making retirement plans. I can’t imagine any other reason that the Washington Post would suddenly start practicing journalism and report on the previously-unreported connection between President Biden’s late son Beau and Hunter Biden’s completely objective “special counsel,” David Weiss.

BY MIKE HUCKABEE

Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee team! Thank you for subscribing!

With gratitude,

Mike Huckabee

DAILY BIBLE VERSE

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalms 23:1

Mike Huckabee

BY MIKE HUCKABEE

Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee team! Thank you for subscribing!

With gratitude,

Mike Huckabee

DAILY BIBLE VERSE

The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.

Nahum 1:7

Trial date talk

Former President Trump’s prosecutors are, not surprisingly, pushing for trial dates that fall right in the middle of the 2024 election season. For example, special counsel Jack Smith wants the trial on his latest charges relating to January 6th and the 2020 election to begin on January 2nd. But Trump’s attorneys have a counter-proposal. They requested a trial date of April, 2026 – over two years from now.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/08/17/donald-trump-seeks-april-2026-trial-date-in-january-6-case/

They say the government turned over to them “a massive, 8.5-terabyte initial production, totaling over 11.5 million pages, together with native files, recordings, and other electronic data not amenable to pagination.” Going through all that and preparing a defense, plus the massive amount of discovery this case will require, is going to take years. That is, if the DOJ wants it to be a fair, legitimate trial. But then, whoever said that was what this DOJ wanted?

Important reminder

Here’s a reminder that all the ludicrous RICO conspiracy indictments against Trump and his associates in Georgia are based on fake news stories that misquoted what Trump said. One was actually retracted by the Washington Post. You can imagine how egregious it had to be to force WaPo to admit it was wrong about Trump. FYI: Trump’s second impeachment trial was also based on the incorrect quote.

https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2023/08/18/blue-state-blues-the-georgia-indictment-was-triggered-by-fake-news/

Trying to hold Fani Willis accountable

At least one Republican office holder in Georgia is trying to hold Fulton County DA Fani Willis accountable for her incompetence and rank political partisanship. State Sen. Colton Moore has written to Gov. Brian Kemp, requesting an emergency special session to investigate Willis and her office, defund it and possibly impeach her for ignoring soaring violent crime to concentrate on targeting a political opponent.

https://www.westernjournal.com/fulton-county-prosecutor-face-trial-lawmaker-fires-shot-da/

Unfortunately, it’s not likely to go far, since impeachment requires a two-thirds vote, and Moore would face opposition from Democrats and Trump-hostile Republicans. It’s too bad because even if you took the Trump indictments out of the equation entirely, she and her grand jury have just given America one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of an office holder who’s riper than a Georgia peach for impeachment.

Related: I keep posing the question, “When will voters in blue states and cities ever connect the dots between the way they vote and their cities and quality of life being destroyed?” Recently, I saw a discussion on Fox News of that very question, with one legal expert pointing out that on average, it takes less than a year between a Soros-backed leftist DA getting elected and the first petitions to recall that DA due to rampant crime created by their releasing of criminals. It’s right there in front of them, yet as soon as they kick one leftist out, they replace him/her with another one, sometimes one even worse (look at the recent Chicago mayor’s race.)

There will be no hope for America’s cities until the voters finally make the connection and stop voting for more societal rot. It’s frustrating because to the rest of us looking on, it’s like watching someone who can’t make the connection between the fact that he’s banging on his head with a hammer and the fact that he has a headache.

Trump press conference is canceled

Former President Trump promised to hold a press conference next week at which he would present a “Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable REPORT on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia,” one that would result in his “complete EXONERATION” (all-caps his.) But the next day, he canceled the press conference at the request of his attorneys.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/08/18/trump-cancels-major-news-conference-on-latest-indictment-citing-legal-advice/

Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Rather than releasing the Report on the Rigged & Stolen Georgia 2020 Presidential Election on Monday, my lawyers would prefer putting this, I believe, Irrefutable & Overwhelming evidence of Election Fraud & Irregularities in formal Legal Filings as we fight to dismiss this disgraceful Indictment.”

Too bad, that was one press conference I was actually looking forward to…

Mike Huckabee

UPDATE: Congressman James Comer is my guest this weekend on Huckabee on TBN so you shouldn’t miss it. If you missed my interview with John Solomon on Just the News it’s available online.

By now, you’ve probably seen some of the stories in the news about aliases used by Joe Biden in some of his correspondence as Vice President.  The DC scribes in the media hope to “save” the President by saying that the presidential use of aliases wasn’t all that unusual.

But it’s not just the presidential use of aliases from time to time that’s concerning.  It’s the context of those aliases.  Under what circumstances was Joe Biden choosing to write under another name, and for what reasons?

As Kevin Downey, Jr.., writes for PJ MEDIA, when James Comer of Kentucky, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, demanded from the National Archives every email involving Joe Biden’s family and Ukraine, several unfamiliar names started popping up that turned out to be aliases for Joseph Robinette Biden, then Vice President of the United States.

“Robert L. Peters.”  “Robin Ware.”  “JRB Ware.”  (Of course, “JRB” stands for “Joseph Robinette Biden” --- I didn’t say they were GOOD aliases.)  These were all then-Vice President Biden.  This comes across like a possible attempt to subvert FOIA requests, as was Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email server to conduct official State Department business.  We shall see.

The common denominator for these communications seems to have been Ukraine.  Example:  a schedule for the day was sent to “[email protected]” on May 26, 2016, to advise him that he had an 8:45 prep session for a 9AM phone call with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.  Recall that Poroshenko was the Ukrainian president whom Joe, Obama’s “point man” in Ukraine, pressured into firing lead prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who happened by pure coincidence to have been investigating Burisma Holdings.  Joe is on video bragging that he tied $1 billion in aid to the immediate firing of Shokin.  

Hunter Biden, who happened by pure coincidence to be on the board of Burisma Holdings, was cc’d on that email.  This was one of ten emails sent to Joe Biden (well, “Robert L. Peters”) by assistant John Flynn that Hunter was copied on.  At the time, both Hunter and his business partner Devon Archer were on Burisma’s board, to the tune of $83,333.  Each.

Downey notes that $83,333 is exactly one-third of a monthly nut of $250,000.  He’s looking into who might be receiving that other third, so stay tuned.

The website “pci.gov” no longer exists; it was shut down in 2020 after being flagged as “problematic” by DNS (Domain Name Security) in 2020.  Now, Comer wants all emails involving Joe (under his various aliases), Hunter, Devon Archer, and additional Hunter business partner Eric Schwerin, who was responsible for financial disbursements.  UNREDACTED.  He wants all National Archives documents in which:

--- then-VP Joe Biden used a pseudonym

--- Huner Biden, Eric Schwerin or Devon Archer is copied

--  All drafts of then-VP Biden’s speech delivered to the Ukrainian Rada (their parliament) in December 2015.

--- Unrestricted special access under the PRA to Case Number 2023- to 2022-F, entitled “Email Message To and/or From Vice President Biden and Hunter Biden related to Burisma and Ukraine,  (This includes some of the daily schedule emails, currently redacted.)

“If there was any overlap between Joe Biden’s official VP duties and his son’s activities in Ukraine,” Comer said, “Americans deserve to know.”

https://twitter.com/GOPoversight/status/1692168155915862080?ref_src=twsrc

According to the NEW YORK POST, Comer is also anticipating other content that took place under pseudonyms, including possible communications regarding China.  The deadline for the National Archives to comply is coming up: August 31.

Downey also notes a WhatsApp text sent from one Hunter business partner, James Gilliar, to (yes) another Hunter business partner, Tony Bobulinski, on May 20, 2017, that said, “Don’t mention Joe being involved, it’s only when u are face to face.  I know u know that but they are paranoid.”

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/kevindowneyjr/2023/08/17/why-did-joe-biden-need-three-aliases-in-ukraine-related-emails-awww-you-know-why-n1720093

The French site Le Crisis has been working on what will be an eight-part documentary (four parts are complete) called “UkraineGate,” about the various allegations concerning the Bidens in Ukraine.  (This entire series looks to be a must-see; perhaps you saw the recent video we posted of Viktor Shokin talking about what happened there.)

https://ukrainegate.info/summary-part-4-shokin-strikes-back/

Don’t look for it on Facebook, though; they have declined to allow it to be posted.

https://twitter.com/Ukraine_Gate/status/1216880802727964672

Here’s REDSTATE’s take, very straightforward…

https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2023/08/17/gop-oversight-demands-access-to-unredacted-emails-in-which-vp-joe-biden-used-an-alias-from-natl-archives-n2162730

Comer released a statement on Thursday saying, “Joe Biden has stated there was ‘an absolute wall’ between his family’s foreign business schemes and his duties as Vice President, but evidence reveals that access was wide open for his family’s influence peddling.  We already have evidence of then-Vice President Biden speaking, dining and having coffee with his son’s foreign business associates.”

“We also know that Hunter Biden and his associates were informed of then-Vice President Biden’s official government duties in countries where they had a financial interest.  The National Archives must provide these unredacted records to further our investigation into the Biden family’s corruption.”

https://nypost.com/2023/08/17/comer-demands-records-of-biden-using-pseudonym-while-vpcomer-demands-unredacted-records-of-biden-using-pseudonym-while-vp/

This story is just now picking up steam.  For more information, specifically tying in that speech of Biden’s in Ukraine, be sure and see Sean Hannity’s opening segment from Thursday night...

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6334158089112

...and his must-see segment with James Comer…

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6334158553112

No one surpasses John Solomon for his ability to hone in on the most important information, and he has a couple of new reports on Comer’s search for these communications.  Solomon explains that Comer’s demand for all these messages came after the committee unearthed that daily schedule sent from John Flynn, Biden’s personal assistant, to “Robert L. Peters” and copied to Hunter --- ONLY to Hunter --- at his email address for Rosemont Seneca Partners.

https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/biden-probe-shifts-national-archives-discovery-private-emails-joe

Solomon has been looking for the past two years (!) at how Joe Biden’s personal email accounts were used while he was Vice President “to forward government information or discuss foreign business with his son.”  Some of the letters were personal but others were about business and politics, with Hunter even wanting to talk to his dad about a potential Treasury appointee.  This is a deeper dive but highly recommended reading…

https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/ukraine-turkey-joe-biden-used-personal-email-share-some-government

And here’s more from Solomon about the evolving story from the White House about Joe’s involvement in Hunter’s business.  He lists five claims Biden and his defenders have made that “conflict with current evidence”…

https://justthenews.com/accountability/political-ethics/five-stories-joe-biden-told-about-family-business-turned-out-be

REALCLEAR POLITICS points out that using pseudonyms was “a practice not uncommon among cabinet secretaries at the time.”  But the use of pseudonyms, in itself, is not at issue.  What is of concern is the context of that practice as used by Joe Biden with his Burisma-board son.  Where is that “absolute wall” Joe has talked about?

When questions were raised about pseudonyms during the Obama administration, then-White House Press Secretary Jay Carney made light of it, saying those emails were still archived and could still be obtained through congressional inquiries and FOIA requests.  (One would think, though, that this practice might at the very least put a kink in the works by adding in extra steps to retrieve those documents.)  He said it was “about having a public email address, as well as one for internal, you know, workings.”  I would stress that in the current situation, it really is important to find out what those, you know, ‘workings’ were.

RCP does at least acknowledge that the messages “raise questions about why the President’s son, whom the White House describes as a ‘private citizen,’ was looped into an hour-by-hour White House schedule.”

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/08/18/biden_may_have_used_secret_pseudonyms_as_vice_president.html

Here’s the full press release from the House Oversight Committee, which includes the text of their letter to Archivist Dr. Colleen Shogan…

https://oversight.house.gov/release/comer-seeks-nara-records-revealing-how-then-vp-biden-mixed-official-government-duties-with-familys-influence-peddling/

RELATED READING:  On Tuesday, attorneys for IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley released a full fact-check debunking claims made on CNN and CBS NEWS by Hunter attorney Abbe Lowell about the Hunter case.  We learn from this that Democrat powerhouse lawyer Abbe Lowell will just say anything.  Shapley’s attorneys call it “Abbe Lowell Claims vs. Reality.”  Well worth your time...

https://dailycaller.com/2023/08/15/irs-whistleblower-attorneys-debunk-claims-hunter-biden-lawyer/?pnespid=u7JiBytJKfwFhOOdr2m7HZHT4AO.Cop2N7S_we1lrR9mAUd3s5tEnF9pRqiznGY2EP8DThzw7Q

And here’s something fascinating:  Hunter and business partner Eric Schwerin used PR firms to quietly edit the Wikipedia entries for both Hunter and Burisma.  Fake accounts were reportedly used to gradually edit unflattering details and add positive spin, such as Hunter’s association with the World Food Programme.  They even added “minor mistakes” to make the edits look more realistic.  I think Wikipedia is going to need a PR firm of its own after this story, because there’s just no way to trust its information.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/08/16/hunter-biden-pr-firm-spin-wikipedia-pages-emails/?pnespid=5783ByAaN64d3uLKqTulTpuJ7gqnDsFudvDmxut6qEFm6EXffA5jJwTm5xnLNlxy0Bl0kNe4Fw

If you can stand any more Hunter news, the case against him in Delaware has been dropped, as expected after the plea deal fell through…

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hunter-biden-tax-charges-dismissed-federal-judge-plea-deal-breakdown

...so it could be re-filed elsewhere.  Judge Maryellen Noreika approved the DOJ’s motion to re-file the case somewhere other than Delaware, such as California or DC, where he’s bound to get the kid-glove treatment.  Nice break for Hunter, huh?

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/lincolnbrown/2023/08/17/judge-allows-doj-to-file-charges-against-hunter-in-a-new-district-n1720211

Mike Huckabee

BY MIKE HUCKABEE

Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee team! Thank you for subscribing!

With gratitude,

Mike Huckabee

Robert Kennedy’s campaign cleans up his abortion answer

I’m sorry to see Robert F. Kennedy Jr. caving to the Democrats’ radical “abortion to the moment of birth” wing. Sunday in Iowa, he told an NBC reporter, “The decision to abort a child should be up to the women during the first three months of life.” Asked if he would cap abortion after three months, he said, “Yes, three months. Once a child is viable outside the womb, I think then the state has an interest in protecting the child. I’m for medical freedom. Individuals ought to be able to make their own choices. I think the states have a right to protect a child once the child becomes viable, and that right, it increases. And I think there’s very, very few abortions that are performed after that period of time anyway.”

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/anthony-gonzalez/2023/08/14/rfk-jr-flip-flops-on-three-month-abortion-ban-n1719088

But following the predictable howls of outrage, his campaign rushed out this statement:

“Mr. Kennedy misunderstood a question posed to him by a NBC reporter in a crowded, noisy exhibit hall at the Iowa State Fair. Mr. Kennedy’s position on abortion is that it is always the woman’s right to choose. He does not support legislation banning abortion.”

So he didn’t hear the question? Look at his answer above and tell me what you think he thought the question was if it wasn’t that. I think he heard the question fine, he just heard the shrieking from the left even louder.

Not going to happen, but…

Unfortunately, this will never get past the Senate, but some House Republicans sponsored a bill to eliminate special council Jack Smith’s salary due to his history of failed, politically partisan prosecutions. It deserves recognition if for no other reason than the bill’s title: It’s the “Yanking Outlays for an Unethical, Ruthless Enterprise that Fraudulently Impedes Robust Electoral Debate Act” or the “YOURE FIRED Act.”

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/catherinesalgado/2023/08/14/youre-fired-gop-reps-move-to-defund-jack-smiths-salary-n1719187

Ukraine vs Hawaii

Apparently, brushing off questions about Maui wildfire victims with a terse “No comment” and returning to his beach vacation didn’t do enough to cement President Biden’s reputation as “Mr. Compassion.” So on Monday, Biden announced that the government will offer a “one-time” relief payment of a whopping $700 to Americans on Maui. On the same day, he announced plans to send another $200 million to Ukraine,

https://www.westernjournal.com/biden-offers-maui-fire-survivors-one-time-pittance-day-200-million-announced-ukraine/

Couldn’t he at least ask Hunter to make a phone call to China and pick up a few million for Maui?

Welcome to Reality 1.01:

Liberal activists in San Diego are stunned and confused to discover that when you stop tolerating letting homeless people take over your city, pitch tents and live anywhere they want, they stop doing it.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/homelessness/story/2023-07-31/whered-they-go-enforcement-begins-on-san-diegos-new-homeless-camping-ban

Mike Huckabee

Government and Big Tech working together to censor conservative views, is a big reason why we changed things up and moved my newsletter to Substack.

BY MIKE HUCKABEE

Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee team! Thank you for subscribing!

With gratitude,

Mike Huckabee

DAILY BIBLE VERSE

The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork.

Psalms 19:1

Mike Huckabee

Mike Huckabee

With all the Trump news, this story that happened Friday got buried, but it deserves more notice. You would think the media would give it more coverage, considering it’s about shocking infringement on freedom of the press by the government, but a surprising number of media outlets seem to be okay with that these days. The story is remarkably similar to the story of Ashley Biden’s diary, which was given to Project Veritas. They returned it without revealing anything in it, yet the FBI raided the homes of James O’Keefe and other PV reporters and seized dozens of their private devices.

https://www.westernjournal.com/police-carry-illegal-raid-news-outlet-seize-everything-report-local-business/

In this case, the Marion County, Kansas, Record newspaper got a tip that a local restaurant owner had convictions for DUI and driving without a license that could have prevented her from getting a liquor license. They didn’t know the source of the tip so they wrote nothing and turned it over to the police. But the restaurant owner made it public by complaining in front of the city council, so the paper wrote an article telling their side of the story.

Next thing the paper knew, the police department raided the office and home of owner/publisher Eric Meyer, photographing and seizing a number of digital devices. They had a warrant to seize devices used to “participate in the identity theft” of the restaurant owner. Meyer says his 98-year-old mother, who co-owned the paper, died the next day, and he blames the stress of the police raid.

https://www.westernjournal.com/police-carry-illegal-raid-news-outlet-seize-everything-report-local-business/

Many people were already calling it an outrageous assault by government on the rights of the press. But then the story took another twist when Meyer revealed that paper had been investigating allegations of sexual misconduct and other accusations against the police chief, but had yet to publish anything. He said, “I may be paranoid that this has anything to do with it, but when people come and seize your computer, you tend to be a little paranoid.”

https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/08/kansas-paper-raided-by-police-was-investigating-police-chief-over-sexual-misconduct-allegations/

The paper’s attorney calls it an “illegal search” and is demanding that authorities not review any information on any devices or material they confiscated. This is a developing story, and I’m very interested to see how it develops.

Mike Huckabee

Sadly, there are a number of blue cities plagued by crime, homelessness, filth, poverty, drugs and other symptoms of generations of Democrat rule, and voters have yet to connect the dots between (1.) “Horrendous living conditions” and (2.) “How we vote.” But in the competition to illustrate just how bad letting the left run things can get, San Francisco is finding some creative new ways to pull ahead of Chicago and Portland.

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2023/08/13/announcement-concerning-pelosi-federal-building-in-san-francisco-explains-big-problem-with-dems-n792144

Nick Arama at Redstate.com reminds us of San Francisco’s many problems that have caused residents and stores to flee, adds two new ones. First, it’s now more lucrative to be a drug dealer than a senior software engineer at Google. The base pay for the Google position is $211,000 a year, while successful drug pushers in the open-air drug trade in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods are making $350,000+.

In fact, President Biden could cite that as fulfilling a campaign promise. Many of the dealers are Honduran illegal migrants who send so much money back home that it’s fueling a housing boom in parts of Honduras. Biden said he wanted to combat illegal immigration by improving infrastructure in Central America, and his policies are doing just that. Of course, it’s at the expense of the lives of the Americans who are being killed by fentanyl and other deadly drugs, but hey, you’ve gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet.

As if that didn’t provide a big enough flashing neon sign to “STOP ELECTING THESE LEFTIST DISASTERS,” Arama offers this:

Due to all the open drug dealing and violent crime in downtown San Francisco, Health and Human Services is urging federal employees to work from home and not dare to venture into their offices in the…wait for it…Nancy Pelosi Federal Building.

Moral: If you value your life, stay away from Nancy Pelosi! Now if only voters could grasp the larger message behind that.

Related: Los Angeles made a move to challenge San Francisco for the title of Worst-Run Blue City with this story. Shoplifting is so out of control that on Saturday, a gang of between 30 and 50 thieves in hoods ransacked a Nordstrom’s in broad daylight and stripped it of up to $100,000 in merchandise. Alas for them, it’s become almost impossible to make crime in L.A. even worse. The Nordstrom’s flash mob couldn’t top the $300,000 worth of merchandise stolen just last week from the Yves St. Laurent store.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-nordstrom-ransacked-flash-mob-smash-grab-goods-taken

More competition for San Francisco: Seattle just became the new leader for the title of “Blue city the largest percentage of residents want to flee.”

https://www.foxnews.com/us/seattle-tops-us-cities-where-residents-are-considering-moving-over-safety-worries-survey-finds

Finally, here’s an article on the frightening wider implications of the spreading plague of crime and how the Democrats’ refusal to deal with it is creating a widespread social rot that’s destroying public safety and the ability to do business (retail theft losses will top $100 billion this year alone, a cost all the rest of us will pay), and is creating entire populations who refuse to be governed. This will inevitably result either in lawless anarchy or extreme counter-measures, neither of which will be peaceful or pretty.

https://discernreport.com/some-parts-of-america-are-already-on-the-verge-of-being-ungovernable-as-rampant-lawlessness-spreads-like-wildfire/

If only someone had foreseen that doing away with the police, emptying the jails and legalizing crime wouldn’t have a positive outcome!

Mike Huckabee

BY MIKE HUCKABEE

Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee team! Thank you for subscribing!

With gratitude,

Mike Huckabee

DAILY BIBLE VERSE

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

John 1:12

Maui Fires

The known death toll from the devastating fires on Maui reached 93 over the weekend, and hundreds of people are still missing. It’s become the deadliest wildfire in the US in the past century. The burn is now about 85% controlled, but the damage is severe. I urge you to continue to pray for the victims, and if you can help, to please make a donation to Samaritan’s Purse, which is coordinating with local churches to get aid to victims ASAP.

http://www.samaritanspurse.org

President Biden is getting backlash for his seemingly uncaring “No comment” when asked about the fire while vacationing on the beach.

https://twitchy.com/samj/2023/08/14/john-hayward-bidens-comments-on-hawaii-death-toll-n2386264

The fires are still burning, but the finger-pointing and blame have already begun. A local couple is suing four power companies for leaving electric lines energized during a high fire risk warning, blaming them for sparking the fires.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/hawaiian-couple-sues-power-companies-lahaina-destruction-historic-maui-wildfires

And of course, the “let no crisis go to waste” crowd is blaming the fires on “climate change.” But Clay Trauernicht, a professor and environmental management expert at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is throwing cold water on that claim. He’s been warning for years that the decline of agriculture has led to over a million acres of land on the islands being covered with unmanaged, nonnative grasslands that turn into a big buildup of highly flammable fire fuel during dry spells.

In short, the destruction isn’t caused by human intervention via man-made “climate change,” but by the lack of human intervention via intelligent land management.

https://www.westernjournal.com/expert-tells-climate-alarmists-pump-brakes-maui-fire-narrative-published-warning-years-ago-predicting/

The next round of partisan indictments

I don’t like to comment on stories until they actually happen, because you never know if leaks and predictions are going to pan out. But just in case, and to help you brace for it, here’s a story about the next round of ridiculous partisan indictments against Donald Trump and his associates from Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutor and rabid Trump hater, Fani Willis.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/fulton-county-prosecutors-have-messages-connecting-trumps-legal/

Willis didn’t have jurisdiction to bring charges over actions taken in Coffee County, so she’s reportedly planning to twist and abuse the RICO Act, aimed at putting away mob bosses, to turn Trump's making a phone call and Republicans examining voting machines into federal racketeering charges. It’s a good thing Atlanta has no real crime to deal with, which has freed up over a year of her time to waste the taxpayers’ money on this snipe hunt.

Out of curiosity, when will we see all the RICO Act indictments against every Democrat who ever made a phone call telling someone to “find more votes” in a close election? I’d be willing to bet that would apply in literally every close election of the past 50 years.

Flashback: A reminder from last February, this is the foreperson of the Fulton County grand jury.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2023/02/23/bat-guano-crazy-georgia-grand-jury-foreman-is-apparently-also-a-witch-n1673061

A clear-eyed view of Dr. Fauci

Just in case anyone still has a shrine to Dr. Fauci with one of his bobblehead dolls in it, maybe this will open their eyes:

The watchdog group OpenTheBooks just released about 1500 unredacted pandemic era records showing that the leaders of the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, including Dr. Fauci (already the highest-paid “public servant” in DC), made over $325 million in profits off of COVID-19. NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins and former NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci “got 58 royalty payments for allowing companies to use their COVID-19 vaccines, which in return (were) developed with funding from U.S. taxpayers by private pharmaceutical firms.”

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2023/08/13/records-reveal-fauci-made-over-300-million-from-the-covid-pandemic-n2626948

OpenTheBooks had to use the Freedom of Information Act to force the government to divulge this. Also, Dr. Fauci promised to donate his royalties to charity. According to this source, there is no evidence that he did.

Pro-LGBTQ propaganda

The Mars candy company is facing calls from conservatives for a Bud Light-style boycott over their new packaging that takes the Skittles’ slogan “Taste the Rainbow” way too far. The new bags for Skittles depict cartoon children playing on a skateboard ramp covered with graffiti that reads “Joy is Resistance” and “Black Trans Lives Matter.” This is part of their “limited edition 2023 Pride packs” designed by LGBTQ artists, with $1 of every sale going to GLAAD to “support and increase visibility for the LGBTQ+ community.” Really, is that the LGBTQ+ community’s big problem: they’re not visible enough?

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/skittles-packaging-calling-boycott-budweiser-treatment

A lot of parents think that it’s even less healthy to let small kids swallow leftist political and gender propaganda than to let them eat Skittles. Some critics also pointed out that to access the company’s website, you can have verify that you’re over 13, due to the fact that young children are too immature and susceptible to advertising so they must be protected from undue influence. You can sell them pro-LGBTQ propaganda, but not candy.

Mike Huckabee

BY MIKE HUCKABEE

Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee team! Thank you for subscribing!

With gratitude,

Mike Huckabee

DAILY BIBLE VERSE

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

Mike Huckabee

BY MIKE HUCKABEE

Blessings on you and your family from all the Huckabee team! Thank you for subscribing!

With gratitude,

Mike Huckabee

DAILY BIBLE VERSE

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Matthew 28:19

Mike Huckabee

If you’ve been reading this newsletter, you already know that the now-disbanded Kangaroo Kommittee chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi failed to preserve the records of its investigation into January 6 as it was required to do.  Conveniently, it even destroyed its records of communications with the White House.  (Surprise!)  But this report from FOX NEWS has more details...

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/j6-committee-failed-to-preserve-records-has-no-data-on-capitol-hill-security-failures-gop-charges

Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk, who chairs the Subcommittee on Oversight for the Committee on House Administration (tasked with addressing the security failures), says he was told the “Blue Team,” the part of the J6 committee specifically directed to investigate the security failures at the Capitol, was essentially shut down by the committee in order to focus like a laser beam on blaming President Trump.  (Again, surprise!)

Loudermilk’s subcommittee did get a lot of material, presented in a completely haphazard fashion, but he has not seen “anything from the Blue Team as far as reports on the investigation they did looking into the actual breach itself.”  That’s apparently gone.  He also doesn’t have video of all the depositions.

Thompson is disputing the claim that they were required to keep those records.  “He’s saying they didn’t have to,” Loudermilk said.  “It was clear in law they had to, and...if there was any question, the fact that they used the videos in the hearings would dictate that it had to be preserved.

“The more we go in, the more we’re realizing that there’s things that we don’t have.  We don’t have anything about security failures at the Capitol, we don’t have the videos of the depositions.”

One thing Loudermilk did come across that he said wasn’t turned over to his subcommittee:  a letter from Thompson to White House counsel Richard Sauber and DHS discussing an “agreement” between the J6 committee and the Executive Branch to interview personnel whose names were later redacted.  Loudermilk can’t help but wonder what this was about.  “Did they not want us to know that there were documents that they had sent back to the Executive Branch?”

Of course they didn’t.  And it’s obvious that if the J6 committee was dealing with security failures, it was to cover them up, not investigate them.  As Loudermilk put it, “We’ve got enough to know there was a huge intelligence failure.  I think Chairman Thompson’s response to me is indicting of him.  It’s almost like saying, okay, yeah, we decided not to give you stuff.  And I’m reading it as, Oh, you decided not to give us the things that you didn’t want us to see.  I mean, that’s kind of the way you have to look at this.”

Not just “kind of” --- it’s the only way you can look at it.  Perhaps they don’t realize that it’s backfiring when they continue to insult our intelligence.

BREITBART makes it clear:  Last year, incoming Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy demanded that the J6 committee preserve all of its evidence, records and transcripts.  The committee apparently did not preserve the raw evidence that its attorneys spent months --- and millions of taxpayer dollars --- collecting.  You can bet that if this material had supported their goal of blaming Trump for everything that happened on January 6, they would have kept every last scrap of paper.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/08/09/january-6-committee-destroyed-records-videos-trump-rights-violated/

Mark Levin pointed out on Tuesday that this destruction “effectively denied former President Trump of access to evidence that might potentially help his defense in the criminal prosecutions that the committee itself had urged the Department of Justice to launch.  And it also prevented other witnesses from clearing their names.”  Can you cay “obstruction”?

Joel Pollak at BREITBART noted the irony of Trump being charged with mishandling documents when it’s the J6 Committee that actually DESTROYED documents.  As far as we know, the DOJ is not investigating Thompson or anyone on the committee for destroying those documents.  And we won’t be hearing any differently as long as the current crew is in charge, mark my words.  For now, Democrats get to destroy documents and obstruct justice to their hearts’ content, and they act accordingly.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/08/09/january-6-committee-destroyed-records-videos-trump-rights-violated/

Just as the J6 committee has worked to control its J6 narrative, so the WASHINGTON POST has quietly, gradually tweaked its own reporting on the Hunter Biden scandal so as not to have to issue major, earth-shattering corrections.  Their top fact-checker, Glenn Kessler, has been busy since Devon Archer’s testimony making updates to stories they reported in 2020 and 2021.  This piece from THE NEW YORK POST --- who got their reporting on the Biden story correct from the start, despite it being branded “Russian disinformation” --- is really quite hilarious, and you know they must have enjoyed playing “gotcha.”

https://nypost.com/2023/08/09/washington-post-quietly-updates-hunter-biden-story-after-devon-archer-testimony/

It was Paul Sperry at REALCLEAR INVESTIGATIONS who noticed what Kessler was doing with the Hunter story at WAPO, gradually adapting their narrative rather than admitting they were wrong.  And Kessler continued to downplay Hunter’s business associations as much as possible.

The transcript of Archer’s recent testimony, however, shows that the NY POST, not WAPO, had it right in the first place.  Miranda Devine’s reporting was confirmed.

“Most facts were always there,” Perry wrote.  “It was only when the facts were amplified by government hearings, reports and depositions, as well as other news sites and Twitter, that Kessler revised his analysis --- while still resisting calling his revisions ‘corrections.’”

“Despite the rolling disclosures reaching a critical mass,” he continued, “the [WASHINGTON] POST has not published a separate news story examining its own errors, which misinformed voters ahead of the November 2020 presidential election and continued to mislead the public deep into the Biden presidency.”

Sperry notes that the clearly partisan Kessler, who portrays himself as “a neutral arbiter of truth in journalism,” wrote the book “Donald Trump and His Assault on Truth:  The President’s Falsehoods, Misleading Claims and Flat-Out Lies.”  As I said, this piece is hilarious.  Highly recommended.

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2023/08/09/for_washington_posts_feared_pinocchio_fact-checker_forthrightness_dies_in_updates_over_biden-burisma_story_971280.html

----

For the past couple of days, GATEWAY PUNDIT has been breaking a story about massive 2020 voter fraud in Michigan, allegedly involving thousands of criminally falsified voter registration forms, and federal officials keeping it on the lowdown, as the saying goes.   Here’s their Part 1...

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/now-we-have-proof-tgp-exclusive-massive-2020/

“It should be noted,” they wrote, “that after documenting these crimes and investigating for weeks, the Michigan police turned over their investigation to the FBI, who promptly buried the findings.  [Editorial aside:  Well, of course they did.]  Once again, the FBI apparently took no action --- more on that in an upcoming report.”

So, here’s that report, Part 2…

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/muskegon-voter-fraud-scandal-gbi-strategies-director-gary/

Their report claims that one company that appears to be implicated in the fake registration strategy is GBI Strategies, with offices near Muskegon.  When police went there, they found “semiautomatic guns, silencers/suppressors, burner phones, a bag of pre-paid cash cards, and incomplete registrations, in an office space that was styled as an eyeglass store that had gone defunct.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/muskegon-voter-fraud-scandal-gbi-strategies-director-gary/

One very educated estimate (from a former Michigan secretary of state) put the number of ballot applications mailed out to people unqualified to vote in Michigan at over 800,000.  This would include non-citizens, underage people, and those who had moved or died.

Mike Huckabee

This morning, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer released a third memo detailing the Biden family’s foreign business dealings. This one includes screenshots of redacted bank records that allegedly show Hunter Biden and his associates received millions of dollars from Russian and Kazakhstani oligarchs when Joe Biden was Vice President. 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-republicans-release-bank-records-hunter-biden-payments-russian-kazakh-oligarchs-total-clears-20m

Detailing behavior that I'm sure Rep. Dan Goldman will describe as "being a loving dad," the memo says, "Then-Vice President Biden met—in person, for significant periods of time—with those individuals or their representatives. Then-Vice President Biden joined approximately 20 phone calls on speakerphone with Hunter Biden’s foreign business associates and attended dinners with foreign oligarchs who paid huge sums of money to Hunter Biden. Joe Biden, ‘the brand,’ was the only product the Bidens sold.” These memos bring the total of money allegedly paid to the Bidens to $20 million.

I’m sure we’ll have more on this story tomorrow. In the meantime, I predict that before noon today, Trump will be indicted for felony jaywalking and that’s all the media will talk about.

Mike Huckabee

Over the weekend, several separate stories came in that when you put them together, reveal a stark portrait of the immense damage that the Biden Administration has done to America via nonexistent border security. Now that the damage is hitting staunch Democrats in northern blue states, maybe they’ll finally take their blinders off and think a little harder before voting for more of it, but I wouldn't count on it.

The saga begins with this story, about Biden traveling to Arizona over the weekend, where he dispensed enough bull manure to fill the Grand Canyon. There’s plenty to criticize here, like the fact that he’s abusing federal power to usurp land rights from the state and local ranchers, and empower Russia and China by limiting our ability to mine for needed minerals there. Even more galling, he claimed to be doing this to fight the “climate crisis,” yet he announced it by flying there on Air Force One and taking a huge CO2-spewing motorcade to several events, including a number of vitally important campaign fundraisers.

But we’re talking about his border policy disaster, so let it be noted that he came to Arizona, a state that’s been devastated by the massive influx of illegal immigrants, drugs and cartel members under his “watch,” and didn’t even say a word about it.

https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2023/08/08/biden-trip-to-the-grand-canyon-endangering-national-security-mixed-with-hypocrisy-confusion-n789570

Meanwhile, it’s not just border states anymore that are suffering due to Biden’s open border. The “Sanctuary City” (Liberals never imagined anyone would take them up on that!) of New York City is strained to the breaking point by streets filled with illegal migrants. Now, parents are furious at Mayor Eric Adams over plans to build a tent city for 57,000 of them, with migrant housing taking over space now used as parks and sports fields for kids.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/nyc-officials-spark-anger-by-building-migrant-shelters-on-kids-soccer-fields-at-popular-park/ar-AA1eXZJm

And while Democrats have long painted Trump as a horrible racist for saying that other countries weren’t always sending their best people to the US, Americans got a frightening look at what he really meant this weekend. Fox News obtained surveillance video from the Texas border, showing three men moving through the brush wearing body armor and carrying rifles. They’re believed to be Mexican drug cartel members. Or as Democrats would call them, “Dreamers.”  

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/images-show-men-armed-with-rifles-body-armor-coming-across-southern-border/ar-AA1eXrzg

You might recall that one of the very first things Biden did upon taking office was to order a halt to all border wall construction, even in areas where it was nearly completed. In their very first instance of being concerned about such a thing, Democrats claimed the wall was a waste of taxpayers’ money – even though stopping construction cost more than finishing it. But the wall started under Trump and “Trump BAD!” so the wall had to be bad, too, right? After all, walls only provide security when they’re around the homes and neighborhoods of rich liberals.

Well, the Washington Post estimates that just so far, Biden has given $66 billion of the taxpayers’ money to Ukraine for the endless war with Russia. Breitbart.com estimates that that’s nearly enough money to build a security wall along the entire US border with Mexico -- and then add a second one.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/08/08/america-last-bidens-billions-for-ukraine-could-have-built-a-wall-two-times-across-u-s-mexico-border/

Finally, speaking of how border security barriers are baaaaad, but barriers around places where Democrats live are good, this might be the ultimate A-B comparison to illustrate the hypocrisy.

https://www.westernjournal.com/camera-captures-buoys-gop-gov-installed-along-border-left-freaking/

Also worth pointing out: the two migrants that Democrats are trying to claim were killed by the floating barrier Texas Gov. Greg Abbott put in the Rio Grande actually drowned while trying to cross upriver and their bodies were carried by the currents until they were caught in the barrier. Never let the truth get in the way of a good propaganda narrative.

Democrats have a completely unfounded belief that liberals in Washington who have law or poli-sci degrees and have spent their entire lives in politics and government should be in charge of deciding what new technologies are funded or suppressed. As a free market Republican, I think that the market is the best source of innovation and the government should get out of the way. But time and again, Democrats waste billions of our tax dollars, backing stupid ideas (electric cars, anyone?) and showering money on their cronies and backers, only to see these companies go belly-up when some superior technology pops ups and they can’t compete if they aren’t being propped up with heavy federal subsidies.

My favorite example has long been the solar panel company Solyndra, which got $500 million in taxpayer-backed loans under Obama and was going to revolutionize energy and create those famous “green jobs” Democrats are always going on about. After building a lavish headquarters building, Solyndra went bankrupt. But now, I might have a new contender. Remember this name: Proterra.  

https://freebeacon.com/energy/biden-said-ev-maker-proterra-was-getting-us-in-the-game-it-just-declared-bankruptcy/

Proterra is a maker of electric buses that stood to make millions from the “green energy” tax credits and grants in Biden’s money cannon laughably known as the “Inflation Reduction Act.” Biden even took a virtual tour of their facility in April 2021. He declared that they were “getting us in the game” and predicted their EVs would “end up owning the future.” Because predicting future trends in automotive technology is one of his fields of expertise.

This was good news for Biden’s Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who was on Proterra’s board and owned 240,000 shares of their stock. Amid ethics complaints, she sold it weeks after Biden’s tour for a cool $1.9 million. Biden continued to praise Proterra throughout the next year. But his predictive abilities proved no better than Al Gore’s. Proterra customers, like one Michigan school district, had trouble with their school buses’ batteries and drivetrains, and they spent more time off the road than on.

Granholm was lucky she cashed out when she did, since on Monday, Proterra’s shares dropped by 60% after it was announced that they are filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Proterra blamed "various market and macroeconomic headwinds," although I suspect that the real problem with headwinds is that they cut the driving range of EVs in half.

Hey, here’s a crazy idea: if the market wants more energy efficient buses, how about if politicians who know nothing about automotive technology shut up and let people who do compete to come up with the best product to fill that demand? And if there is no demand, then stop flushing our tax dollars down your low-flow toilets to try to create one.

Mike Huckabee