Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe gave tips on how to make Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas answer allegations about gifts received by rich donors when he joined legal analyst Allison Gill for their weekly"Jack" podcast , in which they give updates on the cases investigating former President Donald Trump . The hosts addressed the recent complaint sent by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) to the Department of Justice .
The pair asked the DOJ to open an official investigation into Thomas over allegations he violated federal ethics and tax laws . In a statement , they mentioned extensive reporting that Thomas accepted millions of dollars in gifts, luxury travel, and other payments from billionaire benefactors like GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, some of whom may have had financial interests before the court , at least indirectly. "What they need to open an investigation is information that a federal crime has been committed," McCabe said of the FBI's standards.
Read Also: Clarence Thomas has a bump-stock death wish for Americans "There's no law or policy that prevents DOJ from doing that. In fact, they are tasked with investigating and prosecuting violations of federal law. This could easily be that.
So, it would fall well within their authority to do it, but it would be very, very, very controversial." Gill noted that if the FBI can investigate a co-equal branch of government like a member of Congress, then it certainly can do so with a member of the Supreme Court as another co-equal branch of government. He spoke specifically about the case of Wyden and Whitehouse, who brought up questions involving Thomas' taxes.
Thomas was accused of getting a loan for the motor coach, which didn't need to be paid back. If the loan "for his luxury motor coach was forgiven, Thomas would owe taxes on the forgiveness of that loan. And if he did not, that could be a violation of the law," Gill said.
"So, the tax case is both good and bad," McCabe said. "It's a little bit tough to work through the hypothetical because of the IRS's investigative jurisdiction, which is actually statutory in nature." Gill asked about failing to fill out the financial disclosure forms, which has happened on multiple occasions with Thomas.
But McCabe said that likely wouldn't give rise to a violation of federal criminal law. "If it were a general public corruption case, you would need an allegation that a federal justice received the money in return for making a particular judgment or taking an official act on behalf of the person who gave him money," McCabe continued. "But again, if that information came to you .
.. then you would have the information necessary to meet that low threshold of having information that violates federal or criminal law has occurred or will occur.
" It prompted Gill to question why the two senators would send their request for investigation directly to the Justice Department when it should probably go to the IRS investigators. McCabe said that it is likely political or performative and that the DOJ could simply forward it to the IRS for its investigation. Listen to the full comments on the podcast here.
The European Union's digital enforcement arm warned Elon Musk that drastic action might be necessary if hate speech was broadcast during a scheduled interview with former President Donald Trump on Monday. In a letter posted to X, Europe's Digital Commissioner Thierry Breton told Musk that his upcoming interview with Trump had raised alarms. "I am writing to you in the context of recent events in the United Kingdom and in relation to the planned broadcast on your platform X of a live conversation between a US presidential candidate and yourself, which will also be accessible to users in the EU," Breton began.
Musk's obligation "notably means ensuring, on one hand, that freedom of expression and of information, including media freedom and pluralism, are effectively protected and, on the other hand, that all proportionate and effective mitigation measures are put in place regarding the amplification of harmful content in connection with relevant events," the letter said. ALSO READ: Harris has figured out Trump’s greatest liability Breton warned that EU regulators would respond to “any negative effect of illegal content” by using "our full toolbox, including by adopting interim measures, should it be warranted to protect EU citizens from harm." Trump has had very little presence on X after he was suspended following the riots at the U.
S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Musk later reinstated Trump's account after buying the platform. U.S.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called the EU's letter to Musk "utterly insane." House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has tried all year to avoid shutting down the federal government for fear of angering voters and hurting Republicans' chances of winning back the White House .
However, NBC News reports that members of the House Freedom Caucus are cooking up a scheme that could derail that strategy at the most inopportune time. Essentially, the Freedom Caucus wants to add new proof-of-citizenship voting requirements to a must-pass government spending bill in the hopes of pressuring House Democrats to cave on the issue. "The Freedom Caucus said Monday in a statement that the group has taken the official position that a [continuing resolution] “should include the SAVE Act — as called for by President Trump — to prevent non-citizens from voting to preserve free and fair elections ,' accusing the Biden-Harris administration of having “imported” people to the U.
S. illegally," reports NBC News. "Trump and other top Republicans have repeated that claim, pushing for nationwide proof of citizenship in voting by falsely alleging a plot to use undocumented people to benefit Democrats in elections.
" ALSO READ: 'He cheats at golf': George Conway hits Trump with new Bedminster billboards However, NBC News notes that the timeline to get any deal done to avert a government shutdown is already very short, as Congress won't come back into session until September 9th and the deadline to avert a shutdown is on October 1st, creating a scenario in which the government could be shut down a little over a month before the presidential election. An internal memo circulated to "interested parties" — and leaked to Politico — regarding Donald Trump's campaign against Kamala Harris sheds light on the tactic the former president's team is planning to take. “Americans might vote for a liberal, but they won’t vote for a lunatic," top strategists David Lee and Chris Grant wrote in the memo, according to the news site.
It suggests strategists are going to double down on attempts to paint Harris and her campaign members as extremists far to the left of liberals. The report said Trump's super PAC intends to run $100 million in ads across the Rust Belt, Arizona, and Nevada to spread the message. They will focus on calling Vice President Kamala Harris a “soft-on-crime radical who is too dangerous for the White House ," the report stated.
ALSO READ: Why ‘vanilla’ Tim Walz is the ingredient to beat Trump: Dem lawmakers It comes after Trump spent the past few weeks claiming that Harris was lenient on crime approach and it particularly hurt communities of color. Though In an interview with Fox News ' Laura Ingraham, Trump also claimed that Harris put " thousands and thousands of Black people in jail for marijuana" while a prosecutor in California . The ads will start running during the Democratic National Convention next week.
Read the full report here..
