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 ABC"What a day this was," Jimmy Kimmel said at the top of his late-night monologue on Wednesday before recounting the "tumultuous morning" he had thanks to yet another mean "Truth" aimed in his direction from "our Kentucky fried former president" Donald Trump.
Noting that Wednesday was a day off from Trump's criminal trial, the host asked, "How did he spend it? Brunch with Melania? No. Maybe a catch with Barron in the yard? No, no, Ranta Claus got up bright and early to post 165 venomous words about yours truly."
"Stupid Jimmy Kimmel, who still hasn't recovered from his horrendous performance and big ratings drop as Host of The Academy Awards, especially when he showed he suffered from TDS, commonly known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, to the entire World by reading on air my TRUTH about how bad a job he was doing that night, right before he stumbled through announcing the biggest award of all, ‘Picture of the Year,'" Trump posted, beginning to mix up Kimmel with actor Al Pacino.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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 Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesPay Dirt is a weekly foray into the pigpen of political funding. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Thursday.
A watchdog group is asking the Justice Department to investigate whether Donald Trump repeatedly lied in sworn statements to the federal government—including his own administration—about a $50 million loan that apparently never existed in the first place, and which could be evidence of tax evasion.
The criminal complaint, filed on Thursday by watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and first obtained by The Daily Beast, asks the FBI and the Justice Department's Public Integrity Unit to probe whether Trump "knowingly and willfully" lied about the mystery loan on his personal financial disclosures.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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 Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesOn the first day of former President Donald Trump's hush money trial, Judge Juan Merchan asked the prospective jurors if there was any reason they couldn't be impartial. More than half said yes, which surprised me. Who wanted out this early?
Then again, the jurors are from Manhattan. They're busy.
So far, this case has been Peak Manhattan. The charges themselves are a mix between very serious election interference and a salacious episode of Sex and the City. Mostly election interference, okay! I know it's a really big deal.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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 Fox NewsJesse Watters on Wednesday fawned over Donald Trump's post-trial appearance at a Harlem bodega the day prior, highlighting onlookers' supportive chants and insisting that the limo-riding former president—who has repeatedly claimed that shoppers have to show photo ID to simply buy a loaf of bread—"still knows the cost of living."
The Fox News host opened his show with selected clips from Trump's stop at Sanaa Convenient Store. The location drew headlines two years ago when a clerk, who had fatally stabbed a man in apparent self-defense, was initially charged with murder. The Manhattan district attorney's office ultimately dropped the charges, but the incident has often been cited by Republicans in their criticisms of Alvin Bragg's prosecutorial decisions regarding violent crime.
Watters, reacting to how those gathered outside the store were chanting Trump's name, argued that Trump hasn't lost touch with blue collar workers.
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 Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily BeastAs the first criminal trial against a former President of the United States gets underway, the biggest question facing both sides is this: How do you find twelve impartial jurors when it comes to the subject of the twice-impeached sexual assailant, serial liar, fraudster, and Bible salesman who once held the highest elected office in the land?
At this point, is anybody impartial? How is true impartiality regarding Donald Trump even possible? If 12 such people even exist, I wouldn't trust them to sit on a toilet, let alone a jury.
Nevertheless, the Constitution demands we seat 12 Americans to sit in judgment, and so I tried to put myself in the shoes of a prospective juror. Could I set aside my own somewhat biased (I hate him) feelings regarding the defendant to ensure that he gets a fair trial?
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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 Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesDonald Trump sure looked lonely on Tuesday as he sat stone-faced and sleepy in a Manhattan courtroom for the second day of jury selection in his hush-money criminal trial. Gone were Trump's usual milieu of MAGA-manic supporters, replaced by a dour Supreme Court judge and a single protester who showed up outside the courthouse to defend the former president.
The trial partly centers on claims that Trump paid a former porn actress to keep quiet about their alleged affair. According to prosecutors, the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in October 2016 amounted to a conspiracy "to corrupt a presidential election" and involved "lying in New York business records to cover it up." His former fixer, Michael Cohen, has previously said he made the payments on his boss' behalf.
In addition to Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, Trump was also allegedly involved in a $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who said she had an affair with him in 2006. The payment was made by tabloid giant American Media—an ally of Trump—which then killed the story.
Read more at The Daily Beast.
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