Related video: Justice Department releases redacted Mar-a-Lago search affidavit
Senator Lindsey Graham on Sunday warned against “riots in the street” if former president Donald Trump is prosecuted over the handling of classified documents found from his Mar-a-Lago home during the FBI search.
“If there’s a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information, after the Clinton debacle… there’ll be riots in the streets,” he told Fox News, in an apparent reference to the controversy surrounding Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state.
Mr Graham levelled allegations of “double standards” by the investigators in probing matters against Mr Trump, with the aim of “getting him”.
“Most Republicans, including me, believe when it comes to Trump, there is no law. It’s all about getting him,” he said. “There is a double standard when it comes to Trump.”
The South Carolina senator also claimed that the FBI was told to “back off” investigating Hunter Biden’s laptop in a bid to “make sure the story didn’t break before the 2020 election”.
67 confidential. 92 secret. 25 top secret. The documents in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago boxes, by the numbers
An FBI affidavit outlining the justification for the search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property has revealed that the former president held onto hundreds of classified documents after he left office.
One set of documents was handed over by Mr Trump’s team to the National Archives in January. Another was seized in a search of Mar-a-Lago by FBI agents earlier in August.
Now, a redacted FBI affidavit has revealed what was returned to the federal government earlier this year for the first time.
Read more in The Independent from Richard Hall:
67 confidential. 92 secret. 25 top secret. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago boxes by the numbers
A breakdown of the documents contained in boxes Trump handed over to the National Archives in January
John Bowden30 August 2022 04:00
Ted Cruz admits forgiving student debt could help Democrats if ‘slacker baristas’ can ‘get off the bong’ long enough to vote
Despite a wave of Republican attacks on the issue, Sen Ted Cruz is warning that Democrats could see a midterm boost due to Joe Biden’s decision to cancel up to $10,000 in student loans for most borrowers.
The Texas senator faces the prospect, being raised by more and more experts, that the Democrats could hold on to and perhaps even expand their Senate majority in the fall.
Read more from The Independent’s Graeme Massie:
Ted Cruz says forgiving student debt could help Democrats
White House forgiving up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those earning less than $125,000 per year
John Bowden30 August 2022 03:00
Trump’s niece Mary reacts to revelations about Mar-a-Lago FBI affidavit: ‘This should be enough, yes?’
Count Mary Trump, Donald Trump’s niece, among those who are wondering whether the lastest legal challenger her uncle faces will be what finally leads to Mr Trump facing some kind of accountability.
The author and niece of the ex-president tweeted the query on Friday, as the DoJ made public a redacted affidavit which was used to obtain a search warrant for Donald Trump’s home of Mar-a-Lago.
Read more from The Independent’s Graeme Massie:
Trump’s niece Mary reacts to revelations about Mar-a-Lago FBI affidavit
‘Affidavit heavily redacted!!! Nothing mentioned on ‘Nuclear,’’ former president stated on Truth Social
John Bowden30 August 2022 02:00
‘Evolving and deepening’ antidemocratic threats could ignite election chaos, experts warn
Experts are warning about a growing tied of legislation being pursued by GOP-controlled legislatures at the state level bent on reshaping America’s election systems and putting power into the hands of political figures.
The legislation is a direct response to the failure of Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election, which he sought to do via convincing state-level elected officials to “decertify” their election results and endorse new slates of Trump-supporting electors.
“When you dig in and look at the details of these 244 bills, what it shows is that the perverse creativity of election subversion is growing,” one expert said.
Read more in The Independent from Alex Woodward:
‘Evolving’ antidemocratic threats could ignite election chaos, experts warn
Secretaries of state and voting rights experts warn against an explosion of legislation to ‘subvert’ election outcomes and a wave of prominent election deniers running for office
John Bowden30 August 2022 01:00
Trump ally Boebert slammed over bizarre comments about student loan forgiveness
Lauren Boebert is joining the list of Republicans floundering in response to Joe Biden’s decision to cancel up to $10,000 in student loans for most borrowers, and more for Pell Grant recipients.
The Colorado Republican is facing mockery and ridicule online after she and other far-right Republicans suggested that the plan is primarily benefiting people with made up degrees that serve as stand-ins for GOP culture war bogeymen — in Ms Boebert’s case, she suggested college students were all studying “lesbian dance theory”, which of course is not real.
Read more from The Independent’s Rachel Sharp:
Lauren Boebert under fire for saying loan forgiveness funds ‘lesbian dance theory’
‘I’m not going to lie, I’m a little pissed that lesbian dance theory wasn’t offered when I went to college,’ one Twitter user mocked the Colorado congresswoman
John Bowden30 August 2022 00:00
Safety of ‘significant’ number of witnesses at stake in releasing information about FBI raid on Trump home, DoJ says
The Justice Department is warning that further releases of information from the affidavit which justified the search warrant targeting Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence would endanger the identities of a “significant” number of civilian witnesses.
The statement, which came in the form of a court filing on Friday, is the latest sign that the DoJ has at least one if not more informants within Donald Trump’s inner circle.
Read more in The Independent from John Bowden:
Witnesses endangered by releasing info about FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago, DoJ says
DoJ memo explains redactions from affidavit leading to Trump search warrant
John Bowden29 August 2022 23:00
QAnon followers are thriving on Donald Trump’s Truth Social
After being banned elsewhere, social media accounts tied to the sprawling online conspiracy theory network “QAnon” have found a home: Donald Trump’s signature social media platform.
The site, which was created by Mr Trump after he was exiled from Twitter and Facebook over January 6, is becoming a fast home for conspiracy theorists and supporters of the idea that Democrats are part of an elite global pedophile cabal that worships Satan.
A new report from NewsGuard found that at least 88 accounts embedded within the QAnon delusion with more than 10,000 followers active on the platform.
Read more in The Independent from Alex Woodward:
QAnon followers are thriving on Donald Trump’s Truth Social
Conspiracy theorists are thriving on the Twitter clone, where Q influencers have thousands of followers and an audience with the former president
John Bowden29 August 2022 22:27
Republican senator suggests Biden using Mar-a-Lago raid to distract from falling gas prices
Joni Ernst is officially in the running for the most bizarre response to the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago for classified documents.
Questioning the “timing” of the raid during a Fox News interview, the Iowa Republican senator accused Joe Biden of using the development as a “distraction” from issues including gas prices…which have been plummeting for weeks.
Read more in The Independent from John Bowden:
GOP senator suggests Biden using Mar-a-Lago raid to distract from falling gas prices
Ernst’s talking points come as prices have dropped for weeks
John Bowden29 August 2022 21:50
How Democrats could hold onto their majority in the House of Representatives
For much of the past year, many political observers assumed that Democrats would likely lose their majority in the House of Representatives, if not the Senate, largely because of President Joe Biden’s lagging approval ratings and high inflation numbers.
But one expert tells The Independent that the logic behind that theory isn’t so sound — and that Democrats have a reason to hope for success in not just one but both chambers this fall.
Read more from Eric Garcia and the director of polling for Harvard’s Kennedy School Institute of Politics about the prospects for both parties in the midterms this fall:
How Democrats could hold onto their majority in the House
John Della Volpe, director of polling at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, talks about how Democrats’ fortunes have changed.
John Bowden29 August 2022 21:20
Rioter who encountered senator gets over 4 years in prison
A Maryland man affiliated with the far-right Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Monday over his involvement in the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.
Joshua Pruitt, 40, was one of the few Capitol rioters to come face-to-face with a member of Congress during the attack. According to reports from authorities present at the scene that day, he encountered Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and his security detail in a hallway.
“One look at Pruitt, and the leader of Senator Schumer’s security detail immediately saw the threat and hustled the 70-year-old senator down a hallway, having to change their evacuation route on a dime,” read a court filing from prosecutors.
Read more about Mr Pruitt and his sentencing Monday in The Independent:
Rioter who encountered senator gets over 4 years in prison
A Maryland man affiliated with the far-right Proud Boys extremist group has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for storming the U.S. Capitol
John Bowden29 August 2022 20:44