Institute for American Politics

10/31/2024

I am thinking of putting a Trump bumper sticker on my trash can with a note saying I voted for him.

10/31/2024

A Chinese student at the University of Michigan was arrested on Wednesday after he found himself caught up in the Republican campaign in recent months claiming widespread voter fraud by illegal immigrants.

The Michigan Department of State said the unnamed 19-year old student voted in the US presidential election on Sunday in Ann Arbor and was subsequently charged with acting as an “unauthorized elector attempting to vote” and with “perjury” for making a false statement to secure registration.

10/30/2024

https://dailycaller.com/2024/10/30/exclusive-gop-lawmakers-urge-biden-admin-to-investigate-dem-rep-with-deep-china-ties/

Rep. Jim Banks urged the Biden admin to investigate a Chinese civic association linked to Rep. Grace Meng, according to a letter obtained by the DCNF.

10/30/2024

Just Announced: VA Governor Youngkin Won in the Supreme Court!

We are going to be allowed to remove non-citizen voters from the Virginia rolls.

10/30/2024

Whistleblower: James Comey had FBI ‘honey pot’ spies infiltrate Trump’s 2016 campaign

Alleged off-the-books investigation predated FBI's Russia collusion probe in Washington Times story today.

Then-FBI Director James B. Comey takes a break after three hours of testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, March 20, 2017, before the House Intelligence Committee hearing on allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (AP … more >
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By Kerry Picket - The Washington Times - Tuesday, October 29, 2024
The House Judiciary Committee is examining a whistleblower report that the FBI targeted Donald Trump soon after he announced his presidential campaign in June 2015, an off-the-books operation ordered by FBI Director James B. Comey that predated the Crossfire Hurricane operation.

An FBI agent involved in the probe revealed the off-the-books criminal investigation on Tuesday in a protected disclosure sent to the committee.

The whistleblower disclosure said two female FBI undercover agents infiltrated Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign at high levels and were directed to act as “honeypots” while traveling with Mr. Trump and his campaign staff on the trail.

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According to the disclosure, which The Washington Times reviewed, the investigation differed from the later Crossfire Hurricane counterintelligence operation targeting Russian collusion. It said the early off-the-books probe was a criminal investigation targeting Mr. Trump and his 2016 presidential campaign staff.

The agent “personally knew” that Mr. Comey ordered an FBI investigation against Mr. Trump and that Mr. Comey “personally directed it,” according to the disclosure.

The off-the-books investigation did not appear to target a specific crime but was more of what agents would describe as a fishing expedition to find something incriminating about Mr. Trump.

The Times reached out to the FBI and Mr. Comey for comment.

A House Judiciary Committee spokesman said the committee received the whistleblower allegations and “plans to look into them.”

The whistleblower said the undercover operation was hidden from Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz, who investigated misconduct in the bureau’s probe of the Trump campaign.

The whistleblower disclosure also said the secret investigation may indicate institutional bias against Mr. Trump, though “it does not appear that any information about this investigation was turned over to Trump’s criminal defense counsels.”

Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker said the report, if true, is a “booming, egregious violation” of the rules governing the attorney general and the FBI.

“It’s an unpredicated infiltration of a presidential campaign which is sensitive,” he told The Times. “It’s sensitive to the point where it would have to have been approved by the [attorney general] and … would have to be predicated. And in this case, I’m not hearing any predication. It would have to be on the books anyway, regardless.”

Mr. Trump launched his first presidential campaign on June 16, 2015, at Trump Tower in New York City, about a year before the FBI opened the Crossfire Hurricane, a counterintelligence investigation into whether members of the Trump campaign coordinated, knowingly or unknowingly, with the Russian government’s efforts to meddle in the 2016 presidential election.

The FBI investigation and a Justice Department special counsel probe did not find evidence of Trump-Russia collusion.

The earlier off-the-books investigation, according to the disclosure, “had no predicated foundation, so Mr. Comey personally directed the investigation without creating an official case file in Sentinel or any other FBI system.”

The disclosure notes that the FBI has multiple methods of concealing highly sensitive investigations, so Mr. Comey did not have a “legitimate reason” to avoid creating a case file in the FBI’s system.

Mr. Comey served as director of the FBI from 2013 until May 2017, when President Trump fired him.

The disclosure said Deputy Director Dave Bowdich and Paul Abbate, assistant director in charge of the Washington field office, were also involved in helping Mr. Comey execute the secret probe.

The undercover “honeypot” agents targeted Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, according to the whistleblower.

Mr. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to the felony charge of making false statements to the FBI in October 2017 about his contacts related to U.S.-Russia relations.

Mr. Trump pardoned him in 2020, two years after he served 12 days in federal prison and was placed on a one-year supervised release.

Justice Department documents declassified in April 2020 revealed that FBI agent Curtis Heide was the handler for a confidential human source who recorded Mr. Papadopoulos.

In the recordings, Mr. Papadopoulos adamantly denied that the Trump campaign was involved in hacking the Democratic National Committee’s emails in 2016.

He rebuffed claims that the Trump campaign was working with Russia.

Mr. Papadopoulos’ denials were withheld from the FBI’s warrant application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, according to documents released by Attorney General William P. Barr.

In a December 2019 report, Mr. Horowitz listed the failure to include Mr. Papadopoulos’ denials as two of 17 “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in the FBI’s application for court permission to spy on Trump campaign figure Carter Page.

The FBI whistleblower said the off-the-books investigation was closed because a newspaper obtained a photograph of one of the undercover agents and was about to publish it.

The FBI press office, according to the agent’s disclosure, misled the newspaper by claiming the photograph was of an FBI informant, not an undercover agent. The FBI said the informant would be killed if the photograph was published.

Additionally, the FBI employee alleged that one of the undercover agents agreed to be transferred to the CIA so she would not be available as a potential witness, and another bureau employee involved in the operation was rewarded for her activities with a promotion and now is a high-level FBI executive.

“The FBI employee personally observed one or more employees in the FBI being directed to never discuss the operation with anyone ever again, which included talking with other people involved in the operation,” the disclosure states.

10/30/2024

Talk about Overreach of Government! A Virginia State-Wide Limitation

Chesapeake and other Virginia towns such as Portsmouth, Gloucester, or Hampton, among others, established a trick-or-treating time limit. All allow the activity to take place until 8 p.m. Chesapeake is the only town in Virginia that allows 14-year-olds to trick-or-treat. The rest set the age limit to 12. So, 7th graders beware of getting arrested!

I do not like late night Trick or Treaters so I turn off my porch lights. Problem solved. If someone is told old, it is simple... I don't hand them candy. My choice.

When government decides how we handle our lives and over-regulates human behavior like this we are in trouble. Lately, I feel like I did when I lived in China... watched and like I was in a giant prison.

10/30/2024

BANNING FREE SPEECH AGAIN - This time on NextDoor.com

A brutal, double murderer, MS-13 gang member in Loudoun County, in Northern VA was caught. I called for legal immigration in a post on NextDoor.com to stop allowing them into the US and my account got suspended for a day. In the post I stated that I don't care about race or ethnicity of illegal aliens, but am concerned about the safety of our families and neighbors and that a murderer ought to be deported and not allowed in ever again.

NextDoor says this violated their standards. It makes me think the company accepts illegal aliens who murder others. There is no other conclusion. I asked in my original post for people not to race bait or make it political.

This is yet another example of the extremists in this country regulating speech. Trump may speak rough but but he tells it like it is... we are in trouble in America when speaking out against a murdering gang member is banned and an illegal alien is protected over our own citizens. I never advocate violence but I can understand why some feel so frustrated. I hope every frustrated legal voter in America votes this week. It is the only way we can peacefully change things.

10/25/2024

Strategic Campaign Stupidity on Harris' part... she just exposed her extremist position!

In an interview Tuesday, Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, dismissed the idea of religious exemptions for abortion.

Hallie Jackson, senior Washington correspondent for NBC News, asked Harris what kind of concessions she would be willing to make with a hypothetical Republican-majority Congress in order to pass legislation protecting abortion if she wins the Nov. 5 election.

“What concessions would be on the table? Religious exemptions, for example, is that something that you would consider?” Jackson asked.

“I don’t think we should be making concessions when we’re talking about a fundamental freedom to make decisions about your own body,” Harris replied.

10/24/2024

VOTE EARLY
It will mean we don't need to call to remind you and can call others to vote for Trump.

10/23/2024

Tens Of Millions In Foreign Funds Could Be Flowing Into 2024 Election To Help Dems, Report Reveals by Robert Schmad

A Democratic-aligned dark money group that receives significant backing from a foreign billionaire is dumping tens of millions of dollars into influencing ballot initiatives ahead of November’s election, according to a new report.

The Sixteen Thirty Fund received $143 million in backing from the Berger Action Fund, a nonprofit bankrolled by Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, between 2019 and 2022. This election cycle, the Sixteen Thirty Fund has spent nearly $23 million on ballot initiatives in a number of swing states on issues like abortion, minimum wage policy and election reform, according to a report from watchdog group Americans for Public Trust (APT).

APT and others believe Wyss is not an American citizen, and the Swiss billionaire, who lives in Wyoming, has been vague about his naturalization status.

Wyss once told a Swiss newspaper that he “never felt the need to become a [U.S.] citizen” and that he found the process “too complicated,” according to APT. Wyss’ sister authored a book titled “My Brother” in 2014 where she wrote that Wyss had “never applied for [U.S.] citizenship,” RealClearPolitics reported. Wyss, who made his fortune selling medical devices, had not disclosed publicly whether he is a U.S. citizen as of 2021, The New York Times reported.

APT argues that Wyss’ arrangement with the Sixteen Thirty Fund enables him to spend money to influence American elections despite being a foreigner. (Stream The Daily Caller’s documentary ‘Cleaning Up Kamala’ HERE)

“It’s unconscionable that foreign money is currently influencing our politics through a loophole most mainstream media and politicians are either ignoring or don’t know about,” APT president Caitlin Sutherland told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Activists like the ones running Sixteen Thirty Fund are targeting competitive states — not just to usher in left-wing legislative changes via these ballot measures, but also to give a boost to the liberals at the top of the ticket, which folks have openly admitted that’s their goal.”

Some Democratic strategists view ballot abortion referendums, which the Sixteen Thirty Fund has spent considerable funds supporting, as a way to sway people toward their party’s candidates. The Sixteen Thirty Fund has pumped millions into ballot initiative campaigns in Arizona, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada and Ohio, all of which have competitive presidential or senatorial races — both in some cases.

Federal law doesn’t currently prohibit foreign dollars from funding ballot measure campaigns, according to APT. Foreigners, however, are barred from donating directly to candidates and political action committees.

The Sixteen Thirty Fund has spent a total of $115 million on state ballot issues since 2014, with Wyss donating at least $234 million to the group since its inception, per APT’s analysis of campaign finance and nonprofit records.

“State legislatures and the U.S. Congress should act to close this foreign influence loophole,” the report’s conclusion reads. “Foreign nationals are already prohibited from donating to U.S. political candidates, committees and Super PACs, and the same prohibition should apply to state ballot issue campaigns … American policy debates should be for American citizens.”

When reached by the DCNF in February, a spokesperson for the Berger Action Fund would not comment on whether or not Wyss’ money supported political activities but stressed that it “complies with laws and rules governing its activities and prohibits its grants from being used to support or oppose political candidates or parties, or otherwise engage in electoral activities.”

10/23/2024

Did you know that in Virginia the police can't pull you over for a seatbelt violation unless there is another primary reason.

When I am driving I simply say to my passengers, including adults, I am not moving the car until everyone is buckled up. I have sat there a few times when it registered, but even the adults finally give in as they realize I am not putting the car in gear.

So simple and it saves lives. Teen seatbelt compliance has gone down every year in recent years. Let's change this stat!

10/21/2024

I doing market research for my company, Mushroom Maiden Farm, I found that several large studies indicate that while almost 70% of those polled say "sustainability" in a product is important to them, only 20% search for or buy products because they are sustainable. About 80% make their purchase decision based on other factors.