Lindsey Graham Vows Retribution, Backs Trump’s Ominous Revenge Plan

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is promising retribution against President Joe Biden should Donald Trump be reelected in November.

During an interview Sunday with CNN’s Dana Bash, who moderated the presidential debate last week, the South Carolina Republican warned that Biden would get what was coming to him—and it would be all his fault.

“The Democrats keep calling President Trump a felon. Well, be careful what you wish for. I expect there will be an investigation of Biden’s criminality at the border,” said Graham. “This country is going to have a reset here, and, using Biden’s standard of glorifying political prosecutions, a Pandora’s box has been opened. Whether he steps down or not, accountability is coming to him.”

Trump was found guilty in May of 34 felony counts by a Manhattan jury, in a trial that Trump and his allies have insisted was rigged for him to lose. Now Trump’s allies want the same for Biden.

“Sir, you just warned of retribution,” Bash replied.

“Yeah. I warned that the Pandora’s box opened by the Democrats is going to be applied here,” Graham said.

He argued that Republicans deserved their own version of the House’s January 6 committee, which investigated crimes that occurred during the insurrection at the Capitol three years ago. Now Graham is seeking “a committee looking at border policies that have led to the rape and murder of lots of Americans.”

Graham also snidely complimented Bash on her laissez-faire handling of the presidential debate, during which Trump got to say basically whatever lie he wanted. CNN did fact-check his statements, but not until after the debate had actually ended. As a result, Republicans have been quick to gush over CNN and how much they loved the debate, despite attacking the hosts and network in the weeks leading up to it.

“You all did a good job. You let him talk. You’re not fact-checkers. You let him talk,” said Graham.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is furious that former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon is reporting to prison Monday.

On Sunday night, Greene posted an interview with Bannon for his War Room podcast on X (formerly Twitter) in support of the MAGA gadfly, calling his imprisonment “a DISGRACE to our country, and an affront to the principles of justice it was founded upon,” repeating conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.

“I want to talk about the January 6 committee, Steve, because people need to understand how it was set up, why it’s illegitimate, and why it has been a complete failure in our Republican-controlled Congress not to have voted that the January 6 committee is completely illegitimate and completely wipe out these contempt of Congress charges that you’re going to prison for tomorrow,” Greene ranted.

Bannon has been trying to avoid prison ever since he was convicted in 2022 for contempt by a federal jury for refusing the House January 6 committee’s subpoena to testify regarding the Capitol insurrection. Earlier this month, a federal judge ordered him to report to prison after the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld his conviction.

While Greene lamented inaction by Congress, she didn’t mention that last week Speaker Mike Johnson held a secret vote with other Republican leaders to formally disavow the January 6 committee with the hope of allowing lawmakers to file a legal brief in support of Bannon with Congress’s backing. Greene also didn’t mention that Representative Barry Loudermilk then filed a brief to the Supreme Court arguing that witnesses in congressional investigations are allowed to ignore subpoenas that they feel are invalid—probably because that attempt failed when the Supreme Court denied Bannon’s application for release Friday.

The Supreme Court was essentially Bannon’s last shot at avoiding prison, and since he’s also awaiting charges from the state of New York about a fraudulent border wall charity scheme, Bannon will not be serving his time in a minimum security “Club Fed” prison camp. Instead, he’ll be in a low-security prison for nonviolent offenders.

Bannon was fortunate to escape prison over federal charges for the border wall scheme thanks to a pardon from Trump. Now his political activities will have to be conducted from behind bars. 

Donald Trump’s Sunday scaries manifested in pathetic fashion Sunday night, as Trump took to Truth Social to beg the Supreme Court to give him “strong presidential immunity” ahead of an impending decision by the court on Monday morning that will determine the fate of his federal election interference case.

“Without Presidential Immunity, a President of the United States literally could not function!” Trump lied Sunday night on Truth Social. “It should be a STRONG IMMUNITY, where proper decisions can be made, where our Country can be POWERFUL and THRIVE, and where Opponents cannot hold up and extort a Future President for Political Gain.”

“It is a BIG decision, an important decision, a decision which can affect the Success or Failure of our Country for decades to come. We want a GREAT Country, not a weak, withering, and ineffective one,” Trump added. “STRONG PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY IS A MUST!”

If the Supreme Court sides with Trump, the decision will effectively end special prosecutor Jack Smith’s case against Trump—leaving him with just his 34 felonies (for now). Trump celebrated a ruling by the Supreme Court last week that significantly weakened a statute used to charge more than 300 Capitol rioters and that Trump himself is also charged with. However, as Slate noted, that decision crystallized charges against Trump—despite the gains it gave to his loyalist, rioting followers.

Trump has repeatedly floated pursuing criminal cases against his political rivals and vowing revenge. Only recently has Trump adjusted his meaning to claim “the best revenge is the success and prosperity of all Americans.”

Trump has sought absolute immunity from criminal charges, arguing in part that criminal charges for criminal actions he took while president would have a chilling effect on future presidents. In February, the D.C. Court of Appeals rejected that argument, and during oral arguments, the Supreme Court in April seemed similarly skeptical of the argument.

Steve Bannon will have to go to prison even as he awaits an appeal of his contempt of Congress guilty verdict, the Supreme Court ruled Friday, denying his application for release.  

The onetime Trump adviser and host of the War Room podcast on Real America’s Voice has desperately been trying to avoid prison ever since his conviction by a federal jury in 2022 for refusing a subpoena from the House January 6 committee’s investigation into the Capitol insurrection. Several Republicans have gone to bat for Bannon in recent days, attempting some outlandish legal maneuvers.  

Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republican leaders formally disavowed the January 6 committee in a secret vote Tuesday night, in an attempt to allow lawmakers to file a legal brief for Bannon on behalf of Congress. In a subsequent move, Representative Barry Loudermilk filed a brief with the Supreme Court arguing that if any witness in a congressional investigation thinks a subpoena isn’t valid, they can ignore it. Their cumulative efforts appear to have failed.  

Earlier this month, a federal judge ordered Bannon to report to prison after the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld his conviction. The Supreme Court was a long shot, last-ditch effort for Bannon. Because he faces charges in the state of New York over a border wall fraud scheme, Bannon is not going to go to a minimum-security “Club Fed” facility, as he would prefer, but a less cushy low-security prison for nonviolent offenders.  

In prison, Bannon won’t be able to continue his usual activities, such as interfering in other countries’ politics as well as the upcoming U.S. election. He won’t be able to host his podcast and let far-right Republicans rant about whatever they want. Now, after escaping prison once thanks to a Trump pardon over the border wall fraud scheme, he will soon be behind bars. 

Less than 24 hours after President Joe Biden’s disastrous performance at the first presidential debate, the commander in chief spoke clearly, coherently, and energetically at a rally in North Carolina. This appearance, meant to soothe Democrats’ freshly ratcheted anxieties, left many with a new question: Where the heck was this version of Biden when 48 million voters were watching him on CNN?  

“Did you see Trump last night? My guess, he set—I mean this sincerely—a new record for the most lies told in a single debate,” said Biden, who was nearly shouting, a huge departure from his unsettlingly quiet demeanor the night before. 

“He lied about the great economy he created. He lied about the pandemic he botched, killing millions of people. He closed businesses, he closed schools. Losing their homes, people all over this country. America was flat on his back,” Biden continued. 

He was briefly interrupted by someone yelling from the audience, possibly a protester, but they were quickly drowned out with vigorous chants from the audience: “Four. More. Years.”

Biden continued, “I had to remind [Trump] that he oversaw a record increase in murder rates in 2020, and on my watch, violent crime has hit a 50-year low.” This was the kind of well-reasoned fact-check that had been sorely missing from Biden’s performance the night before, when Trump repeatedly referenced alleged violent crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, a racist lie meant to stoke fear in the electorate, which had received no on-air refute. 

“Donald Trump isn’t just a convicted felon—Donald Trump is a one-man crime wave,” Biden said. 

It seems that Biden does draw some of his energy from his audience—and, it must be said, some of his coherence from a teleprompter—and without these present at the debate, his strong condemnations came out more as whimpers, and his answers repeatedly trailed off into nothing.

In front of the crowd on Friday, Biden even addressed his weak performance from the debate. 

“Folks, I don’t walk as easy as I used to, I don’t speak as smooth as I used to, I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know. I know how to tell the truth,” Biden said, drawing massive cheers from the audience.

“I know right from wrong, and I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. And I know what millions of Americans know: When you get knocked down you get back up!”

After his lackluster performance on Thursday night, Biden attempted to remind Americans what is at stake—freedom, democracy, and America itself—with a renewed energy and vigor. It’s unlikely, however, that it will be enough to reverse the many calls for him to drop out, or to de-escalate frustration among voters as the panic subsides. 

If Biden had the ability to speak strongly on policy and refute Trump’s lies, it would’ve been nice if he’d done it last night, before dealing a brutal  blow to his presidential bid. 

Trump took to Truth Social Friday afternoon to celebrate the news that the Supreme Court rejected a statute used for one charge against Capitol rioter Joseph Fischer, declaring the 6–3 ruling a “BIG WIN!” and “Big News!” His victory lap appears tied to how the court’s decision helps his own federal election interference case, or how it helps other January 6 rioters—but either way, his celebrations may be short-lived.

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that a statute federal prosecutors were using to charge January 6 rioters wasn’t applicable due to the order in which the relevant subsection of the statute appears. Dissenting against the decision, conservative justice Amy Coney Barrett noted the ruling was based on textual backflips to justify the decision.

Half of the charges in Trump’s federal election interference case are based on the statute the Supreme Court just reinterpreted, with Friday’s decision giving a leg up to the already-convicted felon. But that win may have a steep downside if his interference case ever goes to trial: According to Slate, the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday confirmed that submitting false evidence in an official proceeding does violate federal law. Trump is accused of helping to orchestrate a scheme where his allies submitted fraudulent elector letters on his behalf to win the 2020 election.

The Supreme Court’s ruling may also affect cases against more than 300 Capitol rioters charged with obstruction—but they’re not getting off scot-free. Rioters have faced charges of trespassing, assault on an officer, and seditious conspiracy. In Fischer’s case, his obstruction charge is just one of several that includes civil disorder, impeding police officers, entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly conduct and demonstrating in a Capitol building. Fischer’s case has been sent back to lower courts to determine if the obstruction charge is still valid.

In response to the Supreme Court decision, Attorney General Merrick Garland released a statement noting that no one involved in the January 6 Capitol riot has been charged with only the obstruction statute.

“The vast majority of the more than 1,400 defendants charged for their illegal actions on January 6 will not be affected by this decision,” Garland wrote. “There are no cases in which the Department charged a January 6 defendant only with the offense at issue in Fischer.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass began the week by suggesting that her city consider a new mask ban for protesters, and ended it by testing positive for Covid-19.

After protesters clashed outside a synagogue in Pico-Robertson, which held an event for a company known for selling high-end properties in Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank, Democratic leaders quickly denounced the chaos and began working on ways to make everything a lot less safe for protesters.

President Joe Biden called it “dangerous, unconscionable, antisemitic, and un-American,” but said nothing about the auctioning of stolen Palestinian land in Israeli settlements, which the international community has widely agreed is illegal. “Americans have a right to peaceful protest. But blocking access to a house of worship—and engaging in violence—is never acceptable,” he wrote.

The incident came on the heels of other large protests across the country, which had left Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams eyeing the reinstatement of a mask ban for protesters, both saying they felt the anonymity masking provides had emboldened protesters to commit violence. Meanwhile, the city is undergoing a renewed wave of Covid-19, which neither politician deigned to consider.

Bass appeared to have taken her lead from those two: At a press conference with local Jewish leaders Monday, the mayor said she would seek “several points of clarity” from the city’s attorney “around what are the parameters with protests: when permits are needed, whether or not people should be masked, and establishing clear lines of demarcation between what is legal and what is not.”

Although she did not offer a specific proposal, she pushed that the city ought to review “the idea of people wearing masks at protests.”

California has also seen a recent surge of Covid-19 cases, and a study in June found that viral levels of Covid-19 in the state’s wastewater had crossed a point of “high activity.”

Only a few days later, her office announced that she tested positive for Covid-19 and will be attending her meetings remotely, a luxury that many workers in this country are no longer afforded.

Bass’s ironic diagnosis is undercut by the fact that for many, especially immunocompromised people, Covid-19 still presents real dangers and carries long-lasting health risks. As the federal government has neglected to keep restrictions for the benefit of the worst-off, states and local governments have been granted the power to keep their citizens safe, and are across the board dropping the ball.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked for comment Friday morning about her response to voluminous calls from panicked Democrats for Biden to be replaced on the Democratic ticket following Thursday night’s abysmal debate performance—and she refused to answer.

Reporters for CBS asked Pelosi, “What do you say to Democrats who feel that there should be another nominee after the president’s debate performance last night?” Pelosi evaded the question entirely, saying “I’ll make a statement about this, but not right now.”

Pelosi’s remark—or rather, notable lack thereof—comes on the heels of another influential Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries, who also avoided giving a clear answer as to whether he thinks Biden should be replaced as the Democratic nominee, instead stating he plans to “stand behind the ticket.”

“I’m looking forward to hearing from President Biden,” Jeffries told AP’s Farnoush Amiri Friday morning. “And until he articulates a way forward in terms of his vision for America at this moment, I’m going to reserve comment about anything relative to where we are at this moment, other than to say I stand behind the ticket. I stand behind the Senate Democratic majority. And of course, we’re going to do everything that we need to do as House Democrats to win.”

CBS also asked Pelosi her thoughts on Biden’s debate performance, which she defended in contrast to Trump’s prolific debate lies: “Compared to a person who was lying the whole time?” Pelosi asked. “We saw integrity on one side and dishonesty on the other. That’s how I saw it.”

She then dove into pointing out the absurdity of Trump accusing her of being responsible for the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, calling Trump a “fool” and saying, “He thinks I planned my own assassination? He’s sicker than I thought.”

What is a “Black job?” At Thursday’s presidential debate, Donald Trump claimed they were being taken away by immigrants—but no one knows what he’s talking about. 

 “The fact is that his big kill on the Black people is the millions of people that he’s allowed to come in through the border,” Trump said. “They’re taking Black jobs now—and it could be 18, it could be 19 and even 20 million people. They’re taking Black jobs, and they’re taking Hispanic jobs, and you haven’t seen it yet, but you’re gonna see something that’s going to be the worst in our history.” 

On Twitter, the comments immediately drew backlash, as well as some jokes.  

Black politicians were quick to point out what they do for a living.

Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison expressed incredulity Thursday night, but got into a more positive spirit Friday morning. 

BlackPAC, a 527 organization seeking to “harness the political power of Black Americans,” also added some humor to the conversation.

If the former president and convicted felon thinks that these remarks will help gain Black voters, his record undercuts his efforts, whether it’s his vow to fight “anti-white” racism, his pledge to “indemnify all police officers and law enforcement officials” if he’s reelected, or his attacks on Black prosecutors. 

Even before becoming president, Trump faced accusations of racism over the housing discrimination lawsuit he and his father faced in the 1970s. There was also his time on NBC’s The Apprentice where, behind the scenes, Trump allegedly dropped the n-word and refused to hire Kwame Jackson, the Black finalist on the show’s first season.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett broke ranks with the conservative majority on the Supreme Court Friday, leveraging strong words against her colleagues for their interpretation of Fischer v. United States. After the court ruled 6–3 that the Justice Department overstepped in charging hundreds of January 6 rioters with obstruction, the Trump-appointed conservative judge used her dissenting opinion to tear apart the decision that would narrow all future obstruction charges, including potentially Trump’s.

Noting that the court didn’t dispute the details of the case—namely that Congress’s joint session was an “official proceeding,” that the rioters delayed the proceeding, and that Joseph Fischer’s trespassing and brush-up with law enforcement during the ordeal was “part of a successful effort to forcibly halt the certification of the election results”—Barrett questioned why the court would question the “open and shut” obstruction case.

“Because it simply cannot believe that Congress meant what it said,” she wrote, continuing to explain that the legal code for charging Fischer was a “very broad provision” and that, “admittedly, events like January 6th were not its target. (Who could blame Congress for that failure of imagination?)

“But statutes often go further than the problem that inspired them, and under the rules of statutory interpretation, we stick to the text anyway,” Barrett wrote. “The Court, abandoning that approach, does textual backflips to find some way—any way—to narrow the reach of subsection (c)(2),” referring to part of the statute used to charge Fischer for his actions on January 6.

In doing so, the court “failed to respect the prerogatives of the political branches” to punish illegal conduct that occurred on January 6, according to Barrett.

The high court’s immunity decision is scheduled to be released on Monday. Given her strong words for the court on failing to recognize the obstruction case, Barrett does not seem like she’ll be saddling up in favor of Trump’s immunity argument anytime soon.