Politics Random, Random

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

Why Trump flew to campaign events on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane last weekend
BY JULIE K. BROWN AND BEN WIEDER UPDATED AUGUST 12, 2024 5:11 PM

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign flew in a blue Gulfstream jet formerly owned by sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, using it to travel to several campaign fundraisers over the weekend, the Miami Herald has confirmed.

Trump, enroute on his own private plane to a campaign event in Bozeman, Montana last week, unexpectedly landed in Billings because of mechanical problems, a campaign spokeswoman said. He and part of his staff then flew on a small charter to Bozeman for a rally Friday night. The next day, he switched to another larger Gulfstream with a serial number that matches a plane once owned by Epstein, his former neighbor in Palm Beach, the campaign confirmed.

“The campaign had no awareness that the charter plane had been owned by Mr. Epstein,” the spokeswoman said, adding that the charter was commissioned by a vendor that has often been used by the campaign.
“We heard about the former owner through the media.” Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges in 2019 — accused of sexually abusing more than 100 girls and young women over decades.

Epstein was subsequently found dead in his Manhattan jail cell a month later. His death, which was ruled a suicide by the Manhattan medical examiner, has long been a source of conspiracy theories.

Trump’s use of the plane is likely to add to public scrutiny surrounding his relationship with Epstein, even though no evidence has surfaced that Trump was involved in Epstein’s crimes.

According to flight data, the plane is now owned by an Ontario, California company, Threshold Aviation Group, which offers private charter service. The company’s website indicates its planes are housed in a hangar in Chino, California. The Herald reached out to the company, but did not get a response.

The campaign spokeswoman confirmed that a decal with the words “Trump 2024” was placed on Epstein’s old plane for the trip. Trump’s own private plane, a 727 named “Trump Force One,” was having mechanical difficulties, which led them to land in Billings, about two hours east of Bozeman. After Bozeman, Trump used Epstein’s old plane to travel Saturday to a fundraiser in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and then to Aspen and Denver. “Trump Force One” was then able to pick Trump up in Denver. Epstein’s old plane was only used one day, the spokeswoman said.

The Aspen Daily News reported that Trump arrived in a blue Gulfstream, tail number G-550, touching down at the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport around 4:45 p.m. Saturday. He was to attend a fundraiser hosted by the Trump 47 Committee, which supports Save America and the RNC, the paper reported.

That charter tail number, G-550, belongs to a plane with the same serial number as Epstein’s former Gulfstream jet. Flight Aware shows the plane had been registered in 2018 to one of Epstein’s companies based in the U.S. Virgin Islands. At that time, its tail number was JE212. It is not the plane nicknamed the “Lolita Express” which Epstein replaced around 2017. The Lolita plane has since been destroyed.

Trump was in the same social circles as Epstein, and flew on Epstein’s planes six times from 1993 to 1997, records show. But the two had a falling out over a property in Palm Beach that they had a bidding war over in 2004. There are numerous photographs of Trump and Epstein together in the 1990s, long before Epstein was arrested on solicitation charges in Palm Beach.

Although tens of thousands of pages of documents have been unsealed in various Epstein civil cases, none of the documents released to date have credibly implicated Trump in Epstein’s trafficking crimes. This story was originally published August 12, 2024, 4:41 PM.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politi ... rylink=cpy

[ti-amie]

[Suliso]

That's bad for Harris. He was going to siphon some votes of crazies.

[Owendonovan]

That's bad for Harris. He was going to siphon some votes of crazies.

He still will, they just wont count for anything.

I don't believe tfg was hacked, because I believe absolutely nothing he says, why would I?

[ponchi101]

And I know, I know, I know. We all hate Tiny here.
But, he flew on a plane once owned by Jeffrey Epstein. So what? Did anybody expect that a $50MM Gulfstream was not going to be sold simply because Epstein owned it? At the very worst, change the seats and carpeting.
That is the kind of silly story that makes the dems look as silly as the GOP.

[skatingfan]

And I know, I know, I know. We all hate Tiny here.
But, he flew on a plane once owned by Jeffrey Epstein. So what? Did anybody expect that a $50MM Gulfstream was not going to be sold simply because Epstein owned it? At the very worst, change the seats and carpeting.
That is the kind of silly story that makes the dems look as silly as the GOP.

I think it's more of an irony story - the world is weird, and has a sense of humour.

[ti-amie]

Donald Trump Says He Will Go to Venezuela if He Loses Election
Published Aug 13, 2024 at 2:41 AM EDT
Updated Aug 13, 2024 at 10:28 AM EDT

By Flynn Nicholls
US News Reporter

During his interview with billionaire donor Elon Musk, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said they could "meet next time in Venezuela" if he loses November's election.

"If something happens with this election, which would be a horror show, we'll meet the next time in Venezuela, because it'll be a far safer place to meet than our country," Trump said to Musk. "OK, so we'll go. You and I will go, and we'll have a meeting and dinner in Venezuela."

Trump had alleged that Venezuela has released violent criminals from its jails and sent them to the United States to reduce its own crime rate.

"Their crime rate is coming down and our crime rate is going through the roof. And it's so simple. And you haven't seen anything yet because these people have come into our country and they're just getting acclimated and they don't know about being politically correct, law enforcement or lack of law enforcement and our police. I have to just end with this. We have great police," he said.

Trump has repeatedly made the unsubstantiated claim about Venezuela releasing its prisoners to the United States.

"I'll tell you what. Venezuela has not gotten rid of all of them. They've gotten rid of about 70 percent of their really bad people," he told Musk.

"Their jails are about 50 percent, put into the United States. Same with other countries, over 30 percent. Some are at 50 percent. They're all different," he said. "But the bottom line is they're all going to be 100 percent. Why wouldn't you put 100 percent of it?"

Roberto Briceño-León, the founder and director of the OVV (the acronym for Venezuelan Observatory of Violence in Spanish), told factcheck.org that there is no evidence that Venezuela is sending criminals to the U.S.

"We have no evidence that the Venezuelan government is emptying the prisons or mental hospitals to send them out of the country, whether to the USA or any other country," Briceño-León said.

Rather, he said, the drop in the crime figures for the country is the result a massive out-migration of nearly 8 million people since 2014 caused by worsening economic and living conditions.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has led an authoritarian government and has been charged with narco-terrorism and corruption by the United States Department of Justice.

In July, Maduro was abruptly declared the winner of the country's election in what has widely been viewed as a rigged vote.

In 2022, it was reported that Vladimir Putin and his top leadership were developing a backup plan to flee to Venezuela if Russia were defeated in Ukraine.

Update 8/13/24 10:27 a.m. ET. The headline of this article has been updated.

[ponchi101]

I would be laughing, if I were not Venezuelan.
Crime in Venezuela is doing fine, thank you. And the people from Venezuela going to the USA are the decent ones, trying to escape the dictatorship.

[ti-amie]

Donald Trump Says He Will Go to Venezuela if He Loses Election
Published Aug 13, 2024 at 2:41 AM EDT
Updated Aug 13, 2024 at 10:28 AM EDT

By Flynn Nicholls
US News Reporter

During his interview with billionaire donor Elon Musk, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said they could "meet next time in Venezuela" if he loses November's election.

"If something happens with this election, which would be a horror show, we'll meet the next time in Venezuela, because it'll be a far safer place to meet than our country," Trump said to Musk. "OK, so we'll go. You and I will go, and we'll have a meeting and dinner in Venezuela."

Trump had alleged that Venezuela has released violent criminals from its jails and sent them to the United States to reduce its own crime rate.

"Their crime rate is coming down and our crime rate is going through the roof. And it's so simple. And you haven't seen anything yet because these people have come into our country and they're just getting acclimated and they don't know about being politically correct, law enforcement or lack of law enforcement and our police. I have to just end with this. We have great police," he said.

Trump has repeatedly made the unsubstantiated claim about Venezuela releasing its prisoners to the United States.

"I'll tell you what. Venezuela has not gotten rid of all of them. They've gotten rid of about 70 percent of their really bad people," he told Musk.

"Their jails are about 50 percent, put into the United States. Same with other countries, over 30 percent. Some are at 50 percent. They're all different," he said. "But the bottom line is they're all going to be 100 percent. Why wouldn't you put 100 percent of it?"

Roberto Briceño-León, the founder and director of the OVV (the acronym for Venezuelan Observatory of Violence in Spanish), told factcheck.org that there is no evidence that Venezuela is sending criminals to the U.S.

"We have no evidence that the Venezuelan government is emptying the prisons or mental hospitals to send them out of the country, whether to the USA or any other country," Briceño-León said.

Rather, he said, the drop in the crime figures for the country is the result a massive out-migration of nearly 8 million people since 2014 caused by worsening economic and living conditions.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has led an authoritarian government and has been charged with narco-terrorism and corruption by the United States Department of Justice.

In July, Maduro was abruptly declared the winner of the country's election in what has widely been viewed as a rigged vote.

In 2022, it was reported that Vladimir Putin and his top leadership were developing a backup plan to flee to Venezuela if Russia were defeated in Ukraine.

Update 8/13/24 10:27 a.m. ET. The headline of this article has been updated.

Randall Eliason
@RDEliason

Trump is not under court order not to leave the country and has not been ordered to surrender his passport. He would not be violating the law if he flew to another country - so on what basis would Secret Service stop him?

It's not unlawful until he refuses to come back.

[ti-amie]

My problem is I can't see him fleeing to Venezuela or any South American country. I can see him fleeing to KSA to join his pal MBS.

[ti-amie]

Donald Trump's 'Lisp' During Elon Musk Interview Raises Questions
Published Aug 13, 2024 at 3:21 AM EDT
Updated Aug 13, 2024 at 3:16 PM EDT

By Jordan King
Freelance Reporter

Multiple people on social media believe they heard Donald Trump speaking with a lisp during his interview with Elon Musk.

The former president spoke to the CEO of X, formerly Twitter, on Monday, in a livestream which has now seen tens of millions of views.

At certain points during the interview, a number of social media users said Trump's words sounded a bit odd, with some questioning whether it was due to technical issues, a lisp, or if the former president was slurring.

At the start of what Musk stressed was a "conversation" and not an "adversarial interview," Trump said: "Congratulations because I see you broke every record on the book with so many millions of people and it's an honor, we view that as an honor.

"And you do want silencing of certain voices, usually those are voices that have something to say that are constructive and so, we have to consider it an honor."

In multiple recordings on X, including the ones uploaded by Musk and Trump, Trump appears to sound different while saying the words "millions" and "silencing."

The same thing seems to happen at several other points of the interview.

The BBC, which was live-blogging the chat at the time, recorded more than 20,000 posts with the term "slurring." Trump's spokesperson Steven Cheung told the British network: "Must be your hearing."

Newsweek has contacted the Trump campaign for further comment.

The Harris campaign's profile, Harris HQ, also posted about it, quoting a section of the conversation about climate change. It wrote: "Trump, slurring, says he's okay with climate change and rising sea levels because he thinks he'll 'have more oceanfront property'."
The Harris campaign, Harris HQ, also posted about it, quoting a section of the conversation about climate change. They said: "Trump, slurring, says he's okay with climate change and rising sea levels because he thinks he'll 'have more oceanfront property'."

Several podcasters and streamers attributed the sound to the strange audio effect from compression, a process where data that is deemed unnecessary is often removed to reduce the size of the audio file. Sometimes, this process ends up removing or altering important parts of the audio, resulting in distortions.

Twitch streamer and political commentator HasanAbi posted: "It's probably due to audio compression issues but trump sounds like he has a lisp."

Digital and TV streaming reporter Spencer Allan Brooks said: "The Trump audio is no good. Sounds like he has a lisp. Bad mic? Terrible audio compression?"

Multiple people cited a separate video clip of Trump speaking on the phone to Musk, where the word "millions" sounds normal, suggesting the supposed lisp can only be heard on uploaded audio files, which many said shows it was a compression issue.

It came after the conversation was delayed more than 40 minutes behind its scheduled start time of 8:00 p.m. ET, because of technical problems, which Musk attributed to a DDoS, or distributed denial of service, attack.

This is an attack that typically sends vast amounts of traffic to a platform's servers in the hope of temporarily knocking it offline.

When Musk finally began speaking in the Space at 8:42 p.m., he said the "massive attack illustrates" that "there's a lot of opposition to just hearing what President Trump has to say."

This is what Trump was referring to in the snipped clip, when he said: "And you do want silencing of certain voices, usually those are voices that have something to say that are constructive and so, we have to consider it an honor."

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trumps- ... ns-1938324

[Owendonovan]

Sounds a little stroke-ish. I'm not bothered by any medical issue he has or will develop.

[Suliso]

My problem is I can't see him fleeing to Venezuela or any South American country. I can see him fleeing to KSA to join his pal MBS.

KSA will not accept. They need good relationships with any US administration.

Of course in reality he'll flee nowhere.

[ponchi101]

He would not know where Venezuela is if you gave him a world map and circled the northern part of S. America with a red marker.
He would love it in Vennieland, if he spoke the language. Dictators running the show, no real law and order, the powerful and wealthy doing whatever they want, the dollar is king. Sure, he would be swindled of all his assets in a short while and Melania would end in the arms of a slimy looking latin lover but, other than that, it is precisely the kind of country he wishes the USA were.
With him on top.
What Suliso said.