As Donald Trump faced his third indictment, his fanboys at WorldNetDaily cranked up the rage -- and the melodrama.
By Terry Krepel Posted 11/28/2023
Just as it did over his first twoindictments, WorldNetDaily ran to Donald Trump's defense again on his third indictment. Joe Kovacs kicked things off in an Aug. 1 article, quoting only pro-Trump sources and the Trump campaign:
Former President Donald Trump was indicted Tuesday in connection with the investigation by Special Counsel Jack Smith into the mayhem at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, prompting fresh calls of "election interference" from the Trump campaign.
Fox News reported Trump was indicted "on four federal charges out of the probe, including Conspiracy to Defraud the United States; Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; Obstruction of, and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; and Conspiracy Against rights."
It's the second indictment of Trump by the special counsel, and the former president who is the leading Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential nomination has already pleaded not guilty to 37 counts for his alleged improper retention of classified records.
Reaction from Trump supporters was swift.
"Jack Smith is the enforcer for the Biden Crime Family," said Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for Make America Great Again Inc.
Bob Unruh devoted an article the next day to attacking Smith:
Among Jack Smith's claims in his most recent indictment of President Donald Trump is one in which he alleges Trump "knew" his claims of election fraud were wrong and he pushed them anyway.
And Smith, whose claims against Trump suspiciously have been revealed right after major accusations have developed against Hunter Biden, and the involvement of his father, Joe Biden, in his international business schemes, cited one case as an example.
[...]
But Smith may have set himself up to be proven false.
A report from Just the News documented there has been a federal indictment accusing a pair of Iranian hackers of successfully breaking into a state elections computer system.
And they are charged with stealing voter data and using that to intimidate Republican lawmakers.
That case was originally reported in 2021, which Unruh failed to mention. Federal officials stated at the time that the goal of the hackers was to "undermine voter confidence and sow discord" -- something WND has arguably been doing for years on Trump's behalf.
An anonymously written Aug. 2 article played whataboutism, citing the highly discredited Gateway Pundit:
President Donald Trump is facing his latest court case, from prosecutor Jack Smith, over what he said and did to challenge the 2020 presidential election count – the one influenced by the FBI's decision to falsely tell media organizations to suppress details about the Biden clan's international business schemes because it was Russian disinformation.
The same election that was influenced by Mark Zuckerberg's decision to hand out some $400 million plus to local elections officials, who often used it to recruit voters in Democrat districts.
Charges filed by Smith include conspiracy and obstruction.
But a report in the Gateway Pundit is openly asking whether Joe Biden, Merrick Garland and Jack Smith will hold "Democrats to the same standards as Trump?"
As usual, WND is misleading about the money Zuckerberg donated to election efforts in 2020. In fact, any election office could have gotten that money if they had simply requested it. The fact that some election offices used that money to reach out to voters and help make it easier for them to vote during a pandemic does not mean that money "stole" the election, because it is not illegal to want more people to vote.
Another Aug. 2 article by Unruh touted a writer for the right-wing Federalist hyperbolically claiming that "Jack Smith's court papers name President Donald Trump as the defendant, the DOJ prosecutor actually is coming after the American voter. If they support Trump." Unruh again misleadingly referenced "the $400 million Mark Zuckerberg handed out like candy to various local elections officials, who often used it to recruit voters in Democrat districts." Unruh played gotcha in another article that day:
In a development that has more than a little irony involved, Jack Smith, Joe Biden's point man on the campaign to file charges against President Donald Trump, has admitted he lied in court.
He apparently failed to provide to the defense all of the video material that he was supposed to. And then he said in court that it had been done.
"The government's representation at the July 18 hearing that all surveillance footage the government had obtained pre-indictment had been produced was therefore incorrect," he admitted in a court filing.
Unruh offered no evidence that Smith knowingly "lied"; a statement later found to be incorrect is not necessarily a lie.
Unruh turned his stenographic efforts to Trump himself in yet another article that day, complete with overdramatic introduction:
President Donald Trump right now is in the cross-hairs of the Deep State, the establishment, the power structure, whatever name fits.
The latest is a series of charges from the Department of Justice over his comments made about his belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
In fact, there's significant evidence of wrongdoing, including that the FBI interfered in the election by falsely telling social and legacy media to suppress accurate reporting about the international business scheming of the Biden clan, apparently including both Hunter and Joe.
Essentially, he's been accused of trying to undermine America by challenging the 2020 results.
But it actually was the other side, the Democrats, who actually staged a "de facto coup," he wrote in a commentary at Newsweek.
Trump explains: "The report by Special Counsel John Durham makes clear beyond a shred of doubt that the Russia Hoax was the most atrocious weaponization of our government in American history. It was a crime like no other.
As in all of his articles, alternative points of view were not allowed. In one more article that day, Unruh got even more unhinged, with an assist from Trump:
Joe Biden's Department of Justice is going after his chief political rival in the 2024 presidential race with a vengeance, listing charges that could bring him centuries in prison.
Or even the death penalty.
A report at the Gateway Pundit cited the latest complaint from Jack Smith, of Biden's Department of Justice.
It accuses Trump of conspiracy and obstruction regarding his comments about the results of the 2020 election, that vote influenced by the false claims by the FBI, to media outlets, that the reporting about the Biden family's international business schemes was Russian disinformation.
Further, Mark Zuckerberg handed over $400 million plus, to local elections officials, who largely used it to recruit voters in Democrat districts.
Trump's response? "With Crooked Joe’s corrupt DOJ having unlawfully INDICTED yours truly yet again, reports indicate that I could now face a combined 561 YEARS in prison from the Left’s witch hunts. 6 LIFETIMES..."
Trump explained, "There’s only ONE MESSAGE someone can send by trying to throw you in jail for 6 lifetimes, and that’s FEAR. The fear that if you vote for the ONLY candidate who puts you FIRST, you too could be harassed, indicted, and even ARRESTED by the current Marxist regime in Washington."
Peter LaBarbera served up his contribution to the cause by attacking the judge who will be handling this particular indictment, Tanya Chutkan, whom he described in the headline as a "left-wing activist" who "gave serious campaign donations to Obama" -- but he cited only a $1,500 donation she gave to an Obama-related PAC "during the Democrat's first presidential run," before she became a federal judge. LaBarbera's evidence that Chutkan is a "left-wing activist" is just as thin, largely through guilt by association with a law firm where she once worked and has supported abortion rights, which led her to call her "somewhat of a ... zealot" on the issue. He also didn't like that she allegedly gave out "very harsh punishments to J6 prisoners who protested the 2020 election."
Unruh returned for more Trump stenography in an Aug. 4 article, with additional dishonesty about what Trump was charged with:
President Donald Trump, indicted yet again by Joe Biden's Department of Justice for having and expressing his own beliefs about the 2020 election in a move that has left analysts gasping for breath at the First Amendment violations it would demand, wants the Supreme Court to become involved.
Because the repeated attacks by the Biden DOJ on Biden's primary opposition in the 2024 election are "election interference."
Trump, in fact, on Truth Social social media, said, "CRAZY! My political opponent has hit me with a barrage of weak lawsuits, including, D.A., A.G., and others, which require massive amounts of my time & money to adjudicate. Resources that would have gone into Ads and Rallies, will now have to be spent fighting these Radical Left Thugs in numerous courts throughout the Country. I am leading all Polls, including against Crooked Joe, but this is not a level playing field.
"It is Election Interference & the Supreme Court must intercede. MAGA!"
Unruh went on to write that "Many analysts explain the series of cases against Trump by Biden's DOJ is just a way to try to remove him from the race, giving Biden a better chance at re-election." As usual, no dissenting views were allowed.
(Note that in all his articles, Unruh refers to Trump as "President Donald Trump," as if he still holds the office and wasn't defeated in 2020. That's the kind of refusal to acknowledge reality that turns off readers looking for a credible news outlet.)
WND columnists rage
As WND's "news' side raged over Trump's (third) indictment, its opinion side did so even more. ConWebWatch has already noted how editor Joseph Farah cheered Trump for having disgustingly "compared the federal indictments he's facing to the lawlessness reminiscent of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union." Michael Master used his Aug. 3 column to invent a conspiracy that Trump's indictments are a distraction from alleged wrongdoing by President Biden and his "crime family":
Special counsel Jack Smith has now indicted Trump on three occasions. Each of those occasions were one day after horribly negative news broke about Joe Biden. The indictment on Aug. 1 came the day after Devon Archer testified before a congressional committee about his experience with the Biden Crime Family.
Coincidence? Three separate times? Not likely. Those three occasions were more likely meant to take attention away from Biden acts of treason, bribery and lies. According to Fox, mainstream media outlets CNN and MSNBC are spending 20 times more time on the Trump indictments than on the testimonies about Biden crimes. 20 times. 20 minutes on Trump for every one minute on Biden. Three minutes on Biden for every one hour on Trump.
Since Democrats, the deep state and RINOs could not stop Trump with their false impeachments, they are now using the legal system under the Justice Department controlled by Democrats to try to stop President Trump from being elected in 2024. The legal system is now a political weapon of the Democrats.
In his column the same day, David Harsanyi insisted that the indictments are an attack on "political speech":
Feel free to campaign and vote against Donald Trump if you like. I'm certainly no fan. If Trump wins in 2024, Congress can impeach and remove him if they choose. But just as there was no special set of rules that could keep Trump in the White House in 2020, there shouldn't be an exclusive set of rules to keep him out, either.
Yet Special Counsel Jack Smith's indictments over Jan. 6 read like a political oppo document cobbled together by some partisan House staffers who perfunctorily tacked on the last-minute novel legal reasoning.
[...]
In this case, the precedent would criminalize and chill political speech. People keep assuring me the indictments aren't really about the expression but rather about defrauding the government. Sorry, the entire case is predicated on the things Trump said or believed or didn't say or didn't believe. All of it should be protected under the First Amendment. "Spreading lies" – prosecutors leaned on the thesaurus hard, finding about two dozen ways of repeating this fact – or entertaining theories offered by crackpot lawyers, or trying to convince faithless electors to do things that people have been trying to convince faithless electors to do for a long time, are all unethical, not criminal.
Mike Pottage put his spin on the indictments in his Aug. 4 column, in which he declared grand juries to be "un-American":
So, with Russia-Russia-Russia, impeachments I and II, and four politically engineered indictments choreographed to appear in the midst of the next presidential campaign, what does the Democratic Party do if they finally get to circulate a jailhouse mugshot of Donald Trump? What does the Democratic Party do if their nemesis wins presidency anyway on Nov. 5, 2024? Suffering succotash, say it isn't so!
Every time a new attack hits Trump, his support grows. With a 37% advantage in the GOP primary and a split among Democrats over Joe Biden, the Dems are desperate to imprison and destroy Donald by any means.
[...]
PBS Wednesday evening ran an interview in which the anchor used the Smith indictment as evidence of Trump's guilt, knowing the indictment is not evidence of a crime, but only an allegation of a crime made by a single attorney. A grand jury is perhaps the most un-American event in our justice system. It's product is orchestrated by a single person.
No one actually believes the formerly most powerful man in the world, who had the top attorneys and advisers surrounding him, would blatantly commit felonies. Everyone knows it's a fishing expedition by politically motivated prosecutors to exploit the left-leaning justice system and take lawfare to a new level – prosecution.
In the latest indictment, regarding J6, Trump has been charged with four felony counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy against rights and witness tampering. It essentially repeats the DNC talking points the establishment media repeat ad nauseam: that he stoked violence and pretended the election was stolen. The indictment uses language that ignores the fact the country is still incredibly divided over whether election fraud influenced the race – "Despite having lost, the Defendant was determined to stay in power."
The prosecution isn't even bothering to assess whether there was fraud or not in the 2020 election, as Trump's senior adviser Stephen Miller pointed out. Nor do they care that Rasmussen Reports, one of the most accurate pollsters, found that most voters believe cheating affected the outcome of the 2020 presidential race.
In fact, no legitimate evidence of widespread election fraud has been found, and public opinion is not justice.
Daniel McCarthy demanded in his Aug. 7 column that President Biden pardon Trump, then drop out of the race for re-election:
President Joe Biden has a chance to do the right thing for all Americans – a brave and unpopular thing that will spare the country excruciating pain next year.
He can pardon Donald Trump and announce he's not seeking reelection.
Without having to worry about reelection, Biden can spare the Justice Department a humiliating and corrupt plea bargain, too, by simply pardoning his son Hunter.
[...]
If Biden pardons Trump, the Republican contest will have to be fought on different, better terms – not whether or not the charges against Trump are valid.
Trump might still win such a contest, politically embarrassing though it would be to accept clemency from Biden.
Master opined in his Aug. 8 column that all charges against Trump will be consolidated and then dropped, which was followed by more right-wing conspiracy-mongering:
Jack Smith, Democrats and RINOs understand all of this and that these cases will go well beyond the November 2024 election to get through the Supreme Court. Their real intention is to make Trump defend so many cases (fight on so many fronts) that he cannot wage an adequate campaign.
[...]
It is all part of the plan to stop Trump and the Make America Great Again movement. If Trump were not running, none of these indictments would happen.
The worst part of all of this is that so many Democrats and media and RINOs do not see how this weaponization of the legal system is bad for America. Their objective is to stop Trump and the MAGA movement by any means, such as with false accusations and misuse of laws, as with the Steele Dossier and the two impeachments and now these indictments. To them, the end justifies the means … any means. And they just don't see how that is bad for America, how using the justice system as a political weapon is no different than what tyrants do to political opponents in other countries.
WND's "news" side continued to opine as well, with Bob Unruh writing in an Aug. 8 article:
The Department of Justice has been accused of using "extortion" in its agenda to indict and even jail President Trump – in what apparently is a scheme to hinder his campaign for president in 2024.
According to a report in Fox News, the accusation comes from a former federal prosecutor.
James Trusty, a former chief of the DOJ's organized crime unit, said it was an incident that developed in special counsel Jack Smith's attack on Trump regarding presidential papers, including classified documents, that President Trump had at his Florida home, is concerning.
Unruh didn't mention that Trusty is a former Trump attorney, so of course he would defend a client.
