GOP Representative Faces 15 Years In Federal Prison As Trump Faces Deposition And FBI Raids Home Of Russian Oligarch

     For everything that happened in the 2020 election, it seems the 2016 election is where we are seeing the most action this week. Just today, Steve Bannon was referred for criminal prosecution by the House Select Committee on the January 6th insurrection for defying a subpoena about his comments and actions related to that day's "Save America" rally. However, this week saw THREE major developments related to the 2016 election, as opposed to that one related to 2020.

     For the first time since he was elected president five years ago, Donald Trump was deposed by New York attorneys in a civil case related to violence that occurred in 2015. Late 2015, when Trump refused to run as a third-party candidate and pledged his loyalty to the GOP while also beginning to make his "Build a Wall" and "Ban Muslims" comments, was a tense time. Outside of Trump Tower in Manhattan, a group of immigration protestors claim they had their signs ripped from them before being pushed, punched in the head, and choked by Trump security guards, suffering minor physical injuries as well as emotional trauma. The lawsuit was filed just weeks later but is now reaching its end stages. Trump is at only civil risk here, and whether or not his statements will be made public is at this time unknown, but it marks a major development for the twice-impeached, one-term, two-time popular vote loser who has maintained a "knock the crap out of them" approach to all who oppose him.

     While we are still waiting on Matt Gaetz to be criminally charged for sex trafficking, a different GOP representative was charged for, obviously, his actions during the 2016 campaign. Last month, Republican Nebraska Representative Jeff Fortenberry, who has represented the First District (which includes the city of Lincoln) since 2005, launched a fundraising appeal claiming that he would soon be the victim of a "witch hunt" by the "deep state," which was a big clue that he was about to be criminally indicted for something. Today, we just found out what it was: three felony counts. He was indicted on two counts of making false statements to investigators and one count of conspiracy to falsify material evidence. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison, or five years for each count. In 2016, a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire named Gilbert Chagoury illegally donated $30,000 to Fortenberry's campaign through the use of a third party, which is also illegal. Fortenberry also released a video last night, using his wife and dog for sympathy, saying he intended to "fight these charges" and asking his supporters for more money to fund his felony case.

     At the time of this writing, the FBI is raiding the home of a personal friend of Vladimir Putin, a Russian oligarch named Oleg Deripaska who also happens to be a good friend of convicted Trump campaign manager named Paul Manafort. Deripaska was named in the Mueller Report, but he denied any criminal activity. It seems like that story, and Donald Trump's alibi, may soon be in jeopardy. We don't know the reason for the raid or what exactly has occurred, but we will likely get more information in the hours and days ahead.

     Trump faces a deposition, a GOP congressman gets charged with a felony, and a Russian oligarch named in the Mueller Report gets his house raided. That's 72 hours in today's Grand Old Party.