The #ExecutiveOrder is the latest attempt by #Trump to limit or #intimidate institutions he does not agree with, including #LawFirms, #universities & #media companies such as #CBS, which is being sued for $20B over a “#60Minutes” interview w/fmr VP #KamalaHarris during the 2024 presidential campaign.

As #CivilRights prosecutors conducted the investigation #EmilBove demanded, they pushed back against steps he wanted taken, arguing they were either not justified by available facts or contrary to #law, or both.
At one point,Bove instructed #FBI agents on the NY joint terrorism task force to put on their raid jackets, go to #Columbia & stand in a phalanx near #protesters. Within the civil rights division, the instruction was viewed as deeply improper & a blatant attempt to #intimidate #students.

“Our job is to evaluate science & evaluate it in an unbiased fashion. That’s what we do & I think we do it well. The questions seem to suggest that there’s some bias in what we do—that’s where the vaguely threatening part comes in,”Dr. Rubin said.

Jeremy Berg, fmr editor of #Science, said he thought the letters were to “#intimidate journals…” to publish papers that align w/the #Trump admin’s beliefs—on #ClimateChange & #vaccines, for example—even if the quality of the #research is poor.

@DemocracyMattersALot

#Distract #Intimidate #Silence #Abuse

A psychopathic president.

‘Longwell estimated that Trump might be trying to get people to look in a different direction after he backed down on his trade war.
"…like a guy with a laser pointer and the media is a bunch of cats. Is he trying to get people to chase things so they stop talking about the fact that he caved and did a total about-face on the tariffs after telling us for days that he wasn't going to do a pause? And now he's suddenly pausing because the world economy is collapsing. Is he doing this as a distraction?"
She then noted that targeting people like this can scare others away from leaking information to the public.
"And what he's trying to do here, though, is to make people afraid of speaking out against him.

‘Trump is trying to intimidate his staff from speaking out during this administration, she continued

…I mean, this is some of the most insane authoritarian stuff we've seen out of him."

“That’s the big question,” #RuthBenGhiat said, adding that it depends partly on #Trump’s ability to impose party #fealty, #intimidate critics & install competent bureaucrats who are effective at using levers of #power to advance his personal aims.

“It is about criminalizing #dissent,” she said. “There is a method to his madness in that he has taken people on a journey of #indoctrination.”

"Attorney General #Paxton is using his position of authority to #harass & #intimidate #Latino non-profit organizations like #LULAC, LatinoLeaders & LULAC members," Juan Proaño, LULAC's CEO told CBS, calling the state AG's effort "point-blank" #VoterIntimidation. "It is evident through his pattern of lawsuits, raids, searches, & seizures that he is trying to keep Latinos from voting."

3 #FalseHopes

Emboldened by corrupt #SCOTUS decision on #PresidentialImmunity & FALSE hopes of #AmericanMonarchy under #Trump, #HeritageFoundation just fired opening salvo of #SecondAmericanRevolution based on another FALSE hope that it would be #bloodless — like the #GloriousRevolution that put William III of Orange on the #British Throne.

Knowing THAT hope is false, it is openly threatening #Democrats with #bloodshed, again FALSELY hoping to #intimidate us with its own #BrunswickManifesto.

#Hoffinger’s final question is an accusation: whether #RobertCostello’s testimony to Congress was meant to #intimidate #MichaelCohen as he testified in this trial. Costello asked her to repeat the question & then denied the accusation. “No,” he said. “Ridiculous.”

#Trump atty #Bove, is on redirect. Costello testifies that Cohen said in April 2018 that he would be “eternally grateful” for the help & guidance that Costello had given him in those difficult days.

Transcript excerpt of a sidebar at today’s #TrumpTrial proceedings

THE PEOPLE OF NY -vs- DONALD J. #TRUMP

JUDGE #MERCHAN: I understand that your client is upset at this point, but he is cursing audibly, & he is shaking his head visually & that's contemptuous.
It has the potential to #intimidate the #witness & the jury can see that.

DEFENSE ATTY TODD #BLANCHE: I will talk to him...

#Pecker has at least 3X described #MichaelCohen as warning him that “the boss” — meaning #Trump — would be “angry” if Pecker didn’t do whatever was being asked of him in that moment.

Prosecutors, who have focused on Trump’s tendency to #intimidate people in asking for a #GagOrder, know what they’re after in this line of questioning [#MobTactics #StochasticTerrorism].

“The People argue in their submission that Defendant's attacks, which include referring to a prosecution #witness last week as ‘death’, are based on ‘transparent falsehoods.’ …The People provide a plethora of compelling arguments in support of their claim that Defendant's conduct is deliberate & intended to #intimidate this Court & impede the orderly administration of this trial.”

The charges stemmed from a Jan 2023 *interaction with* [brutal attack on] #MichaelCoreyJenkins & #EddieParker when the group of 6 officers burst into their #RankinCounty #Mississippi home WITHOUT a #warrant & #assaulted them w/ stun guns, forced them to ingest liquids, punched & kicked them, called them #racist slurs, & worse.

#ChristianLeeDedmon fired his #gun TWICE during the incident in an attempt to #intimidate the victims, the #DOJ said in a 2023 news release.