HFA Statement on Report Exposing Trump’s Secret Line of Communication to Russia

In response to a new report from Slate showing that the Trump Organization has a secret server registered to Trump Tower that has been covertly communicating with Russia, Hillary for America Senior Policy Adviser Jake Sullivan released the following statement Monday: "This could be the most direct link yet between Donald Trump and Moscow. Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank. This secret hotline may be the key to unlocking the mystery of Trump's ties to Russia. It certainly seems the Trump Organization felt it had something to hide, given that it apparently took steps to conceal the link when it was discovered by journalists. This line of communication may help explain Trump's bizarre adoration of Vladimir Putin and endorsement of so many pro-Kremlin positions throughout this campaign. It raises even more troubling questions in light of Russia's masterminding of hacking efforts that are clearly intended to hurt Hillary Clinton's campaign. We can only assume that federal authorities will now explore this direct connection between Trump and Russia as part of their existing probe into Russia's meddling in our elections." News Source: Slate

Sen. Reid Drops A Bomb On FBI James Comey for suppressing Trump, Putin Connections and exploding a partisan bomb on Clinton days before the election

Which issue is so much of an emergency that a federal official might consider dropping the bomb just 11 days before an election: Electing someone who is conspiring with Russia or electing someone whose aide may have sent an email she forget to tell everyone about.

Reid’s full letter follows:

Dear Director Comey:

Your actions in recent months have demonstrated a disturbing double standard for the treatment of sensitive information, with what appears to be a clear intent to aid one political party over another. I am writing to inform you that my office has determined that these actions may violate the Hatch Act, which bars FBI officials from using their official authority to influence an election. Through your partisan actions, you may have broken the law.

The double standard established by your actions is clear.

In my communications with you and other top officials in the national security community, it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government – a foreign interest openly hostile to the United States, which Trump praises at every opportunity. The public has a right to know this information. I wrote to you months ago calling for this information to be released to the public. There is no danger to American interests from releasing it. And yet, you continue to resist calls to inform the public of this critical information.

School Segregation: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Real GDP grew 2.9 percent at an annual rate in the third quarter,

Real GDP grew 2.9 percent at an annual rate in the third quarter, with strong export growth and continued strength in consumer spending.

The economy grew 2.9 percent at an annual rate in the third quarter of 2016, a noticeably faster pace than in the first half of the year. Exports, which have faced significant headwinds in recent years from slow growth abroad, grew at an annual rate of 10.0 percent in the third quarter, their fastest quarterly pace since 2013. Consumer spending continued to grow at a solid pace in the third quarter, while inventory investment (one of the most volatile components of GDP) boosted GDP growth after subtracting from it in the prior five quarters. In contrast to the pattern of recent quarters, business fixed investment also contributed positively to GDP growth, though it continues to be restrained by slower global growth. But more work remains to strengthen economic growth and ensure that it is broadly shared, and the President will continue to take steps to promote greater competition across the economy, including in the labor market; support innovation; and call on Congress to increase investments in infrastructure and to pass the high-standards Trans-Pacific Partnership.

FIVE KEY POINTS IN TODAY'S REPORT FROM THE BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS (BEA)

1. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased 2.9 percent at an annual rate in the third quarter of 2016, according to BEA’s advance estimate. Consumer spending grew 2.1 percent in the third quarter following its strong second-quarter growth of 4.3 percent, with continued solid growth in durable goods spending and a contraction in nondurable goods spending. Inventory investment—one of the most volatilecomponents of GDP—added 0.6 percentage point to GDP growth in the third quarter after subtracting 1.2 percentage point in the second quarter. Nonresidential fixed investment contributed positively to GDP growth for the second quarter in a row, due in large part to a pickup in structures investment growth (see point 4 below). Residential investment declined for the second quarter in a row, albeit at a slower pace in the third quarter than in the second quarter. Notably, exports grew 10.0 percent at an annual rate in the third quarter, its fastest quarterly growth since late 2013, despite continued headwinds from slow growth abroad (see point 3 below).

 

2. The pace of third-quarter real GDP growth was noticeably faster than its pace in the first half of 2016. Real GDP growth averaged 1.1 percent at an annual rate in the first half of 2016. The pickup in growth in the third quarter can be attributed largely to two components of GDP: inventory investment and exports. In the first half of the year, these components contributed -0.8 percentage point and 0.1 percentage point, respectively, to overall real GDP growth. Both components saw substantial pickups in growth in the third quarter relative to the first half of the year: inventory investment contributed 0.6 percentage point to GDP growth, while exports contributed 1.2 percentage point, their second-largest quarterly contribution to growth since 2010. Other components of GDP, including both structures and equipment investment and government purchases, also saw faster growth or smaller contractions in the third quarter. These were partly offset by smaller positive contributions from consumer spending and intellectual property products investment and a larger negative contribution from residential investment.

 

3. Real exports grew 10.0 percent in the third quarter, their fastest quarterly growth since 2013. In recent years, slowing global demand has been a key headwind to U.S. growth, as the volume of U.S. exports to foreign countries is sensitive to GDP growth abroad. In its October World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised down its forecast of global growth for the four quarters of 2016, removing an expected pickup in growth from 2015 to 2016. The IMF currently forecasts global growth to pick up in 2017, suggesting less downward pressure on export growth going forward. Nevertheless, real export growth in the third quarter was substantially faster than in recent quarters, due in part to a large increase in agricultural exports. (As shown in the chart below, real export growth had slowed even faster in recent quarters than the slowdown in world growth would have implied, potentially explaining some of the bounce-back in the third quarter.) The sensitivity of U.S. exports to foreign demand and the large contribution of exports to overall growth in the third quarter underscore both the importance of opening foreign markets to U.S. exports by passing the high-standards Trans-Pacific Partnership and the agreement’s potential to strengthen the U.S. economy as a whole.

 

4. As oil prices have risen slightly in recent months, contractions in oil-related investment have weighed somewhat less on overall growth. The price of Brent crude oil was $31 per barrel in January 2016, nearly three-quarters lower than its recent peak in June 2014. While the decline in oil prices has benefittedconsumers and the economy overall, it has weighed heavily on both mining and logging employment and on investment in mining exploration, shafts, and wells—which includes petroleum drilling structures—which declined by nearly two-thirds from the fourth quarter of 2014 through the second quarter of 2016. Partly as a result, overall structures investment subtracted an average of 0.2 percentage point from quarterly real GDP growth over this period. From its trough in January, however, the monthly price of Brent crude oil increased to $47 per barrel as of September, and the number of oil and natural gas rigs in operation (which reflects the rate of drilling for new oil and natural gas) has risen for five consecutive months. Consistent with the increase in oil prices, investment in mining exploration, shafts, and wells contracted more slowly in the third quarter of 2016 than in earlier quarters, and overall structures investment added 0.1 percentage point to GDP growth. Since both oil-related investment and employment tend to lag prices by several months, the recent moderation in oil prices may translate into a slowdown in the pace of employment losses and further slowing in the rate of contraction in mining exploration, shafts, and wells investment in future quarters.

 

5. Real private domestic final purchases (PDFP)—the sum of consumption and fixed investment—rose 1.6 percent at an annual rate in the third quarter, a somewhat slower pace than in recent quarters. PDFP—which excludes more volatile components of GDP like net exports and inventory investment, as well as government spending—is generally a more reliable indicator of next-quarter GDP growth than current GDP. In the third quarter, the divergence between overall real GDP growth and the relatively weaker contribution of PDFP to growth was largely accounted for by the large positive contributions of inventory investment and exports to real GDP growth. Overall, PDFP rose 1.9 percent over the past four quarters, above the pace of GDP growth over the same period.

 

As the Administration stresses every quarter, GDP figures can be volatile and are subject to substantial revision. Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any single report, and it is informative to consider each report in the context of other data as they become available.

Michelle Obama to Join Hillary Clinton at North Carolina Rally

Michelle Obama will make her first appearance with Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail on Thursday, attending a rally to try to encourage early voting in North Carolina.

Eight years ago, the thought of Mrs. Obama being Mrs. Clinton’s most powerful campaigner would have been unimaginable. The Democratic primary in 2008 between Mrs. Clinton and Barack Obama was grueling and brutal.

That Mrs. Obama has thrown herself into the role of defending Mrs. Clinton so completely and, in the minds of many political observers, so effectively is among the most notable story lines of the tumultuous 2016 campaign.

The rally will take place in Winston-Salem. Mr. Obama won North Carolina in 2008, but he lost it in 2012. However, polls have shown the state to be in play this year, and a New York Times Upshot/Siena College poll this week showed Mrs. Clinton with a seven-point lead in the state.

Beginning with her Democratic National Convention speech, Mrs. Obama has sought to make a compelling, optimistic case for Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy, one that has cut above the din of the slashing presidential cycle.

She has described Mrs. Clinton as the natural extension of, and best hope for preserving, her husband’s legislative accomplishments, such as the Affordable Care Act. She has made the case for Mrs. Clinton’s determination. And she has offered herself as a character witness for a candidate who has historically high unfavorable ratings as the Democratic nominee. Source Newy York Times

Gingrich, Kelly duke it out over alleged media bias

An interview between Fox News' Megyn Kelly and Donald Trump surrogate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) went off the rails on Tuesday night when Kelly brought up allegations of Trump's sexual misconduct.

The discussion prompted Gingrich to rail against media bias and eventually accuse Kelly of being "fascinated with sex."

During the interview, Gingrich complained that the media spent more time covering the 2005 tape revealing vulgar comments from Trump than outlets spent on Hillary Clinton's "secret speeches." Kelly sought to defend coverage of the tape.

A Revealing Lunch With Roger Stone

With the clock running out on Donald Trump’s campaign and a catastrophic loss looking more likely, politicos are snickering that the careers of his advisers and strategists will be sacrificed in the process. But at least one of them, legendary Republican dirty trickster Roger Stone, has plans for life after Trump, including writing a book about…

How Donald Trump Stole From His Own Campaign

The Huffington Post reported:

Donald Trump used small donors’ money to buy nearly $300,000 worth of books from the publisher of his Art of the Deal last month, continuing a pattern of plowing campaign money back into his own businesses.

The Oct. 15 Federal Election Commission filing for Trump Make America Great Again Committee does not specify which books in particular were purchased, but the committee’s own website suggests it was Trump’s 1987 business bestseller.

The scam worked like this. Trump had the campaign buy the books at a higher cost than the standard bulk publishing deal. For every book that the campaign bought, Trump was owed a royalty. It is estimated that the campaign’s book purchase generated $70,000 in royalties for Trump.

The book themselves were then signed and offered back to contributors for a $184 donation to the campaign, which means that Trump managed to make money off of books that he didn’t buy while depriving the Republican Party of resources that it desperately needs on the ground.

The Oct. 15 Federal Election Commission filing for Trump Make America Great Again Committee does not specify which books in particular were purchased, but the committee’s own website suggests it was Trump’s 1987 business bestseller.

The scam worked like this. Trump had the campaign buy the books at a higher cost than the standard bulk publishing deal. For every book that the campaign bought, Trump was owed a royalty. It is estimated that the campaign’s book purchase generated $70,000 in royalties for Trump.

The book themselves were then signed and offered back to contributors for a $184 donation to the campaign, which means that Trump managed to make money off of books that he didn’t buy while depriving the Republican Party of resources that it desperately needs on the ground.

John Oliver rips ‘childish’ Trump’s third debate and Al Smith dinner disasters

Just Some Of The Trump Lies Last Night

• Trump defended his recent claims about rampant voter fraud by citing a Pew Charitable Trust report that found millions of errors in voter registration rolls but didn’t allege any actual voting violations.
• Trump falsely claimed that allegations of sexual harassment against him “have been largely debunked.” Trump has eight female accusers. In one case, a man claiming to be an eyewitness offered a conflicting account without providing evidence.
• Trump also denied calling any of his accusers unattractive. But he implied it when he told his supporters, “Yeah, I’m gonna go after her. Believe me, she would not be my first choice.”
• Trump wrongly said that $6 billion was “missing” from the State Department when Clinton was secretary of state. The State Department Office of the Inspector General said that department records of $6 billion in contracts — not the money — were missing or incomplete.
• Trump said the federal debt had doubled to $20 trillion under Obama. Clinton said annual deficits had been cut by two-thirds. Both were straining the facts.
• Trump falsely claimed that billionaire investor Warren Buffett, a Clinton supporter, did “the same thing” Trump did to avoid paying federal income taxes. Buffett said that’s not true and that he has “paid federal income tax every year since 1944.”
• Trump and Wallace disagreed over whether Trump used money from his own foundation to settle his lawsuits. Trump did.
• Trump implied a link between Chicago’s tough gun laws and gun violence in the city. But the opposite correlation — fewer gun laws and higher rates of gun deaths — has been shown, and a causation between the two factors is impossible to prove.

Third Debate Proves Donald Trump Is Insane

Donald Trump is Delusional

2016 has been was a brutal, bruising year, one full of sordid allegations of sex, money and power. But Fox News finally had a good night on Wednesday, months after sexual assault allegations drove Roger Ailes out of the network he built. At the third and final presidential debate, Chris Wallace was a forceful, orderly and…

Checks And Balances In The Federal Government

Many facebook post and comments on my blogs the last few years, indicates many many American do not have a clue on how our government works, here is the breakdown, plus below find a updated video of Schoolhouse Rocks "Just A Bill"

CLICK ABOVE PIC TO ENLARGE OR PRINT

How A Bill Is Made Updated Version

Trump's Campaign is about nothing but racism

This weekend's read is a major investigative piece from Mother Jones magazine.
Written by reporters David Neiwert, a contributor to the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, and Sarah Posner, the story goes deep into the many times the Trump campaign has elevated the extremist right. You can read the article here.
To get an idea of the enthusiasm in which extremists see the campaign, here's what Rachel Pendergraft, an organizer for the Klan group Knights Party, told Neiwert and Posner:

The success of the Trump campaign just proves that our views resonate with millions. They may not be ready for the Ku Klux Klan yet, but as anti-white hatred escalates, they will.

The report also includes a data analysis the SPLC provided on the interactions between the Trump campaign and extremists on social media, where the rebranded white nationalist "Alt-Right" movement has grown in prominence:

In consultation with the Southern Poverty Law Center, we compiled a list of hashtags and catchphrases stemming from extremist movements, terms steeped in Holocaust denial, anti-Muslim invective, and other expressions of bigotry and racism. We found that the vast majority of these influencers followed Trump...

For example, among the influencers using the hashtag #BanIslam, 84 percent followed Trump and 23 percent followed Cruz. Among those using #WhiteGenocide, 65 percent followed Trump and 10 percent followed Cruz. And among those using the neo-Nazi term "holohoax," 44 percent followed Trump and 4 percent followed Cruz.

Please Share this article with your network



Source: 

Trump in Turmoil: 5 Ways Forward for the 2016 Race

The incident now known as #trumptapes has shifted the 2016 presidential electoral map and ground game in ways which will only become fully apparent in coming weeks. The only thing certain right now is that these are dark hours for Gotham’s Joker, holed up in his black tower with Melania fuming by his side. Over in…

All the Times Donald Trump has been accused of has been accused of rape or attempted rape

UPDATED 10-09-16 AFTER THE AP TAPE OF THE GRAP HER PUSSY

Donald Trump’s reputation as a womanizer is well-known. So is his history as a misogynist. But it’s only with Friday’s release of an extremely lewd video, in which the Republican nominee for President can be heard bragging how “when you’re a star” you can do whatever the hell you want to women’s bodies—including “grab them by the pussy”—that the rape accusations leveled against him are finally getting national attention.

In a statement released shortly after the Washington Post published the damning video, Trump dismissed the comments as “locker room banter.” But in light of these charges, the country is taking a closer look at what may be a history of not only sexually violent words but sexually violent actions.

According to legal documents, Trump has been accused of raping a 13-year-old child, raping his ex-wife, and attempting to rape a former business associate. He vehemently denies all of these accusations—and it should be noted anyone can file a civil complaint in court, and a complaint is by no means proof of allegations. That being said, the accusations are chilling.

The first and most famous accusation comes from Trump’s ex-wife Ivana Trump. During a deposition in the ’90s, Ivana described a harrowing scene in which Trump held her arms back, pulled at her hair, and raped her in a fit of rage. She herself used the word “rape.” The details of the incident were made public in the 1993 book Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, written by the journalist Harry Hurt III.

Trump denies this incident took place, and before the book hit shelves his lawyers required that it include a statement at the front written by Ivana, in which she walks back her use of the word “rape.”

“During a deposition given by me in connection with my matrimonial case, I stated that my husband had raped me,” the statement said. “I referred to this as a ‘rape,’ but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.”

In her statement she added instead that she felt “violated.”

The second accusation of sexual assault comes from a 1997 lawsuit. Jill Harth says she and her romantic partner were working with Trump on a business deal, when The Donald started making unwelcome sexual advances. In a lawsuit filed against Trump, she says he leered at her inappropriately, groped her on several occasions without her consent, and even “attempted rape.”

In her lawsuit, Harth describes a scene in which Trump took her into one of his children’s bedrooms at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago, threw her against the wall, began touching her all over, and lifted up her dress.

In an interview with The Guardian, Harth says she had to physically prevent him from advancing and shouted out: “What are you doing? Stop it.” Adding, “It was a shocking thing to have him do this because he knew I was with George [her partner], he knew they were in the next room. And how could he be doing this when I’m there for business?”

Trump denies any of this ever happened, calling the allegations “meritless.” While Harth withdrew her lawsuit shortly after Trumpsettled a separate lawsuit with her romantic partner over a business matter, she stands by her claims. (Harth and Trump had a cordial relationship until recently, when the allegations resurfaced and he denied them. At that point, according to The Guardian, Harth decided to speak out.) She also says Trump’s camp has contacted her on several occasions in an attempt to make her change her story and deny it ever happened. “I said I’m not doing that,” she told The Guardian.

The third case against Trump comes via a recent federal lawsuit filed in June 2016 in the State of New York by “Jane Doe.” In the suit, Doe alleges that Trump raped her back in 1994, when she was just 13 years old. According to legal docs, Doe says she attended parties with Trump and his friend Jeffrey Epstein—a registered sex offender known in the media as the “billionaire pedophile.” Doe, who was trying to become a model, says it was during these parties that Trump initiated sexual contact with her on several occasions and on one occasion allegedly raped her.

According to the suit, Trump tied her to a bed, exposed himself to her and then raped her in a “savage sexual attack.” Doe says she screamed for him to stop at which point he struck her in the face while screaming “that he would do whatever he wanted.” In a statement filed with the lawsuit, Doe says Trump threatened to ruin her life and her family’s life if she ever told anyone about the incident:

Immediately following this rape Defendant Trump threatened me that, were I ever to reveal any of the details of Defendant Trump’s sexual and physical abuse of me, my family and I would be physically harmed if not killed.

The lawsuit also includes a witness statement from a “Tiffany Doe,” who says that, in the ’90s, she was in charge of recruiting adolescent women to entertain guests at Epstein’s parties—and she personally saw the incident occur.

I personally witnessed the Plaintiff being forced to perform various sexual acts with Donald J. Trump and Mr. Epstein. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein were advised that she was 13 years old.

In her statement, Tiffany Doe also says she witnessed Trump force other minors to perform oral sex on him and witnessed his “physical abuse” on them “when they finished the act.” On Friday, hours before the lewd video of Trump was leaked, a federal judge in New York ordered a December hearingfor the case.

According to documents, Trump has denied the allegations, stating “These allegations are not only categorically false, but disgusting at the highest level and clearly framed to solicit media attention or, perhaps, are simply politically motivated. There is absolutely no merit to these allegations. Period.”

The suit was voluntarily dismissed in September 16, 2016 and refiled on September 30, 2016 with the witness on board, according to Snopes. Jane Doe said a woman named “Tiffany” told her:

‘If I would join her at the parties, I would be introduced to people who could get me into the modeling profession. Tiffany also told me I would be paid for attending.’

The suit charged the two men of “sexually and physically” abusing the 13-year-old. She said that they forced her:

‘To engage in various perverted and depraved sex acts [including being] “forced to manually stimulate Defendant Trump with the use of her hand upon Defendant Trump’s erect penis until he reached sexual orgasm [and being] forced to engage in an unnatural lesbian sex act with her fellow minor and sex slave, Maria Doe, age 12, for the sexual enjoyment of Defendant Trump.’

They promised her “money and a modeling career.”

The young woman originally filed the lawsuit in California in April, but it was dismissed due to technical filing errors. The suit was refiled in a New York federal court. She did not have the “freedom of will to institute suit earlier in time” due to her, since Trump allegedly threatened her.

The final New York suit was filed with no specific amount of monetary damages listed.

Trump claimed the charges are:

‘Not only categorically false, but disgusting at the highest level and clearly framed to solicit media attention or, perhaps, are simply politically motivated. There is absolutely no merit to these allegations. Period.’

The anonymous woman “Tiffany Doe” corroborated Jane’s allegations, testifying that she met Epstein at Port Authority, where he hired her to recruit other young girls for his parties. Trump had known Epstein for seven years in 1994. He also allegedly knew that the plaintiff was 13 years old.

‘It should be noted that anyone can file a civil complaint in federal court. The statute of limitations in New York for civil rape cases is five years, but [the] complaint argues that the time limit should be waived, noting that the plaintiff was too frightened to report the abuse because Trump had threatened that if she did “her family would be physically harmed if not killed.

‘Both defendants let plaintiff know that each was a very wealthy, powerful man and indicated that they had the power, ability and means to carry out their threats,” the complaint claims.’

The filing also included a statement from “Tiffany Doe” (i.e., the woman referenced in plaintiff’s statement above who brought her to the parties) attesting that:

‘I personally witnessed four sexual encounters that the Plaintiff was forced to have with Mr. Trump during this period, including the fourth of these encounters where Mr. Trump forcibly raped her despite her pleas to stop.

‘I personally witnessed the one occasion where Mr. Trump forced the Plaintiff and a 12-year-old female named Maria [to] perform oral sex on Mr. Trump and witnessed his physical abuse of both minors when they finished the act.

‘It was my job to personally witness and supervise encounters between the underage girls that Mr. Epstein hired and his guests.’

This is what Trump said about Jeffrey Epstein:

‘I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.’

Epstein has been named in multiple similar lawsuits over the last several years, served 13 months in jail, and is registered as a sex offender for life: He flatly denies all charges.

A copy of the California lawsuit can be found on Scribd.

Source : Snopes and Scribd.

We Updated  this post on August 25 2016

In late April 2016, rumors began to circulate online holding that Republican presidential Donald Trump had either been sued over, or arrested for, raping a teenaged girl. One of the earliest versions of the rumor was published on 2 May 2016 by the Winning Democrats web site, which reported that woman using the name Katie Johnson had named Trump and billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in a $100 million lawsuit, accusing them of having solicited sex acts from her at sex parties held at the Manhattan homes of Epstein and Trump back in 1994 (when Johnson was just 13 years old):

The first major scandal to hit the Trump campaign besides the typical “what a racist, such a sexist, yada yada yada,” came from a lawsuit stemming from the infamous sex parties held by billionaire and known pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The woman named in the suit is Katie Johnson, who says Trump took her virginity in 1994 when she was only 13 and being held by Epstein as a slave.

Johnson says in the complaint that Trump and Epstein threatened her and her family with bodily harm if she didn’t comply with all of their disgusting demands. The Trump campaign has been on this immediately, calling it absolute nonsense and not even remotely true or possible.

Many aggregated reports cited a 28 April 2016 article that described the circumstances under which the lawsuit had been filed:

Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is fighting what could be the biggest election season bombshell yet — explosive court claims that he raped a woman when she was a teen.

The woman — identified as Katie Johnson — filed documents in a California court on April 26, accusing Trump and billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein of “sexual abuse under threat of harm” and “conspiracy to deprive civil rights,” RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned.

She filed the lawsuit herself — without legal representation — and is suing for $100 million.

A copy of the California lawsuit (filed on 26 April 2016) shared via the Scribd web site outlined the allegations, which included the accusation that Trump and Epstein had (over 20 years earlier) "sexually and physically" abused the then 13-year-old plaintiff and forced her "to engage in various perverted and depraved sex acts" — including being “forced to manually stimulate Defendant Trump with the use of her hand upon Defendant Trump’s erect penis until he reached sexual orgasm,” and being “forced to engage in an unnatural lesbian sex act with her fellow minor and sex slave, Maria Doe, age 12, for the sexual enjoyment of Defendant Trump” — after luring her to a "series of underage sex parties" by promising her "money and a modeling career":

According to RadarOnline's initial reporting, the lawsuit filed in California on 26 April 2016 was dismissedover technical filing errors (the address listed in court documents was a foreclosed home that has been vacant since its owner died), with the plaintiff failing in her attempt to avoid incurring the cost of the litigation:

A judge recommended on April 29 that “Katie Johnson” should have to pay her own attorneys’ fees and court costs related to the $100 million lawsuit she brought against Trump and billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein over alleged sexual assault charges. Then on May 2, a U.S. District judge ordered the entire lawsuit thrown out.

“Johnson” had previously filed forms asking to be let off the hook for the costs of the lawsuit, claiming she had only $300 to her name ... such an allowance — known as in forma paupers — is only given in civil rights cases in California, and the judge ruled that she “failed to state a claim for relief” on a civil rights basis, even though she “utilized the form provided by the Central District of California for civil actions.”

“Even construing the ... pleading liberally, Plaintiff has not alleged any race-based or class-based animus against her, and consequently, her ... allegations fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted,” the judge wrote ... the address listed on the paperwork leads to an abandoned property, and the phone number goes straight to voicemail.

For his part, Trump asserted that the charges were“not only categorically false, but disgusting at the highest level and clearly framed to solicit media attention or, perhaps, are simply politically motivated,” adding that “There is absolutely no merit to these allegations. Period."

On 20 June 2016, New York City-based blog Gothamist reported that the plaintiff had refiled a similar complaint in a New York State federal court:

A federal lawsuit filed in New York accuses Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of repeatedly raping a 13-year-old girl more than 20 years ago, at several Upper East Side parties hosted by convicted sex offender and notorious billionaire investor Jeffrey Epstein.

The suit, first reported by the Real Deal, accuses Trump and Epstein of luring the anonymous plaintiff and other young women to four parties at Epstein's so-called Wexner Mansion at 9 East 71st Street. Epstein allegedly lured the plaintiff, identified in the suit only as Jane Doe, with promises of a modeling career and cash.

Another anonymous woman, identified in additional testimony as Tiffany Doe, corroborates Jane's allegations, testifying that she met Epstein at Port Authority, where he hired her to recruit other young girls for his parties. Trump had known Epstein for seven years in 1994 when he attended the parties at Wexner, according to the suit. He also allegedly knew that the plaintiff was 13 years old.

Jane Doe filed a similar suit in California in April, under the name Katie Johnson, also accusing Trump and Epstein of rape. That suit was dismissed on the grounds of improper paperwork — the address affiliated with her name was found to be abandoned. Today's suit confirms that the plaintiffs are one and the same.

The online outlet that first reported the second filing in New York explained that the lawsuit might be allowed to proceed even though the statute of limitations for bringing suit has expired, because (according to plaintiff's lawyer) the plaintiff lacked the "freedom of will to institute suit earlier in time" due to her having been threatened by Trump:

It should be noted that anyone can file a civil complaint in federal court. The statute of limitations in New York for civil rape cases is five years, but [the] complaint argues that the time limit should be waived, noting that the plaintiff was too frightened to report the abuse because Trump had threatened that if she did “her family would be physically harmed if not killed.”

“Both defendants let plaintiff know that each was a very wealthy, powerful man and indicated that they had the power, ability and means to carry out their threats,” the complaint claims.

A copy of the New York-based suit was also uploaded to Scribd, and in the second filing (which asked for no specific amount of monetary damages) the plaintiff was represented by Thomas Francis Meagher, a New Jersey patent lawyer who learned of her allegations via an article published on the GossipExtra web site advertising that she was "shopping for an attorney." In a statement attached to her filing, the plaintiff (aka "Jane Doe") asserted:

I traveled by bus to New York City in June 1994 in the hope of starting a modeling career. I went to several modeling agencies but was told that I needed to put together a modeling portfolio before I would be considered. I then went to the Port Authority in New York City to start to make my way back home. There I met a woman who introduced herself to me as Tiffany. She told me about the parties and said that, if I would join her at the parties, I would be introduced to people who could get me into the modeling profession. Tiffany also told me I would be paid for attending.

The parties were held at a New York City residence that was being used by Defendant Jeffrey Epstein. Each of the parties had other minor females and a number of guests of Mr. Epstein, including Defendant Donald Trump at four of the parties I attended. I understood that both Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein knew I was 13 years old.

Defendant Trump had sexual contact with me at four different parties in the summer of 1994. On the fourth and fnial sexual encounter with Defendant Trump, Defendant Trump tied me to a bed, exposed himself to me, and then proceeded to forcibly rape me. During the course of this savage sexual attack, I loudly pleaded with Defendant Trump to stop but he did not. Defendant Trump responded to my pleas by violently striking me in the face with his open hand and screaming that he would do whatever he wanted,

Immediately following this rape, Defendant Trump threatened me that, were I ever to reveal any of the details of Defendant Trump's sexual and physical abuse of me, my family and I wold be physically harmed if not killed.

The filing also included a statement from "Tiffany Doe" (i.e., the woman referenced in plaintiff's statement above who brought her to the parties) attesting that:

I personally witnessed four sexual encounters that the Plaintiff was forced to have with Mr. Trump during this period, including the fourth of these encounters where Mr. Trump forcibly raped her despite her pleas to stop.

I personally witnessed the one occasion where Mr. Trump forced the Plaintiff and a 12-year-old female named Maria [to] perform oral sex on Mr. Trump and witnessed his physical abuse of both minors when they finished the act.

It was my job to personally witness and supervise encounters between the underage girls that Mr. Epstein hired and his guests.

A video reportedly featuring "Katie Johnson" (her identity hidden through the use of facial pixillation, a long blonde wig, and an electronic voice distorter) appeared online, in which she graphically described giving Donald Trump a hand job and being raped by him:

There is little doubt that Donald Trump knows Jeffrey Epstein, as Trump acknowledged in a 2014 New York magazine profile of Epstein:

Epstein likes to tell people that he's a loner, a man who's never touched alcohol or drugs, and one whose nightlife is far from energetic. And yet if you talk to Donald Trump, a different Epstein emerges. "I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,'' Trump booms from a speakerphone. "He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life."

Epstein has been named in multiple similar lawsuits over the last several years, served 13 months in jail, and is registered as a sex offender for life:

Billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has paid another accuser.

The 56-year-old money manager has quietly settled with Jane Doe 102, an unnamed woman who alleged in federal court in Florida that Epstein had induced her to "serve his every sexual whim" from the time she was 15 until she was 19. The woman also claimed Epstein had flown her around the world, paying her "to be sexually exploited by [his friends] ... including royalty, politicians, academicians [and] businessmen."

Epstein flatly denied those charges. But a source close to the financier confirms "the matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties." The woman's lawyer, Robert Josefsberg, wouldn't say how much she's getting. Epstein had in the past offered accusers a minimum of $150,000.

Epstein has settled at least two other civil suits but still faces more than a dozen from women who claim he sexually abused them as minors at his Palm Beach mansion.

Source Snopes.com