Government Lawyers Are Redefining ‘Public Nuisance’ To Enrich Friends And Punish Foes

Government officials who hire friends from the private sector to profit off of bogus public nuisance cases erode our fragile legal system.

Trump launches class action lawsuit against Big Tech giants



Former President Donald Trump announced class action lawsuits Wednesday against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the leaders of three Big Tech companies that banned him from their platforms after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol building.

Speaking at a news conference at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Wednesday morning, Trump said he would be the lead plaintiff in the class action suit filed in partnership with the America First Policy Institute, a new nonprofit think-tank that advocates for Trump's policies. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

NEW: President Trump announces class action lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter and Google. https://t.co/fOdONirhSM

— Anders Hagstrom (@Hagstrom_Anders) 1625672239.0

"I stand before you this morning to announce a very important and very beautiful, I think, development for our freedom and our freedom of speech ... today, in conjunction with the America First Policy Institute, I'm filing as the lead class action representative a major class action lawsuit against the Big Tech giants including Facebook, Google and Twitter, as well as their CEOs," Trump said.

The lawsuit seeks a court order to immediately halt social media platforms "illegal, shameful, censorship of the American people." The former president is demanding an end to shadow-banning, blacklisting, and canceling of conservatives by Big Tech companies.

"Our case will prove this censorship is unlawful, it's unconstitutional, and it's completely un-American," Trump said.

In January, after a mob of Trump supporters gathered at the U.S. Capitol and got into violent altercations with police officers, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube — which is owned by Google — each announced that Trump would no longer be able to use their platforms. The tech companies claimed that Trump's repeated insistence that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and that President Joe Biden's victory was illegitimate incited the violence at the Capitol.

Twitter permanently banned Trump, citing the "risk of further incitement of violence" by his account, while Facebook indefinitely deplatformed the sitting president. After Facebook's Oversight Board criticized the company for imposing an arbitrary punishment on Trump, the company clarified that Trump will remain deplatformed through Jan. 7, 2023, at least. Trump's YouTube channel remains indefinitely suspended until there is no longer a "risk of incitement to violence."

"There is no better evidence that Big Tech is out of control than the fact that they banned the sitting president of the United States earlier this year," Trump told the gathered reporters. "If they can do it to me, they can do it to anyone."

First reported by Axios, Trump's lawsuit will also seek the immediate restoration of his social media accounts and "punitive damages" on the Big Tech giants.

The lawsuits also target the liability protections Big Tech companies enjoy under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

"While the social media companies are officially private entities, in recent years they have ceased to be private with the enactment and their historical use of Section 230, which profoundly protects them from liability," Trump said. "It is in effect a massive government subsidy, these companies have been co-opted, coerced and weaponized by government actors to become the enforcers of illegal, unconstitutional censorship."

The former president accused social media companies of coordinating with federal public health officials during the pandemic to censor certain speech. Trump pointed to policies that banned users for sharing "misinformation" about COVID-19, such as opinions that raised questions about the origins of the virus and whether it was leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Big Tech companies became "the de-facto censorship arm of the U.S. government," Trump said.

'That is theft!' — Pat Gray calls out 'despicable' FBI for seizure of property belonging to innocent citizens



Unless a federal judge intervenes, innocent Americans may never see $85 million in cash, precious metals, and family heirlooms seized by the FBI during a raid on Private Vaults (USPV).

USPV was indicted by the feds for conspiracy to sell drugs and launder money, which led to the seizure of 800 safety deposit boxes, only a few of which were reported to have been included in the search warrant.

According to a report, "The asset list in the seizure notice discloses more than a dozen boxes containing more than $1 million each in cash, and many more in six figures. Others list jewelry, collectible coins, gold and silver, and 'Precious Items' with nominal $1 figures.The FBI appears to have exceeded the search warrant approved by the court, which prohibited snooping on the box contents except to 'identify their owners in order to notify them' about claiming their property."

The report also stated, "The Institute for Justice (IJ) is seeking class-action status, for a May lawsuit by several owners alleging "shocking, unconscionable, and unconstitutional" behavior by the government. IJ attorney Robert Frommer accused the feds of an "$85 million cash grab" from people who were not accused of wrongdoing."

On Monday's show, Pat Gray called the FBI "despicable" for confiscating property belonging to USPV clients who were never charged with a crime.

After the lawsuit was filed, the FBI reportedly offered to return some property to the original owners but those included in the suit say they still have not received their property.

"That is theft," Pat asserted.

He added that he wasn't sure which constitutional amendment was more violated, the First Amendment — free speech or the Fourth Amendment — illegal search and seizure.

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