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Why Alabama State quarterback Dematrius Davis said he transferred from Auburn football 4-5 minutes BIRMINGHAM — His presence alone spoke volumes. Alongside coach Eddie Robinson Jr. and junior defensive back Irshaad Davis, comprising Alabama State football's contingent at SWAC Media Day on Thursday, was redshirt freshman quarterback Dematrius Davis. When Davis, a former four-star recruit and one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in Texas high school football history, announced his transfer from Auburn to Alabama State in April, he became one of the Hornets' most highly-rated players ever. Word from the Sheraton-Birmingham was that there's still a competition at quarterback, even after 2021 starter Ryan Nettles transferred to Tuskegee. But even if Davis isn't under center when ASU takes on Howard to open its season on Aug. 27, players of his pedigree don't often find their way to Montgomery. And players of any caliber don't often go to media day if there's not a significant role in their future. In February, Robinson went into his philosophy regarding the transfer portal. If Alabama State goes after a transfer, especially one from the FBS level, that player is expected to immediately compete for a starting position. ASU FOOTBALL: Takeaways from the Hornets' Black and Gold scrimmage RECRUITING: How Eddie Robinson Jr. built his first recruiting class at Alabama State "When you're looking at portal kids or transfer kids, the expectation is that they are as good or better than what you already have," Robinson said then. "... We're not recruiting backups when we're looking at portal kids." Davis wasn't supposed to leave Auburn without ever seeing the field. The No. 224 player in the Class of 2021, he was a dynamic dual threat at North Shore High School near Houston. He won two state titles, accumulated more than 13,000 total yards and won 51 of the 54 games he started as a prep player. But when Davis committed to the Tigers, they didn't have a head coach. This offseason, Bryan Harsin brought in transfers Zach Calzada, Robby Ashford and freshman Holden Geriner, while TJ Finley also returned. The writing was on the wall for Davis' time at Auburn. On March 23, he announced he was entering the portal. A day later, his dad told him Alabama State was interested. "I called (Alabama State) up, and it's been love ever since," Davis said. Davis said that the Hornets began recruiting him as soon as he entered the portal. The close proximity between Auburn and ASU only helped matters, as Davis made three visits to ASU and got to meet many players and coaches before committing. In his words, he "knew it was home." "Really just the coaches, the great attitudes everyone had," Davis said of the reasons behind his choice. "I just felt really confident coming into it." EDDIE ROBINSON: New Alabama State coach embraces tradition during first press conference EXCLUSIVE: The Montgomery Advertiser's Q&A with ASU football coach Eddie Robinson Jr. Robinson said that Davis wasn't recruited with any promise of starting. While Alabama State's standards are high when it comes to transfers, those players still have to fight for their spots. Davis, for his part, has embraced going up against Myles Crawley, Joe Owens and company. "Great competition in that quarterback room," he said. "We got about three, four guys that’s ready to go, just like me." Added Robinson: "We expect him to come in and compete and win that position. We understand he has to go out and play. ... I feel so much better about it than the spring because now I can say we have four, five six guys that can play certain positions and the kids have to compete with each other." Davis has four years of eligibility remaining, meaning that no matter what happens this season, his time should come if all goes according to plan. For now, the fact that he chose Alabama State at all can speak for itself. "To get a guy of his caliber to commit to us and still have four years to play, that's huge," Robinson said. "Everybody's excited about him. Now is his opportunity to do what he does best — just play football and do the things we ask of him." Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com, by phone at 334-201-9117 and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.

Derick Hall 'was gone' to NFL, but love for Auburn brought him back Nathan King 4 minutes John Samuel Shenker Discusses Auburn's Summer Football Workouts ATLANTA — Derick Hall’s mind was made up. After the best game of his career — sacking Heisman winner Bryce Young three times in a four-overtime heartbreaker of an Iron Bowl — the 6-foot-4 pass-rusher was ready to call it a career with the Tigers. He informed his family and was on his way out the door. “After the Iron Bowl and heading into the bowl game, I told my mom I was done,” Hall said Thursday at SEC Media Days. “I was gone. I’m going to the league, I’m going to make it happen.” But the former top-150 recruit from Mississippi took a breather, sat down with his family and assessed all his options. And a deep love for his university and football program ultimately made the choice for him. “Why would I leave and miss out on the college experience?" Hall said. "You never get that back. Just being able to play with my brothers one more time. ... I love Auburn, and Auburn loves me back, for sure. Everybody takes care of me. … I wanted to give back to them one more time. If I had to make the decision again, I’d definitely still come back for 2022.” After tying for third in the SEC in sacks last season, Hall represents a massive returning piece for the Tigers' defense. Auburn had only three scholarship players at his edge rusher position exiting the spring, making his senior leadership all the more valuable. The staff added Western Kentucky transfer Marcus Bragg in the offseason, filling out a true second rotation on the edge. Former high-end recruit Dylan Brooks, who didn't play in a game in his first season, will have to catch on quickly, too. "He has no choice," Hall said when asked if Brooks is ready for the increased role. In the spring, Hall's running mate at edge linebacker, former Northwestern transfer Eku Leota, said it's his goal to combine with Hall for the most sacks in Auburn history this season. Leota was highly productive in his first season as a Tiger, finishing second behind Hall on the team in both sacks (seven) and tackles for loss (10). “Leota is my right hand man,” Hall said. “We train together, we work together. … It seems like I’ve known him for forever, even though he’s only coming up on his second year at Auburn.” Hall's skill set has, seemingly, grown steadily over the course of his three seasons at Auburn. He would have likely been a mid-to-late round pick if he had stayed with his initial decision to turn pro, but he doesn't necessarily have goals for his stock or production with the Tigers in 2022. As a senior, he just wants to win. “I haven’t really put a stipulation on what I want to achieve or what I want to do,” Hall said. “You play for each other and play together, everything else will take care of itself. … I want to take the next step in my development. Some times a hand up here, a heel down here is the difference between a sack and a missed tackle. I’ve really been honed in on the little things. “But it’s really not about me; it’s about this team and trying to take things to the next level.”

Tank Bigsby discusses his thoughts on recently hired reciever coach Ike Hilliard Andrew Stefaniak 2 minutes Tank Bigsby was one of the three players chosen to represent Auburn at SEC Media Days, and he made it very clear how much that meant to him. He is working to be a better leader on and off the field. Coach Harsin spoke on that and expressed how hard Bigsby has worked to be a leader for the Auburn football team. During an interview with Auburn running back Bigsby, we asked him, "Tank, Coach Harsin was talking a lot about Ike Hilliard, and I know he isn't your position coach, but what have you seen from him so far?" Bigsby responded, "Coach Ike different. He doesn't talk too much; he stays low, but he's so smart, and he knows the game. That's someone you want on your team. He's not a coach that will yell at you. He's going to get the point to you in a respectful way. He's good at what he's doing. I just met Coach when he got there in the spring. He's a great coach." It seems that every member of the Auburn football program, coaches, and players alike are really enjoying Coach Hilliard. He seems to have a great relationship with everyone on the team and brings so much experience with him. Coach Hilliard is an excellent fit on the Plains and is going to help take the receiver room to the next level.

Shenker on the offense: ‘I think it’s a little bit easier with Eric Kiesau’ JD McCarthy 3-4 minutes All eyes are going to be on Auburn’s offense at the start of the 2022 season. The Tigers will have a new offensive coordinator, a new starting quarterback and an unproven group of receivers. Despite these changes, veteran tight end John Samuel Shenker thinks the group will have it easier than last season. His reasoning is that while Eric Kiesau may be entering his first season as Auburn’s offensive coordinator, he and Bryan Harsin have plenty of experience. “I think it’s a little bit easier this year with [Offensive Coordinator] Eric Kiesau, because they’re on the same page,” he said. “They’ve been together for a while now.” “They see that. And now we get it be a part of that. I think with Eric Kiesau there’s a whole different dimension of communication. Allowing all of us to be on same page and pushing towards the same goal.” Shenker is not wrong, Kiesau spent four seasons at Boise State with Harsin. He was the wide receivers coach from 2017-19 before being promoted to offensive coordinator in 2020. It would make since that the two of them would have a better understanding of what the other is looking for and that it would help the offense. “To be on that same page is really beneficial for our offense,” Shenker added. “Like Tank said, added run emphasis as well. But I also think it creates better communication with our wide receivers and tight ends.” The offense will be put to the test when the Tigers open the season against Mercer in Jordan-Hare Stadium on Sep. 3. Shenker also answered several other questions during his availability, here is everything he said. Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports Well, I think that’s also a testament to Coach Harsin and some of the things we went through. Coming from the season last year and all the guys that are coming back. Knowing where Auburn needs to be and where we were, and I think guys are realizing that. With Derrick Hall and Tank [Bigsby] as well knowing we belong at the top. That’s where our push is. People can say what they want, but they’re not in the locker room. They’re not at practice every day. We believe what we’re doing in the offseason has created momentum, positivity, and what we’re ready to do this fall. Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports Yeah, absolutely. It’s a testament of those guys. They work so hard. They’re also in the rooms and talking with the coaches just trying to better themselves. Especially during this quarterback battle. We’ll see that as fall camp starts. This is where all the hard work pays off. We’ll see that battle as it convenes. We’ll see what happens as we push through into the season.

Harsin on new coordinators for 2022: 'They want to be great' Jason Caldwell 3-4 minutes Late Kick Blitz: Does Auburn have any chance to win 9 games in 2022? ATLANTA, Georgia—Heading into his second season at Auburn, Coach Bryan Harsin feels very good about the changes on his coaching staff with the moves of Jeff Schmedding and Eric Kiesau to coordinator positions along with Roc Bellantoni taking over the special teams. All three were on staff last year with the Tigers with both Schmedding and Kiesau going back with Harsin to his days at Boise State. That familiarity is important and something that Harsin believes is a big deal for his team. On defense, that means Auburn getting someone to run that show that his coach believes is as good as anyone in the country. “Jeff Schmedding is one of the best football coaches I have ever coached with,” Harsin said. “I'd like to say I've coached with some really good coaches and been around some great and fantastic people. He knows the game. He prepares himself. One of the best I've ever seen. He's able to articulate the vision and message that he wants to get to the staff and the players. “He's one of those guys, as a head coach, you don't have to worry about. He's going to get the job done. It's more important to him than it is to me, and you want to be around guys like that.” With a long background of coaching on offense at both wide receiver and quarterback, Kiesau is very familiar with Harsin’s style of play and what he wants out of an offense. That’s just part of what makes him a strong fit for what Auburn wants to do on offense right now, said Harsin. “Have known him for a long time,” Harsin said. “Got a great story. We work really well together. I think we mesh well. I think the ideas I have, he has, the staff has, are all going to be implemented into what we do on the offensive side of the ball. He can organize people. He can align people. He can get his vision and message across very clearly.” Rounding out the new coordinator list is Bellantoni. Auburn’s edge linebackers coach, the veteran will head up the special teams for the Tigers and is someone that Harsin is counting on to carry the message through every facet of the team this fall. “He's been a head coach before, been around football quite a long time,” Harsin said. “He's one of those guys that knows the position that I'm in, how important that special teams coordinator is to relay the message to the entire football team. That's one of the beauties of your special teams coordinator, he gets the whole entire team.” 2COMMENTS Adding that he has seen the players respond to the coordinators in a big way since the end of last season, Harsin said all that’s left is to carry that over to the field. With his guys leading the way, Harsin is confident that’s the next step at Auburn. “All three of those guys, I don't worry one bit about what they're doing each and every day and how they're doing it because their jobs are more important to them than it is to me,” Harsin said. “You just want to be surrounded by people like that that are driven and motivated. They want to be the best. They want to be great.” ">247Sports

Bryan Harsin gets a chance to share his thoughts on Zach Calzada Andrew Stefaniak 3-4 minutes On the final day of SEC Media, Days Bryan Harsin took the stand to update everyone on the state of the Auburn football program. One thing everyone knew would be asked about is the quarterback room. Coach Harsin was asked, "What has Zach Calzada brought to your program, and what plans do you have for him in that quarterback room? Coach Harsin had this to say in response, "Zach has been awesome. He's really been awesome. One thing, when you're talking about quarterbacks, I would say any position, but when you transfer, this goes for all transfer guys, for whatever reason that first opportunity that you took didn't work out. Also being a young player, transitioning to that second year, you also realize you don't know what you don't know coming in. The one thing about Zach that I appreciate when I asked him, What are some of the things that you've learned, like I was asked today, it was really just about what it takes to be successful at this level playing that position. Every day he's been there, just the work ethic, the focus, the attention to detail, the little opportunities to do more when he has a chance to do that, has really become his foundation. So we appreciate that. We appreciate his leadership. We appreciate just his work ethic. He has experience. He's played. The only unfortunate thing is we didn't get a chance to have him in spring because of his shoulder going through all the team periods because we hurt him during the season. It's one of those that you go back and look on it, you're like, Damn, I wish that hadn't have happened. But he's with us now and he's getting his opportunities in the summer. He's going to be full go in the spring. So to me he's provided a lot. I think that quarterback room, the competition in that room, the mentality in that room, Coach Kiesau has done a great job, because we're obviously going through a competition right now. Every single one of those quarterbacks, they bring something to the table. They're all pushing themselves. They know it's really about them, when they get their opportunity to make it count, but also support each other, be great teammates. Hey, we'll make a decision on who gets to play. Maybe it's a couple guys that get an opportunity to play down the road. We don't know that yet, but there will be a decision made at some point going into that Mercer game of who our starter's going to be." It's exciting to see all of the good things that Coach Harsin has to say about Calzada. There will be a battle for the starting job, but if Calzada was to come out on top of that battle, it seems the coaching staff has a ton of belief in him.

so lets hear your reason for all the shootings jj.

Florida linebacker: Auburn's Christian Robinson 'loves physicality' Nathan King 4-5 minutes SEC Media Days: Biggest Question For Mississippi State ATLANTA — In earnest, Christian Robinson and Ventrell Miller got started together in Gainesville. Robinson took over the Gators’ linebackers room in 2018, and Miller had sat out the entire 2017 season. And over the next four seasons, Robinson helped Miller emerge as a starter for the Gators, then an All-SEC selection in 2020. But what Miller remembers more about Robinson, now heading his first season in the same role at Auburn, is the bond they shared off the field. “That’s still my boy,” Miller said of his former coach Wednesday at SEC Media Days. “Coach Rob just did a great job building relationships while he was at Florida. He’s a great guy.” One of four first-year coaches on Bryan Harsin’s Year 2 staff on the Plains, Robinson spent the previous four years under Dan Mullen with the Gators. It was his first assistant job, after five seasons as a grad assistant with Georgia, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. After serving as interim defensive coordinator for the final four games of the season — Florida fired Todd Grantham in early November — Robinson was not retained by new Gators coach Billy Napier. He signed a two-year deal at Auburn worth just under $1.1 million, replacing Jeff Schmedding, who was promoted to defensive coordinator. “Being around him, when I interviewed him — here's a good, young coach,” Harsin said in the spring. “His dad's a high school coach, he's been around the game his whole life, you can tell when you talk to him. Awesome to be around, great energy, the players love him, recruits love him. He gets it.” At Florida, Robinson helped produce three NFL draft picks at linebacker. “He wants it hard-nosed,” Miller said. “He wants you to go out there and fly around, be physical, take on blocks. He wants you to be hitting people. He loves physicality.” A Georgia linebacker from 2009-12, Robinson went 3-1 against Auburn in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, and played inside Jordan-Hare Stadium twice. "I grew up playing in this stadium," Robinson said in the spring. "And every time I have a recruit and we go over things and walk to the stadium, I do get goosebumps. I remember and know what that Saturday feels like. ... In terms of recruiting and building relationships, there's not a better place to do that than in the hot bed of recruiting in the Southeastern Conference." Robinson's linebacker room lost leading tacklers Zakoby McClain and Chandler Wooten, who combined for 189 tackles, from last season. But the fact that every other scholarship player is back — led by senior Owen Pappoe, a former five-star recruit and 2021 team captain — has helped the group's consistency on a practice-to-practice basis this spring, he said. "I think we have a lot of continuity," Robinson said. "I walked in the room, and they do a great job of understanding how you go through an install, how you go through a practice. Having (defensive coordinator) Jeff Schmedding here, too, makes it easy — because it's not like there was a loss of any kind. It's a continuation, and I can amplify what's been going on from my point of view." 2COMMENTS

247sports.com Auburn football: Zach Calzada anxious to prove value with Tigers, QB trainer says Brad Crawford 3-4 minutes 2 Minute Drill: 3 Keys for Auburn offense in 2022 season Auburn quarterback Zach Calzada welcomes the undervalued label among other SEC signal-callers heading into the 2022 college football season, his first with the Tigers after transferring from Texas A&M. Ray Isaac, Calzada's personal quarterback trainer, expects a fierce competition during fall camp with T.J. Finley and believes his client has something to prove now that he's fully-recovered from shoulder surgery this offseason. “Zach played in 12 football games last year … beat Alabama, beat Auburn, beat Missouri … he’s battle-tested,” Isaac told 247Sports this month from Raleigh, N.C. “I think, for sure, this is the right landing spot because (Bryan) Harsin’s offense is a precision offense. If you look at Zach’s stats, if he doesn’t have 19 drops, his complete rate goes to 62%. He's a strong quarterback." Calzada arrived at Auburn in January following the departure of last season's starter Bo Nix, who's now at Oregon. Limited in the spring with the shoulder issue, Calzada was still able to throw in individual drills, participate in position group meetings and take mental reps behind Finley and Auburn's other scholarship quarterbacks throughout practice. Finley started Auburn's final three games last fall, but the Tigers needed additional options this season since two quarterbacks left the program and Calzada was an ideal fit. Rated by Auburn Undercover as one of the team's most important players this season, Calzada finished with 17 touchdowns passes last fall, three coming during Texas A&M's upset win over Alabama. Hobbled with a rolled ankle after throwing a game-tying touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter, Calzada trotted out from the medical tent and converted three times on third down in the final moments to set up the Aggies' game-winning field goal as time expired. “Harsin’s offense is tailor-made for Zach. He’s a precision passer, quick passer and accurate passer," Isaac said. "Go look at the LSU and Auburn (film). In the Bama game, he played the best of any quarterback in America.” Isaac will work with Calzada at his "Sniper School" for three days later this month, before his quarterback begins prep for the start of fall camp on The Plains. "He knows I'm going to work him, hard," Isaac said. Get the fastest scores, stats, news, LIVE videos, and more. CLICK HERE to download the CBS Sports Mobile App and get the latest on your team today. Auburn will be in attendance at SEC Media Days to close this week's event on Thursday with Harsin and three players set to speak. ">247Sports

When could Bryan Harsin name Auburn’s starting quarterback? Updated: Jul. 21, 2022, 9:59 a.m.| Published: Jul. 21, 2022, 9:34 a.m. The latest on Auburn's quarterback race By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com Don’t expect Auburn to name a starting quarterback until the tail end of August. Auburn coach Bryan Harsin does not plan to rush the decision on who will take over as the Tigers’ starter this season following the offseason departure of three-year starter Bo Nix. The competition between T.J. Finley, Zach Calzada, Robby Ashford and Holden Geriner began in earnest during spring practice and has carried through the summer months. Read more Auburn football: What Bryan Harsin said at SEC Media Days Bo Nix was the original NIL star, and look at him now How and why Bryan Harsin hired Auburn GM Drew Fabianich It will continue to wage on well into fall practices, according to Harsin. The second-year coach did not want to commit to a firm deadline for naming a starter, but he gave an indication of when he hopes one is decided upon Thursday at SEC Media Days in Atlanta. “We’ll have one as we get into that first game prep,” Harsin said. “…I usually say it’s about 10 days out is kind of where it’s happened, but we’ll name a starter when it’s right. There will be a time in camp when everybody knows, and then it’s just a matter of how we want to roll it out. So, we’ll know before you guys know, and then we’ll figure out how we roll it out and how we want that whole thing to go. “When you do decide who the quarterback’s going to be, that’s a big moment. Everybody’s going to make a big deal out of it, and that particular player is going to have to handle that; the other guys are going to have to handle that. You want to do it the right way.” Auburn opens the season Sept. 3 at home against Mercer in the first of five consecutive games at Jordan-Hare Stadium to open the season. Ten days prior to the opener would put a decision around Aug. 24. That means a starter could be named three weeks into fall practices, as the team reports for camp Aug. 4 and will hold its first practice Aug. 5. “It’s going to come down to whoever wants it the most,” running back Tank Bigsby said. Finley is the lone player in the room who was with the team last season. The former LSU transfer started the final three games of 2021 for Auburn after Nix sustained a season-ending ankle injury. He also came off the bench to lead a second-half rally against Georgia State early in the season, and he finished the year completing 54.7 percent of his passes for 827 yards, six touchdowns and an interception. Calzada and Ashford both transferred into the program this spring, with Calzada coming over from Texas A&M and Ashford returning to his home state after starting his career at Oregon. Ashford did not see the field at Oregon, but he did impress during his first spring at Auburn, stealing the show on A-Day while taking home offensive MVP honors. He completed 12-of-16 passes for 132 yards during the Tigers’ spring game. Calzada, meanwhile, was limited in the spring while recovering from an injury to his non-throwing shoulder — which he sustained, incidentally, in Texas A&M’s win against Auburn last season. With the Aggies last year, Calzada completed 56.1 percent of his passes for 2,185 yards, 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions while starting 10 games. His best performance came during an upset of Alabama, when he completed 21-of-31 passes for 285 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. “I think that helps him; it doesn’t hurt him,” Harsin said of Calzada’s experience at Texas A&M. “He’s been through it, and the one thing about the quarterback position, and Zach in particular coming in there, as a young player, you don’t know what you don’t know, especially at the quarterback position. I would say T.J.’s the same way, those guys that have transferred in… Those guys, as far as how they prepare and what they need to know, and Zach going through a season and the ups and downs, taking hits, makings throws, winning games — they beat Alabama, great, and there were some other subpar performances in there, just the level of consistency you have to have in preparing yourself each and every week, I think that’s where he can bring an advantage to that and just know that it doesn’t matter if it’s Week 7, you’re going to get back in there on Monday and do the same thing, because if you don’t, whatever team you’re playing, they’re going to beat you if you don’t come out there and do the same kind of work and get better.” Calzada, whose work ethic was lauded by Bigsby — who also said the Texas A&M transfer “has that dog in him” — was cleared for full participation this summer and has been getting requisite reps at the position along with Finley, Ashford and Geriner, the four-star freshman who enrolled in January. Harsin has been impressed with the progress each of the quarterbacks have made this offseason, noting “they’re a lot further than what they were in the spring.” “Those guys, they’ve really, I think, taken the next step in the film room,” Harsin said. “e know they can throw, they can run, they can do all those things. There’s the physical component to it, but it’s really the mental side, and I feel like our preparation and the study habits that Coach Kiesau has implemented—we’re just further along in those areas. So, they understand the system, they understand what we’re trying to do, they understand why we check something, and they can communicate it so when they’re out there with the other guys, they can explain to our other players why we’re doing something, and that’s something you want your guys to be able to do.” Even with a decision on a starting quarterback looming over Auburn’s preseason practices, Harsin said that decision won’t necessarily preclude the other quarterbacks from seeing the field this fall. “The thing about the quarterback position, too, is you may have other guys in there too that contribute,” Harsin said. “It’s not like I haven’t done that in the past, where you got another guy that also comes in and plays and is a part of it, maybe in a package and some other things. We haven’t determined that yet, but when we do, we’ll roll it out, we’ll make it really good for whoever that starter is, and obviously we want to be respectful to the backups because they’re one play away. Those guys are also competing and want to be in that role, but we have to decide what that’s going to look like.” Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

Bryan Harsin’s message to recruits about Auburn: Just watch By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com 6-8 minutes Recruiting is the lifeblood of college football, where talent acquisition is the name of the game. Midway through the 2023 cycle, Auburn is lagging behind the competition. The Tigers have just four commits and the nation’s 74th-ranked class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, but head coach Bryan Harsin isn’t pressing the panic button. Quite the opposite, actually: Harsin is remaining patient and diligent with Auburn’s recruiting efforts this year, and on Thursday at SEC Media Days in Atlanta he shared his message to recruits who may have questions about the direction of the program. “I think the message is: Watch,” Harsin said. “We got to go out there and play. That’s the beauty of what we get a chance to do every Saturday, alright?... We’ve told our recruits: Watch. I think the ones that have been on our campus, they see the energy and the vibe, what’s happening, how the players are responding, coaches are connecting, everything that we’re doing.” Harsin knows the challenge Auburn faces in recruiting this cycle, with the program coming off its first losing season since 2012 — a 6-7 campaign last year that included a five-game losing streak to end the season — and a tumultuous offseason. That included an exodus of players to the transfer portal at the end of the season, turnover on the coaching staff and, most notably, the university inquiry into Harsin that cast a shadow over the program throughout February. Harsin emerged from that inquiry triumphant, and he spoke about the “unfounded” and “uncomfortable” ordeal for the final time Thursday. While the second-year coach has long since put the investigation behind him, it has still left Auburn prone to negative recruiting from competing programs. Between that and the tailspin to end last season, Harsin knows his program must prove itself to recruits, and while he’s confident in how his staff has sold the Auburn experience to visiting prospects this year, he’s hopeful on-field results will provide a deserved boost with recruiting. “There’s a great energy in our program right now,” Harsin said. “There’s alignment in our program right now. I know those recruits and families feel that when they step on campus. Auburn sells itself. It’s a beautiful campus. It’s a phenomenal stadium. The people there are fantastic. Everything about it is what you want to be a part of. “Now we got to put a product on the field that players want to be a part of. We want to go out there and be successful. Our guys know that. We know that.” Auburn opens the season with five straight games at Jordan-Hare Stadium, which running back Tank Bigsby acknowledged Thursday could help reverse the momentum from the backslide at the end of last season. The Tigers will need to take advantage of that friendly opening stretch, particularly with road trips to Alabama and Georgia, as well as a mid-November clash with Texas A&M, looming after that start. “There’s a lot more that goes into it than just grabbing the popular guy and those things like that,” Harsin said. “We’re all competing for them, they got a lot on their plate, they’re trying to figure it out, and most likely as the season goes on they’ll make decisions based off that, where the teams are doing really well and where they end up going, and where that momentum’s at in the season, too. A lot of guys, like, if there’s a lot of momentum on a team, they might go, ‘I want to go to that team.’ They can change their mind, and until December, they got a chance to do that.” In the meantime, Auburn hopes it can continue to build on its 2023 class as it tries to correct course on the field this fall. Auburn’s four current commits are the fewest among SEC teams, and the Tigers’ 74th-ranked class is also the lowest-ranked in the league at this time — 10 spots below the next-lowest ranked SEC class, Missouri. The bright side for Auburn is that it gained some positive momentum earlier this month, with four-star running back Jeremiah Cobb committing July 1 and four-star receiver Karmello English pledging to the program July 4. That gave Auburn two of the top-16 players in the state of Alabama during a cycle that many believe to be the strongest in the state, talent-wise, in some time. The other saving grace for Auburn, despite having just four commits—the other two being four-star safety Terrance Love and four-star offensive lineman Bradyn Joiner—is that the Tigers have the fourth-best average ranking per commit (91.55) among SEC teams, trailing only Alabama (94.13), Georgia (93.15) and LSU (91.59). Each of those teams has at least 13 commits so far this cycle. Auburn still has a long way to go in filling out its class, and only time will tell if the Tigers can put together another strong finish during December’s early signing period. But Harsin is remaining confident in the program’s ability to turn things around, and he believes the recent addition of longtime NFL scout Drew Fabianich as the program’s general manager will help further advance the team’s recruiting efforts. “There’s a lot of time between now and when December comes to go out there and see what happens during the season, see how the team’s improved,” Harsin said. “There’s going to be a lot of narrative changes that happen during that time. I will say this: All these players, they’re all open. They’re still all open. These guys, they’re trying to figure it out; they’re 17 years old.…The key is you got to stay focused on what you’re trying to get done, alright, in your recruiting. “Like, who are you trying to bring in? Because the guys you do bring in, you want them to stay and to be a part of your team and your family, and they’re going to help come in there and develop your team.” Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

i have posted this twice in others articles. no i have not lost my mind i just felt some folks would not read the whole article and thought they might rather listen as you get tone in his speech as well. and i wanted to back todd up.

if biden was that bad and at that time yall were big on trump who do you give the credit too for trump losing? you one of those thinking the election was stolen?

the same reason someone wears a certain haircut or skintight jeans. because they are popular. and they are popular. wildly popular. most perps or even home owners know people fear those guns more than others is my take on it. and of course there is the mental aspect of this like mental illness. but me? i think it is anger. there is more anger in this country than i ever remember. these folks think they are heroes doing the right thing to some people or peers if you will. people being convinced that the left AND the right are destroying this country and both sides have acted out tho i believe the right owns more than the lions share. there is no more agreeing to disagree now it is screw you buddy you get in my lane and i am gonna screw you up. we are all gangs or tribal to some degree and right now people are being taught to hate each other and i will believe that with my last breath. people are being taught by talking heads on television and politicians to lie their asses off instead of trying to be honest. little people are getting thrown under the bus. i dread to see america in a hundred years as i believe we will become a tent city. we have pols on both sides of the aisle making america worse instead of better while making sure that THEY get their own. so you decide to go to church. you find out most are political and many christian institutions are as corrupt as anything. you have preachers pulling in millions and they go buy property in bermuda instead of feeding the hungry and giving shelter with that money they took in the name of the lord. you know why gangs are so strong in this country? because they are treated better by their peers than their own country. i read a book on it that a british cop went to detroit as it was his dream and he discovered why. the gangs reach out and feed their own and all of that sort of thing because either by stupidity or corruption they are failing their people. i tried to give a few examples but it comes down in my eyes is anger. people are being convinced they are getting screwed and they are pissed. and some are. in fact it is probably more anger than mental illness.

The Secret Service erased text messages that could help verify, or rebut, some of the most stunning testimony about President Donald Trump’s actions during the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021. Secret Service officials say the wiped messages were part of a prescheduled “reset” of their phones. But House lawmakers have cast doubt on that explanation for the missing messages, which cover critical moments leading up to and through the Jan. 6 insurrection. “I smell a rat,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told a reporter Wednesday. Rep. Jamie Raskin speaks during a hearing of the House select committee probing the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images) Members of the House select committee looking into the events of Jan. 6, as well as others, have been pushing the Secret Service to turn over texts and other records as part of their investigations into the attack. Last week, news reports revealed that the Secret Service had deleted the requested messages, according to the government watchdog that oversees the Department of Homeland Security. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi called the reports “categorically false” at the time. The agency was engaged in a prescheduled reset of devices before receiving the request from the DHS inspector general to protect records, according to a Secret Service statement. However, the text messages were requested before they were deleted. “Congress informed the Secret Service it needed to preserve and produce documents related to January 6 on January 16, 2021, and again on January 25, 2021, for four different committees who were investigating what happened, according to the source,” CNN reported Wednesday. “The Secret Service migration did not start until January 27, 2021.” Immediately following the reports, the Jan. 6 committee, which includes Raskin, subpoenaed the Secret Service for the texts. Earlier this week, the agency turned over one text message to the panel, according to a committee aide who said lawmakers are still looking at ways to find the messages. “We have concerns about a system migration that we have been told resulted in the erasure of Secret Service cell phone data,” the Jan. 6 committee said in a statement released Wednesday. A Secret Service officer during a visit by President Biden to Darby, Pa., in March 2021. (Pete Bannan/MediaNews Group/Daily Times via Getty Images) A committee staffer said Wednesday in a briefing with reporters that “members are still determining exactly how to get the information we’re seeking.” The Secret Service got pulled into an offshoot of the sweeping Jan. 6 hearings late last month after former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson relayed a story from fellow aide Tony Ornato — who previously served in the Secret Service and is currently a high-ranking official in the organization — that Trump lunged at his security detail and attempted to force them to drive him to the Capitol to join the rioters. Secret Service officials, speaking anonymously, denied that account. But Ornato and another agent, Bobby Engel, have not yet spoken publicly about the incident. A Washington, D.C., police officer who was part of Trump’s motorcade that day confirmed Hutchinson’s testimony in an interview with House investigators recently, according to a CNN report. The stunning depiction of Trump thrusting at his own protectors caught the most attention, but House investigators have uncovered multiple other events about which questions remain. In one particularly chilling scene recounted by former Vice President Mike Pence’s ex-counsel, Greg Jacob, agents wanted to drive Pence from a secure location beneath the Capitol to Joint Base Andrews during the Capitol assault. The seemingly innocuous request, however, may have been enough for Trump to claim that the election result was never certified and that therefore the transfer of power to Joe Biden was not complete, based on Trump lawyer John Eastman’s legal reasoning. Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the University Club of Chicago on June 20. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images) “I know you, I trust you, but you’re not the one behind the wheel,” Pence told one of his agents with him at the time, according to Jacob. Pence and his team have not explained exactly what he meant by that statement. But Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker reported in their book, “I Alone Can Fix It,” that Pence was wary of unchecked support for Trump among the rank and file of the Secret Service. And Pence’s former national security adviser, Keith Kellogg, testified that he had to tell Ornato on Jan. 6 not to direct that the vice president be driven away from the Capitol.

Republicans Are Bending Over Backward To Blame Anything But Guns For Shootings — Here Are 19 Ridiculous Things They've Blamed Instead Wed, July 20, 2022 at 10:16 PM·13 min read In the wake of continued mass shootings, gun laws have become an increasingly contentious issue for many Americans. Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images To many, the solution to mass shootings seems easy — ban assault rifles. Raise the age to purchase a gun. Require background checks for anyone looking to buy a gun. Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images However, others feel that "blaming guns" is the wrong answer.* Instead, they're bending over backward to blame mass shootings on any number of other things. Here are just a few of the moronic comments they've made! *I'm sure this has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that many of them receive money from the NRA. 1.ABORTION RIGHTS: When Missouri representative Billy Long was asked if there was any desire to look at doing things differently when it came to guns, he replied, "No one has been able to come up with any kind of suggestion that would have helped in any of these situations" and that "unfortunately, they're trying to blame inanimate objects for all of these tragedies." Literally no one is saying guns get up and walk themselves to schools and fire on their own. That doesn't change the fact that adjusting gun laws would decrease mass shootings as it has in many other countries. Nicholas Kamm / AFP via Getty Images He then continued, "When I was growing up in Springfield, you had one or two murders a year. Now, we have two, three, four a week in Springfield, Missouri, so something has happened to our society, and I go back to abortion. When we decided it was OK to murder kids in their mother's wombs, life has no value to a lot of these folks." I really wonder what the correlation is between people who have gotten abortions and mass shooters. Seeing as most mass shooters typically do not have a uterus...I'm gonna say it's pretty low. And does anyone remember a mass shooter who was super vocally pro-abortion? Long does not appear to have apologized for or clarified these comments, and last month retweeted an article with a similar sentiment. RINGO CHIU/AFP via Getty Images Listen to his words here: 2.WEED: Fox News host Tucker Carlson recently blamed mass shootings on the legalization of weed. “They are high on government-endorsed weed," Carlson said of mass shooters. "‘Smoke some more, it’s good for you...’” he seemed to imply the government says. Janos Kummer / Getty Images 3.WOMEN IN GENERAL: Carlson also said young men commit mass shootings because "the authorities in their lives ― mostly women ― never stops lecturing them about their so-called privilege.” 4.SPECIFICALLY, WORKING WOMEN: Former New Hampshire Sen. Jim Rubens blamed mass shootings on the rise in working women in a 2009 blog post, and doubled down on the claim during his 2014 run for Senate. "The collaborative, flexible, amorphously hierarchical American economy is shutting out ordinary men who were once the nation's breadwinners in living-wage labor and manufacturing jobs," he wrote in his blog. In defending these comments in 2013 to BuzzFeed News, he said that the loss of these jobs (linked to the rise of women in the workforce) "has increased stress in males" to the point where some "engage in acts of extreme violence." However, Rubens said he supported women in the workforce and that the solution to the issue he raised would be to increase manufacturing jobs, not decrease the number of working women. "If you read the ... posting, I don't see anything that causes anyone to conclude I'm seeking to in any way make a claim that it's not great that women have come up in the economy," he told BuzzFeed News. After the article was published, he took down the blog post. Jim Cole / AP 5.MEDICATION: Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed mass shootings on medication, and said a "return to God" would solve the issue. She also tweeted the next day that most school/mass shooters have "experienced severe trauma in childhood," are "susceptible to depression, anxiety, thought disorders," saying this leads them to medication. "Taking meds like SSRIs have dangerous side effects that can no longer be ignored. Among many other side effects they can cause suicidal and homicidal thoughts," she continued. "Most school/mass shooters have taken or recently stopped taking medications for mental illness." While it is often true that childhood trauma is at play for mass shooters (this is not, however, to say that experiencing trauma in childhood means someone is going to act violently), and that SSRIs can have side effects like suicidal thoughts, especially in young people, the overgeneralizations Greene made and the implication that SSRIs are responsible for school shootings are largely baseless and confuse correlation with causation. Jessica Mcgowan / Getty Images TRANSGENDER RIGHTS: Taylor Greene also referenced "being raised in an American Godless culture that hates masculinity, demeans men, puts girls or trans above boys or turns boys into girls, [and] teaches fleshly desires over responsibility/work" as contributing to a "deadly recipe for mass murder." It does not appear Taylor Greene ever walked back or apologized for these statements. Drew Angerer / Getty Images 6.DRAG QUEENS and GAY MARRIAGE: Former Ohio lawmaker Candice Keller blamed shootings on a number of things, including (but not limited to): drag queens, gay marriage, weed, open borders, and professional athletes who take a knee during the national anthem. Oh, and "snowflakes." 7.THE COVID-19 VACCINE: Patrick J. Brosnan, a retired NYPD detective and security analyst for many national news networks, said on Fox News that vaccinations would cause mass shootings. "They were just scared to come out," Brosnan said, suggesting shooters were afraid of getting COVID-19 and once they were vaccinated, that fear would diminish and they'd be back. Fox Listen to the clip here: 8.SMARTPHONES: Texas Rep. Pat Fallon pointed out last month that guns have "always" been readily available, but that mass shootings are mostly a modern phenomenon. “So what’s changed in the last 50 years?" he asked. Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images “There’s been a noticeable breakdown of the family, there’s been an erosion of faith, and there’s been a seismic drop in social interaction in large measure due to the overuse of these dang smartphones and the proliferation of social media, which is probably better described as anti-social media," Fallon said. 9.MEN LOOKING AT WOMEN ON SOCIAL MEDIA(??): Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker suggested in May that we should put more money toward the “mental health field,” suggesting a department be created to "look at young men that's looking at women that's looking on social media." 10."GODLESSNESS": After the El Paso and Dayton shootings, former Arkansas governor (and 2016 presidential hopeful) Mike Huckabee said the common denominator of shootings were not guns, but "hate inside the heart," a "loss of morality," and "disconnecting from a God who values all people." In the past, he's also blamed school shootings on the lack of Christian curriculum in schools. “We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools,” Huckabee said on Fox News in 2012. “Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage? Because we’ve made it a place where we don’t want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability — that we’re not just going to have [to] be accountable to the police if they catch us, but one day we stand before, you know, a holy God in judgment. If we don’t believe that, then we don’t fear that.” Steven Ferdman / Getty Images 11.DECLINING CHURCH ATTENDANCE: Just days after the Uvalde shooting, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz gave a speech at the NRA convention and similarly blamed shootings on a lack of religion, among other things. "Tragedies like the events of this week are a mirror forcing us to ask hard questions, demanding that we see where our culture is failing. Looking at broken families, absent fathers, declining church attendance, social media bullying, violent online content, desensitizing the act of murder in video games, chronic isolation, prescription drug and opioid abuse, and their collective effects on the psyche of young Americans," Cruz said. Brandon Bell / Getty Images 12.VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES: Like Cruz, former president Trump also blamed shootings on video games. “We must stop the glorification of violence in our society,” he said in the wake of two mass shootings in one weekend in 2019. “This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace." Many studies done on the matter over the last few decades have turned up no solid evidence that violent video games cause shootings, though the theory continues to be touted by Republicans today. Justin Sullivan / Getty Images 13.CRITICAL RACE THEORY: Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson blamed shootings on "wokeness" and critical race theory. “We stopped teaching values in so many of our schools. Now we’re teaching wokeness,” Johnson said in the wake of the Uvalde shooting. “We’re indoctrinating our children with things like CRT, telling, you know, some children they’re not equal to others and they’re the cause of other people’s problems.” Critical race theory teaches how America's institutions, policies, and laws have been shaped by racism. Anchor Neil Cavuto replied to Johnson's comments on air, saying shootings were happening before CRT and "wokeness," but Johnson said that those things had been "going on under the radar for quite some time." STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images 14.GUN REGULATIONS: Former Pennsylvania Sen. and presidential hopeful Rick Santorum blamed the El Paso shooting on the fact that unarmed people couldn't defend themselves, calling the Walmart shoppers "soft targets" that tempted a shooter. Texas is an open carry state where the shoppers could've been armed, without the El Paso shooter being able to tell in order to target/not target them, so...this argument's pretty stupid. Alex Wong / Getty Images 15.FATHERLESSNESS: Utah Sen. Mike Lee suggested that not having a father was to blame for shootings. "Why is our culture suddenly producing so many young men who want to murder innocent people?" Lee asked, saying, "it raises questions like, could fatherlessness, the breakdown of families, isolation from civil society, or the glorification of violence be contributing factors?" There is no solid evidence that fatherlessness is to blame for gun violence. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images 16.LIBERAL TEACHERS: Heather Ann Sprague, a Republican candidate for the Maine House of Representatives, blamed the Uvalde shooting on "liberal teachers," seemingly in reference to a false claim that the Uvalde shooter was transgender. Heather Anne Sprague / Facebook / Via facebook.com “All I have to say is this is the result of what happens when kids are pushed past their limits. It's obvious he was brainwashed in school by liberal teachers to think he shouldn’t be a male. If this crap doesn’t stop, we will have more shootings because there are a lot more confused, fed up and now mentally ill kids out there thanks to the #publicschoolsystem THIS is why I have been TRYING to get the truth out about what the schools are doing to our youth because it’s DANGEROUS,” Sprague posted on Facebook. She later posted an apology, writing, "I let my concern and some false information get the best of me." Heather Anne Sprague / Facebook / Via Facebook: photo 17.SANCTUARY CITIES: Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe blamed shootings (like the Las Vegas shooting) on a culture of lawlessness created by the existence of sanctuary cities — where local law enforcements limit how much they'll enforce immigration law in their city. "I’m saying we’re inundated with permissive laws — that has a lot more to do with it than gun [ownership] laws," Inhofe said. Stefani Reynolds / Getty Images 18.BLACK PEOPLE: Arizona Senate candidate Blake Marsters blamed gun violence and shootings in the US in general on Black people. "It's gangs. It's people in Chicago, St. Louis shooting each other. Very often, you know, Black people, frankly. And the Democrats don't want to do anything about that." He also said Democrats "don't like the Second Amendment" because "it frankly blocks a lot of their plans for us." Marsters released a statement standing by his comments after backlash over them. "Journalists only cover shootings where the shooters and victims fit a certain profile," Masters wrote. "But most victims of gun murder in America are Black men. And most perpetrators of gun murder in America are Black men. These are simple facts, go look up the FBI crime statistics and CDC cause of death data while you still can." He also said, "There's an epidemic of violence that’s killing young Black men in America," and he "actually want[s] to solve it." Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images 19.And finally, ZOMBIES: Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin blamed shootings on violent television — specifically with zombies. “What’s the most popular topic that seems to be in every cable television network? Television shows are all about, what? Zombies! I don’t get it … now it's all about zombies. Which is what we are. We celebrate death." Scott Olson / Getty Images “When a culture is surrounded by, inundated by, rewards things that celebrate death, whether it is zombies in television shows, the number of abortions…there’s a thousand justifications for why we do this," Bevin said. Bevin later made more general remarks after his zombie comments made the rounds on social media. “We have a cultural problem. We celebrate death in America. And we do not celebrate life. At every turn, we denigrate human life. We disregard the sanctity of human life from beginning to end and all these things have an effect, and we are reaping what we have sown for decades." Scott Olson / Getty Images

rollingstone.com Jan. 6 Committee Hearing to Showcase Pro-Trump Lawmakers Fleeing Mob Adam Rawnsley 16-20 minutes July 20, 2022 9:38PM ET Exclusive: Jan. 6 Committee Plans to Humiliate MAGA Lawmakers Who Cowered During Capitol Attack Pro-Trump lawmakers have spent much of the past 17 months claiming the Jan. 6 carnage was overstated. The committee plans to show how they behaved while under siege Pro-Trump protesters gather in front of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Jon Cherry/Getty Images The Jan. 6 committee plans to use its Thursday night hearing to call out insurrection-friendly lawmakers who cowered during the Capitol attack but have since downplayed the insurrection’s severity, according to two sources familiar with the committee’s planning. “They have plans to paint a really striking picture of how some of Trump’s greatest enablers of his coup plot were — no matter what they’re saying today — quaking in their boots and doing everything shy of crying out for their moms,” one source tells Rolling Stone. “If any of [these lawmakers] were capable of shame, they would be humiliated.” Throughout its hearings, the committee has made extensive use of photo and video evidence, including, at times, footage of lawmakers reacting to a mob of Donald Trump supporters who fought through a police line to break into the Capitol. The committee has at times switched plans at the last minute, and it remains unclear which specific lawmakers the committee could call out. But at least some Republicans have already had their attempts to downplay or justify the attempted coup undone by footage from the day of the attack. When Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga) claimed the insurrection “a normal tourist visit,” social media users quickly located photos of the Georgia Republican gasping in terror and hiding behind an armed Capitol police officer pointing a handgun at a barricaded entrance to the Senate floor. In the 18 months since the insurrection, Republican lawmakers have tried to whitewash the insurrection through a series of contradictory talking points. Republicans have alternately downplayed the attack by calling it “a peaceful protest,” claimed it was violent but that the violence was carried out solely by nonexistent “antifa” at the Capitol or federal informants, or that Democrats were to blame for failing to adequately defend the Capitol against the protesters they variously claim weren’t violent or a threat. Republicans like Reps. Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Paul Gosar have gone so far as to cast alleged rioters held in pretrial detention as unjustly accused political prisoners. The bulk of the Thursday night hearing is expected to focus on Trump’s actions during the insurrection, including whether he took any action to defuse the riot at a time when lawmakers were under attack. But using photos and footage to slap down MAGA lawmakers’ claims of a “tourist visit” from “peaceful patriots” is part of a broader effort to bring reality to bear on a fictitious, pro-Trump reimagining of Jan. 6. That mythology, peddled widely in conservative media, claims Trump and his allies planned a peaceful rally to highlight credible reports of systemic election fraud, exercising their First Amendment rights in an effort to protect democracy. In that warped telling, the peaceful demonstrations were hijacked by a small number of violent extremists with no connection to Trump or his team. And, as the lie goes, Democrats have since wildly overstated the violence as a political ploy. Through interviews with more than 1,000 individuals and reviews of more than 125,000 records, the Jan. 6 committee has debunked every part of that narrative. Instead, the committee has demonstrated that Trump attempted to steal an election he was repeatedly told he’d lost. And that his efforts to steal it included directing a wildly unconstitutional phony electors scheme — and priming his supporters for a Capitol attack. As Trump spoke at his pre-planned rally near the White House, he called for a march on the U.S. Capitol, bolstering a crowd of people that violently clashed with law enforcement. Testimony given to the committee indicated that Trump and members of the administration were aware of the potential for violence, and witnesses have alleged that Trump went so far as to ask for security at his Ellipse rally to be loosened so armed individuals could enter the crowd. Trump’s team has attempted to distance itself from any of the Capitol events, but the committee has revealed that the former presidents call for his supporters’ march was premeditated. The committee obtained a draft of an unsent tweet in which Trump teased a march to the Capitol following his speech at the Ellipse. “I will be making a Big Speech at 10 a.m. on January 6th at the Ellipse (South of the White House),” read the draft tweet, preserved by the National Archives. “Please arrive early, massive crowds expected. March to the Capitol after. Stop the steal!” The committee also displayed a text exchange from Jan. 4 between White House Ellipse rally organizer Kylie Kremer and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell in which the pair discussed a secret plan to have Trump call for protesters to march to a second location, either the Supreme Court or Capitol, on Jan. 6. In the exchange Kremer urged Lindell to keep the plans secret, since they did not have permits for the march. Jan 6. committee displays a Jan. 4th text exchange between rally organizer Kylie Kremer and Mike Lindell discussing secret plans to have Trump call for protesters to march to second location, either the Supreme Court or Capitol on the 6th. pic.twitter.com/KFfi2mDMQ2 — nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) July 12, 2022 A second text message from Ali Alexander written on Jan. 5 outlined that plan for the next day. “Tomorrow: Ellipse then US Capitol. Trump is supposed to order us to capitol at the end of his speech but we will see.” Rolling Stone this spring reported that top Trump officials held a phone call with Kremer in which they actively planned for the march. Trump’s team has also sought to portray Trump as opposed to the Capitol violence, but the committee revealed he actively resisted efforts to quell the violence — including by refusing to call their actions “illegal” when prompted to do so. In her bombshell testimony before the committee, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson revealed that she had drafted a statement for President Trump asking protesters who had entered the Capitol “illegally” to leave. According to Hutchinson, former white House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows took the draft statement to Trump, who scratched out the word “illegally” and refused to issue it. Hutchinson was told there would be no “further action on that statement.” Hutchinson note on statement dictated by Meadows for Trump to put out. Meadows came back after meeting w/ Trump and said “we don’t need to take further action on that statement,” and it was never issued, Hutchinson testifies. pic.twitter.com/dAIMnnwZC2 — Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) June 28, 2022 Stephanie Grisham, former chief of staff and press secretary to First Lady Melania Trump, later tweeted out a screenshot today of a text exchange between her and the first lady on Jan. 6, in which Melania refused to issue a statement condemning “lawlessness and violence” by protesters. Grisham resigned from her position later that day. pic.twitter.com/PQXLSsv6IJ — Stephanie Grisham (@OMGrisham) June 28, 2022 Indeed, Trump has since continually considered ways to lessen the legal consequences for the Capitol rioters. Hutchinson also revealed that Trump wanted to include language in his Jan. 7 speech about pardoning his supporters who stormed the Capitol, and that Meadows agreed with the inclusion of such language. According to previous testimony given by Hutchinson, the pardon offer was ultimately removed from the speech on the advice of the White House counsel’s office. Trump wanted to include a mention about pardons for January 6th rioters in January 7th speech. Meadows was encouraging it pic.twitter.com/Zf2EMURGom — Acyn (@Acyn) June 28, 2022 The possibility of pardons has remained in the president’s mind since he left office. At a January rally in Houston, he told supporters “If I run, and if I win, we will treat those people from Jan. 6 fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons, because they are being treated so unfairly.” The Jan. 6 insurrection was the highest profile part of a broader effort to steal the 2020 election, but it was far from the only way Trump and his team tried to overturn the results. The committee has revealed Trump took a “direct and personal role” in efforts to pressure states to change their results or appoint phony electors who’d contravene voters by throwing their support to Trump. In the committee’s fourth hearing, lawmakers described Trump pressuring individual state legislators to go back into session and declare him the true winner of the 2020 election. Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, was told by the former president to “find” the votes necessary to give him the state. A separate scheme was concocted by Trump lawyer John Eastman to send two slates of alternate electors, declaring Trump the winner, to the congressional certification of the electoral college vote and having Vice President Pence use the false electors in the vote. Eastman knew the scheme was illegal, and admitted so in front of Trump days before the electoral college certification. The committee revealed on June 21 that this scheme culminated in an attempt by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis) to deliver the fake electors to Pence on Jan. 6. None of this was in response to credible information about systemic election fraud, and Trump knew that — or at least he would have, had he listened to multiple high-level members of his administration. During its first hearing, the committee played recorded testimony from Trump’s former Attorney General Bill Barr. In his testimony Barr told the committee that he had been clear with the former President that his claims that the 2020 election had been stolen from him were “bull****.” Barr would go on to testify that attempts, by him and other advisors, to convince Trump that the 2020 election was legitimate were futile, and described Trump as being “detached from reality.” Former acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue also testified to the committee that he unsuccessfully attempted to reach through to President Trump: “I tried to, again, put this in perspective and try to put it in very clear terms to the president. I said something to the effect of, ‘Sir, we’ve done dozens of investigations, hundreds of interviews. The major allegations are not supported by the evidence developed.’” not sure this will work because most repubs have no shame. none.................

i was hoping for a little more than just shots..............that is my job. i am beginning to think they do not get along. maybe she is keeping a low profile so the joe taint will not cling to her? but again if trump had not been such an ass and a crook biden would not be in office and you know this.........

i was just hoping some that use the bible to justify end abortion would share more on the topic. i have yet to make my stance concrete either way. i do not want to kill babies but they ignore all science and one of my best friends says that as soon as you release your sperm in a womans body it is a baby. i never disagree or it is bye bye friendship. hell he used to march with his wife with the anti abortion crowd but quit just a few years ago. all i know is people have been using the bible to hurt others for thousands of years. it is sickening and depressing.

when the dems quit being a joke in alabama i will get more serious. right now i have been voting to keep someone worse in my personal opinion out of office than voting to put someone in office.