[FoxNews] The FBI seized devices from First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks III
The FBI on Wednesday raided the homes of at least three high-ranking members of New York City Mayor Eric Adams' administration, Fox News Digital has confirmed.
FBI agents showed up to the homes of First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks III early Wednesday and seized electronic devices.
Agents also searched the home of Timothy Pearson, a former high-ranking official in the New York Police Department who now advises the mayor on public safety.
Fox News Digital reached out to the mayor's office and the New York City Law Department for comment but did not immediately hear back.
The FBI's New York City field office declined to comment on the raid when reached by Fox News Digital.
The FBI also conducted a raid on the home of NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, according to the New York Post.
The NYPD told Fox News Digital it "is aware of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York involving members of service. The Department is fully cooperating in the investigation. Any questions regarding the investigation should be directed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office."
The searches marked the latest sign of legal trouble in Adams' administration. Adams is a first-term Democrat and former New York City police captain. He took office in 2022 after serving as Brooklyn's borough president and as a state senator.
In November, federal agents seized the mayor’s phones and iPad as he was leaving an event in Manhattan and raided the home of one of his top fundraisers. While Adams has denied any wrongdoing, he confirmed last month that he had received a subpoena from federal prosecutors and said he and his team are cooperating.
Pearson is currently facing multiple lawsuits accusing him of sexually harassing female employees, and he is facing a separate investigation for his role in a brawl at a shelter for homeless migrants. A lawyer representing Pearson in the harassment suit did not immediately respond to a phone call.
Federal prosecutors previously named Banks as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in an investigation into a police bribery scheme during former Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration. Banks abruptly retired in 2014 but returned to city government after Adams took office in 2022.
Wright, the first deputy mayor, lives with her partner, David Banks, the city's schools chancellor and brother of Philip Banks. It was not immediately clear whether investigators also sought records related to David Banks.
Can you say 'quick plea bargain for no in-depth probe before the election', little girl?
[FoxNews] Hunter Biden on Thursday entered a guilty plea to all nine federal tax charges brought against him by special counsel David Weiss, his attorney said in court Thursday, shocking federal prosecutors.
The president's son remains free on bond until sentencing on Dec. 16.
Abbe Lowell, the first son's attorney, said earlier Thursday in federal court that Biden intends to switch his plea and intends to plead guilty. He initially pleaded not guilty.
Federal prosecutor Leo Wise said that "this is the first we are hearing about this."
A source familiar with the special counsel's team told Fox News digital that this is not a done deal for Hunter Biden, and that it's currently just an offer the defense put on the table.
The judge had Hunter Biden agree under oath to no longer remain silent and told him that if he pleads guilty he gives up all of his rights to a trial.
Before the court took a 30-minute break, Judge Mark Scarsi said that "the court doesn’t need the government’s agreement to accept an Alford plea."
The development comes after Hunter Biden's lawyers had prepared to argue he was too high or drunk to pay his taxes.
According to the Justice Department manual, DOJ prosecutors cannot take what is called an Alford plea, "except in the most unusual of circumstances…"
An Alford plea is when a defendant acknowledges that a prosecutor's evidence would likely be enough to convict, so they accept a sentence but maintain their innocence.
A source familiar with Weiss' team says Biden's attorneys and the special counsel team are not talking directly right now, and that the special counsel’s team is trying to figure out next steps while talking internally.
The U.S. Department of Justice is also trying to assess how and when it could get involved.
The trial began Thursday with jury selection in Los Angeles.
Weiss charged Biden with three felonies and six misdemeanors concerning $1.4 million in owed taxes that have since been paid. Weiss alleged a pattern by which the president’s son did not pay his federal income taxes while also filing false tax returns.
In the indictment, Weiss alleged that Biden "engaged in a four-year scheme to not pay at least $1.4 million in self-assessed federal taxes he owed for tax years 2016 through 2019, from in or about January 2017 through in or about October 15, 2020, and to evade the assessment of taxes for tax year 2018 when he filed false returns in or about February 2020."
Weiss said that, in "furtherance of that scheme," Biden "subverted the payroll and tax withholding process of his own company, Owasco, PC by withdrawing millions" from the company "outside of the payroll and tax withholding process that it was designed to perform."
The special counsel alleged that Biden "spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills," and that in 2018, he "stopped paying his outstanding and overdue taxes for tax year 2015."
Weiss alleged that Biden "willfully failed to pay his 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 taxes on time, despite having access to funds to pay some or all of these taxes," and that he "willfully failed to file his 2017 and 2018 tax returns on time."
This is the second time Biden is on trial this year stemming from charges out of Weiss' investigation.
Biden was found guilty on all counts in Delaware after Weiss charged him with making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm; making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a licensed firearm dealer; and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
A date has not yet been set for sentencing for those charges. With all counts combined, the total maximum prison time for the charges could be up to 25 years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release.
President Biden has vowed not to pardon his son, and the White House suggested on Thursday that he has not changed his mind.
"It's no, it's still no," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday when they questioned whether the plea had impacted Biden's decision on whether he would consider a pardon for his son. "I'm not able to comment on it, but I can say that it is still very much a ‘no' to the questions I have gotten about if the president is going to pardon [Hunter].
#3
His signed presidential pardon or commutaion is likely already saved to a zipp file in his new laptop. Hunter and the Crime Family have escaped further discovery and justice.
#5
The plea deal prevents publicity of trial testimony, e.g., the source of the payments to Hunter, the moving of payments between multiple dummy accounts, the final deposit of the payments in the accounts of various members of the extended Biden family.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
09/06/2024 10:04 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Can Biden pardon Biden? Is part of the Cammela deal a pardon for FJB and family? Is an unknown pardon for lawfare charges against Trump protecting FJB if Trump wins?
Posted by: Old Salty ||
09/06/2024 12:10 Comments ||
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#7
A president’s ability to pardon is absolute. Clinton pardoned Marc Rich for cash. Jimmy Carter pardoned a bunch of terrorists from the PR.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/06/2024 12:59 Comments ||
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#8
If he accepts this, and the congress goes after Biden sr., Jr is not protected by the 5th.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/06/2024 13:18 Comments ||
Top||
[NBC] WASHINGTON — The House Education and Workforce Committee issued subpoenas Wednesday to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Minnesota Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for how they responded to what federal prosecutors have called the largest pandemic fraud schemes in the country.
The subpoenas, obtained first by NBC News, demand that Walz, Minnesota Commissioner of Education Willie Jett, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Agriculture Inspector General Phyllis Fong turn over documents concerning oversight of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future,
…Somali immigrant effort to that stole $250 million from the federal government during the COVID shutdown, billing for meals, etc for poor Minnesota children that were not served — one of the largest pandemic fraud cases thus far reported. Last we heard about seventy people had been arrested and $50 million recovered…
which is alleged to have misused millions of dollars intended to feed children during the pandemic.
Walz's record has faced new scrutiny since Vice President Kamala Harris tapped him as her running mate last month, though this new request by the Republican-led committee is part of an investigative effort that goes back to 2022.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., the committee chair, wrote in a letter to Walz that the committee is requesting this information to show "the extent of your responsibilities and actions addressing the massive fraud that resulted in the abuse of taxpayer dollars intended for hungry children."
A Walz spokeswoman called the alleged fraud "an appalling abuse of a federal COVID-era program," adding: "The state department of education worked diligently to stop the fraud and we’re grateful to the FBI for working with the department of education to arrest and charge the individuals involved."
According to a June state audit report, the Minnesota Education Department failed to properly oversee Feeding Our Future, saying the department's "actions and inactions created opportunities for fraud."
And then there were the kickbacks…
State education officials are tasked with overseeing federal programs that reimburse groups like Feeding Our Future for providing free, nutritious meals to children. The state audit called the Minnesota Education Department's oversight "inadequate."
[FoxNews] Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is facing a grilling from Congress for the Biden administration’s refusal to turn over the nationalities of people arrested on the FBI terror watchlist at the border by Border Patrol.
"I suspect that the real reason you’re unlawfully withholding this information about terror suspects’ nationalities isn’t due to privacy or security concerns, but rather partisan concerns that it would alarm the American people," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said in a letter to Mayorkas. "Once again, you’re attempting to hide evidence of the Biden-Harris administration’s border crisis."
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) wrote to Fox News last week again denying a request to provide the nationalities of suspects on the FBI terror watchlist arrested at the southern border between ports of entry by Border Patrol.
The watchlist, now called the Terrorist Screening Dataset, includes known or suspected terrorists, as well as additional individuals believed to pose a potential threat to the U.S., including affiliates of individuals on the watchlist.
The request sought only the nationalities of those encountered and no further information, but it was denied. Fox made the request in October last year, and was initially denied in May, citing privacy and security concerns. The agency doubled down on that reasoning last week.
"[Customs and Border Protection (CBP)] is committed to protecting the identity of individuals and avoiding divulging information about any individual by either direct or indirect means," the agency said in a letter to Fox. "Releasing data for a particular nationality, or nationalities, that reflect a small number of individuals could lead to identification, especially by organizations familiar with the individuals."
The agency also claimed that the release of the information would reveal investigative techniques used in processing and apprehending terrorists.
"By providing this information, it could allow targets to alter their behavior to avoid detection and exploit the gaps in CBP’s law enforcement intelligence, as well as compromise national security. Additionally, providing the requested information could disclose terrorist travel trends by geographic area which could help tip off terrorists about the government’s knowledge of travel plans, allowing the terrorists to take countermeasures against the investigators and their investigations," it says.
The agency argued that the disclosure of nationalities could allow bad actors "to undertake countermeasures to avoid CBP’s law enforcement activities and exploit any vulnerabilities in CBP’s law enforcement efforts."
Cotton, however, was not convinced by the reasoning provided.
"Of course, if the Biden-Harris administration impartially enforced our laws and deported illegal aliens regardless of their origin, terrorists wouldn’t be able to game the system in the manner you describe."
He later says that "the American people have a right to know who is crossing our border, especially when those illegal aliens have ties to terrorism."
"And that right, contrary to your bizarre assertion, ‘far outweighs’ the privacy rights of illegal aliens suspected of terrorism,’ he said. "Honestly I can’t believe I even have to write that sentence."
The letter requests the information by Sept. 10.
There were 172 encounters of nationals on the terror watchlist at the border between ports of entry last fiscal year and more than 560 at the ports of entry.
[FoxNews] Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan will not hold the trial for former President Trump on charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith's Jan. 6 investigation until after the 2024 presidential election.
Chutkan held a status hearing Thursday morning in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in which lawyers for Trump pleaded not guilty on his behalf related to charges from Smith’s new indictment after the Supreme Court ruled a president is immune from prosecution for official acts in office.
In an order Thursday afternoon, Chutkan set deadlines for replies and paperwork from federal prosecutors and Trump's legal team for Nov. 7 — after Election Day.
Trump did not appear in court Thursday. His lawyers pleaded not guilty on his behalf. Smith was in court Thursday morning.
The case pertains to Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Last week, the former president was indicted and issued revised criminal charges by Smith, who alleges Trump pressured former Vice President Mike Pence to reject legitimate electoral votes, in addition to mounting fake electors in key states that went to President Biden and to attest to Trump's electoral victory.
The new indictment keeps the prior criminal charges but narrows and reframes the allegations against the Republican presidential nominee after a Supreme Court ruling that conferred broad immunity on former presidents.
Specifically, the indictment has been changed to remove allegations involving Department of Justice officials and other government officials. It clarifies Trump's role as a candidate and makes clear the allegations regarding his conversations with then-Vice President Pence in his ceremonial role as president of the Senate.
The new indictment removes a section of the previous indictment that had accused Trump of trying to use the Justice Department to undo his 2020 loss. The Supreme Court recently ruled in a 6-3 decision that Trump was immune from prosecution for official White House acts.
Trump has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. Those charges, to which Trump pleaded not guilty, remain.
Smith alleges Trump participated in an effort to enlist slates of fake electors in key states won by Biden to attest that Trump had in fact won and that Trump pressured Pence to reject legitimate electoral votes.
The special counsel's office said the updated indictment, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., was issued by a grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in the case. The new grand jury has only heard this new information.
Sources familiar with the matter tell Fox News that discussions surrounding the superseding indictment will likely not speed things up, and it is unlikely it will go to trial before the November election.
(1) Trump scheduled to be sentenced in NYC.
(2) Federal Reserve rate decision (likely to cut)
A bonus two days later:
(3) Friday the 20th - Quadruple Witching options day
[PostMillennial] A new undercover video from Louder with Crowder's MugClub Undercover unit has revealed Nicholas Biase, Department of Justice Chief of Public Affairs, calling the multitude of cases brought against 2024 GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump ...So far he's been unkillable, and they've tried.... a "travesty of justice," adding that this was why Trump is surging in the polls.
Speaking on the case led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg ...Soros-owned and operated Manhattan DA. Putting vicious and blood-thirsty criminals in jail only makes them unhappy, and they've led such hard lives after all... that saw Trump convicted of 24 counts of felony falsifying business records, Biase, Chief of Public Affairs, US Department of Justice, US Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, said Bragg "was stacking charges and, like, rearranging things just to make it fit a case. No, honestly, I think the case [against Trump in NYC] is nonsense."
"Every real estate person in New York does what [Trump] did. Nobody's ever been charged with this. It's all him [Trump]. And that's why, like, [Trump's] surging in the polls. You know, it's a perversion of justice." Biase said that he's known Bragg for 15 years, and that Bragg used to work in his office. Biase also said that Bragg's star witness in the case, Michael Cohen ...sleazy lawyer who worked for Trump as his fixer, then turned on him after the Stormy Daniels shakedown. Mikey told about six hundred different stories, most of them contradfictory and some physically impossible. In August 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts including campaign-finance violations, tax fraud, and bank fraud. As Alvin Bragg's star witness against Trump, he admitted on the stand to enbezzling from the Trump Organization... , is a "psycho."
Biase said the charges had made Trump "more relevant," and nodded in agreement when the news hound asked if bringing the charges had backfired. "It sure did," he said. He later said that the point of prosecuting Trump was to "make him a convict" and a "convicted felon."
Biase noted a 90-day rule at the federal level where "You can't make any decisions on cases that are going to affect an election," but added that this was not the case at the state level. He said the state level was like "the f*cking wild west."
He said that Democrats ...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy,white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects... were "so obsessed" with getting Trump.
Speaking on the Georgia election case brought forth by Fulton County Da Fani Willis, Biase said, "it's a travesty of justice, to put it mildly. It's a mockery of justice. She is a joke. Like, her and her boyfriend she was seeing, the whole thing is disgusting. And they're just out to get [Trump].
[FOX] Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has found a new job in the private sector.
Haley, who previously served as ambassador to the United Nations under former President Trump, is headed to global communications firm Edelman.
"Politics has become a critical consideration for clients in brand marketing, employee engagement and reputation management," CEO Richard Edelman wrote in an announcement of the company's new hire.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
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...sleazy lawyer who worked for Trump as his 
