[CA.NEWS.YAHOO] A French prosecutor asked a criminal court on Tuesday to acquit former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of a pimping charge for his role in what investigating magistrates argued was an organized sex ring using prostitutes.
Strauss-Kahn was tipped to become French president before being accused of sexual assault by a New York hotel chambermaid in 2011. U.S. criminal charges were subsequently dropped, and the allegations that he participated in a French sex ring centered in the northern French city of Lille emerged later.
"Did Dominique Strauss-Kahn pay prostitutes? The answer is no. Did he pimp prostitutes for others? The answer is no," Lille Prosecutor Frederic Fevre told the court before requesting Strauss-Kahn's acquittal.
"Did he accept the services of prostitutes as a gift, whether from the prostitutes or from those who paid them? Well yes, but a man cannot be expected to forgo a few birthday presents, however early or belated," Mr Fevre continued.
The prosecution's demand highlighted the difficulty of a potential conviction of Strauss-Kahn, 65. The trial is due to finish this week, with closing statements from the defense on Wednesday, but a verdict is not expected immediately.
Investigating magistrates, who originally sent the case against Strauss-Kahn to trial over the objections of the same prosecutor, argued that the prominent Socialist was the instigator of parties involving prostitutes from 2008 to 2011 in Lille, Brussels, Paris and Washington.
Under French law, investigating magistrates have the right to overrule prosecutors' initial recommendations to drop a case.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2015 00:00 ||
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[POLITICO] Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chairwoman, is strongly considering a bid for U.S. Senate, calculating that having Hillary Clinton at the top of the 2016 ticket would help lift her candidacy in a year-of-the-woman campaign.
Driving Wasserman Schultz's interest: the increasing likelihood that Sen. Marco Rubio will run for the White House and that he ultimately won't seek reelection in 2016, Democratic insiders familiar with her thinking say. Her office wouldn't discuss her interest in the Senate.
"Of course she's considering it: Open Senate seats are pretty rare," said Andrew Weinstein, a longtime supporter of the Weston congresswoman and a 2012 member of President Barack Obama's national finance team.
"If you're a nationally known candidate with a strong fundraising record and a good relationship with your constituents and supporters, you would definitely look at it," Weinstein added.
Like a number of Democratic insiders -- four of whom spoke on condition of anonymity in confirming her Senate interest -- Weinstein stressed he wasn't favoring any potential candidate and didn't want to appear to slight Rep. Patrick Murphy, who represents Florida's 18th Congressional District and is considered the most likely Democrat to seek a Senate seat in 2016.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh boy now that is a resume to run up the flag pole as qualification...
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.
[CA.NEWS.YAHOO] A French prosecutor asked a criminal court on Tuesday to acquit former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of a pimping charge for his role in what investigating magistrates argued was an organized sex ring using prostitutes.
