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Bo, the Obamas’ Portuguese Water Canine, Dies

Bo, the Obamas’ Portuguese Water Dog, Dies

Bo, the Portuguese water dog who became the President’s first pet to riot in the Halls of Power at the Obama White House, died on Saturday.

Bo, who was 12 years old, had cancer, Michelle Obama said on Instagram. President Barack Obama said the family has lost “a true friend and companion”.

“Bo has been a constant, gentle presence in our lives for over a decade – happy to see us on our good days, our bad days, and every day in between,” wrote Obama on Twitter.

“He tolerated all the excitement of staying at the White House, had a big bark but no bite, liked to jump into the pool in summer, was unwavering with kids, lived for junk at the dining table, and had great hair. ”

Bo arrived at the White House in April 2009 as a 6-month-old puppy, a gift from Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy and his wife Victoria to their first children Malia and Sasha Obama.

The girls named the dog Bo because their cousins ​​had a cat of the same name and because Mrs. Obama’s father was nicknamed Diddley after the musician Bo Diddley.

The dog was an instant object of national fascination, the youngest in a long line of four-footed White House residents that included the Beagles of President Lyndon B. Johnson, him and her, the King Charles Spaniel of President Ronald Reagan, Rex and that of President Bill Clinton included Cat, Socks, and President George W. Bush’s Scottish Terrier Barney.

President Biden resumed the tradition with his two German Shepherds, Champ and Major, in January after President Donald J. Trump’s tenure ended as the first in decades without pets living in the residence. Major was recently sent off for training after a series of biting episodes.

Bo was known to frolic outside the White House press corps on South Lawn, barking at press conferences, and attracting fan mail from children across the country.

He also posed with his tongue out for an official White House portrait and was the subject of a children’s book, Bo, America’s Commander on a Leash, written by Naren Aryal and illustrated by Danny Moore.

In 2013, Bo was joined by a second Portuguese water dog, Sunny, at the White House after Ms. Obama said Bo needed more interaction with other dogs.

Ms. Obama said, although Bo was originally intended to be a companion for Malia and Sasha, “We had no idea how much he would mean to all of us.”

She said the dog had been a “constant comforting presence in our lives” and strolled into her offices “as if he owned the place, a ball clamped in his teeth.”

He was there for the traditional Easter egg roll on the South Lawn and when the Pope came to visit she said.

After Malia and Sasha went to college, Bo helped the couple get used to life as empty nests, said Ms. Obama in a post on Instagram signed “Michelle, Barack, Malia, Sasha and Sunny”.

“Last year, no one was happier than Bo when everyone was home during the pandemic,” she wrote. “All his people were under one roof again – just like the day we got him.”

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Covid nonetheless weighing on jobs however confidence is coming again

Covid still weighing on jobs but confidence is coming back

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said Friday that the Covid-19 pandemic is still weighing on jobs, but he forecasted optimism about the recovery of the US economy as vaccinations continue, saying, “We are seeing confidence return. “

Walsh’s comments on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” came shortly after the Labor Department released a disappointing April job report showing the non-farm workforce rose by 266,000. Analysts had expected more than 1 million new jobs.

“Under normal circumstances – and we certainly do not live under normal circumstances – a monthly job gain of 266,000 is a good number,” said Walsh. “Unfortunately we are still in the middle of a pandemic.”

“If you look back on the past three months, the US economy has created 500,000 new jobs a month, compared to the last three months when it was 60,000. So we’re definitely going in the right direction, but we still have one There’s no question about it. We’re still facing a pandemic, “Walsh said.

Walsh rejected arguments by Republican lawmakers and corporate groups that federal pandemic unemployment benefits encourage potential workers to stay on the sidelines.

“I still think we need unemployment, obviously we still have millions of Americans out of work. Many of those Americans have no prospects right now,” said Walsh. “I know we are making a correlation between job vacancies and unemployed people, but it’s not a fair correlation.”

Walsh cited data from the job report showing that more Americans were looking for work in April than in previous months.

“I think if we go further here hopefully in the coming months we’ll see a lot of Americans looking for jobs to find work and I’ll be able to stand in front of that camera and talk about us have made big profits, “said Walsh. “But I still think 266,000 jobs this month is a good number.”

Shortly after the job report was released, the Chamber of Commerce issued a statement calling for an end to $ 300 a week of unemployment benefits. Neil Bradley, executive vice president of the group, said the “disappointing job report shows that paying people who don’t work is dampening the stronger job market.”

President Joe Biden said at a news conference that afternoon that the added benefits did not cause a labor shortage.

Walsh, a Democrat and former Boston mayor, said reducing the rise in unemployment is no novice.

“There are millions of Americans affected by the coronavirus who have lost their jobs. Some of their work is not coming back,” he said. “We lost restaurants. We lost business. I wouldn’t say we are in the middle of a pandemic … but we are still alive and dealing with the pandemic and if we move forward here we will continue to recover . “

Barriers to potential workers include the lack of childcare facilities and schools that remain closed, according to Walsh.

“These are currently two barriers I think are keeping people out of the workforce because their children are at home, studying remotely, or their childcare facility is not open,” said Walsh. “The President has made investments in these areas, but we need to keep making those investments so that people feel like they can go back to work.”

Walsh said there were other reasons Americans had not returned to work at the level analysts expected – that it couldn’t be reduced to a single explanation.

“It’s not an easy answer,” he said.

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Cyberattack Forces a Shutdown of a High U.S. Pipeline Operator

Cyberattack Forces a Shutdown of a Top U.S. Pipeline Operator

A cyber attack forced the shutdown of one of the largest pipelines in the United States in what appeared to be a major attempt to disrupt the vulnerable energy infrastructure. The pipeline carries refined gasoline and jet fuel up the east coast from Texas to New York.

The system’s operator, Colonial Pipeline, said in a statement late Friday that it had shut down its 5,500-mile pipeline, which carries 45 percent of the east coast’s fuel supplies, to contain the attack on its computer networks. There was disruption along the pipeline earlier on Friday, but it was unclear whether this was a direct result of the attack.

Colonial’s pipeline transports 2.5 million barrels daily, transporting refined gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel from the Gulf Coast to New York Harbor and major New York airports. Most of it goes to large storage tanks, and since the pandemic has dampened energy consumption, the attack was unlikely to cause immediate disruption.

In the statement, the company said it learned on Friday that it was “a victim of a cybersecurity attack,” but did not provide details. Such an attack could be malware that terminates its operation or ransomware that requires payment to unlock computer files or systems.

“In response, we have proactively taken certain systems offline to contain the threat that has temporarily halted all pipeline operations and impacted some of our IT operations,” the company said regarding information technology systems.

It said it contacted law enforcement and other federal agencies. The FBI is leading such investigations, but critical infrastructure is the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The breach comes just months after two major attacks on American computer networks – the penetration of SolarWinds by the main Russian intelligence agency and another attack on a Microsoft email service attributed to Chinese hackers – that illustrate the vulnerability of the networks where the government operates and businesses rely.

While both of these attacks were initially aimed at stealing email and other data, the nature of the intrusions created “back doors” that experts say could ultimately allow attacks on the physical infrastructure. So far, it is believed that none of the efforts resulted in anything other than data theft.

The Biden government announced sanctions against Russia for SolarWinds last month and is expected to issue an executive order in the coming days that will take measures to secure critical infrastructure, including calling for more security for providers providing services to the federal government.

The United States has long warned that Russia implanted malicious code on power grids, and the United States responded a few years ago by injecting similar code into the Russian grid.

However, actual attacks on energy systems are rare. About a decade ago, Iran was blamed for an attack on the computer systems of Saudi Aramco, one of the world’s largest manufacturers, in which 30,000 computers were destroyed. This attack, which appeared to come in response to the US-Israeli attack on the Iranian nuclear centrifuges, had no effect on operations.

Another attack on a Saudi petrochemical plant in 2017 nearly triggered a major industrial disaster. But it was quickly closed, and investigators later attributed it to Russian hackers. That year someone briefly took control of a water treatment plan in a small Florida town in what appeared to be an attempt to poison the supply, but the attempt was quickly stopped.

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U.S. Chamber of Commerce rips $300 jobless profit, requires repeal

U.S. Chamber of Commerce rips $300 jobless benefit, calls for repeal

A help call sign is posted on a taco stand in Solana Beach, California.

Mike Blake | Reuters

The largest corporate lobby group in America on Friday accused $ 300 a week of unemployment benefits for tricking Americans into staying home and April’s far weaker-than-expected job report.

“The disappointing employment report makes it clear that the pay of people who do not work is dampening the stronger labor market,” said the US Chamber of Commerce in the hours after the Labor Department published its April 2021 employment report.

“One step that policymakers should take now is to end the additional $ 300 weekly unemployment benefit,” added the lobby group. “Based on the Chamber’s analysis, the $ 300 benefit means that roughly one in four recipients takes home more unemployment than they earned.”

A chamber spokesman confirmed to CNBC that it will use similar messages to lobby the White House and Capitol Hill to end the payout.

The group’s attack on federal unemployment benefits came hours after the Labor Department reported that total non-farm employment rose by 266,000 last month, well below the 1 million Dow Jones polled economists expected.

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The Biden government has pushed back arguments like those of the Chamber. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, who appeared on CNBC Friday, dismissed arguments from Republicans and corporate groups that the increased unemployment benefits are encouraging potential workers to stay home.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also waved such criticisms, telling reporters Friday afternoon that she disagreed that the unemployment benefit increase “is really the factor that makes a difference”.

“When you look at states or sectors or workers, if it is really the added benefits that are hindering hiring, expect it to be either in states or for workers in or sectors where the replacement rate is due [unemployment insurance] is very high – you would expect the placement rates to be lower, “she said.” In fact, you see exactly the opposite. “

Minnesota-born Democrat Ilhan Omar was cynical about the Chamber’s criticism of the $ 300 weekly benefit.

For much of the past year, millions of unemployed Americans have qualified for special federal unemployment benefits to replace income lost from layoffs during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The first such federal unemployment benefit began under former President Donald Trump in March 2020 when he signed the CARES bill. This law gave unemployed Americans a weekly allowance of $ 600, which in many cases was a higher income than workers received while working full-time.

Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Countered that companies should pay higher wages to their workers instead.

President Joe Biden’s US $ 1.9 trillion bailout plan, which went into effect in March, provides unemployment benefits of $ 300 per week. Without additional government intervention, this benefit will expire at the beginning of September.

Some economists and many Republicans have accused the benefit of deterring Americans from returning to the jobs they held before the pandemic.

For example, South Carolina governor Henry McMaster earlier this week ordered the state’s Department of Employment and Labor to withdraw from the federal government’s pandemic programs by the end of June.

“This labor shortage is caused in large part by the additional unemployment benefits that the federal government is providing applicants with on top of their state unemployment benefits,” McMaster said in a press release Thursday.

“What was meant to be short-term financial assistance to vulnerable and displaced people during the height of the pandemic has become a dangerous federal claim that encourages and pays workers to stay at home rather than encourage them to return to work. ” he added.

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Justice Dept. Seizes Washington Publish’s Telephone Data

Justice Dept. Seizes Washington Post’s Phone Records

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department under President Donald J. Trump has secretly obtained the phone records for three Washington Post reporters from the early months of the Trump administration, the newspaper said on Friday.

Prosecutors searched for records of reporters’ work, home and cell phone numbers from April to July 2017 to find out who had spoken to them.

“We are deeply concerned about this use of governance to gain access to journalists’ communications,” said Cameron Barr, the Post’s acting editor-in-chief, in a statement. “The Justice Department should immediately clarify its reasons for interfering with the activities of reporters doing their job, an activity protected by the first amendment.”

The department’s decision to seek a court order for the records made in 2020 would have required the approval of Attorney General William P. Barr, a department official said.

The Justice Department, under the Trump administration, had also indicted a former Senate assistant over his contacts with three reporters in a case in which prosecutors secretly confiscated years’ worth of phone and email records from a New York Times reporter. This case signaled a continuation of the aggressive pursuit of leaks under the Obama administration.

Marc Raimondi, a Justice Department spokesman, said on Friday in a statement regarding the seized postal records: “Although the department is rare, it follows the procedures set out in its media policy guidelines when looking for legal procedures to and not to telephone charges Email records of content received from media members as part of a criminal investigation into unauthorized disclosure of classified information. “

He added, “The targets of these investigations are not those who receive the news media, but rather those with access to the national defense information they made available to the media and therefore did not protect them as required by law.”

According to its guidelines, the Justice Department should exhaust other investigative steps before seeking permission to receive telephone recordings or e-mails from journalists from telecommunications companies. In addition, the division must “strike the right balance between a number of important interests”, it says in its guidelines, such as “Maintaining the essential role of the free press in promoting government accountability and an open society”.

Leak cases, as known in the Justice Department, are notoriously difficult to track and require FBI agents to devote significant time to cases that rarely lead to charges.

It wasn’t clear what caused the Justice Department to seize the Post’s records, but in July 2017 the newspaper published an article about Sergey I. Kislyak, the then Russian Ambassador to the United States, and Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General at the time the publication of the article.

The Post reported that the two men discussed the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election when Mr. Sessions was a Republican Senator from Alabama and a prominent supporter of Mr. Trump. The article referred to U.S. surveillance sections, which are highly ranked and among the government’s best kept secrets.

In addition to the phone records of the Post reporters – Ellen Nakashima, Greg Miller and Adam Entous who now work at The New Yorker – prosecutors have also received a court order to obtain metadata for the reporters’ email accounts, the company said Newspaper with.

The New York Times also reported in June 2017 that surveillance wiretaps suggested Mr Kislyak was discussing a private meeting with Mr Sessions at a Trump campaign event at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington. The Times has received no indication that their reporters’ records have been confiscated.

The media leaks enraged Mr Trump, who repeatedly railed against them, particularly those revealing details of the government’s efforts to investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and whether any of his campaign aides had conspired with Russia.

In August 2017, as Attorney General, Mr. Sessions condemned the “dramatic increase in the number of unauthorized disclosures of classified national security information in recent months”.

Under the Obama administration, the Justice Department also aggressively prosecuted officials who provided sensitive information to reporters. In 2013, prosecutors obtained the phone recordings from reporters and editors from The Associated Press. In this case, law enforcement officers obtained the records for more than 20 phone lines from their offices and journalists, including their home and cell phone numbers.

In addition, the Justice Department confiscated the phone records of James Rosen, then a Fox News reporter, after one of his articles contained details of a secret United States report on North Korea. In an affidavit, Mr. Rosen was described as “at least as a helper, advocate and / or co-conspirator”.

The Justice Department’s decision to search the phone records was widely condemned in the news media.

In 2013, then Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. issued new guidelines that severely restricted the circumstances in which journalists’ records could be accessed, but did not prevent prosecutors from keeping phone records and emails for national security reasons to search.

In an email from July 2017, Sarah Isgur Flores, then a top Justice Department spokeswoman, tried to cast doubt that a meeting between Mr Kislyak and Mr Sessions had even taken place. She described the section as “exposed” and challenged its credibility when defending Mr. Sessions on the news media.

Ms. Isgur described the coverage as “serious leaks for our national security”. The email was received from reporter Jason Leopold of BuzzFeed News under the Freedom of Information Act.

Last year the Trump administration released confidential transcripts from Mr. Kislyak speaking with Mr. Trump’s former National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn. The documents also revealed extremely delicate capabilities of the FBI, showing that the office was able to monitor the phone line at the Russian Embassy in Washington even before a call from Mr. Kislyak connected to Mr. Flynn’s voicemail.

In his extensive investigation, Robert S. Mueller III, the special adviser, “found no evidence that Kislyak spoke or had the opportunity to speak to Trump or Sessions after the speech,” his office’s 2019 report said.

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Threats towards members of Congress have greater than doubled this yr

Threats against members of Congress have more than doubled this year

A US Capitol Police patrol car drives past the fence on the east side of the US Capitol before President Joe Biden addresses the joint congressional session on Wednesday, April 28, 2021.

Bill Clark | CQ Appeal, Inc. | Getty Images

The threats to federal lawmakers have more than doubled this year compared to last year, the U.S. Capitol Police said on Friday.

The law enforcement agency tasked with defending Congress reported a 107% increase in threats against members of the legislature compared to the same point in 2020.

“Given the unique threat environment we currently live in, the department is confident that the number of cases will continue to increase,” the agency said in a press release published online.

The report comes months after a crowd of former President Donald Trump supporters overwhelmed the police department and stormed the Capitol to prevent Congress from confirming President Joe Biden’s victory.

The Justice Department has estimated that around 800 people were involved in the January 6 attack. More than 400 suspected rioters are currently being prosecuted and arrests continue. Steven Sund, who was in charge of police at the time of the riot, resigned on January 7th.

The release on Friday is in line with comments from lawmakers that the political atmosphere puts their security at greater risk.

In January, members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., And other congressional officials requesting greater approval to use a Congressional Fund for security measures, citing heightened risks.

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Several lawmakers who backed Trump’s indictment have also increased their own security spending since the Jan. 6 attack, financial data show.

Police have previously said the threats are increasing.

In March, incumbent USCP chief Yogananda Pittman told Congress that threats against lawmakers had increased by more than 90% in the first two months of the year. Between 2017 and 2020 there was a 118.66% increase in threats and “directions of interest”.

The January 6 attack prompted the Capitol Police to seek additional funding from Congress. The police department has requested an increase in its budget for 2022 by 107 million US dollars over the budget for fiscal year 2021.

This call reflects changes to the post-uprising budget request. The original application before Jan. 6 called for a $ 36 million increase in funding from 2021.

In their press release, the police continued their efforts to get more funding. She agreed to the recommendations of the Agency’s Inspector General in April to increase her threat assessment staff and to set up a stand-alone vigilance station. Both proposals, the police department said, would “require resources and approval”.

“In her report, the [inspector general] suggests that the Department’s threat assessment division be similar to the United States Intelligence Service (USSS). In 2020, the USSS had approximately 8,000 cases with more than 100 agents and analysts. During the same period, the USCP, which has just over 30 agents and analysts, had approximately 9,000 cases, “the department said.

The Police Department added, “The USCP agrees that a standalone CCU would be valuable. However, to fully implement this recommendation, the department would need additional resources for new hires, training and vehicles, as well as approval from Congressional stakeholders.”

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Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Received’t Search Second Time period

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Won’t Seek Second Term

The other challenger, Sharon Gay, a lawyer, also said she would make crime fighting a top priority.

Ms. Bottoms, 51, was expected to build a formidable defense. She has a loyal ally in President Biden, whom she endorsed early on and who repaid her loyalty with an appearance at a virtual fundraiser in March. Ms. Bottoms was briefly mentioned as a potential vice president and said she later turned down a cabinet position in the Biden administration.

Ms. Bottoms, who served as a judge and councilor before narrowly winning the 2017 mayor election, is also blessed with one voice – measured, compassionate, slightly hurt, and permeated by her experience as a black daughter and mother – that seemed uniquely calibrated too to address the challenges of the past year.

After the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, Ms. Bottoms went on live television and became a national star speaking directly to protesters. Some of their demonstrations had fallen into lawlessness, with people smashing windows, spraying property and burning cars.

“When I saw the murder of George Floyd, I hurt like a mother hurt,” she said. She then scolded the protesters, insisting that they “go home” and study the rules of nonviolence as practiced by the leaders of the civil rights movement.

Mr Biden was one of several national figures who were noted. “We saw her stand and speak out in the summer full of protests and pain,” said the president at the fundraiser in March.

However, the challenges were numerous.

On June 12, shortly after Mr. Floyd’s death, a white Atlanta police officer shot and killed a black man, Rayshard Brooks, in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant. Protests and violence broke out, and the Bottoms administration fired officer Garrett Rolfe the day after the shooting. (This week, the city’s public services agency reinstated officer Rolfe, who was accused of murder, because the administration violated his procedural rights.)

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DeSantis indicators Florida election regulation whereas shutting out all media however Fox Information

DeSantis signs Florida election law while shutting out all media but Fox News

Governor Ron DeSantis speaks out on safety protocols and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic during a panel discussion with theme park leaders on Wednesday, August 26, 2020.

Joe Burbank | Orlando Sentinel | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a comprehensive election draft Thursday containing allegations that he will suppress voter turnout and is already facing a legal challenge.

DeSantis signed the SB 90 bill in a closed event that blocked all reporters and media coverage – except Fox News, who in a live interview applauded the Republican governor for his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

DeSantis said in a press release that the new voting rules are intended to increase voting security. “The Floridians can rest assured that our state will continue to lead the way in electoral integrity,” he said.

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However, civil and electoral groups promptly filed a complaint in federal court alleging the law violated the US Constitution, the Suffrage Act, and the Disabled Americans Act.

The NAACP, Disability Rights Florida, and Common Cause argue that the law imposes onerous identification requirements for postal voting and severely restricts dropboxing, among other things, provisions that negatively affect color voters and people with disabilities.

“I’m not a fan of Dropboxing at all, to be honest, but lawmakers wanted to keep it,” DeSantis said of Fox.

The governor, who signed the bill at a Hilton hotel near Palm Beach Airport, was flanked by supporters who clapped and cheered his responses during the interview.

In the meantime, local outlets reported that they had been banned from the event.

“The news media will not be allowed to participate in the signing of the controversial electoral law by Governor Ron DeSantis,” tweeted Steve Bousquet, columnist for Sun Sentinel in South Florida. “DeSantis spokeswoman Taryn Fenske says signing the bill is exclusive to Fox.”

CBS reporter Jay O’Brien said his outlet and others were also “not allowed into the event”.

DeSantis “signed a bill today that will affect ALL Floridians. And only some viewers were allowed to see it. That’s not normal,” O’Brien tweeted.

The DeSantis office did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on why journalists were not allowed into the signing room.

Florida is just the latest GOP-led state to push for new voting restrictions. Georgia passed a law in March that drew heavy criticism from Democrats, corporate leaders and sports leagues alike. The Texan legislature is due to vote on its own electoral law on Thursday.

Former President Donald Trump, who remains a de facto GOP leader despite his loss to President Joe Biden, has repeatedly expressed doubts about the integrity of the 2020 election before and after he left office. Trump has spread a number of baseless conspiracy theories about widespread electoral fraud, falsely claiming he beat Biden.

Senior US officials in the Trump administration said the election was safe and no evidence of widespread fraud was found that would undo Biden’s victory.

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney from Wyoming urged her colleagues on Wednesday to reject Trump’s “personality cult”.

“Trump is trying to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy work – confidence in the outcome of elections and the rule of law. No other American president has ever done this,” Cheney wrote in a Washington Post statement.

Growing numbers of House Republicans, as well as Trump and his allies, now say they no longer support Cheney as a leader.

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F.E.C. Drops Case Reviewing Trump Hush-Cash Funds to Girls

F.E.C. Drops Case Reviewing Trump Hush-Money Payments to Women

The Federal Election Commission said Thursday that it passed a case investigating whether former President Donald J. Trump had violated the electoral law with a payment of $ 130,000 just before the 2016 election to become a porn actress had officially dropped his attorney at the time. Michael D. Cohen.

The payment was never reported in Mr Trump’s campaign submissions. Mr Cohen would go on to say that Mr Trump directed him to arrange payments to two women during the 2016 race and apologized for his involvement in a hush money scandal. Mr. Cohen was sentenced to prison for violating campaign finance laws, tax evasion and lying by Congress.

“It was my own weakness and a blind loyalty to this man that led me to choose a path of darkness over light,” said Mr. Cohen in 2018 in court about Mr. Trump.

While Mr. Cohen was in jail, Mr. Trump had no legal ramifications for the payment.

“The hush money was paid on instructions and in favor of Donald J. Trump,” Cohen said in a statement to the New York Times. “Like me, Trump should have been found guilty. How the FEC committee could decide otherwise is confusing. “

In December 2020, the FEC published an internal report from its Office of General Counsel on how to proceed with its review. The office said it had “reason to believe” that campaign finance violations were “knowingly and willfully” committed by the Trump campaign.

However, the electoral commission, which was split evenly between three Republicans and three Democrat-minded commissioners, declined to attend a closed session in February. Two Republican commissioners voted to reject the case, while two Democratic commissioners voted to move forward. There was an absence and a republican rejection.

This decision was announced on Thursday.

Two of the FEC’s Democratic commissioners, Shana Broussard, the current chair, and Ellen Weintraub, declined not to pursue the case after agency staff recommended further investigation.

“To conclude that a payment made 13 days prior to election day to cover up a suddenly newsworthy 10-year story was not campaign related without even conducting an investigation is contrary to reality,” they wrote in a letter.

Republican Commissioners Trey Trainor and Sean Cooksey, who voted not to investigate, said the prosecution of the case was “not the best use of the agency’s resources”, that “the public record is already complete” and that Mr Cohen Have already done so was punished.

“We voted to reject these matters as an exercise of our prosecutor’s discretion,” wrote Cooksey and Trainor.

A spokesman for Mr Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Cohen case caught public attention in 2018 after the FBI searched his office, apartment and hotel room and picked up boxes of documents, cell phones and computers. Months later, Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign funding violations, among other things.

He said in court that he arranged payments – including $ 130,000 to film actress Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford – “primarily for the purpose of influencing the election.”

The payment was well above the legal limit for individual presidential contributions, which was then $ 2,700.

Mr. Cohen went on to say he arranged a payment of $ 150,000 through American Media Inc. to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy playmate, in early 2016.

Mr Cohen later turned on Mr Trump and wrote his own book about how he acted as a businessman as the ex-president’s enforcer. The book was called “Disloyal: A Memoir”.

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‘We Construct the Wall’ founder, linked to Steve Bannon, faces tax, fraud expenses

'We Build the Wall' founder, linked to Steve Bannon, faces tax, fraud charges

Brian Kolfage Jr., Senior Airman in the U.S. Air Force, a triple amputee who lost both his legs and arm on his second deployment to Iraq in 2004, takes part in the Veterans Day parade in the November 11, 2014 5th Avenue in New York (USA).

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Brian Kolfage, who was previously charged with Steve Bannon for his role in an allegedly fraudulent crowdfunding campaign to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, was charged Tuesday on Tuesday on additional charges of fraud and filing a false tax return.

A federal grand jury in Florida accused Kolfage of failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income for his 2019 taxes, on recent indictments.

An indictment and a first appearance for Kolfage are scheduled for May 27 in a courthouse in Pensacola before Judge Elizabeth Timothy, court records show.

Kolfage was charged with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy in federal court in Manhattan last year along with three employees, including Bannon.

Former President Donald Trump pardoned Bannon and dozens of others on his last night in office. Trump did not apologize to Kolfage.

The allegations all stemmed from “We Build the Wall,” the alleged fundraiser to privately build parts of the border wall that Trump had promised.

The Justice Department claimed that Kolfage, who founded the campaign, and his staff defrauded “hundreds of thousands of donors” by raising millions of dollars “on the false pretext that all of this money would be spent on building” the border wall.

Instead, the defendants planned to pass some of this money on to Kolfage, “which he used to finance his lavish lifestyle,” the Justice Department said.

Harvey Steinberg, a Kolfage attorney, did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.