Scandal

The Texas Tribune reports: First-term Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen on Tuesday announced he will not seek reelection to the lower chamber in 2020 — completing a stunning fall for the Angleton Republican who enjoyed near unanimous support in the House just months earlier. Bonnen’s political future was first called into question in late July, when hardline conservative activist Michael …

CNN reports: According to Ronan Farrow’s new book, The National Enquirer‘s top editor directed staffers to shred documents when the Wall Street Journal called for comment before publishing the first story about the Enquirer‘s “catch and kill” relationship with Donald Trump. Farrow cites editor Dylan Howard [photo] as saying he needed to empty the safe and that the editor expressed …

Talking Points Memo reports: Jerry Falwell Jr has settled the lawsuit tied to the “pool boy”/Miami dive hostel story. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the terms of the settlement are not being disclosed. To remind everyone, the suit was brought by yet another guy, Gordon Bello, a high school friend of Giancarlo Granda, the pool boy. He claimed that he’d been promised 25% …

The Charlotte Observer reports: Former North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes faces up to six months in prison after agreeing to plead guilty to lying to the FBI in a sweeping federal bribery case. Hayes, a former member of Congress, is scheduled to formally enter his guilty plea Wednesday in federal court. Hayes, 74, is one of four men …

The Associated Press reports: The accrediting body that oversees Liberty University has asked the college for more information about recent news reports that have questioned President Jerry Falwell Jr.’s leadership style and personal business interests, a spokeswoman told The Associated Press. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges recently sent the Lynchburg university a letter asking it …

The Washington Post reports: Republican state Sen. Mike Folmer was charged with possession of child pornography on Tuesday night after authorities said they discovered images of child pornography on his cellphone. The charges against Folmer include sexual abuse of children, possession of child pornography and criminal use of a communication facility. The married grandfather of seven was caught as the …

The Washington Post reports: It was billed as a holy journey, a pilgrimage with West Virginia Bishop Michael J. Bransfield to “pray, sing and worship” at the National Shrine in Washington. Catholics from remote areas of one of the nation’s poorest states paid up to $190 for hotel rooms and overnight bus rides to the nation’s capital. Unknown to the …

The Associated Press reports: Students at Liberty University in Virginia have gathered to protest in the wake of news reports containing allegations that school president Jerry Falwell Jr. “presides over a culture of self-dealing” and improperly benefited from the institution. The News & Advance reports the students gathered Friday at the private evangelical university in Lynchburg. Photos show students holding …

Charisma News, the site best known here for its anti-witchcraft tutorials, its claim that the lifespan of gays is shortened by 20 years, its warning that burning breakfast eggs can summon demons, and its declaration that yoga is white witchcraft, is today quite naturally the place where Jerry Falwell turns to make his case against his accusers. “We have nothing …

Religion News Service reports: In the wake of reports alleging objectionable rhetoric and conduct by Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., students at the evangelical Christian school plan to call for internal and external investigations into the president and administration at a protest on campus Friday (Sept. 13). “We are not calling for Falwell to resign right now,” said Elizabeth …

Reuters reports: In emails to his colleagues over the years, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr has denigrated students and staff at the Christian university he runs, referring to one student as “emotionally imbalanced and physically retarded” and calling the school’s police chief a “half-wit.” The barbed comments, contained in email exchanges reviewed by Reuters, emerge as the evangelical political …

NBC News reports: An Ohio lawmaker is seeking to compel powerful Republican Rep. Jim Jordan to testify under oath about whether he was aware that the wrestlers he coached at Ohio State University were being sexually abused by the team doctor. State Rep. Tavia Galonski said she intends to ask the chair of the committee she sits on to subpoena …

From the owner of a Miami Beach nightlife agency: For 21 years, I have maintained an impeccable reputation for documenting Miami Beach’s storied social scene. We wholly reject Jerry Falwell Jr.’s baseless allegation in yesterday’s Politico report by Brandon Ambrosino that one of our pictures was “photo-shopped” or manipulated in any fashion. We, in fact, did not know Politico’s purpose …

The New York Times today published a profile of White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham and man, there’s some doozies in there. An excerpt: Ms. Grisham got her start in national politics as a press aide on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. But she had worked for some time before that in public relations, including a job with the AAA …

“Why would Jerry Falwell Jr. – the chancellor of a school with a longstanding anti-LGBTQ history – put up $1.8 million to invest in a gay-friendly hostel with a man he only recently met? “And why did Michael Cohen step in when things got acrimonious and somebody threatened to release racy and compromising photos of Falwell’s wife? “Did Cohen want …

ABC News reports: The warden of the federal jail in New York City where wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein killed himself was reassigned out of that post on Tuesday by Attorney General William Barr, the Justice Department said. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons also placed two staffers at the Metropolitan Correctional Center who had been assigned to Epstein’s cell unit on …

The Week reports: The National Rifle Association planned to buy a roughly $6 million mansion in the Dallas area last year for use by CEO Wayne LaPierre, with help from the NRA’s former longtime advertising firm, Ackerman McQueen, multiple people tell The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. The NRA and Ackerman McQueen, locked in a bitter legal fight, …

The Washington Post reports: A Republican senator held up the confirmation of a White House budget official this week in an attempt to obtain sensitive information about border wall contracts he has been trying to steer to a major donor, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post. The emails show Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) blasting the “arrogance” of the …

The Charlotte Observer reports: A Republican political operative who worked for one-time congressional candidate Mark Harris in Bladen County faces felony charges in connection with the 2018 general election, an indictment revealed Tuesday by the Wake County district attorney shows. Leslie McCrae Dowless was charged with two counts of felony obstruction of justice, perjury, solicitation to commit perjury, conspiracy to …

The Washington Post reports: The governor of Puerto Rico announced late Wednesday that he will resign effective Aug. 2, amid intense pressure from inside and outside his government, after a series of leaked chat messages denigrating his opponents and Hurricane Maria victims triggered outrage from frustrated citizens who had taken to the streets for 13 consecutive days of protests. Ricardo …