Scandal

The Texas Tribune reports: At 9 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 2, David Maxwell and Mark Penley, then two top aides to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, reported separately to the agency’s offices, where, they claim, they were subjected to hours of “irregularities, harassment and retaliation.” Then, they say, when pressured to resign, they refused. Eight hours later, they were fired. …

Reuters reports: Pope Francis, in his first public comment after the release of an explosive report on the Vatican’s mishandling of the case of ex-U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, on Wednesday again vowed to put an end to sexual abuse in the Church. “Yesterday, the report about the painful case of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was published. I renew my closeness to …

The National Catholic Reporter reports: In an explosive report that calls into question the decision-making of three Catholic popes, the Vatican has revealed a series of institutional failures that led to the repeated promotion of now disgraced ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick despite rumors of his alleged sexual misconduct with young men as early as the 1990s. The Vatican places an abundance …

The Associated Press reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had an extramarital affair with a woman whom he later recommended for a job with the wealthy donor now at the center of criminal allegations against him, according to two people who said Paxton told them about the relationship. The two people, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of …

CBS News reports: The Kentucky State police commissioner resigned from his position Monday after a report surfaced that the department used a training slideshow that included quotes from Adolf Hitler, officials said. Rodney Brewer’s resignation will go into effect on Wednesday. Kentucky Police Academy used a training slideshow as recently as 2013 that advocated for violence during altercations and instructed …

The Minneapolis StarTribune reports: Four months before Legal Marijuana Now Party candidate Adam Weeks died in September, sending the pivotal Second Congressional District race into a legal tailspin, he told a close friend that he had been recruited by Republicans to draw votes away from Democrats. In a May 20 voicemail message provided to the Star Tribune, Weeks told a …

The Texas Tribune reports: Lacey Mase, one of the top aides who accused Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of crimes including bribery and abuse of office, has been fired, she told The Texas Tribune on Tuesday evening. “It was not voluntary,” she said, but declined to comment further. Mase was hired in 2011 and worked most recently as the deputy …

The New York Times reports: Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges of defrauding federal health agencies and violating anti-kickback laws, and faces penalties of roughly $8.3 billion, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday. The company’s owners, members of the wealthy Sackler family, will pay $225 million in civil penalties. Still, it is …

The Guardian reports: Jair Bolsonaro’s efforts to portray himself as an anti-corruption crusader have suffered another blow after police reportedly seized a wad of bank notes from between the clenched buttocks of one of his allies. Chico Rodrigues, the Brazilian president’s deputy leader in the senate, was reportedly caught with the concealed bundle on Wednesday during a police search of …

Bloomberg News reports: Wells Fargo & Co. fired more than 100 employees for improperly getting coronavirus relief funds, according to a person with knowledge of the situation, Bloomberg News reports. The firm found staffers who it believes defrauded the U.S. Small Business Administration “by making false representations in applying for coronavirus relief funds for themselves,” according to an internal memo …

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: Reacting to the latest scandal in the local Catholic Church, an outraged New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond said Friday that he had burned the altar where a Pearl River priest was accused of taping himself engaged in group sex with two dominatrices. In a video message posted on the archdiocese’s website, Aymond called the Rev. …

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: The lights inside Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in Pearl River were on later than usual on Sept. 30, so a passerby stopped to take a closer look. Peering inside, the onlooker saw the small parish’s pastor half-naked having sex with two women on the altar, according to court documents. The women were …

The Austin Statesman reports: Top aides of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have asked federal law enforcement authorities to investigate allegations of improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other potential crimes against the state’s top lawyer. In a one-page letter to the state agency’s director of human resources, obtained Saturday by the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV, seven executives in the …

CBS News reports: Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale has tendered his resignation from President Trump’s reelection bid, and it has been accepted, a campaign source and a former campaign aide confirmed to CBS News. Parscale was demoted from the role of campaign manager over the summer but was still employed as a senior adviser. A Trump 2020 spokesperson did …

The South Florida SunSentinel reports: After SWAT officers tackled Brad Parscale in front of his Fort Lauderdale home Sunday, police seized all his guns. Now, city officials have been granted a request to keep his guns away from him for at least two weeks under Florida’s so-called “red flag law,” saying President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager posed a danger …

Lynchburg’s NBC News affiliate reports: Liberty University said it paid its recently resigned president, Jerry Falwell Jr., the two years’ base salary owed under his employment contract Tuesday. The Lynchburg, Virginia-based Christian university issued a brief statement about the compensation that did not provide an exact figure but said previous “media reports regarding the size and terms” of Falwell’s severance …

The Huffington Post reports: One week after Reuters published an explosive report on an alleged sexual and financial relationship between Jerry Falwell Jr., his wife and a Miami man named Giancarlo Granda, responders were called to the Falwells’ house in Bedford County, Virginia. According to records and 911 audio obtained by HuffPost, on the night of Aug. 30, Jerry Falwell …

From the American Family Association’s OneNewsNow: “We need to pray for him and pray for America because his support for Donald Trump was paramount to victory in 2016,” comments Dr. Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College. “I just hope that him crashing like this won’t harm the evangelical vote in 2020.” Dr. McVety, who has a daughter attending Liberty’s …

Reuters reports: In 2001, property records show, Falwell set up a private company while he was a lawyer for Liberty, used it to buy an undeveloped tract of land from the school, and then developed a strip mall on the plot. The company sold the property five years later at a significant premium. In 2005, property records show, Falwell again …

Via press release from Liberty University: This past week challenged all of us to the core. While we had been willing to extend grace and understanding to Jerry Falwell, Jr. before, once the revelations about his past personal life came more fully to light, we acted swiftly and decisively to ask for his immediate resignation, which we received. Some may …