Scandal

The Associated Press reports: Embattled South Carolina Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom will resign next month after a $3.5 billion accounting error in the year-end financial report he oversaw. The state’s top accountant will leave the elected post he has held for 20 years on April 30. The Senate panel investigating the error issued a damning report last week that suggested …

The Tennessean reports: Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy McNally prevailed in a Republican caucus confidence vote, indicating state senators aren’t yet willing to publicly break with the Senate speaker over a controversy sparked by McNally’s repeated comments on a young man’s suggestive Instagram photos. Republican senators voted 19-7 in favor of McNally’s continued leadership, per a statement released by his office. …

Nashville’s CBS affiliate reports: What did Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles do with tens of thousands of dollars meant for a children’s burial garden? It’s a story that goes far beyond questions about Ogles’ inflated resume. It’s a story that stems from a personal tragedy — the stillborn death of a child whose photo Ogles sometimes posts on his political social …

The Washington Post reports: The longtime Republican campaign aide who has leveled sexual misconduct allegations against Matt Schlapp, the influential leader of the Conservative Political Action Conference, was accused last month of sexual battery. Carlton Huffman, 39, was recently ordered by a judge to stay away for one year from a Raleigh, N.C., housemate who alleged he performed unwanted sex …

The Washington Post reports: The man who has accused Matt Schlapp, the influential leader of the Conservative Political Action Conference, of sexual misconduct came forward publicly Wednesday after a judge said he must use his real name to proceed with a lawsuit. Carlton Huffman, 39, a longtime aide to Republican campaigns who lives in Raleigh, N.C., said he plans to …

The Guardian reports: In leaked audio heard by the Guardian, a manager for one of the US’s largest rail companies can be heard explaining to a former carman that they should stop tagging railcars for broken bearings. The manager says doing so delays other cargo. The disclosure comes as federal agencies investigate the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. A wheel-bearing …

Fox News reports: Campaign finance experts expressed concern following a Fox News Digital report showing former Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s campaign paid a defunct car wash hundreds of thousands of dollars for private jet travel. Team Herschel, Walker’s main campaign organization, paid a company named Jetts roughly $595,600 to charter private jets between March and December last year. Other …

The Daily Beast reports: Days ahead of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, it remains to be seen if and how Fox News will cover the annual right-wing confab amid CPAC boss Matt Schlapp’s alleged groping scandal. As of publication, Schlapp and his annual convention have all but disappeared from the Fox News universe. None of Fox News Media’s outlets …

Reuters reports: The Roman Catholic religious order of Jesuits said on Tuesday that accusations of sexual, psychological and spiritual abuse against a prominent member of the order were highly credible and that restrictions on him had been tightened. The order said on its website that it would start an “internal procedure” against the priest, Father Marko Ivan Rupnik, 69, a …

The New York Times reports: James O’Keefe, the embattled leader of the conservative group Project Veritas, has been removed from his position amid a series of questions about his oversight of the organization, according to a video of a speech he gave to the group posted Monday. “I was stripped of all decision-making last week,” Mr. O’Keefe said in the …

Click Orlando reports: Palm Bay City Council member Pete Filiberto was arrested Saturday night on charges of riding his motorcycle while impaired and carrying 10 grams of cocaine in his shoe, court records show. Filiberto, 34, elected to office in 2022, was charged with possession of cocaine, reckless driving, DUI alcohol, no motorcycle endorsement, and refusing a DUI test, according …

The Daily Beast reports: According to court documents filed on Thursday, the legal team of conservative icon Matt Schlapp has formally denied that he committed sexual battery against a former Herschel Walker campaign staffer who has accused the CPAC chair of groping his crotch against his will—and he’s asking the court to name the accuser. Media reports have omitted the …

ABC News reports: The mayor of Canada’s largest city has stepped down after acknowledging he had an affair with a former staffer. Toronto Mayor John Tory said at a late Friday night news conference that he developed a relationship with an employee in his office. The 68-year-old was known as a straight-laced, button down moderate conservative — almost the polar …

The Daily Mail reports: Brett Favre is suing ex-NFL players and current media personalities Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee, as well as Mississippi Auditor Shad White, for ‘defamatory allegations’ made over the Packers legend’s involvement in a $77 million welfare fraud scheme, DailyMail.com has learned. ‘Shannon Sharpe and Pat McAfee tried to further their careers by making baseless defamatory allegations …

The Christian Post reports: The executive director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware has resigned after the organization became aware of “marital indiscretions,” also leading to his termination as a vice president with a Southern Baptist Convention’s missions agency. The Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware leadership sent a letter to the network’s member churches Friday informing them that Michael Crawford resigned …

The Texas Tribune reports: State Sen. Charles Schwertner was arrested early Tuesday morning on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, according to Travis County sheriff’s office records. Schwertner, a Georgetown Republican, was booked into the Travis County jail at 2:12 a.m. and charged with driving while intoxicated. Records showed Schwertner was still in Travis County sheriff’s custody most of Tuesday morning. …

Politico reports: The Republican staffer who accused conservative stalwart Matt Schlapp of sexual assault and filed a lawsuit against him for nearly $10 million has filed a separate suit against another top GOP operative alleging defamation. Caroline Wren, who most recently ran Harmeet Dhillon’s campaign for RNC chair and Kari Lake’s run for governor, was sued Tuesday in D.C.’s federal …

The Guardian reports: The Vatican is investigating rumours of a “sex party” at a British cathedral which is alleged to have happened during lockdown. As part of an investigation into the circumstances of Robert Byrne’s resignation as the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, the Catholic church is looking into claims one of his priests invited worshipers to a private party …

The Associated Press reports: Two former Fox executives went on trial Tuesday, accused of bribing South American soccer officials for TV rights to one of the continent’s biggest annual tournaments and using information gathered in the process to help the network’s winning World Cup broadcast bid. It’s the latest case to go to court in the sprawling FIFA corruption scandal. …

Welp, here’s an instant update to the post below this one: Matt Schlapp, the head of one of the nation’s largest conservative advocacy groups and an adviser to former President Donald J. Trump, was accused in a lawsuit on Tuesday of groping an employee on Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign in October. The lawsuit, filed in the Virginia Circuit Court in …