Scandal

The Tennessean reports: A West Tennessee Republican lawmaker says he is stepping down from the statehouse, citing a family matter and demands of his business. Rep. Bill Sanderson, R-Kenton, confirmed Tuesday night that he plans to resign from his legislative seat. His resignation will become effective Wednesday at noon. Sanderson, who owns White Squirrel Winery in Kenton, said his business …

Bloomberg reports: Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello’s promise not to seek re-election was meant to mollify citizens of the bankrupt commonwealth after reams of embarrassing texts leaked from his administration. On Sunday night, many said Rossello was merely postponing his well-deserved exit. After days of protests, residents of San Juan poured into the colonial quarter to celebrate his retreat — …

Philadelphia’s NBC News affiliate reports: At least 13 Philadelphia police officers will be fired as a result of racist, homophobic and violent social media posts revealed last month by the Plain View Project, Police Commissioner Richard Ross announced Thursday. These officers were found to be the worst offenders among 328 local cops identified in the project’s national database. One of …

NBC News reports: The footage shows two wealthy men laughing and pointing as they appear to discuss young and beautiful women dancing at a party. Today, one of the men is president of the United States. The other is in federal lockup awaiting a bail decision as he fights sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. The November 1992 tape in the …

Mediaite reports: Republican operative Jason Miller, the former communications chief for the Trump campaign and transition team, said he hired numerous prostitutes and visited “hand job” massage parlors as recently as a few months ago in a new videotaped deposition. Miller made the admission while testifying on May 30 in Washington D.C. in connection to his lawsuit against the digital …

The Hill reports: Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano predicted Thursday that Trump Labor Secretary Alex Acosta will be out of the administration by the end of the week. “I don’t think he will be around by Friday,” Napolitano told “Fox & Friends” co-host Griff Jenkins of the embattled Labor chief, who is facing renewed scrutiny over his role …

The Miami Herald reports: U.S. Labor Secretary Alex Acosta has called a Wednesday press conference to discuss the controversy around his handling of a federal sex trafficking case in South Florida against accused convicted sex offender and wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein. Acosta, President Donald Trump’s labor secretary since April 2017, has been under intense pressure from Democrats and some Republicans …

The New York Times reports: It was supposed to be an exclusive party at Mar-a-Lago, Donald J. Trump’s members-only club in Palm Beach, Fla. But other than the two dozen or so women flown in to provide the entertainment, the only guests were Mr. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. The year was 1992 and the event was a “calendar girl” competition, …

Mediaite reports: Alan Dershowitz is speaking out for the first time since Jeffrey Epstein‘s indictment. The legal scholar — who was reportedly ticketed to appear on Hannity Monday night, but was not seen — broke his silence Tuesday morning on local radio in New York. Speaking with host Joe Piscopo, Dershowitz highlighted his top-line takeaway from the Epstein indictment. Dershowitz …

Raw Story reports: George Conway, the conservative attorney married to senior presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, tweeted out a series of links that tie Donald Trump to accused child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein following the millionaire’s arrest. Epstein was taken into custody late Saturday night for allegedly sex trafficking dozens of minors in New York and Florida between 2002 and 2005 and …

Reuters reports: The former governor of Rio de Janeiro state said in court testimony on Thursday that he paid $2 million (1.59 million pounds) to buy votes to ensure the sprawling Brazilian seaside city would be chosen to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Sergio Cabral told a judge the money went to Lamine Diack, the former president of the International …

Politico reports: Defense lawyers for Rep. Duncan Hunter appeared to concede Friday that he carried on extramarital affairs with several women, but alleged that much of his related spending of campaign funds was legitimate because he was “mixing business with pleasure.” With Hunter (R-Calif.) facing a federal criminal trial on 60 felony charges that he repeatedly spent campaign money on …

The Miami Herald reports: Jerry Falwell Jr., 57, who took over the mantel of Liberty University following the death of his father, the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr., has denied the suggestion that in 2015 he sought help from Michael Cohen, who told actor Tom Arnold in a surreptitiously taped conversation that he embarked on a mission to recover “personal” photographs …

ABC News reports: A former youth leader was arrested Wednesday for lewd and lascivious molestation, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. Matuszek is the owner/operator of Chick-fil-A at Westfield Countryside mall in Clearwater. Detectives say between August 2014 and April 2015 Heather Matuszek, 32, inappropriately touched an underage girl who was in her youth group at the Clearwater Community …

San Diego’s Fox affiliate reports: Rep. Duncan Hunter’s wife, who pleaded not guilty last summer along with her husband to charges of using more than $250,000 in campaign funds for their personal use, changed her plea to guilty in a hearing Thursday morning. Attorneys for Margaret read a brief statement outside the courthouse after the hearing. She said in part: …

The New York Times reports: Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, accepted a plea bargain on Wednesday morning and will pay about $15,000 in fines and restitution to settle accusations that she misused about $100,000 in public funds in managing the couple’s official residence. Prosecutors said that Ms. Netanyahu, whom they charged with fraud, had …

The Bridgewater Courier News reports: A Presbyterian minister, who said he was following the Bible, used Native American exorcism rituals, gemstones and even oral sex to extract “evil spirits” from men undergoing crises in their lives, the church and men claim. The so-called healing acts, which date to 1999, were allegedly performed by the Rev. Dr. William Weaver, a prominent …

The Washington Post reports: In the years before he was ousted for alleged sexual harassment and financial abuses, the leader of the Catholic Church in West Virginia gave cash gifts totaling $350,000 to fellow clergymen, including young priests he is accused of mistreating and more than a dozen cardinals in the United States and at the Vatican, according to church …

The Associated Press reports: When Cardinal Daniel DiNardo first met Laura Pontikes in his wood-paneled conference room in December 2016, the leader of the U.S. Catholic Church’s response to its sex abuse scandal said all the right things. He praised her for coming forward to report that his deputy in the Galveston-Houston archdiocese had manipulated her into a sexual relationship …

USA Today reports: A tentative deal is close to settling lawsuits brought against the television and film company co-founded by Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by scores of women. The amount of the deal wasn’t revealed in court, but a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press it was worth $44 million. The person …