Tag Archives: corruption

Trump At CPAC: I Asked Staff About Giving Myself The Congressional Medal Of Honor, I Was So Brave [Video]

“I sat with the pilots. the best-looking human beings I’ve ever seen. Not my thing. but they are handsome. Central casting. Better looking than Tom Cruise and taller. “I see my staff and I said, ‘Let me ask you a question. Is the president of the United States allowed to give himself the Congressional Medal of Honor because I did …

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Texas AG Loses Attempt To Toss Felony Indictments

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton remains on track to be tried for felony fraud this spring after the presiding judge shot down his attempts to have the charges thrown out. During a Friday court hearing in Houston, Harris County District Court Judge Andrea Beall rejected Paxton’s arguments that his right to a speedy trial had been …

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REPORT: Thomas Threatened To Resign Over His Salary And That’s When All The Luxury Gifts Started Flowing In

ProPublica reports: In early January 2000, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was at a five-star beach resort in Sea Island, Georgia, hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. After almost a decade on the court, Thomas had grown frustrated with his financial situation, according to friends. At the resort, Thomas gave a speech at an off-the-record conservative conference. He found …

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Billionaires Are Funding Luxury Travel Of Federal Judges

The Lever reports: In 2021 and 2022, two conservative, billionaire-funded legal interests sent more than 100 federal judges on 251 trips to conferences and seminars in cushy locations around the country and overseas, according to a Lever review of hundreds of federal financial disclosure forms. In all, George Mason University (GMU) and The Federalist Society, a conservative lawyers network, funded …

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Court Garnishes Wages Of GOP Miami Commissioner To Help Pay Off $63 Million Corruption Lawsuit Judgement

Miami’s CBS affiliate reports: Taxpayers will not be on the hook for a multi-million judgment against Commissioner Joe Carollo. Last June, a jury found him liable for violating the First Amendment rights of businessmen William Fuller and Martin Pinilla, the operators of a string of businesses along the Little Havana business corridor that includes the iconic Ball & Chain nightclub. …

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Supreme Court Says It Will Adopt Its First Ethics Code

The Associated Press reports: The Supreme Court is adopting its first code of ethics, in the face of sustained criticism over undisclosed trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices. The policy was issued by the court Monday. The justices, who have hinted at internal deliberations over an ethics code, last met Thursday in their private conference room at …

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Texas AG’s Crony Charged With Four New Felonies

The Texas Tribune reports: Nate Paul, the Austin real estate investor whose relationship with Attorney General Ken Paxton was central to his September impeachment trial, was charged with new crimes by federal prosecutors on Wednesday. The U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas filed an amended indictment charging Paul, 36, with four counts of wire fraud related to allegations …

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Donors To MS Gov Got $1.4 Billion In State Contracts

Mississippi Today reports: Gov. Tate Reeves’ top campaign contributors netted $1.4 billion in state contracts or grants from agencies the governor oversees, a Mississippi Today investigation found. Of the 88 individual or corporate donors who have given Reeves’ campaigns at least $50,000, Mississippi Today identified 15 donors whose companies received a total of $1.4 billion in state contracts or grants …

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DeSantis Shakes Down State Contractors For Donations

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: As Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign dealt with widely publicized financial strains and some prominent mega donors signaled they were closing their checkbooks, the Florida governor turned to people with an incentive to stay on his good side: businesspeople, lawyers, lobbyists and others whose employers or clients have financial interests before state government. Many obliged. Campaign …

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Paxton’s Long-Delayed Fraud Trial Set For April 2024

The Texas Tribune reports: Attorney General Ken Paxton’s long-delayed trial on securities fraud charges has been set for April 15. State District Judge Andrea Beall scheduled the trial during a hearing Monday morning in Houston. Paxton was indicted on the charges over eight years ago, months into his first term as the state’s top law enforcement official. The charges stem …

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NYT: Clarence Thomas’s $267K RV Loan Was Forgiven

The New York Times reports: The terms of the private loan were as generous as they were clear: With no money down, Justice Clarence Thomas could borrow more than a quarter of a million dollars from a wealthy friend to buy a 40-foot luxury motor coach, making annual interest-only payments for five years. Only then would the principal come due. …

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Amy Coney Barrett Backs Ethics Code For SCOTUS

NBC News reports: Conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett indicated Monday she would support a code of conduct for the Supreme Court in the wake of recent claims that some justices have fallen short of required ethical standards. Speaking at the University of Minnesota Law School, Barrett said it would be “a good idea for us do it” and suggested that …

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Aunt Lydia Accused Of Faking Receipt For $19K Podium

The Arkansas Times reports: An anonymous former state employee came forward Friday claiming to have evidence that the Arkansas governor’s office doctored documents and unlawfully withheld financial records that should have been made public under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA. Attorney Tom Mars, who is representing the whistleblower, sent a letter today to Sen. Jimmy Hickey (R-Texarkana) …

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Aunt Lydia Under Fire Over Shady Buy Of $19K Podium

The Arkansas Times reports: Arkansas state Sen. Jimmy Hickey (R-Texarkana) is asking for an audit regarding Gov. Sarah Sanders’s controversial purchase of the now infamous $19,000 lectern. While they’re at it, Hickey wants the bean counters at Legislative Audit to look at the governor’s expenses and other records retroactively pulled from public view thanks to a bill just passed in …

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Elena Kagan Calls For SCOTUS “Code Of Conduct”

USA Today reports: Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan says she hopes colleagues will adopt an ethics “code of conduct,” while a new report details a relationship between Justice Clarence Thomas and conservative political activists. New ethics rules would “go far in persuading other people that we were adhering to the highest standards of conduct,” Kagan said during a Friday speech …

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Thomas Secretly Attended Koch Bros Donor Summits

ProPublica reports: On Jan. 25, 2018, dozens of private jets descended on Palm Springs International Airport. Some of the richest people in the country were arriving for the annual winter donor summit of the Koch network, the political organization founded by libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch. A long weekend of strategizing, relaxation in the California sun and high-dollar fundraising …

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The GOP Paid Influencers To Threaten Texas Senators

Mike Allen reports at Axios: National Republicans organized an under-the-radar campaign of outside conservative pressure on the Texas senators designed to neutralize mainstream media coverage, top strategists tell me. This outside unofficial team operated independently of the Paxton legal operation — like “a super PAC without the money,” a top GOP strategist said. Pro-Paxton forces also paid social media influencers …

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Cultist Miami City Commissioner Charged With Bribery Related To Notorious Anti-Vax Private School [VIDEO]

The Miami News Times reports: City of Miami Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla was arrested Thursday afternoon on counts of money laundering, bribery, and criminal conspiracy in an alleged scheme to conceal political contributions. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) claims that among other misconduct, Díaz de la Portilla accepted bribes from William W. Riley Jr., a lobbyist …

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Texas Senators Acquit AG Ken Paxton On All Counts

Austin’s CBS News affiliate reports: The Texas House of Representatives voted to adopt 20 articles of impeachment against the attorney general over Memorial Day weekend. Those articles included charges of constitutional bribery, disregard of official duty and misapplication of public resources. Paxton’s relationship with real estate developer and campaign donor Nate Paul were at the heart of the allegations made …

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LIVE VIDEO: Texas AG’s Mistress Testifies In His Trial

The Texas Tribune reports: Laura Olson, the woman with whom suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton allegedly had an affair, is expected to take the witness stand Wednesday after 3 p.m. The prosecution attempted to call Olson as their first witness on Wednesday, but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said she was not eligible to testify yet because she had not been …

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