Even if Mr. Weisselberg chooses not to assist the investigation into his boss, charges against him could portend trouble for Mr. Trump, signaling that the prosecutors have identified what they believe is misconduct at his family business.>

https://theintercept.com/2016/07/18...

<Following a deluge of bombshell news about Donald Trump-related criminal investigations in New York, including the Manhattan district attorney?s convening of a special grand jury, more details have emerged that might suggest intensifying legal woes for one of the former president?s business lieutenants.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the Manhattan district attorney?s office has apparently ?entered the final stages of a criminal tax investigation? of Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization?s longtime chief financial officer.

Related: New York attorney general opens criminal investigation into Trump Organization

The report that prosecutors might be nearing the final stages of their criminal tax inquiry into Weisselberg comes in the wake of reports that Jeff McConney ? a senior vice-president and controller for the Trump Organization ? has testified before the Manhattan special grand jury.

McConney, ?one of the most senior officials? in this company, is also the first Trump Organization staffer called to testify ? and is one of ?a number of witnesses? who have been before the panel, ABC reported.

McConney?s role as the Trump Organization?s money man could have dramatic implications for an investigation into possible financial crimes at the sprawling business empire. The special grand jury convened by the Manhattan district attorney?s office is expected to decide whether to indict Trump, other executives at his company or the business itself if presented with criminal charges by prosecutors.

Manhattan?s district attorney is reportedly in ?the final stages of a criminal tax investigation? of Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization?s longtime chief financial officer.

The investigation is broad and relates to Trump?s business affairs predating his presidency. The inquiry is examining whether the value of some property in his company?s real estate portfolio was presented in a way that defrauded insurance companies and banks. The investigation is also trying to determine whether sketchy property valuations might have led to unlawful tax breaks, according to the Washington Post.

With Weisselberg, the Manhattan district attorney?s office is reportedly probing whether he received any ?fringe benefits? from the company on top of his salary, and if said benefits were taxed adequately.

Although Trump and Weisselberg were usually the ?only two people in the room?, when prepping tax paperwork and other financial documents, McConney brought them the ?original documents and tranches of raw data?, the Daily Beast reported. So, McConney might have financial information that could potentially be used against Weisselberg or Trump.

Weisselberg?s attorney said ?no comment? when asked about the inquiry and Times report.

The Manhattan district attorney?s office declined to comment.

Longtime defense attorneys told the Guardian that such revelations about grand jury witness testimony might give clues about prosecutors? strategy and thoughts about potential wrongdoing. When prosecutors start calling witnesses before grand juries, it typically means the investigation has hit the stage where prosecutors feel they have a criminal case against someone.

Daniel R Alonso, a partner at Buckley LLP?s New York office whose past work includes serving as chief assistant district attorney with the Manhattan district attorney, said: ?You?ve got to start with the proposition that it?s pretty clear they?re targeting Allen Weisselberg, the CFO. If that?s correct, which it seems to be, it?s an obvious move to get the testimony of the controller on record.

?It appears from the reporting that he?s getting immunity,? Alonso said of McConney. ?They either don?t think that he has criminal exposure or if he does, they?re more interested in getting people higher up on the food chain if they can.?

And because a controller has daily interaction with a CFO, ?there are undoubtedly lots and lots of questions that the [district attorney] has asked him, or will ask him, or lots and lots of documents that they can show him that will make it difficult for him to feign a lack of memory,? Alonso also said.

McConney did not respond to an email request for comment....>

<....Rebecca Roiphe, a former prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney?s office who now works as a professor at New York Law School, explained that in New York state courts, a witness called before the grand jury can?t be prosecuted for what they testify about.

?You really don?t want to use the grand jury, at least in terms of calling witnesses, at an early stage of your investigation because you don?t want to have to accidentally give somebody immunity,? Roiphe said.

So, if prosecutors are calling witnesses before a grand jury, they have a strong sense of who they want to prosecute ? they are not just calling people in a way that could jeopardize a case.

?They must have a sense that they have a criminal case against somebody, because of the grand jury practice of New York,? Roiphe said.

?It seems that it?s a more advanced investigation. It?s not just the detectives and prosecutors thinking in theory about an investigation ? they?re actively interviewing witnesses and putting a possible indictment together,? said Jeffrey Lichtman, a longtime criminal defense attorney.

?They don?t just call these people out of the blue.?

There appears to be no shortage of high-profile figures willing to discuss Trump, his businesses, or his cronies.

Michael Cohen, Trump?s former fixer, has met with prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney?s office. They have reportedly asked Cohen questions about Trump?s business activities. Cohen pleaded guilty to tax evasion, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress.

Jennifer Weisselberg, Allen Weisselberg?s former daughter-in-law, has provided investigators with extensive tax records and other financial documents. A representative for Jennifer Weisselberg said: ?She is still being considered as a potential witness and she?s been in conversation with the district attorney about her information and her potential [grand jury] testimony if necessary.?

The adult film star Stormy Daniels ? who claimed to have had sex with Trump about 12 or so years ago, and received $130,000 in hush money during the 2016 presidential race not to discuss the alleged affair ? said she would readily testify before a grand jury.

?I would love nothing more than my day in court and to give a deposition and to provide whatever evidence that they need from me,? Daniels reportedly said.

Trump has claimed he did not have a sexual liaison with Daniels.

Trump?s attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.>

~ Walker Scott>

<Fox News failed to disclose to their audience that nearly a dozen guests billed as parents panicked by what they misleadingly label critical race theory being taught to their young children in school are also professional Republican operatives, according to a newly released report.

The liberal media watchdog organization Media Matters for America details how Fox News has repeatedly failed to mention that their guests, who included right-wing media personalities, GOP strategists and conservative think tank staffers, were far from apolitical despite billing them as your average outraged parent.

For example, one of the guests who frequently appeared to rail against critical race theory was a gentleman by the name of Ian Prior, who was billed by the network as a "Loudoun County parent" that went "from [a] concerned parent, like many of you, to legal activist."

But below the surface, Prior is a Republican operative with deep GOP political roots. The former Department of Justice spokesperson, Media Matters noted, worked "in top communications roles during the 2016 election cycle" including for "the National Republican Congressional Committee, the Karl Rove-fronted super PAC American Crossroads, and the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC that works to elect Republican senators which was founded by allies of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell."

Another frequent guest to appear on Fox News, Lilet Vanetsyan, turned out to be far from an ordinary parent, as well.

Instead of being your average frustrated parent, Vanetsyan is associated with the pro-Trump organization Turning Point USA founded by Charlie Kirk and was a reporter for the right-wing Right Side Broadcasting Network.

Fox billed Vanetsyan as a "Fairfax County teacher," despite being a longtime Trump supporter and fervent GOP activist.

According to a different Media Matters study, the topic of critical race theory, which dives deep into how systemic racism should be taught to children in schools across America, has been mention almost 1,300 times over the course of the past four months on Fox News.

"With mentions doubling month over month, the 'critical race theory' boogeyman is exploding on Fox News," the report noted.

A Fox News spokesperson didn't return a Salon request for comment on the Media Matters for America investigation.>

Just when one had the idea that race relations in America were on the path to improvement, these slimepots look to overturn the apple cart.

As an American, I am appalled.

<Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson has been an outlier in his swing state for much of the last several years.

While the state has been closely contested -- Joe Biden narrowly beat Donald Trump in the Badger State in 2020 -- Johnson has carved out space as one of Trump's most ardent backers and one of the Republicans most willing to embrace wild conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the January 6 riot that followed.

Actions have consequences. Embracing that sort of stuff isn't forgotten -- or, as Johnson's stop at a Juneteenth rally this weekend showed, forgiven.

Here's how the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on the day:

"On Saturday, during an otherwise joyful celebration of Juneteenth Day in Milwaukee, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson made an appearance at a Republican Party booth.

"Johnson told reporters that his experience interacting with attendees had been generally positive, except for 'one nasty comment.'

However, as more people recognized him, he was drowned out by a chorus of boos. Members of a growing crowd swore at him and said, 'We don't want you here.'"

The best part? Johnson told reporters that the boos were "not how you heal the nation," and added: "You come down here and try to interact with people and be nice to people. But this isn't very nice, is it?"

Not nice!

Here are a few reminders of what Johnson has said over the last few months:

* He floated the idea that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (California) pushed the impeachment of Trump to, uh, hide the role she played on January 6.

* In a congressional hearing, Johnson pushed the notion that the January 6 insurrection was, broadly speaking, a peaceful protest, with a few bad apples.

And here's Johnson in March in an interview with a conservative talk radio host:

"Even though those thousands of people that were marching to the Capitol were trying to pressure people like me to vote the way they wanted me to vote, I knew those were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, and so I wasn't concerned ...

" ... Now, had the tables been turned -- Joe, this could get me in trouble -- had the tables been turned, and President Trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned."

So, Johnson might have been worried if the crowd on January 6 had been predominantly Black rather than predominantly white? Um, OK.

The fact that Johnson was surprised -- and, quite clearly, annoyed -- by the reaction he received at the Juneteenth celebration tells you everything you need to know about how out-of-touch he is with the electorate in Wisconsin.

And raises the possibility -- as I did in a piece earlier this month -- that Senate Republicans may well have a better chance of winning the seat next November if Johnson decides against seeking a third term. (Johnson has hemmed and hawed about whether to run again for months; "I don't feel any pressure to make it, really, anytime soon," he said in early June.)

Of course, Johnson's history of controversial comments has won him one prominent admirer: Trump. "He has no idea how popular he is," the former President said earlier this year. "Run, Ron, Run!"

The problem for Johnson is that Trump doesn't vote in Wisconsin. And if the reception the incumbent got over the weekend -- from actual Wisconsin voters -- is any indication -- he could be in for a very rough race if he decides to run it.>

<Testing is killing me! Trump reportedly exclaimed in a March phone call to then-Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, complaining: I'm going to lose the election because of testing.>

<It?s hard to talk about Donald Trump?s record on COVID-19 without sounding hyperbolic. That?s because the documented facts are so awful: Trump constantly deceived the public and interfered in every element of the government?s response, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths that were, according to his own advisers, unnecessary. Every new examination of this catastrophe yields more evidence of the former president?s perfidy. The latest revelations, unearthed by Washington Post reporters Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta, show how Trump, behind the scenes, tried to conceal the crisis to protect his image.

Donald Trump wearing a suit and tie: President Donald Trump takes his mask off before speaking at the White House on Oct. 10. Mandel Ngan/Getty Images? Provided by Slate President Donald Trump takes his mask off before speaking at the White House on Oct. 10. Mandel Ngan/Getty Images Abutaleb and Paletta present their findings in a new book, Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration?s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History. The book, which relies in part on interviews with former Trump administration officials, won?t be available until June 29, but excerpts quoted in the Post describe several incriminating episodes. In at least two cases, Trump tried to keep infected Americans from setting foot in the United States, not to prevent the virus from spreading, but to prevent the infections from being counted as part of Trump?s record. In one instance?Trump?s opposition to letting 14 Americans return from a cruise ship, the Diamond Princess?the authors add backstage details: Trump complained to Alex Azar, his secretary of health and human services, that the return of the infected Americans ?doubles my numbers overnight.? The authors report that Trump tried to fire the official who approved the decision.

The book also reveals a second episode, previously unreported, in which Trump repeatedly proposed that Americans who had been infected overseas should be shipped to the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. ?Don?t we have an island that we own?? Trump asked his aides. ?What about Guant?namo?? The word island was central to Trump?s idea: According to the authors, he was ?eager to suppress the numbers on U.S. soil,? and he figured that people who were kept off the mainland wouldn?t count. In both cases, the infected citizens could have been quarantined at facilities in the continental United States. That would have impeded the spread of the virus, but Trump, in his own words, viewed the presence of such people on the mainland as a threat to him ?statistically.?

Trump?s biggest concern was testing. By producing test kits for the virus and administering them to more and more Americans, doctors and the government were gradually ascertaining the breadth of the crisis. Trump chafed at this progress?he said it made him ?look bad??because he figured that if people weren?t tested, their infections wouldn?t be recorded and wouldn?t be counted against him. The authors report that in a phone call on March 18, 2020, Trump told Azar, ?Testing is killing me! ? I?m going to lose the election because of testing! What idiot had the federal government do testing??

Trump and his aides belittled and resisted various life-saving public health measures. The book reports that Marc Short, a veteran Trump aide who was then serving as Vice President Mike Pence?s chief of staff, opposed a plan to send free masks to every household, on the grounds that it would alarm the public. Senior Trump officials ridiculed masks, likening them to a ?training bra? or ?underwear on your face.? Short also opposed the economic shutdown that slowed the spread of the virus in March and April 2020. And on the rare occasions when Trump pushed subordinates to move more quickly, he did so for personal advantage, not public health: In the fall, according to the book, he tried to oust FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn for refusing to strong-arm FDA scientists into approving COVID vaccines before Election Day....>

<.....One anecdote reported in the book is more significant than it might seem. In late March 2020, Robert Kadlec, a senior HHS official, went to Trump?s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with a plan to mass-distribute masks. When Kushner learned that the masks wouldn?t arrive until June, he exploded. ?We?ll all be dead by June,? he told Kadlec. In the Post?s retelling, this conversation comes across as a tale of delay and frustration. But it?s worse than that. It shows how gravely Kushner and others in the White House privately viewed the crisis, while Trump was telling Americans that the virus would soon disappear.

The Post doesn?t specify the date of Kushner?s outburst, but in public, Trump was belittling the virus through this period. ?It will go away,? he assured the press on March 30. ?We are doing a great job.? The next day, when a reporter suggested that Trump had ?lulled Americans into a false sense of security,? Trump replied, ?It?s going away. It?s going to go away, hopefully at the end of the month.? On April 3, he repeated, ?It is going away.? A week later, he added, ?It will be gone, and it won?t be that much longer.?

Days after Kushner?s private eruption about the mask shortage, Trump dismissed complaints from doctors that they didn?t have enough masks. ?We have masks. We have everything. ? We?re in great shape,? Trump told reporters on April 10. And contrary to Kushner?s fear that ?we?ll all be dead by June,? Trump publicly insisted that the risk of death from the virus was overrated and that it was more important to reopen businesses and boost the stock market.

Trump didn?t personally kill the 600,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19. But he achieved that result in every way he could: by downplaying the threat, opposing efforts to track and control the virus, deriding masks, and launching political attacks on governors who tried to save lives. By orders of magnitude, it?s the most lethal betrayal of American citizens by their own president. The carnage would have been even worse, according to the authors, had it not been for ?enormous efforts made to prevent Trump from acting on his worst instincts.? The more we learn, the worse the story gets.>

But as the GOP gears up for a midterm cycle in which they are thought to have decided advantages, some Republicans and ex-Republican officeholders are sounding the alarm that Trump?s return to the stage will be a gift not to his endorsed candidates, but to Democrats and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.>

<Former President Donald Trump believes that all of New York is "out of control" after his former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani was ordered to stop practicing law in the state.

New York state's Supreme Court ordered Giuliani to refrain from practicing law on Thursday pending disciplinary actions brought against him by the Attorney Grievances Committee for the First Judicial Department over his involvement in legal attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Trump's favor. The former president quickly issued a statement decrying the court's decision while falsely claiming that the election had "already been proven" to be rife with massive fraud.

"Can you believe that New York wants to strip Rudy Giuliani, a great American Patriot, of his law license because he has been fighting what has already been proven to be a Fraudulent Election?" Trump said. "The greatest mayor in the history of New York City, the Eliot Ness of his generation, one of the greatest crime fighters our Country has ever known, and this is what the Radical Left does to him."

"All of New York is out of control, crime is at an all-time high. It's nothing but a Witch Hunt, and they should be ashamed of themselves," he added. "TAKE BACK AMERICA!">

<Former President Donald Trump has warned that Republican leaders in Wisconsin's legislature will be "primaried" and "run out of office" if they do not give in to his demands for a new audit of his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

Former President Donald Trump said Friday that Wisconsin Republican leaders will be "primaried and quickly run out of office" if they do not push harder for a new "forensic audit" of his 2020 presidential election loss.

Amid Trump's repeated false claims that widespread voter fraud was to blame for him losing the White House, loyalists of the former president have continued to promote efforts to initiate new state election audits more than six months after Biden took office. Trump lost to Biden by 74 votes in the Electoral College, including 10 electoral votes from Wisconsin?results that have been confirmed by multiple recounts and audits that found no credible evidence of massive fraud.

While GOP Wisconsin House Speaker Robin Vos recently announced a new investigation into the election despite no evidence to support Trump's claims having been found previously, the former president threatened Vos and Republican leaders in the state Senate on Friday. Trump alleged that the lawmakers were trying to "cover up election corruption" by not pushing harder for a new "forensic audit" similar to the controversial recent effort in Arizona's Maricopa County.

"Wisconsin Republican leaders Robin Vos, Chris Kapenga, and Devin LeMahieu, are working hard to cover up election corruption, in Wisconsin," Trump said in a statement. "They are actively trying to prevent a Forensic Audit of the election results, especially those which took place in Milwaukee, one of the most corrupt election locales in the country. Don't fall for their lies!"

"These REPUBLICAN 'leaders' need to step up and support the people who elected them by providing them a full forensic investigation," added Trump. "If they don't, I have little doubt that they will be primaried and quickly run out of office."

Newsweek reached out to the office of Vos for comment.

Trump issued a similar threat to GOP lawmakers in Pennsylvania earlier this month, suggesting that those who did not amplify his demands for a new audit were "stupid, corrupt, or na?ve" and would "be primaried and lose by big numbers" if they chose to continue "along this path of resistance." Trump lost in Pennsylvania by more than 80,000 votes, a margin of just over 1 percent.

Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by a thinner margin of less than 1 percent, a total of a little more than 20,000 votes. After the loss, the Trump campaign paid almost $3 million for a partial recount of the state's results?leading to Biden netting 87 more votes than he had on the initial count.

The audit in Arizona is being led by the company Cyber Ninjas, a firm with a CEO who expressed support for pro-Trump election conspiracy theories on social media prior to the audit taking place. Officials involved in the audit tweeted that the "Paper examination and counting" had been completed on Friday, although findings are not expected to be released to the public for some time.>

But just like we'll never forget his hypocrisy, the internet won't, either!>

<Rick Wilson
@TheRickWilson. 11h

In total day, Fox News topped total viewers with 1.19 million, down 37% from the same month a year earlier. MSNBC averaged 835,000 viewers, down 28%, and CNN posted 610,000, down 44%. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News was at 203,000, down 38%, followed by CNN with 147,000, off by 51%, and MSNBC with 108,000, down 39%.>

The above tweet only spurred the magats to look for Pence, and try to kill him.

<Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!>

Pence <never> had the authority to overturn the election.

The constitution is clear on that point.

As much as I think of him as a douche he did the right thing on January 6th.

Trump will throw <anyone> under the proverbial bus in a <nanosecond.>

He wants "loyalty" but he will never do the same for those who show him any sort of fidelity.

Rudy Giuliani is in trouble and according to some reports, Trump has said he <does not> want to pay his fees.

<Jim Inhofe: "I've known Mike Pence forever, I've never seen Pence as angry as he was today."

Mike Pence: "After all the things I've done for Trump.">

The GOP has gone bonkers.

<Former president Donald Trump announced a lawsuit Wednesday against social media companies that have blocked his accounts, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. And in doing so, he advanced a rather novel legal argument: that these platforms are not private businesses but in fact state actors, i.e. de facto government entities. One must be a state actor, after all, to be sued for First Amendment violations. Ipso facto, Trump needs the courts to declare social media behemoths such as Facebook state actors....>

Much further down the line:

<....Under this Court?s cases, a private entity can qualify as a state actor in a few limited circumstances ? including, for example, (i) when the private entity performs a traditional, exclusive public function, (ii) when the government compels the private entity to take a particular action; or (iii) when the government acts jointly with the private entity. And indeed, some have suggested ? and Trump?s lawsuit argues ? that the ?state actor? designation might be in play for the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube for a very specific reason: They have government protection from lawsuits. This comes via Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. If that sounds familiar, it?s because it?s the same law Trump and his supporters often deride....>

Any port in a storm, don't you know.