Tuesday, August 8, 2023

8/8 WAKE-UP CALL: Trump Facing Racketeering Charges

Trump, Willis
Donald Trump could face racketeering charges stemming from the Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney’s probe related to attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss. Lawyers who have followed the investigation, including some who have worked with Fani Willis, are pointing to the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which is modeled after the federal statute enacted to help take down the mafia. The RICO law says if prosecutors show that an organization of people repeatedly commit crimes together, members can be prosecuted for crimes the group committed. A grand jury in Georgia is expected to consider criminal charges against Trump and his GOP allies. Last week, the former president was indicted on federal criminal charges, accused of trying to subvert the will of U.S. voters; events in Georgia figured prominently. Trump pleaded not guilty and has stated repeatedly that he did nothing wrong regarding the Georgia election.

Trump Attorneys Oppose Gag Order: Former President Donald Trump's attorneys opposed special counsel Jack Smith's proposal for a protective order in the case related to the 2020 election, according to a court document filed Monday. Trump's attorneys argued Smith's protective order, which prosecutors typically use to dictate how discovery is handled in a case, was "overbroad" and accused the DOJ of seeking to "restrict First Amendment rights" with it. 


Protecting certain discovery "does not require a blanket gag order over all documents produced by the government," Trump's defense team wrote. His lawyers added, "Rather, the Court can, and should, limit its protective order to genuinely sensitive materials — a less restrictive alternative that would satisfy any government interest in confidentiality while preserving the First Amendment rights of President Trump and the public." 

Trump is facing four felony charges related to allegations he conspired to overturn the 2020 election. The former president pleaded not guilty to all four charges last week, and now he and Smith are stuck in a back-and-forth over provisions of the protective order, which must be settled before Trump can receive discovery in the case. Smith's prosecutors argued in a court filing Friday night that a vague threat Trump had posted that day on his platform Truth Social — "If you go after me, I'm coming after you!" — demonstrated Trump may share information they deemed sensitive to the public.

➤JUDGE TOSSES TRUMP COUNTERSUIT: A federal judge tossed out former President Donald Trump’s countersuit against the writer who won a sex abuse lawsuit against him, ruling Monday that Trump can’t claim she defamed him by continuing to say she was not only sexually abused but raped. The ruling shuts down, at least for now, Trump’s effort to turn the legal tables on E. Jean Carroll, who won a $5 million judgment against him in May and is pursuing her own defamation suit against him. Trump attorney Alina Habba said his lawyers would appeal “the flawed decision” to dismiss his counterclaim. Carroll’s lawyer, Robbie Kaplan, said she was pleased with the ruling and looking ahead to a trial scheduled in January in her defamation suit, which concerns a series of remarks that Trump has made in denying her sexual assault allegation.

➤GOLD STAR FAMILIES RIP BIDEN ADMINISTRATION: Families of the 13 US service members who were killed in an ISIS suicide bombing during the Biden administration’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan lined up Monday to slam the White House — with one Gold Star mom accusing the president of callously likening her son’s death to that of his late son Beau. Cheryl Rex, whose son Marine Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola died in the Aug. 26, 2021, bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, said she became enraged at Biden’s mawkish sentiment, knowing full well that Beau Biden died of brain cancer on US soil.

“His words to me were, ‘My wife, Jill, and I know how you feel. We lost our son as well and brought him home in a flag-draped coffin,'” Rex recounted during a forum convened in Escondido, Calif. by local Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). “My heart started beating faster and I started shaking, knowing that their son died from cancer and they were able to be by his side.” Biden has a history of claiming his son “died in Iraq.” In fact, Beau passed away in May 2015 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., at the age of 46 – six years after he came home from a yearlong deployment to Iraq in September 2009.


➤LOS ANGELES CITY WORKERS TO JOIN STRIKES OF 'HOT LABOR SUMMER': Los Angeles city workers are planning to go on a 24-hour strike Tuesday, according to multiple reports. Striking workers will picket at Los Angeles City Hall and LAX. They join hotel workers, UPS workers, writers and actors in using strikes, or the threats of strikes, to negotiate for better wages and benefits from their employees. The L.A. city worker strike would be the first in 15 years, 11,000 are expected to participate, including “sanitation workers, heavy duty mechanics, traffic officers and engineers,” the Times added.

➤EX-MINNEAPOLIS OFFICER UNREPENTANT AS HE GETS NEARLY 5 YEARS IN GEORGE FLOYD KILLING: Tou Thao, the last former Minneapolis police officer convicted in state court for his role in the killing of George Floyd, did not show any repentance or admit any wrongdoing as he was sentenced Monday to 4 years and 9 months. Thao had previously testified that he merely served as a “human traffic cone” when he held back concerned bystanders who gathered as former Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes while the Black man pleaded for his life on May 25, 2020.

⛽RISING OIL PRICES BAD NEWS: And The Fed...that threatens to prop up inflation, just as easing price pressures had investors betting that the central bank would soon stop raising interest rates. The Fed’s preferred inflation metric excludes volatile food and energy costs, but many warn that climbing oil prices will indirectly boost prices of everything from food to building materials. Meanwhile, investors are having a tough time trying to anticipate the Fed’s next moves; over the past year, stock and bond markets are 12 and seven times, respectively, more sensitive to inflation news than the historical norm, according to Goldman Sachs.

➤MEGA JACKPOT GROWS FOR TODAY'S DRAWING: The Mega Millions jackpot is projected to reach $1.55 billion for over 30 annual payments or an up-front lump sum of $757 million for its next drawing tomorrow—though the winner could receive less than one-third of that amount after paying required taxes:

  • 1 in 302.6 million Odds of winning
  • 24% Of the lump sum payment would go to a mandatory federal tax, while a federal marginal rate as high as 37%—depending on the winner’s taxable income—could drop the winnings to just over $477 million.
  • $2.04 billion The largest jackpot ever, a Powerball prize claimed last year.

🌪2 DEAD FROM SEVERE STORMS: At least two people died, thousands of U.S. flights were canceled or delayed, and more than 1.1 million homes and businesses lost power Monday as severe storms, including hail and lightning, moved through the eastern U.S. The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for the greater D.C. area, lasting until 9 p.m. A special Weather Service statement warned, “There is a significant threat for damaging and locally destructive hurricane-force winds, along with the potential for large hail and tornadoes, even strong tornadoes.” The storms’ spread was massive, with tornado watches and warnings posted across 10 states from Tennessee to New York. The National Weather Service said more than 29.5 million people were under a tornado watch Monday afternoon.

➤AIRBORNE CAR LANDS ON HOUSE: A car launched into the air and landed in a second-floor bedroom of a Pennsylvania home, where it remained dangling on Sunday afternoon in a scene straight out of an action movie. Officials with the Junction Fire Company in Central PA responded to the wild crash in Decatur Township and found the Toyota Corolla stuck on the roof and through a dormer. The Corolla sits atop a lower roof over the front porch of the home as the front of the car is smashed into a now-crooked dormer with large splinterings of wood littering the roof and lawn below in one of the images. The fire company told WHTM in Harrisburg that the car likely hit a small culvert next to the home’s driveway which launched it through the air. Charges are pending.

Ramirez and Anderson
⚾MLB SUSPENDS BRAWL PLAYERS: Tim Anderson's been suspended for six games despite being punched by the Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramirez, who'll only get a three-game ban for his right hook on the Chicago White Sox shortstop in a massive a brawl between both teams. Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase will be forced to miss a game too, according to ESPN.

All three players were alerted of their suspensions on Monday, just two days after the fight broke out at Cleveland's Progressive Field in front of fans, as it turned out to be one of baseball's ugliest fights in several years. Anderson and Ramírez were also fined an undisclosed amount. Both players are appealing. Also, Cleveland manager Terry Francona and third base coach Mike Sarbaugh have been suspended one game each. Chicago manager Pedro Grifol was also suspended for one game. In addition, White Sox pitcher Michael Kopech and Guardians rookie Gabriel Arias have been fined an undisclosed amount for his actions.

⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Nationals at Phillies PP
  • White Sox 5 Yankees 1
  • Dodgers 13 Padres 7
  • Twins 9 Tigers 3
  • Reds 5 Marlins 2
  • Pirates 7 Braves 6
  • Red Sox 6 Royals 2
  • Blue Jays 3 Guardians 1
  • Mets 11 cubs 2
  • Brewers 12 Rockies 1
  • Giants 8 Angels 3
  • Rangers 5 Athletics 3


⚾TREA TURNER THANKS PHILLIES FANS FOR SUPPORT ON BILLBOARDS: Trea Turner used a simple message to express his appreciation for the way Phillies fans have stuck with him during a rough first season in town: "Thank You, Philly."
The message was splashed on 12 digital billboards in the greater Philadelphia area after a series when Philly fans, often billed as some of the worst in sports, gave Turner standing ovations in at-bats throughout the weekend.

⚾YANKEES PLACE CARLOS RODON (LEFT HAMSTRING) ON 15-DAY IL: The New York Yankees have placed left-hander Carlos Rodon on the 15-day injured list with a left hamstring strain, the team announced Monday. Rodon, 30, had an MRI after leaving Sunday's 9-7 loss to the Houston Astros in the third inning. He looked awkward finishing his delivery on his final two pitches to Astros right fielder Chas McCormick before manager Aaron Boone and the training staff came out to see him and he was subsequently pulled from the game.

📺SHERMAN TO REPLACE BAYLISS: Former superstar cornerback Richard Sherman is set to go head-to-head with Skip Bayless on 'Undisputed' following Shannon Sharpe's departure from the Fox Sports show. Sherman, who played for the Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers during 11 seasons in the NFL, is slated to appear on around 50-100 shows a year. According to the New York Post, the 35-year-old will remain in the studio for Amazon Prime's 'Thursday Night Football' coverage.



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