Hurricane Lee continues churn towards east coast of US and Canada
The massive storm is growing larger as it inches towards the coast ahead of expected Sunday landfall.
2023-09-14 05:29
Who is Neama Rahmani? Legal expert says it's 'very hard' for Danny Masterson to win an appeal
Neama Rahmani said that the jury verdict was based on the credibility of the witnesses
2023-09-14 04:55
White House hopeful Ramaswamy joins Trump in calling for huge government job cuts
By James Oliphant WASHINGTON Vivek Ramaswamy joined a growing chorus of 2024 Republican presidential candidates vowing to radically
2023-09-14 04:47
Mitt Romney announces he won't seek reelection as he calls for 'new generation of leaders'
Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney announced Wednesday that he will not run for reelection to the Senate and called for a "new generation of leaders" as he criticized both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
2023-09-14 04:28
'Real' Selena Gomez hailed as 'one of us' for epic reaction to Chris Brown nomination at VMA
When Chris Brown's name was read out, Selena Gomez wrinkled her nose in clear displeasure over his recognition
2023-09-14 04:25
How two US senators ended up in the crosshairs of a Georgia grand jury
Several current and former elected officials – including Georgia’s two former Republican senators – are on a list of prominent Donald Trump allies who narrowly avoided criminal charges in the state’s sweeping racketeering case against him. The unsealed report from a special purpose grand jury tasked with investigating Trumpworld attempts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results revealed a much wider picture of the subsequent criminal case against the former president and his 18 co-defendants. That report – the product of an eight-month investigation separate from an Atlanta grand jury’s indictment – revealed that grand jurors recommend criminal charges against 39 people for nearly 160 counts of violations against more than a dozen state laws. The list includes Georgia’s two former Republican US senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, but neither of them were charged by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in a sweeping racketeering indictment. How did Mr Perdue and Ms Loeffler – who were sitting members of Congress during the time of the alleged crimes – end up in the crosshairs of the sprawling investigation? Mr Perdue was first elected to office in 2014 and lost his bid for re-election in a closely watched runoff against Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff in the smoldering aftermath of the 2020 election. Ms Loeffler – who was appointed to the seat in 2019 following the retirement of her predecessor – lost a runoff election to Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock. Following Mr Trump’s election loss, all eyes were on Georgia for two races that would determine the balance of party power in Congress – high-stakes elections in which the GOP campaigns were intertwined with Mr Trump’s spurious attempts to claim victory in a state he decisively lost. On the campaign trail leading up to the runoff election day on 5 January, 2021, both candidates promoted their Trump links, refused to acknowledge Joe Biden’s victory, and called for the resignation of Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was baselessly accused of election “failures” following Mr Trump’s loss in the state. One week after the 2020 election, Governor Brian Kemp issued a joint statement with Lt Governor Geoff Duncan and the state’s House Speaker David Ralston – all Republicans – declaring that any effort to reverse the results through the legislature would lead to “endless litigation.” At a fundraiser on 3 December 2020, Mr Perdue urged the governor to summon lawmakers back to the state Capitol for a special session to overturn Mr Trump’s loss. Two days later, then-President Trump called on Mr Kemp to order a special legislative session among state lawmakers to invalidate the election’s outcome. Mr Kemp refused. At a Georgia rally for the senate candidates that night, Mr Trump baselessly alleged the outcome was manipulated and stolen from him. The governor said that Mr Trump asked him to order an audit of signatures on mail-in ballot envelopes; audits and full hand recounts of the state’s election results repeatedly confirmed Mr Biden’s victory, which also was affirmed and defended by the state’s Republican election officials. “Your people are refusing to do what you ask,” Mr Trump said on Twitter at the time, addressing Mr Kemp. “What are they hiding? At least immediately ask for a Special Session of the Legislature. That you can easily, and immediately, do.” Mr Perdue allegedly spoke daily with Mr Trump before the special election, listening to him unload his gripes, frustrations and bogus allegations surrounding Georgia’s election results and Mr Raffensperger’s refusals to engage Mr Trump. On 2 January, 2021, Mr Trump spoke with Mr Raffensperger on an hour-long conference call in which then-President Trump urged Georgia’s top elections official to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss. That call is central to the indictment facing Mr Trump and his co-defendants in Georgia, as well as a separate indictment from the US Department of Justice surrounding the former president’s attempts to subvert the election’s outcome. Mr Perdue’s term in Congress ended the next day, leaving his seat vacant three days before Congress convened to certify the presidential election results. “Senator Perdue still owes my wife an apology for all the death threats she got after he asked for my resignation,” Mr Raffensperger told Fox News at the time. “I have not heard one peep from that man since. If he wants to call me, face-to-face, man-to-man, I’ll talk to him, off the record, but he hasn’t done that.” Ms Loeffler initially supported efforts among GOP lawmakers to reject the election’s outcome during the joint session of Congress on 6 January, 2021, but she reversed her decision after a mob of then-President Trump’s supporters broke into the US Capitol and stormed the halls in an effort to stop the certification of Mr Biden’s victory. The special grand jury report indicates that then-Senator Perdue was involved with the “persistent, repeated communications directed to multiple Georgia officials and employees” between November 2020 and January 2021. Sixteen jurors voted to indict him on a charge of filing false documents, with one juror voting against and one abstaining. The special grand jury also implicated Mr Perdue and Ms Loeffler under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and the national scheme to overturn 2020 election results, “focused on efforts in Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania” and Washington DC, according to the report. Seventeen jurors voted to support a RICO indictment against Mr Perdue, with four jurors voting against charges. In the case of Ms Loeffler, 14 jurors supported the charge, while six voted against and one abstained. A footnote in the report notes that one of the dissenting jurors voting against recommending indictments against the senators on the RICO charge “believes that their statements following the November 2020 election, while pandering to their political base, do not give rise to their being guilty of a criminal conspiracy.” In a statement following the release of the special grand jury report, Ms Loeffler said she was “giving voice to millions of Americans who felt disenfranchised in 2020” and that she would not be “intimidated by a two-tiered system of justice that seeks to systematically destroy conservatives across this country.” In 2022, Mr Perdue was enlisted and endorsed by Mr Trump to run for governor of the state against incumbent Mr Kemp. Mr Perdue lost that race as well. Read More Trump’s access to classified documents restricted by Mar-a-Lago case judge in lead up to trial – live Trump waives right to speedy trial as Georgia prosecutor seeks to try him with 18 others next month How did Lindsey Graham, Michael Flynn and others dodge charges in Fulton County indictment? Trump could face an extensive list of trials next year. Here are all the court dates
2023-09-14 03:50
Olivia Rodrigo announces 2024 arena world tour with The Breeders, Chappell Roan, PinkPantheress
Olivia Rodrigo is going on tour and she’s bringing the next generation of pop talent, as well as a beloved ’90s alt-rock band, with her
2023-09-14 03:17
Mitt Romney to retire from US Senate after wild ride through Republican politics
By David Morgan and Moira Warburton (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Mitt Romney will not seek reelection in 2024, capping a roller-coaster
2023-09-14 02:59
Emma Coronel: El Chapo Guzmán's wife released from prison
Coronel, 34, had admitted helping Guzmán run the Sinaloa drugs cartel and aiding his prison escape.
2023-09-14 02:58
Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney, former presidential candidate and governor, won't seek reelection in 2024
Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney will not run for reelection in 2024
2023-09-14 02:27
Sister of Paul Whelan seeks meeting with Biden to press him on her brother's release
The sister of Paul Whelan, an American who has been declared wrongfully detained in Russia, is hoping to meet again with President Joe Biden to press him to do everything he can to bring her brother home.
2023-09-14 01:47
Ukraine war: Romanians told to shelter from Russian drones
Residents on the Ukraine-Romania border receive warning as Russia pounds ports across the Danube.
2023-09-14 01:29