N.Y. State Authorities Probe Trump Organization Payments to Michael Cohen

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Earlier today, we posted my column about yesterday’s revelation that federal prosecutors in Manhattan granted immunity to two American Media Inc. executives, including CEO David Pecker, a longtime friend and collaborator of President Trump’s. As I detail in the column, while news of the immunity grants just broke yesterday, the grants almost certainly happened many weeks ago — likely just after the April search warrants executed at Michael Cohen’s office and residences. The point, it appears, was to shore up the case against Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer. The immunity grants are not a new development signaling sudden momentum in an investigation of President Trump. Of course, if there is such an investigation, they would be relevant.

In the column’s penultimate paragraph, I note that in the eight-count criminal information to which Cohen pled guilty on Tuesday, prosecutors suggested that fraud may have been committed by Cohen and the Trump Organization (President Trump’s real-estate conglomerate). At issue is the manner in which Cohen was reimbursed for the $130,000 hush-money payment to Stephanie Clifford (the porn star better known as Stormy Daniels). Specifically, there are peculiarities in the way Cohen’s reimbursement was totaled up, invoiced, and processed for payment.

Right about the time I submitted the column to my tireless editors late last night, the New York Times broke the news that the Manhattan district attorney’s office is considering criminal charges against the Trump Organization over these payments.

The Times’ William K. Rashbaum reports that this state probe is in its infancy. This, no doubt, is because it was triggered by the aforementioned criminal information the feds filed against Cohen — to be precise, the part of the Cohen case outlined in the last four paragraphs of the “Campaign Finance Violations” section of the press release issued by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY). . .

First, the president has indicated that he personally reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000 Stormy Daniels pay-off. As noted in my aforementioned column, this is important because, under campaign-finance law, there is no dollar limit on what a candidate may spend on his own campaign (while other donors have a $2,700 ceiling, which is why Cohen was charged). One question that federal prosecutors have certainly looked into is whether the president himself paid Cohen, as opposed to reimbursing him through a Trump business entity. (Read more from “N.Y. State Authorities Probe Trump Organization Payments to Michael Cohen” HERE)

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Planned Parenthood’s Favorite Republicans Block the Senate’s Latest Defund Effort. Yes, Murkowski Is Involved

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The two most reliable pro-abortion Republicans in the United States Senate joined with Democrats yet again yesterday to snuff out the latest effort to cut off Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer-funded gravy train.

The vote Thursday came after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the amendment’s sponsor, made a lot of noise on the Senate floor about Republicans trying to block the effort. He asked, “What is more important to these Republicans: Saving lives or spending money?”

Of course, these are the same two Republican senators who voted with most Democrats on whether it should be legal to abort an unborn child after 20 weeks. They’re the same Republicans who introduced legislation defending Planned Parenthood’s government funding months after the first undercover videos came out in 2015. They’re the same Republicans who voted to keep an Obama rule prohibiting states from making their own decisions about funding Planned Parenthood. And these are also the same two who also stood shoulder to shoulder with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and a handful of others to kill even the most watered-down version of Obamacare repeal last year.

Of course, some standard-issue establishment types were none too thrilled about the amendment either, as it might have presented a legislative “spoiler” and government shutdown.

It’s been over three years since the first undercover video showing Planned Parenthood’s gruesome behind-the-scenes practices was released. During fiscal year 2016-2017, the abortion giant managed to pull down over $500 million of your federal tax dollars.

And while the Republicans may use the vote as campaign fodder to hurt vulnerable Democrats in the midterm elections, they never think of going after Collins and Murkowski with the same fervor. No, in Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s Senate, both will keep their committee chairmanships and continue carrying water for the abortion lobby with absolutely no consequence whatsoever.

Despite the videos, despite the breathless campaign promises, despite the best efforts of the legitimate pro-lifers on Capitol Hill, hundreds of millions of your tax dollars will continue to go to an organization that takes the lives of hundreds of thousands of unborn children in the United States every year.

But hey, at least we’re avoiding another government shutdown, right? (For more from the author of “Planned Parenthood’s Favorite Republicans Block the Senate’s Latest Defund Effort. Yes, Murkowski Is Involved” please click HERE)

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PETA Puts up Billboard Telling Marylanders to Stop Eating Crabs

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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) put up a billboard in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor featuring a picture of a blue crab with the message “I’m ME, Not MEAT. See the Individual. Go Vegan.”

“Just like humans, crabs feel pain and fear, have unique personalities, and value their own lives,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman commented. “PETA’s billboard aims to give Charm City residents some food for thought about sparing sensitive marine animals the agony of being boiled alive or crushed to death in fishing nets simply by going vegan.”

However, Twitter users and locals reacted pretty much as could be expected to PETA’s efforts to get them to stop eating the Maryland specialty.

(Read more from “PETA Puts up Billboard Telling Marylanders to Stop Eating Crabs” HERE)

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One State’s Gun Control Initiative Will Appear on the November Ballot Despite Questionable Practices

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The Washington State Supreme Court on Friday overturned a lower court’s decision on the state’s controversial gun control ballot initiative, I-1639. The Court ruled unanimously that the initiative must appear on the November ballot.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Second Amendment Foundation, along with a handful of individuals, previously challenged the initiative’s state constitutionality. According to NRA and SAF, the ballot initiative’s supporters didn’t follow state laws regarding proper formatting.

“The problem with the petitions is that they failed to underline new law and strike through removed law so that the reader could not know the current law, added law and subtracted law,” Alan Gottlieb, Founder and Executive Director of SAF, previously told Townhall.

“If they are so careless about knowing what is, or is not, shown on their own petitions, how is anyone else supposed to know? They’re asking people to sign an initiative that is difficult, if not impossible to read,” Gottlieb said. “And now we’ve discovered that even if people can read the fine print, it does not appear to be a ‘true and correct copy’ of the proposed measure as submitted to the state.

According to the Court, the statute the NRA and SAF referenced is “narrow” and
“it does not allow for preelection judicial review of the form, process, substance, or constitutionality of an initiative petition.” (Read more from “One State’s Gun Control Initiative Will Appear on the November Ballot Despite Questionable Practices” HERE)

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Sen. John McCain Has Died

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Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who was diagnosed with brain cancer in July of 2017, has died. It’s the same form that took the life of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy in 2009. Cortney wrote on Friday that Mr. McCain would be suspending medical treatment. For the past year, the Arizona Republican has been fighting the disease, which has kept him from Washington D.C. Sen. McCain cast the deciding vote in the GOP’s failed attempt at the so-called skinny repeal of Obamacare. The measure went down 49-51. He has remained in Arizona for medical treatment since the end of 2017. Senator McCain was 81 years old, passing away nine years to the day of his colleague Sen. Kennedy, according to Jonathan Martin of The New York Times.

Mr. McCain ran for president in 2000 and 2008, becoming the Republican Party’s nominee in the latter contest, though was ultimately not successful. He served with the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, being shot down over North Vietnam in 1967, where he remained in captivity for nearly six years. He was released in 1973.

McCain succeeded Sen. Barry Goldwater, “Mr. Conservative,” in 1987 after the latter decided to retire.

(Read more from “Sen. John McCain Has Died” HERE)

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Watch: California ‘Progressive’ Church Pastor Claims Jesus Was ‘a Person of Color That Was Killed by White Supremacy’

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A “progressive” church in Santa Cruz, California likes to think of itself as progressive, serving beer during services and opening a brewery, while its pastor claims Jesus was a feminist and a “person of color that was killed by white supremacy.”

The pastor of the Greater Purpose Church, Christopher VanHall, said, “What would it look like to be a church that looked like the movement that Jesus started and not like the church that we know in America today? Out of that consistent questioning came this model for a brewery church that generates funds for local charities.” . . .

He continued:

We are open and affirm LGBTQ. We are feminists and I believe Jesus was, too. We are environmentalists, which I believe that’s the original mandate of the children of God to take care of the planet that we all know and enjoy. We are anti-war, which I believe Jesus was, too. We are all for racial justice, which Jesus was a Palestinian. Jewish rabbi. He was a person of color that was killed by white supremacy so we’re usually making every effort to be on the frontlines for racial justice. So that’s what sets us apart from many American churches.

(Read more from “Watch: California ‘Progressive’ Church Pastor Claims Jesus Was ‘a Person of Color That Was Killed by White Supremacy'” HERE)

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Car Driver Loses Sponsorship After His DAD Admits to Using a Racial Slur in the 1980s

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Eli Lilly pulled its sponsorship of Indy Car racer, Conor Daly, after Conor’s father, Derek Daly, admitted to using a racial slur during a live radio broadcast in the 1980s, almost a decade before Conor Daly was born.

Lilly Diabetics was expected to be a primary sponsor of Daly’s #6 car in his NASCAR debut this weekend, but told local media Friday evening that it “didn’t want the distraction from their cause,” presented by Derek Daly’s admission.

“Our sponsorship in Saturday’s race is intended to raise awareness of treatment options and resources for people living with diabetes. Unfortunately, the comments that surfaced this week by Derek Daly distract from this focus, so we have made the decision that Lilly Diabetes will no longer run the No. 6 at Road America this weekend,” the company said in a statement. “We remain committed to our mission of supporting people with diabetes.”

(Read more from “Car Driver Loses Sponsorship After His Dad Admits to Using a Racial Slur in the 1980s” HERE)

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BOMBSHELL: Pope Francis Accused of Covering up for Abusive Ex-Cardinal

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A former apostolic nuncio to the United States claims that Pope Francis knew about sanctions imposed on then-Cardinal McCarrick — accused of sexual abuse of a minor — but decided to repeal them.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, 77, who served as apostolic nuncio in Washington, D.C., from 2011 to 2016, wrote in an 11-page statement that Pope Benedict XVI “imposed on Cardinal McCarrick sanctions similar to those now imposed on him by Pope Francis.” He also claimed that in 2013, he told Pope Francis about those sanctions.

“He knew from at least June 23, 2013 that McCarrick was a serial predator. Although he knew that he was a corrupt man, he covered for him to the bitter end; indeed, he made McCarrick’s advice his own, which was certainly not inspired by sound intentions and for love of the Church. It was only when he was forced by the report of the abuse of a minor, again on the basis of media attention, that he took action [regarding McCarrick] to save his image in the media,” Vigano wrote. . .

“In this extremely dramatic moment for the universal Church, he must acknowledge his mistakes and, in keeping with the proclaimed principle of zero tolerance, Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick’s abuses and resign along with all of them,” he wrote.

“Pope Francis has repeatedly asked for total transparency in the Church and for bishops and faithful to act with parrhesia. The faithful throughout the world also demand this of him in an exemplary manner. He must honestly state when he first learned about the crimes committed by McCarrick, who abused his authority with seminarians and priests.” (Read more from “Bombshell: Pope Francis Accused of Covering up for Abusive Ex-Cardinal” HERE)

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Mass Shooting at Florida Video Game Tournament Leaves Multiple Fatalities

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Four people are dead and at least nine others wounded Sunday afternoon in a mass shooting during a video game tournament at the Jacksonville Landing.

Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said at 4:30 p.m. that the gunman, a white man, is dead, but he wouldn’t confirm casually counts, so it wasn’t known if the four dead included the shooter.

News4Jax sources say the suspect, a gamer from the Baltimore area armed with a semiautomatic handgun, killed himself.

Williams said SWAT teams had completed a methodical search of the Landing and the immediate area and found no additional gunmen. . .

Randy Wyse, president of the firefighters’ union, said Engine Company 1 was training in the area and victims began running up to them before they received the emergency call. He said victims ran as far as the CSX building, about a half-mile away to get help. (Read more from “Mass Shooting at Florida Video Game Tournament Leaves Multiple Fatalities” HERE)

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Bombshell: FEC Records Indicate Hillary Campaign Illegally Laundered $84 Million; Cohen Deletes Important Hillary-Related Tweet

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By The Federalist. The press continues to feed the dying Russia collusion conspiracy theory, spending Friday’s news cycle regurgitating Democrat talking points from the just-filed Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act lawsuit against the Trump campaign, WikiLeaks, and Russia.

Yet the mainstream media took no notice of last week’s federal court filing that exposes an $84 million money-laundering conspiracy the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign executed during the 2016 presidential election in violation of federal campaign-finance law.

That lawsuit, filed last week in a DC district court, summarizes the DNC-Clinton conspiracy and provides detailed evidence from Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings confirming the complaint’s allegations that Democrats undertook an extensive scheme to violate federal campaign limits. . .

Dan Backer, a campaign-finance lawyer and attorney-of-record in the lawsuit, explained the underlying law in an article for Investor’s Business Daily: Under federal law, “an individual donor can contribute $2,700 to any candidate, $10,000 to any state party committee, and (during the 2016 cycle) $33,400 to a national party’s main account. These groups can all get together and take a single check from a donor for the sum of those contribution limits—it’s legal because the donor cannot exceed the base limit for any one recipient. And state parties can make unlimited transfer to their national party.”

This legal loophole allows “bundlers” to raise large sums of money from wealthy donors—more than $400,000 at a time—filtering the funds to the national committees. Democrats and Republicans alike exploit this tactic. But once the money reaches the national committees, other limits apply. (Read more from “Bombshell: FEC Records Indicate Hillary Campaign Illegally Laundered $84 Million” HERE)

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Cohen Deletes Tweet Predicting Clinton Would Go to Jail

By NY Post. A day after pleading guilty to a swarm of criminal charges that will land him behind bars, President Trump’s longtime lawyer deleted a gloating 2015 tweet predicting that Hillary Clinton would end up in the slammer.

“@HillaryClinton when you go to prison for defrauding America and perjury, your room and board will be free!” Trump’s self-described fixer Michael Cohen tweeted that December.

Critics including comedian Kathy Griffin gleefully reposted the tweet, which was removed sometime Wednesday morning.

Cohen in court Tuesday described how he violated campaign finance laws by arranging hush-money payments to porn vixen Stormy Daniels and Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal. (Read more from “Cohen Deletes Tweet Predicting Clinton Would Go to Jail” HERE)

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