Category: Justice

Trump-Aligned Lawyer Who Exposed Fani Willis Affair and Stalled Georgia Election Case Says D.A. Caused Downfall: ‘She’s the One to Blame’

Tom Pappert
Ashleigh Merchant and Fani Willis in a courtroom (composite image)

The Georgia election case against former President Donald Trump and those who helped him contest the 2020 election results in the Peach State is almost certain to remain ongoing on Election Day, and the attorney who first surfaced evidence Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was engaged in a romantic affair with her special counsel said on Sunday that Willis is “the one to blame” for the current state of the case.

Willis’ case against Trump is currently before the Georgia Court of Appeals, which will determine whether Judge Scott McAfee erred when he ruled that Willis’ relationship with Wade, a private defense attorney paid more than $650,000 for his work on the case, was not sufficient reason to disqualify her as the prosecutor in the case against the former president.

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Arizona School District Launches Outside Investigation of Democratic Lawmaker, District President Accused of Sexual Harassment

Tom Pappert
AZ State Rep Elda Luna-Nájera, Tolleson School District Office

An Arizona state lawmaker and school official was reportedly accused of sexual harassment by a superintendent earlier this month, which prompted an alleged effort to oust him, culminating in the launch of a third party investigation on Wednesday.

Arizona State Representative Elda Luna-Nájera (D-District 22), who also serves as the governing board president of the Tolleson Union High School District, was accused of sexual harassment by superintendent Jeremy Calles in a legal complaint reported by 12 News on August 9.

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A.G. Jason Miyares Determines Virginia Retirement System Prohibited from Investing in ‘Unfounded ESG Fads’

Tom Pappert
Jason Miyares

Attorney General Jason Miyares determined in a Friday legal opinion the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) is prohibited by Virginia law from making investments based on controversial environment, social and governance (ESG) scores.

In a statement posted to the Virginia Attorney General website, Miyares said Virginians “spent decades working hard” for their retirement, and the commonwealth’s investments must be driven by financial data and not ESG scores as a result.

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Grandmas in Chains: Harris Legacy of Pursuing Pro-Life Activists Set Stage for Wider Legal Fight

Just the News
Heather Idoni

Defending the abortion industry helped define Vice President Kamala Harris as California attorney general, especially a controversial 2016 raid on pro-life activist David Daleiden to seize and suppress undercover videos of Planned Parenthood officials who thought they were talking to “laboratory wholesalers” in Daleiden’s sting.

Some of those videos, released years later at a congressional proceeding, show Planned Parenthood tried to preserve fetal tissue to sell for research and avoid prosecution by detaching extremities.

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Coalition of 15 States Sues Biden-Harris Regime over Plan to Force States to Provide Public Benefits to Illegals

American Greatness

A coalition of 15 states have filed suit against the Biden-Harris regime over its new rule that will require states to pay public benefits to illegal immigrants, including healthcare benefits.

The rule, which is set to go into effect on November 1, would force states “to expend limited resources on illegal immigrants,” said Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey in a press release Thursday.

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Hunter Biden’s Ex-Partner Cooperating in Bizarre Murder-for-Hire Prosecution, Court Records Show

Just the News

Devon Archer, the former Hunter Biden confidant convicted of fraud in January, whose testimony to Congress transformed the congressional impeachment probe into alleged Biden family corruption, also is a cooperating witness in an unrelated federal murder-for-hire prosecution, according to court records.

Archer’s lawyers have used their client’s cooperation in the Vermont murder-for-hire case and the impeachment inquiry in Congress to successfully delay his sentencing last month in a securities fraud case, where he was convicted back in 2018.

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Supreme Court Declines Biden Administration Request to Enforce LGBTQ Title IX Protections

Just the News
Students Holding Hands

The United States’ Supreme Court on Friday rejected a request from the Biden administration to enforce new protections for LGBTQ students that have been blocked in multiple conservative states.

The new federal rule was established under Title IX and was meant to protects students from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The rule was unveiled in April, and took effect in some states in August.

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Tennessee AG Skrmetti Applauds U.S. Supreme Court’s Ruling to Block the Education Department’s Title IX Rule from Taking Effect

Kaitlin Housler
Jonathan Skrmetti

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti applauded the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling on Friday to block the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) Title IX rule from taking effect.

The DOE’s final rule, blocked from being implemented by the nation’s highest court, would have rewritten Title IX to encompass gender identity and sexual orientation.

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Father Blames Nashville Judge Cheryl Blackburn for Reducing Alleged Killer’s Bond Prior to Daughter’s Murder

Tom Pappert
Judge Cheryl Blackburn

A Mississippi father traveled to Tennessee on Thursday for a Nashville court hearing, outside which he blamed Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Cheryl Blackburn for creating the circumstances that preceded the murder of Lauren Johansen, his 22-year-old daughter.

Bricen Rivers stands accused of killing Lauren Johansen after he was released from a Nashville jail on a $250,000 bond, which Blackburn had just reduced from $350,000. Rivers was in jail after his December 2023 arrest for the alleged kidnapping and beating of Lauren Johansen that occurred while the two visited Nashville.

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Texas Files Lawsuit over Rule Pushing Businesses to Adopt ‘Transgender’ Policies

Daily Caller News Foundation
Ken Paxton

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Biden administration’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over an allegedly “unlawful” April policy rewrite that changed the definition of discrimination to include “gender identity.”

The EEOC updated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to require both state and private employers to accommodate transgender employees by allowing men in women’s spaces, forcing the use of  “preferred pronouns” and ending sex-specific dress codes. Paxton and the Heritage Foundation are challenging the rewrite, arguing that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act and does not have sufficient standing as the original wording prohibits sex-based discrimination but does not mandate special accommodations for the sexes, according to the lawsuit.

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Accused Cyberstalker Who Visited Nashville School Requests Hearing to Determine Steps After Commitment

Tom Pappert
McKenzie McClure

Court documents obtained by The Tennessee Star reveal accused cyberstalker McKenzie McClure has requested a status hearing to set a court date which will determine her next steps following the end of her commitment at an East Tennessee psychiatric facility.

Federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against McClure in April, accusing her cyberstalking. Video recorded around this time revealed she visited the campus of the Christ Presbyterian Academy, where she attended elementary school decades ago, and was accused of leaving a disturbing voice mail.

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Jordanian Immigrant Arrested for Multiple Attacks on Florida Businesses and Energy Facility

American Greatness
Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen

Jordanian national who currently lives in Orlando, Florida has been arrested and charged with destroying an energy facility and threatening the use of explosives to destroy multiple other businesses.

According to the Daily Caller, the charges were filed against 43-year-old Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen by the Department of Justice (DOJ). The charges were announced in a DOJ press release on Thursday, detailing his campaign of violence against multiple businesses in the Orlando area that resulted in over $700,000 in damage.

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Ohio Man Sentenced to Probation for Dumping 7,000 Gallons of Hazardous Substance into Scioto River, Killing More than 43,000 Fish

Kaitlin Housler
Scioto River

A 73-year-old Ohio man will not serve any jail time after pleading guilty to dumping thousands of gallons of a hazardous, ammonia-containing substance into the Scioto River that ended up killing over 43,000 fish and endangering other wildlife.

On April 17, 2021, according to the Northern District of Ohio U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mark Shepherd discharged approximately 7,000 gallons of the hazardous substance into the river.

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McMaster Signs Legislation to Expand South Carolina’s Sex Trafficking Law

The Center Square
Henry McMaster

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has signed legislation that expands the state’s sex trafficking law to create a new felony “child luring” charge and gives trafficking victims recourse to clear their records.

S. 142, which McMaster, a Republican, “ceremonially” signed on Thursday, creates an address confidentiality program that authorizes using “designated addresses” to protect victims.

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ICE Finds Peruvian Gang Leader Wanted for 23 Murders After Border Officials Allowed Him into U.S.

Daily Caller News Foundation
ICE Officer

Federal immigration authorities on Wednesday arrested a Peruvian gang leader who is wanted in his home country for nearly two dozen murders.

Gianfranco Torres-Navarro, a 38-year-old Peruvian national who entered the United States unlawfully earlier this year, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Wednesday in Endicott, New York, the agency confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation. The notorious gang leader has since been transported to the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, New York.

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FBI Confirms Release of Would-Be Trump Assassin Remains Following Cremation, Denies ‘Interfering’ in House Investigation

Tom Pappert
Thomas Matthew Crooks

The FBI confirmed in a statement to The Pennsylvania Daily Star it released the body of Thomas Crooks, the 22-year-old who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on July 13, which it stated is “keeping with normal procedures.”

A spokesman for the agency often accused of being politicized by the Biden-Harris administration told The Star, “Any suggestion the FBI is interfering with congressional efforts to look into the attempted assassination which took place in Butler, Pennsylvania, is inaccurate and unfounded.”

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Kari Lake Accuses Ruben Gallego of Violating Stock Act After Democrat Reports Trades over 300 Days Late

Tom Pappert
Kari Lake and Ruben Gallego

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake accused Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) of violating the U.S. Stock Act on Wednesday after the Democrat reported two stock trades, which date to 2019 and 2022, in reports submitted on Tuesday.

The U.S. Stock Act requires Congress to report any stock purchases or sales within 30 or 45 days of the transaction.

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Arizona Right to Life Files Opening Brief with Arizona Supreme Court Opposing Radical Nine-Month Abortion Proposition on the Ballot

Rachel Alexander
Arizona Abortion Supporters

Arizona Right to Life (AZRTL) appealed a trial court judge’s rejection of its lawsuit challenging the Right to Abortion Initiative, Prop. 139, which will appear on the ballot this fall.

AZRTL filed an opening brief with the Arizona Supreme Court on Monday, asking the court “to find the Ballot Measure legally insufficient for placement on the Arizona Ballot because the petition’s summary misrepresented and concealed the principal provisions of the Ballot Measure.” Prop. 139 will legalize abortion up until ninth months of pregnancy, including partial-birth abortion.

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Embattled Shelby County District Attorney’s Office Confirms Sending Current, Former Employee Records in Mass Email

Tom Pappert
Steve Mulroy

The office of embattled Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy on Wednesday confirmed to media outlets it accidentally sent the employee records of nearly 300 current and former staff members, including social security numbers, in a mass email to employees.

A statement released by Mulroy’s office to media outlets confirmed the leak of the information, which Fox 13 Memphis reported came in the form of a spreadsheet that “contained the personal information of almost 300 current and former employees dating back to 2014.”

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ICE Nabs Illegal Migrant Charged with Raping Disabled Child After Release by Sanctuary Authorities

Daily Caller News Foundation
Cory Bernard Alvarez

Federal immigration authorities on Tuesday arrested an illegal migrant who had been charged with raping a disabled child and had previously been released by a sanctuary jurisdiction on low bond.

Deportation officers apprehended Cory Bernard Alvarez, a 26-year-old Haitian national living in the U.S. unlawfully, near his residence in Brockton, Massachusetts, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials confirmed in a press release. Alvarez has been wanted by the agency since he was charged in March for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl at a migrant housing location in Massachusetts, a state with “sanctuary” policies concerning ICE cooperation.

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Colorado Jury Unanimously Finds Tina Peters Guilty on Seven of 10 Counts

Rachel Alexander
Tina Peters

The trial of former Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters ended on Monday, with the jury unanimously finding her guilty of seven of the 10 counts she was charged with. Peters was prosecuted in relation to backing up an election server since she said she believed that a scheduled upgrade of the election software would override election files that were required to be saved for 22-25 months by federal and state law, and she was concerned there was election fraud in the 2020 and 2021 elections.

After deliberating for around three hours, the jury found Peters guilty on three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, official misconduct, violation of a duty, failure to comply with requirements from the Colorado Secretary of State (COSOS), and conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation. She was found not guilty on another count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, criminal impersonation, and identity theft.

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Man Wrongly Convicted of Murder Under Kamala Harris: ‘I’m Going with Donald Trump’ in 2024

Tom Pappert
Jamal Trulove

A man who was wrongly convicted of murder in San Francisco when Vice President Kamala Harris was serving as the city’s district attorney, and who later received more than $13 million in a settlement after he was acquitted following six years in prison endorsed former President Donald Trump in his bid for the White House in 2024.

Trulove endorsed Trump in a video posted to YouTube on July 28, explaining that he previously supported the Biden-Harris ticket during the 2020 election in a bid to preserve his entertainment career.

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Police Confirm Investigation After Swastika Graffiti Left on Property Owned by Pennsylvania Boarding School

Tom Pappert
FarmerJawn

Pennsylvania police department confirmed it is investigating after a swastika was spray painted on the floor of a barn owned by the private Westtown School but rented by the FarmerJawn regenerative organic farm.

An August 6 press release published on Monday by the Westtown-East Goshen Regional Police Department confirms FarmerJawn owner Christa Barfield called officers after an employee discovered “a swastika had been spray painted on the floor of one of the barns that she leases from the Westtown School.”

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Migrant Allegedly Rapes Woman at Knifepoint in Front of Boyfriend: Report

Daily Caller News Foundation
David Davon-Bonilla mugshot in front of a courtroom (composite image)

A migrant previously arrested for sexual assault allegedly raped a woman at knifepoint in New York City on Sunday, while another attacked her boyfriend when he tried to intervene, the New York Post reported.

David Davon-Bonilla, a 24-year-old Nicaraguan migrant, reportedly threw the 46-year-old woman to the ground and held a knife to her throat as he raped her, law-enforcement sources told the NYP. When the woman’s boyfriend attempted to stop the attack, Davon-Bonilla’s alleged accomplice, 37-year-old Mexican migrant Leovando Moreno, reportedly struck him with a pipe.

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Biden-Harris Failed to Remove 90 Percent of Illegal Immigrants Under New ICE Program: Report

Just the News
Illegal Immigrants

House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, R-Tenn., shared his reaction to a report from the New York Post showing that the Biden-Harris administration has rarely removed illegal immigrants under a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) program. 

The Family Expedited Removal Management (FERM) program was announced in in May 2023 and the administration has only removed around 2,600 illegal immigrants under the program arriving as family units while border patrol apprehended almost 850,000.

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Biden Didn’t Disclose Allegedly Free Vacations, yet Pushes for Supreme Court Reform Following Gifts

Just the News
Joe Biden

President Joe Biden has allegedly taken multiple free vacations at the homes of billionaire donors and wealthy businessmen without disclosing them over the years, yet has called for Supreme Court reform after justices have taken trips without reporting them.

As Supreme Court justices have been outed by left-leaning media for not disclosing gifts from friends, Democrats and Biden have called for reforms to the high court, including calling for a code of ethics. At the same time, Biden has also not reported allegedly free vacations that he has received from his wealthy friends, which has now led to a complaint filed with the Department of Justice.

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Butler Township Police Find No Written Communications Between Officer Who Confronted Would-Be Trump Assassin and Secret Service

Tom Pappert
Butler Township Police Bodycam

The Butler Township Police Department (BTPD) told The Pennsylvania Daily Star on Monday it has no records of written communications between the U.S. Secret Service and Thomas Crooks, who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on July 13.

The department confirmed it had no records of written communications between the Secret Service and its officer on Monday, just under one month after he encountered Crooks while being hoisted onto the roof of the AGR International building the would-be assassin used to gain his vantage point on the rally.

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U.S. Attorney Who Secured Search Warrant for Rep. Andy Ogles Was Previously Partner at Law Firm ‘100% Committed’ to DEI

Tom Pappert
United States Attorney Henry C. Leventis

Henry Leventis, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, was previously a partner at a law firm which claims to be “100 [percent] committed” to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), the controversial practices conservatives complain reward individuals based on their gender, skin color or other immutable characteristics rather than character or capability.

Leventis worked as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee from 2015 until 2020, when he left the Department of Justice (DOJ) for a private sector job.

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Proposal Suggests Fully Funding Veterans Affairs to Avoid Missing October Distributions

The Center Square
Veterans

With a looming deadline to fund benefits to about 7 million veterans in October, and Congress out until Sept. 9, Maine Sen. Susan Collins and six colleagues have filed legislation to get full funding.

A Republican and independent are among the six. Veterans Affairs is facing a deficit of about $15 billion the remainder of this year and next – a deficit larger than the annual budget of the Environmental Protection Agency, says one senator.

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Security Resource Officers Reported Called to Step Back from Memphis Shelby County Schools over Public Safety, Pay

Tom Pappert

The company which provides Security Resources Officers (SROs) to Memphis Shelby County Schools (MSCS) has reportedly warned it will step back from its duties unless Shelby County changes its overtime policies, with the company’s owner claiming in a letter that SROs in the school district have already been told not to provide security for upcoming football events.

Bennie Cobb, who owns the Eagle Eye Security and Training company which provides SROs for the district, reportedly sent a letter to the MSCS Safety and Security division which warned its 128 SROs were told “[n]ot to report for duty on Friday, August 16, 2014 – and not to participate in the [football] jamboree that following night and following day.”

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Millions of Taxpayer Dollars Wrongly Went to Union Pension Plans for Deceased Americans

The Center Square
Virginia Foxx and Bob Good

Lawmakers say tens of millions of taxpayer dollars were wrongly set aside for union pension plans, and now lawmakers want those funds back.

Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., and Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Chair Bob Good, R-Va., sent a letter to the Biden administration Wednesday following up to see what action the administration has taken to recover funds wrongly allotted to multiemployer pension plans.

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Former Trump DOJ Official Jeffrey Clark Appeals D.C. Disciplinary Panel’s Recommendation to Suspend His Law License for Two Years

Rachel Alexander
Jeffery Clark

Donald Trump’s former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark is appealing the recommendation of a disciplinary panel to suspend his law license for two years over his role assisting Trump in dealing with 2020 election irregularities. A three-member committee of the District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility found on August 1 that he breached broad and vague attorneys ethics rules by drafting a letter that was never sent to Georgia officials advising them of their options for handling the 2020 election problems. 

In response, Clark filed a Petition for Review with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals on August 7, requesting consideration of his interlocutory appeals. Interlocutory appeals are appeals conducted while other proceedings are still ongoing. 

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Illegal Migrant Released into U.S. by Biden Admin Allegedly Committed 22 Crimes in Just Six Months

Admin
David Hernandez-Martinez

An illegal migrant from Venezuela allegedly committed at least 22 criminal offenses in the span of just six months and still may not be deported, a report from the House Judiciary Committee revealed Wednesday.

Daniel Hernandez-Martinez was released into the U.S. by the Biden-Harris administration in early 2023 before allegedly committing a slew of crimes, the report found. Despite the array of charges, the Venezuelan migrant — who is a suspected member of the “Tren de Aragua” gang — wasn’t detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) until his seventh run-in with the New York Police Department.

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Defendant in Arizona Fake Electors Case Pleads Guilty

The Center Square
Loraine Pellegrino

Just one day after Donald Trump’s former campaign attorney, Jenna Ellis, agreed to cooperate in the Arizona fake electors case, another defendant in the case, Loraine Pellegrino, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of filing a false instrument, according to Richie Taylor, public information officer for the Attorney General’s Office.

However, at this time no further information can be confirmed as the court records are sealed, according to Taylor. If the other nine felony charges including fraud, forgery have been dropped has yet to be seen.

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Fani Willis Says Resignation of Nathan Wade Was ‘Boon’ to Trump’s Defense, Urges Court to Toss Disqualification Appeal

Tom Pappert
Nathan Wade Fani Willis

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in a court filing published Friday argued the forced resignation of former Special Counsel Nathan Wade was a “boon” to former President Donald Trump and the other defendants in her Georgia racketeering case against the former president and his allies over their contest of the 2020 election results.

In a filing submitted on August 5, the district attorney’s office argued the victory for the defendants, though ultimately unnecessary, provides the necessary appearance of impropriety to dismiss their appeal.

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Cartel-Linked Minnesotan and 14 Others Are Indicted in Mexico-Based Drug Trafficking Operation

Admin
Clinton Ward

A Minnesota man and over a dozen co-conspirators have been charged with trafficking over 1,600 pounds of methamphetamine and other drugs from Mexico to Minnesota in what U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger described as a “sprawling” Mexican-based drug trafficking organization.

Luger’s comments came during a press conference on Tuesday during which he named Clinton James Ward, 45, as the leader of the organization who has been operating for years.

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National Kroger Settlement Brings Funding to Michigan Communities Damaged by Opioid Addiction

The Center Square
Kroger Store

Michigan’s local governments have until Aug. 12 to request funds from the $1.2 billion National Kroger Settlement on opioid abuse.

The Great Lakes state is expected to receive $42 million over the course of 11 years. Eligible communities, at the city or county level, can apply for the funding to be used toward drug abuse treatment. Agreements are expected to be effective by early fall.

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Butler Township Police Decline to Name Officer Who Claimed to Warn Secret Service of Would-Be Trump Assassin’s Perch, Cite ‘Numerous Investigations’

Tom Pappert
Butler Township Police Video

The Butler Township Police Department (BTPD) on Friday declined to provide The Pennsylvania Daily Star with the name of the police officer who claimed to warn the U.S. Secret Service about the possibility of an assassination attempt in a June 13 bodycam video released by the department Thursday.

The spokesman similarly declined to comment to The Star regarding the videos released by the department, citing ongoing federal investigations into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

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Jack Smith Requests Delay in Trump Case to Assess Impact of Supreme Court’s Presidential Immunity Ruling

Admin

Special counsel Jack Smith requested a delay Thursday night in former president Donald Trump’s election interference case.

Prosecutors wrote in a filing that the government is still assessing the impact of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling and asked for the timeline to be pushed back several weeks. Judge Tanya Chutkan previously scheduled a hearing for Aug. 16, but Smith requested permission to instead file a proposed schedule for pretrial proceedings by the end of the month, effectively delaying any action until September.

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Tennessee AG Jonathan Skrmetti Joins Lawsuit Challenging the Biden Administration’s Plan to Extend Full Health Care Benefits to Illegal Immigrants

Kaitlin Housler

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined a federal lawsuit on Thursday challenging the Biden administration’s plan of extending Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, benefits to more than 200,000 illegal immigrants.

The lawsuit, led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota Western Division.

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