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Former Stormy Daniels attorney and convicted felon Michael Avenatti on Tuesday accused the porn star of engaging in “falsification of business records, wire fraud, and fraudulent transfers” to defraud former President Donald Trump out of money she allegedly received from a documentary.
The post Stormy Daniels’ Ex-Lawyer Michael Avenatti Accuses Porn Star of Falsifying Business Records in Blow to Prosecutors in Trump Trial appeared first on Breitbart.
Justice Juan Merchan denied former President Donald Trump’s defense's move for a mistrial on Tuesday over adult film star Stormy Daniels’ testimony at his business records trial in Manhattan.
The post Trump Defense’s Move for Mistrial over Stormy Daniels’ Testimony Denied by Merchan appeared first on Breitbart.
Most voters predict the business records trial will lead to a conviction of former President Donald Trump "on some charges," per a poll.
The post Poll: Most Predict Trump Conviction ‘on Some Charges’ in Business Records Trial, Plurality Says It Has Been Unfair appeared first on Breitbart.
A lawsuit brought against Smith & Wesson by anti-gun shareholders within the company was dismissed in Nevada's Clark County District Court.
The post Anti-Gunners’ Lawsuit Against Smith & Wesson Dismissed appeared first on Breitbart.
Jackie Lacey, the first black and first female Los Angeles County District Attorney (DA), who was defeated by George Soros-backed George Gascón in 2020, has endorsed challenger Nathan Hochman in the 2024 race for D.A.
The post Jackie Lacey, 1st Black L.A. D.A., Backs Nathan Hochman over George Gascón appeared first on Breitbart.
A church in West Columbia was vandalized with red spray-paint on Thursday, with messages such as "Save Gaza" and "Free Palestine."
The post ‘Save Gaza,’ ‘Free Palestine,’ ‘Welcome to Hell’ Spray-Painted on South Carolina Church appeared first on Breitbart.
Minneapolis, Minnesota first responders, motorcyclists, and other community members are mourning the loss of a beloved local firefighter and biker who was killed in a shootout over the weekend.
The post First Responders and Motorcyclists Mourn Minneapolis Firefighter Shot Dead While Off Duty appeared first on Breitbart.
New York State Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn), who stands accused of raping a woman in 2004, claimed in court documents that the law supporting the lawsuit against him in the case was unconstitutional, despite the fact he voted for it.
The post Report: Democrat NY State Senator Fights Law Permitting Rape Lawsuit Against Him After He Voted for It appeared first on Breitbart.
Matthew Colangelo, an ex-Biden Justice Department official who delivered the prosecution’s opening statement for former President Donald Trump's business records trial in New York, was paid by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) for political consulting in 2018, raising further eyebrows regarding the integrity of Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg's entire case.
The post Ex-Biden Official Prosecuting Trump Paid $12K by DNC for Political Consulting in 2018 appeared first on Breitbart.
New York County Judge Juan Merchan ruled Monday for a second time former President Donald Trump violated his gag order during the trial, holding him in criminal contempt and threatening him with jail time for any further infractions.
The post Judge Juan Merchan Holds Donald Trump in Contempt Again for Violating Gag Order appeared first on Breitbart.
NYPD's Kaz Daughtry reacted to Columbia University protests by noting "tools" found were not those of organic protesters but those of "agitators."
The post NYPD Deputy Commissioner: ‘These Are Not The Tools of Students Protesting,’ They Are Those of ‘Agitators’ appeared first on Breitbart.
The government may be covering up the true cause of death of a Boston police officer, citizen journalist Aidan Kearney said.
The post Exclusive: Citizen Journalist Aidan Kearney Details Mysterious Death of Boston Police Officer, Murder Trial Underway appeared first on Breitbart.
On Friday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Wall Street Week,” Harvard Professor and President Emeritus and former Harvard President Larry Summers said that America’s enemies must “be taking great encouragement from the spectacle that is being made by our young future elites
The post Summers: Our Enemies Must Love Our ‘Future Elites’, ‘Craven’ University Response to Protests, We’ve Failed at Education appeared first on Breitbart.
On Friday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Wall Street Week,” Harvard Professor and President Emeritus and former Harvard President Larry Summers declared, “I have not been as appalled by Harvard ever as I am by the fact that a keffiyeh has rested
The post Summers: I’ve Never Been ‘as Appalled by Harvard’ As I Am Now, Lawsuits Against Schools Are ‘Largely Correct’ appeared first on Breitbart.
President Joe Biden would not receive more votes if former President Donald Trump is convicted of a crime, a recent survey by Leger found.
The post Survey: A Trump Conviction Would Not Result in More Votes for Biden appeared first on Breitbart.
Two police officers were shot and wounded Thursday in the Saint Teresa neighborhood of San Jose, California.
The post Two Police Officers Shot, Wounded in Gun-Controlled California appeared first on Breitbart.
Former Harvard University president Larry Summers said Friday that Harvard is violating federal civil rights laws by creating a hostile environment for Jewish students.
The post Larry Summers: Harvard Is Violating Federal Civil Rights Laws appeared first on Breitbart.
The Democratic Party should cancel its national convention in Chicago in August and hold its meeting via Zoom, as it did during the 2020 campaign and the coronavirus pandemic -- for the sake of the city, and for the country as well.
The post Blue State Blues: Democrats Should Skip Chicago, Hold Zoom Convention Again appeared first on Breitbart.
Florida health regulators released two emergency rules on Thursday to combat the "deeply dishonest scare campaign and disinformation being perpetuated by the media, the Biden Administration, and advocacy groups," now that the state's six-week abortion restriction is in effect.
The post Florida Issues Rules for Life-Threatening Emergencies Under Abortion Restrictions appeared first on Breitbart.
On Thursday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “The Record,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt urged President Joe Biden to “encourage campuses to coordinate with law enforcement” to restore order on campuses. Greenblatt said, “President Biden did the right thing today in
The post ADL CEO: Biden Needs to Encourage Schools to Coordinate with Police to Restore Order appeared first on Breitbart.
Two Republicans voted with Democrats in the Arizona Senate on Wednesday to repeal the state's 1864 near-total abortion restriction.
The post Arizona Senate Votes to Repeal 1864 Near-Total Abortion Ban appeared first on Breitbart.
Alvin Bragg asked Justice Juan Merchan to punish Donald Trump for four comments concerning Michael Cohen and David Pecker.
The post Justice Juan Merchan Weighs Punishing Donald Trump a Second Time for Allegedly Violating Gag Order appeared first on Breitbart.
Johnson & Johnson offered a $6.5 billion settlement deal to plaintiffs suing the company for its products allegedly causing ovarian cancer, in what would be one of the biggest lawsuit payouts in history.
The post Johnson & Johnson Offers $6.5 Billion Deal for Talcum Powder Cancer Lawsuit appeared first on Breitbart.
Legal experts have been sounding the alarm that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's TikTok fundraising videos have hurt the prosecution.
The post Legal Experts: Michael Cohen TikTok Videos, Fundraising May Have ‘Torpedoed’ NY Trump Prosecution appeared first on Breitbart.
The gag order against former President Donald Trump is the "biggest assault" on the First Amendment in at least 50 years, Trump lawyer Jesse Binnall said.
The post Exclusive — Trump Lawyer Jesse Binnall: Gag Order ‘Biggest Assault on First Amendment’ in at Least 50 Years appeared first on Breitbart.
Law enforcement officials began clearing an anti-Israel encampment that had been established at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The post Police Begin Clearing Anti-Israel Encampment from University of Wisconsin appeared first on Breitbart.
Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) is introducing legislation to permanently guarantee Secret Service protection for all former U.S. presidents, ensuring it remains unaffected by personal or political biases.
The post Exclusive: Wesley Hunt Presents Bill to Ensure Lifelong Protection for Presidents appeared first on Breitbart.
There are many reasons why legal experts are questioning the legitimacy of the criminal prosecution of former President Donald Trump. But the major reason is that the main claim in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case—that Trump’s $130,000 settlement payment of a potential claim by Stormy Daniels was a campaign-related expense—is totally bogus.
Here’s a quick tutorial on why Bragg doesn’t have a legal leg to stand on—call it “Federal Campaign Finance Law for Dummies 101”—an apropos title, given what’s going on.
Daniels claims that she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, fully 10 years before the 2016 presidential election, which Trump denies. For the payment, Daniels agreed to sign a nondisclosure agreement, which is a standard provision in many settlement agreements of personal injury cases and other claims.
Bragg contends that Trump falsified business records, a misdemeanor, when this payment was listed as legal expenses instead of a campaign expense.
Supposedly, according to Bragg, that converted the misdemeanors into felonies because Trump was concealing another crime. That other crime, according to prosecutors, is a violation of Section 17-152 of New York law, which makes it a misdemeanor to “promote … the election of any person to public office by unlawful means.”
Besides the fact that it’s very strange to allege that the commission of a misdemeanor for the purpose of covering up the commission of another misdemeanor is enough to allege a felony, the only plausible theory that Bragg is pushing for the alleged “unlawful means” was a violation of federal law by concealing a campaign-related payment.
With me so far?
But Trump was running for president. The raising and spending of money for campaigns for president and Congress is governed by federal law, the Federal Election Campaign Act, not state law. Any wrongdoing related to federal campaign financing falls under the enforcement authority of federal officials, not a local prosecutor like Bragg.
In fact, the Federal Election Commission, on which I served as a commissioner, has civil enforcement authority and the U.S. Department of Justice has criminal enforcement authority over violations of this law.
For the nuisance-value settlement payment to Daniels to fit within Bragg’s rickety legal structure, it would have to be a crime under federal law. In other words, it would have to be considered a campaign-related expense that was falsely reported under the Federal Election Campaign Act.
If you want an example of such a violation, just look at the $113,000 civil penalty the Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee agreed to pay in 2022. They listed the payments for the opposition research that formed the basis for the infamous Steele dossier, which fabricated the entire Trump-Russia collusion hoax, as legal expenses instead of opposition research.
But opposition research on the opposing candidate is obviously a campaign-related expense under applicable federal law, so the FEC had authority to investigate and enforce the law against this deception.
That’s not the case with the Daniels’ payment. For starters, the incident in question that led to the payment is alleged to have happened 10 years before the 2016 campaign. More importantly, the payment fails the test the FEC applies to determine whether an expense is campaign-related.
Under federal law and corresponding regulations, the FEC applies the “irrespective test” to “differentiate legitimate campaign and officeholder expenses from personal expenses.” As the FEC explains on its website, under the irrespective test, “personal use is any use of funds … to fulfill a commitment, obligation, or expense of any person that would exist, irrespective of the candidates’ campaign.”
In other words, if the expense would exist even if the individual were not a candidate, then it’s personal and not a campaign expense.
The payment to Daniels clearly fails that test. Trump was a celebrity long before he ran for office, and celebrities get these kinds of nuisance claims all the time. In fact, the prosecution’s first witness in the New York case, David Pecker, said he had helped settle similar claims to avoid legal costs and embarrassment by suppressing stories for numerous other celebrities, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tiger Woods.
The easiest way to understand this test is to take the example of a personal injury claim.
Candidate A has a car accident several years before he runs for Congress that injures another driver. After the campaign has started, the candidate decides to settle the personal injury claim made by the other driver by paying that driver $130,000 in exchange for a nondisclosure agreement.
Settling and paying the claim may help the candidate in his campaign by avoiding personal embarrassment. But that doesn’t make it a campaign expense. It’s a claim that would exist even if the candidate were not running for office and is thus considered a personal expense under federal law.
Daniels’ claim is also a personal claim that existed long before Trump ran for the presidency and, given his celebrity status, would have continued to exist even if he never ran for president.
That’s no doubt why neither the FEC nor the Justice Department ever filed an enforcement action against the Trump campaign or Trump personally over the payment; specifically, because it was not a campaign-related expense.
You know what would have led to enforcement actions? If Trump had actually claimed this was a campaign-related expense and had used campaign funds to make the payment, I have no doubt he would have been prosecuted by the feds for the illegal use of campaign funds to pay a personal expense.
That’s what former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., went to prison for after he pleaded guilty in 2013 to spending $750,000 on personal expenses.
Keep in mind that Bragg’s entire manufactured case of 34 counts of falsifying business records depends entirely on the legitimacy of his contention that the settlement payment should have been listed as a campaign-related expense.
It shouldn’t because it wasn’t.
And all of the other testimony from the prosecution’s witnesses about this payment and other settlement payments that are obviously intended to blacken the character of the former president and prejudice the jury doesn’t change the fact that none of these payments were campaign-related expenses. Period. End of story—or at least it should be.
The post Trump’s NY Prosecution Is a Bogus Case by a Bogus Prosecutor appeared first on The Daily Signal.
Joe Biden’s fascist lawfare assault on former President Trump is backfiring, according to the latest polling.
The post Nolte: NYC Trial Makes 32% More Likely to Vote for Trump, Only 26% Less Likely appeared first on Breitbart.
Vice President Kamala Harris is continuing her "Fight for Reproductive Freedoms" tour in Florida on Wednesday — the same day a six-week abortion restriction is set to take effect in the state.
The post VP Kamala Harris to Give Abortion Speech in Florida as Six-Week Restriction Takes Effect appeared first on Breitbart.
Law enforcement officials used tear gas on anti-Israel protesters after giving them a several-minute warning to leave the campus of the University of South Florida (USF).
The post Police Use Tear Gas on Anti-Israel Protesters at University of South Florida appeared first on Breitbart.
A law that restricts abortions at six weeks of pregnancy — which is often when a fetal heartbeat can be detected — is set to take effect.
The post Florida’s Six-Week Abortion Restriction to Take Effect on Wednesday appeared first on Breitbart.
Most voters agree that Democrats are using the legal system to take out their political opponents -- namely, former President Donald Trump -- April's Harvard-Harris survey found.
The post Poll: Most Agree Democrats Are Using Legal System to Take Out Political Opponents appeared first on Breitbart.
The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's business records trial will allow him to attend his son Barron's high school graduation.
The post Donald Trump Can Attend Son Barron’s Graduation, Judge Says appeared first on Breitbart.
Republican House Conference Chair Elise Stefanik demanded the DOJ launch an investigation into the "Biden special counsel Jack Smith."
The post Elise Stefanik Accuses Jack Smith of Election Interference, Demands DOJ Ethics Probe appeared first on Breitbart.
New York County Judge Juan Merchan has ruled that former President Donald Trump violated a gag order during his trial, holding him in criminal contempt and threatening him with jail time for any further infractions.
The post Judge Merchan Holds Donald Trump in Criminal Contempt for Gag Order Violations, Threatens Jail Time appeared first on Breitbart.
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