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Wealthy stock trader convicted in man’s death in bunker fire

A jury convicted a wealthy stock trader of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter late Wednesday in the fiery death of a man who was helping him secretly dig tunnels for an underground nuclear bunker beneath his Maryland home.

Jurors deliberated for about 12 hours before delivering their verdict in the case of 27-year-old stock trader Daniel Beckwitt.

Beckwitt had been charged with both offenses in the September 2017 death of 21-year-old Askia Khafra. He faces up to 30 years in prison at sentencing set for June 17.

Beckwitt slumped over a table, covered his face with his hands and wept after the verdict was read. He shook his head as court officers handcuffed him. Judge Margaret Schweitzer agreed to revoke Beckwitt's $100,000 bond.

The fire erupted as Khafra was digging tunnels under Beckwitt's Bethesda home, which was littered with piles of garbage.

A prosecutor accused Beckwitt of recklessly endangering Khafra's life and sacrificing safety for secrecy.

Defense attorney Robert Bonsib had told jurors the fire was an accident, not a crime. Beckwitt did not testify at his trial, which lasted nearly two weeks.

Bonsib said afterward that he would appeal. He said he believes the jurors may have been unfairly influenced by photographs they were shown of extreme hoarding conditions at the home in the upscale Maryland suburb of the nation's capital.

"The problem is the pictures of the hoarding condition did not reveal what the path out of the home looked like before the fire," Bonsib said. "I just told him there's a lot more fight in this case."

Montgomery County prosecutor Marybeth Ayres had said Beckwitt created the conditions that prevented Khafra from escaping the fire. Ayres said Beckwitt engaged in "extreme risk-taking behavior" and created a "death trap" in his family's home, with mounds of trash blocking Khafra's escape.

"This was a survivable fire, and we know that because the defendant survived," she said Tuesday during the trial's closing arguments.

Beckwitt went to elaborate lengths to keep the project a secret. Jurors heard that he tried to trick Khafra into thinking they were digging the tunnels in Virginia instead of Maryland by having him don "blackout glasses" before taking him on a long drive. They also were told Beckwitt also used internet "spoofing" to make it appear they were digging in Virginia.

Bonsib described his client as a "very strange young man" but urged jurors to look past his idiosyncratic personality.

"Being different, living in a different circumstance, is not a crime," he said.

Hours before the fire broke out in the basement, Khafra texted Beckwitt to warn him it smelled like smoke in the tunnels. Ayres said Beckwitt didn't respond for more than six hours before telling Khafra that there had been a "major electrical failure." Instead of getting Khafra out of the tunnels, Beckwitt told him that he "just switched it all over to another circuit," according to the prosecutor.

Bonsib said Beckwitt screamed for help from neighbors after the fire broke out and risked his own safety in a failed attempt to rescue his friend from the blaze.

The fire erupted in the basement as Khafra was digging tunnels lower down under Beckwitt's home in Bethesda, a Washington suburb. Firefighters found his naked, charred body in the basement, only a few steps from an exit.

Khafra met Beckwitt online. Beckwitt had invested money in a company Khafra was trying to launch as he helped Beckwitt dig the tunnels.

A hole in the concrete basement floor led to a shaft that dropped down 20 feet (6 meters) into tunnels that branched out roughly 200 feet (60 meters) in length. Investigators concluded the blaze was ignited by a defective electrical outlet in the basement.

Khafra worked in the tunnels for days at a time, eating and sleeping in there. They had lights, an air circulation system and a heater.

Bonsib said Khafra was a willing participant in the project. He argued there was no evidence, only speculation, to explain why Khafra died in the fire that day.

"This case is a mystery without an answer," Bonsib told jurors.

Source: Fox News National

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Indictment: Former pharmaceutical industry CEO ignored red flags as opioid crisis raged

Pharmaceutical industry executives were hit Tuesday with criminal charges stemming from the opioid crisis.

Laurence Doud III, the 75-year-old retired CEO of the Rochester Drug Co-Operative, surrendered to authorities in New York City and is awaiting arraignment on two counts of conspiracy related to drug trafficking. His lawyer said he would fight the charges.

Doud, who retired in 2017, alleged in a lawsuit last year that Rochester Drug Co-Operative tried using him as a scapegoat for its legal and regulatory troubles.

If convicted, Doud faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said.

Rochester Drug Co-Operative and William Pietruszewski, the company’s former chief compliance officer, were also charged.

BODY CAM FOOTAGE SHOWS OFFICERS ATTEMPTING TO SAVE JUSTINE DAMOND AFTER SHE WAS SHOT BY OFFICER

Doud’s criminal charges added a new twist to efforts to hold companies and people responsible for the opioid crisis. Other companies and executives have faced lawsuits from a growing list of state and local governments looking to hold them accountable for an epidemic that led to more than 70,000 deaths in 2017.

"This prosecution is the first of its kind: Executives of a pharmaceutical distributor and the distributor itself have been charged with drug trafficking, trafficking the same drugs that are fueling the opioid epidemic that is ravaging this country," Geoffrey S. Berman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told NBC News. "Our office will do everything in its power to combat this epidemic, from street-level dealers to the executives who illegally distribute drugs from their boardrooms.”

An indictment unsealed Tuesday alleged Dowd operated in the fringes of the drug business, obliterating red flags to turn his small New York firm into a supplier of last resort for independent pharmacies whose dubious practices got them cut off by other distributors.

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Doud encouraged his sales force to sign up new customers with no questions asked, picking up competitors’ rejects as he boasted that his company was “the knight in shining armor” for independent pharmacies, the indictment said.

When Rochester’s largest customer went from buying 70,000 units of oxycodone per month in October 2012 to more than 200,000 units per month a year later, Doud had its back — overruling his own compliance officers and ordering that the pills keep flowing because it was a “big account,” the indictment said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Russia lashes out at West for refusing take back IS fighters

A top Russian diplomat has lashed out at Western countries for refusing to take back foreign-born militants who have been fighting in Syria and Iraq.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at a briefing on Friday accused Western nations of trying to "get rid" of their own citizens by refusing to repatriate their nationals who were fighting alongside the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.

The issue of foreign-born IS fighters has become acute as the once sprawling territory controlled by the extremists has shrunk to a small enclave and both Syria and Iraq face a post-war future.

Zakharova also said that the detention facilities where foreign-born fighters are held should be handed over to the Syrian government.

Source: Fox News World

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Dershowitz: Dems Have ‘Unbelievable’ Double Standard on Mueller

Democrats have an "unbelievable" double standard when it comes to their demands for the release of the unredacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller's report, Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said Monday, while responding to Rep. Jerrold Nadler's comments that he wanted to see if the document contained proof of "bad deeds and motives."

"Would he have said the same thing if [former FBI Director James] Comey started talking about Hillary Clinton?" Dershowitz told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."  "Yeah, there wasn't enough evidence to go after her, but maybe she really did some terrible things?"

When Comey said Clinton had engaged in "extreme carelessness," Nadler and other Democrats went after him, saying it was not Comey's role to say such things, said Dershowitz.

"The role of the prosecutor is to say indict or don't indict," he said. "You don't express opinions about bad things people did where there wasn't proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The double standard is unbelievable."

The Mueller report will be released on Thursday, and  Dershowitz said he doesn't believe there will be that many redactions on it.

He added that he believes there will be two separate reports involved, with half of those on the Mueller team thinking President Donald Trump was guilty and the other half saying there was insufficient evidence or he was not guilty.

He added that while he wants to read both reports, he does not think there will be new facts, as the obstruction case is based on what Trump said publicly and in tweets.

Source: NewsMax Politics

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Soccer: U.S. women rout Belgium in World Cup tune-up

Soccer: International Friendly Wonens Soccer-Belgium at USA
Apr 7, 2019; Los Angeles, CA, USA; USA forward Alex Morgan (13) celebrates with teammates as Belgium defender Laura Deloose (22) reacts during the second half at Banc of California Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

April 8, 2019

By Rory Carroll

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The United States women’s national team pumped in four first half goals en route to a 6-0 romp against Belgium in a one-sided friendly as the reigning World Cup champions continue to build momentum ahead of their title defense in France in June.

Carli Lloyd opened their account with a leaping header off a long pass from Tierna Davidson that found the bottom corner of the goal in the 14th minute.

Five minutes later, the veteran midfielder unleashed another header to a nearly identical spot in the net to send the nearly 21,000 fans at the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles into a frenzy on a warm Southern California night.

“I know who I am. I know what I’m capable of,” Lloyd, who was making her first start this year, told reporters after the match.

Forward Lindsey Horan nodded in a goal off a corner kick past diving Belgian goalkeeper Nicky Evrard in the 26th minute and midfielder Samantha Mewis effectively put the game out of Belgium’s reach with a header to put the hosts 4-0 ahead.

Forward Alex Morgan came on as a substitute to start the second half and scored two minutes later when she broke free of her defender, took a pass from Lloyd, and chipped a shot over Evrard’s head for her 101st career goal.

Forward Jessica McDonald completed the rout with a header off a set-piece move in the 90th minute as the team improved to 4-1-2 in 2019.

The match was the last for the U.S. before the team selects its World Cup roster, which will look to bring the team home its fourth title.

(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

Source: OANN

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Reporter's Notebook: Catholic Church faces its demons in clergy-abuse summit

In less than 48 hours, about 200 bishops, the heads of Catholic Conferences from around the world, and prominent clergy, will gather in Rome at the Vatican to begin an unprecedented summit on clergy abuse. The official title of the three-day event is the Meeting on the Protection of Minors. But another title could be "The Catholic Church Facing its Demons."

There are two schools of thought about the importance of the meeting. Some pundits say this event is all for show, a response to critics and victims who claim the Catholic Church is more concerned about itself than really solving the issue of clergy sex abuse. The other attitude is that finally the Church, with Pope Francis as its head, is doing something to end the scourge.

But because of the two disparate ideas, all agree, the stakes are high.

Anne Barrett Doyle, the director of Bishop Accountability, says, "The Catholics of the world are grieving and disillusioned. I know I am."

Doyle will be one of the presenters at the meeting, and she says she knows what must happen for this to stop. "Canon law has to be changed, not tweaked, not modified but fundamentally changed so that it stops prioritizing the priesthood of ordained men over the lives of children and vulnerable adults who are sexually assaulted by them."

The Catholic Church has been actively responding to clergy abuse since the 1980s beginning with The Badgely Report out of Canada. Then in 1987 the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Canadian version of the U.S. Conference of Bishops, issued guidelines for Catholic Dioceses. A couple of years after that, the Canadian Church faced its biggest sex scandal, and one of the largest globally, involving the Christian Brothers of Ireland in Canada.

This was more than a decade before the same bombshell would hit Boston, after the Boston Globe exposed the cover-up of cases by Cardinal Bernard Law. Law resigned as Archbishop of Boston. He died in 2017 in Rome.

In response to the crisis, American bishops created the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which is still in play today.

But in the years since Canada and Boston, the Church has had many responses globally to clergy abuse, many Archdioceses and Dioceses creating charters, guidelines and boards to combat the problem. Argentina, Australia, Colombia, Germany, France, Iceland, Mexico, Poland, Uruguay, are just some of the few. What it shows is that the problem is global. There's something universal about clergy abuse that Pope Francis is trying to address.

In 2004 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned a study by John Jay College of Criminal Justice to research the "scope of the problem of sexual abuse of minors by clergy." One thing the report talked about that has resurfaced ahead of the Summit, is the issue of homosexuality. In fact a controversial book coming out the day the summit begins, claims some 80 percent of the churchmen at the Vatican are gay. And that one reason ex-Cardinal, ex-priest Theodore McCarrick was able to rise through the ranks and become so powerful as the Archbishop of Washington, D.C., was because he was part of that network. Pope Francis over the weekend, laicized the 88-year-old McCarrick, defrocking him, over his abuse of a minor, and many seminarians over several decades.

VATICAN DEFROCKS FORMER U.S. CARDINAL FOR SEX ABUSE

But Phil Saviano, a Church sex abuse survivor says, "My feeling is that there has been a lot of scapegoating of homosexual men as being child predators and I've sometimes thought that that was, that's been a dodge, that's been an excuse that they've used which is not based on any sort of reality because I don't think that having a homosexual orientation automatically means that you're sexually attracted to children."

Chicago's Cardinal Blase Cupich, one of four Summit organizers, addressed it as well. Saviano was pleased with Cupich's response saying, "He said that we are not trying to screen out homosexuals, that we are trying to come up with a set of rules that people will abide by, I took that as something that was encouraging."

Some see McCarrick as the poster priest for what's wrong with the abuse crisis; Bishops looking the other way and responding first as administrators and less like pastors of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pope Francis has touted a 'zero tolerance' policy; he has met with victims of clergy abuse. And as stated earlier, the various Church dicasteries and dioceses have issued plenty of guidelines. But turning words into action has been the major problem. The Pennsylvania Grand Jury report of last summer proved that. Three hundred predator priests and a thousand victims over a seventy-year period. It shows there's a disconnect between what the Church says and what its followers do.

But maybe there's another problem that should be looked into.

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While in the mainstream media the legal and civil penalties of clergy abuse have been debated and dissected, the spiritual, not as much. It could be because mainstream media is not as interested in it or doesn't believe in it. But let's assume there is a spiritual element to the problem. I would then refer to C.S. Lewis's take on what's happening. He wrote a very chilling story called The Screwtape Letters. The book is about a senior devil named Screwtape, writing to a junior Devil, of how to corrupt the enemy. The enemy, of course, is God. I call the book chilling because of how subtly the corruption is perpetrated. It's not in Hollywood-style special effects, but in the mundane of the everyday; a casual attitude, a compulsiveness about the little things. But it's in the epilogue that we find what could very well apply to the clergy abuse. The Devils have a big banquet. And during the grand speech they toast to the fine wine of Pharisee and priest. Because the best way to destroy God is through the altar. Take down the shepherds, and the sheep will flee.

Let's hope this Summit is the beginning of the end for Screwtape and his antics.

Source: Fox News World

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UN envoy: Yemen parties agree on initial Hodeida withdrawals

The U.N. envoy for Yemen says the government and Houthi rebels have reached agreement on the initial redeployment of forces from the key port of Hodeida.

Martin Griffiths told the Security Council Monday that "when — and I hope it is when and not if — these redeployments happen they will be the first voluntary withdrawals of forces in this long conflict."

He called Hodeida "a test of many things" including leadership, and expressed hope "that we shall see in the coming days the people's trust vindicated in this."

Griffiths said agreement on the detailed plan for the phase one withdrawals was reached in negotiations between the parties and Lt. Gen. Michael Lollesgaard, who heads the U.N. operation monitoring the cease-fire and redeployment agreement reached in Sweden in December.

Source: Fox News World

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Representatives of Russian Transneft, Ukranian Ukrtransnafta, Polish Pern and Belarusian Belneftekhim gather to hold talks on fixing tainted oil supplies to Europe, in Minsk
Representatives of Russian Transneft, Ukranian Ukrtransnafta, Polish Pern and Belarusian Belneftekhim gather to hold talks on fixing tainted oil supplies to Europe, in Minsk, Belarus April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

April 26, 2019

By Katya Golubkova and Andrei Makhovsky

MOSCOW/MINSK (Reuters) – Russia is confident it can soon resolve a problem of polluted Russian oil contaminating a major pipeline serving Europe and affecting supplies as far west as Germany, a senior official said on Friday at talks with importers about the issue.

Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin did not give a precise timeframe but Moscow has previously said it would pump clean oil to the border with Belarus from April 29, seeking to end a crisis hitting the world’s second-largest crude exporter.

Sorokin was speaking at talks with officials from Belarus, Poland and Ukraine in Minsk on the issue. Belarus said the issue had cost it $100 million, while analysts say alternative supply routes for refiners cannot fully fill the gap.

Poland, Germany, Ukraine and Slovakia have suspended imports of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. Halting those supplies has knock-on effects further along the network.

The problem arose last week when an unidentified Russian producer contaminated oil with high levels of organic chloride used to boost oil output but which must be separated before shipment as it can destroy refining equipment.

Russia’s Energy Ministry said pipeline monopoly Transneft and other Russian companies had a plan to mitigate the effects of the contaminated oil. It did not give details.

Russian officials have said contaminated oil has already been pumped into storage in Russia and Friday’s talks would focus on how to partially withdraw the tainted crude from the Druzhba pipeline running via other countries.

The suspension cuts off a major supply route for Polish refineries owned by Poland’s PKN Orlen and Grupa Lotos, as well as plants in Germany owned by Total, Shell, Eni and Rosneft.

Some refiners have outlined plans for alternative supplies, but analysts say other routes cannot meet the shortfall.

OIL PRICES

Ukraine’s Ukrtransnafta suspended the transit of oil through the pipeline on Thursday, closing supplies via Druzhba’s southern route to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

The pipeline issue, which has supported global oil prices, lifted Russian Urals crude differentials to an all-time high on Thursday.

With pipeline supplies to Europe shut, Russia faces a challenge of how to divert about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) that was meant to be shipped through the network to other destinations at the time when export capacity is at its limits.

State-run Russian Railways held talks with energy firms on using up to 5,000 rail tankers to transport crude, RIA news agency reported on Friday.

Concerns about the quality of Urals crude also caused delays in loadings at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga, when buyers refused to lift cargoes, resulting in a brief shutdown of the port on Wednesday and Thursday. An Ust-Luga official and traders said on Friday loadings had resumed.

Russian loading plans indicate it aims to boost Urals exports in May before the expiry of a deal on output cuts agreed with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, Reuters calculations and Energy Ministry data show.

The provisional loading plan for Russia’s Baltic Sea ports and Novorossiisk in May show exports rising to 10.7 million tonnes, the highest level in half a decade.

Minsk estimated its loss from lower oil product exports due to contaminated Russian oil at around $100 million, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Thursday, citing Belarusian state oil company Belneftekhim.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, in charge of government energy policy, said this week that those found responsible for contaminating the oil could be fined. He did not provide names.

(Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko in WARSAW, Sandor Peto in BUDAPEST, Jason Hovet in PRAGUE, Matthias Williams and Natalia Zinets in KIEV, Katya Golubkova, Olesya Astakhova, Gleb Gorodyankin, Olga Yagova and Maxim Rodionov in MOSCOW, Andrei Makhovsky in MINSK; writing by Katya Golubkova; editing by Michael Perry and Edmund Blair)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO - A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat
FILE PHOTO: A worker sits on a ship carrying containers at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat April 1, 2014. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File Photo

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – India has once again delayed the implementation of higher tariffs on some goods imported from the United States to May 15, a government official said on Friday.

The new tariff structure was to come into force from May 2, the spokeswoman said without citing reasons for the delay.

Angered by Washington’s refusal to exempt it from new steel and aluminum tariffs, New Delhi decided in June last year to raise the import tax from Aug. 4 on some U.S. products including almonds, walnuts and apples.

But since then, New Delhi has repeatedly delayed the implementation of the new tariff.

Trade friction between India and the U.S. has escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans earlier this year to end preferential trade treatment for India that allows duty-free entry for up to $5.6 billion worth of its exports to the United States.

In a further blow, U.S. on Monday demanded buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers which allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers including India to continue importing limited volumes.

(Reporting by Manoj Kumar in New Delhi and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Source: OANN

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One of Joe Biden’s newly-hired senior advisers has seemingly had a very recent change of heart.

Symone Sanders, a prominent Democratic strategist and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., staffer in 2016, was announced as one of the big-name members of Team Biden on Thursday.

But Sanders, who has also served as a CNN contributor, is seen in resurfaced footage from November 2016 expressing her opposition to a white person leading her party after Donald Trump’s election.

“In my opinion, we don’t need white people leading the Democratic party right now,” Sanders told host Brianna Keilar during a discussion on Howard Dean potentially becoming DNC chairman.

BIDEN HIRES FORMER BERNIE SANDERS’ SPOKESPERSON AS SENIOR ADVISER

“The Democratic party is diverse, and it should be reflected as so in leadership and throughout the staff, at the highest levels. From the vice chairs to the secretaries all the way down to the people working in the offices at the DNC,” she said.

Sanders wrapped up her remarks by saying: “I want to hear more from everybody. I want to hear from the millennials and the brown folks.”

Footage of the interview was resurfaced by RealClearPolitics.

After news of her hiring broke on Thursday, Sanders backed her new boss on Twitter.

TRUMP ASSESSES 2020 DEMS; TAKES SWIPES AT BIDEN, SANDERS; DISMISSES HARRIS, O’ROURKE; SAYS HE’S ROOTING FOR BUTTIGIEG

“@JoeBiden & @DrBiden are a class act. Over the course of this campaign, Vice President Biden is going to make his case to the American ppl. He won’t always be perfect, but I believe he will get it right,” she wrote.

The hiring of Sanders has been viewed as another indication of the expected tough fight that Biden and Sanders are in for as the two frontrunners battle a deep Democratic field.

While Sanders himself didn’t torch Biden as he jumped into the race, it’s clear that many of his progressive supporters view the former vice president as a threat.

Biden’s entry into the race – at least in the early going – sets up a battle between himself and Sanders, who thanks to his fierce fight with eventual nominee Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic nomination, enjoys name ID on the level of the former vice president.

BIDEN VOWS THAT ‘AMERICA IS COMING BACK,’ SPARKING ‘MAGA’ COMPARISONS

Justice Democrats — who also called Biden “out-of-touch” – is an increasingly influential group among the left of the party. They’ve championed progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York as well as Sanders. The group was founded by members of Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.

Biden has pushed back against the perception that he’s a moderate in a party that’s increasingly moving to the left. Earlier this month he described himself as an “Obama-Biden Democrat.”

And Biden said he’d stack his record against “anybody who has run or who is running now or who will run.”

Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile – a Fox News contributor – highlighted that “Joe Biden can occupy his own lane in large part because he’s earned it. He’s earned the right to call himself whatever.”

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But she emphasized that “elections are not about the past, they’re about the future…I do believe he has the right ingredients. The question is can he find enough people to help him stir the pot.”

Fox News Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who is facing increased calls for her immediate resignation, remains in poor health and is not “lucid” enough to decide whether to step down, her attorney told reporters late Thursday.

Steve Silverman, speaking outside one of Pugh’s residences which was raided by the FBI and IRS earlier in the day, said the embattled city leader could make a decision as early as next week.

“She is leaning toward making the best decision in the best interest in the citizens of Baltimore City,” he said, adding that Pugh has “several options” to consider.

“She just needs to be physically and mentally sound and lucid enough to make appropriate decisions.”

BALTIMORE MAYOR CATHERINE PUGH, ON LEAVE AMID BOOK PROBE, HAS HOMES AND CITY HALL OFFICE RAIDED BY FEDS

Silverman said Pugh met with a doctor at home Thursday and plans to do so again Friday, the Baltimore Sun reported.

In the latest image-tarnishing scandal for struggling Baltimore, the first-term Democratic mayor faces accusations that she used children’s book deals to cover up kickbacks for favorable treatment as a state lawmaker and city leader that earned her roughly $800,000 over several years.

BALTIMORE’S ACTING MAYOR SAYS HE ‘WOULD HATE TO SEE’ EMBATTLED MAYOR RETURN AFTER BOOK SCANDALS

As a state senator, 69-year-old Pugh sold $500,000 worth of her self-published “Healthy Holly” illustrated paperbacks to the University of Maryland Medical System, a major state employer whose board she sat on for nearly 20 years.

Baltimore police officers stand outside the house of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Pugh and also in City Hall. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Baltimore police officers stand outside the house of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Pugh and also in City Hall. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

UMMS reportedly paid Pugh for 100,000 copies of her books between 2011 and 2018 with the stated intention of distributing the books to schools and day care centers. But some 50,000 copies remain unaccounted for and officials are probing if they were even printed.

Pugh also made $300,000 in bulk sales to other customers including health carriers that did business with the city of Baltimore.

BALTIMORE CITY COUNCIL CALLS ON EMBATTLED MAYOR CATHERINE PUGH TO RESIGN IMMEDIATELY

The politically isolated Pugh slipped out of sight on April 1 after a hastily organized press conference where she called her no-contract book deals a “regrettable mistake.” That same day, Maryland’s governor called on the state prosecutor to investigate allegations of “self-dealing.”

Pugh took an indefinite leave of absence, citing her health deteriorating intensely after a bout with pneumonia.

Federal agents arrive at the Maryland Center for Adult Training in Baltimore. MD, Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall, as well as the office of her lawyer and the home of a top aide.

Federal agents arrive at the Maryland Center for Adult Training in Baltimore. MD, Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall, as well as the office of her lawyer and the home of a top aide. (Loyd Fox/Baltimore Sun via AP)

On Thursday morning, agents with the FBI and IRS searched her two Baltimore homes, her City Hall offices, and a nonprofit organization she once led. The home of at least one of Pugh’s aides was also scoured.

Silverman said federal agents also served a subpoena at his law firm, retrieving Pugh’s original financial records. They did not seek any attorney-client privileged communications, he said.

Pugh’s attorney said she was “emotionally extremely distraught” following the searches by FBI and IRS agents.

“There was nothing incriminating that came out of her home,” Silverman said.

UMMS spokesman Michael Schwartzberg told reporters that the medical system received a grand jury witness subpoena seeking documents and information related to Pugh.

Other probes against Pugh include a review by the city ethics board and the Maryland Insurance Administration.

BALTIMORE MAYOR’S $500G DEAL FOR ‘HEALTHY HOLLY’ CHILDREN’S BOOKS DRAWS SCRUTINY

In recent weeks, the calls for Pugh’s resignation have intensified with the strongest voice coming from Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who did not mince words after Thursday’s early morning raids.

“Now more than ever, Baltimore City needs strong and responsible leadership. Mayor Pugh has lost the public trust,” he said. “She is clearly not fit to lead. For the good of the city, Mayor Pugh must resign.”

Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Internal Revenue Service agents search the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall.

Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Internal Revenue Service agents search the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh in Baltimore, MD., Thursday, April 25, 2019. Agents with the FBI and IRS are gathering evidence inside the two homes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh and in City Hall. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun via AP)

Many of her fellow Democrats, including those on Baltimore’s demoralized City Council and state lawmakers, are also insisting that Pugh put the citizens’ interests above any attempt to preserve her political career.

City Council member Brandon Scott called the Thursday raids “an embarrassment to the city.”

However, only a conviction can trigger a mayor’s removal from office, according to the city solicitor. Baltimore’s mayor-friendly City Charter currently provides no options for ousting its executive.

Six of Pugh’s staffers joined her on paid leave earlier this month; three of them were fired this week by the acting mayor.

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Pugh came to office in late 2016 after edging out ex-Mayor Sheila Dixon, who had spent much of her tenure fighting corruption charges before being forced to depart office in 2010 as part of a plea deal connected to the misappropriation of about $500 in gift cards meant for needy families.

She would certainly face a bruising 2020 Democratic primary if she were to return and run for reelection. Veteran City Council leader Bernard “Jack” Young, who is serving as acting mayor, said as she went on leave that he would merely be a placeholder. But this week, before the raids, he said “it could be devastating for her” if she tried to return.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations has blasted the United State and the European Union for imposing sanctions on his country, describing them as “economic terrorism.”

Bashar Ja’afari made his comments Friday in the Kazakh capital of Astana where Russia, Turkey and Iran held a new round of talks with the Syrian government and the opposition on steps to bring peace to the country.

His comments came as government-held parts of Syria are witnessing widespread fuel shortages that are largely the result of Western sanctions on Syria and its key ally Iran.

Ja’afari says: “This is economic terrorism that is escalating through unilateral economic measures.”

A final statement issued at the end of Astana’s 12th round rejected President Donald Trump’s formal recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over Syria’s occupied Golan Heights.

Source: Fox News World

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