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Sanders leads crowded 2020 Democrats field in total fundraising

FILE PHOTO: U.S. 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and Senator Bernie Sanders participates in a moderated discussion at the We the People Summit in Washington
FILE PHOTO: U.S. 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and Senator Bernie Sanders participates in a moderated discussion at the We the People Summit in Washington, U.S., April 1, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

April 16, 2019

By Ginger Gibson, Amanda Becker and Grant Smith

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In the crowded field of Democrats jockeying for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders has raised more money than his rivals, with more of it coming from small-dollar donors and more from outside his home state.

A Reuters analysis of first quarter fundraising reports filed on Monday found that while Democratic White House hopefuls talk about building their campaigns on “grassroots” or small donor support, only six of 15 amassed half their hauls from small-dollar donations.

And many candidates are still leaning on donors in their home states for larger checks. Nine Democratic candidates received the bulk of their contributions of $200 or more from their home states, the Reuters analysis found.

The analysis includes fundraising reports covering the first three months of 2019 by the candidates who launched their campaigns prior to April 1st. The field of candidates has since swelled, with 18 Democrats vying to win the party’s nomination to challenge President Donald Trump in November 2020.

Many Democrats have touted their support among so-called “small dollar” donors, those who give less than $200. But only six — Sanders, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, former Congressman Beto O’Rourke, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard, and Andrew Yang, a former tech executive — are relying chiefly on those small-dollar donors.

Sanders, of Vermont, benefited the most from small-dollar donors in the first quarter, with about 84 percent of his $18 million haul coming from individuals who contributed less than $200.

Sanders also had the most geographic diversity in his donations, with California donors accounting for 27 percent of his donations of $200 or more.

Early fundraising prowess can signal the strength of a candidate’s campaign. For example Buttigieg until recently did not have a national profile, but raised $7 million during the first quarter of 2019 – of which 64 percent came from small donations.

In a move to show they are serious about eliminating big money from politics, most Democratic presidential candidates have sworn off donations from corporate political fundraising committees. Some have nixed taking checks from registered lobbyists.

The Democratic National Committee announced earlier this year that small-dollar, grassroots support will be one of the metrics it uses to determine who qualifies to participate in a series of nationally televised primary debates that will begin in June.

Warren – the only candidate to also swear off attending big ticket fundraisers – reported that about 70 percent of the $6 million she raised in the first quarter was from small-dollar donors. Massachusetts donors accounted for 25 percent of contributions over $200.

O’Rourke reported that 59 percent of his $9.4 million was from donations of $200 or less. More than $2.1 million came from Texans who wrote checks of $200 or more.

On the other end of the spectrum, John Hickenlooper, the former governor of Colorado, raised only 10 percent of his donations in $200 or smaller contributions. There was also little geographic variation among his contributors, with more than 60 percent of donations over $200 coming from his home state.

U.S. Senators Cory Booker, of New Jersey, and Kirsten Gillibrand, of New York, each raised about 16 percent of their cash from small-dollar donors.

(Reporting By Amanda Becker, Ginger Gibson and Grant Smith; Editing by Michael Perry)

Source: OANN

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Cubs C Caratini out at least a month with broken hand

MLB: Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago Cubs
Apr 11, 2019; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Cubs catcher Victor Caratini (7) hits an RBI double in the seventh inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Quinn Harris-USA TODAY Sports

April 12, 2019

Chicago Cubs catcher Victor Caratini is expected to be out for at least a month after he was placed on the injured list Friday with a fractured bone in his left hand.

Caratini had two of the Cubs’ five hits Thursday night in a 2-0 defeat to the Pittsburgh Pirates but came away with the injury after a swing during that game. He will have surgery Monday to repair a fractured hamate bone and he could be out for up to six weeks.

The Cubs recalled catcher Taylor Davis from Triple-A Iowa prior to Friday’s series opener against the Los Angeles Angels. Davis has just 13 games of major league experience with the Cubs over the past two seasons, getting five hits over 18 at-bats.

Caratini, 25, was batting .571 with three doubles and a home run over six games this season. He played a career high 76 games for the Cubs last season, batting .232 with two home runs and 21 RBIs.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

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Biden accuser D.J. Hill defends decision to come forward: ‘We’re patriots’ seeking ‘cultural change’

Writer D.J. Hill appeared on “Fox News @ Night” to discuss her allegation against former Vice President Joe Biden and her reaction to his video message addressing the controversy.

Hill alleged that Biden made her feel "very uncomfortable" at a 2012 fundraiser, saying she felt the former vice president's hand slide from her shoulder and down her back while they posed for a photo.

THREE MORE WOMEN ACCUSE BIDEN OF IMPROPER CONTACT, SAY HIS VIDEO WASN'T ENOUGH

She told Fox News’s Shannon Bream on Wednesday night that she went public with her claim because she was inspired by other women who have come forward and the “cultural shift” that’s been “long overdue.”

In response to Biden’s video message, in which he pledged to be "more mindful about respecting personal space," Hill said she hoped that this is a moment of “realization” and “self-awareness” for the potential 2020 candidate and stressed that “no one should define another person’s boundaries.”

“This was a very difficult decision for me," Hill said about her choice to go public. "I had not planned to do this when I went to that fundraiser. That was the last thing that I anticipated happening and I really appreciate what moral courage it takes for women to come forward.

"I have not slept in 24 hours," she added. "My phone went off all night. I’ve received some not-so-encouraging correspondence and I think anyone that calls into question these women’s behavior doesn’t understand that there is no upside for them and so we do it because we’re patriots and we believe in our country, but we also want to see a cultural change.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

She later encouraged other women who have a story to tell to “examine” how important it is to come forward and that their decision is “respected” as an act of “civic duty.”

Hill is now one of seven women who have come forward with claims of inappropriate touching from the former vice president.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Dems publicly tout small dollar donations, while quietly courting big dollar donors

Following the financial success of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential run in 2016, the growing field of Democratic candidates in 2020 are publicly all about the small dollar donations.

But as the first quarterly fund-raising deadline comes to a close on Sunday, the candidates in the Democratic field are all also trying to quietly haul in as many big dollar donations as they can get.

Sen. Cory Booker, D- N.J., was recently in California for a fundraiser attended by tech bigwigs and venture capitalists, while New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was at the home of a Manhattan investor to gather donations. On Sunday evening, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., will be in Los Angeles to mix and mingle with Hollywood’s heavy-hitters at the home of MGM Motion Picture Group President Jonathan Glickman.

GILLIBRAND, CHAMPION OF #METOO MOVEMENT, SAW AIDE RESIGN IN PROTEST OVER SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASE

In years past, candidates in both major parties would flaunt their big dollar donations – up to $2,800 during the primary season, as stipulated by federal law – as a sign of their formidability and political strength. But with the success of Sanders’ online donor network of small dollar donations, and the populist, grassroots movement within the party, many Democrats are trying to keep their big dollar donations off the public’s radar.

“Candidates talk more about how many different donors they have and how many states they’re in,” Amy Dacey, the former chief executive officer of the Democratic National Committee, told the New York Times. “It’s more about the donor amounts than the dollar amounts.”

But unlike 2016, where it was all but a given from the start that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was going to be the Democratic nominee, there is currently no clear favorite among the large group of Democrats vying to take on President Trump. This has kept some big money donors from reaching into their wallets just yet.

This hesitancy is one of the reasons why candidates like Booker, Gllibrand, Harris and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., have been busy on the cocktail circuit. Others -- like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass -- are hoping to play of the success of Sanders, an Independent, and fund their campaigns largely through the small dollar donations.

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“This is our chance to run a grass-roots movement, not just to go around the country scooping up as much money as we can,” Warren said in an interview.

Warren, however, isn’t totally closing the door on donations from big spenders and has left open the prospect of also taking money from big dollar donors.

“I do not believe in unilateral disarmament,” she said.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Police: More than a dozen people rescued from SeaWorld ride

Police say more than a dozen people trapped on a ride at SeaWorld in San Diego have been rescued.

San Diego police tell FOX5 News that around six gondolas stopped functioning Monday night after a big gust of wind tripped a circuit breaker on "Bayside Skyride." Authorities had estimated that between 15 and 30 people were trapped, some of them in gondolas suspended above water. Sixteen were actually rescued.

The riders were lowered by harnesses and rescued by lifeguard boats. They were then evaluated by medical crews.

SeaWorld said in a statement that it will conduct a thorough inspection of the ride prior to reopening.

The National Weather Service says it was about 49 degrees in San Diego at the time.

SeaWorld said the gondolas had blankets on board.

Source: Fox News National

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Gregg Jarrett: Impeachment will be ‘poison’ for ‘hardcore Trump haters’

Fox News legal analyst and commentator Gregg Jarrett told “The Todd Starnes Show” Wednesday that Democrats should not try to impeach President Trump after the release of the Mueller report because "it is a poison for them."

ILHAN OMAR CLAIMS US FORCES KILLED 'THOUSANDS' OF SOMALIS DURING 'BLACK HAWK DOWN' MISSION, RESURFACED TWEET SHOWS

Portraying himself as unjustly persecuted by the special counsel’s probe, Trump said Wednesday that his administration would refuse to cooperate with any further congressional investigations.

“I thought after two years we’d be finished with it. No, now the House goes and starts subpoenaing,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn, claiming the probes have been commissioned by Democrats solely for political advantage.

"Look, these aren't, like, impartial people," the president said. "The Democrats are trying to win 2020."

"The only way they can luck out is by constantly going after me on nonsense," Trump added. "But they should be really focused on legislation."

Jarrett, who formerly worked as a defense attorney and adjunct law professor, agreed with the president, telling Starnes that what Democrats do next “remains to be seen. You know, there are a hardcore group of people, of Trump haters.”

Washington has spent a week sifting through the aftermath of Mueller’s report, which did not find a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to help the president win the 2016 election but reached no conclusion on whether he obstructed justice. Attorney General William Barr later said that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined that Mueller did not establish sufficient evidence that Trump committed obstruction.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Trump has at times railed against Mueller’s report, even resorting to public profanity in dismissing it, but has also embraced it, claiming exoneration and painting any other attempt as partisan overreach.

Meanwhile, Democrats have debated whether to pursue impeachment, a course that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has counseled against. But her party’s lawmakers have already signaled they will vote to hold reluctant witnesses in contempt of Congress and are preparing to eventually go to court to force testimony and cooperation. Democrats also argue that by refusing to cooperate with Congress, Trump is obstructing additional investigations.

Jarrett said that hardcore liberal Trump haters aren’t that much of a threat.

“I'm not sure the numbers are there [for impeachment],” he said. “And look, Nancy Pelosi well knows the repercussions of bringing an impeachment proceeding against the president.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Censorship Alert: Social Media Getting Prepared to Ban Political Speech

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FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad
FILE PHOTO: Cases of Pepsi are shown for sale at a store in Carlsbad, California, U.S., April 22, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Amit Dave and Mayank Bhardwaj

AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – PepsiCo Inc has sued four Indian farmers for cultivating a potato variety that the snack food and drinks maker claims infringes its patent, the company and the growers said on Friday.

Pepsi has sued the farmers for cultivating the FC5 potato variety, exclusively grown for its popular Lay’s potato chips. The FC5 variety has a lower moisture content required to make snacks such as potato chips.

PepsiCo is seeking more than 10 million rupees ($142,840.82) each for alleged patent infringement.

The farmers grow potatoes in the western state of Gujarat, a leading producer of India’s most consumed vegetable.

“We have been growing potatoes for a long time and we didn’t face this problem ever, as we’ve mostly been using the seeds saved from one harvest to plant the next year’s crop,” said Bipin Patel, one of the four farmers sued by Pepsi.

Patel did not say how he came by the PepsiCo variety.

A court in Ahmedabad, the business hub of Gujarat, on Friday agreed to hear the case on June 12, said Anand Yagnik, the lawyer for the farmers.

“In this instance, we took judicial recourse against people who were illegally dealing in our registered variety,” A PepsiCo India spokesman said. “This was done to protect our rights and safeguard the larger interest of farmers that are engaged with us and who are using and benefiting from seeds of our registered variety.”

PepsiCo, which set up its first potato chips plant in India in 1989, supplies the FC5 potato variety to a group of farmers who in turn sell their produce to the company at a fixed price.

The All India Kisan Sabha, or All India Farmers’ Forum, has asked the Indian government to protect the farmers.

The farmers’ forum has also called for a boycott of PepsiCo’s Lay’s chips and the company’s other products.

The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

PepsiCo is the second major U.S. company in India to face issues over patent infringement.

Stung by a long-standing intellectual property dispute, seed maker Monsanto, which is now owned by German drugmaker Bayer AG, withdrew from some businesses in India over a cotton-seed dispute with farmers, Reuters reported in 2017. (reut.rs/2ncBknn)

(Reporting by Amit Dave in AHMEDABAD and Mayank Bhardwaj in NEW DELHI; Editing by Martin Howell and Louise Heavens)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: The Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM) logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 3, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By P.J. Huffstutter and Shradha Singh

CHICAGO/BENGALURU (Reuters) – Archer Daniels Midland Co said on Friday it was considering spinning off its ethanol business after slim biofuel margins and Midwestern floods slammed the U.S. grains merchant’s profit, which tumbled 41 percent in the first quarter.

ADM said it was creating an ethanol subsidiary, which will include dry mills in Columbus, Nebraska; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Peoria, Illinois.

The ethanol subsidiary will report as an independent segment, the company said, allowing options “which may include, but are not limited to, a potential spin-off of the business to existing ADM shareholders.”

Results were hit by the “bomb cyclone” blizzards that devastated the Midwest and Great Plains this year, causing massive flooding across Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, washing out rail lines and wreaking havoc in the moving and processing of corn, soybeans and wheat. One-sixth of U.S. ethanol production was halted.

In March, ADM warned Wall Street that flooding and severe winter weather in the U.S. Midwest would reduce its first-quarter operating profit by $50 million to $60 million.

“The first quarter proved more challenging than initially expected,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Juan Luciano, with earnings down in its starches, sweeteners and bioproducts unit. Luciano said impacts of the severe weather ultimately “were on the high side of our initial estimates”.

Ongoing problems in the ethanol industry added to the problems and “limited margins and opportunities” for ADM, Luciano said.

The ethanol industry has been in the midst of a historic downswing due to the U.S.-China trade war, excess domestic supply and weak margins.

ADM, which had been an ethanol pioneer, signaled to Wall Street in 2016 that it was hunting for options and considering sales of its U.S. dry ethanol mills. Luciano told Reuters this year that offers ADM had received for the mills were too low.

In addition, ADM said it planned to repurpose its corn wet mill in Marshall, Minnesota, to produce higher volumes of food and industrial-grade starches.

Other major traders are alsy trying to distance themselves from struggling ethanol businesses. Louis Dreyfus Company BV spun off its Brazilian sugar and ethanol business Biosev in 2013. Rival Bunge sold its sugar book and has sought a buyer for its Brazilian mills since 2013.

ADM, which makes money trading, processing and transporting crops, such as corn, soybeans and wheat, has been looking to strengthen its core business. Last month it said it would seek voluntary early retirements of some North American employees and cut jobs as part of a restructuring effort.

The company expects to lower 2019 capital spending by 10 percent to between $800 million and $900 million.

Net earnings attributable to the company fell to $233 million, or 41 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, from $393 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell to $15.30 billion from $15.53 billion. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 46 cents per share, while analysts on average had estimated 60 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Shradha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)

Source: OANN

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The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this illustration
FILE PHOTO: The Slack app logo is seen on a smartphone in this picture illustration taken September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Slack Technologies Inc, operator of the popular workplace instant-messaging app, reported a loss of $140.7 million in the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2019, the company said on Friday in a regulatory filing ahead of its planned public market debut.

The company said its daily active users exceeded 10 million in the three months ended Jan. 31, 2019.

Slack expects to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SK”, it said.

The San Francisco-based company is seeking to go public via a direct listing, making it the second big technology company after Spotify Technology SA to bypass the traditional route of listing shares through an initial public offering.

A direct listing is a cheaper way of becoming a public company as the process requires fewer investment banks and therefore lower fees.

In a direct listing, however, a company does not sell any new shares to raise money. Instead, it gives existing shareholders the opportunity to cash out.

Slack is the latest in a string of high-profile technology companies looking to go public this year. Lyft Inc, Pinterest and Zoom Video Communications have completed IPOs so far in 2019.

The company is hoping for a valuation of more than $10 billion in the listing, Reuters had previously reported. Some early investors and employees have been selling the stock at around $28, valuing the company close to $17 billion, Kelly Rodriques, CEO of Forge, a brokerage company, told CNBC on Thursday.

Slack set a placeholder amount of $100 million to indicate the size of the IPO. The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

Its competitors include Microsoft Teams, a free chat add-on for Microsoft’s Office365 users.

(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena and Joshua Franklin in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Anil D’Silva)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Candidate Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of an exit poll in Ukraine's presidential election in Kiev
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy reacts following the announcement of the first exit poll in a presidential election at his campaign headquarters in Kiev, Ukraine April 21, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Matthias Williams

KIEV (Reuters) – Russia’s decision to make it easier for residents of rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine to obtain a Russian passport is meant to test Ukraine’s new leader and the West should not recognize the documents, Lithuania’s foreign minister said on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the order on facilitating passports on Wednesday, three days after comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a political novice, won a landslide victory in Ukraine’s presidential election.

Linas Linkevicius, whose own country also has strained relations with Moscow, told Reuters in an interview that the West should consider imposing new sanctions on Russia.

“This is a blatant violation of international law. And basically also a kind of test to the new (Ukrainian) leadership, which is also a usual game,” Linkevicius said.

“The least we can do (is) we shouldn’t recognize these passports. How to do that technically, it’s another issue to discuss. Also (we need) to look at additional sanctions,” said Linkevicius, whose small Baltic nation is a member of NATO and the European Union.

Western nations imposed sanctions on Russia over its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region and its support for armed separatists battling Kiev’s forces in eastern Ukraine. Some 13,000 people have been killed in that conflict despite a notional ceasefire signed in Minsk in 2015.

Linkevicius, who in Kiev on Friday became the first minister of an EU country since Ukraine’s election to meet President-elect Zelenskiy, said they had discussed the passport issue.

Zelenskiy also raised the possibility of resetting the Minsk ceasefire agreement without giving any concessions to Russia, Linkevicius said.

“DANGEROUS CANCER” OF GRAFT

The minister urged Zelenskiy to deliver on his electoral promise of tackling corruption, which he described as the “most dangerous cancer” facing Ukraine, which hopes one day to join the EU.

Last month, Lithuania’s own relations with Russia came under renewed strain after a Vilnius court found former Soviet defense minister Dmitry Yazov, in absentia, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in a 1991 crackdown against Lithuania’s pro-independence movement.

Russia branded the verdict “extremely unfriendly and essentially provocative” and opened a probe into the judges involved.

Linkevicius accused Russia of seeking to politicize the judicial process by trying to take revenge on the judges, adding: “This is lamentable.”

(Editing by Gareth Jones)

Source: OANN

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A Cook County judge recently called out embattled State Attorney Kim Foxx for upholding a double standard by prosecuting a woman for filing a false police report — but dropping similar charges against embattled “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett.

Foxx has faced intense criticism over her office’s decision to drop a 16-count indictment against Smollett, just weeks after bringing the charges against the high-profile TV star. Foxx’s deal with Smollett, which did not require him to admit guilt, drew ire from the public, the city’s top cop and the former mayor who called it a “whitewash of justice.”

JUSSIE SMOLLETT CHICAGO PROSECUTOR KIM FOXX CHIDED BY NATIONAL ATTORNEYS GROUPS AFTER JUSSIE SMOLLETT CHARGES DROPPED 

Cook County Judge Marc Martin, who was presiding over an unrelated case, chastised Foxx and her office for creating a situation where anyone charged with filing a false report would expect the same leniency her office afforded Smollett.

Candace Clark, 21, is facing one felony count of making a false report. Prosecutors accused her of giving a friend access to her bank account and then telling authorities the money had been stolen. She denies the charges and claims she’s the victim of Foxx’s double standard — something the judge weighed in on.

“Well, Ms. Clark is not a movie star, she doesn’t have a high-price lawyer, although, her lawyer’s very good. And this smells, big time,” Martin said to prosecutors during a recent hearing, Fox 32 reported. “I didn’t create this mess, your office created this mess. And your explanation is unsatisfactory to this court. She’s being treated differently.”

The judge continued, “There’s no publicity on this case. She doesn’t have Mark Geragos as her lawyer or Ron Safer or Judge Brown. It’s not right. And (if) I proceed in this matter, you’re just digging yourselves further in a hole. (If the) press gets a hold of this, it’ll be in a newspaper. Why is Ms. Clark being treated differently than Mr. Smollett?”

Foxx recused herself from the Smollett case in February but continued to oversee the investigation through text messages with her assistant Joseph Magats.

The text messages revealed Foxx called Smollett a “washed up celeb who lied to cops.” They also show she cautioned Magats about throwing the book at Smollett.

“Sooo……I’m recused, but when people accuse us of overcharging cases…16 counts on a class 4 becomes exhibit A,” Foxx wrote to Magats on March 8.

“Pedophile with 4 victims 10 counts. Washed up celeb who lied to cops, 16. On a case eligible for deferred prosecution I think it’s indicative of something we should be looking at generally. Just because we can charge something doesn’t mean we should,” she added, referring to the case of R&B singer R. Kelly, who was indicted on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in connection with four women, three of whom were underage.

KIM FOXX’S CHIEF ETHICS OFFICER RESIGNS FOLLOWING SMOLLETT CONTROVERSY

President Trump said last month he asked for a federal review of Foxx’s decision to drop the charges against Smollett. He also called the actor “an absolute embarrassment to our country.”

The Smollett case garnered national attention and threatened to tear Chicago apart. It pit the police department and mayor against prosecutors and underscored the idea that wealthy people are somehow above the law.

Smollett told police he was attacked on Jan. 29 around 2 a.m. as he was returning home from a sandwich shop in Chicago. He said two masked men shouted racial and anti-gay slurs, poured bleach on him, beat him and tied a rope around his neck. He claimed they shouted, “This is MAGA country” — a reference to President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.

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After an intense investigation, police said Smollett staged the entire incident to drum up publicity for his career.

Smollett has strongly denied the accusations.

Source: Fox News National

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