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Happening: Obama White House Counsel INDICTED for Lying to Mueller Team

An attorney for the White House under President Barack Obama has been indicted by the Trump Justice Department for allegedly lying about his lobbying work for a former Ukrainian president.

On Thursday DOJ charged former White House Counsel Greg Craig with two counts of making false statements regarding his connections to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

In a twist of irony, Craig’s alleged dealings were brought to light by FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, making him the first Democrat to be indicted as a result of the now-completed probe.

“The Washington-based lawyer was indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for allegedly falsifying and concealing “material facts” and making false statements to the DOJ National Security Division’s Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) Unit, which is responsible for enforcing foreign lobbying laws,” reports Fox News.

“Craig allegedly made false statements to investigators looking into whether he appropriately registered foreign agent under FARA, which requires lobbyists to declare publicly if they represent foreign leaders, governments or their political parties.”

In the indictment [see below], Craig is quoted as asking a partner in a February 12 email: “I don’t want to register as a foreign agent under FARA. I think we don’t have to with this assignment, yes?”

Craig allegedly lobbied for Yanukovych in 2012 while he served as a partner at the Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom law firm, helping the ousted president write a report defending his government’s decision to prosecute the country’s former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko.

“Craig’s former law firm… reached a settlement with the Justice Department in January to resolve an investigation into the firm’s role in working on the Tymoshenko report and the subsequent public relations rollout,” reports Buzzfeed News. “The firm didn’t face criminal charges, but agreed to retroactively register as an agent for a foreign government and pay the US Treasury $4.6 million, representing the money the firm earned for its work.”

The settlement, Buzzfeed notes, cleared the firm as an entity, notably excluding individual partners who could later be charged.

The indictment charges Craig purposely avoided registering as a foreign agent for various purposes and benefits.

“The purpose of the scheme was for Craig to avoid registration as an agent of Ukraine,” the indictment reads. “Registration would require disclosure of the fact that Private Ukrainian had paid Craig and the Law Firm more than $4 million … [and] undermine the Report and Craig’s perceived independence; and impair the ability of Craig and others at the Law Firm to later return to government positions.”

According to Fox News,

Craig faces a total of up to 10 years in prison — up to five years and a possible $250,000 fine for allegedly willfully falsifying and concealing material facts from the FARA Unit, and another five years and $10,000 fine for making false and misleading statements to the FARA Unit.

“Mr. Craig is not guilty of any charge and the government’s stubborn insistence on prosecuting Mr. Craig is a misguided abuse of prosecutorial discretion,” Craig’s lawyers argued in a statement.

Each charge against Craig carries a maximum punishment of up to five years in prison.

Craig served as White House lawyer under President Barack Obama from 2009-2010 and previously served as assistant to the Bill Clinton White House, where he defended Clinton against impeachment.

Read the full indictment below:


Source: InfoWars

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Guterres flying to eastern Libya to meet Haftar and lawmakers

Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres speaks during a news conference in Tripoli
Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres speaks during a news conference in Tripoli, Libya April 4, 2019. REUTERS/Hani Amara

April 5, 2019

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is flying on Friday to eastern Libya to meet commander Khalifa Haftar, whose forces a day earlier began an offensive to take control of the capital currently held by an internationally recognized government.

Guterres will be also flying to Tobruk, another city in the east and home to Libya’s parliament – also internationally recognized – which backs Haftar, he said on Twitter.

“My aim remains the same: avoid a military confrontation. I reiterate that there is no military solution for the Libyan crisis, only a political one,” Guterres wrote on Twitter.

(Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: OANN

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Struggling May puts stripped-down Brexit deal to a vote in parliament

Anti-Brexit protesters stand outside the Houses of Parliament in London
Anti-Brexit protesters stand outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, March 27, 2019. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

March 29, 2019

By Guy Faulconbridge and William James

LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Theresa May puts a stripped-down version of her Brexit divorce deal to a vote in parliament on Friday in an attempt to break the impasse over the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union.

The vote, on the day the country was originally due to exit the European Union, illustrates the depth of the three-year Brexit crisis that has left it uncertain how, when or even if it will ever leave.

Lawmakers will vote on May’s 585-page EU Withdrawal Agreement at a special sitting but not on the 26-page Political Declaration for future relations she negotiated at the same time, a maneuver which led to confusion among lawmakers.

As May tries to salvage its twice-defeated exit deal, thousands of people opposed to delaying Brexit are expected to protest in central London with a “Brexit Betrayal” march led by prominent Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage ending outside parliament.

Amid the chaos, May agreed with the EU to delay Brexit from the originally planned March 29 until April 12, with a further delay until May 22 on offer if May could get her divorce package ratified by lawmakers this week.

“It is in fact really the last chance we have to vote for Brexit as we understood it,” said Liam Fox, May’s Brexit-supporting trade minister.

May on Wednesday pledged to quit if her deal was passed but even that failed to immediately win over many Brexit supporters in her party. They say her deal leaves the United Kingdom tied far too close to the EU.

The uncertainty around Brexit, the United Kingdom’s most significant political and economic move since World War Two, has left allies and investors aghast.

Opponents fear Brexit will make Britain poorer and divide the West as it grapples with both the unconventional U.S. presidency of Donald Trump and growing assertiveness from Russia and China.

Supporters of Brexit say while the divorce might bring some short-term instability, in the longer term it will allow the United Kingdom to thrive if cut free from what they cast as a doomed attempt in European unity.

If the government wins the vote, it believes it will have satisfied the conditions set by the EU in order to delay Britain’s exit from the bloc until May 22. These conditions were set out at a European Council summit on March 21.

However, the result will not meet the criteria in British law for the exit package to be formally ratified. The government acknowledges this in its motion.

So to ratify the Withdrawal Agreement, the government is required to have parliamentary approval for both the Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration on future relations. This would therefore require another vote.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Alistair Smout; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: OANN

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Fall kills worker, 58, at Disney's Epcot theme park in Orlando, authorities say

A construction worker died after falling at a job site at Disney's Epcot theme park in Orlando on Tuesday evening, officials said.

The man was later identified as George Grimes, 58, local media reported.

15 DISNEY WORLD GUESTS TRANSPORTED TO HOSPITAL FOLLOWING BUS ACCIDENT NEAR EPCOT

The Orange County Sheriff's Office said the man was the only person hurt in the incident after deputies were called around 5:20 p.m., a report said. The worker was pronounced dead by the Reedy Creek Fire Department.

Deputies said the preliminary investigation indicates there was no foul play involved, Orlando's WFTV-TV reported.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Officials with Walt Disney World did not immediately return the station's requests for comment.

No other details were immediately available, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Source: Fox News National

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Exclusive: HSBC probe helped lead to U.S. charges against Huawei CFO

FILE PHOTO: Huawei's Executive Board Director Meng Wanzhou attends the VTB Capital Investment Forum
FILE PHOTO: Meng Wanzhou, Executive Board Director of the Chinese technology giant Huawei, attends a session of the VTB Capital Investment Forum "Russia Calling!" in Moscow, Russia October 2, 2014. REUTERS/Alexander Bibik/File Photo

February 27, 2019

By Karen Freifeld and Steve Stecklow

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – An internal investigation by HSBC Holdings PLC into Huawei Technologies’ connections to a suspected front company in Iran found that the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker maintained close financial ties to the firm years after purportedly selling the unit, documents reviewed by Reuters show.

The HSBC probe of Huawei came in late 2016 and 2017 as the bank was trying to get the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to dismiss criminal charges for the bank’s own misconduct involving U.S. sanctions.

The bank’s findings, which have not been made public, were given in a series of presentations in 2017 to the DOJ. The department used them to help bring its current criminal case against Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou.

She is accused of conspiring to defraud HSBC and other banks by misrepresenting Huawei’s relationship with the suspected front company, Skycom Tech Co Ltd. Huawei has said Skycom was a local business partner in Iran, while the United States maintains it was an unofficial subsidiary used to conceal Huawei’s Iran business. Huawei and Skycom are also defendants in the U.S. case, accused of bank and wire fraud, as well as violating U.S. sanctions on Iran.

U.S. authorities allege Huawei used Skycom to obtain embargoed U.S. goods and technology in Iran and to move money out of the country via the international banking system. As a result of Huawei’s deception, U.S. authorities allege, HSBC and other banks cleared more than $100 million of transactions related to Skycom through the United States that potentially violated economic sanctions Washington had in place at the time against doing business with Iran.

Huawei declined to comment for this story. The company has denied the charges in the case.

Robert Sherman, a spokesman for HSBC, said, “Information provided by HSBC to the Justice Department was provided pursuant to formal demand, including grand jury subpoena or other obligation to provide information pursuant to a Deferred Prosecution Agreement or similar legal obligation.”

He added, “The U.S. Department of Justice has confirmed that HSBC is not under investigation in this case.”

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, was arrested in Vancouver in December. She remains free on bail while the U.S. government tries to have her extradited to face bank and wire fraud charges. The case comes at a time of heightened trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, and amid concerns by the United States that Huawei’s equipment could be used for Chinese espionage. The Shenzhen-based company, the world’s largest maker of telecommunications networking equipment, has repeatedly denied such claims.

Meng has maintained she is innocent of the allegations made against her.

Reuters reported in December that HSBC – which is referred to in the indictment only as “Financial Institution 1” – figured prominently in the Huawei case. HSBC’s internal probe of Huawei is reported here for the first time.

The HSBC documents contain new financial details about Huawei’s relationship with Skycom and the company that Huawei claims it sold Skycom to in 2007, Canicula Holdings Ltd. All three firms previously had bank accounts at HSBC, with the Skycom and Canicula accounts part of what the bank internally called the “Huawei Mastergroup.”

The HSBC probe found numerous ties between the three firms that suggested Huawei controlled both Skycom and Canicula long after the purported sale, the documents show. For example, Canicula’s address was “c/o Huawei Technologies.”

The probe also found that Huawei financed Canicula’s purchase of Skycom, lending Canicula about 14 million euros in a deal the documents show didn’t close until December 2009. Canicula repaid Huawei a year later using funds from Skycom.

After HSBC asked Huawei in 2013 to close the Skycom and Canicula accounts, Huawei employees assisted the bank. At Huawei’s request, the remaining funds in the Skycom account were transferred to a Huawei bank account, according to the documents.

HSBC’s move to close the accounts followed stories by Reuters in 2012 and 2013 about Huawei, Skycom, Canicula and Meng. The articles – which are cited in the HSBC documents as well as the indictment – reported that Skycom had offered to sell at least 1.3 million euros worth of embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran’s largest mobile-phone operator in 2010. Reuters also reported that Meng had served on Skycom’s board of directors between February 2008 and April 2009.

The earlier Reuters coverage can be read here https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-huawei-hp/exclusive-huawei-partner-offered-embargoed-hp-gear-to-iran-idUSBRE8BT0BF20121230 and here https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-huawei-skycom/exclusive-huawei-cfo-linked-to-firm-that-offered-hp-gear-to-iran-idUKBRE90U0CA20130131.

The indictment alleges that banks in part relied on Huawei’s false statements in the Reuters stories – that it hadn’t violated sanctions on Iran and that Skycom was a local partner – to continue doing business with Huawei and Skycom.

HSBC had its own sanctions issues. In 2012, it paid $1.92 billion and entered into a five-year deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department for disregarding rules designed to prevent money laundering and processing transactions that violated sanctions.

Under the deal, HSBC agreed to strengthen its sanctions and anti-money laundering programs and to cooperate with the Justice Department in any investigations. To conduct its probe of Huawei, it hired the law firm Latham & Watkins.

The law firm did not respond to requests for comment.

According to the HSBC documents, investigators conducted more than 100 interviews, reviewed more than 292,000 emails and analyzed years of financial transactions. At least four presentations were made to the Justice Department between February and July 2017. The criminal charges against the bank were dismissed in December 2017.

The bank’s Huawei probe found that in August 2013, at Huawei’s request, HSBC’s then deputy head of global banking for the Asia Pacific region, Alan Thomas, met with Meng. According to the HSBC documents, Meng later provided Thomas with a PowerPoint presentation in English that stated that Huawei had sold its shares in Skycom and that she was no longer on its board. The presentation described Skycom as a Huawei “business partner” in Iran. That presentation – which the United States alleges contained “numerous misrepresentations” – plays a central role in the U.S. case against Meng.

Thomas, who retired in 2017, declined to comment.

In the months after the meeting with Meng, HSBC considered whether to retain Huawei as a customer, the documents show. The bank initially concluded the reputational risks were acceptable and kept on Huawei. But, according to the indictment, HSBC told Huawei around 2017 that it was terminating the relationship.

The HSBC probe also uncovered financial transactions by Canicula that referenced Syria or involved a Syrian bank. Reuters reported last month that until 2017 Canicula operated in Syria, where it was connected to Huawei. Like Iran, Syria has been subject to U.S. sanctions.

Two people familiar with Canicula’s operations in Syria have since told Reuters that Huawei used the company to circumvent sanctions there.

HSBC also told the Justice Department that it was aware of another company linked to Skycom in Iran. In August 2016, the HSBC documents say, the bank was notified by a British engineering recruitment company, Matchtech Group Ltd, that a Matchtech subsidiary had provided contractors to support telecommunications projects in Iran from 2010 to 2016.

The subsidiary, Networkers International Ltd, had contracted with Skycom and Huawei, and had received payments in U.S. dollars from Skycom, the HSBC documents state. The payments totaled about $7.6 million, the documents show. Networkers terminated its Iran-related contract with Skycom in October 2016, Matchtech told HSBC.

Matchtech is now known as Gattaca plc. A spokesman for Gattaca declined to comment.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York and Steve Stecklow in London. Additional reporting by James Pomfret in Hong Kong and Babak Dehghanpisheh in Geneva. Editing by Michael Williams and Richard Woods)

Source: OANN

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Watch Live: Donald Trump Jr. Calls Out Feds for Behaving Like Stalinists

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Source: InfoWars

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Facebook takes steps against ‘revenge porn’

Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of Facebook logo in this picture illustration
FILE PHOTO: Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of Facebook logo in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

March 15, 2019

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc is introducing a new detection technology to stop the spread of intimate photos posted on Facebook or Instagram without people’s permission, sometimes called “revenge porn,” the company said on Friday.

“By using machine learning and artificial intelligence, we can now proactively detect near nude images or videos that are shared without permission on Facebook and Instagram,” the social networking giant said in a blog post https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/03/detecting-non-consensual-intimate-images.

Facebook will also launch a support hub called “Not Without My Consent” on its safety center page.

(Reporting by Sayanti Chakraborty in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar)

Source: OANN

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An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard
FILE PHOTO: An employee looks up at goods at the Miniclipper Logistics warehouse in Leighton Buzzard, Britain December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

April 26, 2019

LONDON, April 26 – British factories stockpiled raw materials and goods ahead of Brexit at the fastest pace since records began in the 1950s, and they were increasingly downbeat about their prospects, a survey showed on Friday.

The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) quarterly survey of the manufacturing industry showed expectations for export orders in the next three months fell to their lowest level since mid-2009, when Britain was reeling from the global financial crisis.

The record pace of stockpiling recorded by the CBI was mirrored by the closely-watched IHS Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index published earlier this month.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)

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Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Florence Lo

April 26, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Fewer than half of Malaysians approve of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an opinion poll showed on Friday, as concerns over rising costs and racial matters plague his administration nearly a year after taking office.

The survey, conducted in March by independent pollster Merdeka Center, showed that only 46 percent of voters surveyed were satisfied with Mahathir, a sharp drop from the 71 percent approval rating he received in August 2018.

Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan coalition won a stunning election victory in May 2018, ending the previous government’s more than 60-year rule.

But his administration has since been criticized for failing to deliver on promised reforms and protecting the rights of majority ethnic Malay Muslims.

Of 1,204 survey respondents, 46 percent felt that the “country was headed in the wrong direction”, up from 24 percent in August 2018, the Merdeka Center said in a statement. Just 39 percent said they approved of the ruling government.

High living costs remained the top most concern among Malaysians, with just 40 percent satisfied with the government’s management of the economy, the survey showed.

It also showed mixed responses to Pakatan Harapan’s proposed reforms.

Some 69 percent opposed plans to abolish the death penalty, while respondents were sharply divided over proposals to lower the minimum voting age to 18, or to implement a sugar tax.

“In our opinion, the results appear to indicate a public that favors the status quo, and thus requires a robust and coordinated advocacy efforts in order to garner their acceptance of new measures,” Merdeka Center said.

The survey also found 23 percent of Malaysians were concerned over ethnic and religious matters.

Some groups representing Malays have expressed fear that affirmative-action policies favoring them in business, education and housing could be taken away and criticized the appointments of non-Muslims to key government posts.

Last November, the government reversed its pledge to ratify a UN convention against racial discrimination, after a backlash from Malay groups.

Earlier this month, Pakatan Harapan suffered its third successive loss in local elections since taking power, which has been seen as a further sign of waning public support.

Despite the decline, most Malaysians – 67 percent – agreed that Mahathir’s government should be given more time to fulfill its election promises, Merdeka Center said.

This included a majority of Malay voters who were largely more critical of the new administration, it added.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: OANN

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The German share price index DAX graph at the stock exchange in Frankfurt
The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Staff

April 26, 2019

By Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh

(Reuters) – European shares slipped on Friday after losses in heavyweight banks and Glencore outweighed gains in healthcare and auto stocks, while investors remained on the sidelines ahead of U.S. economic data for the first quarter.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.1 percent by 0935 GMT, eyeing a modest loss at the end of a holiday-shortened week. Banks-heavy Italian and Spanish indices were laggards.

The banking index fell for a fourth day, at the end of a heavy earnings week for lenders.

Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland tumbled after posting lower first quarter profit, hurt by intensifying competition and Brexit uncertainty, while its investment bank also registered poor returns.

Weakness in investment banking also dented Deutsche Bank’s quarterly trading revenue and sent its shares lower a day after the German bank abandoned merger talks with smaller rival Commerzbank.

“The current interest rate environment makes it challenging for banks to make proper earnings because of their intermediary function,” said Teeuwe Mevissen, senior market economist eurozone, at Rabobank.

Since the start of April, all country indexes were on pace to rise between 1.8 percent and 3.4 percent, their fourth month of gains, while Germany was strongly outperforming with 6 percent growth.

“For now the current sentiment is very cautious as markets wait for the first estimates of the U.S. GDP growth which could see a surprise,” Mevissen said.

U.S. economic data for the first-quarter is due at 1230 GMT. Growth worries outside the United States resurfaced this week after South Korea’s economy unexpectedly contracted at the start of the year and weak German business sentiment data for April also disappointed.

Among the biggest drags on the benchmark index in Europe were the basic resources sector and the oil and gas sector, weighed down by Britain’s Glencore and France’s Total, respectively.

Glencore dropped after reports that U.S authorities were investigating whether the company and its subsidiaries violated certain provisions of the commodity exchange act.

Energy major Total said its net profit for the first three months of the year fell compared with a year ago due to volatile oil prices and debt costs.

Chip stocks in the region including Siltronic, Ams and STMicroelectronics lost more than 1 percent after Intel Corp reduced its full-year revenue forecast, adding to concerns that an industry-wide slowdown could persist until the end of 2019.

Meanwhile, healthcare, which is also seen as a defensive sector, was a bright spot. It was helped by French drugmaker Sanofi after it returned to growth with higher profits and revenues for the first-quarter.

Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES led media stocks higher after it maintained its full-year outlook on the back of the company’s Networks division.

Automakers in the region rose 0.4 percent, led by Valeo’s 6 percent jump as the French parts maker said its performance would improve in the second half of the year.

Continental AG advanced after it backed its outlook for the year despite reporting a fall in first-quarter earnings.

Renault rose more than 3 percent as it clung to full-year targets and pursues merger talks with its Japanese partner Nissan.

(Reporting by Medha Singh and Agamoni Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Gareth Jones and Elaine Hardcastle)

Source: OANN

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U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up to his audience as he hosts Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

April 26, 2019

By Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan

(Reuters) – The “i word” – impeachment – is swirling around the U.S. Congress since the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted Russia report, which painted a picture of lies, threats and confusion in Donald Trump’s White House.

Some Democrats say trying to remove Trump from office would be a waste of time because his fellow Republicans still have majority control of the Senate. Other Democrats argue they have a moral obligation at least to try to impeach, even though Mueller did not charge Trump with conspiring with Russia in the 2016 U.S. election or with obstruction of justice.

Whether or not the Democrats decide to go down this risky path, here is how the impeachment process works.

WHAT ARE GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT?

The U.S. Constitution says the president can be removed from office by Congress for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Exactly what that means is unclear.

Before he became president in 1974, replacing Republican Richard Nixon who resigned over the Watergate scandal, Gerald Ford said: “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history.”

Frank Bowman, a University of Missouri law professor and author of a forthcoming book on the history of impeachment, said Congress could look beyond criminal laws in defining “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Historically, it can encompass corruption and other abuses, including trying to obstruct judicial proceedings.

HOW DOES IMPEACHMENT PLAY OUT?

The term impeachment is often interpreted as simply removing a president from office, but that is not strictly accurate.

Impeachment technically refers to the 435-member House of Representatives approving formal charges against a president.

The House effectively acts as accuser – voting on whether to bring specific charges. An impeachment resolution, known as “articles of impeachment,” is like an indictment in a criminal case. A simple majority vote is needed in the House to impeach.

The Senate then conducts a trial. House members act as the prosecutors, with senators as the jurors. The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court presides over the trial. A two-thirds majority vote is required in the 100-member Senate to convict and remove a president from office.

No president has ever been removed from office as a direct result of an impeachment and conviction by Congress.

Nixon quit in 1974 rather than face impeachment. Presidents Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 were impeached by the House, but both stayed in office after the Senate acquitted them.

Obstruction of justice was one charge against Clinton, who faced allegations of lying under oath about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Obstruction was also included in the articles of impeachment against Nixon.

CAN THE SUPREME COURT OVERTURN?

No.

Trump said on Twitter on Wednesday that he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if Democrats tried to impeach him. But America’s founders explicitly rejected making a Senate conviction appealable to the federal judiciary, Bowman said.

“They quite plainly decided this is a political process and it is ultimately a political judgment,” Bowman said.

“So when Trump suggests there is any judicial remedy for impeachment, he is just wrong.”

PROOF OF WRONGDOING?

In a typical criminal court case, jurors are told to convict only if there is “proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” a fairly stringent standard.

Impeachment proceedings are different. The House and Senate “can decide on whatever burden of proof they want,” Bowman said. “There is no agreement on what the burden should be.”

PARTY BREAKDOWN IN CONGRESS?

Right now, there are 235 Democrats, 197 Republicans and three vacancies in the House. As a result, the Democratic majority could vote to impeach Trump without any Republican votes.

In 1998, when Republicans had a House majority, the chamber voted largely along party lines to impeach Clinton, a Democrat.

The Senate now has 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who usually vote with Democrats. Conviction and removal of a president would requires 67 votes. So that means for Trump to be impeached, at least 20 Republicans and all the Democrats and independents would have to vote against him.

WHO BECOMES PRESIDENT IF TRUMP IS REMOVED?

A Senate conviction removing Trump from office would elevate Vice President Mike Pence to the presidency to fill out Trump’s term, which ends on Jan. 20, 2021.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Richard Cowan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft attends a conference at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes
FILE PHOTO: New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft attends a conference at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes, France, June 23, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s lawyers on Friday are set to ask a Florida judge to toss out hidden-camera videos that prosecutors say show the 77-year-old billionaire receiving sexual favors for money inside a Florida massage parlor.

The owner of the reigning Super Bowl champions plans wants the video to not be used as evidence against him as he contests two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution at the Orchids of Asia Spa in Jupiter, Florida, along with some two dozen other men.

His legal team is fresh off a win on Tuesday, when they successfully persuaded Palm Beach County Judge Leonard Hanser to block prosecutors from releasing the hidden-camera footage to media outlets, which had requested copies under the state’s robust open records law.

Kraft, who has owned the franchise since 1994, pleaded not guilty, but has issued a public apology for his actions.

His attorneys have argued in court papers that the surreptitious videotaping of customers, including Kraft, inside a massage parlor was governmental overreach and the result of an illegally obtained search warrant.

The warrant, Kraft’s lawyers claim, was secured under false pretenses because police officers cited human trafficking as a potential crime in their application. Prosecutors have since acknowledged that the investigation yielded no evidence of trafficking.

Palm Beach County prosecutors in a court filing on Wednesday said Kraft’s motion should be rejected because he could not have had any expectation of privacy while visiting a commercial establishment to engage in criminal activity.

That prompted an indignant response from Kraft’s attorneys, who said the prosecution’s position on privacy was “unhinged.”

“It should go without saying that Mr. Kraft and everyone else in the United States have a reasonable expectation that the government will not secretly spy on them while they undress behind closed doors,” they wrote.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax, editing by G Crosse)

Source: OANN

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