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John Walker Lindh, American ex-Taliban militant, obtained Irish citizenship thanks to his Irish grandmother

John Walker Lindh, a former American Taliban militant convicted in 2002 for supporting the terrorist organization and due to be freed in May, has obtained Irish citizenship in 2013 thanks to his family’s ancestry -- and he plans to live in the country when he leaves lockup.

The former Islamist fighter, named “Detainee 001 in the war on terror,” was arrested in 2001, just months after the Sept. 11 attacks and the start of the war in Afghanistan, along with a group of Taliban fighters who were captured by U.S. forces.

John Walker Lindh, a former American Taliban militant convicted in 2002 for supporting the terrorist organization and is due to be freed in May has obtained Irish citizenship in 2013 thanks to his family’s ancestry.

John Walker Lindh, a former American Taliban militant convicted in 2002 for supporting the terrorist organization and is due to be freed in May has obtained Irish citizenship in 2013 thanks to his family’s ancestry. (AP/Reuters)

Walker Lindh’s release has prompted security concerns, as he's expressed wishes to travel to Ireland while also not denouncing radical Islamic ideology, including allegedly making pro-ISIS comments to journalists.

JOHN WALKER LINDH, AMERICAN EX-TALIBAN FIGHTER, TO BE RELEASED IN MAY, HASN'T DENOUNCED ISLAMISM

Moving to Ireland became an option for Walker Lindh after he obtained citizenship there, while still in prison, sometime in 2013 thanks to his family’s lineage.

His paternal grandmother, Kathleen Maguire, was an Irish citizen born in 1929 in a northwestern Irish town, the Foreign Policy magazine reported.

The Irish citizenship law allows for anyone, within certain restrictions, to ask for citizenship if at least one of their grandparents was an Irish citizen born in Ireland.

OFFICIALS QUESTION CLAIM ISIS FIGHTERS CAPTURED IN SYRIA TIED TO KILLING OF 4 AMERICANS

Some previous reports indicated Frank Lindh, the convicted terrorist’s father, also holds Irish citizenship and urged his son to leave for Ireland after his release.

The National Counterterrorism Center penned a document dated Jan. 24, 2017 claiming Walker Lindh remains as radicalized now as he was in 2001.

“As of May 2016, John Walker Lindh (USPER) — who is scheduled to be released in May 2019 after being convicted of supporting the Taliban — continued to advocate for global jihad and to write and translate violent extremist texts,” the document said.

But despite that, the Irish government won’t follow the example of the British government -- which rescinded a Jihadi bride’s British citizenship -- and won’t stop Walker Lindh from entering the country.

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“Irish citizens are not subject to immigration control,” the spokesman for Ireland’s Department of Justice told the London Times. “Therefore, if a person has Irish citizenship and presents their Irish passport on arrival, they will not be refused entry to the state.”

Source: Fox News National

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Gillibrand and the New Faces of Moral Reform

Gillibrand and the New Faces of Moral Reform

AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

This early in the Democratic Presidential campaign, no one yet knows what the mood of the 2020 political season will be—whether it will reflect the angry, reactionary energy that put Trump in the White House, in 2016, or the progressive opposition that gave Democrats control of the House, in 2018.

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Pakistan’s PM Khan to visit China next week, sign new pacts

FILE PHOTO: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks at the opening ceremony for the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai
FILE PHOTO: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks at the opening ceremony for the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, China November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song/Pool/File Photo

April 17, 2019

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit China next week to meet its leaders and deliver a keynote speech at the vast Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, the South Asian nation’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday, as economic anxiety grows at home.

China has pledged about $60 billion in infrastructure loans for Pakistan, touted as a success story of its Belt and Road initiative, which aims to build road and maritime trading routes across the globe.

But Pakistan’s economy has hit serious turbulence over the past year and Islamabad is now finalizing a bailout package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stave off a balance of payments crisis, despite more than $10 billion in short-term loans from allies such as China and Saudi Arabia.

Khan will visit China from April 25, and give a keynote speech at the three-day Belt and Road Forum that starts the following day. The high-profile gathering is one of China’s biggest annual state events.

“In addition to participating in the Belt and Road Forum, the Prime Minister would also hold bilateral meetings with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang,” the ministry said in a statement.

The two countries will sign several pacts to enhance cooperation, and Khan will meet corporate and business leaders, it added.

Khan’s visit to Pakistan’s all-weather friend China comes as his government, in power since August, faces a deepening economic crisis, with a ballooning current account deficit and fast-depleting foreign reserves.

It initially tried to avoid an IMF bailout by securing loans from friendly countries such as China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates but has since changed tack and said it had agreed in principle to turn to the IMF.

The long-delayed rescue package would be Pakistan’s 13th IMF bailout program since the late 1980s.

(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Source: OANN

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Democrat O’Rourke tops field, raising $6.1 million on day one of presidential campaign

Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke speaks with supporters during a three day road trip across Iowa, in Mount Pleasant
Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, 46, speaks with supporters during a three day road trip across Iowa, in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, U.S., March 15, 2019. REUTERS/Ben Brewer

March 18, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrat Beto O’Rourke raised more than $6.1 million in the first day after declaring his candidacy for his party’s 2020 presidential nomination last week, his campaign said on Monday, highlighting his fundraising prowess in a crowded field.

His fundraising puts him at the top of a Democratic pack of more than a dozen candidates including Bernie Sanders, the independent U.S. senator who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party’s nomination in 2016. Sanders raised $5.9 million in the first 24 hours of his 2020 campaign.

O’Rourke kicked off his presidential campaign on Thursday in a video on social media and joined a Democratic field that includes a number of veteran U.S. lawmakers.

The former congressman from Texas raised a record $38.1 million in his failed 2018 effort to unseat Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, more than in any other U.S. Senate race and more than three times what Cruz raised.

Sanders’ campaign held the previous one-day record for the Democrats’ 2020 contest and has said he raised about $10 million by the end of his campaign’s first week.

In contrast, some other Democrats reported raising much smaller initial totals. U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar reported raising more than $1 million in her campaign’s first 48 hours, while Washington Governor Jay Inslee reported more than $1 million three days after entering the race.

Democrats have sworn off big money in their challenge to Republican U.S. President Donald Trump, who began his re-election campaign this year with $19.2 million in cash.

Contributions for O’Rourke raised online came “without a dime from PACs, corporations or special interests, he received contributions from every state and territory in the nation,” his campaign said in a statement.

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren became the first Democratic candidate to formally reject traditional means of campaign funding, saying she would not hold political fundraising events with pricey admission fees.

All candidates next month must disclose how much money they raised in the first quarter.

(Reporting by Ginger Gibson and James Oliphant; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Source: OANN

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EU illegal migrant arrivals fall but stronger borders needed: Frontex head

FILE PHOTO - Frontex Executive Director Leggeri briefs the media in Brussels
FILE PHOTO - Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri briefs the media on the findings of the EU border agency's Risk Analysis Report for 2018, in Brussels, Belgium February 20, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

February 20, 2019

By Clare Roth

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The number of illegal migrants entering the European Union fell sharply for the third year in a row in 2018 but arrivals remain high and stronger border controls are needed, the head of the EU’s border control agency Frontex said Wednesday.

Fabrice Leggeri said that despite the drop in arrivals to 150,114 last year from 204,750 in 2017, the agency was still beefing up its border control measures through more staff and technology.

“Three is no burning crisis with the irregular crossing at external borders,” Leggeri told a news conference.

But he added that: “All EU citizens need to be checked when coming back home or leaving the EU,” maintaining that security at airports, for example, was as important as security on the external borders.

The arrival of large numbers of asylum seekers to Europe in recent years has created a humanitarian crisis, with thousands dying each year at sea trying to make crossings in overloaded boats, and a political crisis with the rise of far-right, anti-immigration parties across the continent.

The number of illegal migrants repatriated from the EU by Frontex edged down to 13,700 in 2018 from around 14,200 in 2017.

In the middle of the 2015 migrant crisis, the agency returned only some 3,600 migrants to their home countries. Returns facilitated by EU countries have also decreased by 5 percent.

Leggeri said Frontex and member states refused entry to the EU to 191,000 people last year, up from 183,000 in 2017.

The number of people coming across the central Mediterranean sea has dropped to the lowest since 2012 due to the danger of such crossings. Migrants and asylum-seekers are instead traveling along the eastern and western Mediterranean routes, Leggeri said.

The western Mediterranean route was the most active in 2018, replacing the central and eastern Mediterranean routes.

Most refugees took the eastern Mediterranean route into Greece during the 2015 migrant crisis, when nearly a million people crossed from Turkey to the Greek islands. But that route all but closed after the EU and Ankara agreed a deal to stop the flow in March 2016.

Morocco is the main departure point into Europe now, with many migrants coming from sub-Saharan Africa, according to the report.

Moroccans, followed by Guineans, Malians and Algerians have become the top-reported nationality of migrants traveling into Europe by the western route.

(Reporting by Clare Roth; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Source: OANN

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George Conway praises Hillary Clinton for her op-ed on Mueller probe: ‘I’m with her’

The husband of top White House official Kellyanne Conway expressed solidarity with Hillary Clinton after the former secretary of state wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post urging Congress to pursue the findings from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, telling his followers on Twitter, “I’m with her.”

In the piece published Wednesday afternoon, Clinton called for holding President Trump “accountable for obstructing the investigation and possibly breaking the law” but insisted that choosing between “immediate impeachment or nothing” was a “false choice.” She also referred to the Mueller report as “road map” for Congress.

“It’s up to members of both parties to see where that road map leads — to the eventual filing of articles of impeachment, or not,” Clinton wrote. “Either way, the nation’s interests will be best served by putting party and political considerations aside and being deliberate, fair and fearless.”

George Conway, who has made a name for himself as an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, praised the 2016 presidential candidate on Twitter and highlighted a portion from her op-ed, where she acknowledged that some may say she’s “not the right messenger.”

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“Perhaps so. Probably so. But if she’s with the Constitution, I’m with her,” Conway tweeted.

Conway regularly slams the president and repeatedly has questioned his mental fitness. The president fired back on Twitter last month.

Source: Fox News Politics

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European lawmakers urge end of golden visa schemes, name EU tax havens

Members of the European Parliament take part in a voting session in Strasbourg
Members of the European Parliament take part in a voting session in Strasbourg, France, March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

March 26, 2019

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Parliament urged EU member states on Tuesday to curb money-laundering in the bloc by ending programs to sell visa and passports, a step the multi-billion-dollar industry said would cause economic damage.

The recommendation is part of a hard-hitting report which also accused seven EU countries of acting as tax havens: Luxembourg, Cyprus, Ireland, Malta, Hungary, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The document is the result of a year’s work by the parliament’s committee on financial crime and tax evasion. The report has now been adopted by the whole assembly, boosting its political weight, though it remains non-binding.

Lawmakers said EU states should “phase out” as soon as possible all existing schemes to market citizenship and residency permits to wealthy foreigners. Currently 20 of the 28 EU states run these programs.

The economic advantages of these schemes “do not offset the serious security, money laundering and tax evasion risks they present”, the resolution said, echoing a report from the European Commission in January.

The industry’s trade association, the Investment Migration Council, said that ending the programs would threaten vital investments in “peripheral economies”.

Lawmakers upheld the Commission’s warnings on risks posed mostly by programs run by Malta and Cyprus.

“A good first step to combat intra-EU money laundering would be to get rid of the so-called ‘golden visa’ which are a gateway for money laundering and organized crime,” said Markus Ferber, head of the conservative group in the parliament’s economic committee.

In the report, lawmakers also urged the creation of an EU-wide financial police to counter the laundering of proceeds from criminal activities, which they estimated amount to 110 billion euros ($124.19 billion) annually in the EU.

They called for stricter rules and supervision to counter money laundering in the face of the series of scandals which hit several banks, noting that the latest overhauls maintained several loopholes in the EU legal framework.

The report further urged the EU Commission to assess money- laundering risks posed by legal arrangements such as special purpose vehicles and non-charitable purpose trusts, especially in Britain and its crown dependencies and overseas territories.

More broadly, deputies called for tougher EU rules against tax evasion and tax avoidance, saying the bloc should counter these practices in foreign tax havens and also in the seven EU states that “facilitate aggressive tax planning”.

($1 = 0.8859 euros)

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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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.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

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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