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Idaho Trumper misses paycheck after mismanagement left her office with only $0.72: report
Improper public records management has taken a personal financial toll on the controversial lieutenant governor of Idaho.
"Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin deferred most of her June 24 paycheck to balance her office’s budget, leaving the budget with less than $1 left before the 2022 fiscal year closed Thursday," the Idaho Statesman reported Friday. "McGeachin faced a shortfall after using her taxpayer-funded operating budget to pay for $29,000 in legal fees. Most of the expenses covered attorney fees for the Idaho Press Club, which successfully sued McGeachin last year when she declined to hand over public records."
Under a plan from Chief Deputy Controller Joshua Whitworth, McGeachin deferred $1,713.26 of her June 24 wages until the next fiscal year.
McGeachin, who unsuccessfully challenged Gov. Brad Little with the endorsement of Donald Trump in June GOP primary, initially tried to blame Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, also a Republican, for her budget shortfall.
"The Idaho Press Club last year won a lawsuit that sought the release of public records regarding McGeachin’s education task force, which was looking for indoctrination in Idaho schools. Reporters had requested responses to a Google Forms survey that McGeachin circulated earlier in the year soliciting public feedback, as well as additional records," the newspaper reported. "A judge mandated that McGeachin release the records and pay the Idaho Press Club’s legal costs. McGeachin eventually asked that taxpayers fund what her office was forced to pay, 'due to unforeseen legal bills related to a lawsuit from the Idaho Press Club after the attorney general’s office failed to properly represent' her."
Her office ended the fiscal year with only $0.72.
The newspaper noted McGeachin had previously dismissed reports of her office's budget shortfall as "fake news."
McGeachin will remain in office as a lame-duck until January, when she will be succeeded by Scott Bedke (R) or Terri Pickens Manweiler (D).
Read the full report.
Watergate lawyer reveals the federal statute that could bar Trump from holding office ever again
On MSNBC Friday, Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks revealed the statute she believes would be most appropriate for punishing former President Donald Trump for encouraging the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Specifically, she argued he could be prosecuted under 18 U.S.C. § 2383 — the crime of "rebellion or insurrection" against the United States — because the penalty for this crime goes further than prison time.
"Putting aside, maybe, how some of us personally feel about whether or not he should be indicted, do you think based upon what you have heard so far through the course of these hearings, that there will be an indictment of Donald Trump for at least obstruction?" asked anchor and former prosecutor Katie Phang.
"I will try to put aside what I think should be the case, and just talk about what I think are the best crimes to indict him for and whether he should or shouldn't, I will leave to other people," said Wine-Banks. "But I think it would be horrible not to act on what is now blatantly obvious to anyone who is watching the hearing. My favorite crime would be 2383, not the seditious conspiracy which is 2384. The reason is that the penalty for 2383 is not just jail, it is being barred from ever holding federal office again. And for me, that would be a more important goal than jailing the former president."
However, Wine-Banks noted, there are a variety of other statutes the former president could be vulnerable to charges under.
"There is, of course, as you mentioned, obstruction of Congress, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, so many things just based on Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony, just hers, for those few hours laid out all of those crimes," said Wine-Banks. "And then you have many more besides that."
Watch below:
Jill Wine-Banks says convicting Trump of rebellion would bar him from office www.youtube.com
Tuesday's breathtaking testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson before the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol is a turning point in how Donald Trump is viewed by Republicans, a former GOP governor explained on CNN.
Wolf Blitzer interviewed former two-term Ohio Gov. John Kasich about the latest developments from the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Kasich also served nine terms in Congress, rising to chair the Budget Committee before he vacated his seat to unsuccessfully run for president in 2000.
"Gov. Kasich, does this feel from your perspective like a potential turning point, at least for some Republicans?" Blitzer asked.
"Oh yeah. he's taking on water," Kasich said, suggesting the imagery of a sinking ship.
"And he shrinking," he continued. "You know, I said the other day he reminds me of the Wicked Witch of the West, when they threw a bucket of water on her she started melting."
"And I feel that he's melting, he is losing influence and there are people beginning to say, 'You know what? Whether I believe all these details or not, this is not our guy.' The other thing I think needs to be made clear is in regards to this woman's testimony, Cassidy Hutchinson, if people are going to take shots at her, they should be forced do it under oath," he said. "If they don't agree with her story, with what she's been able to recount, fine. Testify under oath."
"The other thing is, Gloria [Borger], can you believe this guy trying to go to the Capitol to overturn the election? It is beyond reprehensible. It's hard for me to believe in our country we would've had somebody doing this, but this guy has done so much. I never felt he was fit for the office and it's all proven out to be true, unfortunately," he said.
Watch:
John Kasich www.youtube.com
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