James Comey says it is ‘fair’ for Democrats to blast AG Barr at Mueller hearing
July 23, 2019
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Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate runs shot-for-shot remake of racist Willie Horton ad
March 24, 2023
Conservative former Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly’s campaign for a vacant seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court is running an ad on social media that is nearly a shot for shot remake of the “Willie Horton ad” run by supporters of former President George H.W. Bush during his 1988 presidential race against former Democratic Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis.
The original ad was widely derided as racist for its use of Horton’s mugshot and conflation of Blackness with criminality. The ad attacks Dukakis for “soft-on-crime” policies because of his support for Massachusetts’ “weekend furlough” program, which allowed people in prison to leave for a day or more to go to work or home. While out of prison as part of this program, which began under a Republican governor, Horton — a convicted murderer — was able to escape and went on to sexually assault a woman and stab her fiance in a 1987 home invasion.
The 1988 ad showed photos of Bush, Dukakis and Horton over a simple blue background while a narrator detailed the candidates’ views on the death penalty and Horton’s actions. The ad remains a symbol for the use of dog whistle racism as a tactic to scare white voters during political campaigns.
On Tuesday, Kelly’s official Twitter account posted his campaign’s version of the ad, which shows pictures of Kelly and his liberal opponent, Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz, over a simple blue background while a narrator details the sentence she delivered to Quantrell Bounds, a Thiensville man who sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl and posted a video of the incident to Facebook.
The ad, which includes a filter to make the video appear as if it’s playing on a VHS tape and match the period-specific look of the original, states that Protasiewicz “lets criminals off easy.”
When asked about why the campaign recreated the infamous ad, Kelly campaign spokesperson Ben Voelkel did not give an answer, only saying Wisconsin voters needed to know about Protasiewicz’s sentencing record.
“The people of Wisconsin need to know the truth about Janet Protasiewicz’s soft-on-crime record and unreliable lack of judgement,” he said in an email.
In 2019, Bounds pleaded guilty to the offense and Protasiewicz issued a stayed sentence of five years imprisonment and five years extended supervision and imposed a sentence of five years probation — meaning that if he violated the terms of probation he would face the terms of the stayed sentence.
The Kelly ad states that Protasiewicz could have imposed a sentence of 60 years imprisonment, however that sentence could have only been given if he’d been found guilty of the offense prosecutors initially charged him with, first-degree child sex assault. The charge Bounds eventually pleaded guilty to was third-degree sexual assault, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment. The charge was amended by prosecutors following negotiations between the district attorney’s office and Bounds’ public defender, online court records show.
Wisconsin Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Wisconsin Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Ruth Conniff for questions: info@wisconsinexaminer.com. Follow Wisconsin Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.
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It's 'game over' for Trump — if Jack Smith can find this 'last bit of evidence': legal expert
March 24, 2023
As former President Donald Trump waits for what observers expect will be an indictment on bookkeeping fraud from the Manhattan District Attorney, Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is continuing to work on a case with potentially more serious legal jeopardy for the former president, centering on his role in the plot to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
On MSNBC's "Deadline: White House" Friday, former prosecutor Jim Walden outlined the singular piece of evidence needed for Smith to tie Trump criminally to the insurrection.
"We are but humble television producers, and we are pulling all these clips from the hearings to remind ourselves, remind our viewers, what has already been said, what is on record," said anchor Alicia Menendez. "If you are prosecutors, you are going back through that testimony in advance of having the opportunity to, once again, sit down with some of these aides, but be able to ask them a series of questions that they can no longer deflect, what is the preparation, what is the plan that goes into sitting down with these folks?"
"So, it's complicated, right?" said Walden. "Because, as you were saying before, there are so many different strands to it. But really, at the end of the day, the question is simple. Did Donald Trump say to any of his aides that he knew the people were going to go in, the rioters were going to go in?"
There could well be evidence out there that lets investigators determine this, added Walden: "Because we don't know, for example, was anyone recording any of the conversations? People were scared. There was a lot of nervousness. Everyone knew this was turning out badly. It appeared, based on very strong circumstantial evidence, to be a conspiracy, including the president, to breach the Capitol."
"So, what those prosecutors are really looking for is that last bit of evidence, the direct evidence that he knew, before January 6th, that if Pence didn't stop the certification, that those rioters were going to go into the Capitol," said Walden. "They find that direct piece, it's game over."
Watch video below or at this link.
Mark Walden explains the last bit of evidence Jack Smith needs to charge Trump for January 6 www.youtube.com
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Here's how much Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has lost investing in Trump’s Truth Social venture
March 24, 2023
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) made a personal bet on Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform — and is losing bigly.
The value of Greene’s class A stock in Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that’s supposed to merge with Truth Social, had cratered in recent weeks amid significant corporate turmoil.
Digital World Acquisition Corp. this week ousted its chief executive officer, Patrick Orlando. Federal prosecutors are investigating Trump Media, the current owner of Truth Social, to determine whether it violated money laundering laws, The Guardian reported. And Trump himself faces a potential indictment related to hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, with whom Trump allegedly had an affair.
On Friday, Digital World Acquisition Corp. stock closed at less than $13 a share.
Compare that to when Greene, on Oct. 22, 2021, became the first member of Congress to personally invest in Digital World Acquisition Corp. the stock was worth exponentially more, swinging wildly in price from a low of $69 per share to a high of $172 in a single trading session.
Greene reported that she and her then-husband Perry Greene purchased between $15,001 and $50,000 worth of Digital World Acquisition Corp. stock that day.
RELATED ARTICLE: Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton violated the STOCK Act with 'embarrassing' late disclosures
Although lawmakers are only required to disclose the value of their stock holdings in broad ranges, preventing a precise calculation of money lost or gained over time, the Greenes could have conceivably lost well into the $40,000-range investing in Trump’s social media venture.
Marjorie Taylor Greene and Perry Greene officially divorced in December, and it’s unclear how they’ve divided their shared assets.
But congressional stock disclosure records show that Greene, who used to trade individual stocks frequently, has not personally made a stock trade since February 2022, indicating that she still owns her Digital World Acquisition Corp. shares.
In February 2022, Greene bought shares in 10 different stocks, including oil giant Chevron Corporation, defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corporation and drugstore company Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.
It remains legal for members of Congress to buy and sell shares of individual stocks, although the practice is controversial even among lawmakers themselves, with some Republicans and Democrats alike calling for a ban.
Greene’s office did not respond to several Raw Story requests for comment about her stock-trading habits.
Trump, who is running for president in the 2024 election, has for months used Truth Social as his favored mouthpiece, most recently warning in a post of coming “death and destruction” if he’s charged with crimes related to the Daniels hush money brouhaha.
Greene, for her part, endorsed Trump for president in November. The second-term congresswoman has since been a steadfast supporter and defender of the former president, writing last week in a Twitter post that “President Trump did nothing wrong and has always fought for the American people, and we all know it, which is why we love him.”
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