All posts tagged "Bribery"

A retired judge and author is accusing CBS and President Donald Trump of "negotiating a bribe" under the guise of a federal lawsuit settlement, a former judge wrote in a new opinion piece in Newsweek.

"To be sure, a pantomime is being played out," wrote Thomas G. Moukawsher, a legal scholar and former Connecticut Superior Court judge. "The parties are pretending to be earnestly negotiating the settlement of a federal lawsuit. But they should not delude themselves. They are negotiating a bribe."

Moukawsher claimed the "bribe" is one of Trump's "new favorite grifts" whereby he files "bogus personal lawsuits against people he could hurt with presidential power," then demands a payoff. ...

WASHINGTON — Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) pleaded not guilty to bribery in New York today after allegedly pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, gold bars and a sleek Mercedes-Benz.

At a press conference this week, the senator refused to resign and explained that the close-to-$500,000 in cash stuffed in his clothes was his rainy day fund, legally withdrawn from his bank — although he didn’t elaborate on where the upward of $100,000 in gold came from, let alone the black Benz.

So, are piles of cash and gold just a normal part of life in the secretive club that is the United States Senate?...

Trump's Truth Social rant on Thursday accusing a DOJ prosecutor of bribery and intimidation ties back to an allegation that Trump's personal valet's lawyer lobbed at the prosecution, according to a new report.

The Guardian's Hugo Lowell explained that the recent Trump attack references a conversation the Justice Department had with the former president's personal valet Walt Nauta. According to the claim, a prosecutor mentioned an application that Nauta's lawyer sent in for a municipal judgeship in the course of attempting to get testimony against Trump. The DOJ has no control over judgeships.

"Nauta had already spoken to prosecutors in the investigation when they called his lawyer Stanley Woodward and summoned him to a meeting at Justice Department headquarters for an urgent matter that they were reluctant to discuss over the phone," Lowell said, quoting the Trump letter to the DOJ. ...

ROME — Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faces trial hearings for bribery and for paying for sex with a 17-year-old girl on Monday, as the Italian leader fights off growing unpopularity and financial woes.

A Milan appeals court Saturday ordered Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's holding company Fininvest to pay 560 million euros to rival media group CIR in a bribery case, a judge told the ANSA news agency.

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) says Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) may have gone too far when he demanded President Barack Obama's Interior secretary approve deepwater oil well permits in exchange for a salary increase.