WATCH: White nationalists flee counterprotesters filming them before melee breaks out
December 05, 2021
For customer support issues contact
support@rawstory.com. Report typos and corrections to
corrections@rawstory.com.
Stories Chosen For You
Nearly three years after a white police officer killed a Black man by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes, the city of Minneapolis announced Friday that it had approved a plan to reform its police force.
The death of 46-year-old George Floyd, whose ordeal was filmed by a passerby, sparked mass protests across the country -- and even in global cities -- under the slogan "Black Lives Matter."
The Floyd murder on May 25, 2020 led to sharp criticism of law enforcement methods not only in Minneapolis, a midwestern city, but other US metropolitan areas.
An investigation launched after his death by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights concluded last year that the tragedy was part of a pattern of "race discrimination" within the police force that spanned more than a decade.
"Today, we confront our past and move forward with a roadmap for meaningful change in our city," Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement.
"Our overriding goal will be building a better, more just approach to policing and community safety in Minneapolis," Frey said.
The 144-page agreement announced Friday was negotiated between the city and the Department of Human Rights after an investigation's findings were released last year. It still requires court approval.
The text includes provisions that police may no longer engage in pretextual stops of vehicles for certain minor violations, like a broken tail light, and can no longer search and frisk someone if they smell marijuana.
It calls for police to employ force only if "necessary" and in a de-escalatory manner "proportionate to the perceived threat." It also prohibits using force to punish or retaliate.
Tasers should only be used if police have a reason to make an arrest and if it is necessary to "protect the officer, the individual or a third party," the agreement says.
© Agence France-Presse
CONTINUE READING
Show less
As much as former President Donald Trump is trying to claim he is a victim of political persecution following his indictment in New York, it was his own Justice Department officials, under his own administration — along with the politically evenly divided Federal Election Commission at the time — who first helped lay out the evidence his $130,000 payoff to Stormy Daniels was a crime, argued former Solicitor General Neal Katyal on MSNBC's "The ReidOut" on Friday.
"Pecker entered a nonprosecution agreement in which he admitted the payment had been made in order to help Trump's campaign — that's David Pecker," said anchor Joy Reid. "He testified twice before this grand jury. Does that say to you that [Trump attorney Joe] Tacopina might be trying to make it seem innocuous when it's really part of that kind of scheme?"
"Well, before getting, Joy, to Tacopina, I want to say my bottom line on this is, we should be absolutely celebrating the fact that we have a functioning judicial system that treats all of its citizens equally, but I don't think we should be celebrating the fact we have a former president who has been indicted," said Katyal. "This is an incredibly important event for our country and an incredibly solemn one."
"When Tacopina says this, that there was no crime and stuff like that, I think you're exactly right to point out, wait a minute, the FEC has concluded this was a campaign finance violation, and the Justice Department in 2018 sent someone to prison for this hush money scandal, a guy named Michael Cohen," said Katyal. "And they put Michael Cohen in jail for the same stuff, and the Justice Department, when they did that, they filed a sentencing memo, and in writing, it says this was a crime and it was directed at not Michael Cohen coming up with this on his own, but Donald Trump was the one who ordered Cohen to do this. And that was not just — that was the U.S. Justice Department, but not the Barack Obama or Merrick Garland Justice Department. That was the Trump Justice Department that made that conclusion. When you hear Lindsey Graham and others talking about this being political and stuff, you know, it's a little hard given what the Trump Justice Department said in 2018."
RELATED: Trump is so 'unmoored from reality' he can't act as a defense witness: 'Art of the Deal' ghostwriter
"My bottom line on this ... is we haven't seen the charges, Lindsey Graham hasn't seen the charges, so not sure exactly how he knows what's in them," said Katyal. "But whatever those charges are, Trump is going to be entitled to all of the protections of the criminal system, which our founders bent over backward to protect criminal defendants. All 12 jurors are going to have to agree that Trump committed a crime, and under the highest standard in the law, beyond a reasonable doubt."
"What I think people like Lindsey Graham are upset about is for the first time, Trump is going to have to face the music, a jury of his peers," Katyal added. "He can't plead executive privilege. He can't plead Speech or Debate immunity. He can't plead immunity as a sitting president. It's finally time for him to have to answer the call of the prosecutors."
Watch the segment below or at this link.
Neal Katyal says Trump's own Justice Department indicated his guilt www.youtube.com
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Trump is so 'unmoored from reality' he can't act as a defense witness: 'Art of the Deal' ghostwriter
April 01, 2023
Now that former President Donald Trump has been indicted for his alleged $130,000 hush payment scheme in 2016, he will need to mount an effective legal defense against Manhattan prosecutors.
Unfortunately, argued his "Art of the Deal" co-author Tony Schwartz on MSNBC's "The Beat" Friday, Trump is too delusional and detached from objective fact to do this effectively.
"I think what's happening right now is that he moves between rage and literally a blend of delusion and disassociation," said Schwartz. "I think his grip on reality is incredibly thin a lot of the time. When he is not out of touch with reality, he is just angry. What's he angry about? I've been caught. I could be caught. I could be end up in an 8-by-10 foot cell, I don't think he thought about that. I don't think he has the capacity to imagine himself inside a cell. We know from a lot of reporting that he is concerned he was concerned about getting indicted."
"You dealt with developing a narrative, as they call it, a story about himself, which he then super-sized, you talked about that," said anchor Ari Melber. "You have given money to charity and talked about that illusion of that. You didn't want him to become president. A story he would tell in this trial, would it be effective would it be different than the story his lawyers will try to tell?"
RELATED: Nobody really knows what would happen if a former U.S. President is incarcerated
"You know, I think he is so unmoored now, if you look at just, for example, his last speech, the one he did in, I think, Texas, last week — I mean, he is so unmoored from reality that I don't think he is a great witness," said Schwartz. "He would never be a great witness with a whole jury. Many of them would go, 'I don't believe you.'"
"In the past, I think he could have come off effectively with at least one or two," added Schwartz. "I'm not sure that — unless it's an absolute devotee, I'm not sure he can hold himself together enough to be in any way persuasive."
Watch the segment below or at this link.
Tony Schwartz says Trump is too "unhinged from reality" for a legal defense www.youtube.com
CONTINUE READING
Show less
Copyright © 2023 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 | Masthead | Privacy Policy | For corrections contact corrections@rawstory.com, for support contact support@rawstory.com.
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}