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Kim Godwin Steps Down As ABC News President

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Committee to Protect Journalists, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

There’s a shakeup in broadcast journalism…

Over the weekend, ABC News president Kim Godwin announced she is stepping down from her role.

“I have decided to retire from broadcast journalism,” she said in a lengthy statement to company staff. “Anyone who’s passionate about what we do knows there’s no other business like it, so this was not an easy or quick decision. But after considerable reflection, I’m certain it’s the right one for me as I look to the future and prioritize what’s most important for me and my family.”

Disney Networks president Debra OConnell said in a statement, “Dana and I would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude to Kim for her service as president of ABC News. Kim has navigated this team through consequential times in our world, and she did so with respect for the brand and profession – and for that and more, we thank her.”

Godwin’s decision to retire comes after she struggled to navigate the waters at the network with the news division “suffering from a cutthroat and toxic culture,” the report said.

She reportedly angered people with her leadership style which included making “swift moves” and creating an inner circle that “alienated staffers.”

Former President Donald Trump responded to the news in a post on social media.

“Happy to report that Kim Godwin, Head of ABC, has resigned,” he said. “Could it be the unfair reporting on EVERYTHING TRUMP? In any event, GOOD RIDDANCE! Hopefully somebody else will be able to control George Slopadopolous and the rest of the Fake News Thugs over at ABC? Best wishes Kim!”

Justice Department Indics Texas Congressman

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Ted Eytan from Washington, DC, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

On Friday, the Department of Justice indicted Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas).

The news comes more than two years after FBI agents raided Cuellar’s home and campaign office in connection to an Azerbaijan corruption probe.

Although agents were tight-lipped, reports alleged that after befriending Azerbaijani oil executives, Cuellar pushed the nation’s agenda and business interests in Congress.

The charges against Cuellar have not been disclosed. An announcement from Justice is expected shortly.

Cuellar made a statement in response to the rapidly evolving events on Friday morning: “I want to be clear that both my wife and I are innocent of these allegations. Everything I have done in Congress has been to serve the people of South Texas.”

“Let me be clear, I’m running for re-election and will win this November,” he concluded.

Article Published With The Permission of American Liberty News.

SEC Charges Trump Media Auditor With ‘Massive Fraud’

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Arrest image via Pixabay

The U.S. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged the auditor of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. with “massive fraud.”

Former President Donald Trump owns the majority of the American media and technology company.

The accounting firm BF Borgers CPA and its owner, Benjamin Borgers, have been permanently banned from practicing as accountants and have been fined $14 million.

Trump Media, which owns Truth Social, saw a 9% drop in stock price since trading began Friday, according to CNBC:

The agency accused BF Borgers and its owner of “deliberate and systemic failures to comply with Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) standards in its audits and reviews incorporated in more than 1,500 SEC filings from January 2021 through June 2023,” according to a press release.

The respondents also were charged with falsely telling clients that the auditor’s work would comply with PCAOB standards, with fabricating audit documents to make it seem that the work did comply with those standards, and “falsely stating in audit reports included in more than 500 public company SEC filings that the firm’s audits complied with PCAOB standards,” the release said.

“Ben Borgers and his audit firm, BF Borgers, were responsible for one of the largest wholesale failures by gatekeepers in our financial markets,” SEC Enforcement Division Director Gurbir Grewal said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Trump Media did not immediately respond to comment on the SEC complaint.

According to the government agency’s announcement, the fraud has affected over 1,500 SEC filings.

Article Published With The Permission of American Liberty News.

Report: RFK Jr. Campaign Operative Charged With Assault

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Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

A prominent political operative for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign has been charged with assault after allegedly choking and punching a woman in New York last weekend.

Trent Pool, a petition circulator, is running Kennedy’s ballot access fight was charged with assault and criminal obstruction of breathing.

Mediaite has more:

According to an NYPD spokesperson, a little after 5 a.m. on Saturday morning Pool was engaged in a “verbal dispute” with a 25-year-old woman at the ritzy Soho Grand hotel in downtown Manhattan.

Police said the woman reported that Pool “wrapped his hand around her neck making it hard for her to breathe and then struck her in the face with a closed fist, causing pain.”

The woman refused medical attention, and Pool was arrested without incident.

In February, Pool was arrested for fourth-degree assault in Seattle, Washington, a spokesperson for SPD confirmed.

Pool’s firm, Accelevate 2020, which specializes in ballot access, petition and general campaign consulting, is being paid by the Kennedy campaign. Another ballot access firm run by Pool, Public Appeal, is also being paid by a super PAC supporting Kennedy, FEC reports show.

Ex-Trump Aide Says She Won’t Vote For Former President

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Former Trump aide Sarah Matthews is turning her back on her old boss…

On Monday, Matthews said she would not cast for Trump in November.

“When we have a candidate on the ballot who will not uphold the Constitution, then I feel like I have to put policy aside” Matthews said on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.”

“And I wanna support the person who is best suited to defeat Donald Trump,” she added in the clip, highlighted by Mediaite.

“I think it’s my duty to pick the person I think would do the least harm to the country,” Barr said on Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom.” “And in my mind, that’s — I will vote the Republican ticket.”

Matthews said she has talked with a lot of Republicans, including high-ranking elected officials, who “bash” Trump privately. But, she added, “many of them will not even say it publicly.” 

“What they often say is that they’re supporting him because of the policies, that they want the conservative agenda. And where I get really frustrated is that they’re treating this like it’s a normal election, a normal Republican candidate and a normal Democratic candidate,” Matthews continued. “Well, this couldn’t be anything further from the case.”

Trump Responds To Presidential Debate Commission Rejection

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Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Donald Trump and Joe Biden are jumping at the chance to debate one another but the Commission on Presidential Debates is pumping the brakes.

Trump’s campaign blasted the Commission on Presidential Debates this week after the organization said that they are sticking to kicking off debates in early September despite calls for the schedule to be moved up.

Trump campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles released a statement in response to the CPB saying they will not apply their “criteria” or send invitations to “qualified” candidates until the fall by extending an invitation to every television network that may be interested in setting up their own event.

Read the full statement below:

“The Presidential Debate Commission’s schedule does not begin until after millions of Americans will have already cast their ballots. This is unacceptable, and by refusing to move up the debates, they are doing a grave disservice to the American public who deserve to hear from both candidates before voting begins. President Trump has stated he will debate Joe Biden anytime, anywhere, anyplace, and Joe Biden himself just agreed to debate. 

“We are committed to making this happen with or without the Presidential Debate Commission. We extend an invitation to every television network in America that wishes to host a debate, and we once again call on Joe Biden’s team to work with us to set one up as soon as possible. The American people deserve it.”

— Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles

The requests for a schedule change follow President Biden recently telling SiriusXM’s Howard Stern that he’s “happy” to debate his likely November opponent.

“I don’t know when. I’m happy to debate him,” the president said.

Trump responded to Biden’s interview by taking to Truth Social, saying he wanted a debate “ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE.”

Report: Judge Rules Over Trump Gag Order Violations

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Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

On Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan fined former President Donald Trump nearly $10,000 for violating his gag order.

Prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office claim Trump has so far violated the order barring him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, and the judge’s family 10 times. They asked the judge to fine Trump $1,000 for each violation.

The Hill reports:

“What happened here is precisely what this order was designed to prevent and this defendant doesn’t care,” Assistant District Attorney Chris Conroy said at last week’s hearing.

At one point, a hearing on the matter grew heated between the judge and Trump’s attorney, where at one point Merchan told Todd Blanche that he was “losing all credibility” with the court.

Trump regularly rails against his perceived foes in his legal entanglements, leading his hush money judge, at prosecutors’ request, to place restrictions on Trump’s speech as the case headed to trial.

Trump is being charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to make alleged hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

Report: Trump Wants This candidate To Hit The Campaign Trail

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Marine One lifts-off after returning President Donald J. Trump to Mar-a-Lago Friday, March 29, 2019, following his visit to the 143-mile Herbert Hoover Dike near Canal Point, Fla., that surrounds Lake Okeechobee. The visit was part of an infrastructure inspection of the dike, which is part of the Kissimmee-Okeechobee Everglades system, and reduces impacts of flooding for areas of south Florida. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian) [Photo Credit: The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

Presumed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has reportedly gotten tired of Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake spending so much time at Mar-a-lago.

According to a recent Washington Post report, Trump is concerned Lake has focused too much on networking with the Republican elite and not enough on campaigning for a crucial win in the contentious state.

“At one point last year, after grumbling for months that she was at his Mar-a-Lago Club too often, Trump gently suggested to Lake that she should leave the club and hit the campaign trail in Arizona, according to a person with direct knowledge of his comments,” the Post reporters wrote. “Trump has also asked others if she can really win in Arizona and if she might drag down his own poll numbers as he seeks the presidency again in 2024, advisers said.”

Trump also privately thinks Lake’s 2022 election fraud claims are full of hot air, according to the report.

“She didn’t win,” Trump bluntly told a political ally at a Mar-a-Lago dinner earlier this year, according to the Post.

One other notable Lake moment got the attention of Trump and his inner circle: the incident in which a Lake ally released a tape of former Arizona GOP chair Jeff DeWit appearing to show Lake being offered a bribe to not run for Senate in 2024. The Post reporters described Trump’s reaction to the incident as “more surprised than angry” when he learned about it on the night of the New Hampshire primary in January.

“She tapes everything?” Trump reportedly asked. “That’s good to know.”

In a statement sent to the Post defended the MAGA Republican “Kari Lake is a Smart and Fearless Leader who will WIN in Arizona, and help us flip the Senate to Republican control. Kari’s Opponent, Ruben Gallego, is an Open Borders RADICAL, who is BAD on Inflation and SOFT on Terrorists and Crime.”

Report: Rep. Adam Schiff Robbed In San Francisco

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Photo via Gage Skidmoer Flickr

Yikes…

California Congressman Adam Schiff (D) was reportedly a victim of a theft just hours before a swanky campaign dinner on Thursday.

According to The San Francisco Chronicle, thieves broke into his car that was parked in a downtown parking garage and stole his bags. Without business clothes to wear, Schiff still proceeded to the event in shirt sleeves and a hiking vest, according to the Chronicle, with others dressed in suits.

At the dinner, Schiff thanked attorney Joe Cotchett for supporting Schiff’s bid to replace the late Dianne Feinstein and represent California in the U.S. Senate.

“I guess it’s ‘Welcome to San Francisco,’” joked Cotchett’s press agent Lee Houskeeper, who was at the dinner.

Schiff was not in the vehicle when it happened.

“Yes, they took my bags,” the California representative said, per the Chronicle. “But I’m here to thank Joe.”

The apparent theft came just days after the San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan’s security guard was assaulted in downtown San Jose Tuesday, according to KRON4, a local Bay Area news outlet.

“While interviewing Mayor Matt Mahan in downtown San Jose, a man was shouting at us and fought Mayor Mahan’s security guard,”KRON4 reporter Jack Molmud wrote in a post along with a video of the incident. “The fight lasted a couple minutes and the man was arrested by SJPD. Police said they were compiling evidence and sending it to the DA’s office.”

Report: Poppy Harlow To Leave CNN

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CNN Headquarters via Wikimedia Commons

Big changes are coming…

Longtime CNN anchor Poppy Harlow is exiting the network.

Harlow, a veteran of CNN who spent nearly two decades on the air, will be departing in May, a CNN spokesperson confirmed to Mediaite.

The news of her departure was first reported by Vanity Fair.

Mediaite has more:

“When I walked in the door at CNN in 2008, I was 25 years old and had never been on live TV. Green is an understatement!” Harlow said in an internal note to colleagues that was obtained by Vanity Fair. “I passed those three iconic red letters in the hall on day one and thought how lucky I was to be here.”

“There’s been plenty written about what’s wrong with journalism, and the challenges our industry faces,” she wrote. “And it does. But there is also so much right with it. At the heart of everything we do is the pursuit of truth – it is the core of CNN. I remain CNN’s biggest fan and I’ll be watching and cheering you on every day.”

She did not reveal her future plans, saying only, “For now, my plan is to walk our children to school and pick them up (hopefully they won’t get sick of me!), and to support the evolution of journalism in every way I can, while preserving the human(ity) in it.”

This is a breaking news story. Click refresh for the latest updates.