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    Report:  DOJ has 99.8% conviction rate in MAGA riot cases

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3

    President Biden’s highly politicized FBI is on a warpath.

    A report by The Wall Street Journal showed the Department of Justice’s Federal prosecutions of the more than 900 people charged with unlawfully storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, have resulted in an overwhelming conviction rate of 99.8%.

    More than 180 people have been put behind bars for committing federal crimes, including obstruction, assault, and sedition.

    Virtually all who have since been arrested and charged had walked off Capitol grounds that day and were only taken into custody in the weeks and months after the incident.

    Federal investigators said the insurrectionists’ social media posts bragging about the undertaking greatly helped the DOJ identify and go after those who it believed committed serious crimes. Police body cameras and security cameras in the vicinity also assisted prosecutors with tracking the more than 900 charged to date.

    Some have blamed former President Trump for the protest-turned-riot Special counsel Jack Smith and the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol have been evaluating Trump’s role and considering possible charges.

    Last month, the House Select Committee investigating the events surrounding the January 6th, 2021 Capitol riot unanimously voted to recommend the Department of Justice criminally prosecute the former president.

    Leftist Protestors Charged After Violent Protest

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    19
    Arrest image via Pixabay

    Five young leftist protestors were charged with domestic terrorism stemming from a violent protest at the planned site of a police training center.

    Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) revealed in a press release that the individuals have been arrested and charged after protesters threw rocks at police cars and attacked EMT workers with rocks and bottles at a fire station near the site.

    The string of arrests comes after an attempt to stop the construction of the police training site, which has been dubbed “Cop City,” by camping out in the woods and building entrenchments. 

    “Task force members used various tactics to arrest individuals who were occupying makeshift treehouses,” the release said, adding that police found “explosive devices, gasoline and road flares” after clearing out the protest site. 

    Francis Carroll, a 22-year-old from Maine, was charged with criminal trespass, domestic terrorism, aggravated assault, felony obstruction, interference with government property and possession of tools for the commission of a crime.

    Nicholas Olson, a 25-year-old from Nebraska, was charged with domestic terrorism, aggravated assault, interference with government property and obstruction.

    Serena Hertel, a 25-year-old from California, was charged with criminal trespassing, domestic terrorism, aggravated assault, obstruction and inciting a riot. 

    Leonardo Vioselle, 20, from Macon, Georgia, was charged with criminal trespass, domestic terrorism, and possession for tools of the crime. 

    Arieon Robinson, a 22-year-old from Wisconsin, was charged with criminal trespass, obstruction and domestic terrorism. 

    “They were shooting pepper balls, tear gas at people who were peacefully holding the forest space right now,” one of the protesters at the scene told WAGA-TV. “I think it’s truly abhorrent.” 

    “The City of Atlanta has leased 381 acres of Weelaunee Forest, stolen Muscogee land, to the Atlanta Police Foundation for a police military facility funded by corporations,” the Stop Cop City organization states on its website. “Cop City will never be built. #StopCopCity #DefendWeelaunee.”

    Balloons That Infiltrated Country Under Trump Only Discovered After Biden Took Office

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    President Donald J. Trump is presented with a 10th Combat Aviation Brigade challenge coin following an air assault and gun rain demonstration at Fort Drum, New York, on August 13. The demonstration was part of President Trump's visit to the 10th Mountain Division (LI) to sign the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019, which increases the Army's authorized active-duty end strength by 4,000 enabling us to field critical capabilities in support of the National Defense Strategy. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Thomas Scaggs) 180813-A-TZ475-010

    A senior Biden administration official is clearing the air.

    Last week, after President Biden let a Chinese spy balloon glide across the United States, allegations emerged that one or more spy balloons violated U.S. airspace during the Trump administration.

    But the discovery didn’t occur until Biden took office. The explanation follows denials from the former president and his national security team that such events ever happened or that they were briefed.

    On Friday, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper told CNN that he was “surprised” by the claims.

    “I don’t ever recall somebody coming into my office or reading anything that the Chinese had a surveillance balloon above the United States,” he said.

    As Fox News reports:

    But on Sunday, a senior administration official told Fox News Digital that “U.S. intelligence, not the Biden administration” assesses that “PRC (People’s Republic of China) government surveillance balloons transited the continental U.S. briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time.”

    The official told Fox News that “this information was discovered after the [Trump] administration left.”

    “They went undetected,” the official told Fox News Digital.

    The official explained that Chinese surveillance balloons are “part of a larger pattern.”

    They added that the PRC has a fleet of balloons to conduct surveillance “at the direction of the People’s Liberation Army,” noting that similar balloons have been spotted across five continents in recent years.

    “Two things can be true at once: this happened, and it wasn’t detected,” they concluded.

    According to the report, at least one balloon flew over Texas and Florida during the Trump administration. Another crashed in Hawaii four months ago.

    The official said that the intelligence community is prepared to offer briefings to key Trump administration officials about the Chinese surveillance program, which the Biden administration believes has been deployed in countries across five continents over the last several years.

    A senior admin. official also told CNN that another Chinese spy balloon also transited the continental US briefly at the beginning of the Biden administration.

    Ex-ABC News Producer Arrested on Child Porn Charges

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0

    Federal authorities arrested former ABC News investigative journalist James Gordon Meek on criminal charges related to the alleged transportation of images of child sex abuse.

    According to the DOJ, the case against Meek was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the DOJ to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

    According to Fox News, the Justice Department issued a press release Wednesday that finally shed light on the mysterious raid of the journalist’s home last year.

    The 15-page affidavit includes extremely disturbing details, including a video found on Meek’s phone of the alleged rape of an infant.

    The DOJ announced an investigation into Meek initiated from a lead sent by Dropbox, which was eventually received by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. 

    “That lead ultimately led to a court-authorized search of Meek’s residence in April 2022 by members of the task force, where law enforcement seized multiple devices that allegedly contained evidence of the transportation of images of child sexual abuse,” the Justice Department announced. 

    “According to court documents, several of Meek’s devices allegedly contained images depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and multiple chat conversations with users engaged in sexually explicit conversations where the participants expressed enthusiasm for the sexual abuse of children. In two of those conversations, a username allegedly associated with Meek received and distributed child sexual abuse materials through an internet-based messaging platform,” the DOJ continued. 

    Meek is charged with transportation of child pornography and faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted.

    Federal Court Hands DeSantis a Win Over His ‘Stop Woke Act’

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Ron DeSantis via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    A federal judge in Florida handed Governor Ron DeSantis a substantial win after ruling that the governor’s administration did not violate a court order regarding the state’s “Stop WOKE Act,” which prohibits colleges from teaching Critical Race Theory and other woke concepts. 

    According to Townhall, plaintiffs attempted to argue that Gov. DeSantis failed to comply with a preliminary injunction that prevents the enforcement of some parts of the law, citing a memo sent out by Florida’s chief of the Office of Policy and Budget, Chris Spencer, asking universities to provide a list of all staff, programs and campus activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory.

    “Although this court would not hesitate to compel compliance with its preliminary injunction, this court finds there has been no violation of the injunction at this time,” U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker wrote in her decision. 

    Judge Walker previously called the law “positively dystopian” while issuing a temporary injunction. 

    In November, Walker wrote, “our professors are critical to a healthy democracy, and the State of Florida’s decision to choose which viewpoints are worthy of illumination and which must remain in the shadows has implications for us all…if our ‘priests of democracy’ are not allowed to shed light on challenging ideas, then democracy will die in darkness.”

    DeSantis’s press secretary Bryan Griffin defended the law, asserting the administration is fulfilling its duty to protect students against overt indoctrination attempts.

    “The governor, as chief executive of the state, has every right to ask how public dollars are being spent by public state entities, like state colleges and universities. In fact, that is good government,” Griffin said. 

    DOJ Subpoenas Rudy Giuliani

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    5
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    The Department of Justice subpoenaed former President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani in connection with a probe into fundraising efforts following the 2020 election.

    According to CNN, the DOJ first issued the subpoena in November seeking documents from Giuliani about payments he received during the period when he was filing post-election lawsuits on behalf of the Trump campaign.

    The inquiry to Giuliani came from David Rody, a former top prosecutor in New York who specializes in gang and conspiracy cases and is assisting Smith with examining a broader criminal conspiracy after the election, according to some of the sources.

    In response to being informed of CNN’s reporting on Giuliani’s subpoena and asked for a statement, Ted Goodman, his adviser, said, “The mayor is unaware of the specific claims by this so-called ‘anonymous source,’ and therefore is not in position to respond.”

    Giuliani is already facing fallout, including a preliminary determination from the D.C. bar association that he violated rules of professional conduct in filing the suits, a matter that could eventually result in the loss of his law license.

    This story is breaking. Click refresh for the latest information.

    Arkansas Governor Bans Woke Term During First Day on the Job

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    New Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is hitting the ground running.

    One of Gov. Sanders’s first moves was taking on the woke mob directly by signing an executive order banning the use of “Latinx” in government documents because it is “culturally insensitive” to the Latino community, according to The Daily Wire.

    “Ethnically insensitive and pejorative language has no place in official government documents or government employee titles,” Sanders’ executive order stated. “The government has a responsibility to respect its citizens and use ethnically appropriate language, particularly when referring to ethnic minorities.”

    The executive order noted that polling from the Pew Research Center has found that roughly only 2-3% of Latinos even use the word “Latinx” to describe themselves and that the Real Academia Española, a Madrid-based institution that serves as a guide for the Spanish language, has officially rejected the use of “x” as an alternative to “o” and “a” in Spanish.

    “All state offices, departments, and agencies, unless granted an exemption by the Governor, shall review official documents of their respective entities regarding the use of the term ‘Latinx,’ ‘latinx,’ ‘Latinxs,’ or ‘latinxs’ in official state documents,” the order said.

    Sanders, who made history by becoming the country’s youngest governor, is also taking a direct hands-on approach to the controversial Critical Race Theory.

    Sanders also signed an executive order Critical Race Theory, which the order described as “antithetical to the traditional American values of neutrality, equality, and fairness.”

    “It emphasizes skin color as a person’s primary characteristic, thereby resurrecting segregationist values, which America has fought so hard to reject,” the order said. “It is the policy of this administration that CRT, discrimination, and indoctrination have no place in Arkansas classrooms.”

    Sanders was the White House Press Secretary under former President Trump from 2017 to 2019. She is the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who served from 1996 to 2007 and was the state’s lieutenant governor from 1993 to 1996.

    Sanders handily defeated Democrat Chris Jones and libertarian candidate Ricky Dale Harrington.

    Republican Senator Threatens Foreign Leader Over Imprisoned US Soldier

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    2

    Republicans aren’t playing nice anymore.

    Thursday morning Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee issued a threat to Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida if the U.S. ally doesn’t release Navy Lt. Ridge Alkonis, who is currently serving a 3-year prison sentence, by the end of the month.

    Sen. Lee promised to mobilize his colleagues and the American public to reevaluate the United States’ relationship with Japan unless Alkonis is released in a lengthy thread on Twitter.

    “You’ve made your point poorly and counterproductively, but whatever—it’s time to bring your standoff to an end,” continued Lee, before observing that Japan has enjoyed the twin luxuries of a “really good security arrangement” with the U.S. and “not having that arrangement discussed or seriously questioned in Congress for a long time.”

    “That’s about to change,” promised Lee.

    “If you transfer Lt. Alkonis back to the U.S. before midnight on February 28, 2023, we will do our best to forget that this whole thing never happened. It will be hard, but we will try” the Senator continued.

    “If, however, he’s not on U.S. soil by then, many of us will work equally hard to make sure America knows (1) what a good security arrangement you have with the U.S., (2) what you did to one of the best and brightest our military has to offer, and (3) what we should do about it,” Sen. Lee warned.

    The Utah Senator noted, “The fact that you—like Lt. Alkonis—are far away from us doesn’t mean that your actions will go unnoticed here.”

    “The stake that sticks out gets hammered down,” concluded Lee in an ominous conclusion to his thread, typed out in Japanese.

    According to reports from Mediaite, Alkonis was driving with his family down from Mt. Fuji in May 2021 when he collided with another vehicle, killing an elderly woman and her son-in-law. The Navy lieutenant has maintained that the cause of the crash was brought on by a bout of mountain sickness that rendered him unconscious. However, the Japanese court system ruled that he was negligent, falling asleep at the wheel without any accompanying illness.

    The Alkonis family has reportedly offered the victims’ family a restitution payment upwards of $1 million.

    Trump Organization Fined in Tax Fraud Case

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    2
    Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

    On Friday, the Trump Organization was fined $1.6 million following its conviction last month for criminal tax fraud.

    It was the maximum penalty former President Trump’s sprawling business organization could face for what prosecutors have described as a long-running scheme to evade taxes by providing perks to company executives.

    Earlier this week, former Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg was sentenced to fives months in prison as well as pay nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties, and interest, and serve five years of probation for his role in the 15-year tax scheme.

    As Great America News Desk previously reported:

    Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer for the Trump Organization, is expected to be sent to Rikers Island jail in New York after receiving his sentence for his participation in a tax fraud scheme.

    Wesselberg, along with other top executives, pled guilty to running the scheme for the past 15 years where he and others received bonuses and other kickbacks designed to save the real estate company money.

    On Tuesday, the CFO was sentenced to five months in jail as well as pay nearly $2 million in taxes, penalties, and interest, and serve five years of probation.

    Rikers Island is one of New York’s most well-known jails and has become notorious for violence and drug use.

    This story is developing. Click refresh for the latest details.

    Special Counsel Overseeing Trump Criminal Probe Subpoenas Mike Pence

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    0
    Mike Pence via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    The special counsel investigating Former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election has summoned former Vice President Mike Pence to testify.

    The development follows months of negotiations between Department of Justice prosecutors and Pence’s legal team.

    WATCH:

    Per The Wall Street Journal:

    The move represents an escalation in the Justice Department investigation and sets the stage for a likely court battle over executive privilege, which lawyers for Mr. Trump have raised in recent years to block or slow the testimony of former administration officials in various probes.

    …

    Mr. Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, and his former counsel, Greg Jacob, last year appeared before a federal grand jury as part of the investigation into Mr. Trump’s efforts to discredit the 2020 election results.

    Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Mr. Smith in November to examine efforts to undo the election results as well as to probe the handling of classified documents found at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. That investigation has intensified over a year to include an extraordinary warrant-backed search of the property in August.

    Mr. Pence declined to speak to the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by Mr. Trump’s supporters. But the former vice president has viewed the Justice Department investigation as different from the House inquiry, which he considered partisan, according to people familiar with his thinking.

    According to a person familiar with the matter, Pence’s team is weighing its response.

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