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Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was charged in federal court Friday with conspiring to use campaign funds for personal use -- in an alleged $750,000 spending spree that included purchases of a gold-plated Rolex and pricey children's furniture. It had been expected that a plea agreement would be entered into court Friday, but that agreement is apparently still pending. Instead, federal prosecutors charged Jackson Friday with conspiracy. Prosecutors separately charged his wife Sandi with filing false federal tax returns, but according to her attorney she has reached a plea agreement. In a statement, the former Illinois Democratic congressman said he...

A team of FBI agents has been conducting interviews in recent weeks in the Dominican Republic and the United States, looking into allegations that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) patronized prostitutes in the Caribbean nation, but has found no evidence to support the claim, according to two people familiar with the investigation. One person said agents have asked about whether a Florida eye doctor — a close friend and major campaign donor to Menendez — provided the senator with prostitutes on vacations there. Another person said investigators are looking into allegations involving underage prostitutes and sex parties. The two, who spoke...

An attorney for former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s wife says she signed a plea deal with federal prosecutors related to accusations her husband misused campaign funds. Tom Kirsch tells The Associated Press former Chicago alderman Sandi Jackson agreed to plead guilty to one count of tax fraud.

Federal officials filed charges Friday against Jesse Jackson Jr. after the former congressman reportedly signed a plea deal for allegedly improperly spending hundreds of thousands in campaign funds. The paperwork was filed at the U.S District Courthouse in Washington. Jackson, who left the public eye last summer for treatment of bi-polar disorder and resigned from office in November, is not expected to make an appearance, but he offered a response in his first statement to the public in months.

The New York Times has called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to remove New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez from his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Under the editorial headline “Mr. Menendez’s Ethics Problem,” the newspaper said Menendez “was never a distinguished choice for chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the position he ascended to this month by virtue of seniority.” “Concerns about that quality gap have sharply escalated amid new disclosures about Mr. Menendez’s use of his position to advance the financial interests of a friend and big donor,” the Times wrote. “Instead of trying...

Sneed has learned a plea deal is now on the table between former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and federal authorities probing allegations of campaign fund misuse. Sneed is told the plea deal includes Jackson serving time in federal prison. “Significant jail time is now definitely a part of the deal,” said a top Sneed source close to the probe. “But I think [Jackson’s wife] Sandi, feels like she was thrown under the bus by her husband, ” now that a separate probe has begun on her, a second source added. Sandi Jackson claims she was stunned by campaign finance abuse...

If Menendez quits or is removed by the US Senate, I honestly do not think he can hold out and it is very likely Christie will win a second term, whom will Christie appoint to replace him? What are the laws in NJ regarding replacement for the US Senate?

The FBI has raided the offices of Dr. Salomon Melgen, an opthalmologist and Democratic Party donor reportedly connected to New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez’s alleged solicitation of prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. The Miami Herald reports: FBI agents raided the West Palm Beach business of an eye doctor accused in the conservative press of providing free trips and even Dominican Republic prostitutes to New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez — who has denied what he calls the "fallacious allegations." Agents gathered at the medical-office complex of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a contributor to Menendez and other prominent politicians, late Tuesday night...

The new year began not with a cannonball off the “fiscal cliff” but with an outbreak of conspiratorial cynicism. This time it’s Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose fall and concussion, followed by a blood clot between her brain and skull, has prompted an embarrassment of theories. The gist: That woman will do anything to avoid testifying about Benghazi. Several commentators on the right opined via Twitter and TV, those most deadly hosts for the parasites of rumor and innuendo, that Clinton was faking her concussion to duck out on her appearance before congressional committees investigating the attack on the...

"A new Foreign Military Intelligence (GRU) report circulating in the Kremlin today is saying that United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was injured, and a top US Navy Seal Commander killed when their C-12

Some might wonder if it was the cervesa or the stomach flu, but it looks like Hillary took a dive and is down for the count. From The Department of State: While suffering from a stomach virus, Secretary Clinton became dehydrated and fainted, sustaining a concussion. She has been recovering at home and will continue to be monitored regularly by her doctors. At their recommendation, she will continue to work from home next week, staying in regular contact with Department and other officials. She is looking forward to being back in the office soon. How convenient, she is looking forward...

"Overwhelming evidence shows vote fraud, abuse played major role in outcome Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/did-obama-steal-the-2012-election/#IucGe1EBe2cW55XF.99 "WASHINGTON — Following Barack Obama’s re-election, accusations from some quarters have held that his campaign stole the election through vote fraud. Others claim no vote fraud occurred, and that the election victory resulted from the Obama campaign’s vastly superior get-out-the-vote effort. One RedState diarist has even gone so far as to announce that commenters complaining that the election was stolen will be banned from the site. With all of the swirling allegations, where does the truth lie? While there have been many proven cases of...

NASHUA — Following a storm of controversy in light of her criminal background, the first openly transgendered person elected to the New Hampshire House will resign her post. “I didn't want to have to do this,” Rep.-elect Stacie Marie Laughton, D-Nashua, said. “There's been a lot of people that have said, 'Stay strong, keep your head up, stay in it.'” “I'm super disappointed because I was looking forward to this more than anything. It's my lifelong dream to serve my community, and what better place to do it than the city that I was born and raised in.”

WASHINGTON—Kwame R. Brown, the former chairman of the council of the District of Columbia, was sentenced today to a day in confinement and six months of home detention on a federal charge of bank fraud. He also was ordered to perform 480 hours of community service. In a second proceeding later in the day, he was sentenced to probation on a separate criminal charge involving a violation of the District of Columbia’s campaign finance laws. The sentences were announced by U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen, Jr.; James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and...

"Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who is battling legal troubles and mental illness, is likely to resign from Congress and face jail time under the terms of a plea deal his lawyer is negotiating with the federal government."

It's one thing for a Democratic presidential candidate to dominate a Democratic city like Philadelphia, but check out this head-spinning figure: In 59 voting divisions in the city, Mitt Romney received not one vote. Zero. Zilch. These are the kind of numbers that send Republicans into paroxysms of voter-fraud angst, but such results may not be so startling after all. "We have always had these dense urban corridors that are extremely Democratic," said Jonathan Rodden, a political science professor at Stanford University. "It's kind of an urban fact, and you are looking at the extreme end of it in Philadelphia."

A business coordinator at a power company in western Georgia told The Daily Caller Friday afternoon that workers from his electric-utility employer were not permitted to help restore power to New York consumers because they would not join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). The revelation comes on the heels of similar stories TheDC has reported about power crews from Alabama and Florida who volunteered to fix downed power lines after Hurricane Sandy left millions in the Northeastern United States in the dark this week. “We’re not a large utility, so we were only able to send up two...

Two volunteer poll workers at an Ohio voting station told Human Events that they observed van loads of Ohio residents born in Somalia — the state is home to the second-largest Somali population in the United States — being driven to the voting station and guided by Democratic interpreters on the voting process. No Republican interpreters were present, according to these volunteers...

October 24, 2012 VA: Rep. Moran’s son resigns, but corruption rolls on By Kenric Ward | Watchdog.org Virginia BureauARLINGTON – Despite a colorful past – and a new video that triggered his son’s resignation from the campaign on Wednesday – U.S. Rep. Jim Moran appears to be cruising to a 12th term in Congress.GOING FOR 12 IN ’12: Jim Moran is seeking a 12th term in Congress. The Northern Virginia Democrat, ensconced in a heavily Democratic district, is squaring off for a second round against Republican challenger Patrick Murray. Moran beat Murray by 24 percentage points in 2010, when turnout...

A new undercover video from James O’Keefe and Project Veritas shows Pat Moran, son of longtime incumbent congressman Jim Moran (D-VA) and field director for his father’s re-election campaign, instructing a supporter in how to use fraudulent documents to cast a hundred illegal votes: Note that Project Veritas prominently includes the unedited raw footage of this encounter, to counter the usual whines about false editing. There’s not much question about what happens here. An undercover operative posing as a very enthusiastic supporter says he’s got a hundred names of people who probably aren’t going to vote, and he wants to...