Free Republic

Should the grand jury have been transparent or secretive --- concerning the evidence presented by the district attorney, etcetera? Once again, we have a Travis County grand jury indicting yet another high-profile Republican. One was Tom Delay (then House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005) and now presidential aspirant Rick Perry, governor of Texas. The evidence that is presented is under the discretion of the district/prosecuting attorney. This attorney has strong control over the process and the room itself, and there is no one present to provide counter argument(s), and, finally, there is no judge present. If you are a...

<p>One of the odder stats of Election Night: As of Wednesday morning, 287,590 Californians had cast ballots for indicted state Sen. Leland Yee for secretary of state. That’s good for nearly 10 percent of the vote.</p> <p>Never mind for a second that the San Francisco Democrat has been indicted on multiple federal money laundering and weapons charges. Yee DROPPED OUT of the race in March. Folks were voting for an indicted man who didn’t even want their votes.</p>

In the small town of Lake Station, Ind., the news that the mayor, his wife and stepdaughter have been indicted on federal corruption charges this week came as little surprise. Residents in Lake Station, one of many working-class towns that fringe the northwest Indiana industrial centers of Gary and Hammond, have seen FBI agents leaving the town hall several times in recent years. On Thursday, Keith Soderquist and his wife and personal secretary, Deborah, were in federal court in Hammond to face charges of wire fraud and filing false tax returns, after allegedly using money from Soderquist’s campaign fund and...

President Obama said at a press conference Friday that National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden “is under indictment.” But a senior law enforcement official said that Obama simply misspoke. Caitlin Hayden, the National Security Council spokeswoman at the White House, confirmed that "the president was referring to the unsealed criminal complaint filed in the Eastern District of Virginia," not an indictment.

Mr. Lyndon Larouche, a well respected journalist and political activist received word from his sources within the United States government that President Barack Hussein Obama has been indicted by a Federal Court

NEW ORLEANS — Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has been indicted on 21 corruption charges including wire fraud, bribery and money laundering. The charges announced Friday come from a City Hall corruption investigation that already has resulted in guilty pleas by two former city officials and two businessmen.

N.C. grand jury indicts 3 with ties to Perdue campaignPosted to: Crime News North Carolina By Gary D. Robertson and Michael Biesecker The Associated Press November 28, 2011 RALEIGH, N.C. - A Wake County grand jury on Monday indicted former campaign workers and a close family friend of North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue as part of an investigation into undisclosed flights on private airplanes leading up to her 2008 election victory. Grand jurors handed up indictments in state court against former Perdue campaign finance director Peter Reichard of Greensboro; Juleigh Sitton of Morganton, until recently the director of the governor's...

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - An Albuquerque woman was indicted on Thursday on charges of creating fraudulent residency documents to help illegal immigrants get New Mexico driver's licenses. New Mexico is currently one of three states, including Utah and Washington, that allow undocumented immigrants to lawfully obtain driver's licenses if they can show proof of residency and identity. The grand jury indictment accuses Ana Hernandez, 45, of more than 300 felony counts over accusations she used her Albuquerque business address on documents she fraudulently created for Mexican nationals so they could obtain licenses. "This is yet another egregious case...

How the mighty have fallen. We read that somewhere. And right here in our midst an example: John Edwards, the lawyer who made a fortune playing a good guy fighting big bad guys. He wanted to be president and tried twice. He wanted to be a husband and father – then cheated on his wife even as she suffered from cancer and got his girl friend pregnant, then said it was someone else’s child. Whatta guy . . .

As expected, the Department of Justice landed with both feet on former Senator and one-time Democratic nominee for Vice President John Edwards today. The DoJ released a grand jury indictment on six counts — four of illegal campaign contributions, and one each of conspiracy and making false statements to the FEC: John Edwards, a two-time candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and a former U.S. senator from North Carolina, was indicted today on charges of conspiracy and false statements. The indictment is the culmination of a secretive federal probe that has been going on for more than two years. The...

Detroit Free Press: Two top Oakland County Democrats were indicted today for forgery and perjury for taking a political plan too far, Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. “A scheme was devised by a party leader in Lansing to put people on the ballot on the Tea Party ticket,” Bouchard said. “It may not be ethical, but it’s not illegal. But some folks were placed on the ballot without their knowledge and that’s the criminal side.”

Matthew Vadum over at Human Events reports ACORN is alive and well, though operating under a different name: Disturbingly, Project Vote, ACORN’s scandal-plagued voter registration and mobilization division, remains open for business. Project Vote has been part of the ACORN family since at least 1992 when Barack Obama ran a successful voter drive in Illinois. Although legally separate entities, in practice the two are the same, as the congressional testimony of former ACORN/Project Vote employee Anita MonCrief can attest. They share office space, employees, and budgets. Project Vote continues to operate out of ACORN’s Washington, D.C., headquarters.

Should Stephen Colbert be indicted for lying under oath to Congress? That’s what some observant watchers are now smartly asking after Comedy Central’s brutally unfunny comedian—but full-time and major-league clown—Stephen Colbert made a complete mockery of Congress by "testifying" in character and under oath to a House subcommittee on immigration. It was an unpardonable outrage that Colbert—and his unfunny, Bill O’Reilly-imitating schtick—would willfully make himself a party to what amounted to a waste of taxpayer money, a waste of Congress’ hearing time, and a total disrespect of the oath to tell the truth one takes before Congress.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Federal prosecutors charged County Auditor Frank Russo in a 21-count information filed this morning in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. Russo, 60, of Bratenahl, resigned early today. He is expected to plead guilty to bribery and obstruction charges, according to sources, based on an agreement that would resolve all issues related to both the longtime Democratic politician and his son, Vince. Although the plea agreement has not been made public, it will include a substantial sentence for Russo that could have been cut in half had he agreed to cooperate with the government against others, according to...

An Orange County grand jury has indicted attorney James Toledano, the former chairman of the county's Democratic Party and a three-time Assembly candidate, on two felony counts related to an alleged extortion scheme. The jury on Friday also indicted one of Toledano's clients, former personal trainer Michael Earl Roberts, on the same charges. Roberts, 44, allegedly made dozens of harassing and threatening phone calls to a former client and her friends between 2006 and 2008 and threatened to sue her, according to the Orange County district attorney's office. Roberts said he was going to "destroy" her by having false and...

(IsraelNN.com) Judge Richard Goldstone, whose recent United Nations Human Rights Council investigation purported to find evidence of Israeli war crimes in Gaza, once indicted a fictional Serbian character and a dead man for war crimes as well. As in Gaza, those indictments were also allegedly based on "eyewitness testimony." The problem for NATO forces in tracking down the serial rapist was that Gruban from Bijelo Polje, also known as Gruban Malic, is a fictional character. established by the United Nations in 1993. In 1995, one year into his term as chief ICTY prosecutor, Goldstone presented an indictment of several Serbs...

NEW YORK (CBS) - Najibullah Zazi, the Denver man believed to be the central figure in a terror plot against the New York City transit system, has officially been indicted on charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property in the United States, CBS 2 has learned. According to the Department of Justice, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York returned a one-count indictment alleging that between Aug. 1, 2008 and Sept. 21, 2009, Zazi knowingly and intentionally conspired with others to use one or more weapons of mass destruction, specifically...

Christopher Kelly, a key figure in the federal corruption probe into former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is dead. The Cook County medical examiner’s office today confirmed that Christopher Kelly of Burr Ridge was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital at 10:46 a.m. The office said Kelly died of salicylate intoxication. According to medical reference guides, salicylates are used in anti-inflammatory and pain relief medications. An autopsy is scheduled for Sunday. *snip* Kelly is a former confidant and top fundraiser for Blagojevich, who was accused of using his office to leverage campaign donations and benefits for himself and his family. *snip* Kelly’s attorney,...

Among those charged is a man from Minneapolis who went to war-torn Somalia and then, about four months ago, relocated to Seattle, according to the two sources and a leader in the Minneapolis Somali community. The man was then arrested in a Seattle airport and transferred to a jail in Minneapolis, where he is currently being detained, according to the law enforcement sources. The law enforcement sources said the man, described as in his 20s, has been charged with providing material support to a terrorist group, in this case al-Shabaab, which has been warring with the moderate Somali government since...

Renee Gill Pratt, ex-N.O. councilwoman and state representative, indictedby Laura Maggi, The Times-Picayune Friday May 22, 2009, 9:41 PM Renee Gill PrattRenee Gill Pratt, a former state representative and New Orleans city councilwoman, was indicted by a federal grand jury Friday on federal racketeering charges that accuse her and members of the Jefferson political family of operating a "criminal enterprise" that raided nonprofit organizations created to help disadvantaged people. The indictment of Gill Pratt comes nearly one year after a grand jury indicted her longtime boyfriend, Mose Jefferson; his sister, 4th District Assessor Betty Jefferson; and Angela Coleman, Betty Jefferson's...