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Prosecutors say California attorney Michael Avenatti was over $15 million in debt when he tried to extort up to $25 million from Nike, while Avenatti’s lawyers say the money he legally requested to conduct an internal probe of the sportswear giant was a bargain. Both sides made the assertions in court papers filed late Tuesday in advance of a Jan. 22 criminal trial in Manhattan, giving U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe time to decide what the jury will be allowed to hear and see. For Avenatti, it is the first of three scheduled trials in the next five months....

Some viewers of Thursday night’s Democratic debate took to social media to comment on the moving background behind the seven presidential candidates who faced off in Los Angeles, calling it "distracting." The seven candidates — former Vice President Joe Biden; South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D); Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.); Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.); entrepreneur Andrew Yang; and billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer — debated issues ranging from President Trump’s impeachment this week to climate change and trade. As they talked, the names and logos of debate's hosts PBS NewsHour and Politico streamed behind the candidates....

Michael Avenatti pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to an indictment accusing him of trying to extort as much as $25 million from Nike Inc (NKE.N) by threatening to go public with claims the company made improper payments to athletes. Clasping his hands behind his back, the celebrity lawyer, who gained fame representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in a lawsuit against U.S. President Donald Trump, said “not guilty” after U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe read each of the three counts against him in Manhattan federal court. Avenatti declined to comment after the hearing. Prosecutors have accused Avenatti, 48, of demanding money...

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo referred to President Trump as "Dirty Donald" on his show Friday night and sought to promote the hashtag on Twitter while criticizing Republicans' handling of the impeachment process. Cuomo particularly went after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for saying this week that he would be in "total coordination" with White House counsel on strategy for an impeachment trial that is expected to take place in January. "It's not illegal, but there is another word that keeps seeming to fit so much what of this president and his pals do: 'dirty,'" said Cuomo, who has regularly...

In an attempt to smear Attorney General William Barr, NBC News framed a story about Barr’s support for due process (which shouldn’t be controversial) as him supporting rapists. It’s a typical tactic by the media these days. Ever since the Obama administration issued guidelines in 2011 warning schools that they needed to find more male students responsible for sexual assault, due process has gone out the window. In 2017, professor K.C. Johnson and scholar Stuart Taylor wrote a book about the issue. At the time, I wrote a review for RealClear Books — and my previous work on the subject...

An Iranian propaganda campaign created fake Bernie Sanders supporters online, Facebook disclosed Tuesday. In a press release, the social-media giant said it had removed 652 pages associated with political-influence campaigns traced to Iran, including coordinated inauthentic behavior that originated in Iran and targeted people across multiple internet services in the Middle East, Latin America, U.K., and U.S.” The cybersecurity company FireEye, which first alerted Facebook to the influence campaign months ago, wrote in a separate posting on its site that it had traced the campaign—including posts from supposed “American liberals supportive of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders”—to Iran through email addresses...

There really is nothing new under the sun. The infamous Salem Witch Trials started with a group of young girls claiming they were doing bad things because they were possessed. They then said that it was witches who caused them to be possessed, naming them without providing any evidence. The “witches” were then summarily executed. Well, eight in total, over just a few months. According to History.com: “The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women...

Lightning-rod lawyer Michael Avenatti was merely exercising his First Amendment rights when he demanded $22.5 million from Nike — not extorting them, his attorneys argue in new court papers. “Mr. Avenatti is being charged with a speech crime,” his attorneys Scott Srebnick and Jose Quinon wrote in yet another attempt to convince a Manhattan federal judge to toss his extortion charges. “Every one of the acts of speech attributed to Mr. Avenatti in the Indictment was independently lawful and independently protected by the First Amendment. He had the right to publicly expose truthful information about Nike’s misconduct.” Avenatti was indicted...

The FBI believed then-candidate Donald Trump was closely involved in a scheme to hide hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claimed an affair with Trump, court documents from the closed campaign finance case against former Trump-fixer Michael Cohen show. The documents, released Thursday, describe a "series of calls, text messages, and emails" between Cohen, Trump, Trump campaign aide Hope Hicks, Keith Davidson — an attorney for the woman, porn star Stormy Daniels — and David Pecker, an executive of the company that published the National Enquirer. "I have learned that in the days following the Access Hollywood...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the release of documents relating to hush-money payments by Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen to two women who said they had sexual encounters years ago with the U.S. president, declaring the matter of “national importance.” U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan ordered that the documents, used by federal prosecutors to obtain a search warrant for Cohen’s home and office last year, must be unsealed by 11 a.m. (1500 GMT) on Thursday. Cohen, 52, pleaded guilty in 2018 to directing payments of $130,000 to adult film star Stormy...

Attorney Michael Avenatti blasted actress Alyssa Milano on Twitter Monday afternoon in response to a tweet she issued about his arrest for domestic violence last year. At the time, Milano wrote that the allegations against Avenatti were "totally disgusting" and that she was "disavowing" Stormy Daniels's former lawyer. Avenatti was arrested in November 2018 after an ex-girlfriend accused him of grabbing her by the wrist and throwing her out of his apartment. The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office announced in February that Avenatti would not be charged with a crime. For some reason, the lawyer chose to respond on Monday...

California state bar moves to suspend Avenatti's law license, saying he poses 'substantial threat of harm to clients or the public' The California State Bar, which oversees discipline for all California-licensed attorneys, issued a "consumer alert" Monday evening concerning Michael Avenatti, saying it was moving to suspend him from the practice of law because his alleged conduct "poses a substantial threat of harm to clients or the public." The sudden development further accentuated Avenatti's dramatic public fall from grace -- he was once celebrated in liberal media circles as a potential challenger to President Trump -- as he faces numerous...

Stormy Daniels, the adult film star whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is now denying that she had an affair with Donald Trump after previously alleging the opposite. A lawyer for porn actress Stormy Daniels confirmed his client's statement Tuesday. Clifford has been on a publicity tour in recent weeks amid news of the alleged 2006 tryst with the president. She is scheduled to appear Tuesday on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" following Trump's State of the Union address. Her publicist hasn't answered questions about the statement.

Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters (CA) completely went off the rails Tuesday and called for Trump to resign in one of her craziest tirades yet. Waters, who is one of the most corrupt lawmakers in Congress, had the nerve to accuse Trump of being a “crooked liar.” “Low life Trump – lying, crooked, tax evader, porn star fornicator – should take his ridiculous self home, resign, and free us of what we will have to do to impeach him and throw him out of office!” Waters said Tuesday in a tweet.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on court appearances by embattled attorney Michael Avenatti (all times local): 4:20 p.m. Attorney Michael Avenatti has emerged from a New York courthouse to say he's facing the fight of his life "against the ultimate goliath, the Trump administration." **SNIP** Earlier in the day, he pleaded not guilty through his lawyer in a case accusing him of cheating porn star Stormy Daniels out of about $300,000 from a book deal. Then, he announced four separate times that he was "100% not guilty" when a judge asked him to answer each charge in a case...

Hailed and renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz took pictures of Chelsea Manning for Vogue in September 2017. Manning is back in jail after refusing to testify before a grand jury about Julian Assange. Leibovitz photographed Kirsten Gillibrand for Vogue in November 2017. Her presidential campaign has stumbled out of the gate and Gillibrand is at the tail end of a large pack of candidates; earlier this month the New York Times wrote that her campaign is “struggling.” Leibovitz photographed lawyer Michael Avenatti for Vogue, October 2018. Avenatti now faces charges of wire fraud, bank fraud, embezzlement, 36 additional financial-crime charges, including...

Embattled attorney Michael Avenatti will have a busy day in Manhattan federal court Tuesday -- but as a defendant, not as counsel. Avenatti, 49, is scheduled to be arraigned on charges that he tried to extort up to $25 million from athletic apparel giant Nike by threatening to expose claims that the shoemaker paid off high school basketball players to steer them to Nike-sponsored colleges. He also is scheduled to be arraigned on charges that he stole nearly $300,000 from adult film actress Stormy Daniels, the client who rocketed him to national prominence. In the Nike case, Avenatti is charged...

Video at link.

I ususally check in with Dice once a day... he's pretty funny but that's my opinion not yours. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-rhXXChjDI

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged Michael Avenatti on Wednesday with fraud and aggravated identity theft for allegedly taking money that was supposed to be paid to porn star Stormy Daniels. Avenatti is accused of misappropriating funds Daniels was supposed to get in a book deal while he represented Daniels in her legal battle against President Trump and his former longtime attorney Michael Cohen. Prosecutors alleged Avenatti used a fraudulent document to convince Daniel’s literary agent to divert money from the porn star to an account controlled by him, then spent the money on his own personal and business matters. The...