Free Republic

Former Ukrainian politician Andriy Portnov, a top adviser to ousted President Viktor Yanukovych (thanks, CIA!), was shot dead this morning outside the American School of Madrid shortly after student drop-off. Spanish media reports that 2-3 suspects are being hunted. Portnov faced treason charges in Ukraine and was accused of collaborating with Russia ... Former president Yanukovych was overthrown in 2014. According to the US Treasury Department, Portnov was "credibly accused of using his influence to buy access and decisions in Ukraine's courts and undermining reform effort." He was sanctioned by the US for corruption and bribery in 2021 under the...

DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro notched a significant legal victory Monday after retired four-star Navy Adm. Robert Burke was found guilty of bribery charges related to a scheme to steer government contracts to his future employer. Burke, who served as the vice chief of naval operations during part of President Trump’s first term, was convicted of conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, performing acts affecting a personal financial interest and concealing material facts from the US after a five-day trial. Formerly the Navy’s second-highest-ranking officer, Burke is now the senior-most member of the US military to ever be convicted of a...

Smartmatic, the electronic tabulator company suing Fox News for alleged defamation following the 2020 election, failed in a February court hearing to disclose a meeting with Democrat megadonor Reid Hoffman, newly unsealed court documents allege. Following the 2020 election, both Fox News and Newsmax “hosted commentators who aired concerns that tabulators were not secure, were vulnerable to voter fraud, and had possibly changed Trump votes to Biden votes,” as described in these pages by Logan Washburn. Smartmatic sued, arguing the comments amounted to defamation. Fox previously settled a suit with Dominion Voting over similar allegations while Newsmax recently settled with...

A delegation from a Chinese Communist Party-run think tank identified by the U.S. government as carrying out “undercover intelligence gathering” operations and seeking to coerce foreign actors into backing the Chinese Communist Party’s “preferred policies” met with Hillary Clinton and a host of high-level military leaders during the Obama-Biden administration, The National Pulse can reveal.The exchange with the controversial group – China Association for International Friendly Contact (CAIFC) – occurred in October of 2009, while Clinton was serving as Secretary of State. The CAIFC delegation, composed of China’s former top military leaders, visited Clinton after stopping in Hawaii to meet...

Two men working on behalf of the Chinese government’s Ministry of Public Security attempted to bribe an IRS agent in a scheme intended to further Beijing’s harassment of Falun Gong believers, the Justice Department revealed in a criminal complaint unveiled today. The defendants were arrested today in California on charges including acting as unregistered foreign agents, money laundering, and bribery. “The Chinese government has yet again attempted, and failed, to target critics of the PRC here in the United States,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement this afternoon. “The Justice Department will continue to investigate, disrupt, and prosecute...

The European Parliament has, once again, found itself at the heart of a corruption scandal, this time involving the Chinese tech giant Huawei. Police raids have been carried out across Belgium and Portugal amid suspicions of bribery, forgery, money laundering, and organized criminal activity. The European Parliament’s latest corruption scandal unfolds even as the previous one—the so-called ‘Qatargate’ affair—remains under investigation and litigation, further deepening preexisting concerns about foreign influence in EU institutions. The Qatargate scandal, which surfaced more than two years ago, involves allegations that Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), lobbyists, and their families accepted substantial sums of...

A judge in Washington D.C. denied on Tuesday federal prosecutors' motion to detain the two men impersonating federal agents because he says he isn't convinced that there are links to Pakistan intelligence. He also claimed that deleting social media posts wasn't proof that the other defendant would tamper with evidence, as federal lawyers argued. I am going to 'deny the government's request that the two defendants be held pending trial,' Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey said during proceedings Tuesday. The decision comes after it was revealed in proceedings earlier Tuesday that Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Sher-Ali, 35, were 'inadvertently...

WASHINGTON, April 12 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday declined to jail two men accused of impersonating federal agents and supplying Secret Service personnel with gifts, dealing a blow to prosecutors who had argued that the defendants pose a danger and should be detained. "There's been no showing that national security information has been compromised," U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Harvey said. Harvey ordered both men to remain in home confinement, subject to GPS monitoring, with their parents and that they surrender their passports and stay away from airports and embassies. Harvey agreed to stay his order until Wednesday morning...

KYIV — Now we know why the Democrats are so rabidly going after POTUS with a scam impeachment. CD Media has been on the ground in Kyiv for some time now investigating corruption of the U.S. State Department in Ukraine, along with multiple Democratic Party operatives in-country, who have been involved in a massive money laundering operation of IMF aid funds, along with corrupt Ukrainian officials, including former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. What we have to say is truly shocking. The theft totals in the billions of dollars. In short, multiple intelligence sources have produced evidence which will soon be...

The former speaker, who held unchallenged power in the state for more than three decades, was indicted back in 2022 on federal racketeering charges, alleging that he participated in a string of bribery and influence peddling schemes. Madigan represented the southwest side of Chicago for half a century and held a grip on power since the 1990s, using that influence to stymie governors of both parties, and he essentially dictated policies for the entire state. He controlled the access to campaign funds and endorsements for the state’s Democrat Party and acted like a mafia boss with an absolute control of...

Details have emerged about two individuals at the heart of an FBI political corruption investigation in Oakland, California, which saw the raid of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s home last week. The Gateway Pundit previously reported that FBI agents raided a home owned by Democrat Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao. An FBI spokesperson told the press that agents were conducting “court-authorized law enforcement” at Thao’s property. The focus of the investigation is on David Duong, CEO of California Waste Solutions, and his son, Andy Duong. Both have deep-seated ties to Democratic politicians and businesses, NBC Bay Area reported. Their business dealings and...

As reported earlier, former Democrat Senator Bob Menendez, 71, sobbed in court as he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for bribery and corruption. A tearful Menendez sobbed as he begged SDNY Judge Sidney Stein to have mercy on him. The judge showed no mercy to “Gold Bar Bob” and sentenced him to 11 years. Last summer a jury convicted Senator Bob Menendez on all bribery and corruption charges. The jury returned the verdict following a 9-week trial. Menendez did not testify. In October 2023 Bob Menendez was charged with acting as a foreign agent in a superseding indictment....

NEW YORK - Senior Justice Department officials have held discussions with federal prosecutors in Manhattan about the possibility of dropping corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a source familiar with the discussions confirmed to CBS News. Adams was indicted on five counts of corruption in September, including bribery, conspiracy and campaign finance violations. He has pleaded not guilty on those counts. If he is found guilty, the charges could result in up to 45 years in prison. The Justice Department did not comment. CBS News has asked reached out to Mayor Adams' office for comment. There is...

Jack Smith’s top hatchet man, Jay Bratt, abruptly resigned from the Justice Department last week, according to Deep State reporter and fake Trump-Russia dossier peddler Michael Isikoff. Jay Bratt was one of the main prosecutors who spearheaded the Mar-a-Lago raid, he threatened a lawyer defending Trump’s valet driver and admitted the DOJ tampered with evidence. Via Michael Isikoff for SpyTalk: A top Justice Department national security prosecutor has become an early casualty of the incoming Trump administration, abruptly resigning from the department last week before incoming appointees can retaliate against him for his key role in special counsel Jack Smith’s...

Now she’s in the spirit of giving. Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Mayor Eric Adams’ former chief advisor, hosted her annual toy drive in Brooklyn Friday night and belted out the lyrics to Beyoncé’s “Cuff It” during karaoke — one day after she was indicted for allegedly doling out favors to two New York City hoteliers in exchange for bribes. **SNIP** Lewis-Martin took center stage during karaoke, singing and swaying to the Beyoncé track laden with expletives as others moved and grooved nearby. Lyrics to the song include: “We gettin’ f–ked up tonight. We gon’ f–k up the night,” and “Come and cuff...

President-elect Donald Trump told reporters at a press conference on Monday at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, that he would consider pardoning New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was indicted on federal corruption charges in September. The indictment alleged that Adams exchanged favors for Turkey in return for campaign contributions that were then used to obtain matching campaign funds for the city. It also alleged that he obtained benefits such as hotel upgrades.

A former FBI informant pleaded guilty on Thursday to lying about a $10 million bribe that a Ukrainian businessman paid to then-vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter to “protect” his firm from a looming corruption investigation. Alexander Smirnov, 43, entered into a plea agreement with special counsel David Weiss and confessed to having created “a false and fictitious record” as part of a multi-year federal probe into the Bidens. The falsehoods included the bribery allegation, which was memorialized in an FBI FD-1023 form in 2020 and released by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) last year, and other aspects of...

One of the most disturbing scandals of the Hunter Biden saga is the imprisonment without trial of former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov. The Ukrainian-born Israeli-American, who once told his FBI handler about Ukrainian claims of a $10 million bribe to the Bidens, has been languishing in a Los Angeles prison for nine months on charges that he lied to the FBI. Last week, federal prosecutors slapped new tax-evasion charges on Smirnov, 43, which suggests they know their original indictment is too weak for a jury to convict him when he faces trial beginning Jan. 8. Smirnov was one of the...

Hunter Biden sent his father, President Joe Biden, monthly payments from the bank account he used to receive money from Chinese business associates, newly released bank records show. House Oversight Committee James Comer shared a video Monday on Twitter revealing redacted bank records containing direct payments to Joe Biden from Hunter Biden’s Owasco P.C. bank account. “Today, the House Oversight Committee is releasing subpoenaed bank records that show Hunter Biden’s business entity, Owasco PC, made direct monthly payments to Joe Biden. This wasn’t a payment from Hunter Biden’s personal account but an account for his corporation that received payments from...

Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled an “Opportunity Agenda” proposal for Black men Monday, which includes plans to provide 1 million forgivable loans to Black entrepreneurs and new pathways to help Black Americans succeed in the legalized marijuana industry. *** Harris’ announcement is aimed at increasing her support among Black male voters, and comes in the final weeks of an extremely close race between the Democratic vice president and Republican former President Donald Trump.The plan outlined Monday would provide 1 million fully forgivable loans of up to $20,000 to Black entrepreneurs and others to start a business. The loans would be...