Free Republic

NEW YORK — A six-month grand jury that was convened late last year to hear evidence against Donald Trump was set to expire this week, closing a chapter in a lengthy criminal investigation that appears to be fizzling out without charges against the former president, people familiar with matter said. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), who took office in January, inherited a probe launched by his predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., who was convinced that there was a case against Trump for crimes related to manipulating the value of property assets to secure tax advantages or better loan rates.

Tucker Carlson sympathized with Americans facing charges for apparently buying bogus COVID-19 vaccination cards during his nightly Fox News show. The conservative host of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” spent part of his program Thursday criticizing the Manhattan district attorney for charging several people with buying and selling fake proof-of-vaccination cards. “Making, selling and purchasing forged vaccination cards are serious crimes with serious public safety consequences,” Cyrus Vance Jr., New York County’s top prosecutor, announced this week. “Buying a fake vaccination card is not a, quote, serious crime. It’s not even close to a serious crime,” Mr. Carlson reacted. “Buying a fake...

Business owners and residents in New York City are expressing fury at the revelation that prosecutors have dropped looing and rioting charges against hundreds arrested during chaos that swept the city last summer. After 603 were arrested in Manhattan and the Bronx during the most intense days of looting last June, 295 of the cases have been dropped completely, according to NYPD data reported by WNBC-TV on Friday. Now Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr and Bronx DA Darcel D. Clark are facing tough questions about why hundreds walked free after the looting rampage caused an estimated tens of millions...

Several years ago, I was the sponsor for a guy going through conversion from what he was (in a religious sense) to Catholic. He wasn’t just any guy; he was a very senior CIA officer who has frequently appeared on television since he transitioned to think-tank denizen. The Rite of Christian Initiation as an Adult (RCIA) experience builds a bond between sponsor and candidate/catechumen that often goes beyond religious conversations. On one occasion, we talked politics and foreign policy.What separates us from the Third World in our politics, he opined, are the twin concepts of peaceful transfer of power via...

The Democratic congressman who reps both sides of the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge is calling on the federal government to investigate concerns about the span’s structural integrity. US Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY), who represents Westchester and Rockland counties, recently wrote a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, asking him to probe claims reported by the Albany Times-Union earlier this month that bridge contractors “covered up” faulty bolts in the $3.9 billion structure. Jones called on Buttigieg “to open an investigation into these claims and … to work with the New York state Department of Transportation to ensure proper inspections are...

It is more clear than ever that the Cuomo administration has been conducting a concerted, months-long disinformation campaign against the people of New York.If only Governor Cuomo cared as much about the truth and New York’s most vulnerable populations as it appears he cares about his book deal.For most of the past year, officials at the highest levels of state government have repeatedly and knowingly understated the death toll in nursing homes, made false assertions about how New York's situation compared to those of other states, and distorted the facts surrounding a policy that sent thousands of COVID-positive patients into...

Why was Andrew Cuomo walking around with his zipper open? Was he going to interview new job applicants? pic.twitter.com/UGmRKsCpmd— MARK SIMONE (@MarkSimoneNY) March 15, 2021

President Joe Biden led pandemic praise for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, calling him the 'gold standard of leadership' and gushing that he was an 'example for all Americans'. Biden is under intense pressure to distance himself from the embattled governor amid mounting allegations of sexual harassment, bullying, racism and in some cases, sexual assault. Cuomo denies all wrongdoing and is refusing to resign. New York Attorney General Letitia James is investing the claims against him.

Karen Hinton — who first went public against Cuomo on March 6 — detailed the alleged incident during an interview on WNYC radio. "He approached me, embraced too tightly, too long and was aroused," Hinton said. "I felt extremely uncomfortable and actually shocked. Nothing had ever happened that way between the two of us."

Andrew Cuomo completely mismanaged the COVID crisis. His ineptitude caused the deaths of thousands of elderly. He ordered nursing homes to accept COVID positive patients and sounded very crass “Older people, vulnerable people, are going to die from this virus,” Cuomo added. “That is going to happen despite whatever you do, with all our progress as a society, we can't keep everyone alive. Older people are more vulnerable. That is a fact that is not going to change.” Worse, he lied about it. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top aide confessed privately this week that the administration suppressed the true COVID toll...

A former aide who accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment told investigators Monday that the embattled Democratic leader has a "preoccupation with his hand size." The former aide, Charlotte Bennett, met with investigators for more than four hours as part of New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation into the allegations against Cuomo, her attorney Debra Katz said. "The investigators have been moving quickly, and with sensitivity, to get to the heart of these allegations," Katz said in a statement. "We remain confident that their investigation will substantiate Charlotte’s claims of sexual harassment against Gov. Cuomo,...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called for an investigation into the head of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's vaccination program, who had reportedly called county executives to see if they support Cuomo during his multiple scandals. According to The Washington Post, "vaccine czar" Larry Schwartz made the calls that made at least one county official fear that their response could jeopardize the county's ability to get vaccines and would impact the vaccine supply. "What we've heard about the governor and his team trying to link vaccine supply to political support, that is the definition of corruption," de Blasio said during...

And amid the scandals, a new development emerged on Sunday that raised alarms: Larry Schwartz, a former top aide to Mr. Cuomo who was tapped to lead the state’s vaccination efforts, has also been asking state Democratic leaders to support the governor, while continuing to discuss the urgent business of immunization.

As the number of accusers grows, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) has responded to the lurid details of his groping, pawing, squeezing, slobbering, and lewd language, saying "to think that my years of public service are being besmirched by a parade of hysterical women overreacting to my amorous advances is gut-wrenching." "His lack of self-awareness is stunning," said one of his accusers. "If he considers hearing his exploits 'gut-wrenching,' what about those on the receiving end of his unwelcome intrusions into our personal space?" Another accuser questioned Cuomo's knowledge of anatomy saying, "it wasn't my gut that he was wrenching. Bust-wrenching...

Molesters of a feather stick together. – To literally no one’s surprise anywhere, China Joe Biden refused to condemn the behavior of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo when asked about the Governor’s ever-expanding sexual harassment and nursing home killings scandals. Biden, who himself stands credibly accused by at least a dozen women of inappropriate touching and hair sniffing – not to mention his wildly in appropriate public interactions with children over the decades – obviously does not want to get into the game of casting stones from the glass house in which he consumes his tapioca pudding. Thus, when asked...

SNIP Speaking during an unrelated press briefing Sunday in Midtown Manhattan, Gillibrand said she decided to finally come out against Cuomo because she felt it was important that New York be led by someone able to give the pandemic their undivided attention. “Every situation is different,” said Gillibrand, asked how the allegations against Cuomo compared to the accusations against Franken, who ultimately did resign after multiple women accused him of inappropriate physical contact. SNIP “Because of the multiple, credible sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, it’s clear that Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners as well as...

The allegations about Cuomo are causing debate among my co-workers. We spend most of our waking hours with our work colleagues. If it’s sexual harassment when one person expresses interest in another then millions of people who have found their mates at work were sexually harassed. Is it harassment simply to express interest in someone? How would you know unless you ask? Well, if the person expressing interest is the boss, that boss is taking a huge risk. If the other party isn’t interested it’s mighty difficult for the other party to be comfortable in their job, even if the...

President Joe Biden declined the opportunity to call for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation, suggesting he would wait until the end of the investigation before giving his verdict. When the president was asked by a reporter if he believed Cuomo should resign, he replied, “I think the investigation is underway and we should see what it brings us.” Biden spoke briefly about the scandals as he returned to the White House on Sunday after spending the weekend at his home in Delaware. Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris refused for weeks to publicly weigh in on the scandals...

ANew York State whistleblower says that another wrongheaded policy has cost lives to the state’s most vulnerable, and he blames Governor Andrew Cuomo. In 2011, Jeff Monsour won a landmark federal jury trial for whistleblower retaliation after he disclosed abuses in New York state’s group homes. He told The American Conservative that he and Mike Carey, whose son died in a group home over fourteen years ago, have been warning everyone—including Gov. Cuomo—of the so-called floating policy and its deleterious effects on COVID spread in group homes. “You must immediately STOP all floating of caregivers throughout your entire mental health...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio suggested that Governor Andrew Cuomo may ultimately answer widespread calls to resign, but only "right before" a state-led impeachment proceeding is complete. On Sunday the mayor discussed what could lie ahead for the governor, a fellow Democrat, amid mounting sexual misconduct allegations and lingering public backlash over his role in New York's nursing home COVID crisis. "I think he'll try to hold out," de Blasio told CBS News' Margaret Brennan during on Face the Nation, responding to an inquiry about whether Cuomo will in fact step down from his position as governor. "I...