Free Republic

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A former top aide to California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been indicted on federal charges alleging her involvement in a scheme to steal campaign money from former federal Health Secretary Xavier Becerra. Dana Williamson was arrested and appeared in court Wednesday in Sacramento. She pleaded not guilty to all charges, and a judge ordered her released from custody. The federal indictment lists four other co-conspirators. It alleges that Williamson developed a plan with Sean McCluskie, a longtime Becerra aide, to siphon money from one of Becerra’s dormant state campaign accounts to give to McCluskie to pad...

A pair of Republican senators are asking the Trump administration to investigate Planned Parenthood for potential financial fraud stemming from the COVID era, as Congress moves to allow continued prosecutions for COVID-related fraud. Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) recently sent a letter to Kelly Loeffler, head of the Small Business Administration (SBA), asking her to look into Planned Parenthood’s “unlawful” collection of over $100 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds and to provide Congress with related documents which the Biden administration previously withheld. According to the senators, Planned Parenthood affiliates were alerted in the first half...

A spokesman for Public Policy Polling admitted Wednesday to withholding a poll showing Colorado voters were going to recall State Sen. Angela Giron by a 12-point margin.The reason, according to PPP pollster Tom Jensen, was that “in a district that Barack Obama won by almost 20 points, I figured there was no way that could be right and made a rare decision not to release the poll.”When the votes were counted in race, the poll turned out to be on target, as Giron lost by 12 points. “We should have had more faith in our numbers,” Jensen said.Interestingly, the poll...