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J.D. Vance, an author and venture capitalist whose best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” focused on the social and economic underpinnings of former President Donald J. Trump’s appeal to the white working class, said on Thursday that he would seek the Republican nomination for the Senate in Ohio. Mr. Vance, 36, enters the campaign as a well-known and well-financed first-time candidate facing an open field. The Republican incumbent, Senator Rob Portman, is retiring after two terms. The race is one of a few in next year’s midterm elections that could determine which party controls the upper chamber of Congress, which is now...

Donald Trump has long claimed that investigations of him are a partisan “witch hunt.” Manhattan DA Cy Vance seems determined to make Trump’s point for him by indicting the Trump Organization along with its chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. The 15-count indictment throws a kitchen sink of charges, including grand larceny, conspiracy, scheme to defraud,and tax fraud. But the whole thing comes down to paying perks to Weisselberg — such as his parking garage fees, tuition for family members and reimbursement of holiday gratuities — and not reporting them as taxable income, or reporting that the wrong Trump entity paid...

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has indicated he does not currently plan to charge the Trump Organization with crimes related to allegations of "hush money" payments and real estate value manipulations, according to a personal lawyer for Donald Trump. Ronald Fischetti, a New York attorney who represents the former president, said on Monday that in a meeting last week, he asked Vance’s team for details on charges they were considering. According to Fischetti, members of Vance’s team said they were considering bringing charges against the Trump Organization and its individual employees related to alleged failures to pay taxes on corporate...

There has been an increasingly frenzied gusher of leaks from the offices of New York County’s District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, Jr., telling breathless journalists that the grand jury is about to indict The Trump Organization, maybe as early as next week. These leaks specifically relate to the sitting grand jury (which just continued a previous one dating back to 2018). These leaks tell the public that the grand jury will indict Donald Trump any day now. Of course, the hyper-ventilating journalists are confusing an “any day now” indictment of The Trump Organization (a company) with an arrest of Donald Trump...

Trump lawyer: Manhattan DA won't charge former president Cy Vance's team plans to bring narrowly focused charges in its probe of the Trump Organization, says Ron Fischetti.Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has indicated he does not currently plan to charge the Trump Organization with crimes related to allegations of "hush money" payments and real estate value manipulations, according to a personal lawyer for Donald Trump.Ronald Fischetti, a New York attorney who represents the former president, said on Monday that in a meeting last week, he asked Vance’s team for details on charges they were considering.

Lawyers suggest that District Attorney Cy Vance might use New York’s “little RICO” statute to prosecute enterprise corruption. Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance could be considering a criminal charge that former President Donald Trump’s business empire was a corrupt enterprise under a New York law resembling the federal racketeering statute known as RICO, former prosecutors and defense attorneys said. New York’s enterprise corruption statute — which carries the potential for severe penalties — can be applied to money-making businesses alleged to have repeatedly engaged in criminal activity as a way to boost their bottom line. “I’m sure they’re thinking about...

Leftists are fantasizing about Donald Trump being arrested, booked, and put on trial. Well, they are fantasizing about that…again. The New York State Attorney General’s investigation of the Trump Organization is now “no longer purely civil in nature,” Fabien Levy, the spokesperson for New York Attorney General Letitia James, confirmed to Politico by email. “We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan D.A. We have no additional comment at this time.” It is important for political observers, cowardly-lion Republicans, patriots, and activists to know what is happening here. More ammunition and detail...

Legal experts are picking up “signals” that the Trump team is bracing for subpoenas or indictments in the New York City and Georgia investigations into the former president. Washington, D.C.-based public interest lawyer John Banzhaf, who prompted the election interference investigation in Georgia, said the case is heating up. He noted that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is struggling for documents from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who is said to be “lawyering up.” Meanwhile, Willis has hired a special prosecutor who had a role in the Whitewater case against former President Bill Clinton. Banzhaf also noted that...

Manhattan’s district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr, the veteran prosecutor overseeing a criminal investigation into the former US president, Donald Trump, announced on Friday that he intends to retire instead of seeking re-election, opting against a primary fight with progressive candidates who say he is a relic and not a reformer. Vance made the announcement in a memo to staffers, ending months of speculation about his future and signaling it is likely to be a brand-new DA who sees the Trump case through, although Vance could still make a decision about charges before his term expires at the end of the...

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., a veteran prosecutor overseeing a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump, said Friday that he won’t seek reelection, opting against a primary fight with progressive candidates who say he’s a relic and not a reformer. Vance made the announcement in a memo to staffers, ending months of speculation about his future and almost certainly guaranteeing it’ll be a brand-new D.A. who sees the Trump case through. His term expires at the end of the year. Vance, a Democrat, counted Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction a year ago among his crowning achievements but faced withering...

Prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney's office have reportedly subpoenaed financial records related to Stephen Bannon and his crowd-funded southern border wall project, according to a CNN report. The network reports that the subpoenas were sent shortly after former President Trump issued Bannon a pardon for federal conspiracy crimes in connection to the southern border wall. Trump's pardon only applied to federal crimes, meaning Bannon could still possibly be charged in state courts. Reports came out early in February that the Manhattan DA's office was looking into potential state charges against Bannon. Sources close to the matter told The Washington...

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is considering whether to prosecute Steve Bannon for state crimes. The former senior White House advisor last month received a pardon in a federal criminal case from then-President Donald Trump. The inquiry by District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s office underscores the double-edged sword of presidential pardons, which only apply to federal crimes, not to state cases.

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed President Trump's latest bid to block a subpoena for his taxes from Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero rejected Trump's arguments that the subpoena, from a state grand jury looking into payments made to adult actress Stormy Daniels before Trump 2016 presidential win, was issued in bad faith and is too broad. "We will appeal," the president's personal lawyer Jay Sekulow said. Vance is seeking eight years of Trump's personal and business tax returns as well as other financial documents as part of an investigation into the president's business...

by Joe Callen In a stunning, unexpected ruling, a judge on Wednesday tossed out New York State charges of mortgage fraud against Paul Manafort because of ‘double jeopardy’ laws. This is a huge victory for Paul Manafort, who remains in custody on federal charges, because this opens a way for Trump to issue him a presidential pardon. And not just for Manafort: this ruling throws a legal hand grenade into the entire Democrat strategy of punishing former Trump aides and supporters with state charges to bypass his pardon powers. Manafort, 70, is currently serving a seven and half year prison sentence...

New York City prosecutors have subpoenaed President Donald Trump’s tax returns, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Monday. Manhattan District Attorney’s Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office recently sent a subpoena to Trump’s accounting firm seeking the last eight years of state and federal tax returns for Trump and his company, the Trump Organization, the person said. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Asked about the subpoena as he left the White House on Monday, Trump said: “I don’t know anything about it.” A lawyer...

Two members of the right-wing Proud Boys group were convicted Monday for brawling with leftist antifa members in Manhattan last year. A jury found John Kinsman and Maxwell Hare guilty of attempted gang assault, attempted assault and riot stemming from the confrontation near the Metropolitan Republican Club following a speech by former Proud Boys leader Gavin McInnes in October 2018. Both men face up to 15 years in prison and will remain free until their sentencing. Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. hailed the convictions as a blow against the rise of extremism and “mob violence.” “As extremism rises in...

AUG. 29, 2018 (FLASHBACK) In late June, New York governor Andrew Cuomo quietly ordered the suspension of an ongoing investigation into whether the Manhattan District Attorney’s office had mishandled sexual-assault allegations made against Harvey Weinstein in March of 2015. As it turns out, this decision came just a few days after Weinstein’s former lawyer’s firm donated $25,000 to Cuomo’s reelection campaign, according to an illuminating new report. According to the report, which was published on Capital & Main, Cuomo’s campaign received a $25,000 donation from Weinstein’s former laywer David Boies’s firm on June 20. On June 26, Cuomo ordered the...

DOn't see a discussion thread on Acosta's press conference. Is anyone else watching?

The Manhattan district attorney’s office is considering pursuing criminal charges against the Trump Organization and two senior company officials in connection with Michael D. Cohen’s hush money payment to an adult film actress, according to two officials with knowledge of the matter. A state investigation would center on how the company accounted for its reimbursement to Mr. Cohen for the $130,000 he paid to the actress, Stephanie Clifford, who has said she had an affair with President Trump, the officials s

Give the woman credit for candor. She made clear what Dems are banking on: that the Mueller report will bring down President Trump. On today’s Morning Joe, Joyce White Vance, whom Pres. Obama appointed as US Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, gave away the game plan. Responding to Joe Scarborough’s question as to why Rudy Giuliani is “lying,” Vance said: “Giuliani and the President are playing to the court of public opinion, because they know that they’ll lose in a court of law . . . They know bad news will come in the form of a report...