Fani Willis’s Campaign Linked to Convicted Fraudulent Attorney

Luis Cornelio
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Fani Willis’s Campaign Linked to Convicted Fraudulent Attorney

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A corrupt Atlanta city attorney, convicted of a massive $15 million COVID-19 loan fraud, funneled money into embattled District Attorney Fani Willis’s campaign just as she launched her scheme, the New York Post revealed on Sunday. 

According to Georgia campaign records, former Atlanta Assistant City Attorney and ex-police officer Shelitha Robertson, who now stands disgraced, donated $1,000 to Willis’s primary election campaign.  

This revelation is particularly damning as Willis is facing a scandal of her own for having an affair with a special prosecutor who she hired to lead criminal charges against former President Donald Trump for questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election. 

Robertson, now notorious for her criminal activities, was recently sentenced to seven years in federal prison for fraudulently securing $15 million in loans from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a controversial pandemic relief initiative.  

Prosecutors uncovered that Robertson used taxpayer funds to indulge in luxury purchases, including a lavish 10-carat diamond ring. The scheme involved her directing friends to apply for PPP loans intended solely for her personal gain and for businesses that she owned. 

“Motivated by greed, Robertson deceptively obtained funds that were designated to provide emergency financial relief to struggling small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan in a press statement.

“We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute criminals who stole pandemic relief funds,” the federal prosecutor added.

Robertson’s donation to Willis’s campaign occurred in May 2020, while she was vying for the district attorney position against scandal-plagued incumbent Paul Howard. Howard himself was embroiled in multiple scandals, including allegations of sexual harassment.

The irony deepens as Willis herself became mired in scandal, awarding a lucrative public contract to her then-boyfriend, Nathan Wade, to head the investigation into Trump.  

Ethical concerns led Judge Scott McAfee, overseeing the election case, to mandate Wade’s resignation from the investigation. 

The fate of Willis’s prosecution is now unclear as Trump and his co-defendants push to disqualify her from the case entirely, citing her sexual affair with Wade. 

Justice Jackson’s Lucrative Year: $900K Book Deal and Extravagant Gifts

Luis Cornelio
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Justice Jackson’s Lucrative Year: $900K Book Deal and Extravagant Gifts

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Being a Supreme Court justice comes with its perks, as Ketanji Brown Jackson’s financial disclosures reveal nearly a million dollars in additional earnings.

According to the New York Post, Jackson, the most recent appointee to the court, received a $893,750 advance from Penguin Random House for her upcoming book, Lovely One.

Alongside this substantial advance, Jackson was gifted four tickets to Beyoncé’s sold-out tour and artwork valued at $12,500. 

She also earned a $298,500 salary as a Supreme Court justice, a position she began in June 2022.

Four justices—Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Sonia Sotomayor and Jackson—received a combined $1.6 million from book deals and royalties in 2023 alone, the Post reported.

Kavanaugh, appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2018, earned $340,000 in royalties for an upcoming legal memoir.  

Gorsuch, also a Trump appointee, made $250,000 in book royalties from HarperCollins, while Sotomayor earned $87,000 from Penguin Random House. Sotomayor has been on the court since 2009. 

Justice Clarence Thomas disclosed receiving two photo albums valued at $2,000. 

Additional income for the justices included:

  • Sotomayor earned $1,879 from Fred Rogers Productions for the PBS show Alma’s Way, and between $5,001 and $15,000 from a Miami rental property. 
  • Justice Elena Kagan made between $15,001 and $50,000 from renting a parking space in Washington, D.C. 
  • Income from teaching law included justices Gorsuch ($29,782), Kavanaugh ($25,000) and Amy Coney Barrett ($14,947).
  • Chief Justice John Roberts earned $312,200. 

According to the Post, Justice Samuel Alito requested a 90-day extension for his financial disclosure. 

New Report Exposes Biden Henchmen’s Deeper Ties to Troubled Son, Brother

Luis Cornelio
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New Report Exposes Biden Henchmen’s Deeper Ties to Troubled Son, Brother

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) President Joe Biden’s efforts to distance himself from his indicted son, Hunter Biden, and embattled brother, Jim Biden, are unraveling as a new report reveals further connections between the president and his family’s controversial business dealings. 

A Politico report published Saturday exposes that Joe Biden has shared key personnel with his disgraced son and brother. This includes a bookkeeper for Hunter Biden, a personal attorney for Jim Biden and even a Secret Service head who later worked as a private investigator for Jim Biden. 

These revelations come amid the president’s repeated denials of any involvement in his family’s business activities, which are now under scrutiny in an impeachment inquiry led by House Republicans. 

“Many of the president’s closest staffers and advisers have doubled as his relatives’ business associates, both during and after their stints working for the man at the center of the Biden family orbit,” Politico reported. 

The outlet noted that this “all-in-the family approach to business and politicking” dates back to the 1970s, when Joe Biden first ran for Senate. 

Here are the key individuals with ties to both Joe Biden and his aides: 

  • Eric Schwerin: Served as the president’s personal bookkeeper during the Obama-Biden administration. Schwerin also worked as Hunter Biden’s business partner and personal bookkeeper. 
  • Mel Monzack: Worked as a personal attorney for Joe Biden and Jim Biden. 
  • Fran Person: Served as Joe Biden’s bodyguard before attempting to launch a business partnership with Hunter Biden. 
  • Kevin O’Connor: Worked as Joe Biden’s physician during his vice presidency and later sought a health care deal with Jim Biden in 2017. 
  • Dave Pupillo: Led Joe Biden’s Secret Service detail during his vice presidency and later worked as a private investigator for Jim Biden. 

These connections, which Politico described in detail, underscore a long-standing pattern of intertwining family and business within the Biden orbit, fueling the impeachment inquiry. 

NYC Drivers Terrorized by Illegals in ‘Sickening’ Extortion Scheme

Luis Cornelio
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NYC Drivers Terrorized by Illegals in ‘Sickening’ Extortion Scheme

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A chilling new video allegedly shows illegal immigrants jumping in front of moving cars in New York City as part of a scheme to extort money and other perks from drivers, according to the New York Post. 

This scam, first exposed earlier this year, has been detailed further in the new video footage. A 37-year-old driver named Christina shared her terrifying experience with the Post. 

“All of the sudden, I see a man in front of my car with eyes wide open, screaming, staring at me in the eye. … He was trying to get me to run him over,” Christina recounted.

“If I was distracted for one split second, or looking down, or if someone was in the left lane, my life would be over… It’s just sickening,” she added. 

The incident occurred on May 6 after 7:30 a.m. Christina suspects the man involved resides at a homeless shelter located in Floyd Bennett Field. 

Three other Rockaway Beach residents have reported similar experiences of attempted extortion, the Post reported. 

“It happened to me . . . in the dark early morning,” one resident wrote on a Facebook post about Christina’s ordeal.  

Another user added, “Someone did this to me outside the 7/11 on Flatbush about three weeks ago.” 

On the same day, another woman reported that “a man jumped in front of my daughter’s car this morning … She was able to brake in time and didn’t hit him.” 

Retired NYPD officer John B. described the scam in an interview with the Post earlier this year, saying, “They’re scaring people saying, ‘You just hit me, and I’m going to report it if you don’t give me the money.’” 

This scheme emerges as New York City faces an unprecedented wave of illegal aliens due to what has been widely described as President Joe Biden’s open border policies. 

Larry Nassar Allegedly Trading Sexual Favors for Prison Protection

Luis Cornelio
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Larry Nassar Allegedly Trading Sexual Favors for Prison Protection

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Convicted child abuser Larry Nassar has reportedly performed sexual favors and paid money to gang members in exchange for protection during his life sentence, according to a former inmate. 

“Larry Nassar has decided… sucking d–k is a better way… of staying alive,” said Grace Pinson, a former inmate who served time at the same prison where Nassar was held, in an interview with the New York Post published Saturday.

Pinson claims that in June 2021, Nassar entered a cell with Mexican gang members at Sumter County, Fla. penitentiary.

As the windows and doors were shut, Pinson believed the group was either doing drugs or engaging in sexual acts. She asserts that Nassar was not involved in drug use and described him as a “scared little church mouse.”

Pinson, a transgender inmate serving 20 years for threatening former President George Bush, stated that Nassar would only leave his cell to visit the chapel.

“He wished he didn’t need those guys,” she said, referring to a conversation with Nassar. “In some ways what they expected of him was worse than the idea of being stabbed and killed.”

According to Pinson, Nassar would pay several hundred dollars for protection, based on her conversations with gang members during her time in jail.

She believed the gang members made Nassar perform sexual favors as a twisted form of retribution for his molestation of young girls.

“Making Larry Nassar suck your d–k in prison — it’s a twisted way of paying him back for what he did to those women,” Pinson said.

Despite paying for protection, Nassar was brutally stabbed by a fellow inmate after making disturbing remarks about tennis players, reported the New York Post.

Pinson explained that the gang members did not intervene in the stabbing because “you’re not going to risk your life for Larry Nassar for a couple of hundred bucks.”

Nassar is serving a life sentence for sexually molesting over 250 girls and women under the guise of medical treatment. 

Israeli Divestment Ban Proposed in Pennsylvania

Editor 5
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Israeli Divestment Ban Proposed in Pennsylvania

(Christen Smith, The Center Square) – Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want to protect the state’s Israeli financial holdings despite mounting public pressure to cut ties amid the ongoing war with Hamas.

Sens. Steve Santarsiero, D-Doylestown, and Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-Jacobus, said they’ll soon introduce legislation to “uphold Pennsylvania’s steadfast support for Israel” by banning from state Treasury or pension funds from divesting from the nation and companies that do business with it.

Santarsiero emphasized Israel’s role as a commercial trading partner, historical ally, and “the only true democracy in a volatile region of the world.”

“To that end, we must act to prevent our commonwealth, including our colleges and universities, from taking the wholly unwarranted action of divesting from Israel,” he said Friday in a joint statement with Phillips-Hill.

“Like America, Israel will not be bullied by detractors,” Phillips-Hill added, calling on all policymakers to act. “A strong and prosperous Israel needs a strong partner in the United States.”

Elected officials, including Gov. Josh Shapiro and Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, have been emphatic in their support for the embattled nation as its bombing campaign in Gaza – triggered by a Hamas-led assault on Oct. 7 that left 1,200 Israelis dead and more than 200 taken hostage – stretches into a seventh month.

Israel’s bombings in the region have killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians, injured more than 78,000 and displaced 1.7 million, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The violence spawned protests across the nation, including one at the University of Pennsylvania, where demonstrators demanded the state boycott Israeli financial holdings.

University officials eventually disbanded the encampment, with Shapiro’s backing, and pointed to state law that prevents publicly funded institutions from divesting.

Treasurer Stacy Garrity expressed support for the bill on Friday, saying “there’s no question” that other state funds should be prohibited from divesting. In the weeks after the Hamas attack, she upped Israeli bonds by nearly half.

“I also agree with the senators that no university or college which divests from Israel should receive state funding,” she told The Center Square. “I urge the General Assembly to get this bill done quickly.”

Tim Scott, Potential Trump VP Pick, Launches a $14 Million Outreach Effort to Minority Voters

Editor 5
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Tim Scott, Potential Trump VP Pick, Launches a $14 Million Outreach Effort to Minority Voters

(Headline USA) A top ally and potential running mate of President Donald Trump is launching a new effort to win over Black and other nonwhite working class voters he argues could be the deciding factor in November’s elections.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott will lead a $14 million campaign targeting minority voters in seven key swing states.

Scott’s push comes as Trump’s campaign is ramping up its own outreach efforts to Hispanic and Black voters, especially Black men, in his expected rematch against Joe Biden. It also gives Scott, one of several Republicans being vetted for vice president by Trump’s campaign, another platform to demonstrate his loyalty — and utility — to the presumptive GOP nominee.

Scott says that, with Trump atop the ticket, he believes Republicans have a unique opportunity to chip into Democrats’ historic dominance with minority voters. Polls show many Black and other nonwhite adults are dissatisfied with Biden’s performance, though Trump could have an uphill battle winning them over given his own unpopularity with those groups.

“Much to the chagrin of many folks, there’s no doubt that African American men are wide open for a political shift of partisanship,” Scott said as he briefed reporters on the effort in Washington this week.

The new campaign will be run by Scott’s Great Opportunity PAC, which was formed after he suspended his campaign for the GOP nomination last year. Aides say the group will work to win over voters in Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

The campaign will include canvassing, digital advertising, direct mail, events and appearances by Scott and other elected officials in minority communities that Scott said Republicans have too often avoided.

While it remains separate from Trump’s campaign, aides said Scott recently met with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-Chair Lara Trump to brief them on his plans.

“We will fight for and earn the vote of Black and brown voters and in doing so help Donald J. Trump win the Presidency and Republicans win back the House and Senate,” reads a memo from Jennifer DeCasper, who managed Scott’s 2024 campaign.

Trump has held a number of events in recent weeks aimed at those groups, including a rally in the New York’s South Bronx and a dinner Wednesday evening with students and alumni from historically Black colleges and universities at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Scott’s group believes a fundamental realignment is underway. It notes that Trump in 2016 won large swaths of white working-class voters who had once formed the heart of Democrats’ Rust Belt base. Now, aides say they sees signs of a broader shift in which more nonwhite working-class voters could turn to Trump, too.

Even a small shift of only a few percentage points with minority voters could make the difference in what is expected to be an exceptionally close election.

At the same time, national Democrats are investing heavily in stopping Trump from making inroads with a core constituency.

Nonetheless, Scott argues Trump’s tenure was better for Black Americans, citing policies like a bipartisan criminal justice reform package Trump signed into law and his funding for historically Black colleges and universities. Voters, he said, are angry and looking for better economic conditions, safer neighborhoods and better schools.

“We’ve seen a lot of seed in this soil that is germinating,” he said. With “a good microphone — someone who’s good at speaking into that microphone — we have a real strong opportunity to make this election unlike the previous elections.”

That could include, Scott allies say, having the senator on Trump’s ticket.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Gun Rights Group Vows to Defend Trump’s Firearm Permit

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Gun Rights Group Vows to Defend Trump’s Firearm Permit

(Christian Wade, The Center Square) — A Second Amendment group is vowing to sue to defend President Donald Trump with the New York Police Department seeking to revoke his concealed carry license following his felony conviction in the porn star trial.

Trump was convicted by a Manhattan jury last Thursday of 34 felony charges of falsifying business documents to cover up alleged hush money payments to porn actor Stormy Daniels. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee plans to appeal the verdict and denies any wrongdoing, claiming the prosecution is politically motivated.

Under New York law, convicted felons are not allowed to have firearm permits. Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is also a federal crime. Trump’s concealed carry license was suspended last year after he was indicted on the charges, and several media outlets are reporting that the NYPD could permanently revoke his gun rights.

But the Second Amendment Foundation, a Washington-based gun rights group, said it will take New York officials to court if they try to permanently take the former president’s concealed carry permit and his guns.

“If Donald Trump is further prosecuted for owning firearms, we will offer to defend him and challenge the law,” Alan M. Gottlieb, SAF’s founder and executive vice president, said in a statement.

Gottlieb said under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in N.Y. State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen case, which requires gun laws to have an analogous connection to “historical regulation” when the Second Amendment was ratified, Trump should not have his right to carry taken away.

“Donald Trump has no history of violent crime,” he said. “There is no historical nexus to deny someone, including Trump, of their gun rights over such a conviction.”

Trump could also keep his firearms if a state appeals court ends up overturning his felony convictions from the hush money trial.

He could keep them by applying for a certificate of relief from civil disabilities, but it’s unclear if the former president’s legal team has filed a petition.

Two of the three pistols Trump was licensed to carry were turned over to the NYPD in March 2023, according to published news reports, while a third gun listed on Trump’s New York license was lawfully moved to Florida, now his primary residence.

Gottlieb said the SAF — whose motto is “Winning Gun Rights One Lawsuit at a Time” — has successfully litigated many legal challenges in the past to restore gun rights for people convicted of non-violent crimes and expects to prevail in a challenge on behalf of the former president.

“The attack on Trump’s gun rights emphasizes the need to revisit existing gun control laws and change them to protect an individual’s gun rights,” he said. “Until that happens, we will be more than happy to meet New York State or the federal government in court.”

Convictions Fail to Sink Trump’s Campaign

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Convictions Fail to Sink Trump’s Campaign

(Casey Harper, The Center Square) – A New York jury convicted President Donald Trump on 34 felony counts last week, but so far it seems to have done little to dampen Trump’s 2024 electoral hopes.

The conviction naturally raised the question of whether they would topple Trump’s 2024 White House bid.

For now, the answer appears to be no.

A New York Times/Siena poll surveyed 1,897 registered voters before and after Trump’s conviction. The results found that before the conviction, Trump led President Joe Biden by three points. After the conviction, Trump led by one point.

Real Clear Politics tracks betting markets on presidential candidates. After the May 30 convictions, Trump’s odds went down for a few days, but they have already nearly returned to pre-conviction levels.

In fact, Trump’s odds are currently better than almost any time this year.

Notably, Trump saw a spike in polling after the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022 that helped propel him to win the Republican nomination.

A Fox News conducted from June 1 to June 4, after Trump’s guilty verdict, has Trump up by 5 points in the swing states of Arizona and Nevada.

The same poll has Trump up by 4 points in Florida and tied in Virginia.

Another post-coviction poll in North Carolina had Trump leading Biden by 5 points.

An Emerson College national survey conducted June 4-5, also after Trump’s conviction, showed Trump has a one point lead over Biden, within the margin of error.

“Trump’s support in our polling remained the same before and after his conviction,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said in a statement. “A majority of Democrats say it makes them less likely to support Trump (51%) and a majority of Republicans (55%) say it makes them more likely to support Trump. A plurality of independents say it makes no impact (41%), while 38% are less likely to vote for Trump and 21% more likely.”

For how Trump should be punished for his conviction, the answers vary.

“Regarding Trump’s July sentencing, a plurality of voters (40%) think Trump should receive prison time for his criminal conviction, 25% think he should pay a fine, and 15% think he should receive probation,” Emerson said. “Twenty percent are unsure.”

Trump has seen a surge in campaign donations since the verdict.

“By the way, right after the announcement of this, more campaign funds were given to this campaign than any campaign they think in history, almost $400 million,” Trump said at a Turning Point Action event Thursday evening.

Republicans have largely rallied around Trump, calling his prosecution politically motivated. A large percentage of Americans have shared similar feelings in recent polls.

Trump drew thousands of supporters in Phoenix Thursday despite heat levels that sent some to the hospital.

“I just went through a rigged trial in New York with a highly-conflicted judge,” Trump said at the event, as The Center Square previously reported.

“If we don’t win, this country is finished,” he continued.

Trump has called on the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in his case, and it appears his other legal woes will likely be delayed until after the November election.

Whether the high court will step in or voters will change their mind if they see Trump behind bars before November remains to be seen.

Giant, Venomous, Flying Spiders Soon to Become a Mainstay on Eastern U.S. Coast

Molly Bruns
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Giant, Venomous, Flying Spiders Soon to Become a Mainstay on Eastern U.S. Coast

(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) From inflation to immigration, Americans living in the Biden era may think they have enough on their plates to worry about.

But it turns out Mother Nature has other plans, adding a new nightmare to the BINGO cards of those living on the Eastern seaboard—and quickly spreading to other parts of the country.

Scientists reported recently on Trichonephila clavata—a species of large, flying, invasive spiders, also known as Joro spiders—that has been spreading throughout the southeastern U.S. since around 2010, according to CBS News.

Native to East Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China, ecologists suspect the spiders immigrated to the U.S. via cargo ships.

Scientists originally discovered the spiders in Georgia in 2014, but they have since continued to spread to Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Joro spiders are anticipated to migrate as far north as New York state, but no residents reported sightings yet.

“As of right now, I haven’t seen any additional records north of Maryland, but that’s something to keep an eye on,” said Jose Ramirez–Garofalo, an ecologist at Rutgers University. “It’s a matter of when, not if.”

Dave Coyle, assistant professor at Clemson University, started studying the spiders upon their discovery stateside in 2014.

“It seems extremely likely that they will have no problem expanding to the whole eastern half of the country,” he said.

Joro spiders are sometimes called parachuting spiders because the small ones shoot long strands of silk that gets caught by the wind, carrying them in the air—a technique known as ballooning.

While the spiders do have some venom, Coyle said there is no evidence of them doing any harm to humans or domestic animals.

Coyle did say that areas with high populations of Joro spiders had lower populations of native spiders.

“That to me is a very distinct ecological impact,” he said.

Joro spiders are large, with some people reporting spiders up to 8 inches in length.

They are also cold tolerant and tough enough to migrate between the northern and southern United States.

Officials encouraged people to squash Joro spiders, as they are an invasive species with a significant impact on other local species of spiders and bugs.

However, scientists were not optimistic about the chances of removing the spiders from America’s ecological landscape.

“It looks like Joro spiders are not going to shy away from building a web under a stoplight or an area where you wouldn’t imagine a spider to be,” said Alexa Schultz, co-author of a study into the arachnids. “I don’t know how happy people are going to be about it, but I think the spiders are here to stay.”

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