Kiana Champagne Fletcher is a reminder to all citizens not to bark at police dogs. Fletcher started barking at a police dog that was being used by police to sniff a car during a traffic stop. She caught the attention of officers who say that they recognized her from two outstanding warrants.
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Fall River (Mass) police are seeking this woman in a rather curious investigation of someone who appears to have decided NOT to rob a bank. The woman ripped up a note to a teller that was later found in the trash. What is the crime? Attempted bank robbery for walking into a bank and writing a note?
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I have previously written about the disgraceful sweetheart deal given to accused serial pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The deal was struck by Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta and not only succeeded in protecting Epstein from serous jail time but protecting a host of high-profile friends including Bill Clinton who were regulars at his infamous island resort. The problem is that the investigation is not being handled by the Inspector General but the oft-criticized DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility. OPR is routinely criticized for its defense of accused officials, even in some indefensible circumstances. For critics, it often seems more like OPR offers more cover than scrutiny in controversies over prosecutorial abuse. Moreover, the Epstein scandal involves serious questions of corrupt influence by powerful friends of Epstein. Such questions require serious investigative measures. OPR is more likely to find that the deal was within the scope of permissible decisions by a prosecutor like Acosta despite being widely ridiculed as an utter disgrace.
Continue reading “DOJ Agrees To Investigate Epstein Deal . . . Sort Of”
A new set of emails has become public that shows the extent of the effort to secure a Trump Tower deal in Moscow during the election. The most notable emails are between two of Trump’s associates: Michael Cohen and Felix Sater. Sater’s boasting about Trump and Putin was previously known but now the emails have been disclosed. In one email, Sater (who seems to rival Cohen in competition for the most seedy Trump associations) brags about his close contacts with Putin and how he can get the Tower approved. He then adds “I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected.” He also that it would be “pretty cool to get a USA President elected” and, if successful, wanted to be the ambassador to the Bahamas: “That my friend is the home run I want out of this.” With the Mueller report now reportedly coming within the month, the emails could be used to show a strong business interest in Moscow — an interest that continued during the campaign.
Continue reading “Trump Associate: “Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it.””
A University of North Carolina college student in Greensboro thought she had a ghost in her apartment. Clothes were disappearing and she would hear movement or knocks. However, when she finally summoned the courage to look inside, she found a man in her closet, dressed in her clothes.
Continue reading “College Student Thinks She Has A Ghost . . . Instead Finds Homeless Man In Her Closet In Her Clothes”
Below is my column in The Hill Newspaper exploring the current evidence supporting a criminal collusion case against President Donald Trump or his campaign. While clearly not popular to raise, the evidence released to date is rather underwhelming. Indeed, the basis for a criminal collusion prosecution is weaker today than it was a year ago. That does not mean that new evidence cannot be released but this is an attempt at an objective review of past filings and disclosures from the Special Counsel, Congress, and witnesses. That evidence strengthens the case against collusion and certainly supplies ample foundation for a defense against the charge of a criminal conspiracy with the Russians in hacking computer systems. Once again, the column only addresses the basis for a criminal charge based on collusion by Trump or his campaign. The prosecution of Russians for hacking is strong and the fact that Russians wanted to help Trump seems unassailable. The narrative supporting a criminal conspiracy however seems increasing incomplete and incoherent.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Is The Criminal Collusion Theory Dead?”
For over a year, many of the theories of Russian collusion have highlighted a mysterious call to an unpublished number by Donald Trump Jr. in the critical period of the infamous meeting with Russians in Trump Tower. Democratic members apparently received the disappointing news this week that the number has been tracked down and did not belong to President Donald Trump but business associates of his son.
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The Los Angeles police department has been looking for a man who beat two women at a hot dog stand and then ran off — all captured on a videotape later distributed by the LAPD. He turns out to be Arka Sangbarani Oroojian who turned himself in to the LAPD.
Continue reading “California Man Surrenders After Video Of An Attack On Two Women At Hot Dog Stand”
For six weeks, Matt Crull, 29, sat in a Florida jail on a charge of trafficking heroin. The state finally got around to test the bag of heroin that was found at the time of the arrest to have tested positive for the drug. It turns out that it was Tide laundry detergent and the officer who made the arrest was fired after a series of arrests of innocent people.
Continue reading “Florida Man Held For Over 40 Days Before Police Test Bag Of “Heroin” And Find Tide Detergent”
Below is my column in The Hill newspaper on the Stone memorandum and the specific counts indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Notably, after investigating Stone for much of two years, Mueller ended up indicting Stone overlapping false statements from a transcript that he secured just weeks ago from Congress. The coverage has been wildly out of sync with the substance of the indictment. There were many people, including journalists, who were trying to review the Wikileaks materials. That is not a crime. The stated desire to see any Wikileaks material is neither surprising nor illegal. Moreover, we already knew that Stone wanted to see the Wikileaks material and that he was seeking information from Wikileaks. He stated so publicly.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Mueller’s Roadkill Trophy: A Hunt For Collusion Bags A Circus Clown”
There is a disturbing account in The Oregonian/OregonLive that raises a long-standing issue that few people want to talk about in Washington: the long record of Saudi Arabia in violating our laws and helping felons flee the country before trial or sentencing. The article addresses just a few cases but it is a problem nationwide as Saudi Arabian nationals kill or injure Americans only to have the government help the culprits post bond and then flee. For example, Abdulrahman Ali Al-Plaies was accused of killing a 79-year-old woman in the center of Xenia, Ohio, a small Ohio town. Just days before trial, the Saudis allegedly sent a military officer to whisk him away.
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In a truly bizarre arrest, St. Louis police officer Nathaniel Hendren, 29, has been charged with allegedly shooting fellow officer, Katlyn Alix (left), 24, in a game of Russian Roulette. The third officer was involved in the bizarre crime.
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Below is my column in USA Today on the Roger Stone indictment. I have been frankly astonished by the coverage, which has focused on simply the fact that he was charged as opposed to what he was charged with. Once again, the indictment’s significance has been uniformly over-played with little objective analysis of the specific counts themselves. From any objective perspective it is underwhelming in both the underlying conduct and the scope of the allegations.
Here is the column:
MoreMonths ago, I wrote about how Special Counsel Robert Mueller was clearly gunning for Stone with an increasing intensity (here and here and here). Stone was arrested early Friday morning in another signature raid on his home by the FBI. Once again, as with the treatment of Paul Manafort, it is unclear why prosecutors wanted to have a night raid on his home (captured by awaiting media) for non-violent crimes. It was entirely unnecessary in my view. The criminal counts themselves are additional counts of false statements and witness tampering. These type of process crimes are the majority of charged conduct against non-Russians in the investigation other than the unrelated crimes against figures like Manafort.
Continue reading “Roger Stone Indicted”
Today, the global bar groups rallied in support of the rule of law on the “International Day of the Endangered Lawyer.” The international effort is designed to draw attention to the thousands of lawyers and judges killed or imprisoned each year as they fight for basic legal rights in countries from China to Iran to Venezuela. However, no bar is more devastated than the one in Turkey where thousands of lawyers have been imprisoned and tortured for fighting the authoritarian regime of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Despite the praise from our president, Erdogan has continued a comprehensive campaign against the free press and political dissidents. This campaign however first required the elimination of thousands of lawyers to eradicate the rule of law to make way for his brutal religious-based authoritarian rule.
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