August 8, 2020

Tiffany Trump, Don Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle party on boats in Montauk including 'Team Deplorable

*such a great example of "we really don't care about anybody but us"....

(Daily Mail UK) Donald Trump Jr, his sister and girlfriend took part in a 'Trumpilla' in the Hamptons on Friday ahead of a potentially lucrative weekend of fundraising in the region by the president.

Trump is hoping to rake in $15 million in campaign cash on Saturday in a series of fundraisers in the Southampton area of Long Island, including a stop at the home of Don Jr. and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle.

On the eve of the event Don Jr, 42, was spotted participating in a Trump rally on a series of boats off the coastal town of Montauk, 25 miles along the coast from Southampton.
Also at the boat parade was Don Jr's sister Tiffany, 26, and her boyfriend Michael Boulos.

In a blue swimsuit and white loose-fitting pants, Tiffany waved from the deck at the other participants in the 'Trumpilla'.

Boaters across the nation have been taking to the waterways to show their support for the president, ahead of his election battle this November.
<img src="" alt="Donald Trump Jr, his sister and girlfriend took part in a 'Trumpilla' in the Hamptons on Friday ahead of a potentially lucrative weekend of fundraising in the region by the president"/>

<img src="" alt="Tiffany later swapped her swimsuit and white pants for a dress. Here boyfriend Michael wore a MAGA cap to show his support for the cause"/>

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ushome/index.html

August 6, 2020

In bombshell plea, close friend admits to murdering former Arkansas state senator

(ABC News) In a surprise twist to a baffling Southern murder mystery, the main suspect in the June 2019 murder of former Arkansas state Sen. Linda Collins-Smith, will spend 54 years in prison after pleading guilty to the murder in court this morning.

"I went to Linda's house, and I intentionally killed her and then hid the body," Rebecca Lynn O'Donnell, 49, told the judge, according to ABC News affiliate KATV in Little Rock.

The bombshell plea change follows one year after prosecutors in the case announced their intention to seek the death penalty against O'Donnell, who worked as both an aide to the senator, and later an employee of Collins-Smith's business. The two were considered close friends.

Snip

Smith said in the statement that he believes O'Donnell was stealing money from his mother and when she confronted O'Donnell, she was stabbed to death. The initial judge overseeing the case sealed the records of the investigation before recusing himself, leaving many in the small Arkansas community wondering what could have prompted such a heinous homicide. All prosecutors have revealed to date is that the motive for the murder appeared to be financial in nature.(Read More)

https://abcnews.go.com/US/bombshell-plea-close-friend-admits-murdering-arkansas-state/story?id=72214576

August 6, 2020

Capital One fined $80M by regulators over 2019 data breach

(WBJ) Capital One Financial Corp (NYSE: COF) will pay an $80 million fine and enter into a consent order with its regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, over issues related to a data breach in 2019 that exposed more than 106 million records of customers and credit card applicants.

McLean-based Capital One said at the time that the breach happened due to “a specific configuration vulnerability” that had since been fixed. The OCC found that the bank failed to establish effective risk assessment processes prior to migrating to a cloud environment. Capital One neither admitted nor denied the findings, according to the consent order.

“The Bank’s internal audit failed to identify numerous control weaknesses and gaps in the cloud operating environment. Internal audit also did not effectively report on and highlight identified weaknesses and gaps to the Audit Committee,” the OCC said in its order. “For certain concerns raised by internal audit, the Board failed to take effective actions to hold management accountable, particularly in addressing concerns regarding certain internal control gaps and weaknesses."

The OCC order, which was also accompanied by a cease-and-desist order, said the bank “has begun addressing the identified corrective action and has been committed to providing resources to remedy the deficiencies.” (Read More)

https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2020/08/06/capital-one-federal-reserve-occ.html

August 6, 2020

Saudi Crown Prince accused of assassination plot against senior exiled official

Washington (CNN) A former top Saudi intelligence official who fell out with the Saudi Crown Prince is alleging that an assassination squad traveled from Saudi Arabia to Canada to try to kill him just days after journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by members of the same group, according to a new legal complaint filed Thursday by the alleged target, Dr. Saad Aljabri, in DC District Court.

Aljabri accuses the Kingdom's powerful crown prince and defacto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, of dispatching the hit team to murder him just over a year after Aljabri fled from Saudi Arabia and he refused repeated efforts by the Crown Prince to lure him back home or somewhere more accessible to the Saudis. Aljabri also names numerous alleged co-conspirators, including two of the men accused of being behind the Khashoggi operation.

MBS, according to previously unreported WhatsApp text messages referenced in the complaint, demanded that Aljabri immediately return to Saudi Arabia. As he repeatedly refused, Aljabri alleges the Crown Prince escalated his threats, saying they would use "all available means" and threatened to "take measures that would be harmful to you." The Crown Prince also barred Aljabri's children from leaving the country.

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The allegations of the assassination squad are "credible," says fervent MBS critic Rep. Tom Malinowski, a Democrat from New Jersey and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "When somebody who we already know is responsible for the kidnapping, rendition, murder and torture of other people in this category sends you a text message warning that bad things will happen to you, it's fair to assume that he means business," Malinowski said. (Read More)

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/06/politics/saudi-assassination-plot-allegations/index.html

August 5, 2020

FBI raids Miami office during probe into billionaire's alleged money laundering

MIAMI – FBI agents raided a 55th-floor office overlooking Biscayne Bay on Tuesday in downtown Miami. The search for evidence is part of a money-laundering investigation related to alleged bank fraud in Ukraine, a source with the FBI said. The case related to the raid is under seal. Federal agents were at the Southeast Financial Center tower office that two Miami businessmen, Mordechai “Motti’” Korf and Uriel “Uri” Laber, use to run several companies. No one was detained during the raid.

snip

FBI Cleveland Special Agent Vicki Anderson told Cleveland’s ABC News affiliate the raid in Miami was connected to a raid at the offices of The Optima Management Group, a commercial real estate management and investment firm based in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Optima Management Group is partly owned by Ihor Kolomoyskyi, a Cypriot-Ukrainian billionaire with Israeli citizenship. Kolomoyskyi was allegedly involved in the $5.5 billion fraud at the largest commercial bank in Ukraine. An accusation he has denied.

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‘UKRAINEGATE’ CONNECTION

Kolomoyskyi is also known for accusing former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, of orchestrating a conspiracy against Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Giuliani then accused Kolomoisky of threatening two of his clients, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two South Florida businessmen who were born in the Soviet Union.

Read More: https://www.local10.com/news/local/2020/08/04/fbi-raids-miami-office-during-probe-linked-to-billionaires-alleged-optima-schemes/

August 4, 2020

Happy Birthday Mr. President - we love you!

<img src="" alt="File resident Barack Obama pets Bo, the Obama family dog, after returning to the White House from an event at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md., March 15, 2012.jpg"/>

August 3, 2020

Manhattan DA Suggests He Is Investigating Trump Org For Fraud

(Talking Points Memo) The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is probing the Trump Organization over fraud allegations, state prosecutors suggested in a Monday court filing.


The probe covers allegations of potential bank and insurance fraud, wrote Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance in a motion to dismiss a federal case that President Trump filed to block a subpoena that New York prosecutors obtained for the President’s tax returns, which are held by a third-party accounting firm. The Supreme Court dismissed a challenge from President Trump to the subpoena last month, but left room for him to continue objecting to the demand for documents at the district court level.

Vance cited news reports and an article referencing former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony in the filing. At a hearing before the House Oversight Committee last year, Cohen alleged that Trump would change the book value of his properties for lenders and insurers. The filing does not appear to cite a specific act of alleged wrongdoing as the focus of the investigation, however, instead arguing that “undisputed information in the public record” invalidates Trump’s earlier accusation that the subpoena was “wildly overbroad.”

Rather, Vance argued, there have been “public allegations of possible criminal activity at Plaintiff’s New York County-based Trump Organization dating back over a decade.” “Although the Office bears no affirmative burden to justify the breadth of the Mazars Subpoena, and although Plaintiff is not entitled to know the scope and nature of the grand jury investigation, publicly available information itself establishes a satisfactory predicate for the Mazars Subpoena,” Vance argued.

Trump asked a Manhattan federal judge to throw out the subpoena last year, and re-upped the request last month after the Supreme Court rejected his argument that his status as President rendered him “immune from criminal process” but gave him leave to file further arguments. Trump’s first round of arguments saw one of his attorneys claim that, were the President to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, police could only investigate the crime until after the expiry of his presidential term.

Read the filing here: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/manhattan-da-says-he-is-investigating-trump-org-for-fraud

August 2, 2020

Melania Trump's brilliant Rose Garden idea

*somehow I missed this witty editorial written directly to Melania by a gardening expert

(CNN) I saw your announcement about renovating the White House Rose Garden. Great idea! This is a fine opportunity to give America's most famous garden a long-overdue facelift. The Rose Garden is an American treasure and a symbol of our country's can-do attitude. President Ulysses Grant once tried to grow vegetables there. John F. Kennedy celebrated the safe return of astronauts in the garden. Tricia Nixon got married there. And your husband famously celebrated his response to the Covid crisis there: "If we didn't do testing, instead of testing over 40 million people, if we did half the testing we would have half the cases."

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I am excited about your plans. Let's consider them point-by-point:

1. You want to replace crabapple trees with white rose shrubs.
Love this idea! In fact, my own back garden is ringed with white roses. Given your husband's sour opinion of the press corps that gathers in the garden, shouldn't you be thinking of adding more crabapples? Or maybe barrel cactus, whose sharp needles pierce the skin?

2. You want "electrical upgrades" for TV appearances.
When Bunny Mellon's crew dug up the lawn in 1962, a worker's shovel cut a cord that connected to the nation's nuclear response system, according to Meryl Gordon's 2017 biography, "Bunny Mellon: The Life of an American Style Legend." Launching World War III was not an option until repairs were made. Though your husband's relationship with Russia has never been better, we need to really think this one through. Dig very, very carefully, and keep Vladimir Putin in the loop.

3. You want to improve drainage.
This is a problem that every great gardener faces. Sadly, too few are willing to spend the time and effort to deal with it. In fact, I hear that it's a bit of a swamp over there at the White House right now. Drain it! It's been almost four years. What have you been waiting for?

(Read More) https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/27/opinions/melania-trumps-great-idea-slatalla/?hpt=ob_blogfooterold

August 1, 2020

Laurence Tribe says if a 2020 result isn't decided by January 20, Pelosi will be president

(Last night on Joy Reid's show - The Reid Out)

https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/watch/laurence-tribe-says-if-a-2020-result-isn-t-decided-by-january-20-pelosi-will-be-president-89374789734

August 1, 2020

House Democrats subpoena Pompeo for documents on Biden's son

(ABC News) The House Foreign Affairs Committee has subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for documents he turned over to a Senate panel that is investigating Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden

WASHINGTON -- The House Foreign Affairs Committee has subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for documents he turned over to a Senate panel that is investigating Hunter Biden, a son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Committee Chair Eliot Engel said Friday he had issued the subpoena as part of an investigation into Pompeo's “apparent use of Department of State resources to advance a political smear of former Vice President Joe Biden.”

The subpoena demands all the records that the department has turned over to Republican-led Senate committees that are investigating Hunter Biden's work for a gas company in Ukraine while his father was vice president. It also asks for internal department emails about responding to Congress. The committee says Pompeo had delivered more than 16,000 pages of records to the Senate but refused to send the same materials to the Democrat-led House. “Secretary Pompeo has turned the State Department into an arm of the Trump campaign and he’s not even trying to disguise it," Engel said in a statement announcing the subpoena, which demands the materials by next week.

snip

The new efforts by Democrats come as the nation’s intelligence agencies, congressional intelligence committees and Joe Biden have all warned of renewed election interference by Russia this year. Trump himself has been loath to discuss the subject or acknowledge that Russia tried to sow discord in the 2016 contest by hacking Democratic accounts and pushing out inflammatory content on social media (Read More)

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/house-democrats-subpoena-pompeo-documents-bidens-son-72109023