Tag: rebuke

The federal convictions of former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and his wife, Linda Mangano, put an official seal on what had already become obvious: the ordinary method of conducting business for the political GOP machine in Oyster Bay was rotten, shot through with corruption, self-dealing and entitlement. Jurors found Friday that Edward Mangano was a key player in a conspiracy to commit bribery and wire fraud and obstruct justice. The convictions stem from actions Edward Mangano took to influence the Town of Oyster Bay to illegally guarantee $20 million in loans to restaurateur Harendra Singh. This was the second trial for the pair after a jury last year could not reach a decision on the Manganos but acquitted former Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto. But it was themselves that Mangano and his pals served, and not just in their dealings with Singh: From 2011 to 2015, Nassau issued 401 no-bid contracts for just less than $25,000, avoiding the need for legislative approval or a bidding process. About $10 million frequently went to political pals, often for work that did not need to be done or was not done. Venditto is set to be tried on state charges that he participated in an Oyster Bay conspiracy to accept bribes from the owners of Carlo Lizza & Sons Paving Inc., a town and Nassau County contractor, along with four other Republican politicos. Over the course of the two Mangano trials, Singh, former Town of Oyster Bay attorney Leonard Genova, who received immunity to testify, and former deputy town attorney Frederick Mei, who pleaded guilty to honest services fraud, led a barrage of prosecution witnesses. Together they laid out a pattern of corruption and influence peddling in the governments of both Nassau County and Oyster Bay that was simply a way of life. The politically connected are entitled to nothing more than a vote.

His swagger gone and his humiliation complete, political operative Roger Stone took the witness stand on Thursday to deliver an abject apology for attacking the judge in his case on social media only to be told it “rings quite hollow” and warned he could have incited violence by his supporters. The courtroom rebuke was a humbling moment for the self-proclaimed dirty trickster, notorious for his love of cigars, shades and tailor-made suits, and whose public appearances usually consist of bravado and Richard Nixon-style victory salutes. Roger Stone: a master of the political dirty trick Read more On Instagram he had posted a picture of Jackson next to an image that appeared to show the crosshairs of a gun, with a caption that described her as an “Obama-appointed judge who dismissed the Benghazi charges against Hillary Clinton”. Stone, 66, was found to have abused a previous gag order imposed following charges against him in the justice department’s investigation into Russian election interference. Wearing a grey suit with handkerchief in the top left pocket and a blue tie, Stone walked steadily to the witness stand in the packed courtroom at the United States district court for the District of Columbia in Washington. “I believe I abused the order, for which I am heartfully sorry,” he said. “I am kicking myself for my own stupidity, but not more than my wife is kicking me.” Stone suggested the rash act was “an outgrowth” of extreme stress, saying he was struggling to pay rent and, while he was seasoned in “political combat”, this was the first time in his life he had faced criminal charges. “I now have television commentators talking about the likelihood I will be raped in prison,” he said, in an apparent play for sympathy that fell on deaf ears. Unmoved, Judge Jackson demanded: “How hard was it to come up with a photo that didn’t have the crosshairs in the corner?” Stone claimed the image had been sent to him by one of his volunteers and he posted it on Instagram without thinking. “I didn’t even notice it until it was brought to my attention by a reporter.” He did not believe the symbol shows crosshairs, he insisted.

Unwilling to leave political arguments for after Thanksgiving, Donald Trump returned to the offensive against judges and judgements he does not like, blaming both for “bedlam, chaos, injury and death”. “Whatever the scope of the president’s authority,” Jon Tigar wrote, “he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden.” Tigar, who was appointed by Barack Obama in 2012, is in fact a district judge based in San Francisco, under the jurisdiction of the ninth circuit but not a member of its appeals court. On Wednesday, in response to the president’s invective on the matter, Roberts issued a statement denying that judges’ opinions were shaped by the president who appointed them. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.” Trump tweeted then: “Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have ‘Obama judges’, and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. It would be great if the ninth circuit was indeed an ‘independent judiciary’, but if it is why are so many opposing view (on border and safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned. We need protection and security – these rulings are making our country unsafe! The Washington Post reported that though ninth circuit rulings are often overturned by the supreme court, “studies show that over the past five years, three other [circuit courts] have a higher percentage of decisions overturned”. After vaunting his record on border security, the president called the ninth circuit “a big thorn in our side” and “a disgrace”. In 2017, he attacked the legitimacy of a Washington-state judge who ruled against his first travel ban against people from certain Muslim-majority countries.

The New York Times reports that “Mr. McCain had carefully stage-managed a four-day celebration of his life — but what was also an unmistakable rebuke to President Trump and his agenda.” » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc About: MSNBC is the…