Tag: Scandal

It's been five years since President Obama walked into the White House briefing room wearing a tan suit and the whole world went bananas. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc MSNBC delivers breaking news, in-depth analysis of politics headlines, as well…

Federal prosecutors have charged Hayes, chairman of the state’s Republican party, and three others, including big donor Greg Lindberg, founder and chairman of Eli Global, in connection with an effort to bribe the state insurance commissioner with campaign donations, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday. Also watch: Lindsey Graham calls for a special counsel investigation on ‘the other side of the story’ following Mueller report spaceplay / pause qunload | stop ffullscreen ??volume mmute ??seek . seek to previous 12… 6 seek to 10%, 20% … 60% Adding intrigue on Capitol Hill, the indictment references a “Public Official A,” who allegedly met with those charged. The indictment offers a clue about that official’s identity, saying that on or about Feb. 5, 2018, Lindberg made a $150,000 contribution to a political committee supporting Public Official A. Lindberg made a $150,000 donation, dated Feb. 17, 2018, to the Mark Walker Victory Committee, a joint fundraising committee, according to Federal Election Commission records. State campaign finance donation records do not show any $150,000 donations from Lindberg in the first quarter of 2018. Want insight more often? Get Roll Call in your inbox The indictment also named Lindberg and two of his business associates, John Gray and John Palermo Jr. Lindberg has been under federal investigation for alleged financial crimes and for his contributions to North Carolina politicians. According to the filing, the four offered campaign donations in exchange for “specific official action favorable to GBIG, including the removal of the Senior Deputy Commissioner of the NCDOI responsible for overseeing the regulation.” The indictment also says that on or about Feb. 7, 2018, Public Official A called a state insurance commissioner “to explain that LINDBERG was doing good things for North Carolina business.” The indictment added that on Feb. 12, 2018, Palermo sent an email to Lindberg and Gray, “stating, ‘Just between the 3 of us. I was also told that the $150K will be going to [Public Official A].’” The indictment further alleges that Palermo reported having lunch with Public Official A in July 2018 and that he “took the opportunity to talk to him about our issue” with the North Carolina Department of Insurance, adding that he expected Public Official A to reach out to the commissioner over the weekend. Anne Tompkins, an attorney for Lindberg, said her client was “innocent of the charges in the indictment.” “We look forward to demonstrating this when we get our day in court,” she said in an emailed statement.

Mayor Catherine Pugh takes indefinite leave of absence in the wake of a book sales scandal. #SpecialReport #FoxNews FOX News operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Radio, FOX News Headlines 24/7, FOXNews.com and the…

A Fox News analysis of political donations by the 50 individuals charged in the college admissions scandal shows that alleged corruption appears to know no political ideology. Others, though, like Robert Flaxman, a real estate magnate who is charged in the scandal, gave small fortunes to both Republican and Democratic campaigns. Four years later, in 2016, the 62-year-old founder of Crown Realty and Development supported Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton with a donation of the same amount to the Hillary Victory Fund. While Huffman’s donations are indicative of her politics, others ensnared in the scandal gave tens of thousands of dollars to both Democrat and Republican candidates. FEC records show that Flaxman began donating in 2007 with a bevy of contributions to Republican campaigns, including $19,600 to support John McCain. Most of Flaxman’s donations are small dollar amounts made to individual campaigns in 2016, but several top $2,000 – including $30,800 he gave to the Republican National Committee in 2012. In 2016, he made at least 43 contributions to various candidates and party organizations. Others had similarly bipartisan patterns of political donations. The reasons for bipartisan donations are myriad, according to Brendan Quinn, a spokesperson at the Center for Responsive Politics. He said a donor supporting both Democrat and Republican candidates could be a simple as them having a personal connection or preference for the candidates.

Chris Wattie/Reuters OTTAWA — Canada’s top public servant, who was accused of improperly pressing the former attorney general to settle a corruption case involving a major corporation, resigned on Monday as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried to put more than a month of political turmoil behind him. In parliamentary testimony, Jody Wilson-Raybould, who stepped down as justice minister and attorney general, had singled out Michael Wernick, the public servant, for making what she called “veiled threats” to steer her toward using a new law to impose a hefty financial penalty, rather than a criminal conviction, on SNC-Lavalin, a Montreal company accused of bribery in Libya. A criminal conviction would have barred the company from government work for a decade, which led Mr. Trudeau and others to fear the loss of Canadian jobs. Public appearances by the clerk are rare, and past clerks have generally been guarded and careful in their comments, as it is their job to ensure that government workers carry out the laws passed by politicians. “I worry about the rising tide of incitements to violence when people use terms like ‘treason’ and ‘traitor’ in open discourse,” he said, referring to terms used on social media by some critics of Mr. Trudeau’s actions in the SNC-Lavalin affair. “Those are words that lead to assassination. I’m worried that somebody is going to be shot in this country this year during the political campaign.” [Read more about how Justin Trudeau was ensnared by the SNC-Lavalin scandal] Opposition politicians said afterward that Mr. Wernick’s actions involving Ms. Wilson-Raybould and his comments about the political state of the nation were improper for a public servant in any position. One member of the New Democratic Party, Charlie Angus, asked Mr. Trudeau in a letter to demand Mr. Wernick resign. But in his resignation letter to Mr. Trudeau on Monday, he said that “recent events have led me to conclude that I cannot serve as clerk of the Privy Council and secretary to cabinet during the upcoming election campaign,” and “it is now apparent that there is no path for me to have a relationship of mutual trust and respect with the leaders of the opposition parties.” The clerk is a key figure in the transition if the government changes hands during an election. Both Mr. Butts and Mr. Trudeau have insisted that their requests, and those of others, that Ms. Wilson-Raybould look into the possibility of a settlement were neither excessive nor improper.

The alleged college-admissions bribery ring exposed earlier this week has something to enrage everyone. Or, if that wouldn’t do the trick, parents could pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to bribe coaches at elite schools to designate applicants as desired athletes, thus circumventing the minimum requirements for grades and test scores. This scandal is a staggering indictment of higher education, and American education policy generally. For both groups, and for everyone between the two extremes, the pressure to get kids into the best college possible — and then figure out how to pay for it — is a source of incredible anxiety. But the scandal goes beyond just these issues. George Mason economics professor Bryan Caplan, in his book The Case Against Education, makes a compelling case that most of the value in diplomas from elite colleges isn’t in the education they allegedly represent but in the cultural or social “signaling” they convey. Would you rather have the knowledge that comes with taking a survival-training course, or just the piece of paper that says you took the course? Now, ask yourself: Would you rather have the Yale education without the diploma, or the diploma without the education? The more complex we make a system, the more it rewards people with the resources — social, cognitive, political, or financial — to navigate it. You’re never going to create a system where some parents won’t do anything and everything to help their kids.

He offered an apology but then came a reversal, as Northam ignored calls for his resignation. (The Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General rank in the top five most powerful leaders in the Virginia state government — all three positions are currently held by Democrats clouded in scandal). While the sexual assault allegations add to the ongoing conversation during this #MeToo era, the blackface confessions have reignited conversations about racism we thought we no longer needed. Virginia is not doing well. What is Blackface? In 2019 (as well as in 1984 when Northam acknowledges donning blackface for a Michael Jackson costume), society largely understands that blackface is unambiguously racist. As we condemn Northam and Herring for racism, it is important we do justice to our testimony and educate ourselves about the practice and why it is such a painful mark on African American history. Perhaps here is our silver lining — the opportunity for honest conversations and racial progress. Throughout his attempts to prove himself not racist, Northam has struggled to show he has a full grasp of black history. Clearly vicinity to black people does not shield white people from committing racist acts.

Chris Wattie/Reuters TORONTO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada promised a fresh approach to politics, one that was based on openness, decency and liberalism. Canadian newspapers are filled with outrage and opposition parties are calling for a resignation. Elections are still seven months away, but some members of Mr. Trudeau’s own governing party fear the scandal has armed opposition parties with rich campaign fodder against its leader, who promised “sunny ways” in politics. The prime minister and his aides have been accused of pressuring his justice minister at the time, Jody Wilson-Raybould, to drop the criminal inquiry against the company because a conviction could potentially cost thousands of jobs in Canada, and diminish his Liberal Party’s political fortunes. Ms. Wilson-Raybould later quit that post. The scandal has been building slowly over weeks and already led to the resignation of Mr. Trudeau’s top political aide, and to Parliament’s ethics commissioner opening an investigation into potential conflicts of interest. “There was a concerted and sustained effort to politically influence my role as attorney general,” said Ms. Wilson-Raybould, who, as the first Indigenous person to hold the prestigious post of justice minister and the only Indigenous person in Mr. Trudeau’s cabinet, was a powerful symbol of his government’s commitment to both women and Indigenous rights. Ms. Wilson-Raybould’s appointment to justice minister had seemed proof to many that Mr. Trudeau was serious about correcting the country’s wrongs against its Indigenous population and treating Indigenous people as respected partners in the country, as he had promised during the election. “Why are not all women in that caucus, and their so-called feminist allies, calling for the prime minister’s resignation?” said Michelle Rempel, a Conservative member of Parliament in the House of Commons. In her testimony, Ms. Wilson-Raybould described the pressure she received as “inappropriate,” but said — twice — that it was not illegal.

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - It’s been a tumultuous few weeks for Virginia with the commonwealth’s top three officials embroiled each embroiled in separate scandals. Here is a minute-by-minute timeline of the political controversies that have put the commonwealth in the national spotlight. Gov. Ralph Northam defends proposed bill loosening restrictions on abortion in an interview with WTOP and says, “It’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that’s non-viable. So in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. Virginia first lady Pamela Northam tells him it is “inappropriate circumstances.” 4:54 p.m. – Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring says Northam should resign and he will support Fairfax as the new governor. African-American leaders shocked by Herring blackface admission 11:38 a.m. – Fairfax releases statement saying it is important to listen to women who bring forward allegations of sexual assault, but reiterates his denial that he did not sexual assault anyone. ~ 2 p.m. – A law firm representing Tyson releases a statement in which she graphically describes the alleged encounter between her and Fairfax in 2004.