Category Archives: Fifth Amendment

In a rally promoting the new and improved Commitment to/on America, or the warmed-over Eye of Newt Gingrichs Contract with/on America, Kevin McCarthy made a seemingly bizarre promise to liberate parents from the Department of Justices war against parents. Although faithful MAGA attendees knew exactly what McCarthy was alluding to, many commentators on left of center broadcast news outlets were a bit befuddled. They can be forgiven for not following the many lawsuits that many from the MAGA base have launched as closely as they follow Twitter accounts. The one lawsuit that caught my attention is Saline Parents, et al, v. Merrick Garland filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The Courts September 23, 2022, 10-page memorandum opinion granting Garlands motion to dismiss the case under Rule 12(b)(1) for lack of jurisdiction is the backstory that helps to make sense of McCarthys promise to parents. The full document is docketed at Case 1:21-cv-02775-DLF Document 16 Filed 09/23/22 Page 1 of 10. I have excerpted relevant portions below:

Background [taken directly from U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrichs (a Trump appointee) opinion]

On October 4, 2021, the Office of the Attorney General issued a memorandum titledPartnership Among Federal, State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Law Enforcement to AddressThreats Against School Administrators, Board Members, Teachers, and Staff. The memorandum targets a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running . . . public schools. Id. It states: While spirited debate about policy matters is protected under our Constitution, that protection does not extend to threats of violence or efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views.

The Attorney Generals memorandum announced two action items. First, [i]n the comingdays, the Department [of Justice] w[ould] announce a series of measures designed to address therise in criminal conduct directed toward school personnel. Id. Second, the Attorney Generaldirected the FBI to convene meetings with federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial leaders ineach federal judicial district to discuss strategies for addressing threats against schooladministrators, board members, teachers, and staff and to open dedicated lines of communication for threat reporting, assessment, and response.

Following the Attorney Generals memorandum, on October 20, 2021 the FBI sent an internal email to agents describing its efforts to identify and track these threats. The email stated that the FBI share[s] an obligation to ensure all individuals [, including school staff,] are able to do their jobs without threats of violence or fear for their safety. As a result, [the FBI] created a threat tag, EDUOFFICIALS, to track instances of related threats. Id. The email asked FBI offices to apply the threat tag to investigations and assessments of threats specifically directed against school board administrators, board members, teachers, and staff, in order to scope this threat on a national level and provide an opportunity for comprehensive analysis of the threat picture. Id.

The Plaintiffs: On October 19, 2021, plaintiffs filed this suit against Merrick Garland in his official capacity as Attorney General

The plaintiffs are Saline Parents, an unincorporated association of parents, and six parents who reside in either Saline, Michigan or Loudoun County, Virginia. Both the Saline Parents organization and the individual plaintiffs oppose progressive policies and curricula in their respective school districts, Saline Area Schools and Loudoun County Public Schools.

The plaintiffs explicitly state that their activities did not include widespread threat of criminalviolence, and that their meetings with school officials involve[d] [only] private citizensexpressing their opposition to harmful policies being considered by government officials . . . as istheir right to do under the First Amendment.

The plaintiffs allege that the Attorney General adopted an unlawful policy (AG Policy) to use federal law enforcement resources to silence parents and other private citizens who publicly object to and oppose the . . . policies of the progressive Left that are being implemented . . . in public school districts such as Saline and Loudoun County. Specifically, they allege that the AG Policy labels them as domestic terrorist[s] and criminalize[s] their speech, thereby chilling their opposition and outrage to progressive school board curricula and policies.

The plaintiffs seek to enjoin the AG Policy and any federal actions taken pursuant to it. Their complaint pleads causes of action based on the First Amendment; equal protection under the Fifth Amendment; protection of parental rights under the Fifth Amendment; and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The defendant subsequently moved to dismiss the complaint under Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) on multiple grounds, including for lack of standing.

Analysis and Findings

A. Threat of Enforcement

The plaintiffs first alleged injury amounts to a pre-enforcement challenge because itderives from the threatened enforcement of a law. First Am. Compl. 83, 99. In such cases,plaintiffs need not show [a]n actual arrest, prosecution, or other enforcement action. Woodhull Freedom Found. v. United States, 948 F.3d 363, 370 (D.C. Cir. 2020). Instead, they must plead facts establishing that the threatened enforcement of a law issufficiently imminent. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). To do so, the plaintiffs must satisfy three requirements. Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus, 573 U.S. 149 (2014). First, the plaintiffs must allege an intention to engage in a course of conduct arguably affected with a constitutional interest. Id. at 161 (internal quotation marks omitted). Second, their intended future conduct must be arguably proscribed by the [law] they wish to challenge. Id. at 162 (alterations and internal quotation marks omitted). Third, the threat of future enforcement must be substantial. Id. at 164.

At the first prong, it is undisputed that the plaintiffs intend to engage in conduct that isarguably affected with a constitutional interestnamely, the First Amendment. The FirstAmendment protects free speech, including advocacy against school officials, but does not extend to true threats and [t]hreats of violence. Virginia v. Black, 538 U.S. 343, 359 (2003). The plaintiffs allege, see First Am. Compl. 107, and the defendant agrees, see Def.s Mem. at 19, that their activities are limited to constitutionally protected activities covered by the FirstAmendment.

But the plaintiffs fail at the second prong for two independent reasons. The alleged AGPolicy does not arguably proscribe[] plaintiffs conduct, Susan B. Anthony List, 573 U.S. at 162, because it is not regulatory, proscriptive, or compulsory in nature, Laird v. Tatum, 408 U.S. 1, 11 (1972). And even if it were, the policy does not apply to the plaintiffs constitutionallyprotected conduct. The alleged AG Policy is not regulatory, proscriptive, or compulsory in nature because it does not impose any regulations, requirements, or enforcement actions on individuals. None of the documents that the plaintiffs allege establish the policy create an imminent threat of future legal actions against anyone, much less the plaintiffs. The Attorney Generals October 4memorandum simply announced a plan to announce a series of measures in the future anddirected the FBI to convene meetings with leaders in each federal judicial district. AG Memo at

2. At most, it charged the FBI with open[ing] dedicated lines of communication for threatreporting, assessment, and response at these meetings, without requiring any particular regulatory or enforcement action. Id. Similarly, the FBIs October 20 internal email created a new threat tag to track threats against school officials and listed a few guidelines along which to evaluate those threats. FBI Email at 2. Nowhere in the email did the FBI require that any particular action be taken in response to a threat labeled with the new tag. See id. Finally, the plaintiffs photo of one marked Homeland Security vehicle outside a school board meetingin a city that is neither Saline nor in Loudoun Countydoes not plausibly establish an inference that the Attorney General has taken or intends to take any kind of enforcement action. First Am. Compl. 87. The plaintiffs future conduct therefore cannot be considered arguably proscribed by the alleged AG Policy.

The Attorney Generals memorandum explicitly states that it does not target what is protected under our Constitution, which includes spirited debate about policy matters. AG Memo at 2. It only covers criminal conduct that is not constitutionally protected, such as threats of violence or efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views. Id.; seeVirginia, 538 U.S. at 35960 (stating that the First Amendment protects neither true threats[,] . . statements where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commitan act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals nor [i]ntimidationin the constitutionally proscribable sense of the word . . . , where a speaker directs a threat to aperson or group of persons with the intent of placing the victim in fear of bodily harm or death).

Similarly, the FBIs internal email applies a new threat tag only to threats specifically directedagainst school board administrators, board members, teachers, and staff. Assuming, as the Court must, that the complaints factual allegations are true, Cause of Action Inst. v. Internal Revenue Serv., 390 F. Supp. 3d 84, 91 (D.D.C. 2019), none of the plaintiffs conduct, which is limited to constitutionally protected speech, falls within the scope of the alleged policy.

Despite the alleged policys explicit terms, the plaintiffs blithely assert that they arenonetheless the subjects of the alleged policy, Pls. Oppn at 39, based solely on its timing andthe fact that members of school boards have complained that plaintiffs were attacking the board, see First Am. Compl. 89, 9394. Without more, this allegation is unpersuasive. The plaintiffs also contend that they are currently targets of investigation and data collection, Pls. Oppn at 38, but the complaint contains no such factual allegations. See generally First Am. Compl. Based on the complaint, the Court cannot conclude that the alleged AG Policy arguablyproscribe[s] the plaintiffs conduct. Woodhull, 948 F.3d at 371. Thus, there is somethingfundamental to a pre-enforcement challenge that is missing here. Matthew A. Goldstein, PLLCv. U.S. Dept of State, 851 F.3d 1, 4 (D.C. Cir. 2017). Because the plaintiffs have not identified any desired conduct . . . that might trigger an enforcement action, id., they lack standing to challenge the alleged policy.

B. Reputational Injury

The plaintiffs further allege that they have suffered reputational harm caused by the AGsdesignation of [the] [p]laintiffs as criminal threats and domestic terrorists. Pls. Oppn at 38.Reputational injury can be a cognizable type of injury in fact. Meese v. Keene, 481 U.S. 465, 473 (1987) (statutes labeling of a plaintiffs activities as political propaganda inflicted injurybecause the plaintiffs personal, political, and professional reputation would suffer and his ability to obtain re-election and to practice his profession could be impaired). Here, however, the plaintiffs have not sufficiently alleged that they will imminently suffer any reputational injury as a result of the AG Policy. As noted, the Attorney Generals memorandum does not apply to the plaintiffs activities, and even if it did, the policy does not label anyone a domestic terrorist, as the plaintiffs suggest, First Am. Compl. 38, 65. Nor does it create a reputational association.

The only concrete evidence that the plaintiffs provide of reputational injury is the NationalSchool Board Associations use of the words domestic terrorism in a September 29, 2021 letterto the White House. See First Am. Compl. 9394; Def.s Mem. at 1314. This letter raisedconcerns about acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials andcharactered these heinous actions as equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism. Def.s Mem.at 1314. But for the reasons stated above, the letter cannot fairly be interpreted as directed at theplaintiffs activities. Moreover, contrary to the plaintiffs contention, the letter cannot plausiblybe considered part of the alleged policy, much less the sole basis for the AG Policy, First Am.Compl. 76. The letter was sent by a private entity unaffiliated with the Attorney General, andthe Attorney Generals October 4 memorandum does not even mention the letter. See AG Memo

10at 2. [T]he court need not accept inferences unsupported by the facts alleged or legal conclusions that are cast as factual allegations. Gregorio v. Hoover, 238 F. Supp. 3d 37, 44 (D.D.C. 2017) (internal quotation marks omitted). Because the plaintiffs have not sufficiently alleged that they will suffer a reputational or other cognizable injury caused by the AG Policy, they lack standing to challenge the policy.

CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, the motion to dismiss is granted. A separate order consistentwith this decision accompanies this memorandum opinion.

Dabney L. Friedrich

United States District Judge

After reading through Judge Friedrichs opinion alongside that of the 11th Circuit in the case of Donald J. Trump v. United States of America, I was left wondering if there is a template for these lawsuits circulating among MAGA republicans. Trump and Saline Parents raise similar objections to actions taken by the Attorney General: Threat of Enforcement and Reputational Injury. If this is the case, then the attorneys representing both sets of plaintiffs are overcharging for their servicesnot that Im bothered by unscrupulous attorneys ripping off unscrupulous human beings. At any rate Kevin McCarthys cowardice was on full display at that Contract, I mean Commitment, on America. Too afraid to publicly rebuke a Trump nominated and confirmed District Court Judge, McCarthy resorted to speaking in tongues before Trumps MAGA cult base.

Continued here:
Why is Kevin McCarthy Promising to Remove Parents from the Terrorist Watch List? - Daily Kos

Background

On 17 June 2017, the ACX Crystal, a 730-foot foreign flagged container ship chartered by NYK, collided with the destroyer USS Fitzgerald in Japanese territorial waters. Several midship compartments on the Fitzgerald flooded, killing seven United States Navy sailors and injuring dozens of others. Personal representatives of the deceased sailors sued NYK in federal court, asserting wrongful death claims under the Death on the High Seas Act, 46 U.S.C. 30301 et seq. The injured sailors and their families sued NYK separately, asserting negligence and loss of consortium claims.

In both cases, plaintiffs alleged that NYK, a foreign corporation headquartered in Japan, was amenable to federal court jurisdiction under Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(k)(2) based on its substantial, systematic and continuous contacts with the United States.

NYK is a global logistics company that transports cargo by air and sea. On the seaside of its operations, NYKs fleet of owned and chartered vessels includes bulk carriers, container ships, car carriers, tankers, shuttle tankers, drill ships, and LNG carriers. Between 2017 and 2019, about seven percent of NYKs worldwide port calls were in the United States, totaling about 1,500 calls annually.

Because of NYKs shipments bound for the United States, NYK litigates in American courts. Since 2010, NYK has filed approximately thirty lawsuits in federal courts, most involving claims for freight charges. And, occasionally, NYK and its vessels are sued in American courts. Typically for cargo damaged en route, or for injuries occurring during cargo operations in the United States.

However, overall, NYKs business in the United States and North America accounts for less than ten percent of its annual revenue.

The Dispute

Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(k)(2) provides:

Federal Claim Outside State-Court Jurisdiction.For a claim that arises under federal law, serving a summons or filing a waiver of service establishes personal jurisdiction over a defendant if:

(A) the defendant is not subject to jurisdiction in any state's courts of general jurisdiction; and

(B) exercising jurisdiction is consistent with the United States Constitution and laws.

NYK was not subject to jurisdiction in any state court in the United States because plaintiffs could not meet the established due process test for personal jurisdiction under the Fourteenth Amendment, which limits state court jurisdiction.

Personal jurisdiction under the Fourteenth Amendment requires a finding of either general or specific jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant. General jurisdiction is only appropriate when a non-resident corporations contacts with a forum state are so continuous and systematic that the defendant is essentially at home in the forum state. Daimler AG v. Bauman, 571 U.S. 117, 139, 134 S. Ct. 746, 761 (2014). In other words, the forum state must be considered the center of the non-residents activities or a surrogate for its place of incorporation or head office. If general jurisdiction is found, then the corporation is amenable to suit for any of its activities anywhere in the world.

If the non-resident corporation is not at home in the forum state, then the alternative is specific jurisdiction. Specific jurisdiction is appropriate when: 1) a non-resident corporation avails itself of the benefits and protections of the forum state; and 2) the claims arise out of or result from the corporations forum related activities. In other words, the claims must arise from or relate to the business activities conducted in the forum state.

Since plaintiffs could not show that NYK was at home in any state, and since plaintiffs claims did not arise from or relate to its business activities in any state, plaintiffs filed in federal court under Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(k)(2), arguing that the due process test for personal jurisdiction under the Fifth Amendment which limits federal court jurisdiction should be different than the Fourteenth Amendment test.

Specifically, because the United States Supreme Court has yet to definitively speak to the Fifth Amendment test, plaintiffs proposed a national contacts test whereby NYK, a foreign corporation headquartered in Japan, was amenable to federal court jurisdiction under Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(k)(2) based on its substantial, systematic and continuous contacts with the United States, regardless of whether the contacts are sufficient to consider NYK at home in the United States. Said differently, in the plaintiffs view, the Fifth Amendment due process inquiry is simply whether a defendant, sued on a federal claim, was doing enough systematic and continuous business in the United States that it had fair notice it could be subjected to suit in federal courts.

NYK moved to dismiss the suits for lack of personal jurisdiction, arguing that plaintiffs proposed test was inconsistent with the United States Constitution and laws. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana agreed and granted NYKs motion. The cases were consolidated on appeal, and on 30 April 2021 the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court judgment. On 14 May 2021 plaintiffs filed a petition for rehearing en banc (rehearing by the entire Court).

The Decision

In Stephen Douglass, et al. v. Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, 20-30382 c/w 20-30379 (5th Cir. August 16, 2022), Judge Edith Jones writing for the majority of the Court rejected plaintiffs proposed national contacts test. Five of the seventeen justices dissented.

Noting that the Fourteenth and Fifth Amendment Due Process Clauses use the same language to protect persons from the deprivation of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law and serve the same purpose, the Court dismissed plaintiffs foundational contention that the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause vindicates federalism principles that are irrelevant under the Fifth Amendment. Acknowledging that the Fifth Amendment focuses on the United States sovereign limits rather than the states reciprocal sovereign limits, the Court nonetheless disagreed with the premise that the distinction warranted a more permissive standard under the Fifth Amendment. Mainly, because in the Courts view the emphasis on sovereignty was not the focus of the analysis.

Citing to Ins. Corp. of Ir. v. Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee, 456 U.S. 694, 702, 102 S. Ct. 2099 (1982), the Court stated that individual liberty is what the Supreme Court emphasizes as the foundation of the personal jurisdiction requirement. That requirement represents a restriction on judicial power not as a matter of sovereignty, but as a matter of individual liberty. Id. at 2104.

On this basis, the Court held that the tried-and-true dichotomy between general and specific jurisdiction applies under the Fifth Amendment. Specifically, the Fifth Amendment due process test for personal jurisdiction mirrors the Fourteenth Amendment test, except that the Fifth Amendment test looks at contacts with the United States as a whole, rather than any one state.

Further, because neither complaint alleged that the federal claims at issue arose out of or were related to NYKs contacts with the United States, the Court went on to find that NYK could only be amenable to the district courts jurisdiction under a general jurisdiction theory. Meaning, NYK was amenable to jurisdiction if and only if its contacts were so continuous and systematic as to render it essentially at home in the United States.

Turning to NYKs specific contacts, the Court found that exercising general jurisdiction over NYK did not comport with its Fifth Amendment due process rights.

The Court recognized that NYKs contacts with the United States are, in absolute terms, substantial. NYK vessels call on at least forty-one separate ports, with several vessels dedicated exclusively to delivering cars between Japan and the United States. At one time, NYK even operated twenty-seven shipping terminals and six air-cargo terminals in the United States, with its North American entities generating about $1.47 billion in consolidated revenue every year.

But the Court also noted that the general jurisdiction test is an inherently comparative inquiry. And comparatively, NYKs contacts with the United States comprise only a small fraction of its worldwide contacts.

Therefore, the Court found that the United States is not the center of NYKs activities or a surrogate for NYKs head office or place of incorporation.

Comments by the Court

In footnotes 5 through 7 of the majority Opinion, the Court felt it was important to place the Opinion in further context. The Court emphasized that NYK was a time charterer of the ACX Crystal, and that time charterers typically have little or no control over the vessels navigation. As such, a time charterer almost never bears liability for a collision stemming from navigational error. Citing Moore v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 912 F.2d 789, 792 (5th Cir. 1990).

Thus, in the Courts view, even if plaintiffs could establish personal jurisdiction over NYK, their claims would face other substantial hurdles. Including the fact that the after-accident reports issued by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Japanese Transport Safety Board largely fault the United States Navy for the collision and, according to the Court, neither places any fault on NYK.

The Court noted that the personal representatives of the deceased sailors and the injured sailors and their families also sued the owner of the ACX Crystal, Olympic Steamship Company, and its bareboat charterer, Vega Carriers Corporation, both Panamanian corporations, in Japan for the same injuries at issue in this lawsuit.

Gard Comment

Had the accident occurred in Untied States waters, the District Court presumably would have had jurisdiction over NYK, as well as the owner and the bareboat charter because the incident would have likely satisfied the specific jurisdiction requirements under the Fifth Amendment as applied to admiralty claims. This decision does, however, set a limitation as to personal jurisdiction for claims against a foreign corporation that arise outside of the United States where the claim does not arise from activities of the corporation in the United States.

See the rest here:
USS Fitzgerald and ACX Crystal collision: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals delineates the reach of personal jurisdiction - GARD

Since leaving office in January 2021, former president Donald Trump has been mired in legal difficulties, with a sprawling array of investigations probing his activities in office, his business and his private life.

These legal entanglements threaten to derail Trumps ambitions to run for president in 2024. Outside of politics, they could also cost him millions or lead to indictments on charges that carry lengthy prison sentences.

Developments in the civil, federal and fact-finding investigations spanning from New York to Florida have come at a rapid pace in the form of Justice Department filings, state and local government disclosures, and media reports. Grid has sorted and summarized those developments in a live tracker that will be updated as long as these investigations continue.

Here is a look at the major ongoing investigations involving Trump, along with news coverage tracking the latest significant developments.

The Department of Justice released a photo of classified documents seized from Trump's office at Mar-a-Lago. (Department of Justice)

Investigation type: Criminal

Jurisdiction: Federal

What is under investigation: On Aug. 8, federal authorities executed a search warrant on Trumps Florida resort as part of an ongoing criminal investigation of the storage of classified records and other sensitive documents at Mar-a-Lago. The search warrant and a warrant affidavit were unsealed in federal court in late August, revealing that federal investigators had been authorized to seize all physical documents and records located at the property illegally possessed in violation of three different criminal laws, including a portion of the Espionage Act. In addition to classified and top secret documents, the affidavit states: There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found at the premises.

Why it matters: Trump has not been accused of a crime in the matter, and the search warrant and affidavit do not amount to a formal accusation. However, the three potential crimes being investigated carry lengthy prison sentences.

Voters line up for the first day of early voting outside of the High Museum polling station on Dec. 14, 2020, in Atlanta. (Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

Investigation type: Criminal

Jurisdiction: State

What is under investigation: In early 2021, Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis opened an investigation of Trumps alleged efforts to sway the election results in Georgia, including a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call with state Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump said he wanted to find enough votes to make up for his margin of defeat. Willis in January requested a special grand jury with investigative power, and in July a judge approved the grand jurys subpoenas for Trump lawyers Kenneth Chesebro, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Rudy Giuliani and Cleta Mitchell, along with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who also made postelection calls to Georgia election officials.

Why it matters: Solicitation of election fraud is a crime in Georgia, and legal experts told Grid that Trump may have violated state law. The Fulton County district attorneys investigation has developed at a rapid pace this year and could ultimately lead to criminal charges against Trump or his allies.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chair of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Vice Chairwoman Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) preside over a committee hearing on June 9 in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Investigation type: Congressional fact-finding

Jurisdiction: Federal

What is under investigation: Since July 2021, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol has been probing efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. At the committees first public hearing in June, its chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the committees work had uncovered a sprawling multistep conspiracy aimed at overturning the presidential election and that Donald Trump was at the center of this conspiracy. The committee has since received additional information and is expected to hold additional public hearings this year.

Why it matters: The Jan. 6 committee does not have the power to bring charges, but it can make referrals to other agencies and can uncover facts that prompt further investigation by law enforcement. Committee members have signaled an intent to deliver a final report by the end of the year, and the committees authorizing resolution specifies that it will terminate within 30 days of issuing that report.

Attorney General Merrick Garland explains to reporters that he will not take questions after he delivered a statement at the Department of Justice on Aug. 11 in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Investigation type: Criminal

Jurisdiction: Federal

What is under investigation: The federal investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol Building has so far led to more than 800 arrests. By March, the federal investigation into the insurrection had reportedly broadened to include actions by former government officials, including Trump, involved in orchestrating the Stop the Steal rally that precipitated the attack. Justice Department prosecutors have reportedly asked witnesses about Trumps actions in front of a federal grand jury. In early September, a federal grand jury reportedly issued new subpoenas seeking information regarding Save America PAC, one of Trumps major political fundraising vehicles.

Why it matters: Despite the prosecution and conviction of hundreds of individual participants in the Jan. 6 attack, none of the powerful political figures involved in the events of the day have been charged with a crime. But one year after the attack, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that the Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law.

Investigation type: Civil

Jurisdiction: State

What is under investigation: New York State Attorney General Letitia James in early 2019 began a civil investigation into the Trump Organizations financial practices following congressional testimony by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen indicating the company deflated assets in order to decrease its taxes. Trumps son Eric Trump was deposed in October 2020 and pleaded the Fifth Amendment more than 500 times. In August, Donald Trump was deposed in the investigation and pleaded the Fifth more than 400 times.

Why it matters: The New York state attorney generals investigation could lead to a range of outcomes for the Trump Organization, up to and including a possible lawsuit, or even the company losing its ability to conduct certain business operations in the state. Additionally, facts that have come to light through the civil investigation have factored into a joint criminal investigation with the Manhattan District Attorneys Office.

Investigation type: Criminal

Jurisdiction: State

What is under investigation: In 2020, then-Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. began an investigation into the finances of the Trump Organization. By mid-2021, the state attorney generals office had joined the Manhattan district attorney in the investigation. In July 2021, the Trump Organization and its longtime Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg were charged in a 15-count indictment alleging they engaged in a scheme constituting a systematic ongoing course of conduct with intent to defraud. Weisselberg in August pleaded guilty to 15 felonies, many of which related to concealing benefits in order to underreport his income.

Why it matters: Weisselberg is by far Trumps longest-tenured business partner and one of his most loyal lieutenants. He has reportedly not agreed to cooperate with authorities in their broader investigation into Trump but is required as part of his plea deal to testify at the Trump Organization trial scheduled to take place later this year.

Thanks to Lillian Barkley for copy editing this article.

Originally posted here:
Trump investigation tracker: Keeping up with Trump's many legal issues - Grid

Bo Dukes will carry out his 25-year sentence for concealing the death of Irwin County teacher Tara Grinstead after the Court of Appeals denied him a new trial last week.

Dukes appealed his conviction shortly after his trial in 2019, where a Wilcox County jury found him guilty on four charges, including two counts of making false statements, one count of hindering apprehension or punishment of a criminal, and one count of concealing the death of another.

In Dukes' motion, his defense counsel argued that the courts should not have allowed his confession to the GBI or statements made to those investigators into the evidence presented to the jury. The Court of Appeals, however, disagreed.

The 21-page order states, "After a jury trial, Bo Dukes was convicted on four counts. He appeals from the denial of his amended motion for a new trial, arguing that the trial court erred in admitting his confessions and in failing to merge several of his convictions during his sentence. We find no error and affirm. On appeal from a criminal conviction, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, with the defendant no longer enjoying a presumption of innocence."

Dukes is incarcerated at Central State Prison in Bibb County, now in the third year of his sentence. While the Georgia Department of Corrections website reports a maximum release date of March 20, 2044, Dukes could potentially spend the rest of his life behind bars with other pending charges still lingering in the court system.

In Ben Hill County, Dukes has yet to stand trial on charges in connection to Grinstead's death, including concealing the death of another, tampering with evidence, and hindering apprehension or punishment of a criminal. The trial in Ben Hill was set to take place this summer, but was continued the week before. At this time, a new trial date has not been announced.

Dukes was also charged in two separate rape cases, one of which allegedly occurred while he was on bond in 2019. After Dukes failed to appear for a court appearance in Ben Hill County, a 5-day manhunt ensued by law enforcement all over the state of Georgia searching for his whereabouts. At the time, law enforcement reported that Dukes was wanted on charges stemming from two women claiming he sexually assaulted them on New Year's Day 2019 in Wilcox County. Dukes was said to have fled after the assault occurred, with U.S. marshals locating him in Irwin County five days later. He was taken into custody on 12 counts, including rape, aggravated sodomy (2x), kidnapping (2x), assault with a deadly weapon (2x), possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony (4x), and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Just ten months later, Dukes was indicted on similar charges from a reported sexual assault in Houston County that occurred in 2017. Prosecutors in Houston County presented evidence of the case to a grand jury in October 2019, with them returning a true bill on all charges.

According to that indictment, Dukes is accused of raping a woman on January 19, 2017, around a month before he was charged in connection to the Grinstead case. The victim reported that Dukes forced her to "perform oral sex on him at knife-point."

Dukes appeared in the trial of Ryan Duke earlier this year, where he pleaded to the fifth amendment and refused to answer questions from Ryan Duke's defense counsel. However, Ryan Duke, although found guilty of concealing Grinstead's death, was acquitted of her murder after he told the jury that Bo Dukes was the one responsible for her death. According to Ryan's testimony, Dukes confessed to killing Grinstead and asked for his assistance in concealing her body.

Although Dukes' pending charges related to Tara Grinstead could add 25 years to his sentence, if he is found guilty in both rape cases, he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Read more from the original source:
Bo Dukes's conviction to stand following motion for new trial - Douglas Now

Item 1.01. Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.

On August 31, 2022, Vail Holdings, Inc., a Colorado corporation (the "Borrower")and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vail Resorts, Inc. (the "Company"), a Delawarecorporation, certain subsidiaries of the Company, as guarantors, Bank ofAmerica, N.A., as administrative agent, and certain Lenders entered into a FifthAmendment (the "Fifth Amendment") to the Eighth Amended and Restated CreditAgreement, dated as of August 15, 2018 (as so amended, and as previouslyamended, the "Credit Agreement").

The Fifth Amendment, among other things, (i) extends the maturity date of theCredit Agreement to September 23, 2026, and (ii) replaces the benchmark rateunder the Credit Agreement from LIBOR to SOFR (the secured overnight financingrate as administered by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York) as the applicablereference interest rate for the Credit Agreement.

The description above is only a summary of the Fifth Amendment and the CreditAgreement and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the Fifth Amendment,a copy of which will be filed in accordance with the rules of the Securities andExchange Commission.

Item 2.03. Creation of a Direct Financial Obligation or an Obligation under anOff-Balance Sheet Arrangement of the Registrant.

The information set forth above in Item 1.01 is incorporated by reference inthis Item 2.03.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edgar Online, source Glimpses

The rest is here:
VAIL RESORTS INC : Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement, Creation of a Direct Financial Obligation or an Obligation under an Off-Balance Sheet...

The Cain and Abel of the Mafias Five Families faced off in court Wednesday as the eldest son of a slain mobster testified against his younger brother whos accused of orchestrating the 2018 hit on their dad.

Black sheep Anthony Zottola, 44, also allegedly enlisted Bloods gang members to take out his older brother Salvatore Zottola, 45, who described in chilling detail how he was repeatedly shot outside their familys waterfront residential compound in The Bronx.

Salvatore said he stopped counting after the fifth shot, but believed he may have been struck by seven rounds during the July 11, 2018, assassination attempt.

One bullet even grazed his head but miraculously didnt penetrate his skull.

It was like, lights out, Salvatore told jurors in Brooklyn federal court.

The incident took place less than three months before family patriarch Sylvester Sally Daz Zottola was fatally shot while waiting for a cup of takeout coffee at a drive-thru McDonalds restaurant window in The Bronx.

Prosecutors allege that Anthony paid a Bloods gang member, Bushawn Shelz Shelton, $200,000 to rub out his 71-year-old dad so he could seize control of the older mans $45 million real estate empire.

His slaying was initially suspected to have been mob-related because Sally Daz a reputed associate of the Bonanno and Lucchese crime families was suspected of operating a string of illegal Joker Poker gambling machines.

His sons repeatedly stole glances at each other throughout Salvatores testimony Wednesday, with Anthony looking impassively at his brother while taking notes at the defense table.

But they never appeared to lock eyes.

Salvatore who was granted immunity after invoking the Fifth Amendment when called to the witness stand Tuesday testified that he was knocked to the ground by a shot to his chest that was fired by a man in a car with a New Jersey license plate.

I tried standing. I fell to the curb. I couldnt run. Rolling was the best thing I could do, he said.

A friend and a relative who witnessed the attack started yelling and screaming at me, he said.

They told me to stay down.

Salvatore said he drifted in and out of consciousness but remembered telling the witnesses to take $1,200 stashed in his sock so the attackers wouldnt get it.

He also asked them to pass along what he feared would be his final message.

I said, Tell my wife and my kids and my father that I love them, he testified.

Following the attack, Salvatore said, Anthony never came to visit him in the hospital.

He said he had to go to a soccer game with his kids, Salvatore said.

At some point afterward, Salvatore said, he asked Anthony if he knew anything about the origin of the violence directed toward him.

Anthony answered that he didnt know where it was coming from, either, Salvatore said.

The attack on Salvatore was caught on surveillance video that showed him getting shot in a drive-by shooting that took place as he stepped out of a minivan.

Salvatore tried to crawl to safety behind the minivan but the shooter got out of the car and circled around, repeatedly firing as he chased Salvatore, who rolled around in the street.

Prosecutors didnt show the video during Salvatores direct testimony, which concluded late Wednesday afternoon, and it was unclear if it would be entered into evidence later in the trial.

The attack took place in front of a fortified compound of homes dubbed Zottolas Court next to the Locust Point Yacht Club.

In an ironic twist, plaques hanging on the homes there said, Our foundation is built from love our strength keeps us together and Our walls are built thick our love for each is thicker.

Another Zottola sibling, teacher Debbie Zottola, took notes in the courtroom gallery during Salvatores testimony and repeatedly broke down in tears.

This is a traumatizing experience. We were a very, very close family my brothers, my father and I, she said outside court.

We were an indestructible team. I love both of my brothers and will forever treasure what we have as a family.

A total of 10 men were charged with murder for hire conspiracy in the case, with most, including Shelton, having previously pleaded guilty.

Anthony and his co-defendants faced the possibility of the death penalty in the alleged plot until Attorney General Merrick Garland authorized and directed prosecutors to not seek capital punishment in December.

Following that move, Anthony who was ordered locked up following his June 18, 2019 arrest sought to be released to electronically monitored house arrest on a $4 million bond secured by seven properties.

The bond was to be signed by Anthony, as well as his wife, sister and brother-in-law, mother-in-law, wifes uncle and lifelong friends, according to court papers.

But Judge Raymond Dearie rejected the request, writing, While the circumstances have changed for the better for Mr. Zottola, as counsel strongly argues, the realistic prospect of a sentence of life without parole following conviction after trial makes it impossible to alter the Courts earlier findings and order.

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It's brother vs. brother at trial over NYC slaying of mobbed-up dad, 'Sally Daz' Zottola - New York Post

I am responding to Capt. Bill Luksha (Safety of waterways, Sept. 4) and other letter writers on the boating tragedies that have recently occurred. I, too, have been boating on Lake Michigan and anchoring in the Playpen for more than 40 years. Unlike Luksha, I am a recreational boater and have a different perspective.

Tragedies have always occurred and will continue to occur during all recreational activities. You can break a leg skiing, trip and hit your head while hiking, fall off your bike or drown while playing in the water. Rather than a politicians knee-jerk response to do something by making more rules, I prefer to help and educate new and old boaters.

I have found fellow boaters to be a friendly and helpful group. Everyone needs help sometimes, and no one has experienced it all.

The woman losing her feet is a terrible accident. The calls to increase rules and restrict boaters come before even knowing all that happened. I have not seen any official reports from the state, the Coast Guard or the captain involved. I was anchored in the Playpen that day. It was definitely a higher-risk day to be there due to the strong winds causing rapid drifting of boats while they werent anchored.

Luksha wants to restrict rafting and the number of boats allowed in the Playpen. Rafting is a national phenomenon. Is it more unsafe? I have not seen any data that drownings are more likely to occur. Neither the woman injured or the captain involved was part of a rafted group of boats. Maybe it is more safe to raft up.

If restrictions are placed on the number of boats or rafting, the issue simply gets moved to somewhere else, rather than improving safety. It is also a bit self-serving, as commercial vessels would most likely have priority for access.

I am happy to see so many new boaters learning to enjoy the lake. Education, patience and a friendly attitude will go a lot further in making boating safer for everyone.

Michael Less, Burr Ridge

I noted something in Clarence Pages Sunday column This time Donald Trump makes the election stakes unusually high. If Donald Trump saying the election was fixed makes him a threat to democracy, are Hillary Clinton and Stacey Abrams also threats to democracy? They fit his definition.

Clinton said the 2016 election was hijacked by the Russians and told Joe Biden in 2020 to not concede under any circumstances. Abrams said she lost because the election was stolen; she never conceded.

Why is it we never hear in the media about these election deniers? They are a threat to democracy as well.

David Bohac, Willow Springs

We learned that over one day, the former president took the Fifth Amendment 440 times in response to questions in a lawsuit about his business practices. We heard at least two Republicans, U.S. Sens. Rick Scott and Chuck Grassley, warn that 87,000 armed Internal Revenue Service agents are going to be coming to the doors of homes and small businesses. We learned that the former president unlawfully took hundreds of classified documents to Mar-a-Lago, lied about them and refused to return them.

In response to the FBI search to obtain those documents, we saw the FBI condemned by several Republican lawmakers. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham went so far as to warn that there would be riots in the streets if Donald Trump was indicted.

The political fallout from all this is now that the Republican Party is totally united behind the former president. The only question is: Should he declare his 2024 candidacy now or after the midterms?

Thats quite a political party you have there.

Bob Perlstein, Morton Grove

After reading the stories about Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sending immigrants from Texas to Chicago, part of me feels like sending him a bill for the cost of feeding and housing his residents. But part of me feels like sending him a note thanking him for sending us the ambitious active workers who just want to work to support their families and contribute to our expanding work force.

Maybe we can do both.

Frank L. Schneider, Chicago

Order is based on laws that deter crime. We have jails, and police wear uniforms and carry firearms to deter crime.

I propose that those convicted of violating traffic laws by drifting and endangering the public through reckless driving should register with the Chicago Police Department for two years.

Without deterrence, we will have anarchy.

Roberto Garcia, Chicago

Join the conversation in our Letters to the Editor Facebook group.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.

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Letters: Boater offers different perspective on the Playpen - Chicago Tribune

BATAVIA, N.Y. The crowd swayed on its feet, arms pumping, the beat of Twisted Sisters Were Not Gonna Take It thumping in their chests. The people under the revival tent hooted as Michael Flynn strode across the stage, bopping and laughing, singing the refrain into his microphone and encouraging the audience to sing along to the transgressive rock anthem.

Well fight the powers that be just/Dont pick our destiny cause/You dont know us, you dont belong!

The emcee introduced him as Americas General, but to those in the audience, Flynn is far more than that: martyr, hero, leader, patriot, warrior.

The retired lieutenant general, former national security adviser, onetime anti-terrorism fighter, is now focused on his next task: building a movement centered on Christian nationalist ideas, where Christianity is at the center of American life and institutions.

Flynn brought his fight a struggle he calls both spiritual and political last month to a church in Batavia, New York, where thousands of people paid anywhere from a few dollars to up to $500 to hear and absorb his message that the United States is facing an existential threat, and that to save the nation, his supporters must act.

Flynn, 63, has used public appearances to energize voters, along with political endorsements to build alliances and a network of nonprofit groups one of which has projected spending $50 million to advance the movement, an investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series FRONTLINE has found. He has drawn together election deniers, mask and vaccine opponents, insurrectionists, Proud Boys, and elected officials and leaders in state and local Republican parties. Along the way, the AP and FRONTLINE documented, Flynn and his companies have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for his efforts.

This story is part of an ongoing investigation from The Associated Press and FRONTLINE that includes the upcoming documentary Michael Flynns Holy War, premiering Oct. 18 on PBS and online.

The AP and FRONTLINE spoke with more than 60 people, including Flynns family, friends, opponents, and current and former colleagues, for this story. The news organizations also reviewed campaign finance records, corporate and charity filings, social media posts and similar open-source information, and attended several public events where Flynn appeared. Reporters examined dozens of Flynns speeches, interviews and public appearances. Flynn himself sat down for a rare on-camera interview with what he calls the mainstream media.

I dont even know why Im talking to you, honestly, Flynn said as the interview got underway.

Throughout 2021 and 2022, Flynn made more than 60 in-person speeches in 24 states, according to a count by the AP and FRONTLINE. When he speaks, the former top adviser to then-President Donald Trump spreads baseless conspiracy theories, stoking fear and fueling anger and division and grievance.

Flynn is one of the most dangerous individuals in America today, said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian and expert on authoritarianism and fascism who wrote the book Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present.

He is spearheading the attack on our democracy, which is coming from many quarters, and he is affiliated with many of these sectors, from the military to Christian nationalism to election denial to extremist groups, she said. All of this comes together to present a very live threat. And hes at the center.

Flynn has, with mixed success, supported like-minded candidates around the country, and has said his immediate goal is to influence this years elections. In Sarasota, Florida, where he lives, he has worked in concert with members of the extremist group the Proud Boys to influence local politics. Their favored candidates in August won control of the county school board.

Local action has a national impact is his mantra.

We need to take this country back one town at a time, one county at a time, one state at a time, if thats what it takes, he told a crowd in Salt Lake City.

Flynns advocacy of falsehoods and conspiracy theories hardly makes him unique in a fact-challenged America, but his pedigree, military career and high-powered Washington contacts set him apart. Hes retired a three-star general who less than two decades ago developed wartime strategies for countering insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.

His selection as Trumps first national security adviser made him the ultimate insider, giving him nominal control if only for a matter of weeks of the administrations national security strategy. When he later found himself in legal trouble on suspicion that he had lied to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States, he cooperated with the same government establishment he now crusades against.

In the weeks after the November 2020 presidential election, Flynn picked up a presidential pardon granted to forgive his guilty plea to lying to the FBI. He immediately became a chief promoter of the Stop the Steal effort and championed bogus claims about foreign interference and ballot tampering that werent supported by credible evidence. But for some voters, Flynns status as a retired general and top intelligence officer gave weight to the empty theories.

He falsely said Trump won, called the election outcome part of a coup in progress, suggested Trump should seize voting machines and said Trump could order up the military in some states and rerun the election. In December 2020 he even made his way into the Oval Office to push his ideas directly to Trump.

Called before a congressional committee investigating the Capitol insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, Flynn refused to say whether he believed the violence was justified or even whether he believed in the peaceful transition of power. He invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.

Retired Brig. Gen. Steven M. Anderson, who served with Flynn in Iraq, called Flynns ideas antithetical to core values of the American military and the nation itself.

Anderson worries that Flynn is a role model for thousands and thousands and thousands of soldiers and former soldiers, and that his ideas can empower them to take actions that hurt the country.

Weve got a retired three-star, former NSA, who says we can overthrow the election, use our military, Anderson said. The thinking goes, he said, Well, then yes, sign me up for the Proud Boys.

Flynn uses the three stars he earned in the military as his symbol, a shorthand that reminds people he came from the highest levels of the nations power structure and that suggests he has a special knowledge of how things work in the shadowy world of Washington and global affairs.

Its a crying shame that essentially he has evolved into the person he is now, said Anderson, who described his former colleague as a subservient buffoon that unfortunately has forsaken his oath of office.

Doug Wise, a former CIA and military officer who knew Flynn for decades and briefly served as Flynns deputy at the Defense Intelligence Agency, said even in the military, Flynn often pushed the envelope of what was permissible and demonstrated extreme thinking. He believes Flynn hasnt transformed, hes just become more comfortable acting on the anger that burns inside him.

I understand the reasons why he gravitated to the right wing because as his behavior and beliefs became more bizarre, I think they were very welcoming. Because who wouldnt want a highly respected Army three-star to join your group? Wise said.

I think he believed, post-government, and he was right in this that he was too well-connected to fail, Wise said. And he got pardoned.

Flynn sees conspiracies in just about every corner of American life.

Hes repeated falsehoods about Black Lives Matter and said that so-called globalists created COVID-19. He tells the tens of thousands of people who have paid to see him speak that there are 75 members of the Socialist Party in Congress, and has said the left and Democrats are trying to destroy the country. He asserts, above all else, that the United States was founded on Judeo-Christian values. The bedrock, he warns, is crumbling.

The country, Flynn often says in speeches and interviews, is in the midst of a spiritual war, and he goes after many of the institutions and ideas that stand as pillars of American democracy.

He has told audiences he doesnt trust the U.S. government or government institutions that oversee the rule of law. He called the media the No. 1 enemy and said it has done a horrible, horrible disservice to the country by just constantly lying and trying to deceive us. He says elementary schools are teaching filth and pornography. He continues to assert, ignoring all evidence to the contrary, that elections cant be trusted. He says, over and over, that some of his fellow Americans are evil.

They dress like us and they talk like us, but they dont think and act like us, he told a podcaster recently. And they definitely do not want what it is that we want.

Survey data shows many Americans believe what Flynn says that the 2020 election was stolen and have bought into COVID-19 misinformation and other conspiracy theories that he spreads, said Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a professor of history at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who studies the evangelical movement.

Any of these factors alone could be considered dangerous. But all of them together and the distrust it is sowing in our democracy, Du Mez said. I think its extremely dangerous in this moment.

She points to Flynns role as headliner of a multicity roadshow known as the ReAwaken America tour, an event that is a potent mix of politics, religion and commerce that has become a prime example of the Christian nationalist movement.

Flynn helped found the tour in 2021 with Clay Clark, an entrepreneur from Oklahoma who had been running business conferences before the pandemic. In his interview with the AP and FRONTLINE in February, Flynn said he considered himself a senior leader of the team thats running it.

The thread of Christian nationalism runs through many of Flynns events. At one fundraiser, a preacher prayed over him saying that America would stay a Christian nation and that Flynn was heavy armaments in the Lords quiver. At the Christian Patriots Rally at a church in Northern California, Flynn was presented with an assault-style rifle on stage. In Virginia in July, he said pastors need to be talking about the Constitution from the pulpit as much as the Bible. In Texas last November, Flynn told a crowd this is a moment in time where this is good versus evil.

If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God, right? he said.

Christian nationalism seeks to merge the identity of Christians and Americans, so that to be a true American is to be Christian and a certain type of Christian. The ideology pushes the idea that the United States was founded on biblical principles and has a favored relationship with a Christian God, said Samuel Perry, a sociologist at the University of Oklahoma who studies conservative Christianity and politics.

It is distinct from the practice of Christianity, and Perrys research has found that many Americans who are inclined toward Christian nationalism dont go to church.

This has nothing to do with Christian orthodoxy. It has nothing to do with loving Jesus or wanting to be a good disciple or loving your neighbor or self-sacrifice or anything like that, Perry said. It has everything to do with Christian ethno-culture and specifically white Christian ethno-culture.

Flynn casts himself as a victim of the deep state who paid a steep price for supporting Trump. Besides Trump, his supporters say, no one has been persecuted more than Flynn.

Flynns rhetoric us versus them, good versus evil, the idea that God is on our side has been a staple among conservative Christians for decades, and is mainstream in conservative evangelicalism, Du Mez said.

The thinking, she said, can fuel violence.

Theyre out to get us. Therefore, we need to strike first. And the threat is always dire, Du Mez says the thinking goes. And if the threat is dire, then the ends justify the means.

These values are not unconnected from the violence that we saw on Jan. 6, she added.

(When the AP and FRONTLINE asked Flynn in February if he is ascribes to Christian nationalist views, he dodged. He first asked what the term meant, then said he was an Irish Catholic then a follower of Jesus, before criticizing the reporter: That was a stupid question to ask me, he said, because that means that you really have not studied Mike Flynn.)

Michael Flynn, former national security adviser to former President Donald Trump, speaks to attendees as he endorses New York City mayoral candidate Fernando Mateo during a campaign event on Thursday, June 3, 2021, in Staten Island, N.Y. He has, with mixed success, supported like-minded candidates around the country, and has said his immediate goal is to influence 2022s elections. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, File)

Last October, Flynn was the star attraction at the WeCANAct Liberty Conference, a gathering in Salt Lake City for Utahs Platform Republicans PAC.

The program included dozens of speakers and exhibitors talking about a grab bag of ideas and causes that have seized and panicked the right about vaccines, human trafficking, elections and the QAnon conspiracy theory.

Among the sponsors and exhibitors were the John Birch Society; businesses selling everything from texting services for political campaigns to food dehydrators; Ammon Bundys anti-government Peoples Rights group; and Americas Frontline Doctors, which has spread false information about COVID-19 and promoted unproven treatments such as ivermectin, a drug used to treat parasitic infections. State lawmakers from Arizona and Utah spoke, and members of the Utah Republican Partys governing committee were among the organizers.

The program kicked off with an invocation by a preacher who brought the crowd to its feet as he described a prophecy of a Great Awakening where Americans are going to rise up and defeat the cabal.

We are in a spiritual war, and you cant win a war without attacking, he said.

The preacher ended by leading the crowd in what he called a new version of the Lords Prayer that fits the Great Awakening. The crowd repeated after him as he said: Deliver us from the cabal, and from Satans influence. For yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory. Forever and ever and ever. Amen.

Flynn appeared a few times throughout the day, at one point sitting in the audience. Across the Salt Palace Convention Center, people jostled their seatmates to point him out and craned their necks to see him.

That evening, he gave a meandering speech that he referred to as an ass-chewing from a general. He falsely declared once again that Trump had won the 2020 election, said our government is corrupt, and called for the FBI to be abolished, a surprising applause line in October 2021 that has now being taken up more broadly by some Republicans.

He called the left our enemies and said they are godless and soulless.

One of Flynns companies, Resilient Patriot LLC, was paid $58,000 by the conference. An AP and FRONTLINE review of state and federal campaign finance filings documented nearly $300,000 in payments to Flynn and his businesses from candidates and political action committees since 2021, for things such as speaking fees, travel, book sales and campaign consulting. (Florida congressional candidate Laura Loomer reported paying his company $1,100 in May for public relations services.)

After Flynns keynote concluded, a podcaster helping to wrap things up for the evening came onstage and called him one of the new founding fathers of this republic.

As Flynn speaks and stumps to persuade people to join his movement, he has also been busy building a network of political candidates at the federal, state and local levels.

The AP and FRONTLINE found that Flynn has endorsed 99 candidates for the 2022 election cycle. (He subsequently withdrew a handful.)

The countrys most influential Republican is paying attention. Flynns brother Joseph told an interviewer in May that during a visit the Flynns made to Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate this spring, Trump himself produced a list comparing the success of his endorsed candidates with Flynns.

At least 80% of Flynns chosen candidates have publicly spread lies or sown doubt about Trumps 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden, or even participated in efforts to overthrow the election, the AP and FRONTLINE found. Several have suggested they would use their power if elected to change the way elections are run and how people are allowed to cast their vote.

About two dozen were at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 5-6, 2021.

One-third have served in the military.

At least 38 have used Christian nationalist rhetoric. Keith Self, a congressional candidate in Texas, has said hes running for Congress to defend the Judeo-Christian foundations of this nation. Christine Villaverde, a congressional candidate in North Carolina, has vowed to fight to keep America a Christian nation. Anthony Sabatini, a Florida state lawmaker who just lost a bid for Congress, recently posted on Facebook, Only when Christians stand up & get loud, will we take this country back.

Flynns support can be a sought-after prize. An AP and FRONTLINE analysis of Facebook and Instagram ad data found ads from more than 20 candidates promoting their endorsements. Jackson Lahmeyer, an Oklahoma pastor who was defeated in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate by Sen. James Lankford, mentioned Flynn in 48 Facebook and Instagram ads, more than one-quarter of his total buy on the platforms.

Pastor Leon Benjamin, a Republican candidate for Congress in Virginia who denounced homosexuality and called gay marriages illegal in an August speech, said in an interview that Flynns endorsement represents that affirmation and that understanding that weve got to have the right candidates in, and its not always popular, not always goes along with the grain.

If we keep doing the same things over and over again, thats the definition of insanity, he added. So we got to do some different things to get different results.

More than 40 of Flynns endorsements were for candidates seeking state or even local posts, the AP and FRONTLINE found. Flynn endorsed two school board contenders in Camdenton, Missouri, candidates for sheriff in Florida, Nevada and Illinois and a city council candidate in North Carolina. He endorsed candidates for the state legislature in Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, Florida, Texas and Missouri. In Arizona, Michigan, California and Colorado, he gave his approval to candidates for secretary of state, a position that typically involves the administration of elections.

A dozen gubernatorial candidates won Flynns backing, including Pennsylvanias Republican nominee, Doug Mastriano, a state lawmaker whom Flynn introduced at his campaign launch. Mastriano, a retired U.S. Army colonel, floated a plan to undo Bidens victory in his state, organized buses to the U.S. Capitol for Jan. 6 and was filmed walking past barricades and police lines that day. Mastriano has denied breaking the law and has not been charged with any crimes. Another Flynn endorsee, Dan Cox, who also organized buses for Jan. 6, won the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Maryland.

Still, Flynns endorsement doesnt guarantee a win. Josh Mandel, the Ohio U.S. Senate candidate, was defeated by JD Vance, who got a late endorsement from Trump. Some Flynn-backed candidates, including gubernatorial candidate Joey Gilbert in Nevada and Colorado secretary of state candidate Tina Peters, made baseless claims of election fraud after they lost.

Flynn and his allies have suggested he wants to get back into government, and the growing influence that flows from the network hes building may help him get there, said Ron Filipkowski, a lawyer in Sarasota and longtime Republican activist who now tracks Flynn and other far-right figures online.

Hes going to build this grassroots movement, local elected officials beholden to him, loyal to him, Filipkowski said.

Flynn has expanded his influence further through well-financed groups that advocate, among other things, changes to the way elections are run, based on the false premise that there is widespread voting fraud.

Flynn and Patrick Byrne, founder of Overstock.com, last year launched The America Project, with Flynns brother Joseph as president. The group said it planned to spend $50 million in the 2021 budget year, according to a filing with North Carolina charity regulators. But Joseph Flynn and Byrne separately told AP that it had spent tens of millions less, though each gave different totals.

While Flynn himself is not listed among its officers, he is the face of the group, and its described as General Flynn and Patrick Byrnes America Project. Byrne says Flynn is his closest adviser, telling the AP and FRONTLINE that Flynn is his Yoda and rabbi.

In April 2021, Flynn was named chairman of Americas Future, one of the countrys oldest conservative nonprofit groups. The organization was founded in 1946 and was previously led by ultra-conservative stalwarts, including Phyllis Schlafly and retired Maj. Gen. John Singlaub. Since Flynn took over, the group hired his sister, Mary ONeill, as executive director and appointed Joseph Flynn to its board of directors. The group had about $3 million in assets at the end of 2020, its most recent IRS filings show. Flynn told the AP and FRONTLINE in February that he had raised an estimated $1.7 million for Americas Future since becoming chairman.

The two groups worked in close coordination last year, together donating more than $4.2 million for a widely criticized and misinformation-driven review of the 2020 presidential election results commissioned by Arizona Republicans.

Michael Flynn, Jr., talks to people as he sits at the merchandise booth for his father, a retired three-star general who served as Trumps national security adviser, during the ReAwaken America tour at Cornerstone Church, in Batavia, N.Y., Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022. The elder Michael Flynn has drawn together election deniers, mask and vaccine opponents, insurrectionists, Proud Boys, and elected officials and leaders in state and local Republican parties. Along the way, AP and FRONTLINE documented, Flynn and his companies have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The America Project has given about $5 million to grassroots organizations around the country, Joseph Flynn said in a July appearance on an online show.

Many of the groups they support back what they call election integrity, a term often used by election deniers to justify making it more difficult to vote based on the falsehood that American elections are corrupt.

Campaign finance records show The America Project has given more than $150,000 to Conservatives for Election Integrity, a group that has supported several secretary of state candidates who have worked to undermine trust in 2020 election results.

The America Project gave $100,000 to a Colorado group, Citizens for Election Integrity, which used it for ads and text messages attacking a Republican candidate for secretary of state who ran against Flynns endorsed candidate. In Michigan, The America Project gave $100,000 in May to Secure MI Vote, which has reportedly pushed to roll back voter access.

In Georgia, they just announced theyre backing an effort to challenge voter registrations for tens of thousands of people.

Joseph Flynn said during a speech in May that The America Project also funded and advised many of what he termed audits of elections around the country, including in Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin, though he did not give specifics.

In February, Flynn stood in a burger joint in Orlando, Florida, to announce The America Projects most public initiative, Operation Eagles Wings, the goal of which is to mobilize and train poll watchers and precinct captains, and to drive get-out-the-vote efforts.

I think every single person in this country, every American citizen, now has to pay attention to politics. You know, when people go, I dont get involved. I dont do that political stuff. Thats for the politicians. Well, thats exactly why we are here. OK? Flynn told the AP and FRONTLINE during a contentious interview. So, its something else that you wont write or speak about or itll be edited out.

As part of Operation Eagles Wings, The America Project has created affiliate groups in at least nine states. Its Florida affiliate said in a Facebook post last month its seeking America First Poll Watchers and will train organizations for free. State affiliates in Illinois and Virginia advertised trainings in July and August on grassroots social activism, poll watching and how to get out the vote. The promotions also promise to teach attendees to expose weaknesses, monitor and evaluate absentee voting and conduct investigative canvassing.

The initiative has raised alarm bells with pro-democracy advocates.

If people who tried to overturn the 2020 election, or who are fueled by election conspiracies, are trying to recruit their followers or allies to be election workers or volunteers as part of an election denial agenda, that poses real risks to fair and free elections, said Jacek Pruski, of the nonpartisan group Protect Democracy.

With his speeches, endorsements and outreach groups, Flynn has built a legion of acolytes who are listening closely to what he says and are ready to take action. They include Karen Ballash, 69, vice chair of the Summit County Republican Party in Utah, who heard Flynn speak in Salt Lake City.

I totally believe in his message. We have to be the ones who make the change, she said. If we dont do it, we wont have a country.

They include neophytes like Delainna Prettyman, who said shes just become politically engaged in the past year. That sent me deep down a rabbit hole. I dont watch any news, any TV, anything. And I do a ton of research, said Prettyman, who lives in the Salt Lake City suburbs.

She came to love Flynn, and believed everything he says.

Hes got a lot of intel and insight about everything thats going on. Of course, he cant say everything, she said. We need more people like General Flynn.

Under the tent in Batavia, the crowd thrilled to Flynns pronouncements from the stage. The general they claim as their own confirmed their feeling that the U.S. is changing, and not for the better. He validated the belief that the community they have built together is under attack.

They know many people some of their very own friends and loved ones, and even Biden say they are a destructive force. But inside the tent, Flynn assured them, they have found their tribe and they are in the right.

Were not alone in this is what Im telling you. OK? Were not alone in what it is that we are doing, Flynn said. Were not alone. I want you to know that.

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Michael Flynn: From Government Insider to Holy Warrior - PBS

GREENFIELD An Athol man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Wednesday, roughly an hour after 12 deliberating jurors found him guilty of killing 26-year-old Kelsey Clifford in 2019.

Keith D. Hamel, 25, was convicted of murder in the first degree with extreme atrocity or cruelty following roughly 15 hours of jury deliberation in Franklin County Superior Court. He was also found guilty on two counts of intimidation of a witness/juror/police/court official, and four counts of withholding evidence from an official proceeding. The jury found Hamel not guilty of one count of armed robbery.

He was also sentenced to eight to 10 years in prison for each of the intimidation and withholding evidence charges. The first sentence for intimidation is set to begin after the life sentence for murder, while the second intimidation sentence runs concurrently or at the same time with that one. The first sentence for withholding evidence will begin after the murder sentence, while the other three will run concurrently with that one.

The state accused Hamel, who had a girlfriend, of using a claw hammer to murder Clifford, who was dating Hamels best friend, in the early hours of Nov. 11, 2019, to conceal a sexual encounter between the two. Hamel had also been accused of stealing $400 in cash and a cellphone from Clifford after she was dead.

The prosecution rested its case on Aug. 31 and the defense rested the following day. Jury deliberations began on Friday afternoon.

The victims parents, Paul and Allison Clifford, held each other in an embrace when the first guilty verdict was read aloud shortly after 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Hamels mother exited the courtroom. Her screams of grief could be heard down the hallway. Hamel remained stoic as the verdict was read.

During her victim impact statement, Allison Clifford recalled the night of Nov. 11, 2019, when a police officer arrived at her home with the news of her daughters death.

Every horrendous emotion ripped through me devastation, heartbreak, sadness. The impact was unbelievable. I felt I couldnt breathe. I thought I was going to die, she read. My darling, beautiful daughter Kelsey was gone and I never even got to say goodbye, or hold her one more time. There hasnt been a day that has gone by that I dont think of Kelsey.

Keith, she continued, you not only took my daughter; you took a mama from her little boy, you took a niece, a granddaughter, a cousin, a sister, a sister-in-law, an aunt and a friend.

Allison Clifford also told Hamel she has the potential to hate him for this, but she would like to think that is not what God intended.

I actually forgive you and feel sorry for you, she read. I have to believe that your upbringing, environment and the influence of your family and friends have made you an angry, cold and callous person with disregard for human life. I will pray that you get the help you so desperately need and that no one else has to suffer the tremendous loss our family now has to endure for the rest of our lives.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph Webber, who prosecuted the case with Chief Trial Counsel Jeremy Bucci, read a statement from Paul Clifford. In the letter, Kelsey Cliffords father recalled watching the evening news on Nov. 11, 2019, and knowing in his heart his daughter was dead after hearing about a young woman killed in Athol.

Kelsey Clifford grew up in Leominster and had recently moved to Athol from Fitchburg. Her fathers nightmare became a reality a couple of hours later when the police arrived at his door.

In the letter, Paul Clifford recalled sharing doughnuts with his daughter and coaching her in T-ball. He also said he is now overly protective of his grandson, whom he and his wife have taken under their care. He also said he is hesitant to ride in the same vehicle as his wife out of fear of an accident that robs the child of two loving grandparents.

Brian Campbell, who said he is Kelsey Cliffords uncle and godfather, thanked the police and the Northwestern District Attorneys Office for their hard work during this case. He later said in an interview that his family acknowledges Hamels relatives are dealing with their own trauma but said the jurors reached the correct verdict.

Based on the evidence, the timeline and everything that was presented, they got it right, he said in the hallway.

The DAs office said in a statement the prosecution appreciates the careful thought the jury gave to this case and it was a just verdict.

On Tuesday, Leo Hamel III, Keith Hamels father, told the Recorder his family members extend their heartfelt condolences to Cliffords loved ones. He said he knows the pain of experiencing a childs death, having lost his son, Raymond Hamel, in August 2019, just three months before Cliffords murder.

Hamel, represented by attorney Joshua Hochberg, has been adamant about his innocence. He chose to exercise his Fifth Amendment rights not to take the stand during his trial, and the jury was advised not to hold that decision against him. Hochberg declined to provide comment to the Recorder.

Immediately before sentencing, Hochberg asked Judge John Agostini to take into consideration Hamels struggles with drug addiction and his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis. He also said Hamel is the father of a 6-year-old.

Agostini, who said he has been a judge for 20 years, addressed the court before sentencing, expressing his sympathy to both families involved with the case. He acknowledged there are no words of solace sufficient to relieve their suffering.

There are still some things that I will never understand, the judge said, referring to Hamels actions as despicable. And this case is one of them.

The state spent a week building its case in court, starting on Aug. 25. The jurors began the trial with a view, in which they were driven by bus to six Athol locations associated with the case.

A sweatshirt linked to Hamel was recovered from Leonard Street, which is between the Athol Wastewater Treatment Plant where Cliffords body was found and where Hamel was living on Silver Lake Street. The sweatshirt had his DNA and Cliffords blood on it, prosecutors said.

Also, saliva and DNA matching that of Hamel were recovered from Cliffords body, according to the prosecution. However, during a cross-examination, Hochberg got a Massachusetts State Police crime lab employee to confirm that no one processed the clothes Clifford was wearing when she was murdered.

Tony Audet, Hamels fellow inmate at the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction, testified during the trial that Hamel told him where the murder weapon was and asked him to tell jail officers the information came from Kevin McGann, Cliffords boyfriend.

Audet explained he drew a map based on Hamels description of the weapons location (a sewer grate at the corner of Ridge Avenue and Union Street in Athol) and later made a copy of it. The hammer was recovered from that location on Jan. 28, 2021.

Hochberg grilled Audet on the stand, however, telling him he has made a bit of a career out of being a jailhouse snitch. Audet explained he cooperates with jail officers in exchange for money on an account to spend at the jails canteen, where inmates can buy snacks and other items. But, he said, he is honest about the information he forwards.

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Hamel found guilty of Athol murder, sentenced to life in prison - The Recorder

Politico noted that Biden has never had a more productive stretch of his presidency, with wins stacking atop wins at a most opportune time.

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

As Donald Trump told New York prosecutors that hed invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, President Joe Biden sat behind a desk at the White House, where he signed into law the PACT Act, legislation that expands health care benefits for veterans who developed illnesses because of exposure to toxic substances at U.S. military bases.

The PACT Act is the least we can do for the countless men and women, many of whom may be in this room, who suffered toxic exposure while serving their country, Biden stated.

This new law matters. It matters a lot.

Facing unrelenting criticism because of high gas prices, inflation, and his low-approval rating, Biden has built a track record that has gone almost overlooked.

If he continues the string of success he has enjoyed in getting his mandate through Congress, historians might revisit Bidens presidency as one of the most consequential in American history.

Despite Republican leadership vowing to do all they can to stunt Bidens agenda, the president has pushed through game-changing legislation like the PACT Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, the American Rescue Plan, and the CHIPS and Science Act.

Hes displayed a steady hand in returning affordability to gas prices, succeeded in expanding NATO, and monthly jobs reports continue to show increases.

You can say what you will, that Biden is too old, hes not a deal maker, hes sleepy Joe, or whatever, but hes getting things done even though hes not getting the credit he deserves, Stacey Rouse, a D.C.-based utility worker opined.

Its funny. When the other guy [Trump] was in office, you heard so much talk and bragging about what hes doing, and the media blanketed him with coverage, Rouse asserted.

Now, you got the F.B.I. raiding Trump. Hes pleading the Fifth at depositions, and Biden is conducting business the way you would want your president to conduct himself. I think hes accomplished so much, but we dont hear about it. I think ten years or so from now, and people will look back and realize what a good president this man is.

Rouses colleague, Scott Anthony, agreed.

I was a skeptic because that thing about sleepy Joe seemed true, Anthony said.

But, it seems other people are doing the sleeping because Biden is getting things done and hes just not getting the credit.

Upon signing the CHIPS and Science Act on August 10, Biden also peeked into the future and prognosticated what historians and others might determine.

I honest to God believe that 50, 75, 100 years from now, people who will look back on this week, theyll know that we met this moment, Biden declared.

An acronym for Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors, the CHIPS Act provides $10 billion to invest in regional technology hubs across the country and a 25% investment tax credit for expenses for manufacturing of semiconductors and other equipment.

The bill earmarks about $100 billion in spending over five years on scientific research and $80 billion for the National Science Foundation.

Those early aspirations to being another Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson, the ones that felt like so much hubris in the past few months, are being heard again in the halls of the West Wing and the Capitol, Peter Baker wrote about Biden for the New York Times.

House aides argue that the string of congressional victories capped by the package of climate, health and tax provisions that finally cleared the Senate compares favorably to the two-year legislative record of most any other modern president, even perhaps F.D.R. and L.B.J., Baker penned.

Politico noted that Biden has never had a more productive stretch of his presidency, with wins stacking atop wins at a most opportune time.

Already the victories have enlivened beleaguered supporters and injected new optimism across the West Wing, Politico reported.

Aides describe a burst of energy in the executive mansion Biden and his staff suddenly find themselves with a host of successes to talk about, from the reconciliation bill to the China competitiveness bill, from legislation to give health benefits to veterans harmed by toxic burn pits to a robust jobs market.

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Biden Slowly Winning LBJ- and FDR-Like Praise As Legislative Victories Mount - Seattle Medium