DETROIT — A federal judge overseeing the case of a Waterford man charged in a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declined an appeal Thursday to set bail as his case proceeds.And in Wisconsin state court on Thursday another alleged plotter was denied bond as the government readies its case to extradite the man to Michigan.Kaleb Franks, whose friends call him “Red Hot,” had been denied bond at his arraignment weeks ago.Judge Robert Jonker of the Western District of Michigan denied the appeal Thursday in a six-page ruling.Jonker said “neither oral argument nor a further evidentiary hearing (are...
Far-right Arizona state Rep. Austin Smith is ending his re-election bid after being caught forging petition signatures to qualify for the ballot.
According to Yvonne Wingett Sanchez of The Washington Post, "State Rep. Austin Smith (R) — who was senior director at Turning Point Action, the campaign arm of Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA — was accused by a Democratic activist of submitting petition sheets with rows of voter names, addresses and signatures that 'bear a striking resemblance' to Smith’s handwriting, according to a complaint. Smith 'personally circulated multiple petition sheets bearing what appear to be forged voter signatures,' the complaint said."
After the complaint was submitted to the Arizona secretary of state and attorney general, "Smith submitted his resignation to Turning Point Action on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about it publicly. Smith also publicly ended his reelection campaign," according to the report.
Turning Point USA is a right-wing youth group that, under Kirk's leadership, has enthusiastically supported former President Donald Trump. Last month, reports indicated the group was aiming to raise $108 million to unseat and replace election officials around the country with MAGA loyalists, with Smith himself tweeting, "[We] need to clean house in Maricopa county."
In recent years, Turning Point has come under scrutiny even on the right as its leadership causes controversy.
In January, the group had to kick out a volunteer ambassador who engaged in rants about "Zionist Jews controlling our planet." And even some of Trump's associates are growing concerned that Kirk himself, who has attacked the late civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King and suggested that airlines are endangering passengers' lives by training too many Black pilots, is going to make it harder to persuade nonwhite voters to back GOP campaigns.
Former President Donald Trump's partnership with the mob in his early days of business were legion, said biographer Tim O'Brien on MSNBC's "Deadline: White House" — but deep down, even as Trump looked up to crime bosses, he was very scared of them.
This conversation came during an analysis of the former president's hush money trial in Manhattan, where a full jury has been selected as of Thursday evening.
"Donald Trump's first partners in Atlantic City, Ken Shapiro, a bag man for the Philadelphia mob, and a labor racketeer named Danny Sullivan," said O'Brien. "Those were his two partners in Atlantic City. When Trump Tower got built, 80 percent of Trump Tower was built with concrete at a time when all the skyscrapers in Manhattan had long since converted to building their high-rises out of steel."
"Well, I mean, you know, I suspect because he was getting a sweetheart deal from the mob, and why he needed to get concrete and it was very mobbed up," said O'Brien. "He built a very palatial apartment. When Donald and I talked about this down in Mar-a-Lago, he said, you know, I went to John Cody and I told him what's what and that guy never, ever messed with me because he knew who he was dealing with. And then he pauses and he says, he's still in jail, right? It finally dawned on Mr. Tough Guy that John Cody isn't somebody he'd want to tangle with in public, and he'd want to make sure he's still in jail because Donald Trump, like every classic bully — if you push back, it's often masking infantile weaknesses."
"He's not a tough person when you scratch past the surface, but he fetishizes mobsters," O'Brien added. "When we talked in the top of the hour, he wanted to model himself on John Gotti. That's how you should roll. He compared himself to Al Capone. He has a juvenile and dangerous fixation on how mobsters are to be honored, and he models himself on that."
The prosecution team may need to be wary of Juror No. 2.
Described as a married investment banker with a Master's degree is one thing. But the fact that he's read Trump’s bestselling book, "The Art of the Deal," and claims to track Trump's Truth Social posts — is another, according to one expert.
Elliot Williams, a former deputy assistant attorney general at the DOJ, flagged this particular juror as a potential concern for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to prove his case to a jury of former President Donald Trump's Manhattan peers.
During an appearance on CNN's "The Lead," host Jake Tapper asked Williams specifically about whether the juror's Truth Social consumption would make prosecutors "alarmed."
Williams answered, "I would be."
He then proceeded to compare reading Truth Social as being akin to an old refrain by Playboy Magazine fans who claimed they were enthralled by its stories tucked in between titillating pinups.
"Absolutely it would," he said. "That is like 'I just read it for the articles!'"
Tapper explained the reference. And Williams went further to detail why this juror could pose some trouble come verdict-reaching time.
"A prosecutor does not have to let this person on the jury," he said. "Now they have a finite number of these peremptory strikes and you gotta be very careful and judicious in how you mete them out.
"But even following Michael Cohen and reading 'The Art of the Deal' based on the limited information we have here, that social media account for somebody who's not Jake Tapper as a journalist if you're a prosecutor would be."
Thursday marked a pivotal benchmark for the historic first criminal trial of a former U.S. president.
A dozen jurors were seated, including one alternate. Their backgrounds range from English teacher, two attorneys, sales professional, software engineer, retired wealth manager, a speech therapist, and a physical therapist among others.
Trump has pleaded innocent and denies any wrongdoing.
