All posts tagged: Collusion

Arizona Supreme Court denies prosecutor appeal against sending fake elector case back to grand jury

Arizona Supreme Court denies prosecutor appeal against sending fake elector case back to grand jury

Published by Sam Flores

Kris Mayes, Arizona’s attorney general, speaks to members of the media outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. Eric Lee | Bloomberg | Getty Images The Arizona Supreme Court has denied a prosecutor’s appeal of an order that the state’s fake elector case against President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others over the 2020 presidential election be sent back to a grand jury. The decision released Thursday marks another setback for Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes as she struggles to push the sprawling case through the courts. Mayes’ office said it will again present the case in its entirety to a grand jury rather than end the prosecution. Her office declined to comment further on the court’s decision. The ruling came after similar cases in Michigan and Georgia were dismissed by the courts and a special prosecutor dropped a federal case in late 2024 that charged Trump with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. Cases related to …

U.S. jury finds investor Andrew Left guilty of securities fraud

U.S. jury finds investor Andrew Left guilty of securities fraud

Published by Sam Flores

Andrew Left, founder of Citron Research, arrives at federal court in Los Angeles, California, US, on Monday, July 7, 2025. Activist short seller Andrew Left is set to appear in federal court Monday in a securities fraud case that shook the industry a year ago, setting up a battle over investor tips and free speech. Eric Thayer | Bloomberg | Getty Images A U.S. jury found prominent investor Andrew Left guilty of securities fraud on Monday, the Justice Department said, in a blow to a divisive cohort of short sellers who have for years ‌goaded public companies in the U.S. and overseas with allegations of fraud and mismanagement. U.S. authorities charged Left in July 2024, alleging he had manipulated the stock market and defrauded investors with misleading claims about his positions in multiple companies’ shares, including Nvidia and Tesla, making at least $20 million in the process. Left, who runs Citron Research, denied the allegations and had pleaded not guilty. After two days of deliberations, however, the jury found him guilty of engaging in a …

Kilmar Abrego Garcia charges dropped, judge says Trump DOJ case vindictive

Kilmar Abrego Garcia charges dropped, judge says Trump DOJ case vindictive

Published by Sam Flores

Kilmar Abrego Garcia leaves a check-in at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Baltimore Field Office the day after a federal judge ordered his release from a detention in Pennsylvania, on Dec. 12, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images A federal judge in Tennessee on Friday dismissed human smuggling charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant whose mistaken deportation by the Trump administration became a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s broader immigration crackdown. U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw ruled that the Justice Department’s prosecution of Abrego Garcia was “vindictive,” finding that the government would not have brought the case had he not challenged his deportation. “Then-Attorney General Robert H. Jackson warned his fellow prosecutors long ago of the danger of picking the person first and the crime second,” Crenshaw wrote at the top of the 32-page ruling. “That is the situation here.” The DOJ plans to appeal, saying in a statement that “another activist judge has placed politics above public safety. The judge’s order is wrong and dangerous, and we will …

DOJ charges prosecutor with stealing Trump documents case report

DOJ charges prosecutor with stealing Trump documents case report

Published by Sam Flores

This image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, 2022, and partially redacted by the source, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8, 2022, FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Department of Justice | AP A former federal prosecutor has been charged with stealing the sealed volume of the report prepared by then-special counsel Jack Smith about the defunct criminal case against President Donald Trump over his retention of classified government documents after leaving office in January 2021. Carmen Mercedes Lineberger is accused in a four-count indictment unsealed Wednesday of saving the sealed portion of Smith’s report on her government-issued computer under the file name “Bundt_Cake_Recipe.pdf,” and then emailing the report from her DOJ email account to her personal Gmail account on Dec. 1, 2025. At the time of the alleged conduct, the 62-year-old Lineberger was managing Assistant U.S. Attorney in Fort Pierce, Fla., according to the indictment in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Read more CNBC politics coverage …

Dems demand Lutnick resign over Jeffrey Epstein interview

Dems demand Lutnick resign over Jeffrey Epstein interview

Published by Sam Flores

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick testifies during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on February 10, 2026 in Washington, DC. Lutnick is facing bipartisan calls for his resignation after revelations that came to light in the latest release of Epstein files. Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images News | Getty Images House Democrats on Thursday demanded Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s resignation, alleging he publicly lied about his relationship with notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and refused to “come clean” during a subsequent closed-door interview. “The facts are clear: you lied to the American people and attempted to conceal your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein in your public statements,” the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s Democratic minority said in a letter to Lutnick. “Your lack of candor demonstrates that you are unfit to perform the duties required of you as secretary of Commerce, and you must step down immediately,” read the letter signed by all 21 of the panel’s Democratic members. Lutnick claimed in an interview last year that, …

Howard Lutnick interviewed by House Oversight

Howard Lutnick interviewed by House Oversight

Published by Sam Flores

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick testifies during a during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on the Commerce Department’s 2027 budget request in Washington, DC on April 22, 2026. Nathan Posner | Anadolu | Getty Images Read more CNBC politics coverage Lutnick’s interview began around 11 a.m. ET. The interview, which was not recorded on video, ended around 3:15 pm. Lutnick was a New York City neighbor of Epstein, who killed himself in jail in August 2019 after his arrest on federal child sex trafficking charges. Lutnick previously said he cut contact with Epstein in 2005, several years before Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida state court to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution. But DOJ files showed the two men remained in contact in the years after that. Lutnick admitted to a Senate committee in February that he, his family and nannies visited Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2012. Rep. James Comer, the Kentucky Republican who is chair of the committee, told reporters that Lutnick …

FAA employee charged with Trump death threat in New Hampshire

FAA employee charged with Trump death threat in New Hampshire

Published by Sam Flores

A Federal Aviation Administration flag flies at the Orville Wright Federal Building which houses the FAA headquarters, in Washington, June 2025. Kevin Carter | Getty Images A Federal Aviation Administration employee in New Hampshire was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill President Donald Trump, whom he criticized for the war against Iran, the U.S. attorney’s office in Concord said Tuesday. Dean DelleChiaie, 35, who was arrested Monday, allegedly conducted internet searches on his government work computer in late January for terms that drew the attention of the U.S. Secret Service, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Those subjects included “how to get a gun into a federal facility, previous assassination attempts against the President, the percentage of the population that wants the President dead, and the phrase ‘I am going to kill Donald John Trump,” according to an affidavit filed to support the criminal complaint against the Nashau resident. DelleChiaie also searched for the locations of the homes of Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the affidavit said. The FAA’s Information Technology …

Accused Trump attacker Cole Allen’s treatment in jail eyed by judge

Accused Trump attacker Cole Allen’s treatment in jail eyed by judge

Published by Sam Flores

A video still showing Cole Allen at the gym at the Hilton ahead of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Courtesy: USAttyPirro An irritated federal judge on Monday said it appeared that Cole Allen, the man accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, has been treated more harshly by a jail than it treated defendants in Jan. 6, 2021, attack criminal cases. “I can tell you I have never had a January 6th defendant who was put in 5-point restraints or a safe cell,” Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui told prosecutors and the top attorney for the District of Columbia’s jail system, during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Faruqui said he found it “extremely disturbing” and was “very troubled” that the 31-year-old Allen had been placed under suicide watch and had restrictions imposed without a finding that he was at risk for suicide and without having a criminal history. “A lot of people have seemed to forget about Jan. 6, but I have not,” …

Rudy Giuliani in critical condition in hospital, Trump says

Rudy Giuliani in critical condition in hospital, Trump says

Published by Sam Flores

Rudy Giuliani, the former personal lawyer for former U.S. President Donald Trump, speaks to the press on the second day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 16, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Alex Wong | Getty Images Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was in “critical but stable condition” in a Florida hospital on Sunday night, his spokesman said. Ted Goodman, his spokesman, did not offer any details about what led to the hospitalization of the 81-year-old Giuliani, who previously served as President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer. “Mayor Giuliani is a fighter who has faced every challenge in his life with unwavering strength, and he’s fighting with that same level of strength as we speak,” Goodman said in a statement. “We do ask that you join us in prayer for America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani,” he said. The Republican served as an attorney for Trump’s 2020 campaign, where he promoted false claims that Trump had actually won that election over former President Joe Biden. Giuliani hosted his online show, “America’s Mayor …

Bard President Botstein retiring after Jeffrey Epstein ties Revealed

Bard President Botstein retiring after Jeffrey Epstein ties Revealed

Published by Sam Flores

FILE PHOTO: President of Bard College Leon Botstein speaks during the “Changing Landscapes: From the Digital Classroom to the Global Campus” panal during the TIME Summit On Higher Education on Oct. 18, 2012 in New York City. Jemal Countess | Getty Images Bard College President Leon Botstein announced Friday that he will retire at the end of June after 51 years leading the prestigious New York liberal arts school, a day after a law firm retained by its Board of Trustees delivered a critical report about his relationship with the late notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “Nothing that President Botstein did in connection with his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was illegal,” WilmerHale attorney Jamie Gorelick wrote in a summary to those trustees, which CNBC obtained. “But President Botstein made decisions in the course of that relationship that reflect on his leadership of Bard,” wrote Gorelick, who served as a deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration. Bard’s trustees retained WilmerHale in February to review its 79-year-old president’s relationship with Epstein after details about their communications …