Republicans behaving badly

[Patagoniagirl]

Yes, please as to a book club. I cant always get the books, but loved reading the reviews and ordered some from the library.

[RVInit]

Count me in!

[Foggy]

I'm in.

[Volkonski]

[Fiascoist]

Why by California prosecutors? Any more information out there? Curious minds want to know.

[raison de arizona]

Why by California prosecutors? Any more information out there? Curious minds want to know.

Yes, foreign contributions funneled through Californians. I'll grab an article.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska expects to be charged with lying to the FBI while federal agents were investigating campaign contributions funneled to him from a Nigerian billionaire, the nine-term Republican said as he proclaimed his innocence and promised to fight the charges.

The expected indictment stems from an FBI investigation into $180,000 in illegal campaign contributions from Gilbert Chagoury. The contributions were funneled through a group of Californians from 2012 through 2016 and went to four U.S. politicians, including $30,200 to Fortenberry in 2016 and $10,000 to then-Rep. Lee Terry, who represented the Omaha area in 2014.

https://news.yahoo.com/us-rep-jeff-fort ... 29403.html

[AndyinPA]

Long read on Tommy Tuberville.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyl ... tor-coach/

Tuberville was also legendary for his capacity to move on — sometimes abruptly. In 1998, when he was head coach at the University of Mississippi, he declared that the only way he’d leave Ole Miss was “in a pine box;” he took the Auburn job a few days later. In 2012, when he was head coach at Texas Tech, Tuberville was out to dinner with a group of potential recruits when he excused himself to take a phone call, which turned out to be the University of Cincinnati offering him a job; he never returned to the table.

Ambitious. Enthralled by the spotlight. Always in search of a better opportunity. It’s no wonder Tuberville got into politics.

“It didn’t surprise me that he threw his hat in the ring for a bigger seat,” Robert Khayat, who was chancellor at Mississippi while Tuberville coached there, said about his decision to run for office. “I thought that sometime during his tenure at Ole Miss, his ego became a little bit out of balance. Maybe a lot out of balance. ”

No regrets to voting to de-certify the election.

[Fiascoist]

Thanks for the response. I was rushing out the door and what little I could find before I needed to leave said nothing about jurisdiction.

[Volkonski]

[AndyinPA]

https://apnews.com/article/business-ohi ... 0d20dd4af6

WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional ethics watchdog has concluded there is “substantial reason to believe” that the wife of Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly used nonpublic information gained through her husband’s position in Congress to earn thousands of dollars through a well-timed stock purchase, a likely violation of federal law and House rules.

A report from the Office of Congressional Ethics released late Thursday detailed the April 2020 purchase of stock in an Ohio steelmaker. The company had threatened to shut down a plant in Kelly’s district unless the Trump administration took action that would help make it more competitive — steps the administration took after Kelly, a Republican, and others intervened.

The ethics office has recommended that subpoenas be issued for Kelly, his wife, Victoria, a senior staffer and former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross because they declined to be interviewed or participate in the investigation.

“Victoria Kelly made an uncharacteristic stock purchase ... on April 29, 2020 and profited from this purchase. The purchase occurred just after her husband, in the course of his official job duties, learned confidential information about the company,” the report states.

[jcolvin2]

USAO CD Cal press release re Fortenberry indictment
Link to Press Release

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Central District of California
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry Charged with Scheme to Deceive Federal Investigators Probing Illegal Campaign Contributions in 2016
LOS ANGELES – A federal grand jury today charged U.S. Representative Jeff Fortenberry, who represents Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District, with concealing information and making false statements to federal authorities who were investigating illegal contributions made by a foreign national to the congressman’s 2016 re-election campaign.

Fortenberry, 60, of Lincoln, Nebraska, was named in an indictment that charges him with one count of scheming to falsify and conceal material facts and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators. Fortenberry has served in Congress since 2005.

The indictment alleges that Fortenberry repeatedly lied to and misled authorities during a federal investigation into illegal contributions to Fortenberry’s re-election campaign made by a foreign billionaire in early 2016. Gilbert Chagoury, a foreign national prohibited by federal law from contributing to any U.S. elections, arranged for $30,000 of his money to be contributed through other individuals (conduits) to Fortenberry’s campaign during a fundraiser held in Los Angeles, according to the indictment.

It is illegal for foreign nationals to make contributions to a federal campaign. It also is illegal for the true source of campaign contributions to be disguised by funneling the money through third-party conduits. And it is illegal for a federal candidate to knowingly receive foreign or conduit contributions. Chagoury entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office in 2019 in which he admitted providing approximately $180,000 that was used to make illegal contributions to four different political candidates in U.S. elections. Chagoury also agreed to pay a $1.8 million fine and cooperate with federal authorities.

The co-host of the Fortenberry 2016 fundraiser, who is referred to in the indictment as “Individual H,” began cooperating with federal authorities in September 2016 and informed special agents with the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation about the illegal contributions, the indictment states. In response, investigators began looking into whether the Fortenberry campaign received illegal conduit contributions, whether Fortenberry knew about illegal contributions – both foreign contributions and conduit contributions – at the 2016 fundraiser, whether Fortenberry knew about illegal foreign contributions from Chagoury, and whether Fortenberry had any direct or indirect communications with Chagoury in relation to the contributions made at the 2016 fundraiser.

In the spring of 2018, Fortenberry contacted Individual H about hosting another fundraiser. In a June 2018 call, Individual H told the congressman on multiple occasions that a Chagoury associate – Toufic Joseph Baaklini, who also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with prosecutors – had provided him with $30,000 cash to route to Fortenberry’s campaign at the 2016 fundraiser, the indictment alleges. Individual H allegedly told Fortenberry that the money – which was distributed to other individuals at the fundraiser so the donations could be made under their names and avoid individual donor limits – “probably did come from Gilbert Chagoury.”

Despite learning of the illegal campaign contributions, Fortenberry did not file an amended report with the Federal Elections Commission, the indictment alleges.

The indictment alleges a scheme in which Fortenberry, after learning this information, “knowingly and willfully falsified, concealed, and covered up by trick, scheme, and device material facts” about the illegal campaign contributions.

As part of the scheme, Fortenberry allegedly made false and misleading statements during a March 23, 2019 interview with investigators who specifically told him it was a crime to lie to the federal government. The indictment alleges that Fortenberry falsely told investigators that he was not aware of Baaklini ever being involved in illegal campaign contributions, that the individuals who made contributions at the 2016 fundraiser were all publicly disclosed, and that he was not aware of any contributions to his campaign from a foreign national.

At a second interview on July 18, 2019 with federal investigators and prosecutors, Fortenberry allegedly made additional false statements, including denying he was aware of any illicit donation made during the 2016 fundraiser, denying that Individual H had told him Baaklini had provided the $30,000 cash at the 2016 fundraiser, and stating that he would have been “horrified” to learn about the illegal conduit contributions, according to the indictment.

During this second interview, Fortenberry also misleadingly stated he ended the June 2018 call with Individual H after that person made a “concerning comment,” when in fact Fortenberry continued to ask Individual H to host another fundraiser for his campaign, the indictment states.

[Volkonski]

[RTH10260]

[northland10]

DiMassa was a Democratic representative, not a Republican.

[RTH10260]

but I will just leave it here. State representatives are equal opportunity felons.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1 ... lost-cause

The case for rooting out alleged conspirators of Jan. 6 in Congress has legs

Mark Zaid, a national security and whistleblower attorney who currently represents U.S. Capitol police officers Pvt. First Class Harry Dunn and Sgt. Aquilino Gonnell, said in an interview with Daily Kos this week that there is a way forward to real accountability for those who sought to strong-arm the will of some 81 million voters who rejected Trump last November.

First, Zaid said, one must remember that while members of Congress have immunity for many of their activities as elected officials, the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution “has been interpreted to encompass activities on the floor of the House or Senate, or in committee rooms.”

“It doesn’t apply just anywhere,” Zaid added.

If a member were to leak classified or sensitive information to someone during a meeting at a hotel—like at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., where Trump’s team had a so-called war room to coordinate attempts at overturning Joe Biden’s victory—that is prosecutable, and immunity does not necessarily apply.

“If they released the classified information on the floor of the House or Senate, for example, however, they have immunity,” Zaid said.

Lengthy and thorough article about kicking them out of the House. Plus a history of when it has been done.

[raison de arizona]

Confederate General Robert E. Lee lost the right to vote after losing the Civil War, where the United States was led by Republican Abraham Lincoln. Subsequent to that, former General Lee joined Democrats in opposing punitive measures sought against the South in retaliation by Republicans.

So make Lee proud by voting Republican? Wha-what?

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/1 ... n-his-case

GOP lawmaker, indicted after lying to the FBI, now banned by a judge from being alone with evidence

Last week, the Department of Justice announced that Nebraska Rep. Jeff Fortenberry was indicted for lying to the FBI over foreign donations made to his campaign.

Thursday, Judge Stanley Blumfeld took the unusual step of making sure the nine-term Republican couldn’t monkey around with witnesses or handle evidence without being supervised. Blumfeld’s order “would prohibit Fortenberry from taking notes or ‘memorializing’ the evidence, and even requires his lawyers to ensure he is ‘never left alone with any Cooperator Materials,’” according to reporting by The Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger.

Fortenberry was charged with “concealing information and making false statements to federal authorities who were investigating illegal contributions made by a foreign national to the congressman’s 2016 re-election campaign,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

[AndyinPA]

https://politicalwire.com/2021/11/04/ha ... ive-tests/

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the Christian Broadcasting Network that older government leaders should undergo a “cognitive test.”

Said Haley: “If you’re gonna have anyone above a certain age in a position of power — whether it’s the House, whether it’s the Senate, whether it’s vice president, whether it’s president — you should have some sort of cognitive test.”

She added: “Let’s face it, we’ve got a lot of people in leadership positions that are old. And that’s not being disrespectful. That’s a fact.”

I wonder if she thought Dear Leader should have been tested.

Oh, I forgot. He was. Best ever!

[Suranis]

Well, notice she only opened her mouth about this a year after he was gone. And after an off year election which made it obvious that he isn't exactly guaranteeing victories.

[tek]

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the Christian Broadcasting Network that older government leaders should undergo a “cognitive test.”

I don't seem to be able to find that clause in my Pocket Constitution.

[Foggy]

I think she's suggesting you write it in the margins, tek.

[Phoenix520]

What, the Sanity Clause? It’s a myth.

[Frater I*I]

What, the Sanity Clause? It’s a myth.

[bbflatt]

If you don't get the reference (or even if you do) it's worth a watch: