>>14041560

>Dough

>>14041661

>https://twitter.com/APEntertainment/status/1402976140667625480

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ny-state-wire-huma-abedin-hillary-clinton-entertainment-2aa92ed7007938ba9aebe590c57409ec

June 10, 2021

Huma Abedin, longtime Hillary Clinton aide, has book deal

Huma Abedin, the close aide to Hillary Clinton and estranged wife of disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner, has a memoir coming out this fall.

Abedin’s “Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds” will be released Nov. 2, Scribner told The Associated Press on Thursday. Abedin will tell “her inspiring story, coming of age as an American Muslim, the daughter of Indian and Pakistani scholars who split their time between Saudi Arabia, the United States, and the UK,” according to the publisher.

“‘Both/And’ grapples with family, legacy, identity, faith, marriage, and motherhood,” Scribner announced. “It shares Huma Abedin’s personal accounts as a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton during Mrs. Clinton’s years as First Lady, U.S. Senator, a presidential candidate, Secretary of State, and Democratic Presidential Nominee, and a candid and moving reckoning of Ms. Abedin’s marriage to former Congressman Anthony Weiner.”

Abedin, for years an object of speculation, said in a statement that her memoir will allow her to define herself.

“For most of my life, I was viewed through the lens of others, a refraction of someone else’s pronoun. ‘They’ as in the parents who raised me; ‘she’ as in the woman I worked for; and ‘he’ as in the man I married,” Abedin said.

“Writing this book gave me the opportunity to reflect on my own life — from the nurturing family I was privileged to be born into, to working for one of the most compelling leaders of our time. This journey has led me through exhilarating milestones and devastating setbacks. I have walked both with great pride and in overwhelming shame. It is a life I am — more than anything — enormously grateful for and a story I look forward to sharing.”

Abedin, 45, has known Clinton since she was a student at George Washington University, when she worked as an intern in 1996 for the then-first lady. She was an aide to Clinton during Clinton’s successful run for the U.S. Senate in 2000; deputy chief of staff during Clinton’s years as secretary of state in the first term of the Obama administration, 2009-2013; and a top adviser during the 2016 election, when Clinton lost in a stunning upset to Republican Donald Trump.

>>14041707

She currently serves as Clinton’s chief of staff.

“Over the years, we’ve shared stories about our lives, we’ve shared more meals than I can count, we’ve celebrated together, we’ve mourned together,” Abedin said of Clinton in an August 2016 feature about the aide in Vogue, which called her “in many ways the engine at the center of Clinton’s well-run machine, crucial and yet largely out of sight.”

Clinton, mother of Chelsea Clinton, has spoken of Abedin as a second daughter. And former President Bill Clinton officiated at her 2010 wedding to Weiner, then a New York congressman seen as an emerging star in the Democratic Party. But Weiner’s career collapsed the following year after he acknowledged texting lewd photos of himself to several women. In 2013, he attempted a comeback by running for mayor of New York City, but his campaign was soon upended when it was revealed he continued sexting even after resigning from Congress, a scandal that unfolded on camera during the award-winning documentary “Weiner.”

Weiner pleaded guilty in 2017 to charges of sending sexual materials to a minor and was sentenced to 21 months in prison. Abedin had announced their separation in 2016 and, according to her publisher, she and Weiner are finalizing their divorce. (They agreed in 2018 to settle their divorce out of court).

Abedin’s marriage, and her relationship with the Clintons, led to her being caught up in the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private computer server for her emails while she was secretary of state — an issue through much of the 2016 campaign.

Then-FBI Director James Comey announced in July 2016 that he would not recommend any criminal charges against Clinton even as he said she had been “extremely careless.” But in late October, less than two weeks before Election Day, he informed Congress that the bureau was reopening the case after emails between Clinton and Abedin were found on Weiner’s computer during the probe into the former congressman’s sexting. The FBI reported a week later that nothing on the laptop changed the recommendation against charges, but Clinton has called Comey’s intervention — and the headlines it created — “the determining factor” in her narrow defeat to Trump.

In Clinton’s 2017 memoir “What Happened,” she remembered being on the campaign plane when she and Abedin learned that the FBI probe had been reopened.

“When we heard this Huma looked stricken,” Clinton wrote. “Anthony had already caused so much heartache. And now this. ‘This man is going to be the death of me,’ (Huma) said, bursting into tears.” Clinton added that it was agonizing to see Abedin “in such distress.”

“Some people thought I should fire Huma or ‘distance myself.’ Not a chance,” Clinton wrote. “I stuck by her the same way she has always stuck by me.”

>>14041696

>Chicago Alderman, Chief Of Staff Indicted On Federal Bribery Charges

https://apnews.com/article/laws-government-and-politics-business-3059cf5c868916391dd356fdd1269a77

According to the indictment unsealed Thursday, Weisselberg cheated tax authorities by taking a hefty chunk of his annual compensation in fringe benefits. They say that over 15 years these off-the-books perks were worth nearly $1.8 million.

Weisselberg alone was accused of defrauding the federal government, state and city out of more than $900,000 in unpaid taxes and undeserved refunds. He is pleading not guilty.

“Mr. Weisselberg intends to plead not guilty and he will fight these charges in court,” Weisselberg’s lawyers, Mary Mulligan and Bryan Skarlatos, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump and his allies have tried to frame the indictment against Weisselberg and the Trump Organization as a “witch hunt” by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats. They have said the perks involved were standard for successful American companies.

But the case against Weisselberg is not necessarily unusual. Some compared the indictment to a tax fraud case involving another real estate tycoon from 30 years ago: Leona Helmsley, the so-called “Queen of Mean” who tried to get her real estate empire to pay for a $3 million home renovation in the 1980s.

Trump himself called Helmsley a “disgrace to humanity” for fraudulently avoiding taxes all those years ago.

“The dollar figures and the charges are more serious than what we had thought over the last few days with the little information we had,” said Daniel R. Alonso, a former chief assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. “In particular, the tax loss alleged is $900,000. That is a fraud amount that is definitely in the jail range for typical cases of that magnitude.”

Melissa Jampol, who as a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan specialized in prosecuting white-collar crimes, said the indictment’s allegations stretched far beyond the allegations of fringe benefit abuse that some had presumed would be the crux of the case.

“I think the major takeaway is that there’s a lot more going on here that’s alleged in the indictment than people were aware of previously,” said Jampol, an attorney at the law firm of Epstein Becker Green.

>>14041731

>https://apnews.com/article/laws-government-and-politics-business-3059cf5c868916391dd356fdd1269a77

The indictment alleges that this wasn’t just a matter of Weisselberg failing to report his pay properly. It says the Trump Organization, as a company, was complicit.

The company kept internal records that tracked employee compensation, and in those records, Weisselberg’s rent, the tuition payments for his grandchildren, his cars and other things were all listed as part of his compensation package. The company even reduced Weisselberg’s payroll checks to account for the indirect compensation he was getting in free rent, the indictment said.

But that compensation was recorded differently in the company’s general ledger and none of it was reported to tax authorities, according to prosecutors.

“There’s the set that was the formal ledger and there’s the set that was Weisselberg’s compensation calculations,” Jampol said.

Smaller cases involving similar practices pop up not infrequently. A Queens-based plumbing contractor was sentenced to 20 months in prison just last month. Sergei Denko was found to have cashed $5 million in checks to fund an off-the-books payroll system, avoiding paying roughly $732,000 in employment taxes. Out on Long Island, a diner owner was convicted in September of avoiding $130,000 in employment taxes as well.

Thomas M. Cryan, Jr., a Washington tax lawyer, said prosecutions over fringe benefits issued to employees are rare, but an unusually large volume of perks and an intent to conceal them as income could tip a civil matter into a criminal case.

Often cases involving fringe benefit violations remain between the company and the Internal Revenue Service, and may just result in an audit or back taxes with a penalty being paid.

But some of the allegations against Weisselberg go well beyond the abuse of fringe benefits. Weisselberg’s son Barry — who managed a Trump-operated ice rink in Central Park — paid no reported rent while living in a Trump-owned apartment in 2018, and he was charged just $1,000 per month — far below typical Manhattan prices — while living in a Trump apartment from 2005 to 2012, the indictment said.

Allen Weisselberg himself, an intensely private man who lived for years in a modest home on Long Island, continued to claim residency there despite spending a majority of his time in a company-paid Manhattan apartment, prosecutors said. By doing so, Weisselberg concealed that he was a New York City resident, and he avoided paying the city’s income tax.

Though some standalone tax offenses can be handled civilly or administratively, the allegations of other misconduct — including grand larceny — help explain why prosecutors would treat this scheme as deserving of criminal prosecution, Jampol said.

But that doesn’t mean the allegations, which will require proof of willfulness, will be easy to establish in court.

“That’s really going to be the burden that the DA’s office is going to have to prove is that there was a scheme here, and that it wasn’t just a series of mistakes or misunderstandings,” she added.

https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-19836928230df90d765c9ae4f7dfc76a

Pilot minutes before ocean crash: ‘It doesn’t look good’

HONOLULU (AP) — Two pilots told air traffic controllers that their engine had cut out and they needed help moments before crashing their cargo plane into the Pacific Ocean off Hawaii on Friday.

“It doesn’t look good out here,” one of the pilots said before the Boeing 737 broke apart as it entered the water.

Both pilots, the only people aboard, were seriously injured but survived the crash. An hour later, rescuers found the two clinging to packages and parts of the plane in about 150 feet (46 meters) of water several miles off Oahu, authorities said.

“One was on the tail and the other clinging to packages,” Coast Guard Lt. Commander Karin Evelyn wrote in an email to The Associated Press. As an agency helicopter got close, “the airplane began to sink putting the individual on the tail in the water. The crews hoisted them safely on the aircraft. The rescue swimmer then assisted the other individual.”

The pilots of Transair Flight 810 heading from Honolulu to Maui reported engine trouble and were trying to return to Honolulu, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

“We’ve lost No. 1 engine, and we’re coming straight to the airport,” one of the pilots said in air traffic control communications. “We’re going to need the fire department. There’s a chance we’re going to lose the other engine, too, it’s running very hot. We’re very low on speed.”

The pilot said they weren’t carrying hazardous materials and had two hours’ worth of fuel. They asked the tower to advise the Coast Guard, then asked if there was a closer airport than Honolulu.

After a stretch of silence, the controller asks if the pilot is still there. There was no response.

“Looks like they went down in the water,” the tower says.

Later, a rescuer aboard a Coast Guard helicopter sent to search for the pilots tells air traffic control: “We do have an aircraft in the water … we’re currently overhead (the) debris field.”

Minutes later: “We have zero, two souls in sight in the water.”

The tower responded, “OK, so you have both guys, both souls in sight?”

“Both souls in sight, yes, sir,” the rescuers responded.

>>14041749

The pilots, whose identities were not immediately released, were taken to a hospital. Officials at Queen’s Medical Center said a 58-year-old was in critical condition, Hawaii News Now reported. The other pilot, a 50-year-old, was in serious condition with a head injury and multiple lacerations, the TV station reported.

The Coast Guard reported flying over the crash site off Oahu to evaluate for pollution after the sun came up in the morning. Debris and fuel remained in the water.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB said in a tweet that it will send a team of 10 investigators.

The plane is a 46-year-old Boeing 737-200, a much earlier version of the 737 than the Max, and one that U.S. airlines no longer use for passenger flights. There are fewer than 60 737-200s still flying worldwide, according to aviation-data researcher Cirium.

The Boeing 737 first flew in the late 1960s and is the most popular airline plane still in production. Boeing has delivered more than 10,500 of them and has unfilled orders for about 4,000 more, almost all of those for the latest version of the plane, the 737 Max.

Over the years, about 200 737s have been destroyed in crashes and several hundred others have been involved in less serious accidents and incidents, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.

“For a jet that has been in production for so long and is being used so extensively, 203 hull-loss accidents can be considered a very good safety record,” said Harro Ranter, who runs the database.

He said the plane’s accident rate improved dramatically from the first models to more recent ones that preceded the Max.

Boeing said in a statement: “We are aware of the reports out of Honolulu, Hawaii and are closely monitoring the situation. We are in contact with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and are working to gather more information.”

There have been some water landings over the years in which people survived, the most famous being the 2009 crash of a US Airways flight in New York’s Hudson River where all 155 people on board survived.

All four people on board survived a cargo plane crash into water short of a runway in Gabon in 2011.

In other cases, some passengers and crew survived but some died, including a hijacked Ethiopian Airlines plane that ran out of fuel and crashed into the Indian Ocean in 1996, a Tunisian airliner that went down off the coast of Sicily in 2005, and an Indonesian airliner that landed in a river during a thunderstorm in 2002.

>>14041742

>Perfect for a nice hot cup of tea

>>14041712

https://breaking911.com/breaking-chicago-alderman-chief-of-staff-indicted-on-federal-bribery-charges/

Chicago Alderman, Chief Of Staff Indicted On Federal Bribery Charges

CHICAGO — A federal grand jury today indicted City of Chicago Alderman Alderman Carrie and her Chief of Staff on bribery offenses for allegedly conspiring to receive home improvements from construction contractors seeking city assistance for a development project in Austin’s Far South Side ward.

Austin, 72, of Chicago, is charged with one count of conspiring to use interstate facilities to promote bribery, two counts of using interstate facilities to promote bribery, and one count of willfully making materially false statements to the FBI. Austin’s Chief of Staff, Chester Wilson Jr., 55, of Chicago, is charged with one count of conspiring to use interstate facilities to promote bribery, two counts of using interstate facilities to promote bribery, and one count of theft of government funds.

According to the indictment, starting in 2014 a construction company planned to construct a residential development in Austin’s ward at a cost of approximately $49.6 million. Under an agreement with the city, the company was responsible for making infrastructure improvements within the project, including construction of new interior streets, street lighting, landscaping, and sidewalk improvements, and was eligible to receive more than $10 million in tax increment financing and other payments from the city.

The indictment alleges that, beginning in 2016, Austin and Wilson were provided with personal benefits by the owner of the construction company and other contractors in an effort to influence them in their official capacities. The benefits included home improvements, furniture, and appliances for Austin’s residence, and home improvement materials and services for rental properties owned by Wilson, the indictment states.

According to the charges, in June 2017 a contractor on the development project paid an invoice for $5,250 to cover a portion of the purchase price of kitchen cabinets at Austin’s residence by falsely representing that the cabinets were for an address within the development. In addition, in July 2017 Austin accepted from a contractor on the project an offer to pay for two “brand new” and “expensive” sump pumps, and to have the contractor’s family member buy and install a new dehumidifier, the indictment states. Wilson also solicited benefits from a contractor on the project for his rental property, including services for “heating and air,” the charges allege. In October 2017 the contractor told Wilson that he would pay for a portion of a new HVAC system at Wilson’s property because, “you help me a lot, and I’ll help you,” the indictment states.

The indictment alleges that Austin and Wilson authorized the expenditure of aldermanic menu funds to benefit the construction company for infrastructure within the development, and that on multiple occasions in 2017 and 2018 Austin coordinated with the construction company owner to seek the city’s release of TIF and other payments.

The theft charge against Wilson accuses him of engaging in a separate scheme to purchase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits at a discount. Wilson, who was not eligible for SNAP benefits due to his city of Chicago salary, allegedly obtained a card containing SNAP benefits by paying cash to the recipient in an amount below the face value of the card, the indictment states.

>>14041805

>'To Catch a Predator' host Chris Hansen wanted in Michigan

>>14041808

>https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1411178158284492801

https://nypost.com/2021/07/01/to-catch-a-predator-host-chris-hansen-wanted-for-arrest/

‘To Catch a Predator’ host Chris Hansen wanted in Michigan for skipping court

Maybe he’ll catch himself.

“To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen has a warrant out for his arrest after skipping court in Michigan on Thursday, a report said.

Hansen was supposed to appear in a Shiawassee County courtroom in connection to a sting operation he assisted authorities with that led to the October 2020 arrests of three men who sought to meet up with underage girls, NBC 25 reported.

The sting operation is akin to the work Hansen did as host of the popular NBC series, which ended in 2007.

Shiawassee County Prosecuting Attorney Scott Koerner told the outlet that Hansen was subpoenaed to appear Thursday, but did not.

In January 2019, Hansen was arrested in Connecticut and charged with larceny for allegedly purchasing about $13,000 in merchandise with checks that later bounced, TMZ had reported.

https://www.tmz.com/2019/01/16/to-catch-a-predator-host-chris-hansen-arrested-bounced-checks-larceny/