Mitt Romney Says He Voted For Pelosi-Schumer $1.7 Trillion Omnibus Bill Because He Doesn’t Trust GOP-Led House with Crafting Budget
https://twitter.com/SenatorRomney/status/1606002450577883137
Judge Tosses Out Abe Hamadeh’s Election Challenge in Arizona Attorney General Race Against Democrat Mayes
Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee F. Jantzen tossed out Abe Hamadeh’s election challenge in the Arizona Attorney General race against Democrat Kris Mayes.
Hamadeh was only down by 511 votes against Mayes out of more than 2.5 million ballots cast in the Attorney General race.
The judge denied the challenge based on testimony from Hamadeh’s lawyer, Tim LaSota, acknowledging that based on the ballot inspection (a small sample of ballots), his client would not be able to get over 511 votes needed to overcome Mayes.
A lawyer for Mayes immediately called for LaSota to be sanctioned for bringing the case.
AZ Central reported:
Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee F. Jantzen denied Friday Republican attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh’s election challenge.
Hamadeh trailed 511 votes behind Democrat Kris Mayes in one of Arizona’s closest statewide elections.
Frantzen ruled from the bench after closing arguments in the approximately three-hour trial. His decision came after lawyer for the plaintiffs, Tim LaSota, acknowledged that based on the sample size of the ballot inspection yesterday, he wouldn’t get to 511 votes. Afterwards, Mayes attorney Dan Barr called for LaSota to be sanctioned for bringing the election contest.
Abe Hamadeh responded to the judge’s ruling.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/12/just-judge-tosses-abe-hamadehs-election-challenge-arizona-attorney-general-race-democrat-mayes/
Violence Erupts in Paris After 3 Killed, Several Injured by Kurdish Gunman
Diversity is our strength.
Paris, France – Chaos and violence erupted on Friday after 3 people were killed and several others injured by a Kurdish gunman.
Angry Kurds clashed with riot police around Rue d’Enghien, near the center of Paris, after a 69-year-old man opened fire on a Kurdish cultural center.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/12/violence-erupts-paris-3-killed-several-injured-kurdish-gunman-video/
"I'm Truly Sorry For What I Did" - SBF's Girlfriend Confirms They Conspired To Steal From FTX Customers
Caroline Ellison, erstwhile girlfriend of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and former CEO of Alameda Research, has spilled her guts in order to avoid a 110 year prison sentence.
According to court documents released Friday, Ellison admits she and SBF signed off on “materially misleading financial statements” for Alameda lenders - knowing it was illegal.
“I am truly sorry for what I did,” she said, according to the transcript of the hearing, adding “I knew that it was wrong.”
Specifically, she told a judge earlier this week she and Bankman-Fried conspired to steal billions of dollars from FTX customers, as she appeared in federal court to plead guilty to seven criminal counts, according to a court transcript reported by Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.
“I understood that FTX executives had implemented special settings on Alameda's FTX.com account that permitted Alameda to maintain negative balances in various fiat currencies and crypto currencies,” said Ellison.
“In practical terms, this arrangement permitted Alameda access to an unlimited line of credit without being required to post collateral, without having to pay interest on negative balances and without being subject to margin calls or FTX.com’s liquidation protocols.
She added:
“If Alameda's FTX accounts had significant negative balances in a particular currency, it meant that Alameda was borrowing funds that FTX's customers had deposited onto the exchange.”
Ellison’s statement included allegations that Bankman-Fried and other FTX executives had borrowed funds from Alameda, and used FTX funds to repay “loans worth several billion dollars."
Ellison’s plea deal, released on Dec. 21, largely spared the former Alameda CEO of many of the charges Bankman-Fried currently faces including wire fraud and securities fraud. She may still be prosecuted for criminal tax violations, but the agreement set bail at $250,000 on the condition she surrendered all travel documents.
FTX’s co-founder and former CTO Gary Wang confirmed the existence of these privileges and that Alameda was an exclusive beneficiary of them.
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/im-truly-sorry-what-i-did-sbfs-girlfriend-confirms-they-conspired-steal-ftx-customers
This is all scripted
‘Con Job And A Disgrace’: Donald Trump Issues Video Response To Jan. 6 Report
Former President Donald Trump issued a video response to the release of the Jan. 6 report Friday, claiming the committee investigating the riot omitted evidence, made false statements and “did not produce a single shred of evidence” that he “intended” violence on the Capitol.
The House Select Committee released its final 845-page report Thursday, ending their 18-month investigation into the Jan. 6 riot. The committee cast blame on Trump as the “central cause” of the riot, and recommended he be banned from running for office in 2024. The Jan. 6 Committee recommended Monday that Trump be charged with obstructing an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the government, conspiracy to make a false statement and inciting or assisting an insurrection. The recommendation was directed at the Department of Justice, and the committee itself can not file charges.
In an exclusive video provided to the Daily Caller, Trump responded to the report, saying that for two years, “the American people have been besieged with lies from the partisan witch hunt known as the Unselect Committee on January 6.”
The former president said the committee omitted the part of his speech where he encouraged “protesters to make their voices heard peacefully and patriotically,” the part of his tweet where he told protesters to “go home with love and in peace” and where he called for “law and order.”
https://rumble.com/embed/v1zgz3o/?pub=4
Trump claimed he urged the deployment of 10,000 to 20,000 National Guard troops days before the protests at the Capitol, but that “Nancy Pelosi and the D.C. mayor refused.”
“If they had listened to me, my recommendation, none of this would have happened, and you wouldn’t have heard about January 6 as you know it,” he added.
He then called the allegations from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson about him lunging for the steering wheel to get to the Capitol an “absurd and discredited story.”
“The committee barely discussed the catastrophic security failures at the Capitol, and they didn’t discuss the other thing, the reason why everybody went there: the election, which was a corrupt disaster. They did not discuss why the doors were flung wide open … and they didn’t discuss the role of federal informants,” he continued.
“The events of January 6 were not an insurrection. They were a protest that tragically got out of control, and which the left has been weaponizing ever since, to censor, spy on and persecute American citizens. The entire phony hoax is about taking away your speech, taking away your vote and taking away your freedom,” Trump said.
“The Unselect Committee will go down in history as a con job and a disgrace. They want to stop us from taking back our country, but they will fail, they will not win. We will make America great again,” he concluded.
https://dailycaller.com/2022/12/23/donald-trump-issues-response-video-jan-6-report/
Jordan demands FBI turn over all communications with Twitter as probe of censorship heats up
Republicans take over the House on Jan. 3. As chairman, Jordan will be able to subpoena the FBI for any of the evidence requesting in the letter that the bureau doesn't volunteer.
House Judiciary Committee Republicans led by incoming Chairman Jim Jordan demanded Friday that FBI Director Chris Wray turn over records of all communications and payments the law enforcement agency had with Twitter, signaling aggressive investigations of social media censorship next year, .
Jordan's office said the release of internal files by Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, had unmasked an "ongoing surveillance operation" that exceeded FBI investigative authorities and that resulted in a "coordinated misinformation effort between the FBI and Twitter to suppress and censor free speech."
"We are investigating politicization and abuses at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as Big Tech's censorship of conservatives online," Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote Wray in an oversight letter. "Newly released information shows the FBI has coordinated extensively with Twitter to censor or otherwise affect content on Twitter's platform.
"These documents show that the FBI maintained this relationship with Twitter apart from any particularized need for a specific investigation, but as a permanent and ongoing surveillance operation. These revelations sadly reinforce our deep concerns about the FBI's misconduct and its hostility to the First Amendment," they added.
You can read the full letter here:
File
2022-12-23-JDJ-MJ-to-FBI-re-Twitter-files.pdf
The letter demands that Wray turn over all communications between the bureau and the social media giant from Jan. 1, 2020 forward, singling out two dozen Twitter executives the committee is specifically interested. The letter also requests:
all "communications between or among employees or contractors of the FBI referring or relating to content moderation on Twitter's platform."
all documents and communications between or among employees or contractors of the FBI and employees or contractors of the other Executive Branch entities, including but not limited to the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Executive Office of the President, referring or relating to content moderation on Twitter's platform.
all money transferred by the FBI to Twitter and any other social media company since January 1, 2016, for purported law-enforcement purposes, including the dates, amounts, and specific reasons for each transfer.
Republicans take over the House on Jan. 3. As chairman, Jordan will be able to subpoena the FBI for any of the evidence requesting in the letter that the bureau doesn't volunteer.
Jordan told Just the News earlier this week he is planning a wide investigation of the FBI and Justice Department practices, including censorship, snooping on congressional investigators, the use of confidential informants and the targeting of parents as domestic terrorists.
Recent revelations, he said, "show you how political that Justice Department has become and why we need to expose it all," Jordan said. "Because I always say the first step in stopping it is to make sure everyone knows exactly what went on."
The FBI has acknowledged extensive and regular contact with Twitter and other Big Tech companies, but insists it never ordered any firm to censor content or take "direct action." Instead, it said, it flagged content "so that they can take whatever action they deem appropriate under their terms of service to protect their platform and protect their customers."
Jordan's letter to Wray said such activity and the "FBI's close coordination with Big Tech threatens Americans' civil liberties."
https://justthenews.com/accountability/jordan-demands-fbi-turn-over-all-communications-twitter-probe-censorship-heats