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Stacey Abrams hit with subpoena in alleged campaign finance violations saga: 'No one is above the law'
The groups admitted to 16 violations and agreed to pay a record $300,000 fine, the largest in Georgia history.
The Georgia Senate is ramping up its investigation into alleged campaign finance violations tied to Stacey Abrams’ voter outreach group, with a top lawmaker vowing to "follow the facts wherever they lead" as subpoenas have been issued to Abrams and other key figures.
The Senate Special Committee on Investigations announced Monday that Abrams, along with New Georgia Project leaders Lauren Groh-Wargo and Nsé Ufot, must appear before lawmakers at the State Capitol at 10 a.m. on Friday.
"This committee has a responsibility to follow the facts wherever they lead," said Republican state Sen. Greg Dolezal, the committee’s vice chairman. "Georgia law requires transparency and accountability in our elections."
The subpoenas stem from findings by the Georgia State Ethics Commission that the New Georgia Project and its affiliated Action Fund violated campaign finance laws during the 2018 election cycle.
The groups admitted to 16 violations earlier this year and agreed to pay a $300,000 fine, the largest campaign finance penalty in Georgia history.
New Georgia Project shut down and dissolved in 2025 following mounting financial and legal troubles.
The Republican lawmakers explain in the press release that the goal of the probe is to figure out who was involved in the decision-making behind the violations, along with specifics on how the funds were managed and who was aware of the activity.
"The people of Georgia deserve to know who was involved, what decisions were made and how millions of dollars flowed through organizations that admitted to violating our campaign finance laws," Dolezal said.
Georgia's Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones said in the release, "No one is above the law in Georgia."
He added: "When organizations secretly spend millions to influence elections while evading disclosure requirements, it undermines confidence in our democratic process. The Senate will continue pursuing the truth and ensuring accountability, regardless of political party or influence."
The lawmakers say that additional hearings and witness testimony are expected in the coming weeks.
"Today, the Georgia State Senate delivered a subpoena for me to testify in a partisan, performative hearing designed to intimidate and disarm voting rights advocates across Georgia and the nation," Abrams wrote in a response to the subpoena posted on X. "Despite the hollow, cynical intent, I will indeed do so on a mutually agreeable date."
"It is not lost on me that I am being summoned days after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted protections for minority voting power and after I testified against the unconscionable voter suppression process unfolding across several Southern states."
Abrams, the two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee in battleground Georgia, ruled out another run for governor earlier this year, saying that instead she'll focus on her work fighting what she warns is the nation's move toward authoritarianism under President Trump.
Abrams, a former Democratic Party leader in the Georgia state legislature and a nationally known voting-rights advocate, narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election. She lost her 2022 rematch with Kemp by nearly eight points.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/stacey-abrams-hit-subpoena-alleged-campaign-finance-violations-saga-no-one-above-law
'Fearful and paranoid' Putin faces fresh questions over his health after he is seen with swollen and 'visibly aged' face during Victory Day parade
A 'fearful and paranoid' Vladimir Putin is facing yet more questions over his apparent poor health after he was seen with a swollen and 'visibly aged' face.
Over the weekend, Russia celebrated the 81st anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany with an unusually muted Victory Day parade that featured no armoured vehicles or ballistic missiles.
But few listened to Putin's claims at the rally in Moscow of fighting a 'just' war against Ukraine's 'aggressive force[s]' - instead focusing on his bulging cheeks.
Ukrainian commentator Anton Gerashchenko pointed to one unflattering image of the 73-year-old ex-spy, posting: 'The face of a "victor" and the leader of a "superpower".'
He joked: 'It seems sanctions have even reached Putin's Botox.'
Monitoring group Crimean Wind added: 'History shows that many dictators visibly aged before the fall of their regime or their death.
'Scientists link this to chronic stress, paranoid fear of losing power, and isolation, which accelerate the body's ageing.'
Putin's health has long sparked debate. In late 2025, eagle-eyed watchers spotted bulging veins and unusual fist-clenching as he shook hands with a health expert.
Putin met Yekaterina Leshchinskaya, 22, chairwoman of the Russian Healthy Fatherland movement, to discuss the possibility of banning the sale of e-cigarettes.
As he reached to shake the woman's hand, the Russian leader's right fist was seen with bulging veins, prominent tendons and thin, wrinkled skin.
Footage showed the Russian leader nervously move his fingers and clench them into a fist under his blazer sleeve.
Following the clip's circulation on X, and later in Polish media, Ukrainian sources suggested he may be suffering from pain.
Putin foe Leonid Nevzlin saw last weekend's 'shrinking' parade with no military hardware for the first time in almost two decades as symbolic of Putin's loosening grip.
He has created 'a state in which the main ritual is contracted around one ageing man, shrinking together with his capacities.
'The regime is structured so that the question of its future has turned into the question of one old man's health.
'Not about elections, not about political course, not about a split in the elites.
'About a cardiogram, about the appearance of decrepit hands.
'These are the only places where change is still possible in the country. For this body, like any other, has a deadline.'
Ukrainian analyst Ivan Yakovina said: 'One can assume this parade will be his last.'
And Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky accused him of hijacking the Soviet defeat of the Nazis in the Second World War for his own propaganda purposes.
'On an empty square, with almost no [military] equipment, beneath an electronic warfare dome, he tries to privatise someone else's victory in order to justify his own shameful, criminal war,' he said.
'Instead of a nationwide holiday, we got a personal "special operation" of one deeply frightened, ageing dictator.
'A celebration for one person at the expense of the entire country.'
Ukrainian commentator Alexey Kopytko said Putin is losing his fanatical pro-war cheerleaders.
'At the parade, the centre of attention was not the leader of a superpower, but a tired old man with shifty eyes whom they still tolerate. And he senses it.
'His experience and skills still help him put on the right mask when interacting, but the moment he's left alone with himself - everything shows on his face.
'A short, decrepit man bending under the weight of a burden he can no longer lift.
'The strained, sorrowful faces of Putin's entourage periodically appeared on camera.
'In general, no enthusiasm, no celebration.'
Never before have security operatives hovered around Putin so closely, he said.
'You can search for comparison with parades of previous years.
'Security is always there, that's protocol, but there has never been such hovering.
'Either Putin himself is afraid, or he's being wound up and intimidated this way - which causes him to become fearful and paranoid.'
He appears 'alone and isolated' inside his security bubble.
This came as the toll in the past month has seen Putin lose 7,480 personnel - killed, wounded, and captured - over the first week of May.
This amounts to one loss every 80 seconds.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15807117/Putin-health-Victory-Day-Parade.html
Alabama AG Investigates SPLC for Deceptive Practices Amid KKK Funding Scandal
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is demanding the Southern Poverty Law Center hand over donor information, fundraising solicitations, and other internal documents after a federal grand jury indicted the SPLC for allegedly funding members of the very hate groups the SPLC claims it exists to “dismantle.”
Marshall’s office issued a formal subpoena to the Montgomery-based nonprofit on Monday, launching an investigation under Alabama’s law against deceptive trade practices.
“We have always suspected that they were monetizing hate and trading on race-baiting, it was just a matter of proving it,” Marshall said in a statement on the subpoena. “Thanks to the U.S. Justice Department’s action to deal with the SPLC, the state’s efforts have now received a shot in the arm. We look forward to learning more about the inner workings of an organization that we have long believed was rotten, but until recently, has been impervious.”
Marshall’s subpoena cites Alabama Code § 8-19-9, which states that the attorney general or district attorneys may subpoena anyone to appear and produce relevant documents in a deceptive trade practices investigation.
A federal grand jury indicted the SPLC last month on wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy charges for sending money to “field sources,” members of the very white supremacist groups the center claims it exists to dismantle. The SPLC did not deny funding members of the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations, but insisted the funds were part of an informant program that the center used to prevent violent attacks.
Yet the indictment doesn’t just claim that the SPLC paid “field sources” inside the KKK and other white nationalist groups—it also states that the SPLC was supervising the “racist postings” of an organizer of the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally. The indictment covers a period from 2014 to 2023.
The claim that the SPLC might be propping up hate in order to raise money appears to align with long-term criticism of the group. Critics have long said the SPLC puts mainstream conservative and Christian groups on a “hate map” with chapters of the Ku Klux Klan in order to exaggerate the threat of “hate” and raise money by presenting itself as the key opponent of “hate.” The center has even put groups of medical professionals on the “hate map” for disagreeing with the SPLC’s outspoken support for transgender medical interventions.
The subpoena asks for various documents to investigate alleged deceptive trade practices.
It asks for all SPLC organizational charts since Jan. 1, 2014; any documents revealing to donors that the SPLC had been using informants; documents the SPLC used to solicit donations; documents disclosing the “informant” program; the annual donations the SPLC received from inside Alabama and from other states; documents showing how many donated funds went directly or indirectly to “informants;” internal communications related to the disclosure of the informant program; and more.
The subpoena also seeks information the SPLC gave to “technology companies, banks, credit card processors, financial infrastructure companies,” and more regarding the SPLC’s “hate map” and external coalitions that sought to convince companies to blacklist groups on the “hate map,” such as Change the Terms and the No Blood Money Campaign.
The subpoena notes that it is not seeking “personally identifying information of any private entity or person whose relationship” with the SPLC is “solely as a confidential or anonymous donor.” The SPLC may redact any such identification from the documents.
The offices of Abbe Lowell, who is representing the SPLC, did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication time.
Last week, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a Republican, launched a civil investigation into the SPLC for alleged deceptive and unfair practices. His subpoena seeks similar information, with a deadline of May 25.
“The SPLC raises millions in charitable donations every year, while allegedly paying members and leaders within the very groups it purports to fight,” Uthmeier said last week. “The SPLC appears to be running a deceptive organization that pays informants to manufacture racism on its behalf.”
“If these allegations are true, there will be consequences,” the Florida AG added.
When it comes to the Alabama AG, Marshall noted that his office has been “fighting the SPLC for years—whether fighting them to protect minors from transgender medical procedures, fighting them to keep bad guys behind bars, or fighting them to preserve Alabama’s Republican congressional districts.”
https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/05/11/monetizing-hate-alabama-ag-investigates-splc-deceptive-practices-amid-kkk-funding-scandal/
'Eat the Rich' Democrat Socialists endorse billionaire for California governor
California’s Democratic Socialists have made their pick for governor — but they’re not happy about it.
The nation’s largest socialist organization grudgingly threw its weight behind billionaire Tom Steyer, who made a fortune in private equity before blowing nine figures on two political bids — first for the 2020 presidential nod and now for Golden State governor.
The DSA has about 100,000 members nationwide, according to its website.
Steyer, who ran the private equity shop Farallon Capital, is worth over $2 billion and has spent well over $100 million on his bid for California governor.
Recent polls show him slightly trailing Democratic frontrunner Xavier Becerra as he spends heavily on campaign ads promoting his progressive agenda, which includes raising taxes on corporations and billionaires.
Steyer has embraced the “class traitor” label, donning hats and T-shirts bearing the moniker.
The socialists also cited Steyer’s support for trans women competing in sports and his disavowal of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
https://www.aol.com/news/reed-hastings-first-dem-megadonor-210921094.html
Kari Lake, former TV anchor and Arizona candidate, tapped for ambassador role in Jamaica
Kari Lake, a former television news anchor and two-time Republican candidate for statewide office in Arizona, has been nominated by U.S. President Donald Trump to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to Jamaica, the White House announced Monday.
Lake’s nomination now heads to the U.S. Senate for confirmation hearings and a vote. If approved, she would succeed former ambassador Nick Perry, whose term ended in January 2025. The post has since been held in an acting capacity by Chargé d’Affaires Scott Renner, a career diplomat with the U.S. Department of State since 1997.
The nomination marks a new chapter for Lake, who rose from a long career in local journalism to become a prominent figure in Republican politics. She spent more than two decades in broadcast news, most of it in Arizona, where she became a familiar face to viewers as an evening anchor at Fox 10 Phoenix.
Born in 1969 in Rock Island, Illinois, Lake was raised in Iowa as the youngest of nine children. Her parents were educators and healthcare workers — her father a teacher and coach and her mother a nurse. She attended the University of Iowa, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and journalism.
Lake began her media career in the early 1990s while still in college, working as an intern at KWQC-TV in Davenport, Iowa. She later moved into reporting and weathercasting roles at WHBF-TV in Rock Island. In 1994, she relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, to join KPNX as a weekend weather anchor. After several years in Arizona television, she briefly worked at WNYT in Albany, New York, before returning to Phoenix in 1999 to join Fox 10 (KSAZ-TV), where she would remain for more than 20 years.
During her journalism career, Lake conducted interviews with a range of national figures, including President Barack Obama and Trump. Her time in broadcasting made her one of the better-known local news personalities in Arizona, particularly in the Phoenix market.
Lake left Fox 10 in March 2021 and announced her entry into politics a few months later. She launched a campaign for governor of Arizona in June 2021, entering a crowded Republican primary field. Running on a conservative platform and backed by Trump, she won the 2022 Republican nomination for governor after a closely watched primary race.
In the general election, Lake faced Democrat Katie Hobbs, then Arizona’s secretary of state. The race drew national attention and was one of the most closely contested gubernatorial elections in the country that year. Hobbs ultimately won the election, and Lake’s campaign did not prevail.
Following the election, Lake remained active in Republican politics and became a frequent speaker at conservative events and conferences. She also maintained a high national profile within the party, often aligning herself with Trump and his political movement.
In 2024, Lake entered the Republican primary for Arizona’s U.S. Senate seat. She secured the party’s nomination but went on to lose the general election to Democratic nominee Ruben Gallego.
Lake has also held a role within the Trump administration. In 2025, she was appointed as a senior adviser at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the federal agency that oversees Voice of America and other U.S.-funded international broadcasters. The agency is responsible for delivering news and information to audiences in regions with limited press freedom.
Her selection as ambassador to Jamaica adds a diplomatic dimension to a career that has moved from media into electoral politics and federal advisory work in just a few years. U.S. ambassadors are typically responsible for representing American interests abroad, overseeing embassy operations and managing bilateral relations with host countries.
Lake’s nomination also reflects Trump’s continued reliance on political allies and media figures in diplomatic roles during his second term.
Outside of politics and media, Lake has been married to Jeff Halperin since 1998. The couple has two children.
If confirmed by the Senate, Lake would take on her first formal diplomatic posting in Kingston, representing the United States in one of its long-standing Caribbean partnerships.
https://www.caribbeannationalweekly.com/community-news/kari-lake-former-tv-anchor-and-arizona-candidate-tapped-for-ambassador-role-in-jamaica/
MTG flees to Costa Rica.
https://x.com/SaltyCracker9/status/2053894606753079403
Pakistan allowed Iran to park military aircraft on its airfields despite mediator role in conflict with U.S.
As Pakistan positioned itself as a diplomatic conduit between Tehran and Washington, it quietly allowed Iranian military aircraft to park on its airfields, potentially shielding them from American airstrikes, according to U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.
Iran also sent civilian aircraft to park in neighboring Afghanistan. It was not clear if military aircraft were among those flights, two of the officials told CBS News.
Together, the movements reflected an apparent effort to insulate some of Iran's remaining military and aviation assets from the expanding conflict, even as officials publicly served as brokers for de-escalation.
The U.S. officials, who all spoke only under condition of anonymity to discuss national security issues, told CBS News that days after President Trump announced the ceasefire with Iran in early April, Tehran sent multiple aircraft to Pakistan Air Force Base Nur Khan, a strategically important military installation located just outside the Pakistani garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Among the military hardware was an Iranian Air Force RC-130, a reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering variant of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules tactical transport aircraft.
U.S. Central Command referred CBS News to Afghan and Pakistani officials for comment.
A senior Pakistan official rejected the claims involving Nur Khan Air Base, telling CBS News, that "Nur Khan base is right in the heart of [the] city, a large fleet of aircrafts parked there can't be hidden from [the] public eye."
According to an Afghan civil aviation officer who spoke to CBS News, an Iranian civilian aircraft belonging to Mahan Air landed in Kabul shortly before the war started. After Iranian airspace was closed, the aircraft remained parked in Kabul airport.
Later, when Pakistan began airstrikes on Kabul in March during tensions with the Taliban-led government over allegations that the Afghan Taliban was offering a safe haven for the jihadist militant group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Taliban's civil aviation authorities decided to move the aircraft to Herat Airport near the Iranian border for safety reasons, to protect it from possible bombing of Kabul Airport by Pakistani jets.
According to the aviation officer, this was the only Iranian aircraft left in Afghanistan.
Taliban's chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denied the presence of any Iranian airplanes in Afghanistan, telling CBS News, "No, that's not true and Iran doesn't need to do that."
Pakistan's reliance on China for military assistance has risen dramatically over the past decade. A Stockholm International Peace Research Institute study showed China supplied about 80% of Pakistan's major arms between 2020 and 2024, and Islamabad also has close economic ties with Beijing.
Islamabad has attempted to navigate both sides of the crisis — presenting itself to Washington as a stabilizing intermediary while avoiding steps that could alienate Tehran or China, Iran's most powerful international backer.
China, which has deepened military and economic cooperation with both Pakistan and Iran in recent years, has publicly celebrated Pakistan's role in facilitating indirect communications between Tehran and Washington.
Iran's latest proposal to end the war included demands for U.S. war reparations, recognition of Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and the removal of American sanctions, according to Iran's state-run broadcaster.
The conditions were disclosed in a social media post by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting a day after Mr. Trump publicly rejected Tehran's counteroffer as "TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE." The president did not specify which elements of Iran's proposal prompted his rejection.
The rejection has further strained what seems to be a ceasefire in name only as Mr. Trump prepares to travel to Beijing this week for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, where the war in Iran is expected to feature prominently alongside disputes over trade and Taiwan.
Meanwhile, small-scale clashes continued around the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, underscoring the fragility of the ceasefire between Iran and the United States.
The United Arab Emirates said Sunday that Iranian drones again targeted its territory following several strikes earlier in the week, according to Reuters. Last week, CBS News reported that three American Navy destroyers transiting the Strait of Hormuz came under attack, with the U.S. carrying out strikes on two Iranian ports abutting the strait.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pakistan-iran-military-aircraft-on-its-airfields-us-mediator-role/
PA Supreme Court Justice David Wecht Announces Change In Affiliation From Democrat to Independent
In an announcement on Monday afternoon, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice David Wecht said that he is changing his party affiliation from Democrat to Independent.
Wecht, who was retained by the voters of the Commonwealth last November for a 10-year term, stated that his “jurisprudence and adjudication have always been independent, and they always will be. Now, my voting registration reflects that independence as well.”
Pennsylvania’s highest court saw Democrats with a 5-2 majority with Wecht joining fellow Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, Daniel McCaffrey and Chief Justice Debra Todd. Sallie Updyke Mundy and Brobson are the Republican-elected justices on the high court. Wecht’s decision shifts the proverbial balance to 4-2-1.
Wecht, a graduate of Yale University and Yale Law School, won election to the Pennsylvania Superior Court in 2011 and served until 2015, when he won election to the state’s Supreme Court. He is the son of Cyril Wecht, a nationally-recognized pathologist and longtime Allegheny County Medical Examiner, known for famously disagreeing with the single-bullet theory in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
In November 2020, Wecht ruled in a lawsuit challenging Joe Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania that the effort to overturn the results of the election was “futile” and “a dangerous game.”
Below is the text of Wecht’s statement.
“The people of Pennsylvania elected me. They put their faith in me, and I reciprocate. I have faith in Pennsylvanians, and they deserve to know the following.
In 1998, my wife and I were married at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Congregation, on whose Board of Trustees I served. Twenty years later, in the very same sanctuary where our wedding occurred, the worst massacre of Jews in American history was perpetrated. That terror came from the right. Jew-hatred has always festered on the fringe of that sector.
In the years that have followed, that same hatred has grown on the left. Increasingly, it has moved from the fringe to the mainstream. It is the duty of all good people to fight this virus, and to do so before it is too late.
My jurisprudence and adjudication have always been independent, and they always will be. Now, my voting registration reflects that independence as well.
From 1998 to 2001, years that preceded my judicial career, I served as Vice-Chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. In the quarter century that has passed since then, the Democratic Party has changed. Nazi tattoos, jihadist chants, intimidation and attacks at synagogues, and other hateful anti-Jewish invective and actions are minimized, ignored, and even coddled. Acquiescence to Jew-hatred is now disturbingly common among activists, leaders and even many elected officials in the Democratic Party.
I can no longer abide this. So, I won’t. I am no longer registered within any political party.
As a jurist, I always have, and always will, vindicate the legal rights that haters and extremists of all stripes enjoy in our country and in our Commonwealth. This is the land of freedom to which my mother and my father’s parents immigrated, seeking refuge and opportunity. They found it, and my mother and father were both proud to wear the uniform and serve in the armed forces of the United States. I have dedicated most of my adult life to public service in this nation and Commonwealth, and most of that to rendering impartial justice in the judicial branch.
In Pennsylvania, and in the United States of America, we enjoy robust rights and liberties, bequeathed to us by our great Founders. These freedoms have helped to make this the greatest civilization that the world has ever seen. There have been other great civilizations in the past, and almost all of them have deteriorated and declined when Jew-hatred grew and metastasized.
We all should awaken now to what is happening. I am confined to a judicial role, and in that role, I maintain independence at all times and in all respects. My voting registration now reflects my independence as well. As Shakespeare’s Polonius told his Laertes: “This above all: to thine own self be true.”
It is my hope that Pennsylvanians, and Americans, of all viewpoints and backgrounds will oppose and resist the scourge of Jew-hatred before it undermines what our ancestors have built here.”
https://www.politicspa.com/pa-supreme-court-justice-david-wecht-announces-change-in-registration-from-democrat-to-independent/146341/
Texas Democrat arrested for second DUI in 6 months
The Harris County treasurer has been arrested for the second time in six months-this time in Galveston County.
Dr. Carla L. Wyatt, 56, was arrested Saturday in Galveston County and charged with Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), according to court records. Wyatt was reportedly pulled over at 300 Hwy 3 in Texas City.
Wyatt did not immediately respond to Chron's request for comment by the time of publication.
This is the third time the county treasurer has been booked into a local jail. In December 2025, Wyatt was arrested in Houston on a misdemeanor charge of burglary of a motor vehicle. In April, a grand jury declined to indict her and returned a no-bill, indicating there was insufficient evidence to proceed in that case, according to ABC 13.
Saturday's arrest also marks Wyatt's second DWI charge. She was previously charged with Driving While Impaired in December 2023-a case that was dismissed after the county treasurer completed a Pretrial Diversion Program under Texas Government Code.
The Houston Chronicle reported that Wyatt violated the conditions of her bond twice after her release, once in January 2024 and again in March 2024.
When contacted for comment after Wyatt's arrest in December, Brooke Boyett with Harris County's Communications Office said the county had no oversight as the treasurer is an independently elected position.
Wyatt, who has held the office since January 2023, is seeking reelection this year, according to ABC13.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/harris-county-treasurer-charged-dwi-190017723.html
Karen Bass
@KarenBassLA
Magic Johnson has been my friend for over 30 years. His belief in how I'm changing Los Angeles means everything to me.
Magic has poured his heart into this city long before anyone asked him to — through investment, through community, through showing up. I am deeply honored to have his endorsement.
https://x.com/KarenBassLA/status/2053551330518790575