Mueller And Manafort Have A Lot Riding On A Supreme Court Double Jeopardy Case

The Supreme Court will decide whether the Constitution’s double jeopardy bar allows state and federal prosecutors to bring charges for the same offense.

The case is of significance to the Mueller probe, as states like New York have explored bringing charges against Trump associates under state law who the president might pardon.

The high court heard arguments in the case Thursday.

The Supreme Court appeared skeptical Thursday of overturning an exception to the Constitution’s double jeopardy prohibition, which allows state and federal prosecutors to bring successive prosecutions for the same offense.

The case is carefully followed in Washington because of its potential ramifications for special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

“The notion that the federal government would step in and prosecute a defendant after a state jury acquitted him of the same offense would have shocked the founding generation,” one of the briefs at the high court reads.

Thursday’s case arose in Alabama, when Terence Gamble was arrested during a 2015 traffic stop after police recovered two baggies of marijuana and a 9mm handgun from his car. State prosecutors charged Gamble, a convicted felon, for illegal possession of a firearm. A federal charge for the same crime followed.

The so-called separate-sovereigns doctrine allows state and federal courts to prosecute individuals for the same offense, double jeopardy notwithstanding. The question in Thursday’s case was whether that rule should be overturned.

That move could hinder the Mueller probe, should President Donald Trump choose to pardon aides and associates who the special counsel has since indicted. Since the president can only issue pardons for federal offenses, a handful of states like New York have taken steps to bring their own cases against Trump associates for violations of state law.

If the separate sovereigns doctrine is struck down, Trump’s pardons could ensure his embattled confidants are protected from legal consequences. Trump has said as recently as Nov. 28 he has not ruled out the possibility of a pardon for Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager who has since been convicted of fraud and lying to federal investigators.

https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/06/supreme-court-double-jeopardy-mueller/

EMBARRASSING: Europeans Realizing Trump Was Right About Iran

It must be murder for them to admit it, but suddenly Western European leaders are realizing President Trump was right about ditching the Iran nuclear treaty.

On Tuesday, diplomats from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and France expressed their concern because of an Iranian medium-range ballistic missile test on Saturday.

The U.S. government stated that the missile Iran tested could reach Europe and the Middle East. According to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the missile could carry multiple warheads and violated Security Council Resolution 2231, which instructed Iran to refrain from “any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.”

That Security Council resolution was the implementation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA). President Trump walked away from the deal last May, although China, France, Germany, Russia and the U.K. stayed with the deal.

But after the missile test, the U.K. and France called a closed-door meeting of the Security Council. The government of France stated, “France is concerned by the launch of a medium-range ballistic missile by Iran on Saturday. It condemns this provocative and destabilizing act. France reiterates that the Iranian ballistic missile program is not in compliance with UNSCR 2231 (2015). It calls on Iran to immediately cease any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be able to carry nuclear weapons, including launches using ballistic missile technology.”

As Fox News reports, the European ambassadors joined in expressing their concern:

U.K. Ambassador Karen Pierce called the actions "part and parcel of Iran's destabilizing activities in the region." Her comments echo U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who said Saturday that he was “deeply concerned by Iran’s actions," even as he reiterated support for the nuclear deal. “Provocative, threatening and inconsistent with UNSCR 2231. Our support for JCPoA in no way lessens our concern at Iran’s destabilising missile programme and determination that it should cease,” he tweeted.

Dutch Ambassador Karel van Oosterom added, “This kind of ballistic missile activity is inconsistent with the JCPoA , especially Annex B which calls on Iran not to engage in these kinds of activities.” Even French Ambassador François Delattre avowed the test was "inconsistent" with the resolution, urging Iran to "immediately cease any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be able to carry nuclear weapons, including launches using ballistic missile technology."

Still, the group displayed its usual pusillanimous attitude when it came to Iran, with the resolution stating it only “calls upon” Iran to stop its ballistic tests instead of demanding a cessation.

On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, in her typically blunt manner, stated that the ballistic test was "dangerous and concerning, but not surprising" adding, “The United States has repeatedly warned the world about Iran’s deliberate efforts to destabilize the Middle East and defy international norms. The international community cannot keep turning a blind eye every time Iran blatantly ignores Security Council resolutions. If the Security Council is serious about holding Iran accountable and enforcing our resolutions, then at a minimum we should be able to deliver a unanimous condemnation of this provocative missile test."

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), echoed, “The United States has only begun to reverse the damage done by Obama's Iran nuclear deal, which gave the Ayatollahs the resources and diplomatic breathing room to build more and better ballistic missiles. The last round of sanctions, while important, clearly failed to deter Iran from advancing their missile program. It's time to totally cut off Iran from the global financial system and deny them the resources they're using to threaten us and our allies.”

https://www.dailywire.com/news/39123/embarrassing-europeans-realizing-trump-was-right-hank-berrien

Using Iran to squeeze the EU/UK top kek

Democrat in North Carolina Congressional Race Withdraws His Concession Amid Investigation Into ‘Ballot Harvesting’

emocrat Dan McCready announced Thursday in a video posted to his Twitter account that he is withdrawing his concession in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District after finding out ballots may have been illegally “harvested” by his Republican opponent.

“Today, I withdraw my concession to Mark Harris,” McCready said in a video posted to his Twitter while calling on his Republican opponent Mark Harris “to tell us exactly what he knew and when he knew it.”

“Over the last week, we have seen the criminal activity come to light, and we have seen that my opponent Mark Harris has bankrolled this criminal activity,” McCready told local Charlotte station WSOC-TV on Thursday.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/12/breaking-democrat-in-north-carolina-congressional-race-withdraws-his-concession-amid-investigation-into-ballot-harvesting-video/

Soros Fined By Hong Kong Over Naked Short Sales

Soros Fund Management, the Hungarian billionaires' $25 billion family office, was fined $200,000 by a securities regulator in Hong Kong over its aggressive 'naked shorting' of a locally listed company.

The trade in question occurred in 2015, when the firm shorted a bonus share issue of Great Wall Motor according to Bloomberg, which cited a filing by the SEC. Soros' firm was fined by Hong Kong's Securities Futures Commission.

"The SFC considers that SFM not only failed to act with due skill, care and diligence in dealing in the bonus shares, but also failed to diligently supervise its staff members and implement adequate and effective systems and controls to ensure compliance with the short selling requirements," it said.

After "erroneously" accounting for 1.6 million bonus shares to which Soros was entitled, the firm sold its entire 2.4 million share position in GWM short. However, the company hadn't loaded the shares onto its books yet, so the 1.6 million share 'short' position was effectively a naked short.

The Chinese automaker announced the bonus share issue in August 2015. Soros Fund Management’s local unit, known as SFM HK Management Ltd., was notified by its custodian that it was entitled to 1.6 million bonus shares as a result of already owning 808,000 Great Wall Motor shares.

The family office’s trade support team booked the 1.6 million shares to be allotted into its trading system without separating them into a restricted account, as required by internal policy. As a result, its system indicated it had 2.4 million Great Wall Motor shares available for trading when only a third of that was eligible for trading then, the SFC statement said.

The erroneous information led its portfolio managers to place an order to sell 2.4 million Great Wall Motor shares on Oct. 2, 2015, making it 1.6 million shares short.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-12-06/soros-fund-management-fined-hong-kongs-sfc-over-naked-short-sales