Prosecutors want to meet victims of sex offender with New Mexico ties

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Federal prosecutors said Friday they want to meet with once-underage victims of wealthy financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein before deciding whether to throw out a decade-old nonprosecution agreement that allowed him to avoid potentially severe penalties. Prosecutors said in court filings that victim input is essential in deciding how to proceed in the long-running case, which has ties to New Mexico, where he is accused of assaulting teen girls and owns a ranch near the tiny community of Stanley in southern Santa Fe County, a property he purchased from former New Mexico Gov. Bruce King. The new filings came after U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra ruled in February that prosecutors in the office of then-Miami U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta violated a victims’ rights law by not disclosing the Epstein nonprosecution agreement to them.

Acosta, who is now President Donald Trump’s labor secretary, has defended the agreement as proper after it was criticized by Democrats and victim advocates. The 2008 deal ended a federal investigation that could have landed Epstein in prison for life, instead allowing him to plead guilty to lesser state charges that resulted in a 13-month jail sentence, required financial settlements to dozens of victims and that he register as a sex offender.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jill Steinberg and Nathan Kitchens — both from the Atlanta U.S. Attorney’s Office, which was chosen in March by the Justice Department to take over the case — said in court papers they need at least 60 days to talk with victims before a decision is made on whether to tear up the Epstein deal. “The victims’ views and concerns are critical to inform the government’s recommendation of an appropriate remedy, particularly given the sensitive nature of the crime at issue,” the prosecutors wrote.

Attorneys for two victims, identified as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, countered that prosecutors should be required to announce a proposed remedy for violating their rights to be informed of the Epstein agreement. They have previously said they want the Epstein deal voided, which could again expose him to federal prosecution. “The government should go first,” lawyers Brad Edwards and Jack Scarola wrote in their filing. “After more than 10 years of litigation, the government’s suggestion that it should postpone explaining its proposed remedy is a transparent effort to do nothing but cause further delay.” Both sides proposed lengthy schedules for future court filings and action. It will be up to Judge Marra to decide what happens next, but it could take months to resolve.

Epstein, 66, is a wealthy hedge fund manager who once counted as friends former President Bill Clinton, Great Britain’s Prince Andrew and Donald Trump, his former Palm Beach, Fla., neighbor. He has given campaign contributions to former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Gary King. King returned the money, while Richardson said he gave his campaign cash from Epstein to charity.

Court documents show Epstein had a Palm Beach mansion where at least 40 underage girls were brought for what turned into sexual encounters. Authorities say he had female fixers who would look for suitable girls, some local and others recruited from Eastern Europe and other parts of the world. Epstein also has a home in New York City and a private Caribbean island. Some of the girls were brought to those places as well, court documents show.

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/prosecutors-want-to-meet-victims-of-sex-offender-epstein/article_25869046-e1f9-5db1-a971-c1da1a19de7c.html

Not sure if we had these, Rachel Chandler @ Epstein Island…

https://imgur.com/gallery/x8PM1

>>6530873

I don't follow…who is ZeroHour?

Austrian government collapses as far right leader caught in video sting

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria raced on Saturday toward a snap election as Chancellor Sebastian Kurz pulled the plug on his coalition with the far right after its leader was caught on video offering to fix state contracts with a woman posing as a Russian oligarch’s niece. The far-right Freedom Party’s Heinz-Christian Strache resigned as vice chancellor and party leader after the video was released by two German news organizations. He acknowledged that the video was “catastrophic” but denied breaking the law. Kurz, a conservative who formed a coalition with the Freedom Party a year and a half ago, said the apparent video sting, in which Strache discusses contracts in return for financial or political favors, was the last straw in the relationship. “After yesterday’s video I honestly have to say - enough is enough,” Kurz said in a statement to the media, listing various lesser scandals that had previously strained their relations.

Kurz said he was proposing to President Alexander Van der Bellen that a snap election be held as soon as possible. Van der Bellen, who can dissolve parliament, said he backed a snap election and would discuss next steps with Kurz on Sunday. “These are shameful images and no one should be ashamed for Austria,” he said of the video. “We need in this sense to rebuild confidence anew. This rebuilding can in this case only happen with a snap election.”

The downfall of the Austrian coalition comes just a week before elections to the European parliament and is a blow to one of the most successful of the anti-immigrant, nationalist parties that have surged across the continent in recent years. The Freedom Party is a major part of a new nationalist grouping that aims to score record gains in the European vote. The head of the opposition Social Democrats told broadcaster ORF she would not oppose a snap election if a bill calling one were put to parliament.

“DIFFICULT TO SWALLOW” As Strache announced around midday that he was stepping down, a crowd of thousands with left-wing placards and banners gathered on the square outside Kurz’s office, chanting “Snap elections now!”. Police estimated their number at 5,000. Kurz had repeatedly distanced himself from his far right coalition partners over lesser scandals in the past, mostly involving party officials and anti-Semitism or racism - such as one in which the deputy mayor of Hitler’s home town wrote a poem likening immigrants to rats. “For all these successes in the past two years I had to be ready to withstand a lot and also put up with a lot, from the rat poem to the proximity to radical right-wing groups and the ‘isolated incidents’ that kept coming back,” Kurz said. “There were many situations in which I found it very difficult to swallow all that.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-austria-politics-freedom-party/austrian-government-collapses-as-far-right-leader-caught-in-video-sting-idUSKCN1SN2RA

>>6530945

Thanks for the refresher Anon, now that you have mentioned it I do recall now. One of those among many.

>>6530972

Interesting take..when you look at this pic and this one, combined with the statement: "Don't ask where I got them" it would seem to imply what you are suggesting.

At campaign rally, Biden decries Democratic 'anger' and pledges unity

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Seeking to build on early momentum in his 2020 presidential bid, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday condemned “anger” within his own Democratic Party and pledged to work to unify the country in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency. At a rally in downtown Philadelphia, Biden, as he has done throughout the beginning stages of his campaign, made Trump his central target, blasting him as “the divider-in-chief.” But he also chided other Democratic presidential candidates in the field, suggesting that anger toward Trump within his party was not enough to win next year’s presidential election. His message, Biden said, was expressly aimed at Democratic, Republican and independent voters alike.

“Some of the really smart folks say Democrats don’t want to hear about unity,” he said. “They say Democrats are so angry, and that the angrier your campaign will be, the better chance you have to win the Democratic nomination. Well, I don’t believe it.” About 6,000 people attended the rally, which had, by design, the feel of a general-election event. With his poll numbers currently swamping the rest of the Democratic field, Biden has often acted as if his current opponent is Trump and not the other 23 Democrats vying for the party’s nomination.

“If the American people want a president to add to our division, to lead with a clenched fist, closed hand, a hard heart, to demonize the opponents and spew hatred - they don’t need me, they’ve got President Donald Trump,” Biden told the crowd, which was bookended by large video monitors. Democratic nominating contests begin next February, giving the dynamics of the race plenty of time to shift. But Biden, 76, has opened up a more than 20-point lead over his nearest rival, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, in several public opinion polls.

Biden, a U.S. senator for 30 years and a two-term vice president under Barack Obama, has argued he is best positioned to take on Trump next year. Attendees at the event said they agreed. “He’s going to be the one who takes Trump out of office,” said Daril Murard, 27, of Langhorne, Pennsylvania. “That’s why I’m here.” Tim Reihm, 48, drove to the event from his hometown of York, Pennsylvania. “I think there’s been a tendency in the party to drift a little too far left and I think that’s going to disenfranchise a large section of the country,” Reihm said. “Joe represents a sort of a more middle ground where we can bring people together instead of becoming more and more fractious.”

Biden also answered critics who have mocked his pledge to work with Republicans as unrealistic should he win the White House. “I’m going to say something outrageous,” he said. “I know how to make government work.” Biden’s remarks drew a swift response from the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal advocacy group that backs another candidate, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren. A fundraising memo sent to members after the rally accused Biden of trying to splinter the party.

“Joe Biden is dividing Americans when, after the historic 2018 election, he tells voters they are wrong to be angry - and wrong if they don’t want ‘unity’ with corrupt Republican politicians,” the memo said. “We don’t need a Democratic nominee who rejects the fact that people are righteously angry in the Trump era,” it said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-biden/at-campaign-rally-biden-decries-democratic-anger-and-pledges-unity-idUSKCN1SO08S?il=0

>>6531009

Austrian Government Collapses After Two-Year-Old Video Dropped on Far Right Leader Just Days before EU Elections – Police Suspect Western Intelligence Involved

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called for snap elections after a two-year-old video was released in the German press showing coalition partner Heinz-Christian Strache discussing contracts with a woman posing as a Russian oligarch’s niece.

From our source in Vienna… Here is a first account from my cousin, translated

The Austrian right-wing government has resigned — as soon as possible new elections are pending. The German media released a two-year-old video, which they leaked, anonymously. The video shows a conversation between two gov’t politicians (the Vice Chancellor and one more) while on vacation in Ibiza. The conversation was secretly filmed. NOW, after 2 years the video was leaked to two German newspapers, two far left newspapers.

In the video, the two politicians behave like pubescent adolescents and developed wild political fantasies and claimed support by a few major industrialists…………. Alcohol was in the game and also a beautiful woman. It was embarrassing to look at it, especially when you know that they are statesmen. It would be interesting to discover who is behind the video, possibly the Germans themselves – SPD/lefties, or the Vienna SPÖ/lefties? Hopefully it will be announced as soon as possible and BEFORE the elections, but that is not likely.

A political earthquake was triggered, and it was first just the resignation of the FPÖ politicians and now in the evening the resignation of the government. According to the police, the tape drop was done so professionally that the police suspect (public too) that a Western intelligence service is behind the action. The newspapers, the two German newspapers, refuse to divulge their sources. It is too strange that exactly ONE week before the EU election the video appears and was not published for 2 years. Who is behind it is deeply repugnant.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/05/austrian-government-collapses-after-two-year-old-video-dropped-on-far-right-leader-just-days-before-eu-elections-police-suspect-western-intelligence-involved/