TRIAL DELAYED OVER SPYING ON SEAL EDDIE GALLAGHER’S DEFENSE TEAM

8:05 PM 05/22/2019 | MILITARY

Virginia Kruta | Associate Editor

Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher’s trial was delayed Wednesday to allow an investigation into the prosecution’s use of malware to spy on several parties associated with the defense.

Malware was discovered weeks earlier embedded in a logo just above lead prosecutor Cmdr. Christopher Czaplak’s signature on several emails that went to military and civilian defense attorneys for both Gallagher and his supervisor, Lt. Jacob Portier, as well as Navy Times editor Carl Prine.

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What cops face daily....how far do you have to back away?

                                                      Video Chain-wielding man who shouted 'Trump is the devil' gunned down by cops Video length 1 minute 51 seconds 1:51                       

Entitled to be violent

Cops nab teen linked to group who assaulted off-duty firefighter

Cops nabbed the teen in connection to the assault on an off-duty city firefighter on the Upper East Side police said Thursday.

Damir Johnson, 17, was arrested on Wednesday shortly before 10 p.m. after police received an anonymous CrimeStoppers tip that led them to his residence, where a family member at the home positively identified him.

The teen was one of six who attacked an off-duty firefighter on East 86th Street near Second Avenue shortly before 9:30 a.m. Saturday, after the 38-year-old stepped in to stop the group from harassing an elderly couple, police said.

They instead turned their attention to the man, with one of the kids allegedly forcing him to the ground and repeatedly punching and stomping on him — leaving the victim with broken teeth and a concussion, cops said.

Police on Tuesday released video of a group of six teens — three males and three females, all believe to be between the ages of 15 and 17 — dancing and laughing as they walk down the street.

The NYPD’s Chief of Detectives tweeted Thursday to announce the arrest, writing: “The subject, a 17-yr-old male, is in custody. The victim, an @FDNY firefighter who acted as a good samaritan, continues to recover from serious injuries. We thank him for his actions & wish him a swift recovery.”

Johnson was charged with his assault for his involvement in the incident, cops said. He has three priors from 2019, for robbery, attempted robbery and grand larceny.

Investigators are still looking for the five other teens.

Lawyer who intervened in Jussie Smollett case refuses subpoena

A former top aide to Michelle Obama refused to be served a subpoena Wednesday related to her contact with Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx in the Jussie Smollett case.

The subpoena was issued by former Illinois Appellate Judge Sheila O’Brien as part of her request for a special prosecutor to investigate the Cook County state’s attorney’s handling of Smollett’s criminal case, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

O’Brien wants the former first lady’s one-time chief of staff, Tina Tchen, to produce “any and all documents, notes, phone records, texts, tape recordings made or received at any time, concerning [Tchen’s] conversations with Kim Foxx in re: Jussie Smollett” at a May 31 hearing.

But Tchen wouldn’t accept the subpoena, according to the process server.

Tchen, an attorney in Chicago, intervened in the Smollett case by telling Foxx that a member of the “Empire” star’s family had “concerns” about her office’s probe, the Sun-Times previously reported.

Tchen reached out to Foxx on Feb. 1, three days after Smollett told cops he was the victim of a homophobic and racist beatdown near his apartment.

Foxx then contacted Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, asking him to turn over the probe to the FBI before recusing herself from the case.

Smollett was eventually charged with 16 felony counts alleging that he staged the hoax hate crime — but the charges were abruptly dropped in a surprise move by prosecutors.

Tchen has denied trying to influence the case.

“Shortly after Mr. Smollett reported he was attacked, as a family friend, I contacted Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who I also know from prior work together,” she said in a March statement. “My sole activity was to put the chief prosecutor in the case in touch with an alleged victim’s family who had concerns about how the investigation was being characterized in public.”

Meanwhile, a judge is expected to decide Thursday on whether sealed records in Smollett’s case will be made public, ABC Chicago reported.

Maryland jail defends shocking decision to release MS-13 killers in spite of ICE detainer

The illegal Salvadoran gang members went on to murder a 14-year-old girl.

These lefty film makers are not only insipid but also amoral

Cannes Film Festival debuts movie poster featuring Melania lookalike with likeness of severed Trump head

Because the lesson apparently wasn't learned the first time

 SARAH TAYLOR

A new film debuted at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival this year, and it's receiving a lot of attention over its plot.

The film, "When Women Rule the World," features a bikini-clad Melania Trump-lookalike on its B-movie-style poster, complete with a likeness of President Donald Trump's severed head clutched in her grasp.

What are the details?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film — of the science fiction genre — was written, directed, and produced by Sheldon Silverstein.
The film's tagline reads, "Meet the First Lady of the Future with her Heads of State."

Silverstein told the outlet that the film is sci-fi satire "with sociopolitical themes" that "align with movements like #MeToo and Time's Up." The film also serves as a political commentary on social masculinity.
"Donald Trump gets in a fight with Putin over who has the biggest penis, and he pushes a button that starts World War III," Silverstein said of the film's plot. "It's kind of crazy."The film's synopsis reads:

[T]he plot follows reality-show mogul Michael Bray; his Russian fiancee, Maria Putin; and another couple on their way to Las Vegas to begin production of the TV series Showgirl Wars. They blunder into a time vortex and are transmitted to the future, after Trump has pushed the button. The surviving women have completely separated from men, blaming them for all the destruction, and live together in a village protected by female warriors while men have been banished to the desert.

Silverstein said that "the film has a consciousness and has something to say about what's going on in the world."
Silverstein, who is clearly not a Trump fan, said that the president is a "moron" who "doesn't care about the environment."
"It's all about money to him," he added. "It's a shame he got elected and [this movie] is a put-down on all of that."
Silverstein insists that everyone at the French film festival who has screened the project "seems to like it so far."

When Women Rule the World Official Trailer 🎬 Coming Soon!www.youtube.com

What else?

The concept of creating "art" featuring the likeness of the president's severed head isn't a new notion.
In 2017, comedienne Kathy Griffin posed with a fake, bloodied head that very much resembled that of Trump during a photo shoot. As a result of the backlash, Griffin lost a hosting job at CNN, received death threats, and was purportedly investigated by the Secret Service.
"I'm Hanoi Jane, you know? I get it. This photo is gonna be with me forever, no matter what I do," the actress and comedienne said in March. "I was in London a month ago and I had a driver who took myself and my assistant from London Heathrow to the hotel, and he recognized me from the photo and he said that he was from Morocco and that if we were in Morocco he would cut my tongue off. So, that was a long drive!"

Democrats best weapons unverifiable, speculative accusations of evil doing...there is no possibility of information exchange. They are nasty people!

Dem. congresswoman accuses DHS secretary of intentionally killing immigrant children

She said that their deaths were 'more than a question of resources'

 MIKE CIANDELLA

A Democratic congresswoman this week accused the acting secretary of Homeland Security of intentionally killing immigrant children in detention facilities.

What happened?

During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing Wednesday, Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) told acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan that the death of five children of illegal immigrants in border facilities was "more than a question of resources."
"Congress has been more than willing to provide resources and to work with you to address the security and humanitarian concerns," she said. "But at this point, with five kids that have died, 5,000 separated from their families, I feel like, and the evidence is really clear, that this is intentional. It's intentional. It's a policy choice being made on purpose by this administration, and it's cruel and inhumane."
McAleenan called the lawmaker's claim an "appalling accusation" and said "our men and women fight hard to protect people in our custody every single day." He said that his department had been asking for changes "for the last three years that would have prevented this from happening.

After McAleenan said this, Underwood repeated her comments almost verbatim, saying that Congress "has been more than willing to provide resources and to work with you, Mr. Secretary, to address these security and humanitarian concerns. And at this point with five children dead and 5,000 separated from their families, this is intentional. It's a policy choice being made on purpose by this administration, and it's cruel and inhumane."
"You cannot impugn the character of the witness by stating that he intentionally murders children. That is completely inappropriate and her words should be taken down," Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said.
Underwood shot back that she had not said "it was murder," but she thinks that the Trump administration is responsible for the deaths at the border.
"I did not say 'murder,'" Underwood insisted. "I said that five children have died as the result of a policy choice that he has sat here and — excuse me sir," she said as Rogers interrupted, "I'm still talking. He has said that he stands by the policy decisions of this administration. That's what he said at the beginning of his testimony. And he said he stands by the budget requests. This is a policy choice."

What did the committee do next?

Following this exchange, the nine Republicans on the committee successfully voted to strike her comments from the record.

Iraq's Christians 'close to extinction'

By Frank GardnerBBC security correspondent

• 3 hours ago

Image captionIraq's Christian community is one of the oldest in the world

The Archbishop of Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, has accused Britain's Christian leaders of failing to do enough in defence of the vanishing Christian community in Iraq. 

In an impassioned address in London, the Rt Rev Bashar Warda said Iraq's Christians now faced extinction after 1,400 years of persecution. 

Since the US-led invasion toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003, he said, the Christian community had dwindled by 83%, from around 1.5 million to just 250,000.

"Christianity in Iraq," he said, "one of the oldest Churches, if not the oldest Church in the world, is perilously close to extinction. Those of us who remain must be ready to face martyrdom." 

He referred to the current, pressing threat from Islamic State (IS) jihadists as a "final, existential struggle", following the group's initial assault in 2014 that displaced more than 125,000 Christians from their historic homelands.

"Our tormentors confiscated our present," he said, "while seeking to wipe out our history and destroy our future. In Iraq there is no redress for those who have lost properties, homes and businesses. Tens of thousands of Christians have nothing to show for their life's work, for generations of work, in places where their families have lived, maybe, for thousands of years." 

• Iraq's minorities fear for their future
• Christian persecution 'at near genocide levels'
• The Christian militia fighting IS

IS, known in the Arab world as Daesh, was driven from its last stronghold at Baghuz in Syria in March after a massive multinational military campaign, effectively spelling the end of its self-declared "caliphate". 

Before that, it had already been expelled from Iraq's second city of Mosul in July 2017. 

Media captionThe Iraqi Christian ghost town

But churches, monasteries and homes belonging to Christian families have been decimated and thousands of families have not returned. 

This week the archbishop warned of what he said were a growing number of extremist groups that asserted that the killing of Christians and Yazidis helped to spread Islam. 

'Political correctness'

The archbishop went on to accuse Britain's Christian leaders of "political correctness" over the issue - he called the failure to condemn extremism "a cancer", saying they were not speaking out loudly enough for fear of being accused of Islamophobia. 

"Will you continue to condone this never-ending, organised persecution against us?" he said. "When the next wave of violence begins to hit us, will anyone on your campuses hold demonstrations and carry signs that say 'We are all Christians'?"

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionIraqi Christians have been targeted by Islamist militants, including IS

His views on political correctness are shared in part by the Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen, who chairs the Independent Review into the Foreign Office's response to the persecution of Christians worldwide.

"I think the archbishop is right that a culture of 'political correctness' has prevented Western voices from speaking out about the persecution of Christians," he says. "I think though this is mainly to do with a reluctance borne of post-colonial guilt."

Bishop Mounstephen maintains that Christian persecution needs to be viewed from a global perspective and has multiple causes. 

"If we only consider it in the light of Islamic militancy," he says, "we let a lot of other people off the hook who should otherwise be held to account."

Taking a historical perspective, the Archbishop of Irbil lamented the fact that in centuries past there was a happy period of fruitful cooperation between Christians and Muslims in Iraq, a time that historians have referred to as the Islamic Golden Age.

"Our Christian ancestors shared with Muslim Arabs a deep tradition of thought and philosophy," says Archbishop Warda. "They engaged with them in respectful dialogue from the 8th Century. 

"A style of scholastic dialogue had developed, and which could only occur because a succession of caliphs [Islamic political and religious leaders] tolerated minorities. As toleration ended, so did the culture and wealth which flowed from it."

'Moment of truth'

Elsewhere in the Middle East it is a mixed picture for Christians in 2019. 

Egypt's Copts, who constitute at least 10% of the country's 100 million-plus population, have come under sustained attack from jihadists who have bombed their churches and attempted to drive them out of northern Sinai. 

But in February Pope Francis made a historic three-day visit to the UAE - the first ever by a pontiff to the Arabian Peninsula - in which he held a mass attended by an estimated 135,000 mostly migrant Catholics. 

Image copyrightJEWAN ABDI

Image captionThe archbishop warned the West not to be complicit through inaction

And in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and a country that has enforced a narrow, austere interpretation of Islam for the last 40 years, the first Coptic Christian mass was allowed in December. 

In Syria, the Christian minority felt deeply threatened by the largely Islamist element amongst the rebel groups. With President Assad's forces now in the ascendant, as a result of some often brutal tactics, Syria's Christians may be breathing a small sigh of relief.

In Iraq though, the outlook for Christians remains bleak. Sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shia Muslims persist and there are still unknown numbers of IS fighters hiding out in the north and west of the country. 

Archbishop Warda has reached a bitter conclusion about what the future holds.

"Friends, we may be facing our end in the land of our ancestors. We acknowledge this. In our end, the entire world faces a moment of truth. 

"Will a peaceful and innocent people be allowed to be persecuted and eliminated because of their faith? And, for the sake of not wanting to speak the truth to the persecutors, will the world be complicit in our elimination?"

An ideal Democrat: Feds bring new charges against lawyer Michael Avenatti for misappropriating nearly $300,000 from former client Stormy Daniels

Feds bring new charges against lawyer Michael Avenatti for misappropriating nearly $300,000 from former client Stormy Daniels

Federal prosecutors in New York charged Michael Avenatti with additional financial crimes Wednesday, including allegedly forging the signature of his former client Stormy Daniels and diverting nearly $300,000 owed to her for a book advance into his own account, according to court records filed on Wednesday.

Prosecutors said that he then used money he took from Daniels to make monthly payments on his Ferrari, as well as to cover airfare, dry cleaning, hotels and restaurant bills, as well as payroll and insurance costs for his law firm's employees.

The new charges accuse Avenatti of misappropriating money that was supposed to be paid to Daniels when Avenatti was representing the adult film actress in her public battle against President Trump and his former attorney Michael Cohen.

"Avenatti used misrepresentations and a fraudulent document purporting to bear his client's name and signature to convince his client's literary agent to divert money owed to Avenatti's client to an account controlled by Avenatti," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement. "Avenatti then spent the money principally for his own personal and business purposes."

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan -- who have already accused Avenatti of extortion in a case involving Nike -- also indicted him separately on extortion charges in the Nike case on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Avenatti denied the fraud and identity theft charges to ABC News, saying that “No monies relating to Ms. Daniels were ever misappropriated or mishandled."

"She received millions of dollars worth of legal services and we expended huge sums in expenses," he wrote in a statement to ABC News.

"She directly paid only $100.00 (not a typo) for all that she received."

Not so, said Berman in a statement.

Federal prosecutors charge in court papers that Avenatti forged Daniels signature on a document for the purpose of diverting the funds she was owed into an account of his own, and leaving Daniels with the impression that the publishing house she was contracted with to write a book had not delivered the promised advances.

"A month after diverting one payment of $148,750 into his own account, Avenatti allegedly used funds received from another source to pay" Daniels, prosecutors said in the statement.

One week after that, according to prosecutors, Avenatti diverted a second payment of $148,750 to Daniels into his own account.

"To conceal his scheme, and despite repeated requests to Avenatti as [Daniels'] lawyer, for assistance in obtaining the book payment that [Daniels] believed was missing, Avenatti led [her] to believe that [her] publisher was refusing to make the payment...," prosecutors claim.

Avenatti "abused and violated the core duty of an attorney -- the duty to his client," Berman charged in the statement. "As alleged, he used his position of trust to steal an advance on the client's book deal. As alleged, he blatantly lied to and stole from his client to maintain his extravagant lifestyle, including to pay for, among other things, a monthly car payment on a Ferrari. Far from zealously representing his client, Avenatti, as alleged, instead engaged in outright deception and theft, victimizing rather than advocating for his client."

(MORE: Attorney Michael Avenatti arrested in alleged Nike extortion scheme: Prosecutors)

In a subsequent statement to ABC News after the charges were filed, Avenatti again reiterated his innocence and said he was entitled to the money from the book advance.

"I look forward to a jury hearing all of the evidence and passing judgment on my conduct," Avenatti wrote in the statement. "At no time was any money misappropriated or mishandled. I will be fully exonerated once the relevant emails, contracts, text messages, and documents are presented. I was entitled to any monies retained relating to a book per my agreement with the client. It was part of my agreement for representation and compensation.

Daniels' current attorney, Clark Brewster, had a different take when contacted by ABC News.

“I doubt Michael Avenatti is looking forward to jury hearing evidence about his blatant dishonesty and embezzlement of Stormy’s book advances," Brewster told ABC News. "If that sentiment is true he has a delusional disorder that merits attention.”

News of prosecutors’ inquiry into his business dealings with Daniels marks the latest legal blow for Avenatti, coming after federal prosecutors on both coasts unsealed charges against the controversial 48-year-old attorney.

(MORE: Lawyer Michael Avenatti could owe his estranged wife and child $1.5 million in spousal and child support)

The Daniels investigation is not related to those charges. But it is being run by the same team of federal officials who slapped Avenatti with two counts of extortion for his alleged role in what prosecutors called “an old-fashioned shakedown” of Nike.

He and another celebrity lawyer, Mark Geragos, allegedly threatened to release damaging information about the sportswear giant if it refused to pay the two attorneys millions of dollars. Geragos was not charged with a crime.

In the Central District of California, prosecutors targeted Avenatti with wire- and bank-fraud charges in a scheme that included stealing funds from a client to pay off his own expenses.

Avenatti gained prominence last year when he began representing Daniels in a defamation lawsuit against Trump. A federal judge in California later threw out the suit and ordered Daniels to reimburse Trump for legal fees.