Crowley had dirt on Ocasio-Cortez but decided not to use it in campaign

An overconfident Joe Crowley opted against using negative ammunition against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez because he believed that he had the Democratic primary locked up and didn’t want to look weak in a race he was expected to walk away with.
Crowley, a longtime political power broker from Queens, was widely considered to be perfectly situated to become then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s successor before his stunning defeat last June that propelled the former waitress to the halls of Congress.
“Crowley had plenty of fodder he could’ve used against Ocasio-Cortez, but his top New York campaign operatives decided to take the punches and not hit back,” Politico reporters Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer write in their new book, “The Hill to Die On.”
“It wasn’t just that Crowley didn’t want to go dirty; he thought it would be a sign of weakness in D.C. if he was seen in a tight race against Ocasio-Cortez. He was supposed to be the next Democratic leader, not someone who had to fight for reelection,” the two write.
One piece of dirt Crowley decided against using was questionable financing practices of Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign — which a source said Crowley aides knew about before they became public this year.
The conservative National Legal and Policy Center filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission last month charging that Ocasio-Cortez’s team used two affiliated political action committees to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars into a limited-liability company to evade campaign finance laws.
Ocasio-Cortez has denied any wrongdoing.

Lori Loughlin’s name missing from list of guilty pleas in admissions scam: What it could mean for the actress

Felicity Huffman has agreed to plead guilty in the college admissions cheating scandal that has entangled wealthy parents throughout the country.
On Monday, the "Desperate Housewives" alum, 56, announced her decision, explaining that she accepts "full responsibility" for her actions of allegedly paying $15,000 disguised as a tax-deductible charitable donation so her daughter could take part in an apparently rigged college entrance exam.
However, one name that was noticeably absent from the list of 14 defendants who agreed to enter guilty pleas was fellow actress Lori Loughlin – a risk that may hurt the “Fuller House” star's chances of cutting a favorable deal down the line, according to a former prosecutor.

Actress Felicity Huffman arrives holding hands with her brother Moore Huffman Jr., left, at federal court in Boston on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, to face charges in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal. (AP)

“Well, the deal for people who pled out today – they got the best deal possible. Again, even though there was the seven to nine [months of possible prison time], the deal is in that zero to six range – which is the lowest you’re going to get,” former New York State prosecutor Adam Citron told Fox News after the plea deals were announced on Monday.
“It obviously helps that they’re pleading quickly as not to drag out the case and it shows that they’re accountable for their actions and they’re showing remorse. I’m sure in the pre-trial interviews they present themselves as remorseful and they’re already making statements showing remorse. So these are not stupid people – they know how to act to get the best deal and also play to the court to try and get the most lenient sentence possible.”
Loughlin and designer husband Mossimo Giannulli, 55, are accused of agreeing to pay $500,000 in bribes to have their two daughters, 20-year-old Isabella and 19-year-old YouTube star Olivia Jade, designated as recruits for the USC crew team. Neither of their daughters are rowers.
Citron noted that there is a possibility the 54-year-old Loughlin hadn’t yet been offered a deal and indicated that she simply may not be a part of the first round of defendants who cut deals in their cases.
“With Lori Loughlin, it’s unclear and it’s possible that she may have not even been offered anything yet. They could be saying, ‘We’ll do these fifteen people this week and these people next week for interviews – or if they’re holding her to an offering not as beneficial with a higher jail sentence,” Citron explained.

Lori Loughlin, left, appears in this court sketch at the U.S. federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, Calif. on March 13, 2019. (REUTERS/Mona Shafer Edwards)

He continued: “If I was her attorney and she was offered something not as advantageous, my recommendation would be to kind of let the dust settle, let these people plea out and have a couple more news cycles where people start to lose attention to the case. So that’s very possible, but it’s unclear whether they’ve offered her anything yet or if they’re just waiting to offer her something when they do the next round of people.”

“If I was her attorney, I would not be happy with how she acted.”
— Former New York state prosecutor Adam Citron

When the “Beverly Hills: 90210” alum initially appeared in federal court in Los Angeles, a court sketch artist described Loughlin's demeanor as "a little arrogant." Additionally, while entering a Massachusetts court to face charges last week, Loughlin signed autographs and posed for selfies with fans – behavior that Citron says doesn’t aid her interests in the eyes of the court.

Lori Loughlin signs autographs and chats with fans the day before her court hearing in Boston for her alleged role in a nationwide college admissions scam. Loughlin and husband Mossimo Giannulli are accused of using bribes to get their daughters admitted to USC. (Backgrid)

“The optics look horrible for Lori Loughlin. The court wants to see that you’re taking this seriously, that you’re remorseful, that you’re accountable for your actions and not treating it like it’s a concert. It’s a very serious proceeding with serious charges with a lot of ramifications,” said Citron. “It’s very serious – she should not have been treating this like it was a red carpet affair. She feels unquenchable – she’s not taking this seriously.”
“If I was her attorney, I would not be happy with how she acted.”
Despite Loughlin’s behavior, Citron believes it’s possible the actress could be putting on an about-face as a means of deflecting any anguish she may be facing behind the scenes.
“It’s possible that this is some sort of a defense mechanism and that she’s going home at night and she is very shaken by this, which she should be – and she doesn’t know how to react in such a situation, so her natural defense mechanism is to kind of put on a smile and wave,” the lawyer explained.
“It’s hard to say, but again – it’s going to be a question that I’m sure any pre-sentence interviewer will be asking. [Loughlin] definitely put doubt in the mind of whoever is interviewing her for the pre-sentence report with respect to how truthful she’s being if she does show that she’s remorseful. A judge could very easily at a sentencing hearing ask her that question along the lines of, ‘It appears you’re remorseful today, but how can you account for your actions at the arraignment?’”
Reps for Loughlin did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.

Rep. Ilhan Omar calls Stephen Miller a ‘white nationalist’

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., took to Twitter on Monday to criticize White House adviser Stephen Miller's influence on policy and called him a "white nationalist."
Miller has been known for having a major influence over President Donald Trump’s immigration policy and was reportedly instrumental in the ousting of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirsjen Nielsen.
“Stephen Miller is a white nationalist,” Omar tweeted. “The fact that he still has influence on policy and political appointments is an outrage.”
Her tweet sparked fierce backlash, many who point out that Miller is Jewish.
Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., posted on Twitter that he has never seen another member of Congress “target Jewish people like this.”
The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr. also weighed in, calling her the “head of the Farrakhan Fan Club” and that she “apparently has no shame.”
Omar’s office has not immediately Fox News’s request for comment.

Nunes files $150M lawsuit against McClatchy, alleging conspiracy to derail Clinton, Russia probes

House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes filed a $150 million lawsuit in Virginia state court against The McClatchy Company and others on Monday, alleging that one of the news agency's reporters conspired with a political operative to derail Nunes' oversight work into the Hillary Clinton campaign and Russian election interference.
The filing, obtained by Fox News, came a day after Nunes, R-Calif., revealed he would send eight criminal referrals to the Justice Department this week concerning purported surveillance abuses by federal authorities during the Russia probe, false statements to Congress and other matters.
In March, Nunes filed a similar $250 million lawsuit alleging defamation against Twitter and one of its users, Republican consultant Liz Mair. In Monday's complaint, Nunes again named Mair as a co-defendant, charging this time that she conspired with McClatchy reporter MacKenzie Mays to spread a variety of untruthful and misleading smears -- including that Nunes "was involved with cocaine and underage prostitutes" -- online and in print.
Reached for comment late Monday, Mair directed Fox News to a USA Today op-ed she penned earlier this week concerning Nunes' previous lawsuit entitled, "Free speech means I don't have to be nice to Devin Nunes on Twitter. So why's he suing me?"
A spokesperson for McClatchy told Fox News late Monday: "We have no comment and stand behind the strong reporting of The Fresno Bee," the McClatchy-owned publication cited throughout Nunes' lawsuit.

File-This Oct. 24, 2017, file photo shows House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., speaking on Capitol Hill in Washington. Twitter accounts linked to Russian influence operations are pushing a conservative meme related to the investigation of Russian election interference, researchers say. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File) (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

In a March story, the McClatchy DC Bureau reported that Nunes' previous lawsuit against Twitter and some of its users had only "amplified" the visibility of his critics and the Internet trolls -- including one named "Devin Nunes' Cow." Fox News is told Mair has not yet received service of process, including an official copy of Nunes' complaint, in either litigation.
Nunes' new complaint acknowledged the sensitivity of filing a defamation and conspiracy lawsuit against journalists but went on to allege that the defendants had "abandoned the role of journalist, and chose to leverage their considerable power to spread falsehoods and to defame" Nunes for "political and financial gain."

"I'm coming to clean up the mess."
— California GOP Rep. Devin Nunes

"They need to retract everything they did against me, but they also need to come clean with the American people," Nunes told Fox News' "Hannity" Monday night. "Retract all of their fake news stories. This is part of the broader clean-up. Remember, a few weeks ago, I filed against Twitter -- they're censoring conservatives. McClatchy is one of the worst offenders of this. But we're coming after the rest of them. I think people are beginning to wake up now, I'm serious -- I'm coming to clean up the mess."
The complaint filed on Monday specifically cited a May 23, 2018 article published by the Fresno Bee and written by Mays, entitled, "A yacht, cocaine, prostitutes: Winery partly owned by Nunes sued after fundraiser event."
The article described a lawsuit's allegations of a 2015 party aboard the yacht involving "25 of the Napa Valley-based [Alpha Omega Winery]'s top investors, all men — [who] were openly using what appeared to be cocaine and 'drawing straws' for which sex worker to hire."
That same day, Mays tweeted the article, mentioning Nunes in the same sentence as "cocaine and underage sex workers."
Nunes' complaint accused Mays of "chos[ing] to emphasize the words 'woman,' 'Devin' and 'cocaine'" in her tweet. But, as Los Angeles Times national correspondent Matt Pearce noted on Twitter shortly after this article was published, those three words appear bolded only in the embedded tweet included in Nunes' complaint -- as they would if a keyword search were performed on Twitter for the words "woman," "Devin," and "cocaine."
In Mays' original tweet, however, the words are not bolded or emphasized.
Nunes asserted in the complaint that the event on the yacht was not a "fundraiser" at all, but rather a cruise resulting from a charitable donation -- and one that McClatchy knew Nunes had nothing to do with.
"The McClatchy headline intentionally omitted the word 'charity' and labeled the event a 'fundraiser' in a clear effort to imply it was a political fundraising event that a politician like Congressman Nunes would naturally attend," the complaint stated.
Nunes said another line in the story was false: "[i]t's unclear … if he [Nunes] was … affiliated with the fundraiser." The congressman said the winery had told McClatchy explicitly that Nunes was not affiliated with the event.
Nunes also countered that those aboard the yacht had no connection to the winery and were not investors.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., being questioned by reporters on Capitol Hill in February 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Additionally, "online versions of the story are punctuated by a prominent picture of Nunes and multiple film clips of him," creating a strong and misleading implication, repeated by Twitter users and other journalists, that Nunes was directly involved in the event on the yacht, the complaint continued.
Defamation law prohibits not only provably false statements but also heavy implications of falsities that harm defendants' reputations. However, public figures like Nunes must meet a high bar to prove defamation and must demonstrate that the defendants recklessly or intentionally spread falsehoods, rather than merely negligently.
Virginia, like many other states, includes robust protections for journalists and other actors accused of defamation in what is called an "anti-SLAPP statute." SLAPP stands for "Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation."
In his complaint, Nunes alleged that regardless, defamation law should not shield what he called a knowing and deliberate effort to "destroy" his reputation. "Indeed, the entire purpose of every element of the Yacht/Cocaine/Prostitutes article – the headline, the photo, the film clips, and the text itself – is to link Nunes to an event that McClatchy actually knew before publication he had no involvement with," the complaint stated.
A series of unmentioned "stealth edits" were made to the article post-publication. The original article stated that the winery serviced "Russian clients while the congressman was at the helm of a federal investigation of Russian meddling into the presidential election."
Eventually the sentence was changed to make it clear that the wine sales to Russians came years before the Russia probe began: "Nunes' ties to [the winery] made national headlines last year because it was discovered the winery sold wine to Russian clients in 2013. The discovery came amid Nunes' ongoing involvement in a federal investigation of Russian meddling into the presidential election."
In other articles, McClatchy also referenced Mair, the political operative whose LinkedIn profile included the boast that she "anonymously smears" targets on the Internet. Mair also has said Nunes had "issues" and she was "going after him."
"The fact is, the [Federal Election Commission] is not going to look favorably on a dude who uses his tax-exempt political entity like a personal slush fund, flying himself to Boston to watch them while apparently engaging in no activity relevant to the purpose of the political organization,’ said Liz Mair," read one article published by McClatchy DC Bureau on July 19, 2018. "McClatchy failed to inform readers of Mair’s employment with Mair Strategies, an opposition research company that, in Mair’s own words, 'smears' targets for paying clients," the complaint stated. 

Protesters held signs as Rep. Devin Nunes visited Fresno, Calif., in March 2017. (AP Photo/Scott Smith, File)

On July 11, 2018, Mays authored an article that referred to an "ethics complaint" filed against Nunes by the Swamp Accountability Project. That group is run by Mair, whom the article identified only as "a political commentator who formerly worked for the Republican National Committee."
"Mays concealed the fact that Mair is an opposition research operative who admittedly smears targets, such as Nunes, for pay from as-yet anonymous clients," the complaint said. "This was a crucial omission, since it would have revealed Mair’s motives and cast grave doubt on her credibility and veracity and on the credibility and veracity of her handlers."
Even as the editorial board of the Fresno Bee doubled down on the reporting, Nunes said, other outlets refused to publish similar stories -- in contrast to McClatchy's willful abandonment of journalistic standards, the complaint alleged.
One newspaper, the Visalia Times-Delta, wrote that it "did not pursue the story because editors decided the lawsuit’s ties to Nunes were tenuous. There were no allegations that Nunes was involved in any way with the charity event, aside from being an investor in the winery."
The complaint also read: "The purpose of the concerted defamation campaign was to cause immense pain, intimidate, interfere with and divert Nunes’ attention from his investigation of corruption and alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 Presidential Election. The substance and timing of the publication of McClatchy’s online articles and the tweets, retweets, replies and likes by Mair and McClatchy reporters demonstrates that McClatchy and Mair were engaged in a joint effort, together and with others, to defame Nunes and interfere with his duties, employment and investigations of corruption as a United States Congressman."
It continued: "The attacks on Nunes were pre-planned, calculated, orchestrated and undertaken by multiple individuals acting in concert, over a continuous period of time throughout 2018. The full scope of the conspiracy, including the names of all participants and the level of involvement of any agents or instrumentalities of foreign governments, is unknown at this time and will be the subject of discovery in this action."
Fox News' Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.

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