Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett said Thursday that attorney Michael Avenatti may
have to get used to wearing jumpsuits rather than an Armani suit and
Jesse Watters accused the media of overlooking the real person in favor
of his anti-Trump message.
“I've read through the 61 page, 36
indictment. If the feds can prove just a fraction of this then Avenatti
better throw away the Armani suit and get used to a jumpsuit because the
feds say he was essentially the Bernie Madoff of lawyers running a
Ponzi scheme stealing from one client to pay another to pay his
predators,” Jarrett said on “Hannity.”
“The
lavish lifestyle and the jet that he had and then the pyramid
eventually just came crashing around him. And the behavior in his
victims, this is just unconscionable for a lawyer. And it's also, If
proven, criminal.” Avenatti
was charged on Thursday with an additional 36 indictments; he was
accused of fraud, false statements, obstruction and nonpayment of taxes. In March, he was charged for attempting to extort Nike for $20 million.
Watters, the host of "Watters' World," criticized the media for not looking into Avenatti and pushing an anti-Trump narrative.
“He
was a complete scam artist and the media never kick the tires. They
never checked under the hood because they didn't want to know they put
him right out in the middle of the showroom because they know what moves
merchandise and what moves merchandise in the media is Trump hate and
impeachment,” Watters said. The Media Research Center Thursday released research that showed Avenatti made 254 TV appearances in the last year. Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
The Trump administration proposed releasing immigrant detainees onto the streets of “sanctuary cities”--including
San Francisco-- on at least two occasions within the past six months as
retribution against the president’s political enemies, The Washington
Post reported, citing unnamed Department of Homeland Security officials and emails.
The proposal was first floated in November amid reports of a large migrant caravan from
Central America making its way to the southern border. The other time
it was considered-- in February-- occurred during a standoff between
Trump and Democrats over border wall funding.
It was rejected both times by immigration agencies, the report said. A Nov. 16 email from the White House
to officials at several agencies reportedly asked whether migrants
could be arrested and bused to “small-and mid-sized sanctuary cities”
and other Democratic strongholds.
The White House and DHS did not immediately respond to Fox News early Friday for comment.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s district in San Francisco was considered one of the areas targeted, according to the paper.
Pelosi blasted the plan Thursday, calling it “despicable” to use “human
beings — including little children — as pawns in their warped game to
perpetuate fear and demonize immigrants.”
The proposal was intended to alleviate crowded detention centers, the White House told U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE). An ICE official responded the inquiry was littered with
budgetary and liability issues, but said “there are PR risks as well.”
Trump has repeatedly blasted “sanctuary cities,” areas where local
authorities refuse to cooperate with immigration agencies.
“This
was just a suggestion that was floated and rejected, which ended any
further discussion,” a White House statement to the paper said.
The viral clip of conservative commentator Candace Owens
accusing Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., of distorting her comments in such
fashion that he must “believe black people are stupid” has become the
most-viewed C-SPAN Twitter video from a House hearing.
The Twitter
video of the exchange so far accumulated nearly 6.8 million views and
appears to be on track to be most watched C-SPAN clip from a House
hearing on all platforms. CANDACE OWENS EXPLODES AT TED LIEU MID-HEARING AFTER HE PLAYS SHORT CLIP OF HER HITLER COMMENTS
“In less than 24 hours, this video is the most watched C-SPAN Twitter video from a House hearing (4.47 million views),” tweeted Jeremy Art, C-SPAN’s social media senior specialist, before the video got another 2.3 million views.
He
added that it’s not yet the most watched C-SPAN video from a House
hearing ever as it still lacks a couple of millions views – 5 million at
the time of the tweet, though the gap has been cut in half since – to
be on par with a video from a House hearing in 2017 in which Secretary
of Education Betsy DeVos was criticized for not being able to “come up
with one example of discrimination that you would stand up for
students.”
In the explosive video, Lieu fired the first shot at
Owens by playing a short audio recording of her previous remarks at a
conference in December, which were widely circulated in February, where
she argued that she doesn’t have a problem with “nationalism.”
“I
think the definition gets poisoned by elites that want globalism.
Globalism is what I don't want. When we say ‘nationalism,’ the first
thing people think about — at least in America — is Hitler,” she is
heard saying.
“You know, he was a national socialist, but if
Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, OK
then, fine. The problem is, he had dreams outside of Germany. He wanted
to globalize. He wanted everyone to be German. ...”
Owens fired back at Lieu, accusing him of intentionally misrepresenting her views to drive a false narrative.
“I
think it’s pretty apparent that Mr. Lieu believes that black people are
stupid and will not pursue the full clip in its entirety,” Owens said.
“I
think it’s pretty apparent that Mr. Lieu believes that black people are
stupid and will not pursue the full clip in its entirety.” — Candace Owens
“He
is assuming that black people will not go and pursue the full two-hour
clip. He purposefully cut off -- and you didn't hear the question that
was asked of me. He's trying to present as if I was launching a defense
of Hitler in Germany, when in fact the question that was presented to me
was pertaining to whether I believed in nationalism, and that
nationalism was bad,” she continued. Fox News’ Gregg Re contributed to this report.
The images were stunning as we saw Julian Assange led away from his sanctuary of nearly seven years, looking haggard and disoriented with a Santa Claus beard.
And moments after British police took him from the Ecuadorean embassy, the media debate erupted.
Is this a fugitive from justice, a man who damaged America, which he detests, by releasing classified files about our troops?
Or
is this a man functioning as a digital-age journalist, as his lawyers
contend, who was blowing the whistle under the banner of press freedom?
I
don't know how the legal case will shake out, or even whether U.K.
authorities will extradite Assange to the U.S. But I do know this:
Conservatives and liberals, at different times, have embraced Assange
depending on his targets.
His
abrupt arrest, once Ecuador got fed up with harboring him, was tied to a
sealed indictment brought last year by the Trump Justice Department.
That
was rooted in the document dump that the Wikileaks founder orchestrated
back in 2010. The group teamed up with an Army private, Bradley Manning
(now Chelsea Manning), who was sentenced to 35 years for leaking
classified files.
Prosecutors say Assange agreed to help Manning
solve a password on a Pentagon computer that allowed access to
classified documents, and encouraged Manning to keep digging for
information.
The
leaks exposed abuse of detainees by the Iraqi military and
higher-than-reported civilian death tolls in Iraq, as well as 250,000
diplomatic cables from U.S. embassies that included sensitive talks that
embarrassed the country. A military judge convicted Manning of aiding
the enemy.
When Barack Obama, overruling his Pentagon chief,
commuted Manning's sentence after nearly seven years — this following a
couple of suicide attempts — many liberal commentators approved of the
move. But Paul Ryan called it "outrageous," and John McCain said Manning
had engaged in "espionage" and put American troops at risk. (As
president, Trump retweeted a message slamming Obama for "pardoning a
traitor.")
But
Republican attitudes toward Wikileaks flipped during 2016, when the
group, accused by U.S. officials of working with Russia, hacked into a
treasure trove of Democratic emails.
While Nancy Pelosi called the
hacking an "electronic Watergate," candidate Trump at various times
said: "Wikileaks has provided things that are unbelievable" about
Hillary Clinton. "Boy, that Wikileaks has done a job on her, hasn't
it?" "Wikileaks, some new stuff, some brutal stuff." And: "I love
Wikileaks."
The president was a bit less effusive yesterday. He
deflected reporters' questions on the arrest, saying, "I know nothing
about Wikileaks. It's not my thing."
So Assange, once hated by the
right and defended by the left, went through a metamorphosis when he
was damaging the Hillary campaign — an all-too-vivid example of
Washington's fickle loyalties.
Assange's
lawyer played the media card yesterday, telling reporters that "this
precedent means that any journalist can be extradited for prosecution in
the United States for having published truthful information about the
United States ... Publishing of documents, of videos of killings of
innocent civilians, exposure of war crimes — this is journalism."
While
the case might have legal implications for legitimate reporters who
publish classified material — and typically withhold documents that
could endanger lives, sources and methods — Assange is an activist who
cares nothing for American national security. Instead, he is using
journalism as a fig leaf for his reckless conduct.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would have to mobilize more
of the military at the U.S. border with Mexico after listening to
stories about migrants crossing the border from people attending a
Republican fundraiser.
"I'm going to have to call up more military," Trump said.
The president said some of the people crossing the border were ending
up dead from the journey on Americans' ranches. He interrupted his
discussion with Republican donors to bring in reporters to listen to the
stories about the border.
"Many, many dead people," Trump said, referring to migrants who he
said had died after making the journey. "Also they come in and raid
their houses, and it's very dangerous," Trump said, referring to locals
affected by the influx of migrants.
There are currently about 5,000 active-duty and National Guard troops near the border, though that number fluctuates.
"We support our federal partners," Pentagon spokesman Army Lieutenant
Colonel Jamie Davis said when asked about Trump's comments.
Trump in February had deployed an additional 3,750 U.S. troops to the
country's southwestern border to support Customs and Border Protection
agents.
Later that month, Democratic governors of states including Wisconsin,
New Mexico and California withdrew their National Guard troops, saying
there was not enough evidence of a security crisis to justify keeping
them there.
Trump, who drew sharp criticism for saying during the 2016
presidential campaign that Mexico was sending rapists and drug runners
to the United States, said on Wednesday that those comments were tame
compared to the stories he had heard since.
The president has made immigration a signature issue of his
presidency and of his re-election campaign. He declared a national
emergency over the issue earlier this year in an effort to redirect
funding from Congress to build a wall along the U.S. southern border.
Earlier this week he announced that Homeland Security Secretary
Kirstjen Nielsen was stepping down. White House officials said he wanted
new leadership at the department to focus more closely on what he has
called a border crisis.
Conservative commentator Candace Owens appeared on Fox News' "Ingraham Angle" Wednesday and talked about her explosive House Judiciary Committee hearing confrontation with Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and called the entire hearing a hoax.
“I
think in many ways people on the Right felt vindicated. I know there
are a lot of moderate people that came over and realized that what I was
talking about were actually real issues in black America,” Owens said
on the “Ingraham Angle,” in her first interview since the hearing.
She
said African-Americans in the U.S. are facing a plethora of issues and
Democrats appear intent on trying to focus on items like white
nationalism.
Turning Point USA director of urban engagement Brandon Tatum
(left) with communications director Candace Owens (right). (Christopher
Howard/Fox News).
Owens' appearance on Fox was tense. Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell confronted her over her remarks about Democrats.
“So you did a great job of promoting yourself and playing the victim,” Terrell told Owens.
“I'm not going to play these playground tactics with you. I'm going to keep the focus on black America,” Owens retorted.
“Just
because you disagree with a Democrat you can not assume that Democrats
want black people to fail,” Terrell said, annoyed with Owen’s comments.
“I did and I believe that. And I will back it up with facts,” Owens said before Ingraham got control of the segment. Fox News' Gregg Re and The Associated Press contributed to thsi report.
Democratic 2020 candidate Andrew Yang said in an interview Wednesday that his “Freedom Dividend,” a proposal that would give $1,000 a month to Americans who are over 18 years old, will encourage citizens to work.
Yang
told TMZ that the plan is necessary to help American workers whose jobs
have become automized. When asked if giving the dividend would
incentivize workers, he cited the “Alaska Permanent Fund,” which was established in 1976 and pays residents a dividend from the state’s mineral revenue.
“In
Alaska it’s wildly popular, has created thousands of jobs, has improved
children’s health and has not decreased work levels in the slightest,”
the 44-year-old entrepreneur and investor said.
Presidential candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang speaks during
the National Action Network Convention in New York, Wednesday, April 3,
2019. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
With the exception of new moms who spent more time
with their kids and teenagers who graduated high school at a higher
level, numbers showed that most people continued to worked at the same
level as they did without the dividend, Yang told TMZ.
“Most people want to work and a little bit of money won’t make a difference,” he said.
The “Freedom Dividend”
would cost $1.8 trillion dollars a year, and planned to fund it with a
value added tax that would get the American people “a slice of” all
Amazon transactions, Google searches and robot truck miles, Yang
previously told MSNBC.
Yang's presidential candidacy has recieved
the support of some white nationalists, who believe he is "concerned
with halting the decline of the white race," the Verge reported. Yang has rejected their support.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, spoke to Shannon Bream on “Fox News @ Night” Wednesday about a Senate Judiciary Hearing where he confronted Twitter and Facebook officials about censoring and shadow banning conservatives.
“None
of us should be happy to have a handful of left-wing Silicon Valley
billionaires censoring what is said and silencing conservatives,
silencing Christians, silencing people of faith. That's not right. And
we've got to act to stop,” Cruz told Bream.
Cruz led off
Wednesday’s hearing of the panel's subcommittee on the Constitution by
saying that "a great many people agree that the pattern, the
anti-conservative bias and the pattern of censorship we're seeing from
big tech is disturbing.”
Bream
mentioned that the social media platforms were private companies
prompting Cruz to admit “the remedy is complicated” and bring up one
possible solution.
Cruz explained that “you can't sue Twitter and
Google and Facebook if they commit libel, if they commit slander”
because they’re viewed as “neutral public forums.”
Cruz added,
“Well they're now engaged as partisan left-wing political speakers have
no reason on earth they should have a special immunity from liability
that protects them in a way that nobody else does.”
Cruz
also reacted to Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, who said Republicans were
‘harassing’ big tech over conservative bias that didn’t exist.
“If conservatives have had their content removed, maybe they should look at the content they’re posting,” Hirono added.
Turning Point USA director of urban engagement Brandon Tatum
(left) with communications director Candace Owens (right). (Christopher
Howard/Fox News).
Presidential candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang speaks during
the National Action Network Convention in New York, Wednesday, April 3,
2019. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
CNN’s Scott Jennings once again took liberals to the cleaners on the Abrego Garcia case, the ‘Maryland man...
