Former Trump adviser Roger Stone
is expected to be sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman
Jackson, who has been involved in several high-profile cases since being
appointed to the federal bench in 2011 by former President Barack Obama. In
recent years the 65-year-old Baltimore native and Harvard Law School
graduate has presided over cases involving Stone, former Trump campaign
chairman Paul Manafort and former Democratic U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.
-- as well as one involving Hillary Clinton's Benghazi-related emails. Jackson said
Tuesday during a pre-sentence hearing that she will move ahead with the
sentencing of Stone this week -- rejecting requests by the defense to
delay or request a new trial. She has been described by some as tough, fair and always prepared. Here are more details about cases over which Judge Jackson has presided.
Roger Stone case
Jackson
is presiding over the Roger Stone case, in which a jury found him
guilty on all seven counts of obstruction, witness tampering and making
false statements to Congress in connection with former Special Counsel
Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Stone was charged with
providing false statements to the House Intelligence Committee about
communication involving WikiLeaks, obstructing a congressional
investigation of Russian interference during the 2016 U.S. presidential
election and witness tampering. During the trial, Jackson barred
Stone from speaking publically about the ongoing prosecution after a
picture of her appeared on his Instagram with what appeared to be
crosshairs on the background. Stone blamed the decision -- which he reviewed -- on an unnamed volunteer and apologized, to which Jackson replied last February, "I have serious doubts about whether you learned anything at all."
Roger Stone, a longtime Republican provocateur and former
confidant of President Donald Trump, waits in line at the federal court
in Washington, Nov. 12, 2019. (Associated Press)
"From this moment on, the defendant may not speak
publicly about this case -- period," Jackson said. "No statements about
the case on TV, radio, print reporters, or [the] internet. No posts on
social media. [You] may not comment on the case through surrogates. You
may send out emails about donating to the Roger Stone defense fund." "This
is not baseball. There will be no third chance. If you cannot abide by
this, I will be forced to change your surroundings so you have no
temptations," she added.
"This is not baseball. There
will be no third chance. If you cannot abide by this, I will be forced
to change your surroundings so you have no temptations." — Judge Jackson to Roger Stone
Ahead
of Thursday's scheduled hearing, Jackson was attacked by President
Trump in a Feb 11 tweet. He also criticized prosecutors' recommendation
that Stone should face seven to nine years in prison. "Is this the
Judge that put Paul Manafort in SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, something that
not even mobster Al Capone had to endure? How did she treat Crooked
Hillary Clinton? Just asking!" Trump wrote. After his tweets, the Justice Department
announced in a surprising decision it was revising the federal
sentencing guidelines of term length. Several prosecutors quit and Trump
was accused of interfering in the process, which he denied. Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy
said Jackson can impose whatever sentence she feels is appropriate,
regardless of how Trump or Attorney General Bill Barr feel about the
case. But McCarthy wrote recently that "the Stone prosecution is more politics than law enforcement. It was the Mueller probe’s last gasp at pretending there might be something to the Russia-collusion narrative."
Paul Manafort case
Jackson
sentenced former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to nearly seven
years in prison last March in connection with his guilty plea related to
foreign lobbying and witness tampering. She ordered a term of 73 months
to be added to a 47-month sentence given earlier on bank and tax fraud
charges in a separate case by Virginia Judge T.S. Ellis. In December, Manafort's state mortgage fraud charges were dismissed citing double jeopardy laws. “This
defendant is not public enemy number one, but he is not a victim
either,” Jackson said last March during Manafort's sentencing and prior
to his charges being dismissed. “The question of whether there was any
collusion with Russia ... was not presented in this case, period,
therefore it was not resolved by this case.” In 2018, Manafort
agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, pleading guilty to two felony
conspiracy charges in relation to his lobbying work with Ukraine. Last
February, Jackson ruled Manafort intentionally breached his guilty plea
agreement by lying to investigators on Mueller's team. "The
Office of Special Counsel (OSC) made its determination that the
defendant made false statements and thereby breached the plea agreement
in good faith," Jackson wrote. "Therefore, the Office of Special Counsel
is no longer bound by its obligations under the plea agreement,
including its promise to support a reduction of the offense level in the
calculation of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines for acceptance of
responsibility."
Paul Manafort arrives in court in New York, June 27, 2019
after a judge threw out his New York mortgage fraud case on double
jeopardy grounds. (Associated Press)
Jackson grilled Mueller's team during the probe on whether Manafort lied to investigators before her eventual ruling. "So,
I'm trying to figure out what the importance is of his ongoing work for
a potential candidate in the Ukraine at that time is, and the
importance of any lies about that, or lies about Konstantin Kilimnik's
[who has ties to Russian intelligence] knowledge about that," Jackson
said. She appreciated Manafort's attendance in court last February
after denying his attempt to skip the hearing due to what he described
were health reasons. "I believe it was very helpful, very useful
and very important for you to have been here, Mr. Manafort," Jackson
said. "I know that we've had hearings where counsel sought to minimize
the burden on you and not have you be here, but this is about you, it's
not about them. And I think it's very important that they have you
available to ask questions to."
Jesse Jackson Jr. case
The
judge sentenced former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. to 2-1/2 years in prison
back in 2013 after he was convicted of spending $750,000 in campaign
funds on personal items -- such as a gold watch, cigars and mounted elk
heads. Jessie Jackson Jr. is the son of civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., arrives at the E.
Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, Feb. 20, 2013.
(Associated Press)
During the case, she said that if she had given him
no prison time it would have suggested there was one system for the
well-connected and one for everyone else. "I
cannot do it. I will not do it," she said, adding that as a public
official, Jackson Jr. was expected to "live up to a higher standard of
ethics and integrity."
Clinton Benghazi email case
Jackson
tossed out a wrongful-death lawsuit against Hillary Clinton in 2017 by
the parents of two Americans who were among those killed in a terror
attack against a diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. The lawsuit
alleged that Clinton's use of the private email server caused their
deaths. The
ruling was based on the Westfall Act, which gives federal employees
immunity from tort claims arising out of acts made during the course of
their official duties. “Her actions – communicating with other
State Department personnel and advisers about the official business of
the department – fall squarely within the scope of her duty to run the
Department and conduct the foreign affairs of the nation as Secretary of
State,” Jackson wrote. Jackson
ruled the parents didn't sufficiency challenge that Clinton wasn't
acting in her official capacity when she used the email server. "The
untimely death of plaintiffs' sons is tragic, and the Court does not
mean to minimize the unspeakable loss that plaintiffs have suffered in
any way," Jackson wrote in a 29-page opinion. Fox News' Brooke Singman, Gregg Re and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Gun-rights activists scored a Second Amendment victory in Virginia this week over the state's Democrat governor and legislature -- and gun-control financier and Democrat presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, Laura Ingraham reported Tuesday. "Just
a few months ago, anti-gun Democrats in Virginia thought they could
easily ram through a new ban on so-called assault weapons and
high-capacity magazines," Ingraham said Tuesday night on "The Ingraham Angle,"
"and Gov. Ralph Northam was supporting this bill, of course, with a
phony argument that rolling back the gun rights of law-abiding
Virginians would make all Virginians safer." "But
Northam wasn't ready for the pushback, was he?" Ingraham said. "The
opposition made sure that their voices were gonna be heard -- and boy,
were they heard." The bill backed by Gov. Ralph Northam
would have banned the sale of assault-style weapons in Virginia. It
failed on a committee vote Monday morning, setting back one of the
biggest priorities for the newly minted Democrat-controlled government
in the state. Ingraham celebrated the victory in Virginia with
lawmakers losing out on their anti-Second Amendment push and noted
Bloomberg's involvement. "It's important to note that this
grassroots uprising was successful despite the millions that have been
pumped into the Commonwealth from out-of-staters like Democrat
presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg," Ingraham said. "Through his
group, Every Town for Gun Safety, he funneled 2.5 million into Virginia
last year to elect anti-Second Amendment Democrats." "But it turns
out there's still a lot of Jeffersonian spirit left in Virginia,"
Ingraham said. "Their Second Amendment rights aren't for sale."
"It turns out there's still a lot of Jeffersonian spirit left in Virginia. Their Second Amendment rights aren't for sale." — Laura Ingraham
The host warned that future anti-gun pushes will continue and asked viewers to imagine what Bloomberg would do as president. "But
Bloomberg and the rest of the anti-gun forces in America won't let this
defeat stop them," Ingraham said. "But what happened in Virginia
yesterday shows that when we the people argue the facts and we stand
united for a noble cause, we can overcome the corrupting influence of
money and leftist ideology." "A
Bloomberg nomination is guaranteed to do at least two things," Ingraham
said. "One, motivate the Republican base and two, drive up the price of
Smith & Wesson stock." Fox News' Tyler Olson contributed to this report.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday reportedly shut down rumors that she might consider serving as Michael Bloomberg’s running mate if he were to win the Democratic presidential nomination. "Oh
no! I'm just waiting and watching as this plays out. I will support
whoever the nominee is,” she told the moderator while in Puerto Rico for
a Clinton Global Initiative event. Last week, the 2016 Democratic
nominee played down the idea that she could be a vice presidential
pick, telling Ellen DeGeneres on her show, "Well, that's not going to
happen, but no.” In
the interview last Thursday she clarified, “I never say never because I
do believe in serving my country -- but it's not going to happen,”
citing when former President Obama asked her to be his secretary of
state after their hard-fought primary race in 2008. Clinton, who
lost the 2016 general election to Republican Donald Trump, posited
during the interview that Trump's behavior as president underscores the
double standard female candidates face. "We've got one of the most
emotionally acting-out people ever in the history of our country in the
White House and I don't hear anybody saying, 'He's just too
emotional,'” Clinton said, referring to a common critique of female
politicians. Last November, she told the BBC that “many, many,
many people” were pressuring her to think about running for president
again, but added, “I, as I say, never, never, never say never. ... But
as of this moment, sitting here in this studio talking to you, that is
absolutely not in my plans." If
she did enter the race as a presidential candidate, she would face an
uphill battle, having already missed primary voting in several states
and the deadline to be on the Democratic ballot in most others.
The
Justice Department pushed back Tuesday night at multiple reports
claiming Attorney General William Barr told people close to him he's
considering stepping down over President Trump's tweets, days after Barr admitted that Trump's tweeting made it "'impossible for me to do my job." "Addressing Beltway rumors: The Attorney General has no plans to resign," DOJ spokeswoman Kerri Kupec tweeted. Barr "has his limits," one person familiar with Barr’s thinking told
The Washington Post. Its report suggested that Barr wanted Trump to
"get the message" to stop weighing in publicly in ongoing criminal
cases. An administration official gave a similar admission on Barr to
The Associated Press. Barr, speaking to ABC News last week, also
denied ever acting on improper influence from Trump or the White House.
White House officials told the Post that the president had no plans to
stop tweeting about Justice Department cases. He insisted he had a
"legal right" to make his voice heard on criminal cases. The White House did not immediately comment on the Tuesday night reports. Trump tweeted Tuesday he's considering suing those involved in
former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation and said
his confidant Roger Stone deserved a new trial after being convicted of
witness tampering, obstruction and lying to Congress during the Mueller
probe. Hours later, a Justice Department official revealed prosecutors
had filed a sealed motion in court arguing the opposite, and that they
had Barr's approval to do so. Last week, Trump, in a late-night
tweet, criticized a federal prosecutor's earlier recommendation that
that Stone should be sentenced to seven to nine years in prison. Soon
afterward, DOJ leaders adjusted the sentencing recommendation downward,
saying it was clearly excessive given Stone's obstruction-related offenses. All four prosecutors on the case stepped down within hours. Barr
asserted his independence in the Justice Department's decision to
intervene. "I'm not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody...
whether it's Congress, a newspaper editorial board, or the president.” Over
the weekend, more than 2,000 former department employees signed a
public letter urging Barr to resign over his handling of the Stone case.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Senate Judiciary
Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and House Minority Leader
Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., came to Barr's defense
on Tuesday. The top Republicans insisted Barr had the "highest
character and unquestionable integrity" and Democrats' efforts to
"intimidate" him would fail spectacularly. Trump, too, assured
reporters he stood behind his attorney general, despite the criticisms.
"I have total confidence in my attorney general," Trump told reporters
earlier Tuesday. "I do make his job harder. I do agree on that. ... We
have a great attorney general and he's working very hard." Stone
has been a friend and adviser to the president for decades and was a
key figure in his 2016 campaign, working to discover damaging
information about the Clinton campaign. Stone's defense has asked for a sentence of probation, citing his age, 67, and lack of criminal history. Fox News' Mike Arroyo contributed to this report.
FILE
- In this May 4, 2018, file photo, a man walks past a branch of HSBC
bank in Hong Kong. Europe's biggest bank has reported that its net
profit fell 53% in 2019 to $6 billion. London-based HSBC, whose profit
is mainly from Asia, said it plans to revamp its U.S. and European
business and shed $100 billion in assets to improve its profitability.
(AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
HSBC
bank said Tuesday it will shed some 35,000 jobs as part of a deep
overhaul to focus on faster-growing markets in Asia and better cope with
a slew of global uncertainties.
The
interim chief executive, Noel Quinn, said the number of people employed
by the bank would fall from 235,000 to 200,000 in the next three years.
But he said that some of the reductions would come from attrition as
opposed to outright cuts.
Quinn
said his team is already carrying out his plans. The restructure
involves “consolidating” of some parts of the business and “reorganising
the global functions and head office.’’
In August, the company announced 4,700 job cuts from a workforce of 238,000 at the time.
The
bank, which is headquartered in London but makes most of its money in
Asia, reported that its net profit fell 53% in 2019 to $6 billion.
It said that it plans to revamp its U.S. and European business and shed $100 billion in assets to improve its profitability.
The
bank said the virus outbreak that began in China has caused a
“significant disruption” for its staff, suppliers and customers,
especially in the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong.
“Depending
on how the situation develops, there is the potential for any
associated economic slowdown to impact our expected credit losses in
Hong Kong and mainland China,” the bank said in a statement. “Longer
term, it is also possible that we may see revenue reductions from lower
lending and transaction volumes, and further credit losses stemming from
disruption to customer supply chains. We continue to monitor the
situation closely,” it said.
HSBC’s revenue rose 5.9% in 2019 to $55.4 billion.
The
sharp drop in 2019 profit reflected slower economic activity but also a
$7.3 billion write-down for HSBC’s Global Banking and Markets and
Commercial Banking divisions in Europe. Pretax profit fell 33%, to $13.3
billion. HSBC reported $12.6 billion in net profit in 2018.
HSBC said months’ long protests in Hong Kong also weighed on the local economy and caused disruptions to the bank’s business.
The
bank has been carrying out a corporate overhaul designed to boost
profitability by focusing on high-growth markets in Asia while shedding
businesses and workers in other countries.
“Our
immediate aims are to increase returns, create the capacity to invest
in the future, and build a platform for sustainable growth,” the bank’s
group CEO, Noel Quinn, said in the statement.
The
bank said it would shrink its sales and trading and equity research in
Europe and shift resources to Asia. In the U.S., HSBC plans to grow its
international-client corporate banking business.
The
restructuring is expected to cost $6 billion, with another $1.2 billion
for asset sales, mainly in 2020 and 2021, the bank said.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Karen Pence has no shortage of projects.
The
wife of Vice President Mike Pence promotes the healing power of art
therapy and help for military spouses. She’s into honeybees and supports
sister cities. She’s a watercolorist who designs the family’s annual
Christmas card and teaches art at a religious elementary school.
Now,
she’s beginning to campaign on her own to help win a second term for
President Donald Trump and her husband. And with first lady Melania
Trump largely avoiding the political scene, the campaign sees Mrs. Pence
as an asset in one of the areas where they most need help — with
suburban woman.
“I
just feel like I want to do my part,” Mrs. Pence told The Associated
Press in an interview shortly before she took a solo trip home to
Indianapolis to add the Trump-Pence ticket to the ballot for the state’s
Republican presidential primary in May. Mike Pence is a former Indiana
governor.
“This
is so exciting for me,” she told supporters at the Indiana Statehouse.
“Under the leadership of President Trump and Vice President Pence — I
have to put his name in there, too — we are getting things done.”
Her
pitch includes highlighting economic gains under Trump, including
historically low unemployment, along with tax cuts, the creation of
“opportunity zones” to lure investment to low-income neighborhoods
across the U.S., deregulation and trade policy.
Mrs. Pence told AP she sees her role as “telling the story. Promises made, promises kept.”
Over
the past several months, she’s told that story at a “Latinos for Trump”
event in Las Vegas and a “Women for Trump” gathering in St. Paul,
Minnesota. Trump narrowly lost Nevada and Minnesota in 2016.
The
day after the Indiana stop, she flew to New Hampshire to help rev up
Trump supporters before the president arrived a few days later for a
campaign rally on the eve of the state’s first-in-the-nation
presidential primary.
“Whatever
you’re doing, we need you to do more, and whatever you’re giving, we
need you to give more,” she told the crowd at a Nashua hotel. “We need
four more years of President Donald Trump.”
Karen
Pence is no stranger to the campaign trail. Mike Pence represented
Indiana in the U.S. House for six terms before he was elected governor
and later joined Trump’s ticket.
But
the 63-year-old mother of three did little campaigning for Trump after
he brought Mike Pence onto the ticket. An evangelical Christian, she was
said to have been turned off by Trump’s past personal behavior,
including hearing him talk on a years-old audiotape that surfaced before
the November 2016 election about grabbing women by their private parts.
Aides say Mrs. Pence supports Trump, and that claims suggesting otherwise are false.
Mike
Pence, meanwhile, is seen as harboring ambitions to succeed Trump as
the GOP presidential nominee in 2024, and having his wife, who is also
one of his closest advisers, publicly advocate for him could aid in such
efforts. It could help boost her profile, too.
“The
only time that she gets much attention nationally is in reference to
her husband and their relationship,” said Tammy Vigil, a Boston
University communications professor who studies women as political
communicators. “She could definitely improve her image by being active
and going on her own.”
Mrs.
Pence drew some criticism last year after she resumed teaching art
part-time at a Christian school that bars lesbian and gay students and
teachers. She had taught at the Northern Virginia school when Mike Pence
was a member of Congress. Her husband pushed back against the critics
by saying that “attacking Christian education” was offensive.
The Trump campaign calls Mrs. Pence a “tremendous asset.”
“She
knows how to appeal to key conservative and suburban voters, relates
closely to the Midwestern voting bloc that Republicans need to win the
race, and is eager to explain why the president and vice president
deserve reelection,” said campaign spokesman Jon Thompson.
Mrs.
Pence is also deeply involved in another campaign, one to help educate
military spouses about resources to help them cope with lengthy
deployments, frequent moves or other issues specific to their
experiences.
She
and Leah Esper, the wife of Defense Secretary Mark Esper, have begun
monthly visits to military bases to meet with spouses. Their first stop
was North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune in January.
“I
think for them to see both of us, it was really special,” Karen Pence
told AP in her second-floor office in the Eisenhower Executive Office
Building on the White House grounds.
She
has personal experience with military spouse issues. Her son, Michael,
is a Marine Corps pilot. His wife, Sarah, accompanied Mike and Karen
Pence on a recent trip to Israel and Rome.
Karen Pence is carrying out her myriad responsibilities with a slightly updated image.
Below-the-shoulder
locks have replaced the tight bob and bangs she sported at the dawn of
the administration. She’s noticeably thinner, too, with credit going to
an exercise regimen that includes using weights and pulleys, along with
apps to aid calorie counting.
She hasn’t cut anything out of her diet. “I just have cut back,” she said.
So
exactly how many pounds did Karen Pence drop from her 5-foot-2 frame?
She said only that it took her six months to a year to shed it.
“I would say that I’ve kept 10 off,” she added. “Let’s put it that way.”
___
Associated Press writer Tom Davies in Indianapolis contributed to this report.
Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz said Sunday he has proof that former President Barack Obama "personally asked" the FBI to investigate someone "on behalf of George Soros," the liberal billionaire megadonor. Dershowitz's claim came soon after Attorney General Bill Barr openly asked President Trump to stop tweeting about ongoing Justice Department matters, saying it made it "impossible"
to do his job. Barr, who also maintained that Trump never personally
intervened in a criminal matter, was hit last week by a letter from
former DOJ officials organized by a leftwing group demanding his resignation. "There
was a lot of White House control of the Justice Department during the
Kennedy administration and I don't think we saw very many liberal
professors arguing against that," Dershowitz said in an interview with
Breitbart News that aired Sunday on SiriusXM. "I have some information
as well about the Obama administration – which will be disclosed in a
lawsuit at some point, but I'm not prepared to disclose it now – about
how President Obama personally asked the FBI to investigate somebody on
behalf of George Soros, who was a close ally of his." He did not say
specifically who the target might have been. Dershowitz
added: "We've seen this kind of White House influence on the Justice
Department virtually in every Justice Department. The difference: This
president is much more overt about it, he tweets about it. President
Obama whispered to the Justice Department about it. And, I don't think
these 1,000 former Justice Department officials would pass the shoe-on-the-other-foot test. Maybe some of them would, but a good many of them wouldn't." Constitutionally,
Dershowitz said, the president "could make a decision to really control
the Justice Department" and decide specifically whom to prosecute
and not to prosecute. The former member of Trump's impeachment defense
team clarified, however, that it wouldn't be a good move. "He
shouldn't do it; it hasn't been done since Thomas Jefferson," Dershowitz
said. "Thomas Jefferson did do it. We've seen this throughout our
history." Pressed
on the claim that Obama pressed for an FBI probe, Dershowitz
responded: "That's going to come out in a lawsuit in the near future,
yeah. That is not unusual. People whisper to presidents all the time;
presidents whisper to the Justice Department all the time. It's very
common; it's wrong, whoever does it -- but it's common, and we shouldn't
think it's unique to any particular president. I have in my possession
the actual 302 [witness report] form which documents this issue and it
will at the right time come out, but I'm not free to disclose it now
because it's a case that's not yet been filed." Many Democrats, meanwhile, have floated the idea
of impeaching Barr. The Washington Post ran an op-ed slamming Barr for
acting as Trump's "wingman" -- even though former Attorney General Eric
Holder explicitly identified himself as Obama's "wingman."
Roger Stone, a longtime Republican provocateur and former
confidant of President Donald Trump, waits in line at the federal court
in Washington, Nov. 12, 2019. (Associated Press)
Paul Manafort arrives in court in New York, June 27, 2019
after a judge threw out his New York mortgage fraud case on double
jeopardy grounds. (Associated Press)
Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., arrives at the E.
Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, Feb. 20, 2013.
(Associated Press)
