Former
Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch speaks at Georgetown University
in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020. She was awarded the 2020 J.
Raymond "Jit" Trainor Award for Excellence in the Conduct of Diplomacy.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
NEW
YORK (AP) — Former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, the career
diplomat who during the impeachment hearings of President Donald Trump
offered a chilling account of alleged threats from Trump and his allies,
has a book deal.
Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt confirmed Friday to The Associated Press that it had
acquired Yovanovitch’s planned memoir, currently untitled. According to
the publisher, the book will trace her long career, from Mogadishu,
Somalia, to Kyiv and “finally back to Washington, D.C. — where, to her
dismay, she found a political system beset by many of the same
challenges she had spent her career combating overseas.”
“Yovanovitch’s
book will deliver pointed reflections on the issues confronting America
today, and thoughts on how we can shore up our democracy,” Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt said in an announcement.
Financial
terms were not disclosed, but two people familiar with the deal told
the AP that the agreement was worth seven figures, even though the book
is not expected until Spring 2021, months after this fall’s election.
They were not authorized to discuss negotiations and spoke on condition
of anonymity to discuss financial terms. Yovanovitch was represented by
the Javelin literary agency, where other clients include former FBI
Director James Comey and former national security adviser John Bolton.
“Ambassador
Yovanovitch has had a 30-year career of public service in many
locations, with many lessons to be drawn. This is about much more than
just the recent controversy,” said Houghton Mifflin Senior Vice
President and Publisher Bruce Nichols, in response to a question about
why her book wasn’t coming out this year.
Yovanovitch
told House investigators last year that Ukrainian officials had warned
her in advance that Rudy Giuliani and other Trump insiders were planning
to “do things, including to me” and were “looking to hurt” her. Pushed
out of her job earlier in 2019 on Trump’s orders, she testified that a
senior Ukrainian official told her that “I really needed to watch my
back.”
Yovanovitch
was recalled from Kyiv as Giuliani pressed Ukrainian officials to
investigate baseless corruption allegations against Democrat Joe Biden
and his son Hunter, who was involved with Burisma, a gas company there.
Biden, the former vice president, is a contender for the 2020 Democratic
presidential nomination.
According
to a rough transcript released by the White House, Trump told Ukrainian
leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy last summer that Yovanovitch “was bad news
and the people she was dealing with in the Ukraine were bad news.”
The
allegations that Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate a political
opponent led to his impeachment in December on two counts by the
Democratic-run House. Earlier this month, the Republican-run Senate
acquitted him on both counts.
Yovanovitch,
61, was appointed ambassador to Ukraine in 2016 by President Barack
Obama. She recently was given the Trainor Award, an honor for
international diplomacy presented by Georgetown University, and
currently is a non-resident fellow at Georgetown’s Institute for the
Study of Diplomacy.
Democratic
presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg
waves after speaking at a campaign event, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020, in
Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
WASHINGTON
(AP) — Mike Bloomberg said Friday he’d free three women from
confidentiality agreements that bar them from speaking publicly about
sexual harassment or discrimination suits filed against him over the
last three decades.
The
billionaire former mayor of New York also said his company, Bloomberg
LP, will no longer use such agreements “to resolve claims of sexual
harassment or misconduct going forward.”
His
remarks come after days of intense scrutiny over the treatment of women
at the company he’s led for three decades, and amid pressure from
Democratic presidential rival Elizabeth Warren to allow the women to
share their claims publicly. Warren hammered Bloomberg over the issue in
the recent debate, his first time facing his rivals. The announcement
Friday highlights his efforts to remove a vulnerability ahead of the
next debate, on Tuesday in South Carolina, and refocus his campaign
ahead of March 3, known as Super Tuesday, when he will be on the ballot
for for the first time.
Bloomberg
didn’t automatically revoke the agreements, but told the women to
contact the company if they would like to be released. The three
agreements he’s willing to open up relate specifically to comments he’s
alleged to have made. His company reportedly faced nearly 40 lawsuits
involving 65 plaintiffs between 1996 and 2016, though it’s unclear how
many relate to sexual harassment or discrimination.
Bloomberg said in a statement he’d done “a lot of reflecting on this issue over the past few days.”
“I
recognize that NDAs, particularly when they are used in the context of
sexual harassment and sexual assault, promote a culture of silence in
the workplace and contribute to a culture of women not feeling safe or
supported,” it continued.
But his move only prompted more criticism from his rivals.
“That’s
just not good enough,” Warren said while campaigning Friday in Las
Vegas, a day before the Nevada caucuses. “If there are only three, then
why didn’t he sign a blanket release?”
A
spokeswoman for former vice president Joe Biden’s campaign said
Bloomberg’s action “tells the public nothing,” by only addressing three
agreements.
“If
Mayor Bloomberg wanted to release all current and former Bloomberg LP
employees from NDAs, he surely could have done so — and he still can and
should,” Biden’s deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield, said in the
statement.Bloomberg’s Friday statements mark a stark departure from his
remarks about the agreements in this weeks debate. He called the
agreements“consensual” and said women who complained “didn’t like a joke
I told.” The remarks were viewed by some as out-of-touch with the post-#MeToo era,
which has prompted far more serious scrutiny of sexual harassment and
innuendo by men in the workplace. Bloomberg is one of the country’s
richest men, worth an estimated $60 billion.
It
was the first time Bloomberg was truly put on the spot in an otherwise
choreographed campaign, where he’s been promoting his message via
television advertising and scripted speeches rather than debates and
town halls with voters.
One
of the women covered by Bloomberg’s announcement is Sekiko Sekai
Garrison, 55, who filed a complaint against Bloomberg and his company in
1995. She did not respond to a phone message seeking comment on Friday.
Garrison’s
complaint, reviewed by the Associated Press, was filed when she was
about 30 and alleged Bloomberg told her to “kill it” when she told him
she was pregnant with her first child. The lawsuit details several other
alleged personal interactions with Bloomberg and describes a
misogynistic corporate culture where women were typically paid less than
men, subject to routine sexual harassment and demoted or fired if they
complained.
In
the alleged incident, Garrison said Bloomberg approached her near the
office coffee machines and asked about her married life. When she told
him she was pregnant with her first child, he said “kill it,” in a
serious monotone. He allegedly then repeated it and called her “number
16,” a reference to the number of pregnant women employees.
Bloomberg
has denied making the remarks. But Garrison said he left her a
voicemail apologizing and calling the remark a joke. She resigned from
the company.
Lawyer
Bonnie P. Josephs, who filed the 1995 complaint on Garrison’s behalf,
told AP on Thursday that she later handed the case off to another
attorney. Josephs said she was then told that Garrison had settled the
case against Bloomberg for a “six-figure sum” and signed a nondisclosure
agreement.
A
longtime Bloomberg aide confirmed that case was one of the three
agreements Bloomberg mentioned in his statement, in which an NDA was
signed that directly related to Bloomberg. The other two cases never
went to court and are not public.
Bloomberg
also said his company would undertake a review of its policies on equal
pay and promotion, sexual harassment and discrimination and the use of
“other legal tools” that prevent cultural change. He also pledged to
push policies if elected president that expand access to childcare and
reproductive health and guarantee 12 weeks of paid leave.
“I will be a leader whom women can trust,” he said.
__
Ronayne
reported from Sacramento. Associated Press reporters Michael Biesecker
in Washington, Michelle R. Smith in Providence, Rhode Island, and Yvonne
Gonzalez in Las Vegas contributed.
LAS
VEGAS (AP) — Just past the roulette wheel and slot machines, the smoky
bars and blinking lights, Nevada Democrats are preparing to weigh in on
their party’s presidential nomination fight.
Seven
casino-resorts on the Las Vegas Strip stand among 200 caucus locations
statewide that will host the presidential caucuses on Saturday, the
third contest in a 2020 primary season that has so far been marred by
chaos and uncertainty in overwhelmingly white, rural states. The
exercise of democracy inside urban temples of excess is just one element
that distinguishes the first presidential contest in the West, which
will, more importantly, test the candidates’ strength with black and
brown voters for the first time in 2020.
“Nevada
represents an opportunity for these candidates to demonstrate their
appeal to a larger swath of our country,” said state Attorney General
Aaron Ford, a Democrat who is not endorsing a candidate in the crowded
field.
Nevada’s
population, which aligns more with the U.S. as a whole than the opening
elections in Iowa and New Hampshire, is 29% Latino, 10% black and 9%
Asian American and Pacific Islander.
The
vote comes at a critical moment for the Democratic Party as
self-described democratic socialist Bernie Sanders emerges as the clear
front-runner and a half dozen more moderate candidates savage one
another for the chance to emerge as the preferred alternative to
Sanders. The ultimate winner will represent Democrats on the ballot
against President Donald Trump in November.
Yet
on the eve of the caucuses, questions lingered about Nevada Democrats’
ability to report election results quickly as new concerns surfaced
about foreign interference in the 2020 contest.
Campaigning
in California, Sanders confirmed reports that he had been briefed by
U.S. officials about a month ago that Russia was trying to help his
campaign as part of Moscow’s efforts to interfere in the election.
“It
was not clear what role they were going to play,” Sanders said. “We
were told that Russia, maybe other countries, are going to get involved
in this campaign.”
He added: “Here’s the message to Russia: Stay out of American elections.”
Despite
the distraction, Sanders enters Saturday increasingly confident, backed
by strong support from Latinos and rank-and-file union workers who have
warmed to his fiery calls to transform the nation’s economy and
political system to help the working class.
In
a fiery speech the night before the caucuses, Sanders lumped the
“Democratic establishment” in with the corporate and Republican
establishment, saying they can’t stop him. He said the establishment was
“getting worried” about a multiracial coalition that wants higher wages
and health care.
The outlook was dire for virtually everyone else.
Long
before voting began, there was skepticism about Pete Buttigieg’s
ability to win over a more diverse set of voters after strong finishes
in overwhelmingly white Iowa and New Hampshire. It was the opposite for
Joe Biden, who struggled in Iowa and New Hampshire but looked to
Nevada’s voters of color to prove he still has a viable path to the
nomination.
The
two women left in the race, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, were
fighting for momentum, hoping to benefit from a sudden surge of outside
money from newly created super PACs. Billionaire Tom Steyer has invested
more than $12 million of his own money on television advertising in
Nevada, according to data obtained by The Associated Press, which
details the extent to which several candidates have gone all-in ahead of
Saturday’s contest.
The
pro-Warren Persist super PAC, created in recent days, is spending more
money in Nevada this week than any other campaign or allied outside
group. Persist, which hasn’t yet disclosed any donors and cannot legally
coordinate with Warren’s campaign, has invested $902,000 this week in
Nevada television on her behalf, according to spending data obtained by
The AP. That’s more than Klobuchar’s and Biden’s campaigns have spent
over the entire year.
New
York billionaire Mike Bloomberg, who dominated the political
conversation this week after a poor debate-stage debut, won’t be on the
ballot. He’s betting everything on a series of delegate-rich states that
begin voting next month.
“I
think right now predicting who’s going to win here in Nevada would be a
wild guess,” former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in an
interview. “And if I were a gambler, which I’m not, I wouldn’t be
betting on who’s gonna win here in Nevada.”
The political world, meanwhile, hoped there would be a winner at all.
Saturday’s
caucuses are the first since technical glitches and human errors
plagued Iowa’s kickoff caucuses. Nearly three weeks later, state
Democratic officials have yet to post final results.
Nevada
Democrats have projected confidence in their process, although
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez this week refused to
commit to releasing the full results on the day of the vote. He said a
number of factors, including early voting and potentially high turnout,
could affect the tabulation and timing of results. In addition, Nevada,
like Iowa, reports three sets of data from the multistage caucus
process.
“We’re
going to do our best to release results as soon as possible, but our
North Star, again, is accuracy,” Perez told The Associated Press this
week.
One potential complication: Early voting.
The
state party has added to its responsibilities by offering early voting –
something Iowa did not attempt. Nevada voters have been eager to
partake, given the alternative is to spend significantly more time
voting at a chaotic caucus site.
The
party said nearly 75,000 Democrats cast early ballots, and a majority
were first-time caucus-goers. In 2016, a total of 84,000 Nevada voters
participated in the Democratic caucuses.
A small, but significant number of the ballots cast early were disqualified.
Of
the more than 36,000 ballots that were cast through Monday, 1,124
ballots were voided largely because voters forgot to sign them,
according to the state party, which did not release the final numbers.
Party officials said they were reaching out to these voters and
encouraging them to caucus in person on Saturday.
Campaigning in Las Vegas on the eve of the caucuses, Trump sought to raise doubts about the process.
“I
hear their computers are all messed up just like they were in Iowa.
They’re not going to be able to count their vote,” Trump charged.
“They’re going to tell you about health care. They’re going to tell you
about our military and jet fighters and the missiles and rockets, but
they can’t count votes.”
Amid such concerns, Nevada Democrats tried to stay focused on the candidates and the issues they represent.
Reid,
who at 80 years old remains one of the most powerful Democrats in the
state, predicted that Sanders’ signature health care policy, “Medicare
for All,: could not win support in Congress. Yet he said he thinks the
fiery Vermont senator could bring Democrats together.
“I have no doubt that if Bernie Sanders is the nominee, the party will unite behind him and beat Trump,” Reid said. ___
Peoples reported from Washington. AP writers Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta and Nicholas Riccardi contributed.
The legal team of Roger Stone – the former adviser to President Trump who received a 40-month prison sentence this week – filed court documents Friday to have the judge removed from his case. Stone’s
defense team argues that Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s claim during his
Thursday sentencing that the jury in the case had “served with
integrity,” should disqualify Jackson from presiding as Stone pursues
his bid to receive a new trial. WHO IS JUDGE AMY BERMAN JACKSON? They
argue that Jackson’s description of the jury as having served with
“integrity” was a display of bias on behalf of the judge in a case that
has not yet concluded, despite the sentencing, because of the bid for a
new trial. Making the case that the jury’s integrity is in
question, the defense lawyers argue that “newly discovered information”
suggests “juror misconduct” occurred during the trial, thus depriving
Stone of having his case heard before an impartial jury. The
defense lawyers claim the unnamed juror “misled the Court regarding her
ability to be unbiased and fair and the juror attempted to cover up
evidence that would directly contradict her false claims of
impartiality.” If the claims of “juror misconduct” are true, then
Jackson’s description of the jury as having integrity “indicates an
inability to reserve judgment on an issue which has yet to be heard,”
thus their call for Jackson’s recusal. Jackson’s remarks about the
jury came as Stone was being sentenced Thursday following his
conviction last year on charges of lying to investigators and
intimidating a witness in connection with the Trump-Russia probe. “Sure,
the defense is free to say: So what? Who cares?” Berman Jackson said
during the sentencing hearing. “But, I'll say this: Congress cared. The
United States Department of Justice and the United States Attorney's
Office for the District of Columbia that prosecuted the case and is
still prosecuting the case cared. The jurors who served with integrity
under difficult circumstances cared. The American people cared. And I
care.”
'Totally tainted'
Although no
juror is mentioned by name in the new Stone filing, the papers were
submitted after President Trump and others raised concerns about Tomeka
Hart, who served as jury forewoman in the Stone case. WHO IS TOMEKA HART? Trump argued Thursday that Hart should not have been allowed to serve on the Stone jury because of her past social media posts
criticizing the president and his administration. He claimed such posts
served to undermine any claim Hart made to serve as an impartial juror
in the Stone case. “It’s my strong opinion that the forewoman of
the jury, the woman who was in charge of the jury is totally tainted.
When you take a look, how can you have a person like this? She was an
anti-Trump activist. Can you imagine this?” Trump said during a speech
in Las Vegas, referring to Hart. During a Friday appearance on Fox Nation’s “Liberty File,” former Democratic Party lawyer David Schoen argued that Jackson injected personal bias into the Stone trial. "I
was shocked with some of the things she said," claimed Schoen. "She was
very angry. She's very smart and she knows how to make her record. But
she kept on making political statements while disclaiming that this case
is not at all about politics." Stone remains free pending the
outcome of the motion for a new trial, made by his defense over claims
of juror bias. The judge delayed the implementation of the sentence
until she decides whether to grant the motion.
Former FBI Director James Comey responded to a tweet by President Donald Trump on Thursday by posting a GIF of Mariah Carey with the caption, "Why are you so obsessed with me?" Comey's
tweet, likening himself to the "Songbird Supreme," came after Trump
defended his former adviser Roger Stone following Stone's sentencing to
40 months in prison earlier in the day for lying to Congress and witness
tampering. Trump claimed Comey also lied to Congress and should
have received the same treatment -- although, unlike Stone, Comey was
never convicted of a crime. The president, who fired Comey in May 2017, also accused the former FBI boss of leaking "classified information." “They
say Roger Stone lied to Congress.” @CNN OH, I see, but so did Comey
(and he also leaked classified information, for which almost everyone,
other than Crooked Hillary Clinton, goes to jail for a long time), and
so did Andy McCabe, who also lied to the FBI! FAIRNESS?," Trump tweeted
Thursday morning. The president left open the possibility of
pardoning Stone at some point but suggested he would wait until all of
Stone's legal options are exhausted. Trump added that Stone has a "very
good chance of exoneration." “I want the process to play out. I
think that’s the best thing to do because I would love to see Roger
exonerated," he said. “I'm going to watch the process. I'm going to
watch very closely. … At some point I'll make a determination." Earlier
in the week Trump issued pardons or sentence commutations to a number
of figures, including former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, former Wall
Street executive Michael Milken and former San Francisco 49ers owner
Edward DeBartolo Jr. The Stone case had worried some about possible presidential interference in the justice system.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson took a
firm stance against Stone during the sentencing, although she didn't
give him the nine years originally sought by federal processors, saying
it was excessive. Stone was also given two years' probation and a $20,000 fine. “This
is NOT campaign hijinks. This was not Roger being Roger. You lied to
Congress,” Jackson told Stone. “The dismay and disgust … at the
defendant’s actions in our polarized climate should transcend
[political] parties.” Stone's
conviction was related to former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's
investigation into possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia
during the 2016 presidential election, a probe that Comey originally
led. Trump's firing of Comey sparked their public feud. Fox News' Brooke Singman, Bill Mears and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Trump blasted Roger Stone's treatment by the criminal justice system, the Justice Department
and the jury forewoman in the GOP operative's trial Thursday in a
blistering address in front of an audience in Las Vegas, saying Stone
has a “very good chance of exoneration.” His remarks, part of a
speech to the organization Hope for Prisoners, came hours after a
federal judge sentenced Stone to over three years in prison. “Roger
Stone has a very good chance of exoneration in my opinion,” Trump told
the crowd of ex-convicts who recently had completed a career training
program and would soon reintegrate into society. Trump also
claimed Stone was “never” involved in his 2016 campaign for the
presidency. “I think long before I announced, he did a little consulting
work or something,” the president said. Trump said that Stone,
though “definitely a character,” was a “very good person,” and that the
jury in his sentencing had been tainted by an anti-Trump activist.
“These people know more about bad juries than anyone else, the sheriff,
the mayor. You're my experts, OK?” he told the room of previously
incarcerated people. He said the jury forewoman “started going a little
wild, was very happy,” when Roger Stone was determined to be guilty of
obstruction last year, and it was later revealed she had a social media account full of anti-Trump posts which she did not disclose to the courts. The jury forewoman, Tomeka Hart, even posted specifically about the Stone case before she was selected to sit on the jury, as she retweeted an argument mocking those who considered Stone's dramatic arrest in a predawn raid by
a federal tactical team to be excessive force. She also suggested Trump
and his supporters were racist and praised the investigation
conducted by former Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which ultimately led
to Stone's prosecution. ROGER STONE SENTENCED TO 3 YEARS FOR LYING, WITNESS TAMPERING AS CASE ROILS DOJ Justice
Department prosecutors initially had sought a sentence of up to nine
years for Stone, but senior officials at the department later called for
a lesser sentence. Attorney General William Barr’s move to intervene in
Stone’s sentencing led to all four members of the prosecution team
quitting the case. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Thursday also said the initial recommendation was excessive. Her sentence of 40 months in prison was considerably less than that -- yet far more than the probation sought by his defense. Trump
announced to the crowd that he would be considering the program’s
founder, John Ponder, for a full pardon. Ponder, an ex-convict himself,
started the program 11 years ago and Trump said he had a “feeling”
Ponder would get the full pardon. TRUMP COMMUTES SENTENCE OF EX-GOV BLAGOVICH, PARDONS KERIK Trump
talked about previous pardons he had issued, adding that he “loves”
finding those treated unfairly by the criminal justice system and
offering them pardons. “When I learned about the case of Alice Johnson,
it was clear to me that there were injustices in our sentencing laws
that caused people who made small mistakes to pay a huge price,” Trump
said. Alice Johnson was a great-grandmother who had been in jail for
more than 20 years, serving a life sentence for non-violent drug
charges. Johnson walked free in June after Trump commuted her sentence. Earlier
this week, Trump granted clemency not only to political figures like
ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and ex-NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik,
but also incarcerated people such as the three recommended by Johnson
who walked free Tuesday. “We have thousands of people in prison
like Alice Johnson,” Trump said. “I love finding those people, the
thousands of people in prison who shouldn't be there.” Trump boasted of his criminal justice reform package signed in December 2018. Trump said that “people on all sides” were starting to “love” criminal justice reform. “In
order to redress the unfairness of the justice system, one year ago I
passed criminal justice reform. Others tried and failed. They didn't try
too hard because they knew it couldn't be done, I got it done.” Trump told the crowd of 29 graduates, “the best part of your life is just beginning.” “You’re
going to be so successful you’re going to say, ‘I’m going to be more
successful than Trump,’ and I’m going to be happy about it,” Trump told
the room of former convicts. “Today
we declare that you are made by God for a great and noble purpose. You
are valued members of our American family and we are determined to help
you succeed,” the president said. Fox News' Brooke Singman, Bill Mears and Gregg Re contributed to this report.
Tomeka Hart served as the foreperson on the jury that convicted former Trump associate Roger Stone in his trial for lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering related to the 2016 presidential campaign. The
former Memphis City Schools board president and ex-president and CEO of
the Memphis Urban League, garnered national attention in February when
President Trump tweeted that she showed “significant bias” after she
defended four Justice Department prosecutors who abruptly stepped down
when senior Justice Department officials intervened and lowered their
sentencing recommendation for Stone. “Now it looks like the fore
person in the jury, in the Roger Stone case, had significant bias,”
Trump tweeted Feb. 13. “Add that to everything else, and this is not
looking good for the “Justice” Department.” After Stone was
sentenced to 40 months on Feb. 20, President Trump told an audience in
Las Vegas that Stone had a good chance of being exonerated -- and again
criticized Hart. “It’s my strong opinion that the forewoman of the
jury, the woman who was in charge of the jury, is totally tainted,"
Trump said. "When you take a look, how can you have a person like this?
She was an anti-Trump activist. Can you imagine this?”
"It’s my strong opinion that the forewoman of the jury, the woman who was in charge of the jury, is totally tainted." — President Trump
"This
is a woman who was an anti-Trump person, totally," the president said
later. " .. She had a horrible social media account. The things she said
on the account were unbelievable. She didn't reveal that when she was
chosen." TRUMP SAYS ROGER STONE HAS 'VERY GOOD CHANCE OF EXONERATION' IN LAS VEGAS "I
assume they asked her a question, 'Do you have any bias?' She didn't
say that, so is that an undermining of the court? You tell me." Previously,
after the prosecutors in the Stone case stepped down, Hart posted
on Facebook that she couldn’t “keep quiet any longer." "I want to
stand up for Aaron Zelinsky, Adam Jed, Michael Marando, and Jonathan
Kravis -- the prosecutors on the Roger Stone trial," Hart wrote in the
post. "It pains me to see the DOJ now interfere with the hard work of
the prosecutors. They acted with the utmost intelligence, integrity, and
respect for our system of justice." ROGER STONE JURY FOREPERSON'S ANTI-TRUMP SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS SURFACE AFTER SHE DEFENDS DOJ PROSECUTORS
Tomeka Hart, forewoman in the Roger Stone trial, has been a vocal critic of President Trump. (Facebook)
"As foreperson, I made sure we went through every
element, of every charge, matching the evidence presented in the case
that led us to return a conviction of guilty on all 7 counts." Hart's history of anti-Trump social media posts has included calling Trump supporters "racist" and quoting someone who referred to Trump as the “#KlanPresident." Fellow
juror Seth Cousins defended their guilty verdict against Stone and said
Hart was “perhaps the strongest advocate in the room for a rigorous
process for the rights of the defendant and for making sure that we took
it seriously and looked at each charge," according to USA Today. Hart,
now based in Washington, D.C., is a senior program officer for the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation and has donated to Democrats, including
Sen. Kamala Harris and former Obama Cabinet member Julian Castro,
according to Heavy. In 2012, she unsuccessfully ran for Congress in Tennessee as a Democrat. She
is also a former VP of strategic partnerships at the Southern Education
Foundation, VP of African American community partnerships for Teach For
America, and the president/CEO of the Memphis Urban League, according
to her biography. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP She previously worked as a middle and high school teacher and was a former labor lawyer.
President Trump continued
his four-state trip out west Thursday evening with a wild rally in
Colorado Springs, Colo., as he openly celebrated Democrats' intra-party squabbling
at the Las Vegas presidential primary debate -- and took an unexpected
shot at the movie "Parasite," prompting a scathing response from its
U.S.-based distributor. In the wide-ranging event that resembled a casual conversation at points, Trump also assessed that "Mini Mike" Bloomberg "didn't do well last night" and declared Amy Klobuchar's presidential campaign dead because she dejectedly asked Pete Buttigieg at the debate if he was calling her "dumb." Trump
again called Buttigieg "Alfred E. Neuman," after the scrawny fictional
character, and advised Klobuchar, "You don’t say that even if it's
true!" Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White took the stage briefly at
the outset of the rally, saying he wasn't a "very political person"
before adding that he's known Trump for more than 20 years -- and that
Trump has remained a "loyal" and "good friend" even after becoming
president. Trump then mocked the Oscars at length, saying he couldn't believe a foreign film like "Parasite" won Best Picture. "By
the way, how bad were the Academy Awards this year? 'And the winner is a
movie from South Korea,'" Trump said. "What the hell was that all
about? We've got enough problems with South Korea with trade. On top of
that, they give them the best movie of the year? Was it good? I don't
know. I'm looking for like, let's get 'Gone with the Wind.' Can we get
'Gone with the Wind' back, please? 'Sunset Boulevard'? So many good
movies." (Trump has reportedly previously expressed affinity for Jean-Claude Van Damme action films.) He
continued: "'The winner is from South Korea.' I thought it was best
foreign film. Best foreign movie. No -- did this ever happen before? And
then you have Brad Pitt. I was never a big fan of his. He got up and gave a little wise guy statement." The Democratic National Commitee quickly tweeted as
Trump spoke: "Parasite is a foreign movie about how oblivious the
ultra-rich are about the struggles of the working class, and it requires
two hours of reading subtitles. Of course Trump hates it." The U.S. distribution company for "Parasite," NEON, retorted with its own nod to the film's subtitles: "Understandable, he can't read."
"Understandable, he can't read." — U.S. distributor for "Parasite," responding to Trump
Earlier,
Trump honored three veterans of the battle of Iwo Jima. He
further emphasized his administration's economic successes, including
record-low unemployment and rising wages across the board. "We've
been killing terrorists, creating jobs, raising wages, enacting fair
trade deals, securing our border, and lifting up citizens of every race,
color, religion, and creed!" Trump said, while Democrats pursue failed
"witch hunts."
UFC president Dana White took the mic at President Trump's rally in Colorado Springs. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
"We are in the midst of the great American comeback,"
he said. "That's what we're doing. Our country is stronger today than
ever before! .. We will land the first woman on the Moon and become the
first nation in the world to plant our flag on Mars!" HUNDREDS CAMP OUT OVERNIGHT AHEAD OF COLORADO TRUMP RALLY "Crazy
Bernie" Sanders and Democrats, Trump said, would "demolish" the economy
of Colorado and other key states with their environmentalist policies
that would undermine America's energy independence. Trump joked that, by Democrats' standards, President Obama should have been impeached for falsely and repeatedly claiming that his health care plan would ensure that people could keep their private doctors in all cases. "We've
deported record numbers of gang members ... and we've done more to
secure the border than any other administration in the history of our
country," Trump said.
Supporters of President Trump cheering as he arrived to speak at the rally. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The line to enter the Broadmoor World Arena started
forming Wednesday morning, with people bringing along tents, space
heaters and sleeping bags, Fox 21 reported. Overnight and early morning temperatures were in the teens -- but Trump supporters, as they did in New Hampshire earlier this month, braved the cold regardless. Ahead
of his second of three rallies in three days, Trump was exuding
reelection confidence Thursday following the Democrats' Vegas prizefight
-- and, especially, the perceived weak debut debate performance from Bloomberg, aides and allies said. At
a rope line at the airport after deplaning Air Force One in Colorado,
Trump asked supporters how they felt Bloomberg did. As the crowd
laughed, Trump remarked, "That wasn't pretty, right?"
President Trump taking the stage in Colorado Springs, Colo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
When Trump woke up Thursday morning in his gilded Las
Vegas hotel, he tuned in to the post-debate coverage and displayed a
similar glee, as The Associated Press put it. Repurposing one of
Bloomberg's own quotes about the Democrats infighting, Trump tweeted:
"The real winner last night was Donald Trump." He tacked on his own
coda: "I agree!" Speaking in Las Vegas later Thursday, Trump confidently said Stone has a "very good chance of exoneration,"
even though a judge had just sentenced him to over three years in jail
for lying to Congress. Stone was not charged with any criminal
conspiracy with Russia or WikiLeaks, however, and his defense team has
sought a new trial after the jury foreperson was revealed to be a fierce anti-Trump critic.
President Trump arriving to speak at his rally in Colorado Springs, Colo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The jury forewoman, Tomeka Hart, even posted specifically about the Stone case before she was selected to sit on the jury, as she retweeted an argument mocking people who considered Stone's dramatic arrest in a predawn raid by a federal tactical team to be excessive force. She
also praised the investigation conducted by former Special Counsel
Robert Mueller, which ultimately led to Stone's prosecution.
Trump supporters camping out in advance of the rally in Colorado Springs.
(Fox 21 KXRM)
On Wednesday night, after
an earlier campaign rally in Phoenix, Trump summoned reporters to his
office aboard Air Force One to join him in watching a replay of the
debate on the return flight to Las Vegas. His motorcade jammed up
traffic for over half an hour as it passed the casino that had hosted
the Democrats' debate in the lead-up to the party caucuses in Nevada on
Saturday. WATCH: BLOOMBERG UNDER SIEGE AT DEM DEBATE Even as he campaigned, Trump's preoccupation with the Democrats' scrambled nomination race has been clear throughout the trip. TRUMP SAYS ROGER STONE HAS 'VERY GOOD CHANCE OF EXONERATION' -- IS PARDON COMING? Bloomberg
has been the most disconcerting force in the 2020 race for Trump since
the ultra-billionaire entered the fray in November and spent over $400
million, which rocketed him in the polls in just three months. Trump's
campaign poll numbers have improved since his impeachment trial wrapped
up in January and his campaign has broken fundraising records, raising
$60 million in January and $14 million this week in California alone.
But, Bloomberg's willingness to spend near-unlimited sums to defeat
Trump this fall, and the mocking tone of many of his ads, are said to
have rankled the president deeply.
President Trump at the podium for his Thursday night rally. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Trump's campaign had organized itself around the
strategy that it would be able to paint any rival as an extreme liberal,
a "socialist" or worse, and concerns mounted that strategists would
have to come up with a different plan should Bloomberg win the
nomination. DIRTY JURY POOL? WHY WAS HEAD ROGER STONE JUROR REALLY LAYING INTO TRUMP, PRAISING ROBERT MUELLER? Trump's
team saw the debate as validating his reelection strategy and providing
a fresh opening for Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist, to
gain a significant delegate lead on Super Tuesday. The president was
hopeful that panic from more moderate Democrats at Sanders' rise would
fracture their party only further. "We don't care who the hell it is," Trump boasted Wednesday. "We're going to win." Trump
on Thursday placed a round of calls to confidants, echoing the thoughts
he had posted on Twitter — at times with more colorful language — and
opining that Bloomberg did not appear ready for the moment, two
Republicans close to the White House told the AP. Trump told confidants that the debate proved money alone did not lead to his own electoral success. His eldest son echoed the thought as he tweeted during the debate. "Like
a deer in the headlights! Like I said last week Mini, you can’t buy
personality or wit and the whole world just saw it," Donald Trump Jr.
wrote.
Jody Miller of Scottsdale, Ariz., waiting for an appearance by
President Trump at the rally Thursday in Colorado Springs. (AP
Photo/David Zalubowski)
Between three rallies and a pair of high-dollar
fundraisers, Trump sought to use his western swing to highlight
administration policies that delivered on campaign promises and appealed
to key demographics. On Wednesday, he ceremoniously signed new
environmental regulations that eased water restrictions on farmers in
the heavily Republican California Central Valley. On Thursday, Trump
spoke to a graduating class of ex-prisoners in a renewed appeal to
communities of color, as he championed his administration’s work on
criminal justice reform. "Your future does not have to be defined
by the mistakes of your past," Trump told the graduates, before turning
to political topics. Trump
received updates on the debate's opening minutes Wednesday evening
moments before he took the stage at a rally in a packed Phoenix arena
and promptly delivered his first review. "I hear he's getting
pounded tonight — you know he's in a debate," Trump said about the man
he has dubbed "Mini Mike" because of his short stature. "I hear that
pounding. He spent $500 million so far and I think he has 15 points.
Crazy Bernie was at 30." Fox News' Ronn Blitzer, Kelly Chernenkoff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tomeka Hart, forewoman in the Roger Stone trial, has been a vocal critic of President Trump. (Facebook)
UFC president Dana White took the mic at President Trump's rally in Colorado Springs. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Supporters of President Trump cheering as he arrived to speak at the rally. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Trump taking the stage in Colorado Springs, Colo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Trump arriving to speak at his rally in Colorado Springs, Colo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Trump supporters camping out in advance of the rally in Colorado Springs.
(Fox 21 KXRM)
President Trump at the podium for his Thursday night rally. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Jody Miller of Scottsdale, Ariz., waiting for an appearance by
President Trump at the rally Thursday in Colorado Springs. (AP
Photo/David Zalubowski)
