State's Attorney Kim Foxx calls Jussie Smollett ‘washed up celeb who lied to cops’ in text message: report

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx speaks at a news conference, in Chicago. Foxx has asked the county's inspector general to review how her office handled "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett's criminal case. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx described “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett as a “washed up celeb who lied to cops” in texts messages released Tuesday by her office in response to a public-records request by the Chicago Tribune.
Foxx compared Smollett’s case to her office’s pending indictments against R&B singer R. Kelly in text messages to Joseph Magats, her top assistant, on March 8, the paper reported
“Pedophile with 4 victims 10 counts. Washed up celeb who lied to cops, 16 (counts),” she wrote. “… Just because we can charge something doesn’t mean we should.”
"On a case eligible for deferred prosecution I think it’s indicative of something we should be looking at generally,” Foxx continued.
Smollett, who is openly gay, was indicted on 16 counts of disorderly conduct on suspicion of staging a Jan. 29 hate crime attack on himself. He claimed two men beat and shouted slurs at him and wrapped a noose around his neck.
Foxx and Magats continued to communicate via text message about aspects of the investigation. On March 3, Magats reported that he gave Foxx’s phone number to Michael Avenatti, who had joined the case, according to text messages.
“…….. so Michael Avenatti reached out. Apparently he’s coming in to represent the Nigerian brothers in Smollet. I gave him your office number,” Magats wrote.
Foxx issued a statement on Feb. 19 recusing herself from high-profile case. Prosecutors, last month, argued that Foxx never formally recused herself amid questions over her office’s decision to drop the charges against Smollett.
That decision created a firestorm of protest from local officials.
The communication between Foxx and Magats raised questions of whether she continued to take a role in the case after stepping away. In a statement Tuesday night, Foxx defended her messages to Magats.
“After the indictment became public, I reached out to Joe to discuss reviewing office policies to assure consistencies in our charging and our use of appropriate charging authority,” Foxx said in a statement obtained by USA Today. “I was elected to bring criminal justice reform and that includes intentionality, consistency, and discretion. I will continue to uphold these guiding principles.”
A representative for Smollett did not immediately return a Fox News request for comment Tuesday night.
The text messages also appeared to show that prosecutors notified Chicago police moments before the charges were dropped against Smollett, the Tribune reported.
“Eddie just called. (He) needed to know how to answer questions from press,” Foxx texted Magats, referring to Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson. She said Johnson seemed “satisfied” with her explanation that Smollett had completed community service and turned over his $10,000 bond money to the city.
John and Mayor Rahm Emanuel held a news conference that morning blasting the prosecutor’s decision, calling it a “whitewash of justice.”
The city has sued Smollett for the $130,000 in police overtime spent investigating the alleged hoax.

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Ocasio-Cortez says cutting military aid to Israel is ‘on the table,’ slams Netanyahu as a ‘Trump-like figure’

Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez raised eyebrows during an interview Sunday when she said the possibility of cutting military or economic aid to Israel is "on the table" after the election of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ocasio-Cortez was on Yahoo News’ “Skullduggery” podcast when she said Netanyahu's election comes during a disturbing trend of "authoritarianism across the world" and called the leader a "Trump-like figure."
Netanyahu has pledged to “apply sovereignty” to Jewish settlements in the West Bank. He told Israeli Channel 12 TV that, “we will go to the next phase to extend Israeli sovereignty."
"I will impose sovereignty, but I will not distinguish between settlement blocs and isolated settlements," he continued, The Associated Press reported. "From my perspective, any point of settlement is Israeli, and we have responsibility, as the Israeli government. I will not uproot anyone, and I will not transfer sovereignty to the Palestinians."
The annexation of large parts of the West Bank could damage hope for an Israeli-Palestinian deal on the terms of a Palestinian state on lands Israel captured in 1967. The New York Times reported that American officials have discouraged any Israeli attempt to extend sovereignty in the disputed territory.
Trump has recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital early in his term. The Palestinians, who seek Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital, suspended contact with the U.S.  Trump has also recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a plateau Israel captured from Syria in 1967. The move was viewed in Israel as a political gift from Trump to Netanyahu.
This is not the first time that the freshman representative talked about the tension in the region.
Ocasio-Cortez in July was forced to explain her comment on PBS’ “Firing Line” when she referred to the “occupation of Palestine.” Republicans took the comment to criticize her knowledge on the region. The host of the show, Margaret Hoover, asked a follow-up question and Ocasio-Cortez admitted, “I am not the expert on geopolitics on this issue,” but said she believed in a two-state solution.

Scaramucci: Ocasio-Cortez's star fading in New York after Amazon miss

Former White House Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci says Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is losing steam in New York while appearing on “Hannity” Monday.
Scaramucci said New Yorkers are getting tiring of Ocasio-Cortez following her role in Amazon pulling their headquarters from Queens, and that she will be challenged during the next election.
“They'll find somebody to challenge her in that district… somebody more moderate I think will take her lights out. I don't know, she destroyed herself with this whole Amazon thing,” Scaramucci said.
Speaking with CBS News' Lesley Stahl on "60 Minutes" Sunday, Pelosi  downplayed Ocasio-Cortez’s role in the Democratic Party.
"You have these wings, AOC and her group on one side," Stahl told Pelosi.
"That's like five people," the speaker responded.
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Scaramucci said New Yorkers are “tired” of the congresswoman.
“So, she's colorful she's got some interesting ways to attract attention to herself but I think I think New York's getting tired of it,” Scaramucci told host Sean Hannity.
Fox News's Nicole Darrah contributed to this report.

Bill Weld officially launches long-shot GOP primary bid against Trump

Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld on Monday formally declared his candidacy for White House, setting him off on an extreme uphill climb to defeat incumbent President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
“It is time for patriotic men and women across our great nation to stand and plant a flag. It is time to return to the principles of Lincoln – equality, dignity, and opportunity for all. There is no greater cause on earth than to preserve what truly makes America great. I am ready to lead that fight," said Weld in a statement as he launched his bid to try and topple Trump, who remains very popular with Republicans.
Weld, a very vocal Trump critic, also released a three-minute-long video highlighting his achievements during his two terms as governor of Massachusetts in the 1990s.
The video also showcased clips of some of Trump’s most controversial moments, from the infamous “Access Hollywood” video of Trump using lewd language to boast of his sexual groping and kissing of women without their consent, to the president’s comments in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville, Va., where he said “there were very fine people on both sides” of the clashes between supporters and protesters of the city’s Confederate monuments.
Weld, who recently returned to the Republican Party after serving as the 2016 Libertarian Party nominee, launched a presidential exploratory committee in February.
At that announcement, as he headlined the “Politics and Eggs” speaking series in New Hampshire, he called Trump “compulsive” and “irrational” and argued that “we have a president whose priorities are skewed toward promoting of himself rather than toward the good of the country.”
He also lamented the state of the GOP, arguing “the president has captured the Republican Party in Washington. Sad. But even sadder is that many Republicans exhibit all the symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome, identifying with their captor.”
After his announcement, Weld visited the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state numerous times. He's set to return Tuesday for a two-day swing in through New Hampshire.
Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, another vocal Trump critic, has been mulling a GOP primary challenge against Trump. So has Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who heads to New Hampshire next week to headline “Politics and Eggs,” which is a must-stop for White House hopefuls.
The president's re-election campaign adviser and daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, said the president’s 2020 team hasn’t been worried at all about a Republican primary challenge.
“I don’t know why someone would be dumb enough to challenge Donald Trump,” she told Fox News recently when asked about Weld.
“I don’t know why anybody would waste their time and money on the Republican end trying to challenge the president. We’re not worried about that at all,” added Trump, who was interviewed before headlining the New Hampshire GOP’s annual fundraising gala.

Bernie Sanders, at combative Fox News town hall, makes no apologies for making millions

Bernie Sanders took the stage at a fiery Fox News town hall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on Monday, and sparks flew almost immediately, as Sanders defiantly refused to explain why he would not voluntarily pay the massive new 52-percent "wealth tax" that he advocated imposing on the nation's richest individuals.
"We'll get through this together," Sanders said at one point, as tensions flared.
Sanders later admitted outright that "you're going to pay more in taxes" if he became president. Just minutes before the town hall began, Sanders released ten years of his tax returns, which he acknowledged showed that he had been "fortunate" even as he pushed for a more progressive tax system.
According to the returns, Sanders and his wife paid a 26 percent effective tax rate on $561,293 in income, and made more than $1 million in both 2016 and 2017. Sanders donated only $10,600 to charity in 2016 and $36,300 in 2017, the records showed, followed by nearly $19,000 in 2018.
But pressed by anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum as to why he was holding onto his wealth rather than refusing deductions or writing a check to the Treasury Department, Sanders began laughing dismissively and, in an apparent non sequitur, asked why MacCallum didn't donate her salary. (“I didn’t suggest a wealth tax," MacCallum responded.)
"Pfft, come on. I paid the taxes that I owe," Sanders shot back. "And by the way, why don't you get Donald Trump up here and ask him how much he pays in taxes? President Trump watches your network a little bit, right? Hey President Trump, my wife and I just released 10 years. Please do the same."
Asked whether Sanders' success -- and subsequent decision to hold onto his cash -- wasn't an implicit endorsement of the capitalist system he has repeatedly called dysfunctonal, Sanders rejected the notion out of hand.
"When you wrote the book and made the money, isn’t that the definition of capitalism and the American dream?” Baier asked, referring to Sanders' bestselling 2016 memoir "Our Revolution."
"No," Sanders replied flatly, after a pregnant pause. "What we want is a country in which everyone has an opportunity. ... A lot of people don't have a college degree. A lot of people are not United States senators."
Sanders doubled down on his previous defenses of his wealth, which even some progressives have called hypocritical.
"This year, we had $560,000 in income," Sanders said. "In my and my wife's case, I wrote a pretty good book. It was a bestseller, sold all over the world, and we made money. If anyone thinks I should apologize for writing a bestselling book, I'm sorry, I'm not gonna do it."

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders addressing a rally in North Charleston, S.C., in March. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard, File)

On whether he supported abortions that occur up to the moment of birth, Sanders retorted, "I think that happens very, very rarely, and I think this is being made into a political issue. At the end of the day, I think the decision over abortion belongs to a woman and her physcian, and not the government."
Sanders also said felons, including rapists and murderers, should be able to vote from prison. But he insisted he was not simply courting more potential Democrat voters.
The Tax Day town hall took place as Sanders emerged as the fundraising front-runner among Democrats, and sought to further distinguish himself from a crowded field of liberal candidates who have largely embraced his progressive proposals, from a sweeping 'Medicare for All' overhaul to a higher minimum wage and free public college education.
"I think Trump is a dangerous president, but if all we do is focus on him, we lose," Sanders said at the town hall.
Separately, Sanders acknowledged that his proposed Medicare for All health care overhaul -- which has also been embraced by other 2020 Democrat hopefuls, including Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren -- would mean that many Americans would "pay more in taxes."
Some estimates put the total costs for the plan over 10 years at more than $32 trillion, and say it would necessitate historic tax hikes.
Sanders began by deflecting when asked by Baier whether he was concerned about the rising national debt, saying it was "ironic" that Republicans weren't instead attacking the president.
"You're talking to the wrong guy," Sanders said. "We pay for what we're proposing, unlike the President of the United States."
Sanders more substantively discussed a plan to impose a "speculaton tax" on Wall Street.
"I am concerned about the debt. That's a legitimate concern," Sanders said. "But we pay for what we are proposing. In terms of Medicare for All, we are paying for that by eliminating as I said before, deductibles and premiums. We are going to save the average American family money."
When Baier polled the audience at the town hall -- which was clearly supportive of Sanders throughout -- most indicated they would support Sanders' health care plan, despite currently having private insurance they would lose.
Sanders also warned that climate change poses an existential threat, citing a recent United Nations report claiming that only 12 years remain to make significant changes in global carbon emissions to avert a climate catastrophe. The United Nations made the same prediction in 1989, falsely warning that the world then faced a 10-year deadline that has come and gone.
On immigration, Sanders said we "don't need to demonize immigrants" and proposed "building proper facilities right on the border" and enacting "comprehensive immigration reform." But he said it was "not a real question" when MacCallum asked about the merits of Trump's proposal to send illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities.
The 77-year-old self-proclaimed 'democratic socialist' — the longest-serving Independent member of Congress in history — has also faced criticisms that he mght be too old to serve as president.
At the town hall, Sanders acknowledged it was a "fair question," but said to applause there is "too much focus on individuals and not enough focus on the American people and what their needs are."
Over the weekend, Sanders sparred with progressive activist groups that pointed out that he has since largely dropped his criticisms of "millionaires and billionaires," opting instead to single out "billionaires" only.
Earlier Monday afternoon, Sanders previewed some of his messaging by asserting that President Trump's "tax policies" will "raise taxes on millions of people."
In an article entitled "Face it: You (Probably) Got a Tax Cut," the New York Times credited liberal messaging with confusing large swaths of the electorate into thinking that their taxes went up, when in fact most saw significant tax savings under Trump's 2017 tax law.

DNC Chair Tom Perez in April 2017. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images, File)

The town hall marked the Vermont senator's first appearance on Fox News Channel since he agreed to be a guest on Baier's show in December 2018. He also participated in a Fox News Channel town hall back in 2016 alongside his then-competitor Hillary Clinton.
Sanders ended the town hall by thanking Fox News for providing him the opportunity.
"Not everybody thought I should come on this show," Sanders said at one point. "Your network does not have a great deal of respect in my world, but I thought it was important to be here.
Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Tom Perez has excluded Fox News from hosting a Democrat primary debate. Some congressional Democrats have called that decision inappropriate and unhelpful, and DNC leadership later said it had no objection to Sanders appearing at a Fox News town hall.
Asked whether he felt that the DNC would seek to tip the scales against Sanders -- as leaked emails showed it did in 2016 -- Sanders was optimistic.
"I think we have come a long way since then. We speak to the DNC every week," Sanders told Baier and MacCallum. "And I think the process will be fair."
Since announcing his presidential bid in February, Sanders has hauled in a whopping $18.2 million in the first 41 days of his campaign. But, although Sanders had a fundraising edge over his rivals, Democrats generally haven't raised as much cash as they'd hoped by this point. Many donors have been sitting on the sidelines to see how the contest unfolds, signaling a drawn-out primary battle ahead.
The campaign among Democrats has come into greater focus as declared White House hopefuls reported their first-quarter fundraising totals. Early glimpses provided by nine of the declared candidates showed that Democrats were raising less money than they had in previous cycles and were coming up short against the campaign bank account Trump has been building.
Democrats collectively raised about $68 million since January, according to the candidates who have already released their fundraising totals. That's less than the $81 million Democrats raised during the same period in 2007, the last time the party had an open primary, according to data from the Federal Election Commission. And, it paled in comparison with the $30 million Trump raised during the first quarter.
"There is no question that the numbers are not at the level that they were with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2008 by a long shot," said Tom Nides, a Clinton adviser and longtime fundraiser. "Am I worried? No, I'm not worried. But I'm a little bit concerned."
Fox News' Paulina Dedaj and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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What to know about Bernie Sanders' Fox News town hall

Idiot

Bernie Sanders is getting ready to make his pitch for president in front of a large audience at Fox News' town hall on Monday.
Fox News' Bret Baier, of "Special Report," and Martha MacCallum, of "The Story," will co-anchor the hour-long event. It will be the Vermont senator's first appearance on Fox News Channel since he agreed to be a guest on Baier's show in December 2018. He also participated in Fox News Channel's Democratic town hall back in 2016 alongside his then-competitor Hillary Clinton.
Sanders, who raised $18 million in the first six weeks of his campaign, is considered a front-runner among a crowded field of 2020 presidential hopefuls. Before the self-proclaimed Democratic socialist takes the stage, here's a look at everything you need to know.

When and where is the Fox News town hall?

The Sanders town hall will take place on Monday, April 15 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

How can I watch it?

You can watch the town hall on the Fox New Channel. The event will also be available via live stream — just log into your TV provider to watch the event in real-time on foxnews.com or the Fox News app.
"The Story with Martha MacCallum" will air on Fox News immediately following the event at 7:30 p.m. ET.

What will Sanders focus on during the town hall?

The 77-year-old — the longest-serving Independent member of Congress ever — is expected to focus on the economy and his plans for U.S. job growth.
"It’s time for an economy that works for all of us, not just the rich," Sanders has repeatedly said in the past.
HOW DID BERNIE SANDERS MAKE HIS MONEY? A LOOK AT HIS WEALTH AND ASSETS
In December 2018, Sanders outlined four ways to "revitalize" the U.S. economy: increasing the minimum wage to $15 by 2024, universal health care, tuition-free colleges and the creation of "millions of jobs" in sustainable energy.(No More Farting Cows)
"Our campaign is about creating a government and economy that work for the many, not just the few," tweeted Sanders in February. "We should not have grotesque levels of wealth inequality in which three billionaires own more wealth than the bottom half of the country."