Bernie Sanders' wife's land deal still under FBI probe; witness recently questioned

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and wife Jane Sanders walk in Philadelphia during the final day of the Democratic National Convention, July 28, 2016. Sanders remains under federal investigation for a land deal she made as president of Burlington College in Vermont in 2010.  (Associated Press)

A federal investigation launched in 2016 into possible bank fraud by Jane Sanders, wife of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, is still underway -- with “a potential” grand jury review possible.

The probe could thwart Sanders’ 2020 presidential ambitions -- as well as the Vermont political plans of Jane Sanders' daughter, Carina Driscoll.

Individuals questioned by the FBI confirmed to Fox News that the investigation was still open, with FBI agents interviewing at least one witness within the last six weeks.
Jane Sanders is under investigation following a land deal she clinched when she was president of Burlington College in Vermont in 2010.
In order to expand the college, Sanders sought to obtain a tract of land from a Roman Catholic parish. She secured a $6.7 million loan from a bank and a $3.6 million loan from the parish from which she planned to purchase the property.
But she resigned in 2011 amid allegations that she purposely inflated and made up the amount of money donors have pledged to the school and provided incorrect information to a bank to get the loan. Multiple individuals, who were listed as college donors, have since come forward denying the commitments.
Questioned recently
Former Burlington College Board Chairman Yves Bradley told Fox News that the investigation was still underway. He said he was visited by FBI agents in the last six weeks and was questioned about Sanders’ involvement in the alleged bank fraud.
Attorney Rich Cassidy, representing both Bernie and Jane Sanders, approached Bradley regarding the investigation, but by the advice of his counsel decided not to engage. Cassidy did not respond to Fox News’ multiple requests for an interview.
Previous reports stated that the investigation accelerated this past summer when multiple people were questioned and investigators seized records from Burlington College.
The recent questioning of Bradley signals the investigation is far from over.
The probe is being handled by the U.S. Justice Department and will proceed at the discretion of Christina E. Nolan, the U.S. Attorney of Vermont, who was sworn into office last week after being appointed by President Donald Trump in September and confirmed by the Senate last month.
Coralee Holm, the former Burlington College dean of operations, confirmed as well that the probe “has not been closed” and that it has “no specific deadline” for completion. She was among the individuals questioned in the summer.
“I have not talked with anyone since then, other than checking with the FBI agents,” she said over the phone.
To the question whether the investigation could lead to an indictment, she said the FBI agents told her it was “a potential” – although not “an absolute” – that the case will be brought in front of a grand jury.
“If there is going to be something that happened it would be the grand jury … it would be brought in front of the grand jury … they already told me to be … that was a potential but they did tell me that wasn’t an absolute,” Holm said.
Change of plans?
The ongoing probe and the potential for a grand jury review might be enough to impede Bernie Sanders' and Driscoll's political plans.
Politico reported last month that Sanders was angling toward a more mainstream candidacy heading into the 2020 presidential election and reaching out to key Democrats to solidify his support among the party machine.
Driscoll, the stepdaughter of the senator, announced Monday her plans to run for her stepfather’s first political job: mayor of Burlington, Vt.
A spokesperson for Bernie Sanders did not respond to Fox News’ request for a comment. Driscoll declined to comment.

Trump, Sanders clash on Twitter over new tax law

President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders posted broadly differing views of the new U.S. tax law.

It was a holiday weekend, but President Donald Trump and rival Bernie Sanders didn’t exactly exchange greeting cards.

Instead, the political foes clashed via Twitter over the nation’s new tax legislation, which Trump signed into law Friday.

“Today, it was my great honor to sign the largest TAX CUTS and reform in the history of our country,” the president tweeted, soon after signing the $1.5 trillion bill.
On Saturday, Trump touted the plan as the culmination of a successful first year in the Oval Office.
“The Tax Cut/Reform Bill, including Massive Alaska Drilling and the Repeal of the highly unpopular Individual Mandate, brought it all together as to what an incredible year we had,” he tweeted.
Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, prefaced his weekend tweets by posing a question Thursday.
“Doesn’t it tell us a lot about Republican priorities,” Sanders asked, “when the tax breaks for corporations are permanent, while the tax cuts for working families expire at the end of 8 years?”
Then on Saturday, Sanders poked fun at reports that Trump had told friends during a Mar-a-Lago dinner in Florida on Friday night that, “You all just got a lot richer.”
“At least Trump is finally telling the truth about his tax bill,” Sanders wrote.
That same day, however, the president reminded his Twitter followers:
“The Stock Market is setting record after record and unemployment is at a 17 year low. So many things accomplished by the Trump Administration, perhaps more than any other President in first year.”
Then Sunday, Sanders presented alternatives for what the U.S. could have done with the $1.5 trillion value of the tax legislation.
“What we could do with $1.5 trillion:
-Make college tuition-free
-Provide universal preschool
-Repair our crumbling infrastructure
-Fund CHIP for 107 years
-Rebuild Puerto Rico
What Republicans did:
-Give tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations.”
Sanders added, in a separate tweet:
“If I were the Republicans, I would worry very much about 2018,” referring to next year’s mid-term elections.
But Trump seemed unfazed by any talk of problems at the polls for the GOP. As he tweeted Saturday:
“Remember, the Republicans are 5-0 in Congressional races this year.”

Merry Christmas

FBI Trump Bias Cartoons

Report: FBI Deputy Director Mccabe To Retire Amid Allegations Of Bias

FILE –   In this June 7, 2017, file photo, FBI acting director Andrew McCabe listens during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, on Capitol Hill in Washington. On Dec. 21, Republicans brought the topic back to Clinton as two committees began conducting interviews in a new investigation of the FBI and its 2016 inquiry into Clinton’s email server. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

As FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe faces accusations of political bias, new report he is also planning to retire early next year.
The report, published on Saturday suggests McCabe plans to leave his role in early march when he is eligible for pension benefits.
The former right hand man of fired FBI Director James Comey has dealt with criticism from lawmakers on capitol hill, for the FBI’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, and more recently the Russia probe.
This comes after McCabe faced hours of questioning behind closed doors on capitol hill this week as GOP leaders continue to investigate alleged political bias from McCabe and the agency.
Meanwhile, President Trump slams the FBI Deputy Director, saying he is racing the clock to retire.
In what appears to be a response to reports Andrew McCabe is stepping down next year, the President fired off a series of tweets Saturday claiming McCabe is waiting until he receives full benefits to quit.

How can FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, the man in charge, along with leakin’ James Comey, of the Phony Hillary Clinton investigation (including her 33,000 illegally deleted emails) be given $700,000 for wife’s campaign by Clinton Puppets during investigation?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2017

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go?!!!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2017

Additionally, The President blasted McCabe for alleged political bias, questioning how his wife can be given $700,000 for her campaign by Clinton puppets during the investigation.

Homeland Security says chain migration let terrorism-related suspects into U.S.

The Department of Homeland Security said chain migration is the common element in two cases allegedly tied to terrorism activities, according to a statement released Saturday.

In the statement on Twitter, Acting Press Secretary Tyler Houlton said DHS “can confirm the suspect involved in a terror attack in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and another suspect arrested on terror-related money laundering charges were both beneficiaries of extended family chain migration.”

BREAKING: My statement on Immigration Backgrounds of Recent Terror-Related Suspects: pic.twitter.com/I3JfZOfuBh

— Tyler Q. Houlton (@SpoxDHS) December 24, 2017

Chain migration is when an immigrant gains legal entry into the U.S. via sponsorship by a family member who’s already a legal resident or citizen. The Trump administration launched a campaign against the immigration system, in favor of a more merit-based structure, favoring education and job potential as factors.
WHITE HOUSE TO PUSH MERIT-BASED IMMIGRATION IN NEW CAMPAIGN
The memo referred to Ahmed Aminamin El-Mofty, 51, who it said was a naturalized U.S. citizen admitted to the U.S. from Egypt on a family-based visa. El-Mofty went on a shooting spree Friday in Harrisburg and was reportedly targeting police officers.
The gunman, carrying two rifles and a shotgun, fired at officers in multiple locations.
"He fired several shots at a Capitol police officer and at a Pennsylvania state police trooper in marked vehicles," Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico said. The state trooper was injured but is “doing well,” he said.
El-Mofty pursued the trooper to a residential neighborhood and encountered law enforcement officers, who ultimately killed him after he fired “many shots” at them.
The statement also mentioned Zoobia Shahnaz, who DHS said was a naturalized U.S. citizen who entered from Pakistan, also on a family-based visa. Shahnaz was indicted on Dec. 14 after she allegedly laundered more than $85,000 through Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies overseas to the Islamic State.
END CHAIN MIGRATION, AS TRUMP WANTS, AND SWITCH TO MERIT-BASED IMMIGRATION
Acquiring the money through fraudulently obtained credit cards and a bank loan, Shahnaz laundered the funds to people in Pakistan, China and Turkey and “planned to travel to Syria and join ISIS,” federal officials said.
Shahnaz was charged in federal court with bank fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In the DHS statement Saturday, Houlton said, “These incidents highlight the Trump administration’s concerns with extended chain migration.”
“Both chain migration and the diversity visa lottery program have been exploited by terrorists to attack our country,” Houlton said. “Not only are the programs less effective at driving economic growth than merit-based immigration systems used by nearly all other countries, the programs make it more difficult to keep dangerous people out of the United States and to protect the safety of every American.”

With immigrant pardons, Gov. Brown butts heads again with White House

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Butting heads once again with the White House on immigration, California Gov. Jerry Brown used a Christmas holiday tradition to grant pardons Saturday to two men who were on the verge of being deported for committing crimes while in the U.S.

Brown characterized the pardons as acts of mercy, according to an article on Saturday in the Sacramento Bee.

The Democratic governor moved as federal officials in recent months have detained and deported immigrants with felony convictions that resulted in the loss of their legal residency status, including many with nonviolent offenses from years ago.
With the pardons, the reason for deportation may be eliminated, lawyer Kevin Lo of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus, which represented some of the men in a recent class-action lawsuit, said in the Bee. The pardoned immigrants will still need to ask immigration courts to reopen their cases, he said.
In all, Brown pardoned 132 people for mostly nonviolent and drug-related crimes, and commuted the sentences of 19 others, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Brown’s pardons involved two Northern California Cambodian men picked up in October in immigration sweeps, Mony Neth of Modesto and Rottanak Kong of Davis.
Kong was convicted on felony joyriding in 2003 in Stanislaus County at age 25 and sentenced to a year in jail. Neth was convicted on a felony weapons charge with a gang enhancement and a misdemeanor charge of receiving stolen property with a value of $400 or less in 1995 in Stanislaus County, The Bee said.
Both men came to the U.S. as children after their families fled the Khmer Rouge.
Brown last defied the White House in October by signing into law so-called “sanctuary state” legislation, placing limitations on state and local law enforcement’s ability to help federal officials enforce immigration violations.

North Korea calls UN sanctions 'an act of war,' 'rigged up by the US'

North Korea on Sunday condemned the latest U.N. sanctions as “an act of war and tantamount to a complete economic blockade” and threatened to “punish those who support the measure.”

The response follows a unanimous vote Friday by the U.N. Security Council for tougher measures against Kim Jong Un's regime for its November test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

With the resolution, the U.N. aims to limit North Korea’s access to refined petroleum products and crude oil. In addition, the U.S.-backed resolution threatens to impose further restrictions if North Korea conducts another nuclear test or launches another ICBM, Reuters reported.
North Korea responded with a statement published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency: “We define this ‘sanctions resolution’ rigged up by the U.S. and its followers as a grave infringement upon the sovereignty of our Republic, as an act of war violating peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and the region and categorically reject the ‘resolution.’”

KCNA: "Those countries that raised their hands in favor of this 'sanctions resolution' shall be held completely responsible for all the consequences to be caused by the 'resolution' and we will make sure for ever and ever that they pay heavy price for what they have done."

— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) December 24, 2017

After the country’s latest ICBM test Nov. 29, Kim declared the country's nuclear force to be complete, and boasted of having all of the U.S. mainland within range.
But North Korea’s foreign ministry insisted that the weapons were for self-defense and were not in violation of international law. However, North Korea has been pursuing its nuclear and missile programs for years in defiance of U.N. sanctions.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has been critical of China – North Korea’s biggest trading partner – for not playing a bigger role in easing tensions. China has preferred to address North Korea with more measured solutions.
China said that the latest U.N. resolution highlights the need for a diplomatic solution to reduce tensions. A state-run tabloid in China suggested that the U.S. had pushed for even harsher sanctions, and that there was no way the U.N. would allow the U.S. to pursue military action on the Korean Peninsula.
“The difference between the new resolution and the original U.S. proposal," the tabloid said in an editorial, "reflects the will of China and Russia to prevent war and chaos on the Korean Peninsula. If the U.S. proposals were accepted, only war is foreseeable.”