Month: December 2024

On Monday, the House Ethics Committee released its report into former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz that found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz paid women for sex and engaged in sexual activity with a minor. The House Ethics Committee voted in secret earlier this month to release its findings into the conduct of Gaetz after it first decided to keep it under wraps.

Gaetz, who was President-elect Donald Trump’s first nominee for attorney general, was found by congressional ethics investigators to have paid numerous women — including a 17-year-old girl — for sex, and to have purchased and used illegal drugs, including from his Capitol Hill office.

Among the findings in the 37-page report (seen in full HERE) showed that Gaetz violated multiple state laws related to sexual misconduct while in office. The report lists payments to 12 different women totaling more than $90,000, noting that “from 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz made tens of thousands of dollars in payments to women that the Committee determined were likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use.”  In addition, the committee found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz violated Florida’s statutory rape law by having sex with a 17-year-old girl in July 2017 when he was 35.

The report stated: “The Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress.”

Gaetz, who has publicly denied the allegations included in the report, said filed a civil lawsuit Monday in a Washington federal court in a failed last-ditch effort to block the report’s release, saying that he is now a private citizen and not subject to the jurisdiction of the committee. However, the committee released it a short time later.

Gaetz resigned his seat in Congress in November, after Trump announced plans to nominate him for attorney general. But after facing opposition from some fellow Republicans, Gaetz withdrew from consideration a week later.

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Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, pleaded not guilty to state murder and terror charges in New York on Monday. Mangione, 26, entered court with his hands and feet shackled, wearing a white collared shirt under a maroon sweater and light colored pants in his arraignment before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro.

Mangione replied “not guilty” to the charges listed in the 11-count indictment in connection with the shooting, which include: first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, and four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree.  Judge Carro ordered Mangione to remain in custody, in lieu of $1 bail, which was set by Carro was a perfunctory act (since Mangione is being held in federal custody without bail, and has no realistic chance of freedom until trial).

Prosecutor Joel Saidman said the Manhattan district attorney’s office will try the case before Mangione faces federal charges as it has “primary jurisdiction” in the case. If convicted of the state charges, Mangione faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.   Mangione could face the death penalty from the federal murder charge but it would have to be signed off on by the attorney general. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York did not indicate last week if he will seek the death penalty.

Meanwhile, Mangione’s defense attorneys allege that police are parading their client around in “perp walks” that are “perfectly choreographed, utterly political.”  Karen Friedman Agnifilo, an attorney for Mangione, said she was concerned the spectacle surrounding her client’s case: “I am very concerned about my client’s right to a fair trial. He is a young man and he is being treated like a human ping pong ball, between two warring jurisdictions here. These federal and state prosecutors are coordinating with one another at the expense of him. They have conflicting theories in their indictments, and they are literally treating him like he is some sort of political fodder, like some sort of spectacle. He was on display for everyone to see in the biggest staged perp walk I’ve ever seen in my career. It was absolutely unnecessary. He’s been cooperative with law enforcement. He had been in custody for over a week. He waived extradition.”

Friedman Agnifilo also took issue with Mayor Eric Adams’ presence when Mangione was returned to New York was “political…there was absolutely no need whatsoever, and frankly the mayor should know more than anyone of the presumption of innocence that he too is afforded when dealing with his own issues, and frankly I submit he was trying to detract from those issues by making a spectacle of Mr Mangione.”

Mangione is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after he appeared in federal court last week.  His next New York City court date was set for Feb. 21.

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Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement – better known as the Houthis – has taken credit for downing an American military plane. U.S. Central Command said initially reported that two U.S. Navy pilots safely ejected over the Red Sea on Sunday after the F/A-18 fighter jet they were in was shot down by what had appeared to be friendly fire. The Houthis is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and its allies, and have exchanged missile fire with Israel and have attacked shipping vessels in the Red Sea to support Palestinians amid Israel’s war in Gaza, leading to military action against them by the United States.

CENTCOM said in a statement that the F/A-18 was flying off of the USS Harry S. Truman over the Red Sea on Sunday when it was downed, an that one of the pilots may have sustained minor injuries during the ejection. At the time, CENTOM believed that the incident occurred when the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group in the region) “mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18.” (per NBC News.)

Houthi Brigadier General Yahya Qasim Sare’e said in a statement that the Yemeni militia had succeeded in thwarting a joint American-British attack on the country by targeting the American ships on Saturday evening as the airstrikes were being carried out. He added that the Houthi operation was carried out with eight cruise missiles and 17 drones that led to the downing of the fighter jet and “the failure of the hostile attack on Yemeni territory.”

Mohammed al-Houthi later alleged that the U.S. Central Command would not disclose the truth about the crash of the plane “to prevent further collapse of the morale of its soldiers,” sharing in a statement: “The American attacks on Yemen are condemned and illegal terrorist attacks that support the terrorism of the temporary Israeli entity to continue the genocide and siege of the people of Gaza. The American terrorist attacks confirm the lawless rampage and criminality in the region. The reckless terrorist actions against Yemen do not stop the support operations for Gaza.”

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According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, a truck driver was shot and killed by law enforcement officers after driving a truck into a busy mall on Saturday night, injuring five people.

Per local NBC affiliate KXAN, a DPS trooper tried to stop a black pickup truck after a 911 caller reported a possible intoxicated driver in Belton (about 20 miles from Killeen) at around 5 p.m. on Saturday. The driver refused to stop, prompting a chase. Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Bryan Washko said during a news conference Saturday night that the man plowed into the front of a JC Penney store at the Killeen Mall in Killen (nearly 70 miles north of Austin), shattering the glass doors and continuing to drive his black pickup about 100 yards while “striking multiple people” and “actively running people over.” The suspect was shot and killed by law enforcement. He was identified by the Texas Department of Public Safety as 53-year-old Darrel Schultz of Kempner, Texas.

At least five people ranging in age from 6 to 75 were injured; four were taken by ambulance to area hospitals, and one person self-transported. Washko said: “Thankfully he was stopped when he was, because it could have been so much worse. This mall is pretty busy this time of year.”

Texas DPS will lead the investigation into the incident, with the Texas Rangers Division (part of Texas DPS) also involved.

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