Georgia judge tosses key witness’ testimony against Fani Willis, citing ‘inconsistencies’: court order
A Georgia judge on Friday said that District Attorney Fani Willis can continue prosecuting the case against former President Trump if she removes her ex-lover from her legal team, after deciding he could put no “stock” in a key witness’ testimony. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee issued an order Friday that Willis must either withdraw herself and her team from the sweeping 2020 election interference case against former President Trump or remove special prosecutor Nathan Wade – with whom she was accused of having an “improper” affair. McAfee said that he was “unable to place any stock” in the testimony of Terrance Bradley, the former law partner and divorce attorney for Wade and considered a key witness of the defense team trying to prove Wade was romantically involved with Willis prior to his hiring. Attorney Ashleigh Merchant, lawyer for co-defendant Michael Roman, who first submitted the allegations against Willis and Wade, had grilled Bradley on the witness stand last month about what he knew and when he knew about their romance. KEY WITNESS IN FANI WILLIS CASE TESTIFIES HE MAY HAVE LIED IN TEXTS ABOUT FRIENDS’ AFFAIR Both Willis and Wade insisted that their relationship started in 2022, after Wade was hired. However, that claim conflicted with some witness testimony during the two-day evidentiary hearing last month. Bradley, when pressed under oath, said he could not recall several details and timelines about conversations he had with former client Wade about Wade’s romantic relationship with Willis. Merchant at one point referenced text messages between her and Bradley in which she had asked Bradley if he thought the relationship started before Willis hired Wade in 2021. Bradley responded “absolutely” in the text exchange. NATHAN WADE’S PHONE DATA SHOWS HE MADE MIDNIGHT TRIPS TO FANI WILLIS’ CONDO BEFORE HE WAS HIRED: ATTORNEY In his order on Friday, McAfee said Bradley’s “inconsistencies, demeanor, and generally non-responsive answers left far too brittle a foundation upon which to build any conclusions.” “While prior inconsistent statements can be considered as substantive evidence under Georgia law, Bradley’s impeachment by text message did not establish the basis for which he claimed such sweeping knowledge of Wade’s personal affairs,” McAfee said. Robin Yeartie, a former “good friend” of Willis and past employee at the DA’s office, testified in court that she had “no doubt” Willis and Wade’s relationship started in 2019, after the two met at a conference. FANI WILLIS WHO ‘RELISHED IN’ DONALD TRUMP PROSECUTION SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM CASE FOR ILLICIT AFFAIR: EXPERTS She testified to observing Willis and Wade “hugging” and “kissing” and showing “affection” prior to November 2021 and that she had no doubt that the two were in a “romantic” relationship starting in 2019 and lasting until she and Willis last spoke in 2022. Willis dismissed Yeartie’s testimony and said she no longer considers Yeartie a friend. Judge McAfee in his order Friday said that “while the testimony of Robin Yearti raised doubts about the State’s assertions, it ultimately lacked context and detail.” “[N]either side was able to conclusively establish by a preponderance of the evidence when the relationship evolved into a romantic one,” he added. Still, the judge said that “an odor of mendacity remains,” and added that “reasonable questions about whether the District Attorney and her hand-selected lead SADA [special assistant district attorney] testified untruthfully about the timing of their relationship further underpin the finding of an appearance of impropriety and the need to make proportional efforts to cure it.”
Looking Closely At The Impact Of Environmental Biotechnology On Global Sustainability
Himanshu shared insights into their journey, achievements, and contributions to the field of environmental biotechnology.
Trump attorney reacts to Fulton County judge’s Fani Willis decision: ‘Prosecutorial misconduct’
The lead attorney representing former President Donald Trump in his Georgia election interference case says the decision from a judge that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis must either step aside or fire special prosecutor Nathan Wade does not lend “appropriate significance” to their “prosecutorial misconduct.” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee issued the ruling Friday after hearing evidence presented by lawyers for co-defendants in the case who had accused Willis of having an “improper” affair with Nathan Wade, whom she hired to help prosecute the matter. “While respecting the Court’s decision, we believe that the Court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade, including the financial benefits, testifying untruthfully about when their personal relationship began, as well as Willis’ extrajudicial MLK [day] ‘church speech,’ where she played the race card and falsely accused the defendants and their counsel of racism,” Sadow said in a statement obtained by Fox News. “We will use all legal options available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been brought in the first place,” he added. JUDGE RULES FANI WILLIS MUST STEP ASIDE FROM TRUMP CASE OR FIRE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR NATHAN WADE McAfee said the defendants “failed to meet their burden of proving that the District Attorney acquired an actual conflict of interest in this case through her personal relationship and recurring travels with her lead prosecutor.” “However, the established record now highlights a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team — an appearance that must be removed through the State’s selection of one of two options,” he wrote. FULTON COUNTY ETHICS BOARD WON’T HEAR COMPLAINTS AGAINST FANI WILLIS He went on to say that his finding is “by no means an indication that the Court condones this tremendous lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner of the District Attorney’s testimony during the evidentiary hearing.” The co-defendants had alleged that Willis benefited financially by hiring Wade because they were in a pre-existing relationship when he was hired in 2021 and would vacation together. Both Wade and Willis denied they were in a romantic relationship prior to his hiring and that the couple would split the costs of their shared travels; Willis said she reimbursed Wade for her share of the trips in cash. Fox News’ Kathleen Reuschle contributed to this report.
Chicago Pro-Palestinian groups reject White House requests to meet before primary in strongly-worded letter
More than two dozen Palestinian, Muslim and Arab groups across Chicago boycotted the White House’s invitation to several community groups this week, citing the Biden administration’s stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict. In a joint letter to the White House on Thursday, leaders of the groups said there was “no point in more meetings” since the administration “already knows the position of the aforementioned groups and our allies across the nation” to have an “immediate and permanent” cease-fire. The groups said “the White House has not only refused to call for a ceasefire, but also enabled this blatant campaign of ethnic cleansing to take place by providing financial and military means, as well as diplomatic support at the United Nations.” HAMAS TERRORISTS USE ISRAELI HOSTAGE RELEASE IN GAME OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE “A meeting of the minds is nowhere in sight,” they wrote. “We are interested in serious action.” Some of the groups include the American Muslims for Palestine, American Muslim Health Professionals, CAIR Chicago Champaign-Urbana Muslim Action Committee, Coalition for Justice in Palestine, Doctors Against Genocide, Islamic Center of McLean County Muslim Bar Association of Chicago and the Muslim Civic Coalition. According to a source familiar, “several of the letter signees who agreed to boycott meetings with the White House were not invited — including CAIR — the organizer of the boycott.” “The meetings were well attended by members of Arab American, Palestinian American and Muslim communities,” the source said. The Coalition for Justice in Palestine — the group that led the letter just days before the Illinois primary — includes several of Chicago’s main Arab and Palestinian groups. The group is urging voters to write in “Gaza” under the option for the president on the ballot next week. UN, HUMAN RIGHTS, MEDIA GROUPS RELY ON HAMAS DEATH TOLL IN ‘SYSTEMATIC DECEPTION’: EXPERT In a statement to Fox News Digital, a White House official said the meetings with community leaders is “part of an ongoing process to engage with communities impacted by the Mideast conflict.” President Biden has been under growing pressure from the left to ramp up his criticism of Israel as the conflict continues to drive a wedge between the progressive and moderate wings of the Democratic Party. Hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters in Michigan, Minnesota and elsewhere have protested Biden’s nomination by voting “uncommitted” in presidential primaries. Republicans, for the most part, have stood firmly behind Israel, citing its critical role as the U.S.’s firmest ally in the Middle East. They have also backed Israel’s mission to eradicate Hamas, arguing a cease-fire is untenable as long as the terror group exists. Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion in Gaza was spurred by an Oct. 7 surprise attack launched by Hamas militants who invaded the southern part of the country and killed more than 1,200 people — mainly civilians. Hundreds more were taken hostage into Gaza. US-ISRAELI CITIZEN WHO WAS KIDNAPPED ON OCT. 7 CONFIRMED DEAD, IDF SAYS The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters, has said that more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed so far in Israel’s responding military campaign. Palestinian officials have warned that the number of children who are dying due to being unable to access food or medical care is also expected to increase. Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Judge in Georgia slams Fani Willis’ ‘improper’ church speech, ‘playing the race card’
The judge in former President Trump’s Georgia election interference case has allowed District Attorney Fani Willis to continue leading the prosecution, but he said her racially charged rhetoric about “playing the race card” was “legally improper.” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee issued a ruling that quashed a motion from one of the case’s 19 defendants seeking to remove Wilis from the case due to her alleged improper affair with special counsel Nathan Wade. McAfee ruled that an insufficient amount of evidence was provided to justify the removal of Willis outright, but he ordered Wade must be fired for the district attorney to continue without the “appearance of impropriety” — otherwise Willis must step down. JUDGE RULES FANI WILLIS MUST STEP ASIDE FROM TRUMP CASE OR FIRE SPECIAL PROSECUTOR NATHAN WADE In his order, McAfee separately took issue with a speech made by Willis at an Atlanta church in January of this year, when she claimed she and Wade were being scrutinized because of their race. While Willis later claimed not to be referring to the defendants in her accusations of racism, McAfee warned that such a distinction was not clear. “In these public and televised comments, the District Attorney complained that a Fulton County Commissioner ‘and so many others’ questioned her decision to hire SADA Wade. When referring to her detractors throughout the speech, she frequently utilized the plural ‘they.’ The State argues the speech was not aimed at any of the Defendants in this case. Maybe so. But maybe not. Therein lies the danger of public comment by a prosecuting attorney,” McAfee wrote. KEY WITNESS IN FANI WILLIS CASE TESTIFIES HE MAY HAVE LIED IN TEXTS ABOUT FRIENDS’ AFFAIR The judge found that Willis’s reference to “so many others” in her speech at the church left ambiguous who she was accusing of racial motivations — coming dangerously close to compromising the case. He went on to complain about the district attorney’s own continued references to the race of individuals involved in the case. “More at issue, instead of attributing the criticism to a criminal accused’s general aversion to being convicted and facing a prison sentence, the District Attorney ascribed the effort as motivated by ‘playing the race card,’” McAfee wrote. “She went on to frequently refer to SADA Wade as the ‘black man’ while her other unchallenged SADAs were labeled ‘one white woman’ and ‘one white man.’ The effect of this speech was to cast racial aspersions at an indicted Defendant’s decision to file this pretrial motion.” Despite finding Willis’s speech “legally improper,” McAfee ruled that the questionable statements regarding race did not deny the defendants “opportunity for a fundamentally fair trial.” “The Court cannot find that this speech crossed the line to the point where the Defendants have been denied the opportunity for a fundamentally fair trial, or that it requires the District Attorney’s disqualification,” McAfee wrote. “But it was still legally improper. Providing this type of public comment creates dangerous waters for the District Attorney to wade further into.” It has not yet been announced whether Willis will fire Wade or step down from the trial.
House GOP leaders target Biden energy policies in legislation blitz next week
FIRST ON FOX: House Republican leaders are planning a legislative blitz next week targeting President Biden’s energy policies, according to new details obtained by Fox News Digital. An overview of bills that House leadership will have lawmakers vote on includes legislation to repeal the Biden administration’s natural gas tax introduced by Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, and a push to block Biden from banning fracking by Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C. Another bill expected for a vote next week would curb the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion investment of taxpayer funds that the EPA is able to award as grants and loans for green energy projects, by House GOP Policy Committee Chair Gary Palmer, R-Ala. Critics of that program have called it a slush fund for progressive energy policies. GIANT OFFSHORE WIND PROJECT AXED IN BLOW TO BIDEN’S GREEN GOALS Other legislation next week aims to tackle water permitting reform and the federal government’s ability to block oil and gas leasing on certain lands, Fox News Digital was told. More symbolic rebukes of Biden’s energy policies are expected as well. Separate votes are expected on resolutions to denounce the president’s so-called “anti-American energy policies” and to reject the idea of a carbon tax, introduced by Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., and Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., respectively. Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., declared that next week would be “energy week” in the House of Representatives during a press conference at the House GOP’s annual member retreat. TOP OFFICIALS WARNED BIDEN ADMIN ABOUT DANGERS WIND ENERGY PROJECTS POSE TO FISHING INDUSTRY, LETTER SHOWS “Next week on the House floor, we’re dedicating the week to what we’re going to call energy week, bringing bills on the House floor…that will promote American energy, to lower costs for families who…know there’s no reason they should be paying more for energy,” Scalise said in West Virginia on Thursday. He accused Biden of “benefiting countries like Russia” with his energy policies at a time when his administration is also working to aid Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion. Scalise specifically singled out the White House’s decision to temporarily curb exports of liquified natural gas (LNG). ENERGY SEC GRANHOLM SECRETLY CONSULTED TOP CCP ENERGY OFFICIAL BEFORE SPR RELEASES “When Joe Biden does a ban on LNG exports, as in essence he did, it hurts LNG production in America. But it emboldens countries like Russia,” Scalise said. “Why would you want to help [Russian President Vladimir Putin] fund his war machine by giving him more leverage over Europe, when we were providing LNG in America to our friends in Europe?” When reached for comment regarding Scalise’s remarks, the White House referred Fox News Digital to a fact sheet on the LNG decision, which reads in part: “The Biden-Harris Administration is announcing a temporary pause on pending decisions on exports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to non-FTA countries until the Department of Energy can update the underlying analyses for authorizations. […] The pause, which is subject to exception for unanticipated and immediate national security emergencies, will provide the time to integrate these critical considerations. The U.S. is already the number one exporter of LNG worldwide – with U.S. LNG exports expected to double by the end of this decade. At the same time, the U.S. remains unwavering in our commitment to supporting our allies around the world.”
Republicans unveil effort to reverse Biden climate rules targeting manufacturing
FIRST ON FOX: House Republicans are introducing legislation Friday that would reverse the Biden administration’s recently-finalized climate regulations targeting the U.S. manufacturing sector. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga. — who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Subcommittee — is introducing the Air Quality Standards Implementation Act alongside 14 fellow GOP lawmakers. The legislation, crafted in response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent air quality regulations, seeks to reform the process for pursuing such environmental rules. “Let’s make sure we understand and set the groundwork that the Clean Air Act was not established to kill American productivity and prosperity,” Carter told Fox News Digital in an interview. “That’s not why we we have the Clean Air Act. It was instead — the reason for it was to help enhance our success.” “The Biden administration didn’t need to do this, but they have tried to update the next national ambient air quality standards,” he continued. “If they go through with what they’re trying to go through with, then it’s going to slam the brakes on any economic prosperity we may enjoy in this country.” FEDERAL COURT JAMS BRAKES ON BIDEN ADMIN’S EFFORT TO SHUT DOWN MAJOR PETROCHEMICAL PLANT Carter added that his legislation is a “practical, common sense approach” to air quality regulations. In particular, the Air Quality Standards Implementation Act would require EPA follow a predictable timeline of review for its so-called National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) program. It would give states increased powers in the NAAQS process and ensure certain actions like wildfire mitigation, which generates soot, are not punished under the program. TOP HOUSE COMMITTEE PROBES JOHN KERRY’S COORDINATION WITH ECO GROUPS PUSHING COAL POWER SHUTDOWN Carter’s legislation comes one month after EPA finalized the latest NAAQS standards in a joint announcement with environmental activists, saying that limiting particulate matter known as PM2.5, or soot, would have health benefits for Americans nationwide. The rulemaking lowers the annual federal PM2.5 standard from a level of 12 micrograms per cubic meter to a level of 9 micrograms per cubic meter. According to EPA, the regulations will prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths and 290,000 lost workdays while yielding up to $46 billion in net health benefits by 2032. And the agency noted that as PM2.5 concentrations have decreased 42% since 2000, the U.S. gross domestic product has increased 52%. However, the regulations were immediately criticized by business groups, industry associations and Republican lawmakers who said it would substantially harm manufacturers and the economy broadly. WHITE HOUSE INTERVENED TO GRANT ‘QUASI-REGULATORY AUTHORITY’ TO FOREIGN GREEN GROUPS Opponents pointed to a May 2023 study conducted by Oxford Economics and commissioned by the National Association of Manufacturers that concluded more restrictive PM2.5 regulations would threaten between $162.4 and $197.4 billion of economic activity while putting 852,100 to 973,900 current jobs at risk. “The Biden Administration’s irresponsible rule on fine particulate matter harms rural producers in every industry,” Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., who chairs the Congressional Western Caucus, said Friday. “This bill takes important steps to empower states to implement standards, rather than giving unelected bureaucrats in Washington, DC, even more power to control our lives.” “I am proud to join Rep. Carter in pushing back against EPA’s overreaching attempt to hamper American energy and hamstring the manufacturing sector,” added Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio. “As Ohio’s Fifth District is home to more than 86,000 manufacturing jobs, this proposed rule will have a severe impact on our local economy. EPA continues to cast uncertainty over the energy and manufacturing industry, chilling investment in American companies to the benefit of our foreign competitors.” The regulations, meanwhile, will make the U.S. PM2.5 standards among the world’s most burdensome. While Australia and Canada have annual standards lower than 9 micrograms per cubic meter, Japan has a standard of 15 micrograms per cubic meter, and the U.K. and European Union both have a standard of 20 micrograms per cubic meter. China and India have annual standards of 35 micrograms per cubic meter or greater. And, on Thursday, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., introduced a resolution alongside 45 fellow Senate Republicans that would strike down EPA’s NAAQS regulations. “Senate Republicans will continue to stand with American workers and job creators – especially when the Biden Administration tries to make their work harder,” McConnell said Thursday.
India rejects US concern over citizenship law as ‘misplaced, unwarranted’
New Delhi’s strong response follows the US State Department saying it will ‘closely monitor’ the implementation of the religion-based law. India has rejected comments by a United States official raising concern over the implementation of a religion-based citizenship law as “misplaced, misinformed and unwarranted”. On Monday, just weeks before the general election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government announced rules to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which makes getting Indian citizenship easier for non-Muslim refugees from three Muslim-majority South Asian nations: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The move sparked sporadic protests with critics, including Muslims groups and opposition parties, saying the law discriminates against Muslims and undermines India’s secular constitution. On Tuesday, a US Department of State spokesperson expressed concern about the law and said Washington is “closely monitoring how this act will be implemented”. “Respect for religious freedom and equal treatment under the law for all communities are fundamental democratic principles,” the spokesperson added. In response, a spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said the CAA was an “internal matter” and the US State Department’s statement was “misplaced, misinformed and unwarranted”. Spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said the law was “in keeping with India’s inclusive traditions and our longstanding commitment to human rights” and “grants a safe haven to persecuted minorities”. “The CAA is about giving citizenship, not about taking away citizenship. It addresses the issue of statelessness, provides human dignity and supports human rights,” he told reporters in New Delhi. “Lectures by those who have a limited understanding of India’s pluralistic traditions and the region’s post-partition history are best not attempted,” he said, referring to the colonial-era division of the Indian subcontinent to create the state of Pakistan in 1947. The United Nations, which also expressed concerns about the CAA’s enforcement, had called the CAA “fundamentally discriminatory in nature” when it was passed in parliament in 2019. Modi’s government did not implement the law that year as nationwide protests broke out over its passage. In eastern parts of New Delhi, Muslim neighbourhoods were attacked for days, and dozens of people were killed. Activists and human rights groups said the law, combined with a proposed national register of citizens, could discriminate against India’s 200 million Muslims – the world’s third largest Muslim population. Some fear the government might remove the citizenship of Muslims without documents in some border states. Rights groups also note the law leaves out Muslim minority groups like the Shias from India’s neighbouring Muslim-majority countries while also excluding countries where Muslims are a minority, like the Rohingya in Myanmar. On Thursday, Amnesty International said the CAA was “a blow to Indian constitutional values and international standards” and demanded its repeal. “The Citizenship Amendment Act is a bigoted law that legitimises discrimination on the basis of religion and should never have been enacted in the first place. Its operationalisation is a poor reflection on the Indian authorities as they fail to listen to a multitude of voices critical of the CAA,” said Aakar Patel, chairperson of the board at Amnesty International India. Next week, India’s top court will hear nearly 200 petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the law implemented before the general election, local media reports said on Friday. India is expected on Saturday to announce the date of the vote, scheduled to be held in April and May, in which Modi is seeking a third straight term. Adblock test (Why?)
Fast food giant McDonald’s suffers global tech outage
‘System failure’ shutters some restaurants for hours, leading to complaints from customers on social media. Fast food giant McDonald’s has experienced systems failures in several countries that led to some of its restaurants being shuttered for hours, but ruled out cybersecurity issues as a potential cause of the problem. The United States-based chain said the “technology outage” on Friday affected operations in outlets around the world, including Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. McDonald’s in Japan wrote on X that “operations are temporarily out at many of our stores nationwide” and called the incident a “system failure”. Patrik Hjelte, owner of several McDonald’s restaurants in central Sweden, told local newspaper Nya Wermlands Tidningen that all of the chain’s “restaurants are connected to a global network and that is what’s messed up”. It was not immediately clear how many stores were affected globally. Outage tracking website Downdetector reported a spike in problems with the McDonald’s app, while media outlets reported that customers from Australia to the UK had complained of issues with ordering. The fast food chain has about 40,000 restaurants worldwide, with more than 14,000 stores in the US. In February, it reported that it had missed its first quarterly sales target in nearly four years, citing Israel’s war on Gaza as a factor. The slump came after customers in Muslim-majority countries called for a boycott of the chain in response to its Israeli franchisee donating thousands of free meals to the Israeli military. Earlier this month, Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram also faced technical issues that disrupted global services for hundreds of thousands of users for more than two hours. Adblock test (Why?)
Russian elections set to make Putin longest-serving leader
NewsFeed People in Russia and the territories it has annexed are voting in a three-day election that is set to make President Vladimir Putin country’s longest-serving leader. Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari has been at a polling station in Moscow. Published On 15 Mar 202415 Mar 2024 Adblock test (Why?)