#felonies — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #felonies, aggregated by home.social.
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#Jack #Smith, the former justice department special counsel who led the aborted federal prosecution of Donald Trump,
told a congressional committee that he never spoke to #Joe #Biden about his cases,
according to the transcript of a depositionreleased on Wednesday.In his behind-closed-doors testimony to the House judiciary committee earlier this month,
Smith defended the charges he brought against Trump for allegedly possessing #classified #documents
and attempting to #overturn the 2020 #election,
while warning of the consequences of allowing election #meddling to go unpunished.“Theoretically, what happens if there is election interference and the people who are responsible for that are not held accountable?”
Democratic congresswoman Pramila Jayapal asked.🔥“It becomes the new norm,
and that becomes how we … conduct elections,”
Smith replied, according to the transcript.“And so the toll on our democracy,
if you had to describe that, what would that be?”
the congresswoman asked.
💥“Catastrophic,” Smith said.Trump and his Republican allies have alleged that the former special counsel was a key figure in a justice department that Biden had “weaponized” against his predecessor.
The Republican-controlled House judiciary committee earlier this year heard testimony from one of Smith’s top deputies,
and months later subpoenaed the former special counsel for private testimony.
Smith had offered to voluntarily testify in public, as special counsels typically do.In questioning from Democratic congressman Dan Goldman,
👉Smith said he operated without interference from #Merrick #Garland, the attorney general who appointed him, or any other top justice department officials.“Did President Biden ever give you any instructions about what you should or should not do related to these investigations?”
Goldman asked.
💥“No,” Smith replied,
later specifying he had not spoken to Biden about his cases in any way.Smith was appointed in November 2022, and quickly brought the two federal cases against Trump, who also faced state-level charges of election interference in Georgia, and falsifying business records in New York.
While he would later be convicted of #34 #felonies in the Manhattan case,
neither of Trump’s federal indictments went to trial before he returned to office following the 2024 election,
after which Smith, in line with justice department policy, dropped the charges.The election-interference case was slowed by pretrial motions, including a supreme court ruling that gave presidents #immunity for official acts and forced Smith to make changes to his case.
The classified-documents case was hampered by rulings from Florida judge #Aileen #Cannon, who at one point dismissed Smith’s indictment.
Smith authored a report into his prosecutions, and the portion covering the election interference case was released prior to Biden leaving office.
🆘However, Cannon has barred the chapter discussing the classified-documents charges from being made public, though Democrats on the judiciary committee have asked her to reverse her decision.
At the outset of the hearing, an attorney for Smith, Peter Koski,
told the committee the former special counsel had received an email from the justice department advising him to avoid talking about his evidence in the case because of Cannon’s ruling.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/31/jack-smith-house-testimony?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other -
#Jack #Smith, the former justice department special counsel who led the aborted federal prosecution of Donald Trump,
told a congressional committee that he never spoke to #Joe #Biden about his cases,
according to the transcript of a depositionreleased on Wednesday.In his behind-closed-doors testimony to the House judiciary committee earlier this month,
Smith defended the charges he brought against Trump for allegedly possessing #classified #documents
and attempting to #overturn the 2020 #election,
while warning of the consequences of allowing election #meddling to go unpunished.“Theoretically, what happens if there is election interference and the people who are responsible for that are not held accountable?”
Democratic congresswoman Pramila Jayapal asked.🔥“It becomes the new norm,
and that becomes how we … conduct elections,”
Smith replied, according to the transcript.“And so the toll on our democracy,
if you had to describe that, what would that be?”
the congresswoman asked.
💥“Catastrophic,” Smith said.Trump and his Republican allies have alleged that the former special counsel was a key figure in a justice department that Biden had “weaponized” against his predecessor.
The Republican-controlled House judiciary committee earlier this year heard testimony from one of Smith’s top deputies,
and months later subpoenaed the former special counsel for private testimony.
Smith had offered to voluntarily testify in public, as special counsels typically do.In questioning from Democratic congressman Dan Goldman,
👉Smith said he operated without interference from #Merrick #Garland, the attorney general who appointed him, or any other top justice department officials.“Did President Biden ever give you any instructions about what you should or should not do related to these investigations?”
Goldman asked.
💥“No,” Smith replied,
later specifying he had not spoken to Biden about his cases in any way.Smith was appointed in November 2022, and quickly brought the two federal cases against Trump, who also faced state-level charges of election interference in Georgia, and falsifying business records in New York.
While he would later be convicted of #34 #felonies in the Manhattan case,
neither of Trump’s federal indictments went to trial before he returned to office following the 2024 election,
after which Smith, in line with justice department policy, dropped the charges.The election-interference case was slowed by pretrial motions, including a supreme court ruling that gave presidents #immunity for official acts and forced Smith to make changes to his case.
The classified-documents case was hampered by rulings from Florida judge #Aileen #Cannon, who at one point dismissed Smith’s indictment.
Smith authored a report into his prosecutions, and the portion covering the election interference case was released prior to Biden leaving office.
🆘However, Cannon has barred the chapter discussing the classified-documents charges from being made public, though Democrats on the judiciary committee have asked her to reverse her decision.
At the outset of the hearing, an attorney for Smith, Peter Koski,
told the committee the former special counsel had received an email from the justice department advising him to avoid talking about his evidence in the case because of Cannon’s ruling.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/31/jack-smith-house-testimony?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other -
#Jack #Smith, the former justice department special counsel who led the aborted federal prosecution of Donald Trump,
told a congressional committee that he never spoke to #Joe #Biden about his cases,
according to the transcript of a depositionreleased on Wednesday.In his behind-closed-doors testimony to the House judiciary committee earlier this month,
Smith defended the charges he brought against Trump for allegedly possessing #classified #documents
and attempting to #overturn the 2020 #election,
while warning of the consequences of allowing election #meddling to go unpunished.“Theoretically, what happens if there is election interference and the people who are responsible for that are not held accountable?”
Democratic congresswoman Pramila Jayapal asked.🔥“It becomes the new norm,
and that becomes how we … conduct elections,”
Smith replied, according to the transcript.“And so the toll on our democracy,
if you had to describe that, what would that be?”
the congresswoman asked.
💥“Catastrophic,” Smith said.Trump and his Republican allies have alleged that the former special counsel was a key figure in a justice department that Biden had “weaponized” against his predecessor.
The Republican-controlled House judiciary committee earlier this year heard testimony from one of Smith’s top deputies,
and months later subpoenaed the former special counsel for private testimony.
Smith had offered to voluntarily testify in public, as special counsels typically do.In questioning from Democratic congressman Dan Goldman,
👉Smith said he operated without interference from #Merrick #Garland, the attorney general who appointed him, or any other top justice department officials.“Did President Biden ever give you any instructions about what you should or should not do related to these investigations?”
Goldman asked.
💥“No,” Smith replied,
later specifying he had not spoken to Biden about his cases in any way.Smith was appointed in November 2022, and quickly brought the two federal cases against Trump, who also faced state-level charges of election interference in Georgia, and falsifying business records in New York.
While he would later be convicted of #34 #felonies in the Manhattan case,
neither of Trump’s federal indictments went to trial before he returned to office following the 2024 election,
after which Smith, in line with justice department policy, dropped the charges.The election-interference case was slowed by pretrial motions, including a supreme court ruling that gave presidents #immunity for official acts and forced Smith to make changes to his case.
The classified-documents case was hampered by rulings from Florida judge #Aileen #Cannon, who at one point dismissed Smith’s indictment.
Smith authored a report into his prosecutions, and the portion covering the election interference case was released prior to Biden leaving office.
🆘However, Cannon has barred the chapter discussing the classified-documents charges from being made public, though Democrats on the judiciary committee have asked her to reverse her decision.
At the outset of the hearing, an attorney for Smith, Peter Koski,
told the committee the former special counsel had received an email from the justice department advising him to avoid talking about his evidence in the case because of Cannon’s ruling.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/31/jack-smith-house-testimony?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other -
#Jack #Smith, the former justice department special counsel who led the aborted federal prosecution of Donald Trump,
told a congressional committee that he never spoke to #Joe #Biden about his cases,
according to the transcript of a depositionreleased on Wednesday.In his behind-closed-doors testimony to the House judiciary committee earlier this month,
Smith defended the charges he brought against Trump for allegedly possessing #classified #documents
and attempting to #overturn the 2020 #election,
while warning of the consequences of allowing election #meddling to go unpunished.“Theoretically, what happens if there is election interference and the people who are responsible for that are not held accountable?”
Democratic congresswoman Pramila Jayapal asked.🔥“It becomes the new norm,
and that becomes how we … conduct elections,”
Smith replied, according to the transcript.“And so the toll on our democracy,
if you had to describe that, what would that be?”
the congresswoman asked.
💥“Catastrophic,” Smith said.Trump and his Republican allies have alleged that the former special counsel was a key figure in a justice department that Biden had “weaponized” against his predecessor.
The Republican-controlled House judiciary committee earlier this year heard testimony from one of Smith’s top deputies,
and months later subpoenaed the former special counsel for private testimony.
Smith had offered to voluntarily testify in public, as special counsels typically do.In questioning from Democratic congressman Dan Goldman,
👉Smith said he operated without interference from #Merrick #Garland, the attorney general who appointed him, or any other top justice department officials.“Did President Biden ever give you any instructions about what you should or should not do related to these investigations?”
Goldman asked.
💥“No,” Smith replied,
later specifying he had not spoken to Biden about his cases in any way.Smith was appointed in November 2022, and quickly brought the two federal cases against Trump, who also faced state-level charges of election interference in Georgia, and falsifying business records in New York.
While he would later be convicted of #34 #felonies in the Manhattan case,
neither of Trump’s federal indictments went to trial before he returned to office following the 2024 election,
after which Smith, in line with justice department policy, dropped the charges.The election-interference case was slowed by pretrial motions, including a supreme court ruling that gave presidents #immunity for official acts and forced Smith to make changes to his case.
The classified-documents case was hampered by rulings from Florida judge #Aileen #Cannon, who at one point dismissed Smith’s indictment.
Smith authored a report into his prosecutions, and the portion covering the election interference case was released prior to Biden leaving office.
🆘However, Cannon has barred the chapter discussing the classified-documents charges from being made public, though Democrats on the judiciary committee have asked her to reverse her decision.
At the outset of the hearing, an attorney for Smith, Peter Koski,
told the committee the former special counsel had received an email from the justice department advising him to avoid talking about his evidence in the case because of Cannon’s ruling.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/31/jack-smith-house-testimony?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other -
#Jack #Smith, the former justice department special counsel who led the aborted federal prosecution of Donald Trump,
told a congressional committee that he never spoke to #Joe #Biden about his cases,
according to the transcript of a depositionreleased on Wednesday.In his behind-closed-doors testimony to the House judiciary committee earlier this month,
Smith defended the charges he brought against Trump for allegedly possessing #classified #documents
and attempting to #overturn the 2020 #election,
while warning of the consequences of allowing election #meddling to go unpunished.“Theoretically, what happens if there is election interference and the people who are responsible for that are not held accountable?”
Democratic congresswoman Pramila Jayapal asked.🔥“It becomes the new norm,
and that becomes how we … conduct elections,”
Smith replied, according to the transcript.“And so the toll on our democracy,
if you had to describe that, what would that be?”
the congresswoman asked.
💥“Catastrophic,” Smith said.Trump and his Republican allies have alleged that the former special counsel was a key figure in a justice department that Biden had “weaponized” against his predecessor.
The Republican-controlled House judiciary committee earlier this year heard testimony from one of Smith’s top deputies,
and months later subpoenaed the former special counsel for private testimony.
Smith had offered to voluntarily testify in public, as special counsels typically do.In questioning from Democratic congressman Dan Goldman,
👉Smith said he operated without interference from #Merrick #Garland, the attorney general who appointed him, or any other top justice department officials.“Did President Biden ever give you any instructions about what you should or should not do related to these investigations?”
Goldman asked.
💥“No,” Smith replied,
later specifying he had not spoken to Biden about his cases in any way.Smith was appointed in November 2022, and quickly brought the two federal cases against Trump, who also faced state-level charges of election interference in Georgia, and falsifying business records in New York.
While he would later be convicted of #34 #felonies in the Manhattan case,
neither of Trump’s federal indictments went to trial before he returned to office following the 2024 election,
after which Smith, in line with justice department policy, dropped the charges.The election-interference case was slowed by pretrial motions, including a supreme court ruling that gave presidents #immunity for official acts and forced Smith to make changes to his case.
The classified-documents case was hampered by rulings from Florida judge #Aileen #Cannon, who at one point dismissed Smith’s indictment.
Smith authored a report into his prosecutions, and the portion covering the election interference case was released prior to Biden leaving office.
🆘However, Cannon has barred the chapter discussing the classified-documents charges from being made public, though Democrats on the judiciary committee have asked her to reverse her decision.
At the outset of the hearing, an attorney for Smith, Peter Koski,
told the committee the former special counsel had received an email from the justice department advising him to avoid talking about his evidence in the case because of Cannon’s ruling.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/31/jack-smith-house-testimony?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other -
The War on #Masks Has Taken on a New Meaning
This time, the masks have nothing to do with #COVID19.
By Henry Grabar
Feb 05, 20254:57 PM"Last month, state legislators in New York introduced a bill that would create a new crime: 'masked harassment.'
"That, the law explains, is when you wear a mask 'for the primary purpose of menacing or threatening violence against another person' or 'placing another person or group of persons in reasonable fear for their physical safety.'
"If that seems like a bit of a niche offense—threatening violence is already a crime, after all—it’s because the language has been watered down to attract political support. It’s a sign of New York Democrats’ cautious new approach over masks in public life, and a retreat from last spring, when anti-Israel protests, on top of a widespread urban crime panic, pushed leaders from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to consider mask bans.
"In its original form, the New York bill would have banned masks at public assemblies entirely. But the outcry from #DisabilityRights advocates, #CriminalJustice reformers, #HealthCareWorkers, and #CivilLiberties groups was swift, and so New York wound up with this bill on 'masked harassment' instead.
"Elsewhere, the pandemic-era leniency on masking in public is over. #NorthCarolina Republicans overrode a gubernatorial veto last summer to once again #BanPublicFaceCoverings, except to stop the spread of contagious diseases. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost dusted off an old law to threaten #StudentProtesters with #felonies. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has asked the state’s Senate to consider a bill to #unmask #protesters this year.
"For Republicans, it’s a chance to kill two birds with one stone. They can strike back against the perceived overreach of pandemic-era #HealthDirectives and make it easier to arrest #demonstrators at the same time.
"In #Ohio and North Carolina, the original statutes were written in the 1950s to stop demonstrations by the #KuKluxKlan, but had been ignored or suspended during the #pandemic and the #GeorgeFloydProtests. Many lawmakers have cited the recent demonstrations in defense of #Gaza as a reason to crack down again. Defending the proposed mask ban in New York, Anti-Defamation League [#ADL] president Jonathan Greenblatt said the demonstrators were using '#KKK tactics' to intimidate Jewish New Yorkers.
"That instinct was bolstered by the sense among many city residents and elected leaders that widespread masking was a factor behind the pandemic-era crime spike. That led to #Philadelphia banning #SkiMasks in parks, on trains, and in public buildings. A more recent, high-profile example came in December with the Midtown Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO #BrianThompson by a #MaskedAssassin, which prompted New York Mayor Eric Adams to call for cab drivers and business owners to ask customers to remove their masks. The new New York bill has won over the liberal Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who endorsed the 'tailored' approach. As the police say: #NoFaceNoCase.
"For what it’s worth, there are too many confounding variables and too little data to be sure if mask-wearing is associated with crime, said Ernesto Lopez at the Council for Criminal Justice, which collects crime reporting statistics from various cities. 'From a theoretical statement it makes sense that could occur, but it has not been demonstrated that’s the case,' he told me.
"But if all that weighed in favor of more mask bans, there was also widespread resistance. Disability advocates mobilized to defend the right to mask; North Carolina had to write a medical exemption into their bill at the insistence of a GOP House member. #PoliceReformers observed that #MaskBans have often been used for pretextual #policing and racial profiling against #BlackAmericans. (#AtlantaGeorgia tabled a mask ban for that reason.)
"What looms largest, as the second Trump administration begins, is the role of protest. As Semafor’s Dave Weigel has noted, masks have become a badge of left-wing protest culture. That’s in part an extension of politicized COVID-era concerns about health and civility, but at this point it is mostly a tactic to preserve anonymity in an era of #FacialRecognition, streaming video, and #doxing. Last year, the anonymous #ProIsrael website the #CanaryMission posted photographs of hundreds of students and faculty at campus protests and posted their names and photos online, labeling some as supporters of terrorism.
"'The concern takes on new urgency as Donald Trump pledges to revoke the visas of pro-Palestine protesters, and the Trump-Musk GOP embraces the naming and shaming of otherwise private citizens. A conservative group called the American Accountability Foundation has begun circulating lists of federal workers, many of them Black, who should be
'targets' for their alleged involvement in #DEI initiatives at work."Clearly, the masked protest does not always sit well with an older generation, many of whom cut their teeth in the protests of the pre-internet age. As Georgetown professor Michael Kazin told the New York Times last year: 'I do think if you are going to demonstrate, and it’s something you feel deeply about, you should be willing to stand up and be counted.'"
Source:
https://slate.com/business/2025/02/mask-bans-new-york-los-angeles-crime-protests-criminalize-face-coverings.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
#Fascism #AuthoritarianRule #BigBrother #BigBrotherIsWatchingYou #SurveillanceState #SilencingDissent -
Man indicted for #shooting #Democratic office facing new #felonies for hanging signs with #whitepowder -
Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, was arrested for his alleged involvement in four separate incidents of #political #violence.
Prosecutors said they believe he was allegedly planning a #masscasualty event in #Arizona. A search of his home revealed 120 #guns, 250,000 rounds of #ammunition, #bodyarmor and a #grenadelauncher, they said in court documents filed last month.
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Man indicted for #shooting #Democratic office facing new #felonies for hanging signs with #whitepowder -
Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, was arrested for his alleged involvement in four separate incidents of #political #violence.
Prosecutors said they believe he was allegedly planning a #masscasualty event in #Arizona. A search of his home revealed 120 #guns, 250,000 rounds of #ammunition, #bodyarmor and a #grenadelauncher, they said in court documents filed last month.
-
Man indicted for #shooting #Democratic office facing new #felonies for hanging signs with #whitepowder -
Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, was arrested for his alleged involvement in four separate incidents of #political #violence.
Prosecutors said they believe he was allegedly planning a #masscasualty event in #Arizona. A search of his home revealed 120 #guns, 250,000 rounds of #ammunition, #bodyarmor and a #grenadelauncher, they said in court documents filed last month.
-
Man indicted for #shooting #Democratic office facing new #felonies for hanging signs with #whitepowder -
Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, was arrested for his alleged involvement in four separate incidents of #political #violence.
Prosecutors said they believe he was allegedly planning a #masscasualty event in #Arizona. A search of his home revealed 120 #guns, 250,000 rounds of #ammunition, #bodyarmor and a #grenadelauncher, they said in court documents filed last month.