Tuesday, February 23, 2016

With GOP nomination looming, Trump slated to take witness stand in fraud trial

With GOP nomination looming, Trump slated to take witness stand in fraud trial

Michael Isikoff

Chief Investigative Correspondent

February 23, 2016

Here’s a part of the political calendar that nobody in the Republican Party seems to have noticed: This spring, just as the GOP nomination battle enters its final phase, frontrunner Donald Trump could be forced to take time out for some unwanted personal business: He’s due to take the witness stand in a federal courtroom in San Diego, where he is being accused of running a financial fraud.

In court filings last Friday, lawyers for both sides in a long-running civil lawsuit over the now defunct Trump University named Trump on their witness lists. That makes it all but certain that the reality-show star and international businessman will be forced to be grilled under oath over allegations in the lawsuit that he engaged in deceptive trade practices and scammed thousands of students who enrolled in his “university” courses in response to promises he would make them rich in the real estate market.

Although the case has been winding its way through the courts for the past five years — and Trump has denied all wrongdoing — the final pretrial conference is now slated for May 6, according to the latest pleadings in the case. No trial date has been set, but the judge has indicated his interest in moving the case forward, the pleadings show.

“This is pretty amazing,” said Scott Reed, a veteran Republican Party consultant, about Trump’s upcoming due date in federal court. “Usually, you clean this stuff up before you run for president.”

Trump’s new lead lawyer in the case, Daniel Petrocelli, best known for representing one of the slain murder victims in a civil suit against O.J. Simpson, did not respond to emailed questions about Trump’s upcoming testimony, including how long he expects his client to be on the witness stand.

As noted by Yahoo News last week, the Trump University case has already intruded on Trump’s political schedule. On Dec. 10, 2015, during a day he was making international headlines over his pledge to ban Muslim immigrants from the United States, Trump managed to escape any press attention and give a closed-door pretrial deposition in the case, according to court filings reviewed by Yahoo News. Exactly what he said in the deposition remains under seal, but lawyers for Tarla Makaeff, a California yoga instructor who is the lead plaintiff in the case, cited portions of his testimony (blacked out in her pleadings) to support their contention that Trump has threatened to ruin her financially for bringing the lawsuit and that she needs protection from his “retaliation.”

But the upcoming civil trial could be a much bigger burden on Trump’s time. If it takes place in May, that would put it in the middle of the final phase of the GOP primary schedule: Nebraska and West Virginia vote on May 10, Oregon on May 17, and Washington state on May 24. Then on June 7, the biggest prize of all: the California primary (with 172 delegates at stake). New Jersey, Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota vote the same day.

While it is unclear how long the trial over Trump University will take, both sides have submitted lengthy witness lists: 72 individuals have been identified as prospective witnesses by the two sides. Trump’s lawyers have also identified 965 trial exhibits, including PowerPoint presentations, course curriculums, emails, letters, videos and other material. Picking jurors who have neutral views on Trump could present another time-consuming hurdle.

Read more:  https://www.yahoo.com/politics/with-gop-nomination-looming-trump-slated-to-take-191550876.html

U.S. judge orders discovery to go forward over Clinton’s private email system

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By Spencer S. Hsu February 23 at 2:21 PM

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that State Department officials and top aides to Hillary Clinton should be questioned under oath about whether they intentionally thwarted federal open records laws by using or allowing the use of a private email server throughout Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of Washington came in a lawsuit over public records brought by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal watchdog group, regarding its May 2013 request, for information about the employment arrangement of Huma Abedin, a longtime Clinton aide.

A State Department official said that the department is aware of the order and that it is reviewing it but declined to comment further, citing the ongoing litigation.

Although it was not immediately clear whether the government will appeal, Sullivan set an April deadline for parties to lay out a detailed investigative plan that would extend well beyond the limited and carefully worded explanations of the use of the private server that department and Clinton officials have given.

Sullivan also suggested from the bench that he might at some point order the department to subpoena Clinton and Abedin, to return all records related to Clinton’s private account, not just those their camps have previously deemed work-related and returned.

“There has been a constant drip, drip, drip of declarations. When does it stop?” Sullivan said, adding that months of piecemeal revelations about Clinton and the State Department’s handling of the email controversy create “at least a ‘reasonable suspicion’ ” that public access to official government records under the federal Freedom of Information Act was undermined. “This case is about the public’s right to know.”

In granting Judicial Watch’s request, Sullivan noted that there was no dispute that senior State Department officials were aware of the email set-up, citing a January 2009 email exchange including Undersecretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy, Clinton chief of staff Cheryl D. Mills and Abedin about establishing an “off-network” email system.

The watchdog group did not ask to depose Clinton by name, but its requests in its lawsuit targeted those who handled her transition, arrival and departure from the department and who oversaw Abedin, a direct subordinate.

Sullivan’s decision came as Clinton seeks the Democratic presidential nomination and three weeks after the State Department acknowledged for the first time that “top secret” information passed through the server.

The FBI and the department’s inspector general are continuing to look into whether the private setup mishandled classified information or violated other federal laws.

For six months in 2012, Abedin was employed simultaneously by the State Department, the Clinton Foundation, Clinton’s personal office and a private consulting firm connected to the Clintons.

GOP candidates respond to revelation of Clinton's 'top secret' emails

Republican presidential candidates like Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio are weighing in on the State Department's Jan. 29 announcement that some of the emails sent on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server contained top secret information. (Reuters)

The department stated in February 2014 that it had completed its search of records for the secretary’s office. After Clinton’s exclusive use of a private server was made public in May, the department said that additional records probably were available.

In pursuing information about Abedin’s role, Judicial Watch argued that the only way to determine whether all official records subject to its request were made public was to allow it to depose or submit detailed written questions about the private email arrangement to a slew of current and former top State Department officials, Clinton aides, her attorneys and outside parties.

“We know discovery in FOIA cases is not typical, and we do not ask for it lightly,” Judicial Watch President Thomas J. Fitton said before the hearing. “If it’s not appropriate under these circumstances, it’s difficult to imagine when it would be appropriate.”

Fitton noted that the State Department’s inspector general last month faulted the department and Clinton’s office for overseeing processes that repeatedly allowed “inaccurate and incomplete” FOIA responses, including a May 2013 reply that found “no records” concerning email accounts that Clinton used, even though dozens of senior officials had corresponded with her private account.

Justice Department lawyers countered in court that the State Department is poised to finish publicly releasing all 54,000 pages of emails that Clinton’s attorneys determined to be work-related and that were returned to the State Department at its request for review.

The case before Sullivan, a longtime jurist who has overseen other politically contentious FOIA cases, is one of more than 50 active FOIA lawsuits by legal groups, news media organizations and others seeking information included in emails sent to or by Clinton and her aides on the private server.

The State Department has been releasing Clinton’s newly recovered correspondence in batches since last summer with a final set due Monday.

Meanwhile, former Clinton department aides Mills, Abedin, Jacob Sullivan and Philippe Reines have returned tens of thousands of pages of documents to the department for FOIA review, with releases projected to continue into at least 2017.

The State Department also has asked the FBI to turn over any of an estimated 30,000 deleted emails deemed personal by Clinton’s attorneys that the FBI is able to recover in its investigation of the security of the private email server.

“There can be no doubt that [the State Department’s] search for responsive records has been exceedingly thorough and more than adequate under FOIA,” according to filings by Justice Department civil division lawyers, led by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer.

They argued that FOIA requires the agency to release records only under its control — not under the control of its current or former officials — and that “federal employees routinely manage their email and ‘self-select’ their work-related messages when they, quite permissibly, designate and delete personal emails from their government email accounts.”

Sullivan’s decision will almost certainly extend through Election Day an inquiry that has dogged Clinton’s campaign, frustrating allies and providing fodder to Republican opponents.

FOIA law generally gives agencies the benefit of the doubt and sets a high bar for plaintiffs’ requests for discovery. However, one similar public records battle during Bill Clinton’s presidency lasted 14 years and led to depositions of the president’s White House counsel and chief of staff.

Because of the number of judges hearing the FOIA cases, there is likewise a chance that the fight over Hillary Clinton’s emails could “take on a life of their own,” not ending “until there are endless depositions of top [agency] aides and officials, and just a parade of horribles,” said Anne L. Weismann, executive director of the Campaign for Accountability. Weismann also is a former Justice Department FOIA litigation supervisor who oversaw dozens of such fights from 1991 to 2002.

Still, she said, such drawn-out legal proceedings could be valuable if they shed light on whether the State Department met its legal obligations under open-government laws or systematically withheld releasable records.

Last month, one of Sullivan’s colleagues, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, dismissed lawsuits brought by Judicial Watch and the Cause of Action Institute that sought to force the government to take more aggressive steps to recover Clinton’s deleted emails under the Federal Records Act.

Plaintiffs “cannot sue to force the recovery of records that they hope or imagine might exist,” Boasberg wrote Jan. 11, adding that, to date, recovery efforts by the State Department and the National Archives under that law “cannot in any way be described as a dereliction of duty.”

The server’s existence was disclosed two years after Clinton left, in February 2013, as secretary of state and as the department faced a congressional subpoena and media requests for emails related to scores of matters, including attacks that killed a U.S. ambassador in Benghazi, Libya, and fundraising for the Clinton family’s global charity.

In seeking records related to Abedin’s employment, Judicial Watch asked to be allowed to depose or submit written questions to current and former State Department employees and Clinton aides, including Kennedy; John F. Hackett, director of information services; Executive Secretary Joseph E. Macmanus; Clinton’s chief of staff, Mills; lawyer David E. Kendall; Abedin; and Bryan Pagliano, a Clinton staff member during her 2008 presidential campaign who helped set up the private server.

More broadly, the group’s motion targets who oversaw State Department information systems, Clinton’s transition and arrival at the department, her communications, and her and Abedin’s departure from the agency.

“What emails . . . were deleted . . . who decided to delete them, and when?” Judicial Watch asks in filings.

The group also asks whether any archived copies of sent or received emails on the private server existed, including correspondence with Clinton technology contractors Platte River Networks and Datto.

Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report.

Above is from:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/us-judge-weighs-deeper-probe-into-clintons-private-email-system/2016/02/23/9c27412a-d997-11e5-81ae-7491b9b9e7df_story.html?wpisrc=al_alert-COMBO-politics%252Bnation

Belvidere will hire its own economic development planner

By Susan Vela
Staff writer

Posted Feb. 22, 2016 at 10:00 PM

BELVIDERE — With a new seven-county regional planning commission in the works, Belvidere officials will not protest Boone County's recent decision to abandon a decades-long pact to jointly plan for economic development.
Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson, Ogle, Lee, DeKalb and McHenry counties have been meeting to form a commission that would spur jobs, development and economic growth for the entire area.
"In seven counties, we’re a million people, and a million people outside Chicago is a large voice in Illinois," Belvidere Mayor Mike Chamberlain said Monday at the City Council’s Committee of the Whole.
The committee unanimously voted for the city to hire a planner with five to 10 years experience, who would work with the new commission and receive an annual salary of about $50,000 a year. That person would manage Belvidere’s planning and zoning matters.
Aldermen will vote at their March 7 meeting to create and fund the position. Chamberlain said he will recommend a person to be hired then.
Boone County Board’s 8-4 vote on Wednesday to give the city a 90-day notice to end a planning agreement of some 40 years.

Susan Vela; 815-987-1369; svela@rrstar.com; @susanvela

Above is from:  http://www.rrstar.com/article/20160222/NEWS/160229847

Charleston legislator asks Rauner for campaign contribution then gives it to charity

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Phillips receives money from Rauner

Phillips receives $53,000 from governor

Jason Howell

Rep. Reggie Phillips, R-Charleston, talks with constituents as budget concerns force students to descend on the capitol steps of the Illinois State house to rally for higher education funding on Wednesday in Springfield.

Cassie Buchman, Associate News Editor
February 22, 2016
Filed under News, Showcase

Rep. Reggie Phillips, R-Charleston, recently received a contribution of $53,000 to his re-election campaign from Citizens for Rauner, Inc., a committee originally created in support of the gubernatorial candidacy of Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Phillips said he reached out to the governor’s office and asked if he would be interested in contributing to his campaign.

Phillips said since Rauner had sent out checks to other Republican candidates for other offices and he was currently working with Rauner on multiple issues, Phillips and his staff thought he could ask Rauner for the donation.

Prior to this, Phillips said he had financed his first campaign for representative himself, and made a commitment to not take a pension or health insurance.

Phillips said he has been donating his salary to scholarships, food banks and other places that need it.

Phillips already has a relationship with Rauner, as the governor has endorsed his campaign for re-election as representative for the 110th district.

He said this relationship helps him help the district, as the governor will be more likely to listen to him about issues such as funding Eastern.

Since receiving the money, Phillips has been watching Facebook posts criticizing the decision to take the $53,000 and decided it was not the best idea.

Phillips said instead of using the money given to him by Rauner for his re-election campaign, he would donate it to areas in the district such as Sexual Assault Counseling and Information Services.

He said he will do this by leaving the money he received from Citizens for Rauner, Inc. in his campaign, but he will match the $53,000 he received from the campaign from his own pocket and donate it.

“It doesn’t matter how they get it, people need help,” Phillips said. “They need money.”

Erin Walters, executive director of SACIS, said they had a meeting set up for Phillips to give a donation on Monday.

She said she heard this from one board member who talked to Phillips and let him know SACIS is struggling to keep their doors open.

In response to this information, Phillips said he would make a donation.

“As far as I am aware, this is a donation coming from Reggie Phillips,” Walters said.

Phillips said he did not need the money for his own campaign and asking for it was the result of taking poor advice.

Phillips said in any other campaign, having the governor contribute to one’s campaign would be an honor.

“It’s still an honor,” Phillips said. “But under circumstances I do not think it looks most appropriate.”

Phillips said he agrees with Rauner 100 percent on his business reform plans, but not higher education.

Charlie Wheeler, director of the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois Springfield, said Rauner gave contributions to a number of house and senate representatives to encourage them to vote his way.

He said it has been routine over the years that an incumbent running for office will have their party organization’s support.

Wheeler said it is not unusual to receive money from these organizations, and party officials will usually back the person from their party unless they have annoyed what Wheeler calls the “powers that be.”

There is not currently a democratic candidate running for representative in the 110th district.

If nobody runs as a Democrat, the democratic chairman in the district can appoint someone to run.

Jonathan Kaye, who is running against Phillips for state representative in the Illinois primary, said he would “absolutely not” take money from Rauner for his campaign.

“He doesn’t know me, doesn’t know what I stand for,” Kaye said. “He doesn’t know anything about what I represent in the district. Until I know that that money is going to help the 110th district, it’s dirty money.”

Kaye said Rauner is not the only one who has exasperated the budget impasse, however. He said Michael Madigan, speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, and John Cullerton, President of the Illinois Senate, are also part of the problem.

Above is from: http://www.dailyeasternnews.com/2016/02/22/rep-phillips-receives-money-from-rauner/

Gov. Rauner Threatens to Choke CPS Borrowing

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Gov. Rauner Threatens to Choke CPS Borrowing

Paris Schutz | February 22, 2016 4:50 pm

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Gov. Bruce Rauner says the State Board of Education is preparing for a takeover of Chicago Public Schools, even though he acknowledges that lawmakers would have to pass a bill to allow that to happen.

But there is another avenue the state can take to exert control over CPS without any further approval, Rauner said Monday. CPS Chief Forrest Claypool immediately fought back and said the real problem is the lack of funding from the state.

The governor says the State Board of Education can decide to block CPS from any further borrowing or bond issues if it deems the system is in financial difficulty.

The governor says the state is well within its bounds to do this now – it is part of the investigation he says the State Board of Education has launched into CPS’ finances. He acknowledged that a full on state takeover and bankruptcy is not yet possible, but has introduced legislation with other Republican leaders to make it possible.

Many believed the governor did that on purpose to help scare the bond markets and drive up the costs on a recent borrowing deal. But the governor says the state can simply block Chicago Public Schools itself from borrowing any more money.

“Contrary to what some elected officials have said, when they’ve accused me of trying to block bond offerings or making statements designed to hurt a bond offering – completely false,” he said. “The simple fact is, the State Board of Education has the right to block any debt offerings, any bond or debt offerings. The state board has never chosen to do that for the city of Chicago. I hope it never becomes necessary, but we have to be ready to take action and step in.”

The governor’s office went on to say:

CPS CEO Forrest Claypool says that the state can perform a financial analysis if it wants, but all of the information it seeks is public record. Beyond that, he says the governor is stepping out of bounds.

“The governor has come up with a number of novel legal theories, but I’d refer him back to the statute,” Claypool said. “The statute is clear that the authority he seeks to exercise is not applicable to Chicago Public Schools. We welcome the governor’s concern about education. But we hope he shows the same amount of concern for all the poor children in Illinois who are suffering under this system.”

Claypool reiterated his belief that the real cause of the CPS financial crisis is a lack of funding from the state, claiming that it gives about 70 percent of the amount of funding per pupil to CPS as it gives to the average school district in Illinois.

The governor acknowledged he wants more state money to go to education and wants to change the formula for how money gets awarded, but he believes there is someone holding that up.

“Speaker Madigan has resisted efforts to reform the state funding formula for many years,” Rauner said. “Democrats have created the current system and blocked changing the system for many, many years. Now, everyone’s yelling at me saying, ‘Governor, you change it.’ There’s a lot of things I want to change.”

Democrats counter that suburban Republicans have been complicit in the past to blocking reform to the state’s funding formula.

Follow Paris Schutz on Twitter: @paschutz

Above is from:  http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2016/02/22/gov-rauner-threatens-choke-cps-borrowing

Donald Trump calls out Cubs owners for campaign contributions

 

GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Holds Rally In Atlanta, Georgia

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump walks on stage before speaking during campaign rally at the Georgia World Congress Center on Feb. 21, 2016.

(Branden Camp / Getty Images)

Rick PearsonChicago Tribune

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump took to Twitter on Monday to denounce a super political action committee opposing his campaign that's primarily funded by Marlene Ricketts, whose family owns the Chicago Cubs.

“I hear the Rickets (sic) family, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $'s against me. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide!” wrote Trump, the businessman and reality TV show star who is no stranger to making pronouncements, name-calling denunciations and predictions via social media.

May 2012: Ricketts family moves to control fallout on Obama attack ad

May 2012: Ricketts family moves to control fallout on Obama attack ad

Trump's message apparently was in response to a USA Today story noting that Ricketts, the family matriarch who lives in Nebraska, had put $3 million into the Our Principles PAC in January. The PAC has spent about $3.5 million in ads, mailings and other efforts to oppose Trump, federal records show.

Ricketts had been an early backer of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's failed presidential campaign, giving an allied super PAC $5 million, which made her one of his top supporters. But she also sprinkled the infield, giving $10,000 to PACs backing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Rubio is the only candidate on that list still in the Republican presidential contest.

Ricketts is married to Joe Ricketts, the billionaire T.D. Ameritrade founder. In October 2009, the couple formed a trust on behalf of their family that acquired a 95 percent controlling interest in the Cubs and Wrigley Field. Both Marlene and Joe Ricketts are conservatives, and son Pete is governor of Nebraska.

A spokeswoman for the super PAC told USA Today that it will continue to oppose Trump and his “liberal statements and inconsistencies” and is looking to the March 1 Super Tuesday states for places “in which to launch aggressive efforts.”

A Chicago-based Ricketts family spokesman said the team is not commenting on Trump's missive.

The political activity of Joe Ricketts has created past problems. In May 2012, the Ricketts family disavowed a plan presented to Joe Ricketts that would have used $10 million in super PAC ads to link a re-election-seeking President Barack Obama to the controversial statements of his one-time pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

The proposal infuriated Mayor Rahm Emanuel at a time the Cubs were seeking tax money to help reconstruct Wrigley Field. Emanuel, Obama's first White House chief of staff, called the super PAC plan “insulting to the president (and) it's insulting to the country.”

The Ricketts family is no stranger to political fundraising at the state level.

Of the couple's children, Laura Ricketts is a major Democratic donor, having given out more than $404,000 since 2007 to state and local candidates, including Emanuel, former Gov. Pat Quinn, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and State's Attorney Anita Alvarez. Alvarez is seeking re-election, and Preckwinkle is backing her former chief of staff, Kim Foxx, for the post. Laura Ricketts has given Alvarez $21,750, including $2,000 this campaign cycle.

Todd Ricketts has given nearly $133,000 to state and local candidates, including $2,500 each to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Emanuel. In 2014, he gave $50,000 to the Liberty Principles PAC, led by conservative talk show host and Rauner ally Dan Proft, and another $10,000 to the state Republican Party.

Pete Ricketts, the Nebraska governor, has given $12,500 in Illinois donations including $10,000 to the state GOP and $2,500 to Rauner in 2014.

Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts has given more than $61,000, including $50,000 to the failed 2014 effort for a constitutional amendment aimed at removing much of the politics from redrawing legislative boundaries. In Illinois, Joe and Marlene Ricketts have given $17,500 in state candidate donations, including $10,000 to the Illinois GOP and $2,500 to Rauner in 2010.

Above is from:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-donald-trump-calls-out-cubs-owners-20160222-story.html