| The Democratic National Committee filed a lawsuit Friday against the Russian government, the Trump campaign, and WikiLeaks, “alleging a far-reaching conspiracy to disrupt the 2016 campaign and tilt the election to Donald Trump,” according to The Washington Post. The multi-million dollar suit claims that the president's campaign officials “conspired with the Russian government and its military spy agency” to damage Hillary Clinton's campaign by hacking DNC networks and distributing stolen emails. “This constituted an act of unprecedented treachery: the campaign of a nominee for President of the United States in league with a hostile foreign power to bolster its own chance to win the presidency,” DNC Chairman Tom Perez said in a statement. The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, names Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, and Roger Stone as defendants. It also names Russian military intelligence agency GRU and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election is still underway. House intelligence committee Republicans concluded that no collusion occurred after their investigation. |
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| Russia has claimed that Donald Trump extended a warm invitation to Vladimir Putin to visit him at the White House, and offered to visit Russia after the Russian leader’s U.S. trip. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Trump said: “We proceed from the fact that the U.S. president in a telephone conversation... made such an invitation, said he would be glad to see [Putin] in the White House, would then be glad to meet on a reciprocal visit.” The news of the invitation comes the morning after as former FBI Director James Comey’s memo release offered some weird new details about conversations between Trump and Putin. In his notes on his meetings with Trump in the first months of his presidency, Comey wrote that Trump dismissed allegations that he paid Russian prostitutes to pee on a bed once slept in by the Obamas in a Moscow hotel, but told Comey that Putin spoke of his pride in Russia’s prostitutes. “The president said ‘the hookers thing’ is nonsense,” Comey writes, noting that Trump then brought up the conversation with Putin about Russia having the “some of the most beautiful hookers in the world.” |
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| Tim Bergling, the DJ and producer best known by his stage name Avicii, died Friday afternoon in Oman, Variety reported. He was 28 years old. “It is with profound sorrow that we announce the loss of Tim Bergling, also known as Avicii” the artist’s rep said in a statement. “He was found dead in Muscat, Oman this Friday afternoon local time, April 20th. The family is devastated and we ask everyone to please respect their need for privacy in this difficult time. No further statements will be given.” The Swedish DJ scored a massive crossover folk-electronica U.S. hit in 2013 with “Wake Me Up,” before retiring from touring in 2016. View this cheat in a browser to see this video. |
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| Former “Smallville” actress Allison Mack has been arrested in connection with the case of Keith Raniere, the alleged leader of “sex cult” Nxivm, according to NBC 4. Mack is due to appear in federal court later on Friday after being detained by the FBI. The specific charges against her are not yet clear. Mack was reportedly a “key recruiter” of the cult, and also led the cult’s women’s group, Jness. “As alleged in the indictment, Allison Mack recruited women to join what was purported to be a female mentorship group that was, in fact, created and led by Keith Raniere,” said U.S. attorney Richard P. Donoghue in a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. “The victims were then exploited, both sexually and for their labor, to the defendants’ benefit.” Raniere was arrested in Mexico last month for “sex-trafficking and conspiracy to commit forced labor” through the cult, which was publicly branded as a “self-help group.” The group expected the women to have sex with Raniere and do chores for the “masters.” Women were allegedly branded and also required to recruit members or face physical punishment. |
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| A tape recorded in 1984 appears to show Donald Trump impersonating a Trump Organization official and lying about his wealth in order to get onto the Forbes 400 ranking of America’s wealthiest people. Posing as “John Barron”—an alter-ego name Trump frequently used with reporters—the now-president insisted he had almost complete control of his father’s real-estate empire and should be called a billionaire rather than a millionaire. In The Washington Post on Thursday, journalist Jonathan Greenberg wrote: “When I recently rediscovered and listened, for first time since that year, to the tapes I made of this and other phone calls, I was amazed that I didn’t see through the ruse: Although Trump altered some cadences and affected a slightly stronger New York accent, it was clearly him.” Greenberg suspected a lot of the assertions from “John Barron” were untrue, but said Forbes’ estimations of Trump’s wealth ($100m) proved to be well beyond what he actually had in the bank ($5m). Neither the White House or the Trump Organization responded to questions about the uncovered tape. |
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| The Department of Justice is considering pressing charges against the police officer involved in the death of Eric Garner, according to The New York Times, but top officials may not approve the indictment. While federal civil rights prosecutors have recommended charges against Daniel Pantaleo, the Staten Island officer who put Garner in a fatal chokehold for selling loose cigarettes, current and former DOJ officials said the chances of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein approving the case are “unlikely.” Both Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have been briefed on the case, but the Trump administration has pushed back efforts to investigate excessive force in police departments. Civil rights attorneys and leaders in the Obama administration also fought about whether or not to build a case against Pantaleo: Indictments against police officers are rarely successful, as juries have historically sided with cops who use deadly force under pressure. A New York grand jury declined to press charges against Pantaleo, who was placed on desk duty after Garner's death in 2015. |
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| German security forces have found that dozens of civil servants—including members of the police force and army—belong to a “far-right movement that denies the existence of the very republic they serve,” according to a Der Spiegel report obtained by Reuters. The report says a “high double-digit number” of public servants belong to “Reichsbuerger,” or Citizens of the Reich. The group believes that “the Reich continued after Germany’s defeat in World War Two,” Reuters reported. Eleven alleged members of the group are being investigated in Bavaria, with five suspended from duty. There have also been 11 cases in Germany’s Federal Police—including four people who have had their weapons confiscated from them. There are up to five suspected cases in the armed forces. In 2016, a “Reichsbuerger” member killed a police officer who was attempting to confiscate his weapons—after the country determined he could not hold the guns as a member of the group. |
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| A student was shot in the ankle Friday morning at Florida's Forest High School, according to The Star-Banner. A witness said the shooter, who is in police custody, was “standing in a hallway and shot at a closed classroom door.” He then “dropped his weapon, ran and tried to hide[.]” The Ocala Police Department, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Highway Patrol and the FBI are all reportedly at the scene. The incident occurred on the same day as the 19th anniversary of the Columbine school massacre, which left 13 people dead. Students across the country are planning a walkout Friday morning to protest gun violence and commemorate Columbine. |
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| Wells Fargo agreed to pay $1 billion to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to settle allegations that the bank made “improper charges to consumers in its mortgage and auto-lending businesses,” according to The Wall Street Journal. The bank is suspected of “charging improper fees” in its mortgage-lending business and “selling unwanted insurance products” to customers with auto loans. The bank also agreed to “offer restitution” to customers as part of the settlement. This is the largest bank penalty in the Trump administration thus far. Wells Fargo was also caught and punished for opening dummy accounts without customers’ consent earlier this year. |
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