Judge considers releasing Trump search affidavit:Â In West Palm Beach Florida, Federal Judge Bruce Reinhart has given the Justice Department until next Thursday to prepare a redacted version of the affidavit that was used to justify issuing the search warrant for Donald Trump”™s residence at Mar-A-Lago. The Justice Department would have to black out sensitive information, allowing the rest of the affidavit to be made public. News media are among those asking for the affidavit to be made public because it would provide details about some of the criminal allegations being made against Trump.
Summit on hate violence scheduled: The White House says that President Biden will hold a summit meeting at the White House next month on violence being fueled by hate in America. The White House says Republicans as well as Democrats will be invited and attendees will include members of civil rights groups, religious leaders, business executives, officials from law enforcement and even former members of hate groups.
Weisselberg pleads guilty: As expected, Allen Weisselberg, who served for decades as CFO of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty to 15 counts involving tax and business fraud in New York State Supreme Court in New York City yesterday. As part of his plea deal, he is due to testify against the Trump Organization in a tax evasion and fraud trial due to begin Oct. 24. If he lives up to the deal and pays a bit under $2 million in back taxes and penalties, he”™ll serve five months in prison followed by five years of probation, instead of a possible 15 years in prison.
GOP claims of “IRS Army” debunked:Â The Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service Charles Rettig is among those debunking claims of Republicans that the agency plans to hire 87,000 new agents who would be equipped with AR-15 assault rifles and be under orders to kick down the doors of small businesses and middle-class taxpayers. Republicans such as Senators Rafael Cruz and Chuck Grassley claim that money for the IRS in the newly-passed Inflation Reduction Act would be used to pay for the “IRS Army.” In reality, the money would be used to hire new IRS employees to replace the 50,000 IRS employees who are retiring while also allowing the hiring of new auditors to expand reviews of tax returns filed by very rich people and companies. None of the new IRS employees would be armed with AR-15 weapons.
GM reinstates stock dividend:Â General Motors announced today that it is reinstating a quarterly cash dividend on the company’s common stock. The divided will be nine cents per share and will be paid on Sept. 15. GMÂ suspended its quarterly stock dividend in April of 2020 in response to uncertainties resulting from the global coronavirus pandemic.
Three charged in mobster murder:Â The Justice Department says three men have ben charged in the killing of crime boss Whitey Bulger who ran the mob in Boston while Bulger was in prison in West Virginia in 2018. Bulger later became an FBI informant. Two of the men were charged with hitting Bulger in the head and the third was charged with lying to investigators. The three, all of whom were in the same prison with Bulgar, were identified as Freddy Geas, Paul DeCologero and Sean McKinnon.
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