BONDI Orders Grand Jury INVESTIGATION Into Obama Officials Re RUSSIAN Interference CLAIMS
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Gabbard meets with DOJ prosecutors as grand jury probes Trump-Russia collusion 'hoax' claims
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said the DOJ opening a grand jury investigation into the Trump-Russia collusion narrative is a step toward accountability. Gabbard joined "The Ingraham Angle" on Tuesday for her first interview since Attorney General Pam Bondi directed her staff to act on a criminal referral the DNI chief sent to her office in late July. "I met with the Department of Justice prosecutors today, and yes, they are committed to leaving no stone unturned as they conduct this grand jury investigation and find the truth," Gabbard said. "They have more questions, and they're gonna be really taking a deep dive into this, again, looking everywhere to find the truth and conduct this very serious investigation." White House Sends Mixed Signals In Russia 'Hoax' Blame Game Fox News reported on Monday that Bondi directed an unnamed federal prosecutor to start legal proceedings, with plans to present evidence to a grand jury for a potential indictment, according to a letter from Bondi and a source familiar with the investigation. Read On The Fox News App The announcement comes after the attorney general announced the creation of a "strike force" to look into the evidence Gabbard and her team gathered. Gabbard alleges that Obama administration officials politicized intelligence and laid the groundwork for a "years-long coup" against President Donald Trump after he won the 2016 election. She claimed in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that former President Barack Obama and key members of his national security team, including then-CIA Director John Brennan and then-DNI James Clapper, fabricated a narrative about Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election to subvert Trump's presidency. Gabbard told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that, despite the improbability of Obama facing serious charges due to the Supreme Court's 2024 presidential immunity ruling, she wanted to release the declassified documents to protect the nation's "integrity." "The integrity of our democratic republic depends on the American people knowing the truth about what actually happened and seeking that accountability, bringing about that accountability," said the former Democratic congresswoman. "This was not a one-off thing. This wasn't just, 'Oh, well, they fudged the lines a little bit.' They created a lie and propagated that lie in order to try to undermine the person that the American people chose to be our president and commander-in-chief." An Obama spokesperson pushed back on Gabbard's "outrageous" and "bizarre" allegations in a rare statement in July as attempted distractions. "Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes. These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio," the spokesperson said. Americans Should Be Aware Of Gabbard's 'Dangerous Distraction' With Revisionist History Of 2016 Election A 2020 bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report, backed by then-Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., found that Russia did not "hack" election infrastructure, such as changing votes or manipulating voting machines. It did, however, conclude that the Russian government worked to undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions and voting processes. Rubio, now the Secretary of State, said in a 2020 press release that the committee's investigation did not find evidence that then-candidate Trump or his campaign colluded with the Russian government. Fox News' David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report. Original article source: Gabbard meets with DOJ prosecutors as grand jury probes Trump-Russia collusion 'hoax' claims
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Trump envoy Witkoff urged to take tough approach with Putin in make-or-break meeting to end Ukraine war before sanctions
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is giving Russian President Vladimir Putin one more chance to show he's serious about ending his 41-month-old invasion of Ukraine. As more than six months have passed with no diplomatic progress, well-placed sources tell The Post special envoy Steve Witkoff has been encouraged to take a sterner approach with Moscow's leader ahead of Wednesday's make-or-break meeting — in line with President Trump's recent expressions of disgust at Putin's continued attacks on Ukrainian civilians. Whether Witkoff will take that advice remains unclear. Advertisement 3 President Trump is giving Russian President Vladimir Putin one last chance to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine that started over 3 years ago. via REUTERS A spokesperson for the special envoy declined to comment on the record for this story. Meanwhile, the White House national security team responsible for the Ukraine war held multiple meetings on Tuesday, trying to work out how Washington might best persuade Russia to silence its guns, according to people familiar with the matter. Advertisement Trump himself said Tuesday he would wait to see how the sitdown went before making a final decision on whether to enact secondary sanctions and slapping more tariffs on countries that provide Russia with its main source of income: oil purchases. 'We have a meeting with Russia tomorrow, we're going to see what happens. We'll make a determination at that time,' said the president, before denying that he had promised to set the additional rates at 100% — as he appeared to suggest last month. 'I never said a percentage, but we'll be doing quite a bit of that. We'll see what happens over the next fairly short period of time.' 3 U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff will allegedly take a sterner approach in the crucial make-or-break meeting on Wednesday in an effort for the war in Ukraine to end for good. Getty Images Advertisement A source familiar with discussions insisted that sanctions are not inevitable when Trump's deadline is reached Friday, saying the administration is 'pushing hard for a deal. That's always the president's preferred outcome.' As part of his prep, Witkoff has been briefed on the historical motivations behind Putin's war on Ukraine — namely his desire to reconstitute as much of the former Soviet Union as possible, according to a US official. Last month, as Trump's rhetoric toward Moscow began to toughen, Special Presidential Envoy to Ukraine retired Gen. Keith Kellogg said that the president 'now realizes that Putin is not a business partner.' 3 President Trump said he'll see if tomorrow's sit-down will be effective before making a final decision on whether he'll slap more tariffs on Russia. REUTERS Advertisement The commander in chief — so often praised for his businesslike, transactional approach to politics — is up against a ruler who represents the opposite of that approach. That's why the earlier, more cordial approach — complete with Witkoff jovially greeting Putin at the Kremlin — did not work, according to one source. Subsequent offers of reduced sanctions and off-ramps for Russia to end its war were also not enough to persuade Moscow to change its calculus. Russia, for its part, is hoping for more of the same. Witkoff's Wednesday trip comes at the behest of the Kremlin, which invited the envoy after Trump threatened to levy the secondary sanctions. Meanwhile, as Trump's words toward Putin have grown increasingly harsh, Kremlin thought leaders have been denigrating the US president on X. Russian philosopher and Putin confidant Alexander Dugin declared Monday that Trump was crazy, an about-face from a year ago, when Dugin — nicknamed 'Putin's brain' for his purported heavy influence on the Russian leader — endorsed Trump for president in 2024. 'I come to very sad conclusion: Donald Trump is totally mad. It is the shame. We loved him,' Dugin posted to X. Last week, ex-Russian president and current deputy chair of the Kremlin's security council Dmitry Medvedev also blasted Trump for threatening sanctions.
Associated Press
3 hours ago
- Associated Press
Attorneys seek federal probe of Los Angeles County sexual abuse allegations
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Attorneys representing over 200 women said Tuesday they want the federal government to investigate allegations of rampant sexual abuse that occurred over decades at juvenile bootcamps run by the Los Angeles County probation department. The request comes months after Los Angeles County officials agreed to a $4 billion payout to settle 7,000 claims of sexual abuse in juvenile facilities since 1959, the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history. Attorneys whose clients were not a part of the deal said in a letter Monday to U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli that the settlement was not enough because there has been no information about who it happened or who was responsible. They are asking the Department of Justice to open a probe. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office declined to comment. The attorneys' clients were between the ages of 12 and 17 when they were sent to camps designated for 'at-risk youth' who had committed minor offenses, separate from the juvenile halls. Some parents were charged tuition for attendance, the attorneys said. John Manly, one of the attorneys, said during a news conference Tuesday that the camps were akin to the island owned by Jeffrey Epstein where he allegedly brought underage girls to be exploited. He said the most notorious was Camp Joseph Scott, located in Santa Clarita. It housed an all-girls population with a capacity of 125 residents and was shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the city of Santa Clarita. 'The sad and unbelievable truth is these camps were dens of sexual predation where LA County probation officers in charge of helping these children get on track turned them into human sex toys,' the attorneys said. His colleague, Courtney Thom, said one former deputy probation officer, Thomas Jackson, had been accused by at least 30 women of sexual assault during their time in the custody of the probation department. A civil lawsuit involving these allegations against Jackson is scheduled to go to trial in August. 'When our client was released back to her grandmother, this deputy probation officer went out to her home and would take her from her home to areas within the community to continue sexually abusing her and continued to contact her and torment her throughout her adult life as well,' Thom said. Jackson's attorney, Tom Yu, said his client is 'innocent of the allegations brought by those who received billions of dollars in taxpayers' money. As usual, the county abandoned their defense and blamed the employees.' Jackson's case was referred by the county to prosecutors for investigation in December 2023 but they declined to prosecute because the alleged incidents happened too long ago, according to an April 7 memo, the Los Angeles Times reported. Jackson resigned in 2023 after working for the county for decades and is now collecting a pension, according to Thom. 'Not one of those current or former LA County Probation Department officers has been prosecuted, not one has been arrested,' Thom said. 'Without a full investigation about what happened ... how can anyone assure this won't happen again?' The county's Office of County Counsel said in a statement that it is working with authorities to hold those who committed abuse accountable, but records are no longer available in many of the cases. 'The childhood sexual abuse claims in question span many decades,' the statement said. 'In addition, plaintiffs' attorneys have not produced evidence enabling the County to identify perpetrators in the vast majority of claims.' Nonetheless, the statement said, the county 'wholeheartedly supports efforts to ensure that those who have committed crimes against minors are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.' The plaintiffs in the $4 billion settlement were able to sue because of a California law that took effect in 2020 and suspended the statute of limitations for childhood sex abuse victims to bring cases for three years. Manly and Thom have represented plaintiffs in several high-profile sexual abuse cases, including gymnasts in their lawsuit against USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University sports doctor Larry Nassar, who was accused by more than 300 women and girls of sexual assault and is serving three prison sentences that will likely keep him locked up for life. The letter also called for an investigation of whether the county concealed allegations of ongoing abuse at the juvenile facilities when the Justice Department investigated the facilities in 2006 and established a federal monitor in 2008. It found that the county had completed all of its required reforms by 2014.
