PARLIAMENTARY PROBLEMS: Rep. Jodey Arrington Discusses Speed Bumps for the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
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Friday's charges also allege that Vappie 'attempted to persuade' New Orleans's interim police superintendent from December 2022 to October 2023, Michelle Woodfork, to 'make it right' and exonerate him as investigators circled. Cantrell then met with Woodfork – in front of Vappie – and told her she would not be offered the long-term superintendent's post, the indictment contended. Cantrell and Vappie are facing charges of wire fraud, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit both of those crimes, false statements and untrue declarations to a grand jury. Vappie had already been charged in July 2024 – shortly after he retired from the New Orleans police – with wire fraud and lying to FBI agents. The allegations against him and Cantrell called to mind the 2018 scandal that cost the Nashville mayor, Megan Barry, her job and centered on an affair with her bodyguard, Robert Forrest. Prosecutors who obtained the 2024 charges against Vappie alleged he researched that case online two years beforehand. Friday's charges against Cantrell also come after the September 2024 indictment of New Orleans businessman Randy Farrell. Farrell was charged with exchanging gifts with the mayor so she would allegedly fire a municipal employee who was investigating Farrell's building inspection company. Among the alleged gifts were tickets to a January 2019 New Orleans Saints football game, which was being played with a Super Bowl appearance on the line, a cellphone and lunch at an upscale Ruth's Chris Steak House in the city. Vappie and Farrell had pleaded not guilty to the charges previously filed against them. While the Donald Trump-led US justice department obtained the indictment against Cantrell about seven months into the Republican's second presidency, the federal investigation into the mayor began while Joe Biden – her fellow Democrat – was in his second full year in the Oval Office. The timing of Friday's indictment coincided with the grand jurors being scheduled to wind down their work. Such panels are typically in place for six months, but this one had been extended twice since first convening in February 2024. Cantrell's office issued a statement saying it would not comment on Friday's indictment until it had been reviewed by her defense attorney, Eddie Castaing. At a press briefing, the acting US attorney in New Orleans, Michael Simpson, accused Cantrell and Vappie of 'an incredible betrayal' of the public's trust in its own government. Cantrell, a native of Compton, California, had been a New Orleans city council member before winning election as its first-ever female mayor in November 2017. She succeeded Mitch Landrieu, who later worked for Biden's White House as its infrastructure czar. The Cantrell administration's first four-year term was partly marked by its guiding the city through the Covid-19 pandemic. And, in 2019, New Orleans registered a 47-year low of homicides. Cantrell was re-elected in November 2021, and her second term has been considerably turbulent. The federal investigation began with 2022 subpoenas issued regarding an image consultant she employed. Her husband – Jason, with whom she had a daughter – unexpectedly died in August 2023. And, as the AP noted, her civic profile receded as she locked herself into feuds with a hostile city council while alienating former confidantes as well as supporters. The city council responded by weakening the mayor's power through voter-approved changes to the municipal governing charter. Cantrell and her remaining allies maintain that, as a Black woman, she has been treated differently from her male predecessors. Simpson on Friday denied that race or gender factored into the investigation against Cantrell. Cantrell was term-limited from seeking another stint as mayor and is due to leave office in January. Several candidates have signed up to run to replace her in a primary election set for October. Only one other person who has served as New Orleans mayor has been charged with federal crimes: Ray Nagin. Nagin was the New Orleans mayor when the failure of federal levees there during Hurricane Katrina on 29 August 2005 destroyed the city and caused about 1,400 deaths. He was charged after leaving office and convicted in 2014 on charges of bribery, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, filing false tax returns and conspiracy. He then received a 10-year prison sentence. The Associated Press and WWL Louisiana contributed reporting Solve the daily Crossword
