Trump's attorney general drops fraud case tied to Covid vaccinations
Bondi, in a statement posted on X, said Michael Kirk Moore Jr., of Salt Lake County, Utah did not deserve the jail time he was facing. Moore was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2023 and his trial had begun earlier this month.
'Dr. Moore gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so. He did not deserve the years in prison he was facing. It ends today,' Bondi said.
Covid-19 vaccine skeptics have been embraced by the Trump administration. The Pentagon, for example, has sought to re-enlist servicemembers who were ousted for refusing to be vaccinated during the pandemic.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who for decades has sown doubt about the safety of vaccines contrary to evidence and research by scientists, wrote on X in April: 'Dr. Moore deserves a medal for his courage and his commitment to healing!'
According to a 2023 statement from the US Attorney's Office in Utah, Moore allegedly ran the false certifications out of a plastic surgery center. His activities allegedly included administering saline shots to minors, at the request of their parents, so the children would think they were receiving Covid-19 vaccines, the statement said.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a US lawmaker from Georgia and staunch Trump supporter, had championed dropping the case against Moore, who she called a hero in a statement on Saturday.
'We can never again allow our government to turn tyrannical under our watch,' she said in a post on X.
The latest move by Bondi comes amid scrutiny of her firings of senior Justice Department officials who worked on investigations into Trump, stoking accusations of political retribution in a department whose mission is to enforce US laws.
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First Post
2 hours ago
- First Post
Meet the 'Japanese Trump', who won big in elections
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STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This comes as the country's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost seats and right-wing parties gained in the in parliament's upper house. But who is Kamiya, 47, known as the 'Japanese Trump'? What do we know about him? Let's take a closer look: Who is he? Little is known about Kamiya, a former supermarket manager and English teacher. Kamiya as a young man worked in his father's business which later went bankrupt. However, Kamiya grew disgruntled with the LDP's fundraising driven culture and left the party. He founded Sanseito soon afterwards. Kamiya is a reservist in Japan's military – known as the Self-Defence Force. Kamiya, a populist, has claimed to be inspired by Trump's 'bold, political style.' Much like Trump, he has fanned the flames of 'globalists' trying to take over Japan, railed against elites, immigrants and taxes. 'Under globalism, multinational companies have changed Japan's policies for their own purposes,' Kamiya said at one rally in Kagoshima 'If we fail to resist this foreign pressure, Japan will become a colony!' He has also made a fervent appeal to Japan's identity. 'Japan must be a society that serves the interests of the Japanese people', he has said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Kamiya founded his Sanseito party in 2020 – at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. He said he did so by 'gathering people on the Internet'. Sanseito during the pandemic took a harsh tone on vaccines and slammed the 'global elite'. The party's YouTube channel has over 360,000 subscribers. It relies on small donors. While Kamiya didn't run this year – he won a seat in Japan's 248 Upper House in 2022 – he has resonated strongly with Japan's youth. He has campaigned extensively across the country for his party's nearly six dozen candidates. The party itself polled third in a nationwide race. It has increased its base in the upper house from just 2 seats, including Kamiya himself, to 14 seats. In the run-up to the polls, it became well-known for its 'Japan First' platform – against the influx of immigrants and over-tourism. Japan in recent years has more and more opened itself up on immigration – mainly to combat low birth rates and an aging population. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Kamiya's complaints about stationary wages, spikes in inflation and costs of living have drawn plaudits from youth. 'Right now, Japanese people's lives are getting harder and harder,' Kamiya said. 'More and more foreigners are coming (to Japan)'. Japan's Sanseito party leader Sohei Kamiya (R) shakes hands with candidate Saya (L) at a vote-counting centre in Tokyo on July 20, 2025. Image- AFP 'I am attending graduate school but there are no Japanese around me. All of them are foreigners,' said Yu Nagai, a 25-year-old student who voted for Sanseito earlier on Sunday. 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Sanseito is being compared to the Maga movement in America, the AfD in Germany and Reform in UK. Much like Maga, it too is anti-vaccine. 'Sanseito has become the talk of the town, and particularly here in America, because of the whole populist and anti-foreign sentiment,' Joshua Walker, head of the US-based non-profit Japan Society, said. 'It's more of a weakness of the LDP and Ishiba than anything else'. Critics have decried Sanseito's manifesto as 'xenophobic and discriminatory'. The party has also adopted a strong support for 'traditional gender roles'. Kamiya, ahead of the polls, attempted to tamp down on some of the party's contentious ideas. He also attempted to woo female voters. However, since the polls, Kamiya has adopted a far more stringent tone. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'The public came to understand that the media was wrong and Sanseito was right,' Kamiya said. 'The phrase Japanese First was meant to express rebuilding Japanese people's livelihoods by resisting globalism. I am not saying that we should completely ban foreigners or that every foreigner should get out of Japan,' he added. Experts say Kamiya could fill the vacuum in Japanese politics left by Shinzo Abe. 'The LDP has been unable to hold onto the revisionist and xenophobic element that used to be contained in the Abe faction,' said Koichi Nakano, a Harvard-affiliated political scholar. Increased pressure on Ishiba Though the results have weakened Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's grip on power further, he has vowed to remain party leader. While the ballot does not directly determine whether Ishiba's administration will fall, it heaps pressure on the embattled leader who also lost control of the more powerful lower house in October. 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NDTV
3 hours ago
- NDTV
Ecuador's Biggest Drug Lord 'Fito', Recaptured After Prison Escape, Sent To US
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Time of India
5 hours ago
- Time of India
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