Latest news with #Ticktin
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Trump Pardon Attorney Reviewed Full Clemency Request For Oath Keepers Leader
Ed Martin, President Donald Trump's new pardon attorney, has examined a recommendation for Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers group, to receive a full pardon over his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, according to newsreports. Martin was presented with the pardon applications of Rhodes and 10 others during a meeting with Peter Ticktin, a lawyer and leader at the conservative American Rights Alliance nonprofit, last week. 'I know Ed Martin and I felt it was important to bring these particular applications to his attention,' Ticktin told Politico, which was first to report on the lawyer's application to grant Rhodes full clemency. Over the weekend, Martin posted a photo of his meeting with Ticktin, which Politico says took place Thursday. 'I listened! Cuz he's wise,' Martin wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Hours after his inauguration in January, Trump pardoned about 1,500 defendants charged in the Capitol riot — including those who assaulted police — and issued some commutations. Rhodes, who received an 18-year prison sentence after being convicted of seditious conspiracy charges, was among those who had their sentences commuted. Besides Rhodes, Ticktin said he also recommended full pardons for Proud Boys members Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola, Politico and CBS News reported. CBS added that Ticktin also referenced pardon requests for two other Jan. 6 defendants, Dan Wilson and Elias Costianes, who were sentenced to prison over charges unrelated to the Capitol insurrection. Ticktin has made clear that Martin has not guaranteed that their applications would be successful, but said he would pass them on to Trump's pardon czar, Alison Johnson, for review. Martin has previously worked to defend Jan. 6 rioters. Apart from representing three defendants in the past, he once sat on the board of the Jan. 6 defendant advocacy group Patriot Freedom Project and attended the Stop the Steal rally on the eve of the Capitol attack. He also posted on social media on Jan. 6, likening the atmosphere in D.C. to that of Mardi Gras. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Tuesday, Martin, a major Trump ally, said he has been inundated with pardon requests since he started his role as pardon attorney last week. Martin said he would examine the requests he's received with a focus on 'the forgotten man and woman.' Martin's first full clemency recommendation to Trump was successful after the president announced he was pardoning Scott Jenkins, a former Virginia sheriff convicted of federal bribery charges, the Journal noted. Trump has since said he is pardoning reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted in 2022 of bank fraud and tax evasion. According to The New York Times, he also granted full clemency to Paul Walczak, who pleaded guilty to tax crimes last year, after his mother attended a fundraising dinner for the president at Mar-a-Lago. Martin served as the interim U.S. attorney for D.C. after Trump appointed him to the temporary post in January. But the president was forced to pull his nomination after he faced bipartisan opposition in the Senate for dropping cases against Jan. 6 defendants, among other things. Instead, Trump gave him three new assignments at the Justice Department, making him the new director of the so-called weaponization working group, associate deputy attorney general and pardon attorney. Oath Keepers Founder Stewart Rhodes Visits Capitol Hill After Trump Pardon Trump Says He's Dropping Controversial Nominee Ed Martin
NBC News
27-05-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Live updates: Trump administration seeks to end Harvard ties amid antisemitism policy standoff
IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Members of Congress are holding town halls in their districts after passing a massive GOP agenda bill. Harvard's Commencement ceremony in 2022. Jessica Rinaldi / Boston Globe via Getty Images file Updated May 27, 2025, 4:01 PM EDT Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville is running for governor of Alabama, he announced Tuesday with the launch of a campaign website. If successful, the long-expected move will cap a whirlwind decade for Tuberville. In 2016, he was still working as the University of Cincinnati's head football coach (he previously coached at Auburn University in Alabama). In 2020, he won a seat representing Alabama in the United States Senate, his first foray into elected office. With this decision, he could end 2026 as the governor-elect. Tuberville is seeking to succeed Gov. Kay Ivey, a fellow Republican who is finishing her second term and cannot run for a third. His prominence in Alabama, driven by his football career, helped jump-start his political turn, with Tuberville framing himself as a political outsider who still sports the moniker 'coach.' Read the full story here. U.S. pardon attorney Ed Martin personally received pardon applications for members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, including members who were convicted of seditious conspiracy, a former classmate of Trump who is working on the issue told NBC News. Martin posted photos of him meeting with attorney Peter Ticktin over the weekend, and Ticktin said that he delivered pardon applications to Martin last week. "He had done recommendations for pardons — I listened! Cuz he's wise," Martin wrote. The news of who the applications were for was first reported by Politico. Enrique Tarrio reposted the Martin post, as did Proud Boys' Zach Rehl. "There's a good deal of reason to be hopeful," Ticktin, who went to the New York Military Academy with Trump, told NBC News. "No promises were made as to what would be done, that's not the way it works. We present it and then we hope for the best," Ticktin said. Ticktin said that he expected the applications to go to Alice Johnson, who serves as White House Pardon Czar. Martin was named as pardon attorney after his nomination to take over the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia on a permanent basis stalled in the Senate. He also serves as director of the Weaponization Working Group. In his conversation with NBC News, Ticktin floated a conspiracy theory about the 2020 election, saying the real insurrection was not Jan. 6 but the 2020 election itself, and compared Jan. 6 to the Reichstag fire. "So really, what happened on Jan. 6? Was it a whole bunch of people that got unruly because they were upset over the results of the election, or was this planned in advance by the people that were behind Biden? We know that Biden didn't fix the election, Joe Biden couldn't fix a flat tire. So who fixed it? Who did that?" Ticktin said. Trump threatened to withhold federal funding if California did not stop a transgender girl in high school from competing in state track and field finals, and said he would discuss it with Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday. Trump, in a social media post, appeared to be referring to AB Hernandez, 16, who has qualified to compete in the long jump, high jump and triple jump championship run by the California Interscholastic Federation at a high school in Clovis, California, this weekend. Read the full story here. Trump Media announced Tuesday a $2.5 billion raise from institutional investors to bankroll one of the largest bitcoin treasury allocations by a public company. Shares of the company fell about 10% following the news. It's the latest and most ambitious move in its evolution from a free-speech social platform to a financial services player. Read the full story here. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced today that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will no longer recommend routine Covid shots for healthy children and pregnant women. 'We are now one step closer to realizing @POTUS's promise to Make America Healthy Again,' Kennedy said in a post on X. Read the full story. After Kamala Harris entered the presidential race last year, she reached out to Barack Obama campaign alum Jim Messina to help lead her White House bid. But when Messina shared news of the vice president's offer with a friend, he received a stern warning. 'I said 'Jim, if you get involved in this, it'll be political suicide,'' Democratic megadonor John Morgan, a longtime Harris critic, recalled of his conversation with Messina, who had served in Obama's White House and managed his successful 2012 re-election campaign. 'You're going to be a loser. And your whole shine is you're undefeated.' Messina declined the job. And after Harris' loss to Trump, it may not have been a bad move. David Plouffe, long hailed as the brilliant architect of Obama's 2008 victory, served in a key role in Harris' campaign and is now among those tagged with a devastating defeat. 'The shine's off Plouffe now. He was the golden boy,' Morgan said. 'Now he's just an old broken-down boy, who lost. Big.' While many Democrats still admire Plouffe's successes, the harsh words punctuated a growing sentiment across a party searching for a path forward: Team Obama's bloom may be falling off the rose. Read the full story here. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, urged Trump today to hit Russia with more sanctions. "I believe president trump was sincere when he thought his friendship w Putin wld end the war. Now that 'game over,'" Grassley wrote on X in his signature shorthand. The Iowa Republican's message comes a day after a similar plea on X: "I've had enuf of Putin killing innocent ppl. Pres Trump Take action AT LEAST SANCTIONS." Over the weekend, Trump took to Truth Social to declare that he has "always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him." He went on, saying that the autocrat has "gone absolutely CRAZY." In a post today, Trump wrote, 'What Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He's playing with fire!' The Supreme Court declined to hear a Massachusetts student's challenge to his middle school's prohibition on him wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan 'There are only two genders.' The case arose from student Liam Morrison's dispute with Nichols Middle School in Middleborough. Read the full story here . The Supreme Court declined to consider whether Native Americans can challenge a massive copper mining project in Arizona that would destroy a sacred site used for tribal ceremonies, a weighty dispute that pitted religious rights against business interests. The court rejected an appeal brought by the nonprofit group Apache Stronghold asserting that its members' religious rights will be violated if the Resolution Copper mine goes forward because it would obliterate Oak Flat, the site in question. Read the full story here. Stocks were poised for large gains early today after Trump said he was resetting a deadline for imposing tariffs on the European Union. Futures indicated that the three major U.S. stock indexes were set to open more than 1% higher when markets open at 9:30 a.m. ET. The price of gold, which has been moving in the opposite direction of stocks in recent months, fell more than 2%. Read the full story here. Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he was "extremely satisfied with the 50% Tariff allotment on the European Union," adding that 27-nation bloc was working to set dates for talks. His message comes after he threatened the tariff rate Friday and said over the weekend that he extended the deadline to avoid the rate to July 9. "I have just been informed that the E.U. has called to quickly establish meeting dates," Trump said in his post. "This is a positive event, and I hope that they will, FINALLY, like my same demand to China, open up the European Nations for Trade with the United States of America." Some members of Congress are holding town halls today after returning to their districts for recess after the House passed a massive bill to advance Trump's agenda. Reps. Mike Flood, R-Neb., Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., have scheduled town halls in their states. Recent town halls for Republican lawmakers in particular have been derailed by attendees booing lawmakers and protesting government decisions. Republican leaders ultimately advised GOP lawmakers to avoid in-person town halls, arguing there were more efficient ways to reach constituents. The Trump administration aims to cut all remaining ties with Harvard University and will ask federal agencies today to find ways to end their contracts with the Ivy League school, a senior administration official said. 'GSA will send a letter to federal agencies today asking them to identify any contracts with Harvard, and whether they can be canceled or redirected elsewhere,' the senior official told NBC News, referring to the General Services Administration. The development was first reported by The New York Times. The General Services Administration told administration officials in a letter that it "is assisting all federal agencies in a review for termination or transition of their federal government contracts with Harvard University and affiliates." In the letter, obtained by NBC News, the agency's federal acquisition service commissioner, Josh Gruenbaum, accused Harvard of engaging in "race discrimination" and "a disturbing lack of concern for the safety and wellbeing of Jewish students." "We recommend that your agency terminate for convenience each contract that it determines has failed to meet its standards, and transition to a new vendor those contracts that could be better serviced by an alternative counterparty," the letter said. "Going forward, we also encourage your agency to seek alternative vendors for future services where you had previously considered Harvard." Gruenbaum asked agency officials to provide a report of their actions or intended actions on Harvard contracts by June 6. An administration official confirmed to NBC News that about 30 contracts worth an estimated $100 million would be under review. The move is the latest escalation in a monthslong standoff between the Trump administration and Harvard over the school's policies on addressing antisemitism on campus. Trump said yesterday in a post on Truth Social that he was considering cutting $3 billion in grant money to what he called 'a very anti-Semitic' Harvard and giving those funds to trade schools instead. Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino said yesterday that his agency will revive or devote more resources into several investigations of unsolved cases from the Biden administration that have 'garnered public interest' and have long ignited claims of corruption by allies and supporters of Trump. Bongino identified three cases that he said pointed to 'potential public corruption,' including an investigation into a pair of pipe bombs that were found near the Democratic Party and the Republican Party headquarters Jan. 6, 2021, and the discovery of a bag of cocaine at the White House in 2023. Read the full story here. As the Senate prepares to consider the sprawling domestic package that House Republicans passed last week, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said he thinks there are 'enough' Republicans to 'stop the process' in order to prioritize stronger reductions in spending and the national deficit. The Wisconsin Republican has criticized the bill's impact on the deficit, characterizing outsize spending as 'mortgaging our children's future.' The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the bill would add $2.3 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years. Read the full story here.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Ed Martin personally reviewed pardon application for Jan. 6 ringleader Stewart Rhodes
In his first full week as the Justice Department's pardon attorney, Ed Martin personally reviewed a pardon application for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. Peter Ticktin, a lawyer and former classmate of President Donald Trump's at New York Military Academy, hand delivered a collection of 11 pardon applications to Martin at the Justice Department on Thursday, including one for Rhodes, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 18 years in prison in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. 'I know Ed Martin and I felt it was important to bring these particular applications to his attention,' Ticktin told POLITICO. The effort to submit new pardon applications to Martin was arranged by Ticktin and pardoned Jan. 6 rioter Treniss Evans, both now in leadership positions with a conservative nonprofit, American Rights Alliance. Martin shared a photo of the May 22 meeting on X over the weekend, but the names of the 11 pardon applicants have not been previously reported. Proud Boys members Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola are also among those who submitted new applications since Martin's appointment, according to Ticktin and Evans. While Trump pardoned or dismissed cases for nearly 1,600 Jan. 6 rioters on his first day back in office, certain prominent participants convicted of seditious conspiracy had their sentences commuted to time served — a lesser form of clemency than outright pardons. Some have continued to lobby publicly for their commutations to be converted into pardons. While Martin made no assurances that Trump would grant pardons to the 11 applicants, Ticktin said, he did pledge to advance the applications to White House pardon czar Alice Johnson for review. Johnson, who Trump pardoned during his first term, serves in a newly created position at the White House advising the president on candidates for pardons. Martin was most recently serving as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, but his nomination to be confirmed to the position failed because of his ties to Jan. 6 rioters. 'I really appreciated the way he looked at everything carefully and wanted to make sure that he was doing his job,' Ticktin said. The Justice Department and the White House did not respond to requests for comment. An attorney for Rhodes did not respond to requests for comment. Dozens of Proud Boys, a far-right fraternal organization known for engaging in political violence, were convicted on obstruction or assault charges for their actions during the Jan. 6 riot. At least 20 members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group were convicted on similar charges. An attorney for Biggs urged Trump to grant his client's latest pardon application, citing Biggs' Army service. 'He earned a Purple Heart placing his life at risk and becoming seriously injured on behalf of the United States,' attorney Norm Pattis said. 'A commutation is wonderful, but a pardon gets him his pension back.' Martin has a long history of advocating for people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection. The Missouri lawyer has spent the last four years raising money for Jan. 6 legal defense funds and personally representing defendants in court. Martin was on Capitol Hill during the riot and posted on social media that afternoon comparing the event to 'Mardi Gras.' During his interim stint as the chief federal prosecutor in Washington, Martin fired dozens of prosecutors who oversaw Jan. 6 cases. Now, fresh off his failed nomination to serve in that job full time, Martin takes control of the pardon office as the first political appointee in modern history to do so and will also serve as the director of the Justice Department's weaponization working group and associate deputy attorney general under Trump's former personal lawyer Todd Blanche. 'It's unprecedented to have a political appointee in the position of pardon attorney, and it suggests that this administration intends to wield the clemency power differently than presidents prior have,' said Liz Oyer, the previous pardon attorney who was fired by Blanche in March. Led by career Justice Department officials, the office of the pardon attorney reviews applications for clemency and makes recommendations to the president for candidates who have met various criteria. Presidents of both parties have gone around the pardon attorney for politically sensitive pardons — Trump granted clemency to his political advisers Paul Manafort and Roger Stone in the final days of his first term and President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter and other family members before leaving office. But Martin has already demonstrated a willingness to evaluate controversial pardon applications through the office, based on the early applications on his desk. At the top of the pile submitted to Martin last week was a pardon application for Jonathan Woods, a former Arkansas state senator indicted in early 2017 on federal bribery charges who was ultimately convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison. The case against Woods was prosecuted in part by the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section (PIN) which was led by former special counsel Jack Smith from 2010 to 2015. Smith's deputy at the special counsel's office and his successor as the chief of PIN, Ray Hulser, signed the indictment against Woods. 'It's my firm belief that any case that Jack Smith prosecuted should be looked at,' Evans said. 'We don't break the law to quote unquote uphold the law, and that's what happened in many of these cases, which is why pardons are justified.' Reviewing cases related to Smith's former unit could fall within Martin's other remit as the weaponization working group director. A February memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi calls for the working group to examine 'weaponization by special counsel Jack Smith and his staff.' 'He is running an entire weaponization investigation out of the deputy attorney general's office and no one is there to tell him no,' said a former Justice Department official granted anonymity to speak candidly about private conversations with colleagues still in the department. Martin has already pledged to investigate pardons Biden granted to his family members and members of the Jan. 6 select committee, calling the preemptive pardons 'something we've never seen in history.' Martin's many roles have raised concerns among former department officials, who worry he may seek out politically expedient pardon candidates to please the president while simultaneously using investigations to target Trump's political opponents, even if there are no prosecutable crimes. Martin himself said at a press conference earlier this month if some people "can't be charged, we will name them" and certain people should be "shamed." 'The fact that Martin also has this other portfolio … certainly suggests that his role is going to be one that is highly political and that he will be coming to the pardon attorney role with a political agenda,' Oyer said. 'And that is very concerning.'
Politico
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Ed Martin personally reviewed pardon application for Jan. 6 ringleader Stewart Rhodes
In his first full week as the Justice Department's pardon attorney, Ed Martin personally reviewed a pardon application for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. Peter Ticktin, a lawyer and former classmate of President Donald Trump's at New York Military Academy, hand delivered a collection of 11 pardon applications to Martin at the Justice Department Thursday, including one for Rhodes, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 18 years in prison in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. 'I know Ed Martin and I felt it was important to bring these particular applications to his attention,' Ticktin told POLITICO. The effort to submit new pardon applications to Martin was arranged by Ticktin and pardoned Jan. 6 rioter Treniss Evans, both now in leadership positions with a conservative nonprofit, American Rights Alliance. Martin shared a photo of the May 22 meeting on X over the weekend, but the names of the 11 pardon applicants have not been previously reported. Proud Boys Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola are also among those who submitted new applications since Martin's appointment, according to Ticktin and Evans. While Trump pardoned nearly 1,600 Jan. 6 rioters on his first day back in office, certain prominent participants convicted of seditious conspiracy had their sentences commuted to time served — a lesser form of clemency than outright pardons. Some have continued to lobby publicly for their commutations to be converted into pardons. While Martin made no assurances that Trump would grant pardons to the 11 applicants, Ticktin said, he did pledge to advance the applications to White House pardon czar Alice Johnson for review. Johnson, who Trump pardoned during his first time, serves in a newly created position at the White House advising the president on candidates for pardons. Martin was most recently serving as interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, but his nomination to be confirmed to the position failed because of his ties to Jan. 6 rioters. 'I really appreciated the way he looked at everything carefully and wanted to make sure that he was doing his job,' Ticktin said. The Justice Department and the White House did not respond to requests for comment. An attorney for Rhodes did not respond to requests for comment. Dozens of Proud Boys, a far-right fraternal organization known for engaging in political violence, were convicted on obstruction or assault charges for their actions during the Jan. 6 riot. At least 20 members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group were convicted on similar charges. An attorney for Biggs urged Trump to grant his client's latest pardon application, citing Biggs' Army service. 'He earned a Purple Heart placing his life at risk and becoming seriously injured on behalf of the United States,' attorney Norm Pattis said. 'A commutation is wonderful, but a pardon gets him his pension back.' Martin has a long history of advocating for people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection. The Missouri lawyer has spent the last four years raising money for Jan. 6 legal defense funds and personally representing defendants in court. Martin was on Capitol Hill during the riot and posted on social media that afternoon comparing the event to 'Mardi Gras.' During his interim stint as the chief federal prosecutor in Washington, Martin fired dozens of prosecutors who oversaw Jan. 6 cases. Now, fresh off his failed nomination to serve in that job full time, Martin takes control of the pardon office as the first political appointee in modern history to do so, and will also serve as the director of the Justice Department's weaponization working group and associate deputy attorney general under Trump's former personal lawyer Todd Blanche. 'It's unprecedented to have a political appointee in the position of pardon attorney and it suggests that this administration intends to wield the clemency power differently than presidents prior have,' said Liz Oyer, the previous pardon attorney who was fired by Blanche in March. Led by career Justice Department officials, the office of the pardon attorney reviews applications for clemency and makes recommendations to the president for candidates who have met various criteria. Presidents of both parties have gone around the pardon attorney for politically sensitive pardons — Trump granted clemency to his political advisors Paul Manafort and Roger Stone in the final days of his first term and President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter and other family members before leaving office. But Martin has already demonstrated a willingness to evaluate controversial pardon applications through the office, based on the early applications on his desk. At the top of the pile submitted to Martin last week was a pardon application for Jonathan Woods, a former Arkansas state senator indicted in early 2017 on federal bribery charges who was ultimately convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison. The case against Woods was prosecuted in part by the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section (PIN) which was led by former special counsel Jack Smith from 2010 to 2015. Smith's deputy at the special counsel's office and his successor as the chief of PIN, Ray Hulser, signed the indictment against Woods. 'It's my firm belief that any case that Jack Smith prosecuted should be looked at,' Evans said. 'We don't break the law to quote unquote uphold the law, and that's what happened in many of these cases, which is why pardons are justified.' Reviewing cases related to Smith's former unit could fall within Martin's other remit as the weaponization working group director. A February memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi calls for the working group to examine 'weaponization by special counsel Jack Smith and his staff.' 'He is running an entire weaponization investigation out of the deputy attorney general's office and no one is there to tell him no,' said a former justice department official granted anonymity to speak candidly about private conversations with colleagues still in the department. Martin has already pledged to investigate pardons Biden granted to his family members and members of the Jan. 6 select committee, calling the preemptive pardons 'something we've never seen in history.' Martin's many roles have raised concerns among former department officials, who worry he may seek out politically expedient pardon candidates to please the president while simultaneously using investigations to target Trump's political opponents, even if there are no prosecutable crimes. Martin himself said at a press conference earlier this month if some people 'can't be charged, we will name them' and certain people should be 'shamed.' 'The fact that Martin also has this other portfolio… certainly suggests that his role is going to be one that is highly political and that he will be coming to the pardon attorney role with a political agenda,' Oyer said. 'And that is very concerning.'
