The Fraud Trial of Trump Begins.

The civil fraud trial of Donald Trump began today in New York. This trial centers on allegations that Trump inflated the value of his assets in New York, such as Trump Tower. This is a civil trial, meaning that Trump will not be jailed if found guilty. According to an article by PBS, the New York state Attorney General Letitia James lawsuit claims that Trump purposefully lied to banks and insurance companies about the actual value of real estate and golf course holdings in New York. An article by The New York Times states that there are several New York-based properties that Trump could lose control over if he is guilty, namely Trump Tower, as well as several hotels and golf courses. It is unclear how long this trial will last, but a guilty verdict would only increase the legal pressure on Trump during the run-up to the Republican primaries.

Senator Menendez Accused of Bribery, Corruption.

Democratic Senator Robert Menedez of New Jersey was indicted on bribery charges today. According to an article in The New York Times, Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is alleged to have used his considerable influence to pass on classified U.S. government documents to contacts in the Egyptian Government. Menendez also attempted to influence the trials of two New Jersey businesspeople. According to a report in the Washington Post, Menendez tried to pressure the Biden administration to nominate as New Jersey Attorney General, a man he thought would be able to stop a federal fraud trial involving a businessman friend of Menendez. This is not the first time allegations of corruption have swirled around Menendez; he faced bribery allegations in 2017, but it ended in a hung jury, so he escaped prison. This time that might be more difficult because investigators found $500,000 in cash and gold bars at his house and have pictures of said items, which will take some explaining from Menendez.

Paxton Acquitted in Impeachment Trial.

Over the weekend, The Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, was acquitted of corruption charges by the Texas Senate after a lengthy impeachment trial. According to a report by PBS, Paxton enjoyed the perks that came with the Attorney General’s job; in particular, he took vacations to Europe and the Caribbean that cost Texas taxpayers more than $90,000, as well as a $45 cake that was meant to be for the whole office for himself. He appeared to revel in taking foreign trips to the World Cup in Qatar and dinners with high-ranking political officials from the Republican party. According to an article in the New York Times, this impeachment divided the far right flank of the Republican Party led by the likes of former President Trump and Steve Bannon, who support Paxton, and (slightly) more moderate Republican figures such as Karl Rove, arguing that he should be removed from office. The phrase have one’s cake and eat it too seems an apt description of Paxton’s actions here, literally as the case may be.

The Death of Prigozhin.

Yesterday, a private jet traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg carrying Wagner PMC leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and several of his henchmen plummeted to earth outside of the village of Kuzenhiino in Russia’s Tver region. According to a report by the AP, an early assessment by the U.S. intelligence community suggests that the plane crash was caused by an explosive device on board the plane. Despite this, a report in the New York Times suggests that it is too early to know for sure what happened; Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, indicates that it will be challenging to gain a complete picture of what happened due to the reliability of any information released by the Russian government. It is assumed that President Putin was behind the crash, more likely as retaliation for Prigozhin’s aborted coup attempt in June. It was only a matter of time before Prigozhin would meet an untimely demise; one doesn’t attempt a coup against Putin and usually lives to tell the tale. In the last few hours, an article by The Guardian reports that Putin has acknowledged Prigozhin’s death by saying he was a “talented businessman” but made some “serious mistakes.”

Another fascinating aspect of this incident is who else was onboard the plane with Prigozhin. According to an article by The Washington Post, Dmitry Utkin, who was Prigozhin’s second in command, also died. According to various reports, Wagner was so named because of Utkin’s love of the German composer Richard Wagner, a favorite of Hitler. Also on board were several other high-ranking Wagner officials who maintained close ties to Prigozhin. We may never know how exactly this plane came down, but if I were Sergey Surovikin, a close friend of Prigozhin, I would make sure my passport was up to date.

Son of Columbian President Arrested on Money Laundering Charges.

On Saturday, the Columbian attorney general’s office announced that Nicolas Petro, the son of President Gustavo Petro, was arrested on money laundering charges, along with his ex-wife Daysuris Vasquez. According to an article in the New York Times, Petro, a politician in the province of Atlantico in Northern Columbia, was being investigated concerning his links with drug traffickers. Also, The Times states that Gustavo Petro’s brother was arrested on similar money laundering charges in January of this year. According to another article in The Washington Post, Ms. Vasquez claims that funds that were supposed to be directed towards President Petro’s campaign ended up in the pocket of Nicolas Petro. The dinnertime conversation in the Petro household recently must have been awkward.

Ukrainian Chief Supreme Court Justice Dismissed After Bribery Scandal.

Earlier this week, the chief justice of the Ukrainian supreme court was fired due to being caught up in a bribery scandal. Ukraine is in the process of cracking down on political corruption. According to a report from Reuters, while it is not immediately clear who was arrested, the current chief justice is Vsevolod Kniaziev. According to an article in The Guardian, the bribe may have been paid by a company called The Finance & Credit Group, owned by a well-known businessman called Konstiantyn Zhivago, to influence the court. If you are Kniaziev, seeing pictures of stacks of cash lined up on your living room sofa, surely that can’t be a good sign.

Uploading older articles

In the coming days I will be uploading articles that I have written before I set up this website. These are older posts and will seem dated, but I wanted to get them up so everyone could see them.

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