Whitmer kidnap plot: 2 men acquitted, hung jury for 2 more
A jury on Friday acquitted two men of all charges in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer but couldn’t reach verdicts against the two alleged leaders, a stunning defeat for the government after a weekslong trial that centered on a remarkable FBI sting operation just before the 2020 election. Daniel Harris, 24, and Brandon Caserta, 33, were found not guilty of conspiracy. In addition, Harris was acquitted of charges related to explosives and a gun. The jury could not reach verdicts for Adam Fox, 38, and Barry Croft Jr., 46, which means the government can put them on trial again for two conspiracy charges. Croft also faces a separate explosives charge. They’ll remain in custody.
Pro-Trump rally planner is cooperating in Justice Dept.’s Jan. 6 inquiry
Ali Alexander, an organizer of pro-Trump events after the 2020 election, has agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation of the attack on the Capitol last year, the first high-profile political figure known to have offered assistance to the inquiry. Speaking through a lawyer, Alexander said Friday that he had received a subpoena from a federal grand jury seeking information on people connected to pro-Trump rallies that took place in Washington after the election. In a statement from the lawyer, Alexander said he was taking “a cooperative posture” with the Justice Department’s investigation. He also disavowed anyone who took part in or planned violence on Jan. 6.
Former USC coach in varsity blues scandal is found guilty
A federal jury on Friday found a former water polo coach at the University of Southern California guilty of taking thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for designating high school applicants as recruits so they would be favored in the college admissions process. The defendant, Jovan Vavic, has been the only coach to stand trial rather than take a guilty plea in the federal investigation known as Operation Varsity Blues, in which wealthy parents paid bribes to have their children admitted to elite schools. Vavic was found guilty on all counts, including conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery.
Will Smith barred from attending Oscars for 10 years after slap
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Friday that Will Smith would be barred from attending the Oscars for 10 years because of the “harmful behavior” he displayed when he struck comedian Chris Rock during last month’s ceremony. The ban came a week after the actor resigned from the organization following his violent outburst on the Oscar stage March 27. In an open letter released after a morning meeting of the academy’s 54 governors, the group’s president, David Rubin, and its CEO, Dawn Hudson, also called Smith’s behavior “unacceptable” and admitted to not handling the situation properly during the telecast.
Donations steered to Trump super PAC by Canadian are found to be illegal
A Canadian steel industry billionaire illegally helped steer $1.75 million in donations to a pro-Trump super PAC and has agreed to pay one of the largest fines ever levied by the Federal Election Commission to settle the case, the commission said Friday. The $975,000 fine will be paid by entities controlled by Barry Zekelman, who lobbied the Trump administration to use its power to tighten import restrictions on Zekelman’s competitors. Zekelman’s donations in 2018 to the America First Action super PAC helped him secure an invitation to a dinner with President Donald Trump at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, where Zekelman personally pushed Trump about the steel tariffs.
Mexico’s president, seeking mandate, promotes voting in recall election
Strolling through Mexico’s capital these days, city streets are littered with signs urging Mexicans to vote on whether to remove President Andrés Manuel López Obrador from office in a recall election this Sunday. López Obrador has called the recall “an exercise in democracy,” but critics say it actually amounts to an effort to bolster the president’s claim to power — and a tool to undermine his detractors. Opposition leaders have told their followers to boycott the exercise, and analysts believe turnout could be too low for the results to even count. The vote’s most enthusiastic promoter has been the president himself.
Tech boom arrives under Macron, but proves no panacea
President Emmanuel Macron of France has succeeded in luring billions of euros in foreign investments and creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs, many in tech startups, in a country whose resistance to change is stubborn. But the president has at the same time left many French feeling unsettled and unhappy, left behind or ignored. As Macron seeks reelection starting Sunday, it is two countries that will vote — a mainly urban France that sees the need for change to meet the era’s economic challenges, and a France of the “periphery,” struggling to get by and resentful of a leader seen as embodying the arrogance of the privileged.
Man who strangled woman to death in London park sentenced to life in prison
Sabina Nessa, a popular and admired schoolteacher living in southeast London, was running late to meet a friend at a local pub when she left her home and cut through a park on an evening last September. But Nessa, 28, was ambushed from behind. Koci Selamaj, a garage worker in the park searching for a target, delivered dozens of blows to her head with a metal traffic sign, before strangling Nessa in a premeditated attack of “truly evil violence,” prosecutors said. A judge at the Central Criminal Court in London on Friday sentenced Selamaj, a 36-year-old Albanian, to life in prison with a minimum term of 36 years.
By wire sources
