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Just for fun, first.




The criminal defense lawyer for Steve Bannon said the former Trump White House senior advisor is traveling Wednesday to New York City to prepare to surrender in the morning to face charges in a new indictment.

The attorney, Robert Costello, said Bannon will turn himself in to authorities at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Asked for details about the criminal charges Bannon is expected to face, Costello told CNBC by email, “The indictment is sealed.”

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which will prosecute the case, has been investigating Bannon for possible violations of New York state criminal laws in connection with more than $25 million in funds raised for an effort to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.

Bannon was arrested in August 2020 on federal charges with three other men tied to that effort, which prosecutors said defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors. Federal prosecutors said at the time that Bannon received $1 million in funds from We Build the Wall and that to divert that money used a separate nonprofit he had already created to purportedly promote “economic nationalism and American sovereignty.”

Bannon never went to trial in that federal case because he received a pardon from then-President Donald Trump right before Trump left office in January 2021. Presidential pardons do not protect people from prosecution on state charges.

In a statement Tuesday to NBC News, Bannon said New York “has now decided to pursue phony charges against me 60 days before the midterm election.”

“This is nothing more than a partisan political weaponization of the criminal justice system,” he said.

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Judge denies Sen. Lindsey Graham bid to quash subpoena in Trump Georgia election probe, but puts limit on questions

A federal judge on Thursday denied Sen. Lindsey Graham’s latest effort to fully quash a subpoena for his testimony before a special grand jury in Georgia as part of its probe into possible criminal election interference by former President Donald Trump and his allies in 2020.

But the judge also limited the scope of the subpoena by ordering that Graham, a South Carolina Republican and close Trump ally, cannot be asked about his “investigatory fact-finding on telephone calls to Georgia election officials” during his testimony.

She was referring to phone calls Graham made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff in the weeks after the November 2020 election between Trump and President Joe Biden. Graham’s lawyers have argued that those calls were “quintessentially legislative factfinding” by a sitting U.S. senator, and as such are protected by the speech and debate clause of the Constitution.

That off-limits topic includes how the information he gathered “related to his decision to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election,” the judge ruled.

“The Court finds that this area of inquiry falls under the protection of the Speech or Debate Clause, which prohibits questions on legislative activity,” Judge Leigh Martin May wrote in Thursday’s order in U.S. District Court in Atlanta.

But May rejected Graham’s other arguments to either throw out the subpoena or sharply limit the questions that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office can ask him.

“As to the other categories, the Court finds that they are not legislative, and the Speech or Debate Clause does not apply to them,” May wrote.

“As such, Senator Graham may be questioned about any alleged efforts to encourage Secretary Raffensperger or others to throw out ballots or otherwise alter Georgia’s election practices and procedures,” the judge ordered.

“Likewise, the grand jury may inquire into Senator Graham’s alleged communications and coordination with the Trump Campaign and its post-election efforts in Georgia, as well as into Senator Graham’s public statements related to Georgia’s 2020 elections,” May wrote.

Graham’s challenge now goes back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, where the senator filed an appeal after a previous ruling from Judge May denying his bid to quash the subpoena.

“We are pleased that the district court recognized that Senator Graham’s testimony is protected by the Speech or Debate Clause,” Graham’s office said in a statement later Thursday. “He will continue to defend the institutional interests of the Senate and the Constitution before the Eleventh Circuit.”

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Extra

5 Years In Felony Guilty Plea



A Michigan man pleaded guilty today to assaulting law enforcement officers and inflicting bodily injury during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election.

Justin Jersey, 32, of Flint, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia. According to court documents, on Jan. 6, Jersey was part of a mob that confronted law enforcement officers at the Archway leading into the Capitol Building from the Lower West Terrace.

At approximately 4:26 p.m., Jersey was on the steps leading to the Archway and carrying a large, gnarled stick. He raised the stick behind his head and moved towards the Archway. Jersey eventually gave the stick to another rioter, but at 4:27 p.m., he sprang at the line of officers.

Jersey charged at a Metropolitan Police Department officer who was positioned at the opening of the Archway, grabbing his face, and knocking him to the ground. Jersey and the officer then grappled over the officer’s baton.

Another rioter then kicked the officer, who was still on the ground. As a result of the attack, the officer sustained serious physical injuries, including a laceration to his head, and bruising and abrasions to his body. Jersey, meanwhile, was able to grab another baton and used it to strike other officers in the Archway.

Jersey was arrested in Flint on Dec. 2, 2021. He is to be sentenced on Feb. 10, 2023. He faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison, as well as potential financial penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Jersey was arrested after his girlfriend tagged him at the riot in a Facebook post.

JERSEY, Justin | USAO-DC | Department of Justice