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☆ Al Qaeda's new leader Adel has $10 million bounty on his head
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Michael Georgy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Zawahiri's death piled pressure on the group to choose a strategic leader who can carefully plan deadly operations and run a jihadi network, experts on al Qaeda say. The department’s Rewards for Justice programme is offering up to $10 million for information on Adel, whom it says is a member of "al Qaeda’s leadership council” and heads the organisation’s military committee. He and other Al Qaeda leaders were placed under house arrest in April 2003 by Iran, which released him and four others in exchange for an Iranian diplomat who was kidnapped in Yemen. OPERATIVE TO LEADERAdel, one of the few remaining al Qaeda old guard, has been close to the central command for decades, experts say. Adel gained more jihadi credentials after he joined other Arab militants fighting Soviet occupation troops in Afghanistan, where he eventually headed a training camp before becoming a senior figure in al Qaeda.

☆ Republicans' 'weaponization' committee is a "Fox News reboot of McCarthyism," White House says ahead of first hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The House "Weaponization of the Federal Government" subcommittee is holding its first hearing. The White House likened it to a "reboot of McCarthyism" designed to help Republicans get on Fox News. The hearing will cover "the politicization of the FBI and DOJ and attacks on American civil liberties." The hearing led by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan will include witness testimony from Fox News commentators, the White House notes. Jordan, in a House floor speech last month, rejected the notion that the committee is a "ploy" and said whistleblowers have talked to Republicans about alleged government intrusions.

☆ Exclusive: The FBI's McGonigal labyrinth
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +28 min

She never saw McGonigal pay. "The notion that Mr. Deripaska is some proxy for the Russian state is a blatant lie," Ruben Bunyatyan, a spokesperson for Deripaska, told Insider by email. McGonigal was not charged with espionage, and although there is currently no evidence that McGonigal committed espionage, an FBI source told Insider that the investigation is ongoing. At the FBI, McGonigal racked up a string of big cases and promotions. "He said he needed to make more money," Guerriero told Insider.

☆ Trump appeals nearly $1 million in sanctions for 'frivolous' suit he filed against Hillary Clinton
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton attend campaign rallies in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, October 10, 2016 and Manchester, New Hampshire U.S., October 24, 2016 in a combination of file photos. Former President Donald Trump and one of his lawyers said Monday they are appealing nearly $1 million in sanctions imposed on them for what a federal judge called their "frivolous" lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and more than two dozen other defendants. The court filing about the appeal came days after a lawyer for Trump and his attorney Alina Habba told the judge in the case they were willing to put up a bond of $1,031,788 to cover the costs of the sanctions while the federal Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit considered the matter. In imposing those sanctions Jan. 19, Judge John Middlebrooks said in an order, "We are confronted with a lawsuit that should never have been filed, which was completely frivolous, both factually and legally, and which was brought in bad faith for an improper purpose." Trump's suit, which sought $70 million in damages, accused Clinton, former FBI officials, the Democratic National Committee and others of conspiring to create a "false narrative" that Trump and his 2016 presidential campaign against Clinton were colluding with Russia to try to win the election that year.

☆ Trump says he has more lawyers working for him than even 'the late great gangster' Al Capone did
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Donald Trump on Monday compared his legal predicament to that of mobster Al Capone's. Trump wrote on Truth Social that he has "more lawyers" working for him than Capone did. Trump appeared to laud the mob boss, calling him the "late great gangster, Alphonse Capone." In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that he has "more lawyers" working for him "than any human being in the history of our Country, including even the late great gangster, Alphonse Capone!" "Like the Al Capone effect, you're not going to get him on murder, extortion, racketeering.

☆ California authorities want to disbar John Eastman for trying to help Trump overturn the 2020 election results
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

California legal authorities want to disbar John Eastman for trying to keep Donald Trump in power. Following Trump's loss in the 2020 election, Eastman, a former professor at the Chapman University School of Law, drafted legal memos that purported to offer avenues to keep him in office. The former law professor is one of many lawyers allied with Trump who has faced professional consequences for pursuing false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Giuliani has also been sued by election technology companies he implicated in false conspiracy theories about the election results, and has lost his ability to practice law in New York. Jeffrey Clark, a former Trump Administration Justice Department official who tried to overturn the election results, is also facing charges from the DC bar.

☆ Former FBI Agent Charged With Taking Payments From Russian Oligarch Oleg Deripaska
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Dylan Tokar | C. Ryan Barber | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

A former high-level FBI agent was indicted on charges he violated U.S. sanctions by accepting secret payments from Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska for work he did investigating a rival oligarch. Mr. McGonigal, who also supervised investigations into Mr. Deripaska and other Russian oligarchs before departing the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2018, began conspiring to provide services to Mr. Deripaska in 2021, prosecutors said. Additionally, the former FBI agent in 2019 participated in an unsuccessful effort to have the sanctions on Mr. Deripaska lifted, prosecutors said. PREVIEWAn indictment unsealed on Monday charged Mr. McGonigal and a former Russian diplomat, Sergey Shestakov, with violating and conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions imposed on Mr. Deripaska in 2018, as well as with related money-laundering charges. Prosecutors in October also announced the indictment of a British businessman who worked as a property manager for Mr. Deripaska.

☆ Former FBI official accused of hiding a $225,000 cash payment from an ex-foreign officer while overseeing an agency counter-intelligence division
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A former top FBI official was charged in two jurisdictions on Monday. The ex-counter-intelligence official was charged with secretly receiving cash payments from a former foreign officer. McGonigal also traveled abroad with the official and met with foreign nationals in Europe, where the official had business interests, according to the DOJ. "Covering up your contacts with foreign nationals and hiding your personal financial relationships is a gateway to corruption," US Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves said. "There are no exceptions for anyone, including a former FBI official like Mr. McGonigal," FBI Assistant Director in Charge Michael Driscoll said in a statement.

☆ Ex-FBI official worked for sanctioned Russian oligarch, prosecutors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Jan 23 (Reuters) - A former top FBI official was arrested over the weekend on accusations he worked for sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, prosecutors said on Monday. Charles McGonigal, who led the agency's counterintelligence division in New York before retiring in 2018, faces four counts including sanctions violations and money laundering. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan say McGonigal, 54, received concealed payments from Deripaska, who was sanctioned in 2018, in exchange for investigating a rival oligarch in 2021. He is also charged with unsuccessfully pushing in 2019 for the lifting of the sanctions on Deripaska. The following month, U.S. prosecutors charged British businessman Graham Bonham-Carter with conspiring to violate sanctions by trying to move Deripaska's artwork in the United States overseas.

☆ Trump claims lawsuits are a conspiracy to 'keep him busy' ahead of 2024. He's the one making lawsuits political, judges say.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Judges have repeatedly slammed Trump for using lawsuits "to advance a political narrative." "Keep Trump busy, because this is the way you defeat him, to keep him busy with litigation," Trump testified in the deposition, speaking in the third person. US District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks said that Trump has a "pattern of misusing the courts to serve political purposes." Trump's lawyers have to deal with his 2024 runIn the Trump lawsuits that haven't been dismissed, those trials may need to be scheduled around his 2024 campaign events. A trial for Carroll's claims is set for April of this year, and James' lawsuit against Trump is on track for October.

☆ Ex-FBI official pleads not guilty to violating U.S. sanctions on Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

NEW YORK, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Charles McGonigal, a former FBI agent arrested over the weekend on accusations he worked for sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, pleaded not guilty on Monday in federal court in Manhattan. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Judge sanctions Trump and his lawyer nearly $1 million for 'frivolous' lawsuit targeting Hillary Clinton
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Zoë Richards | Zoë Richards Is The Evening Politics Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

A federal judge on Thursday sanctioned former President Donald Trump and one of his top attorneys nearly $1 million for filing a sprawling lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and other perceived political enemies "that should never have been filed." No reasonable lawyer would have filed it," Middlebrooks wrote, adding that the suit was intended "for a political purpose." He knew full well the impact of his actions,” Middlebrooks wrote. “As such, I find that sanctions should be imposed upon Mr. Trump and his lead counsel, Ms. Habba.”NBC News has asked Habba and a Trump spokesperson for comment. Such lawsuits, Middlebrooks said, undermined the rule of law, siphoned resources "from those who have suffered actual legal harm" and painted judges as partisans.

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☆ Trump and lawyer sanctioned almost $1 million for 'frivolous' lawsuit against Hillary Clinton
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A federal judge on Thursday imposed nearly $1 million in sanctions on former President Donald Trump and his lawyer for filing a since-dismissed "frivolous" lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and many others, which had claimed they tried to rig the 2016 presidential election in her favor by smearing Trump. Middlebrooks in his order Thursday noted that "Mr. Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries." "He knew full well the impact of his actions ... As such, I find that sanctions should be imposed upon Mr. Trump and his lead counsel, Ms. Trump, who is seeking the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, filed his suit in March against Clinton, who was the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee. Middlebrooks earlier dismissed the lawsuit against Clinton and all other defendants "with prejudice," which bars Trump from refiling the complaint.

☆ Trump boasts that Mar-a-Lago was a secure place to keep classified documents, despite evidence that it clearly wasn't
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

"Mar-a-Lago is a highly secured facility, with Security Cameras all over the place, and watched over by staff & our great Secret Service," wrote Trump. In the post, Trump compared Mar-a-Lago to President Joe Biden's "flimsy, unlocked, and unsecured" private residence in Wilmington, Delaware. This was recently spotlighted by the Justice Department investigation into the mishandling of classified documents and presidential records at Mar-a-Lago. The New York Times reported that of the more than 100 classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, most were located in a non-secure storage area. During its August 2022 raid, FBI agents found classified documents in Trump's "45 Office" — located above Mar-a-Lago's main ballroom.

☆ Ex-Trump aide says DOJ wants to 'treat like cases alike,' which could be a 'huge problem' as it probes Trump and Biden over possible missing classified documents
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Sarah Al-Arshani | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A special counsel was appointed to look into Biden's mishandling of classified documents. The DOJ previously appointed special counsel to probe Trump for possible mishandling of documents. "The Justice Department has a whole series of problems right now. "The Justice Department doesn't just work on the statutory definition of the crime, which in this case is knowingly removing classified documents, it also looks at precedent," Isgur said. "The DOJ likes to treat like cases alike and that's going to be a huge problem when you have two of these moving at the same time," Isgur said.

The White House on Monday disclosed that classified documents from his vice presidential days were discovered in November at a think tank in Washington. Garland said Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney in Maryland, would serve as special counsel. Garland in November named a special counsel, Jack Smith, to oversee Justice Department investigations related to Donald Trump including the Republican former president's handling of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. "As I said earlier this week, people know I take classified documents, classified material seriously. Biden in September called his predecessor's handling of classified documents "totally irresponsible."

The party-line vote on Tuesday aims to do just that, setting up a "Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government." The body is set to launch a wide-ranging probe of Democrat Biden's administration, which Republicans accuse of "weaponizing" the FBI against Trump. Among the federal agencies targeted are those looking into Trump's attempt to overturn his 2020 defeat and alleged mishandling of classified documents. On Monday the White House said that lawyers for Biden found classified documents at a Washington think tank affiliated with the president. That would create a situation where he could seek to oversee a federal investigation into himself.

☆ 'Deadly' double agent Ana Montes who was a US spy for communist Cuba freed from prison after 20 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ana Montes, seen as "one of the most damaging spies" in US history, has been released from prison. When she was working a clerical job at the Department of Justice, Cuban authorities identified her as someone who would be sympathetic to their cause. She was able to pass highly sensitive information over to Cuban authorities through memory alone. "She compromised everything — virtually everything — that we knew about Cuba and how we operated in Cuba and against Cuba," Van Cleave said. Chris Simmons, a former investigator with the DIA, described Montes as "a very deadly woman, a very dangerous woman," NBC reported.

☆ Former DC Metropolitan Police Department officer Michael Fanone says it's 'disgraceful' that only one GOP congressman appeared at a Capitol Hill event commemorating January 6
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Michael Fanone blasted the scant GOP attendance at a Jan. 6 remembrance ceremony at the Capitol. Multiple outlets reported that Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick was the only GOP lawmaker at the Friday event. Law enforcement certainly doesn't like that, and I don't believe that all Republicans are sympathetic to the MAGA agenda." "As somebody who has previously supported Republican candidates, it's shameful," the former police officer told Tapper. After the Capitol ceremony, Fitzpatrick, a former FBI supervisory special agent, told Insider's Bryan Metzger of his desire to be at the solemn event.

I read the book "Never Split the Difference" which felt like a detailed negotiation course. Chris Voss, the author of "Never Split the Difference," demonstrating a negotiation technique in his MasterClass. "No" is how negotiations start, not end. It was eye-opening to read that the word "no" is the start of a negotiation, not the end of it. Managing your tone of voice is one of the first things mentioned in the book.

☆ Trials, pardons, prison time: How Trump's legal woes could play out and what it means for 2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

The warrant also indicated that the Justice Department was investigating whether Trump violated three federal laws, including the Espionage Act, related to the handling of national security information. Here are some possibilities:The investigations conclude with no charges filedIn the US's 250-year history, no ex-commander in chief has ever faced criminal charges. In all, the former president, if convicted, would be facing up to 33 years of incarceration, according to legal experts. That begs the question: If Trump is charged, convicted, and winds up in prison, can he still run for president in 2024? He made headlines during his presidency for wondering why he couldn't have "my guys" at the "Trump Justice Department" do his bidding.

☆ Judge tells Trump lawyers to stop filing pointless lawsuits to slow down NY investigations into his businesses
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A judge called an effort by Trump Org lawyers to slow an investigation "frivolous" and "vexatious." The federal judge denied the bid for an injunction to stop the release of some materials. The NY attorney general accuses Trump of fraud and is trying to ban him from future business in the state. Middlebrooks also noted in his ruling that a New York court previously dismissed Trump's efforts to try stop James' investigation. James accuses Trump of committing fraud with his businesses, and is trying to permanently ban Trump and his three oldest children from conducting business in New York.

☆ Informant warned FBI weeks before Jan. 6 that the far-right saw Trump tweet as 'a call to arms'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

The email, which has not been previously reported, warned that the Trump tweet was “gaining hold” on social media. The confidential human source has provided information that the FBI has used in Jan. 6 cases before. The FBI confidential source said that they had “put together hundreds of pages of reports over the two weeks proceeding Jan. 6” for the bureau leading up to the attack. Months after the attack, FBI Director Chris Wray created the position of intelligence analyst in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, giving an intelligence analyst a leadership title typically reserved for FBI special agents. They said they were in regular communication with the bureau in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6.

WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee found that law enforcement agencies gathered “substantial evidence” of potential violence at the Capitol as Congress met to formalize Joe Biden's election as president, a member of the panel said at its final meeting Monday. But the executive summary of the committee's final report doesn’t address questions of why the FBI, U.S. Capitol Police and other law enforcement agencies didn’t do more to increase security that day. The executive summary, released Monday, avoids criticizing or reaching conclusions about law enforcement and intelligence shortfalls in the lead-up to the attack, which many law enforcement experts have called the biggest intelligence failure since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. A representative for the committee didn’t respond to a request for comment about the decision not to include more information about the role law enforcement played ahead of the Capitol attack. The committee's executive summary discusses information that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies received in the days before Jan. 6, saying some of the intelligence was shared with partners like the Capitol Police.

☆ Twitter has lost its last deputy general counsel as its legal team shrinks, a report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter deputy general counsel Regina Lima has left the company, Bloomberg Law reported. The social-media platform's legal team, which once stood at close to 200, is now largely depleted. Before Elon Musk took control of Twitter in late October, the company had around 200 staff on its legal team, according to Bloomberg Law. Twitter's legal team was shaken up as soon as Musk's purchase of Twitter went through. After Gadde and Edgett's terminations, James Baker, a former FBI general counsel, was the company's most senior lawyer.

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