Washington
Judge denies Biden’s bid to block release of transcripts linked to special counsel inquiry
A federal judge on Friday rejected former President Joe Biden’s attempt to block the Trump administration from releasing to a conservative group the recordings that Biden made with a ghostwriter.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich found that the public interest in the material outweighed whatever privacy rights Biden had, but she effectively put her ruling on hold for up to three weeks so Biden could appeal.
The recordings were obtained by special counsel Robert Hur in the course of his investigation into whether Biden improperly retained classified documents while a senator and vice president. Republicans in Congress demanded them after Hur declined to file charges against the then-president.
Biden’s Democratic administration refused to turn over the recordings and transcripts from 2016 and 2017, leading congressional Republicans to hold his attorney general, Merrick Garland, in contempt.
President Donald Trump’s Justice Department authorized the release of the materials. That led Biden last month to sue to seek to block the release to a staffer at the conservative Heritage Foundation who had formally requested the records.
Biden objected to the release as an invasion of privacy, saying the recordings included him discussing sensitive personal matters such as the death of his older son, Beau Biden. But Friedrich found that the administration redacted that material.
The judge wrote that the materials “contain no mention of highly sensitive topics like illness or death, nor do they mention any non-public persons, including members of Biden’s family.”
Representatives for Biden did not immediately comment but asked Friedrich to bar release of the material while they appeal her decision. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Friedrich was nominated by Trump, a Republican, in 2017.
Hur’s yearlong investigation led to a 345-page report that questioned the effects of Biden’s age and his mental competence but recommended no criminal charges against the then-81-year-old. Hur said he found
insufficient evidence to prosecute a case in court successfully.
The transcripts of five hours of Biden interviews with federal prosecutors was released that same year. While Biden was adamant that he treated classified information seriously, the transcript shows that he was at times fuzzy about dates and details and he said he was unfamiliar with the paper trail for some of the sensitive documents he handled.
California
Comedian Carlos Mencia faces 12 felony charges for failing to report more than $8M in earnings
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Comedian Carlos Mencia was arrested Thursday and charged with 12 felony charges for failing to report or pay taxes on more than $8 million in earnings, prosecutors said.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced the charges at a news conference where he called Mencia “one of California’s biggest tax scofflaws.”
The 58-year-old stand-up comic was charged with six felony counts of failure to file personal income tax with the intent to evade taxes — one each for the years 2019 to 2024 — and six similar counts for corporate taxes.
Mencia owes more than $300,000 in state taxes on income totaling $8.7 million, Hochman said.
He has not entered a plea, and emails sent to his attorney seeking comment was not immediately answered.
Mencia was arrested at his Los Angeles home at about 7 a.m., authorities said. He remained in custody Thursday afternoon and was being held on $250,000 bail. He was expected to make his first court appearance on Monday. If he’s convicted of all counts he could get more than 11 years in prison, along with paying the tax bills and interest that will almost double the total.
The charges are the first filed under the new district attorney’s new Business Tax Fraud Unit that was established in May by Hochman, a former longtime prosecutor of tax cases.
Mencia regularly paid taxes before 2019, Hochman said. He was sent 78 notices from the state about his delinquent bills, with no response. The charges deal only with state taxes. Hochman said the IRS has not informed his office of Mencia’s federal tax status.
Born Ned Arnel Holness in Honduras and raised in East Los Angeles, Mencia began doing stand-up in LA clubs in the late 1980s. By the early 2000s, he became one of the most popular comics in the U.S. and also did some acting in film and television. He had his own TV series, “Mind of Mencia,” combining stand-up with sketches on Comedy Central from 2005 to 2008.
He still does regular stand-up shows, touring clubs and small theaters.
Washington
Judge: Top DOJ officials can remain part of prosecution of press gala attack
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday denied a request to disqualify top Justice Department officials from supervising the prosecution of the man charged with trying to kill President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
Cole Tomas Allen had argued that involvement in his prosecution by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro created a potential conflict of interest because they were among many administration officials present at the April dinner. Allen’s attorney also had raised concerns about the close friendship between Trump and Pirro, a former Fox News commentator.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden wrote in his ruling that neither their attendance at the dinner nor Pirro’s personal relationship with the president merited their disqualification. McFadden noted that Allen is not charged with attempting to harm Blanche and Pirro, and there is no evidence to suggest he even knew they would attend the dinner.
Allen has been accused of trying to breach a security checkpoint armed with guns and knives. He has pleaded not guilty to various charges, including assaulting a federal official with a deadly weapon and attempted assassination of the president. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the attempted assassination charge alone.
Allen also is accused of firing a shotgun at a Secret Service agent during the attack, which disrupted and ultimately prompted an early end to one of the highest-profile annual events in the nation’s capital. The Secret Service officer who was shot once in a bullet-resistant vest fired his own weapon five times without hitting anyone. Allen, of Torrance, California, was injured but was not shot.
Judge denies Biden’s bid to block release of transcripts linked to special counsel inquiry
A federal judge on Friday rejected former President Joe Biden’s attempt to block the Trump administration from releasing to a conservative group the recordings that Biden made with a ghostwriter.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich found that the public interest in the material outweighed whatever privacy rights Biden had, but she effectively put her ruling on hold for up to three weeks so Biden could appeal.
The recordings were obtained by special counsel Robert Hur in the course of his investigation into whether Biden improperly retained classified documents while a senator and vice president. Republicans in Congress demanded them after Hur declined to file charges against the then-president.
Biden’s Democratic administration refused to turn over the recordings and transcripts from 2016 and 2017, leading congressional Republicans to hold his attorney general, Merrick Garland, in contempt.
President Donald Trump’s Justice Department authorized the release of the materials. That led Biden last month to sue to seek to block the release to a staffer at the conservative Heritage Foundation who had formally requested the records.
Biden objected to the release as an invasion of privacy, saying the recordings included him discussing sensitive personal matters such as the death of his older son, Beau Biden. But Friedrich found that the administration redacted that material.
The judge wrote that the materials “contain no mention of highly sensitive topics like illness or death, nor do they mention any non-public persons, including members of Biden’s family.”
Representatives for Biden did not immediately comment but asked Friedrich to bar release of the material while they appeal her decision. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Friedrich was nominated by Trump, a Republican, in 2017.
Hur’s yearlong investigation led to a 345-page report that questioned the effects of Biden’s age and his mental competence but recommended no criminal charges against the then-81-year-old. Hur said he found
insufficient evidence to prosecute a case in court successfully.
The transcripts of five hours of Biden interviews with federal prosecutors was released that same year. While Biden was adamant that he treated classified information seriously, the transcript shows that he was at times fuzzy about dates and details and he said he was unfamiliar with the paper trail for some of the sensitive documents he handled.
California
Comedian Carlos Mencia faces 12 felony charges for failing to report more than $8M in earnings
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Comedian Carlos Mencia was arrested Thursday and charged with 12 felony charges for failing to report or pay taxes on more than $8 million in earnings, prosecutors said.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced the charges at a news conference where he called Mencia “one of California’s biggest tax scofflaws.”
The 58-year-old stand-up comic was charged with six felony counts of failure to file personal income tax with the intent to evade taxes — one each for the years 2019 to 2024 — and six similar counts for corporate taxes.
Mencia owes more than $300,000 in state taxes on income totaling $8.7 million, Hochman said.
He has not entered a plea, and emails sent to his attorney seeking comment was not immediately answered.
Mencia was arrested at his Los Angeles home at about 7 a.m., authorities said. He remained in custody Thursday afternoon and was being held on $250,000 bail. He was expected to make his first court appearance on Monday. If he’s convicted of all counts he could get more than 11 years in prison, along with paying the tax bills and interest that will almost double the total.
The charges are the first filed under the new district attorney’s new Business Tax Fraud Unit that was established in May by Hochman, a former longtime prosecutor of tax cases.
Mencia regularly paid taxes before 2019, Hochman said. He was sent 78 notices from the state about his delinquent bills, with no response. The charges deal only with state taxes. Hochman said the IRS has not informed his office of Mencia’s federal tax status.
Born Ned Arnel Holness in Honduras and raised in East Los Angeles, Mencia began doing stand-up in LA clubs in the late 1980s. By the early 2000s, he became one of the most popular comics in the U.S. and also did some acting in film and television. He had his own TV series, “Mind of Mencia,” combining stand-up with sketches on Comedy Central from 2005 to 2008.
He still does regular stand-up shows, touring clubs and small theaters.
Washington
Judge: Top DOJ officials can remain part of prosecution of press gala attack
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday denied a request to disqualify top Justice Department officials from supervising the prosecution of the man charged with trying to kill President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
Cole Tomas Allen had argued that involvement in his prosecution by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro created a potential conflict of interest because they were among many administration officials present at the April dinner. Allen’s attorney also had raised concerns about the close friendship between Trump and Pirro, a former Fox News commentator.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden wrote in his ruling that neither their attendance at the dinner nor Pirro’s personal relationship with the president merited their disqualification. McFadden noted that Allen is not charged with attempting to harm Blanche and Pirro, and there is no evidence to suggest he even knew they would attend the dinner.
Allen has been accused of trying to breach a security checkpoint armed with guns and knives. He has pleaded not guilty to various charges, including assaulting a federal official with a deadly weapon and attempted assassination of the president. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the attempted assassination charge alone.
Allen also is accused of firing a shotgun at a Secret Service agent during the attack, which disrupted and ultimately prompted an early end to one of the highest-profile annual events in the nation’s capital. The Secret Service officer who was shot once in a bullet-resistant vest fired his own weapon five times without hitting anyone. Allen, of Torrance, California, was injured but was not shot.
