Month: July 2022

On Thursday, WNBA star Brittney Griner pleaded guilty in Russia to drug possession and smuggling charges, telling a Moscow court she brought marijuana into the country by accident. Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February after Russian officials claimed she had cannabis oil in her luggage.

Griner said in court: “I would like to plead guilty on the charges against me, but I had no intention on breaking any Russian law. I was in a rush packing and the cartridges accidentally ended up in my bags.” Griner’s plea could bring the verdict in her case closer, which would then allow her defense team and U.S. officials to try and secure her release.

Griner’s Russian legal team said the guilty plea was “her decision informed by discussion with her legal defense team. Brittney sets an example of being brave. She decided to take full responsibility for her actions as she knows that she is a role model for many people. Considering the nature of her case, the insignificant amount of the substance and BG’s personality and history of positive contributions to global and Russian sport, the defense hopes that the plea will be considered by the court as a mitigating factor and there will be no severe sentence.”

Griner is expected to give her testimony at a later date; the session adjourned until July 14. If convicted on drug smuggling charges, Griner could face 10 years in a Russian prison.

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Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 21 years in prison Thursday, nearly seven months after he pleaded guilty to federal charges that he violated George Floyd’s civil rights when he knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9½ minutes as he was detaining him in May 2020.

Federal prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson to sentence Chauvin to 25 years, saying Chauvin abused his authority as a police officer and acted callously. The defense had asked for 20 years, saying Chauvin was remorseful for what he did and that he has accepted responsibility. Judge Magnuson sentenced Chauvin to 21 years in prison, with credit for the time he has already served. Chauvin is already serving a 22½-year sentence after he was found guilty of second- and third-degree murder, as well as second-degree manslaughter, in April 2021 in a state case for the death of Floyd. His federal sentence will be served concurrently.

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Former President Donald Trump’s White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, will testify before the Jan. 6 committee during a closed-door session on Friday. Cipollone will give testimony before the panel investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sitting for a videotaped, transcribed interview. The committee subpoenaed Cipollone last week; they have been eager to hear testimony from the former White House counsel, primarily due to his access to Trump and his objecting to Trump’s efforts to overturn Biden’s victory.

Panel Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson and Vice Chair Rep. Liz Chaney said in a joint statement last month: “The Select Committee’s investigation has revealed evidence that Mr. Cipollone repeatedly raised legal and other concerns about President Trump’s activities on Jan. 6th and in the days that preceded. The committee needs to hear from him on the record, as other former White House counsels have done in other congressional investigations.”

According to witnesses, Cipollone voiced objections to Trump floating the idea of seizing of voting machines after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. Other witnesses have testified that Cipollone constantly clashed with Trump and others in his administration over the efforts to nullify Biden’s electoral win, which directly led to the attack at the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.

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North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order on Wednesday, protecting out-of-state abortion patients from extradition, and prohibiting state agencies from assisting other states’ prosecutions of those who travel for the procedure. Upon announcing the executive order, Cooper said he would use his authority over extradition warrants to protect providers and their patients from states that could punish residents who cross state lines to seek abortions. His executive order instructs Cabinet agencies not to comply with law enforcement agencies from other states pursuing information about abortion patients in North Carolina.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Gov. Cooper stood alongside Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson, saying in part: “This order will help protect North Carolina doctors and nurses and their patients from cruel, right-wing, criminal laws passed by other states.”  Johnson added: “People throughout the Southeast rely on North Carolina as an access point. Without Gov. Cooper’s help, without his veto, access for people in North Carolina and South Carolina, Tennessee and the entire region would be devastated.”

Cooper joined a growing number of Democratic governors seeking to offer sanctuary in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning abortion protections. Abortions are legal in North Carolina until fetal viability, which typically falls between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy. An abortion can be still performed after fetal viability when there is a medical emergency that could result in the pregnant person’s likely death.

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The Justice Department has filed suit against Arizona challenging its recently enacted voting law that requires proof of citizenship in order to vote in presidential elections. The Department of Justice announced the lawsuit Tuesday, contending that Arizona’s House Bill 2492, which is set to take effect in January, directly violates Section 6 of the National Voter Registration Act and Section 101 of the Civil Rights Act. The Supreme Court previously rejected an effort by Arizona in 2013 to require its residents to provide proof of citizenship in order to participate in federal elections.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement Tuesday announcing the lawsuit: “House Bill 2492’s onerous documentary proof of citizenship requirement for certain federal elections constitutes a textbook violation of the National Voter Registration Act. For nearly three decades, the National Voter Registration Act has helped to move states in the right direction by eliminating unnecessary requirements that have historically made it harder for eligible voters to access the registration rolls. Arizona has passed a law that turns the clock back on progress by imposing unlawful and unnecessary requirements that would block eligible voters from the registration rolls for certain federal elections.”

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who signed the law in March, said it was necessary for “prohibiting any attempt to illegally cast a vote. H.B. 2492 is a balanced approach that honors Arizona’s history of making voting accessible without sacrificing security in our elections.”

Arizona is the only state that requires voters to prove they are a U.S. citizen when they register to vote, by providing a government-issued identification, like a driver’s license, tribal ID or passport. The 2013 Supreme Court ruling allowed the requirement for state elections, but Arizona cannot require proof of citizenship for federal elections, like president.

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The Fulton County special grand jury investigating possible criminal interference in Georgia’s 2020 elections has issued subpoenas for Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and several others in former President Donald Trump’s team. The special grand jury also subpoenaed attorney and podcast host Jacki Pick Deason.

The subpoenas, which were filed Tuesday in Fulton County, cite appearances in December 2020 by Giuliani and Eastman before Georgia’s state Senate where they blamed Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe Biden on disproven claims of widespread voter fraud. Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, testified in front of Georgia lawmakers on several occasions in late 2020.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been investigating whether Trump broke Georgia’s election laws, specifically citing audio of a separate call in which Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” to overturn the state’s certified election results because “we won the state.”

The 23-person special grand jury, which was seated in May from a pool of 200 candidates, has begun hearing evidence. Raffensperger and Georgia Attorney Chris Carr testified in June, while Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is scheduled to give video testimony later this month.

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