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Trump Organization set for Manhattan criminal tax fraud trial

ByMadeleine Hubbard

The Trump Organization is set to go to trial in Manhattan on Monday as former President Donald Trump's company faces criminal tax fraud charges.

The Trump company, but not Trump himself, is accused of helping some of their executives avoid paying income for benefits they received over and above their salaries, such as for rent-free apartments and luxury cars.

The trial will begin Monday with jury selection, the Associated Press reported. Former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, who pleaded guilty in August to taking more than $1.7 million in untaxed benefits from the company, is expected to be the prosecution's star witness.

Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case comes to trial more than three years after prosecutors in his office first started investigating Trump.

The former president's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, have been in charge of the daily operations of the business since their father entered the Oval Office. The Trump Organization could face a fine of more than $1 million if convicted.

Judge Juan Manuel Merchan expects the trial to take four weeks after the jury is seated, the wire service reported. (continue reading)

'Middle Class Joe' loses his mojo with the middle class, new polling finds

Majority in a recent AMAC-Trafalgar poll said President Biden doesn't care about the middle class.

ByCharlotte Hazard

President Joe Biden built his political rise on a "Middle Class Joe" from Scranton, Pa., persona. But after nearly two years in the White House, most Americans don't believe he cares for the middle class.

A Trafalgar poll conducted for the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) found nearly 55% of Americans believed Biden and his administration care less for the middle class than prior presidents.

That total included 51.5% of respondents who answered "much less," 3% who said "somewhat less," 11.4% who said "somewhat more," and 31.7% who said "much more."

Rebecca Weber, the CEO of AMAC, told Just the News the findings were a reflection of just how much Americans have soured on the consequences of the Biden agenda, such as soaring energy costs, historic inflation, rising crime and soaring illegal immigration.

She added the alienation was even great among some of the Democratic Party's traditionally core constituencies.

"This is really catastrophic for Biden, because 61% of Hispanics and 66.8% of Asians said Biden cares much less about the middle class," Weber said this week on the John Solomon Reports podcast. "Those numbers are quite huge." "Average Americans are feeling it when we go to the pump," she added. "We have to remember that gas shot up more than 60% under Joe Biden. The nation is not safer today than we were just a few years ago." dous number of of young people that disagree with the Biden proposal," she explained. "It could suggest that that generation is actually experiencing some of the left's punitive gender indoctrination in schools. So the young folks are even against it."

There are other warning signs for America's 46th president in the poll. Only 6.7% of voters believed Biden's explanations for inflation and most blamed the president.

"Over 52% point their finger at the Biden administration as being responsible for inflation," Weber said. "69 percent of Latinos are blaming the Biden administration. That tells us something. That tells us that people are fed up and we ought to be listening." Weber predicted parents' rights —an issue that burst onto the scene with Glenn Youngkin's win in Virginia in 2021 —will play a big role in the congressional midterm elections.

"The federal government needs to stay out of the way and not be involved in parental decisions," Weber stated. "Parental rights are so important. It's a big part of our freedom, and confidence in public schools is very, very low —only at 28%.

Another warning sign was that younger Americans seem disaffected with Biden's pursuit of liberal ideology in public education, especially involving gender, Weber said.

"If you look at all of the age groups that are rejecting gender indoctrination, you even see a tremen"Safety is a major reason they don't feel like their children are protected," Weber added. "They also don't feel like they're learning the basics such as reading and writing and arithmetic. Instead, they're being taught this gender lunacy. They're being taught how to become leftist activists. They're being taught not to love our nation."

Blue cities bleeding: Homicide rates surging in major cities run by Soros-backed DAs

Less than three weeks before Election Day, a new study shows killings are on the rise, while polling indicates crime remains a top issue for voters.

ByAaron Kliegman

As polling continues to show crime is a top issue for voters, the number of homicides has skyrocketed nationwide. In fact, homicide rates rose by an average of nearly 10% in 50 of the most populated U.S. cities between the third quarter of last year and the third quarter of this year —and are still rising —accord(Continued on page 16)

House conservatives must 'slow down the Biden regime's devastating policies': Rep. Andy Biggs

The House Freedom Caucus currently has 42 members, and it could become even larger after the Nov. 8 election.

By Nicholas Ballasy

The conservative House Freedom Caucus should do everything it can to "slow down the Biden regime's devastating policies" in the next Congress, Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs told Just the News.

The caucus currently has 42 members, and it could become even larger after the Nov. 8 election. For comparison, the Tea Party Caucus established in 2010 during the presidency of Barack Obama had 60 members in 2011, when the GOP took control of the House due, in large part, to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

By 2013, the caucus had dwindled to 48 members. Former House Speaker John Boehner often wrestled with Tea Party Caucus members to garner enough GOP votes to pass spending bills and raise the debt ceiling.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry released a memo recently to assist newly elected conservative lawmakers in navigating the legislative process. It encourages them to push back on the status quo in Washington.

"This memo is important because it helps members understand what they may be up against in their efforts to keep their campaign promises," said Biggs, a member of the caucus and its former chairman.

"For all members it’s a reminder that we have a tremendous responsibility and opportunity to do all we can to slow down the Biden regime's devastating policies," he added. "We have to keep the trust of those who elect us by being active in the fight to restore this nation." casts are pointing to GOP House majority of between 221 and 232 seats.

"Republicans must be united in opposition," the memo urges, "and allow our incoming freshmen reinforcements to arrive and take our anticipated majority in January so that they and the voters who will send them to Washington can have a voice on legislation to fund the government as well as any other must pass bills such as the National Defense Authorization Act."

A united House Freedom Caucus of more than 40 members will have enough power to significantly influence legislation.

On the campaign trail, Republican candidates are arguing that Washington's increased spending is fueling the record levels of inflation the nation is experiencing. The House GOP's "Commitment to America" agenda advocates sharply reducing federal spending.

"Everyone knew that wasteful Washington spending would spur inflation," reads the agenda. "Millions in hardworking taxpayer dollars were sent to luxury resorts and ski slopes, even stimulus checks to prisoners like the Boston Marathon bomber. Yet after more than a year of crushing inflation, Democrats still have no plan to solve it. Americans can't afford Democrats' policies, but we are certainly all paying for them."

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a recent interview that he would consider pushing for federal spending cuts in exchange for a vote to raise the debt ceiling.

McCarthy has yet to share his reaction to the House Freedom Caucus memo. His office did not return a request for comment before press time.

(Continued from page 15)

ing to a new study.

WalletHub compared 50 of America's largest cities based on per capita homicides for the third quarter (July through September) of each year since 2020, using locally published crime data to compile its findings.

According to WalletHub, these were the ten cities with the highest homicide cases per 100,000 residents from July through September:

St. Louis, Mo. (19.69) Kansas City, Mo. (14.86) Detroit, Mich. (13.24) Baltimore, Md. (12.45) New Orleans, La. (10.99) Milwaukee, Wisc. (10.46) Memphis, Tenn. (9.99) Philadelphia, Pa. (9.36) Norfolk, Va. (7.78) Chicago, Ill. (7.71) The top prosecutors in most of these cities are backed by progressive megadonor George Soros, a billionaire who's spent the last several years injecting tens of millions of dollars into local district attorney races nationwide, backing candidates who support policies such as abolishing bail, defunding the police, and decriminalizing or deprioritizing certain offenses.

In St. Louis, for example, Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner is one of the first prosecutors bankrolled by Soros' financial network of organizations and affiliates, heavily funded by these sources in 2016 and again in 2020.

Amid high homicide figures, Gardner has declined more cases and issued fewer arrest warrants than her predecessor, charging fewer felonies and prosecuting thousands of fewer cases as a result. She has also deferred prison sentences for misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies as part of her reform initiatives.

Gardner has said this is part of her "platform to reduce the number of cases unnecessarily charged in order to focus on the more difficult cases for trial." under fire after three murder cases under her purview were dismissed in one week due to prosecutors in her office not showing up for hearings or being unprepared.

Her campaign website boasts that she's "made jail and prison a last resort, reserved for those who pose a true public safety risk," while limiting "the arrest and detention of people accused of misdemeanors and lowlevel felonies."

Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner is another Sorosfunded prosecutor.

Soros spent almost $1.7 million through the Philadelphia Justice and Public Safety PAC to help Krasner in 2017, pouring more than five times as much money into the race as Krasner himself. Four years later, Krasner received a combined $1.259 million from Soros-funded groups for his reelection.

During his tenure, Krasner has cut the future years of incarceration by half and slashed the length of parole in probation supervision by nearly two-thirds compared to the previous DA. He has also made a priority of not prosecuting people who are illegally in possession of guns unless they hurt or kill people.

The top prosecutors in New Orleans, Milwaukee, Norfolk, and Chicago have also been backed by Soros-linked money. Many of the others are self-described progressive prosecutors.

According to some experts, progressive prosecutors pursuing soft-oncrime policies have contributed to the spike in homicides and other violent crime.

"Prosecutors in most major cities have failed the people they serve by refusing to prosecute criminals, including those charged with violent crimes," Tristin Kilgallon, associate professor of pre-law and history at the University of Findlay, told WalletHub. "Countless violent crimes have been committed by those who have been released back into the streets due to recent 'bail reform' initiatives or by However, a report released this summer by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law concluded there's insufficient evidence to establish a link between increased violence and progressive policies.

But Americans across the country feeling unnerved about the level of crime in their communities are seeing a link —and want to hold someone accountable.

"Prosecutors must stop putting politics before their duty to serve the public good," said Kilgallon. "The citizens must make these prosecutors aware that this is simply not acceptable. This is already happening in some places, like San Francisco, where we saw progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin recalled."

San Francisco voters ousted Boudin from office in a recall focused on his soft-on-crime policies this summer. Crime had skyrocketed in the city as Boudin prosecuted significantly fewer felonies and misdemeanors than his predecessors. Boudin had said he wanted to abolish cash bail and end "mass incarceration."

San Francisco was one of many liberal hubs of the "defund the police movement" in 2020 that later did a virtual 180, embracing comparatively pro-police and tough-oncrime policies and rhetoric as crime devastated local communities.

"The crime surge pretty much killed the 'defund the police' narrative and reminded people of the importance of policing," Christopher Ferguson, professor of psychology at Stetson University, told WalletHub. 'defund the police' as well as the kind of progressive prosecuting that declines to press charges for wide [swaths] of crime."

Beyond this year, WalletHub also measured the change in 2022 third quarter homicide rates per capita compared to the third quarters of 2021 and 2020. A diverse group of cities experienced the biggest surges from last year to this year, such as Nashville, Tenn.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Raleigh, N.C.

Another city was Albuquerque, N.M., whose Democrat governor recently made headlines for pleading with the federal government for more law enforcement amid the current crime wave.

WalletHub used the homicide rates from all three years to determine "the weighted average across all metrics to calculate an overall score for each city." Nine of the 10 deadliest are run by Democratic mayors. (The office of mayor is nonpartisan in Norfolk). And all of the top 10 have liberal or progressive DAs, at least six of whom were funded by Soros.

Kansas City, Mo. Detroit, Mich. St. Louis, Mo. New Orleans, La. Milwaukee, Wis. Albuquerque, N.M. Philadelphia, Pa. Norfolk, Va. Nashville, Tenn. Oakland, Calif. Overall, the study found blue cities with Democrat mayors had a higher increase in homicide rates than red cities with Republican mayors. When comparing the biggest spikes in homicide cases per capita from the third quarter last year to the third quarter this year in America's 50 most populous cities, blue cities ranked on average 24.86, while red ones ranked on average 26.50.

The policy remedies for the violent crime wave are widely understood, according to Ferguson. Less certain, he acknowledges, is whether there is sufficient political will to apply them.

"We already kind of know what needs to be done: more high-quality, responsive, accountable policing, better police training," he said, adding that "it is time to ditch In other words, GOP-led cities had slightly lower homicide spikes, according to the study.

In recent weeks, Republican candidates have been hammering Democrats with relentless attack ads for pushing policies that, they argue, contribute to increases in crime.

GOP governors push back as CDC adds COVID vax to immunization schedule despite data on risk to kids

New research finds high post-vaccination hospitalization rate in kids under 5, heart inflammation rates in 12-15 that far exceed their peak COVID hospitalization rate.

ByGreg Piper

Following a CDC panel's unanimous vote to add COVID-19 vaccines to the 2023 immunization schedule, several governors —including a centrist Democrat dubbed a potential "answer [to] Democrats' 2024 prayers" —are scrambling to assure their constituents that state requirements aren't changing.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' (ACIP) approval of 3-4 dose COVID shots for adults and children starting at 6 months —a first for vaccines still under emergency use authorization —stands in sharp relief to growing reluctance abroad to jab certain age groups and ongoing research documenting serious adverse events.

The political backlash reflects the general disinclination of American parents to inoculate their preteens against COVID. "There just haven't been a lot of hospitalizations over the last year or year and a half in this age group" and, "more importantly," vaccinated hospitalizations, LinkGelles said.

One of the dissident scientists at Dr. Anthony Fauci's National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Margery Smelkinson, had a different take. "Anyone saying this won't lead to a mandate hasn't been paying attention," she tweeted after the Thursday vote.

Half an hour after ACIP's vote Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) affirmed his surgeon general's Tuesday promise. "As long as I'm kickin' and screamin', there will be no COVID shot mandates for your kids," he told a press conference. "I get a kick out of it when people kind of compare it to MMR, things that have been around for decades," he said, referring to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

At an infectious disease conference in D.C. that started Wednesday, CDC epidemiologist Ruth Link-Gelles groused that the agency was having trouble measuring vaccine effectiveness in children under 5 "because kids aren't getting vaccinated," which is a "really abysmal ... public health failure," according to notes by CBS reporter Alexander Tin.

dent Trump, have embraced this emphasis, which appears to be resonating, with GOP candidates gaining ground in several key races.

Polling has consistently shown for months that crime is a top issue for voters, that voters trust Republicans more than Democrats to handle it, and that a majority of voters disapprove of Biden's handling of crime. Over the next several hours, a procession of Republican governors — including Tennessee's Bill Lee, Alabama's Kay Ivey, Missouri's Mike Parson, Iowa's Kim Reynolds, Oklahoma's Kevin Stitt, Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and Utah's Spencer Cox — echoed DeSantis' statement, citing the primacy of parental choice and the proactive work of their legislatures.

Republican governors speaking up Friday include Georgia's Brian Kemp and Arkansas' Asa Hutchinson, who emphasized he encourages Arkansans to get vaccinated but won't require it for schoolchildren or anyone else.

The ACIP vote has quickly become an issue on the campaign trail. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem highlighted her Democratic opponent's (continue reading)