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FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION Washington, DC 20463 June 1, 2021 CERTIFIED MAIL – RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED Via Email: Pryan@Commo
FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION Washington, DC 20463 June 1, 2021 CERTIFIED MAIL – RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED Via Email: [email protected] Paul S. Ryan Common Cause 805 15th Street, NW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20005 RE: MUR 7324 Dear Mr. Ryan: The Federal Election Commission (“Commission”) has considered the allegations contained in your complaint dated February 20, 2018. The Commission found reason to believe that respondents David J. Pecker and American Media, Inc. knowingly and willfully violated 52 U.S.C. § 30118(a). The Factual and Legal Analysis, which formed a basis for the Commission’s finding, is enclosed for your information. On May 17, 2021, a conciliation agreement signed by A360 Media, LLC, as successor in interest to American Media, Inc. was accepted by the Commission and the Commission closed the file as to Pecker and American Media, Inc. A copy of the conciliation agreement is enclosed for your information. There were an insufficient number of votes to find reason to believe that the remaining respondents violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (the “Act”). Accordingly, on May 20, 2021, the Commission closed the file in MUR 7324. A Statement of Reasons providing a basis for the Commission’s decision will follow. Documents related to the case will be placed on the public record within 30 days. See Disclosure of Certain Documents in Enforcement and Other Matters, 81 Fed. Reg. 50,702 (Aug. 2, 2016), effective September 1, 2016. MUR 7324 Letter to Paul S. Ryan Page 2 The Act allows a complainant to seek judicial review of the Commission’s dismissal of this action. -
By William Bastone
thesmokinggun.com videos and/or details about sexual indiscre- tions, STDs, and all manner of regrettable behavior. With a client roster that has included mem- bers of a distinctly Hollywood demimonde— strippers, escorts, pimps, tweakers, and celebrity hangers-on—Davidson is a legal grinder who has represented the interests of clients who would not get past the recep- tionist at established Century City law firms. On multiple occasions, Davidson signed up clients thanks to a symbiotic relationship he developed with Mike Walters, one of the most influential figures in celebrity journal- ism. Walters, who worked at TMZ for more by william bastone than a decade before recently launching his own gossip web site, steered individuals pos- sessing celebrity dirt to Davidson for legal ho is Keith Davidson? charged that Davidson was guilty of legal representation. The TMZ pipeline proved malpractice. McDougal, 47, accused Da- lucrative for the attorney, but it was an ethi- Until he negotiated financial settle- vidson of lying to her, secretly “colluding” cally dubious arrangement that Walters W ments for a Playboy Playmate and with Cohen, and pressuring her to sign an sought to keep secret. a porn star who separately claimed affairs agreement she did not understand. While with a married Donald Trump, the Beverly In one instance, after heartily recommend- “pretending to advocate on her behalf,” Da- Hills lawyer was a low-profile Los Angeles ing Davidson to a sex tape peddler, Walters vidson was actually working in concert with attorney whose solo practice operated from explained that the referral came with a cave- Trump representatives, McDougal alleged. -
Sexing the Mueller Report
SEXING THE MUELLER REPORT Ruthann Robson* I. INTRODUCTION Sexual indiscretion, misconduct, and deceit percolate throughout the extensive 2019 Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In the 2016 Presidential Election—known as the Mueller Report.1 President Trump’s sexual behaviors are certainly not the focus of the Mueller Report, which resulted from the Acting Attorney General’s appointment of Robert S. Mueller, III as Special Counsel for the United States Department of Justice to investigate “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump,” and “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.”2 Volume I of the Mueller Report addresses Russian interference with the 2016 election and any Trump campaign links in approximately 200 pages. Volume II of the Mueller Report, which is slightly longer at 241 pages, focuses on the question of whether the president obstructed justice in connection with the Russia-related investigations, including presidential actions related to the Special Counsel’s investigation itself. Given its charge, it is both predictable and understandable that the Mueller Report only obliquely addresses President Trump’s sexual * © 2020, All rights Reserved. Professor of Law & University Distinguished Professor, City University of New York School of Law. Appreciation to the editors and staff of Stetson Law Review, and for discussions on the Mueller Report and the role of sex, to Professors Penelope Andrews, Janet Calvo, Julie Goldscheid, Ellen Podgor, and Sarah Valentine. 1. 1 ROBERT MUELLER, REPORT ON THE INVESTIGATION INTO RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE IN THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION (2019) [hereinafter MUELLER REPORT VOL. -
Amid Trump's Legal Troubles, Two Lawyers' Names Keep Surfacing Together
April 26, 2018 MySanantonio.com Link to original article: https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Amid-Trump-s-legal-troubles-two-lawyers-names-128 67949.php Amid Trump's legal troubles, two lawyers' names keep surfacing together By Beth Reinhard, Emma Brown and Frances Stead Sellers, The Washington Post The two lawyers' names keep surfacing in tandem, again and again, in the context of deals in which women were paid to keep quiet about their alleged affairs with powerful men. Now, the relationship between Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson is drawing public scrutiny as federal authorities investigating Cohen examine payments made to women whose stories could have damaged Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Davidson is cooperating with the probe and has provided investigators with "certain limited electronic information," according to the lawyer's spokesman. Cohen, Trump's longtime adviser, and Davidson, a Los Angeles lawyer, have crossed paths at least five times in the past two years. In the most recent instance, Cohen collected a fee said to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in a deal Davidson helped orchestrate. New attorneys for Davidson's former clients, Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, both of whom allege they had affairs with Trump years ago, say the relationship between Cohen and Davidson has seemed too cozy. "This is supposed to be an adversarial process," said Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti. "These guys should not be in the same bedroom, let alone the same bed." Cohen did not respond to requests for comment. Nor did his lawyers Brent Blakely and Stephen Ryan. In a recent interview with The Washington Post, Davidson rejected the suggestion that his dealings with Cohen were in any way improper, saying they have a "purely professional" relationship and did not meet in person until early 2018. -
Tabloidization in the Modern American Press: a Textual Analysis and Assessment of Newspaper and Tabloid Coverage of the “Runaway Bride” Case
Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Communication Theses Department of Communication 1-12-2006 Tabloidization in the Modern American Press: A Textual Analysis and Assessment of Newspaper and Tabloid Coverage of the “Runaway Bride” Case Nichola Reneé Harris Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_theses Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Harris, Nichola Reneé, "Tabloidization in the Modern American Press: A Textual Analysis and Assessment of Newspaper and Tabloid Coverage of the “Runaway Bride” Case." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2006. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/communication_theses/7 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Communication at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Communication Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Tabloidization in the Modern American Press: A Textual Analysis and Assessment of Newspaper and Tabloid Coverage of the “Runaway Bride” Case by Nichola Reneé Harris Under the Direction of Merrill Morris ABSTRACT The media have extensive power in that they represent the primary, and often the only, source of information about many important events and topics. Media can define which events are important, as well as how media consumers should understand these events. The current trend towards tabloidization, or sensationalism, in today’s American -
BU (Extreme) South
SPRING 2009 INSIDE: Do magnets repel sharks? arts&sciences Revered Dean Elsbeth Melville remembered Notorious traveling French sisters BU (extreme) South Geomorphologist David Marchant and his team of students discover Antarctica’s secret past C ONTENTS from the dean SPRING 2009 10 Open a newspaper or turn on a TV and it’s hard As all of us at BU come together to withstand this period of to avoid being bombarded by stories about economic uncertainty, Arts & Sciences remains strong. I am very “I felt that all the hours failed financial institutions, corporate layoffs, pleased to say that our ambitious program of faculty recruitment 12 and stock market tumbles. Indeed, these are is not affected by the freeze, and we are moving ahead with plans to they were in neither the troubling economic times. strengthen CAS, not only replacing faculty who retire or leave, but also classroom nor the library, This past fall, President Robert Brown expanding the faculty by as many as 100 new positions within the I was responsible for them.” faced the situation head-on. Rather than taking decade. The newest members of our faculty are impressive indeed. To a wait-and-see approach to the ongoing finan- get a sense of what they mean for the future of the College, I invite you Dean Elsbeth Melville (CAS’25) cial turmoil, he was one of the first university to take a look at the brief biographies in the roster of new appointments Photo courtesy of Craig O’Connell presidents to take serious proactive measures in the crisis. -
We Understand That the U.S. Department of Labor Announced a Proposed Rule That Would “Update and Clarify” the Department of Labor’S Investment Duties Regulation
July 26, 2020 Office of Regulations and Interpretations Employee Benefits Security Administration, Room N-5655, U.S. Department of Labor 200 Constitution Avenue NW Washington, DC 20210 Attention: Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments Proposed Regulation. Document Citation: 85 FR 39113 Page: 39113-39128 (16 pages) CFR: 29 CFR 2550 RIN: 1210-AB95 Document Number: 2020-13705 Dear Sir/Madam: We understand that the U.S. Department of Labor announced a proposed rule that would “update and clarify” the Department of Labor’s investment duties regulation. According to the news release issued announcing this proposed rule, “Private employer-sponsored retirement plans are not vehicles for furthering social goals or policy objectives that are not in the financial interest of the plan,” said Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia. “Rather, ERISA plans should be managed with unwavering focus on a single, very important social goal: providing for the retirement security of American workers.” We are writing to provide comments on this proposed rule. Background The core idea behind the work of William Michael Cunningham at Creative Investment Research is the recognition that mainstream market-based solutions do not maximize social return. This leads to an underappreciation for the value of human life. We develop market-based innovations to counter this. The elevation of “Chicago-school” economic theories has led to a focus on celebrity and money worship. These magnify and worsen the misallocation of economic resources identified above. Our development of social return investment technologies and the subsequent rise of social entrepreneurs are the methods we have used in this effort. We have radically augmented the development of new investment theories that are the key, we believe, to a higher level of human development. -
AMI's Alleged Extortion of Amazon's Jeff Bezos
Berkeley Center for Law and Business University of California, Berkeley School of Law Boalt Hall #7200 Berkeley, CA 94720-7220 AMI’s Alleged Extortion of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos By: Kelsey Miller, J.D. Candidate 2021 | February 8, 2019 On January 9, Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos announced their divorce on Twitter. The next day, the National Enquirer published a story detailing the Amazon CEO’s extramarital affair with Lauren Sánchez. On February 6, the National Enquirer then sent an email to Mr. Bezos, allegedly extorting him by threatening to publish several private photographs they had acquired if Mr. Bezos did not publicly state that he had “no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces.” In an astonishing move, Mr. Bezos then revealed both the existence of the photos and the alleged extortion in a personal blog post, discrediting AMI’s value proposition that investors would question Bezos’ judgment as a result of the photos’ existence. Prosecutors are currently investigating the alleged extortion, which complicates matters for American Media, Inc., which owns the National Enquirer and is owned by David Pecker. During the 2016 election cycle, Pecker became infamous for using “catch and kill” techniques to buy and bury stories alleging everything from sexual misconduct to illicit affairs between President Trump and a number of women, at least once at the direction of Michael Cohen. After determining that such payments by AMI violated campaign finance regulations, Federal Prosecutors for the Southern District of New York and AMI reached a non-prosecution agreement this past September, which required AMI to admit that it had made the payments to “influence the election” in exchange for non-prosecution so long as AMI committed “no crimes whatsoever” for three years. -
COMPLAINT for DAMAGES 16 and OTHER RELIEF V
CONFORMED COPY ORIGINAL FILED Superior Court of Ca!ifomia 1 STRIS & MAHER LLP County c! Los Angeles PETER K. STRIS (SBN 216226) 2 [email protected] JUL O6 2018 ELIZABETH R. BRANNEN (SBN 226234) 3 elizabeth. [email protected] Sherri R. Carter, Executive Officer/Clerk of Court DANA BERKOWITZ (SBN 303094) By: Kristina Vargas, Deputy 4 dana. [email protected] KENNETH J. HALPERN (SBN 187663) 5 [email protected] JOHN STOKES (SBN 310847) 6 [email protected] 725 South Figueroa Street, Suite 1830 7 Los Angeles, CA 90017 T: (213) 995-6800 IF: (213) 261-0299 8 SHAUN P. MARTIN (SBN 158480) 9 [email protected] 5998 Alcala Park, Warren Hall 109C 10 San Diego, CA 92110 0 T: (619) 260-2347 IF: (619) 260-7933 '~ 00 11 Counsel for PlaintiffShera Bechard 12 SUPERIOR COURT FOR THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 13 FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES 14 SHERA BECHARD, Case No. BC712913 15 Plaintiff, VERIFIED COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES 16 AND OTHER RELIEF v. ~ ::r: 17 r< < ELLIOTT BROIDY, an individual, w ;:;S 18 KEITH DAVIDSON, an individual; DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL MICHAEL AVENATTI, an individual; 19 DAVIDSON &ASSOCIATES, PLC, a professional limited liability company; and 20 DOES 1 through 20, inclusive, 21 Defendants. 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 1. Plaintiff Shera Bechard ("Ms. Bechard") brings this Complaint against Defendants 2 Elliott Broidy ("Mr. Broidy"), Keith Davidson and Davidson & Associates, PLC (together, "Mr. 3 Davidson"), and Michael Avenatti ("Mr. Avenatti"), and alleges as follows: 4 2. Ms. Bechard is a model and former Playboy Playmate. -
Stormy Daniels's Former Lawyer Said to Be Cooperating with Federal Probe
April 20, 2018 - Washington Post Link to original article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/stormy-danielss-former-lawyer-said-to-be-cooperating- with-federal-probe-of-michael-cohen/2018/04/20/3011745e-44ae-11e8-baaf-8b3c5a3da888_sto ry.html Stormy Daniels’s former lawyer said to be cooperating with federal probe of Michael Cohen By Beth Reinhard and Emma Brown Keith Davidson, the former attorney for two women who were paid to keep quiet about their alleged affairs with Donald Trump, has been contacted by federal authorities investigating Trump attorney Michael Cohen and is cooperating with them, a spokesman for Davidson confirmed. Davidson was asked to provide “certain limited electronic information” for the probe led by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, spokesman Dave Wedge said. “He has done so and will continue to cooperate to the fullest extent possible under the law,” Wedge said in a statement Friday. Shortly before the 2016 election, Davidson negotiated a confidentiality agreement with Cohen under which porn star Stormy Daniels was paid $130,000. Davidson also represented Karen McDougal, a Playboy centerfold, in the $150,000 agreement she struck in August 2016 with the National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc., for the rights to her story. AMI never published the story. Both Daniels and McDougal have filed lawsuits to get out of their non-disclosure agreements. Earlier this week, McDougal settled with AMI — whose chief executive, David Pecker, is a friend of Trump — and is no longer bound by her contract with the tabloid publisher. FBI agents raided Cohen’s Manhattan office last week, as well as his home and a hotel room. -
September 18, 2018 Democracy Reform Task Force Rep
� -.· ,.. ..7 1, . � � SEPTEMBER 18, 2018 DEMOCRACY REFORM TASK FORCE REP. JOHN SARBANES, CHAIR President Donald J. Trump campaigned on a promise to “drain the swamp” in Washington. He vowed that as President he would take steps to break the “cycle of corruption” and end “decades of special interest dealing,” 1 and he pledged to aggressively pursue meaningful reforms to improve transparency and accountability in government. 2 But President Trump has broken this promise to the American people. Specifically, the Trump Administration has: • Made a Mockery of Ethics Law and Regulation • Promoted a Culture of Secrecy in the Executive Branch • Stacked His Cabinet with Big Money Campaign Donors • Installed a Special-Interest Revolving Door into the Trump White House • Put Big Money Ahead of the Public Interest • Turned the Presidency into a Profit-Making Enterprise • Pursued Public Policy for Trump’s Personal Benefit • Raided the Treasury to Pay for Vacation & Private Business Promotion As President Trump marks his 600th day in office, this report – the sixth edition in the Democracy Reform Task Force’s series of “100 Ways” oversight reports – lists 600 ways that the Trump Administration has broken its campaign promises. Here are all of the examples. 1 Donald J. Trump Campaign. “Trump Pledged to Drain the Swamp and Impose Congressional Term Limits.” October 18, 2016. 2 Ibid President Trump’s “Ethics” Executive Order was supposed to “drain the swamp.” As this exhaustive list shows, the Executive Order was just another example of President Trump’s tendency to overpromise and underdeliver. We have continued to witness the Administration openly flouting ethics regulations and conflict-of-interest law to an unprecedented degree. -
Federal Election Commission 1 First General Counsel's
MUR737900022 1 FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 2 FIRST GENERAL COUNSEL’S REPORT 3 MUR 73131 4 COMPLAINT: Jan. 23, 2018 5 AMEND. COMPLAINT: Mar. 12, 2018 6 NOTIFICATION DATE: Jan. 30, 2018 7 LAST RESPONSE: Apr. 12, 2018 8 ACTIVATION DATE: Sept. 20, 2019 9 10 STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS: 11 Oct. 27, 2021 (earliest) – Dec. 8, 2021 (latest) 12 ELECTION CYCLE: 2016 13 COMPLAINANTS: Common Cause 14 Paul S. Ryan 15 Allen J. Epstein 16 RESPONDENTS: Michael D. Cohen 17 Donald J. Trump 18 Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., and Bradley T. 19 Crate in his official capacity as treasurer 20 Trump Organization, LLC 21 Essential Consultants, LLC 1 The complaint in MUR 7637 (NRA-ILA, et al.) included the allegation that Donald J. Trump, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., and Bradley T. Crate in his official capacity as treasurer, and Michael Cohen violated the Act due to Cohen paying a woman not to disclose information about Trump. Because this allegation is the subject of MUR 7313, and in order to consider the totality of that allegation, we have administratively severed that allegation from MUR 7637 and joined it with MUR 7313. See First Gen. Counsel’s Report at 1 n.1, MUR 7637 (NRA-ILA, et al.) Consequently, the complainant in MUR 7637, Allen J. Epstein, is now a complainant in MUR 7313; the respondents from MUR 7637 with respect to this allegation were already respondents in MUR 7313. MUR737900023 MURs 7313, 7319, and 7379 (Michael D. Cohen, et al.) First General Counsel’s Report Page 2 of 70 1 MUR 7319 2 COMPLAINT: Feb.