Wife Of Judge In Trump 'Hush Money' Trial Worked For AG Letitia James

 by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Lara Merchan, the wife of the judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s “hush money” case in Manhattan, once worked for New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the massive $350 million civil fraud case against the former president, with the revelation reviving claims of bias and calls for the judge’s recusal.

Records reviewed by The Epoch Times show that Ms. Merchan worked for 21 years as a Special Assistant to the AG in New York, including three years under Ms. James. She changed jobs over two years ago.

Ms. James is a Democrat who fixated on President Trump as she campaigned for New York attorney general, calling him a “con man” and vowing to shine a “bright light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings.”

She began investigating the former president soon after taking office, eventually suing him for allegedly misleading banks and others about the value of his assets.

Ms. James eventually won the case on Feb. 16, with New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ordering President Trump and Trump Organization executives to pay $350 million in damages, and barring the former president from doing business in the state for three years.

Judge Juan Merchan is presiding over a separate criminal trial involving President Trump in New York, in which the former president is accused of falsifying business records in order to conceal a $130,000 “hush money” payoff to an adult performer to stay quiet about their alleged affair.

President Trump on his Truth Social platform accused Judge Merchan of bias and corruption, while labeling the case against him “election interference” and also demanding the judge’s recusal.

The former president has also alleged that the judge’s daughter, Loren Merchan, has a partisan interest in the case because she leads a political marketing firm and has represented President Trump’s political opponents, receiving millions from them.

Claims of Conflict of Interest

Judge Merchan imposed a gag order against President Trump in the case and, on April 1, expanded it to include family members of the judge and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

The judge wrote in the order that President Trump’s speech “injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings that not only they, but their family members as well, as ‘fair game’ for Defendant’s vitriol.”

Laura Loomer, an independent journalist and popular conservative commentator who on social media shared records that Judge Merchan’s wife worked for Ms. James, wrote in a post on X that this fact represents “another major conflict of interest!”

Various conservative accounts reacted to Ms. Loomer’s post, arguing that the revelation adds to evidence that the judge should recuse himself from the case.

“And this is why they expanded the gag order on Trump,” Paul A. Szypula, a popular conservative commentator on X with over 140,000 followers, said in a post. “It’s even more obvious how biased Judge Merchan is. He has to recuse himself now. There’s clearly at least an appearance of a conflict here. That’s enough in itself.”

Another popular account with over 46,000 followers called “The doppelgängers” argued in a post that, “everyone knows this is all connected and they are all connected to same sources to take down Trump.”

By contrast, Brian Krassenstein, a left-wing political commentator with a similar size following on X, pushed back on Ms. Loomer, saying the fact Judge Merchan’s wife once worked for Ms. James is not evidence of bias or conflict of interest.

“The New York State Attorney General’s office employs more than 700 Assistant Attorneys General. It’s not as if she was Letitia James’ right-hand woman,” he wrote in a post on X. “Literally 40% of all of the staff working in the Office of the AG in NY are ‘Special Assistants.’”

“Loomer is trying to somehow say that since the Judge in Trump’s Manhattan case was or is married to a woman who once worked in an office with 700 other people under the AG, who already won a civil suit against Trump, that Judge Merchan now has a conflict of interest,” he continued.

Further, Mr. Krassenstein suggested that Ms. Loomer, who is a vocal Trump supporter, may even have posted about the judge’s wife at his direction.

“If so that would likely be illegal now that a gag order is in place,” Mr. Krassenstein said.

Lara Merchan was not immediately reachable for comment.

Judge Merchan has already declined to recuse himself from the case.

In the case, Mr. Bragg charged President Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records, alleging a scheme to influence the 2016 election with payments meant to bury unfavorable news coverage of the alleged affair with the adult performer, which the former president has denied.

The trial has been set for April 15, and in less than two weeks, the first-ever criminal trial of a former American president will take place in Manhattan.

Catherine Yang contributed to this report.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/wife-judge-trump-hush-money-trial-worked-ag-letitia-james

CDC Releases Hidden Trove Of COVID-19 Vaccine Injury Reports

 by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released previously hidden reports of facial paralysis and other adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination.

The 780,000 reports were received shortly after the COVID-19 vaccines were rolled out, and show people experienced a wide range of post-vaccination problems, including heart inflammation, miscarriages, and seizures.

“Loss of consciousness and seizure immediately following injection. Went to ER by ambulance,” one person reported.

“Diagnosed with Bells Palsy today due to left-sided facial numbness and paralysis,” another said.

People lodged the reports with V-safe, a text-message system created by the CDC to monitor for possible side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.

The CDC, for years, declined to make the V-safe data public, instead publishing studies that described the reports as providing reassurance about the safety of the shots. However, according to data released in 2022, nearly 8 percent of the 10 million users required medical attention or hospital care after vaccination, and many others reported missing school, work, or other normal activities.

That topline data came from check-the-box surveys.

The same judge who ordered the release of that data ordered the agency in January to disclose free-text entries from a different section where individuals could describe their experiences. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, appointed by former President Donald Trump, dismissed the government’s arguments that processing the responses and redacting sensitive information would require too much work.

The first two tranches, comprising 780,000 reports from some 523,000 people, include dozens of reports of heart inflammation, hundreds of reports of facial paralysis, and thousands of reports of tinnitus.

Multiple people said things were so bad that they were struggling with suicidal thoughts.

“For 24 hrs after [the] shot I was so fatigued I could not stay awake. I also have some very strong suicidal thoughts. Zero appetite,” one individual wrote.

Another person said they experienced symptoms of an allergic reaction. “I read where [sic] this vaccine should not be administered to anyone allergic to PEG and I am allergic to PEG. It would be incredibly reassuring if someone would call me as all I run into is dead ends,” the individual said.

The free-text portion of the surveys was the only place for people to report adverse events, including heart inflammation, even though the CDC knew the shots might cause those events, previously released documents showed. Other documents showed the CDC became aware of the vaccines possibly causing myocarditis, or heart inflammation, and a related condition called pericarditis early in 2021 but hid the knowledge from the public.

Judge Kacsmaryk’s order came in litigation brought by the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), a nonprofit that has compelled the release of a number of government files since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

“ICAN had to sue the Centers for Disease Control in order to gain access to the COVID-19 shot V-safe adverse event data, which is yet another shameful chapter in the decades-long history of federal health officials trying to cover up vaccine risks by ignoring patterns of vaccine reaction symptoms in reports made to the government,” Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, told The Epoch Times after reviewing the new data.

“When people report the same symptoms over and over again after getting a biological product—in this case ’shortness of breath‘ and ’heart palpitations,' which are both symptoms of myocarditis that has been causally linked to mRNA COVID shots—the public should be warned, not kept in the dark. It raises questions about what else government health officials are hiding,” she added.

The free-text entries are not dated. Elizabeth Brehm, an attorney representing ICAN, said the group is seeking the dates of the reports from the CDC. The group does know that the entries are the earliest ones received by the CDC. V-safe was launched as the vaccines were rolled out in late 2020. The rest of the entries are expected to be produced on a rolling basis.

A CDC spokesperson declined to answer many questions, including those related to the dates of entries.

“V-safe participants who reported that they received medical care after vaccination were called and encouraged to submit a VAERS report. If they submitted a VAERS report and the adverse events were classified as serious (as defined in the Code of Federal Regulations), CDC attempted to obtain additional information (medical records, hospital records, etc.) about the reported adverse event,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times. “All data collected from VAERS is processed and analyzed for unusual patterns or unusually high numbers of rare and serious adverse events after vaccination.”

She said the information from VAERS helped detect problems the agency now acknowledges are caused by the vaccines, including myocarditis.

https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/cdc-releases-hidden-trove-covid-19-vaccine-injury-reports

'Researchers racing to develop Paxlovid replacement'

 Researchers from Rutgers believe they are among the leaders in a race to find an oral COVID-19 treatment to supplement or replace Paxlovid -- an antiviral medication that helps keep high-risk patients out of the hospital.

Their report, which will appear in Science, shows that an alternative medication, a viral papain-like protease inhibitor, inhibits disease progression in animals, a necessary step before human drug trials.

"COVID-19 remains the nation's third leading cause of death, so there's already a massive need for additional treatment options," said Jun Wang, senior author of the study and an associate professor who runs a research lab at Rutgers' Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.

"That need will grow more urgent when, inevitably, COVID-19 mutates in ways that prevent Paxlovid from working."

The Rutgers team hoped to make a drug that interfered with viral papain-like protease (PLpro), a protein that performs important functions in all known strains of COVID-19.

Creating such a drug required detailed information about PLpro's structure, which Wang's team got from the Arnold Lab at Rutgers' Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine (CABM).

Precise knowledge of PLpro's structure enabled Wang's team to design and synthesize 85 drug candidates that would bond to - and interfere with -- this vital protein.

"The PLpro crystal structures showed an unexpected arrangement of how the drug candidate molecules bind to its protein target, leading to innovative design ideas implemented by professor Wang's medicinal chemistry team," said Eddy Arnold, who is a professor at CABM and the Rutgers Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.

Laboratory testing established that the most effective of those drug candidates, a compound dubbed Jun12682, inhibited several strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including strains that resist treatment with Paxlovid.

Subsequent testing on SARS-CoV-2-infected mice by the Deng lab at Oklahoma State University showed that oral treatment with Jun12682 reduced viral lung loads and lesions while improving survival rates.

"Our treatment was about as effective in mice as Paxlovid was in its initial animal tests," said Wang, who added the experimental drug appears to have at least one major advantage over the older drug.

"Paxlovid interferes with many prescription medications, and most people who face the highest risk of severe COVID-19 take other prescription medicines, so it's a real problem," Wang said.

"We tested our candidate Jun12682 against major drug-metabolizing enzymes and saw no evidence that it would interfere with other medications."

Disclosure: Rutgers has submitted patent applications for Jun12682, along with the other 84 drug candidates, and is looking for partners to help move the drug candidate forward through further stages of testing and development.

Journal Reference:

1. Bin Tan, Xiaoming Zhang, Ahmadullah Ansari, Prakash Jadhav, Haozhou Tan, Kan Li, Ashima Chopra, Alexandra Ford, Xiang Chi, Francesc Xavier Ruiz, Eddy Arnold, Xufang Deng, Jun Wang. Design of a SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease inhibitor with antiviral efficacy in a mouse model. Science, 2024; 383 (6690): 1434 DOI: 10.1126/science.adm9724

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240328162605.htm

'DNA study IDs descendants of George Washington from unmarked remains'

 New DNA sequencing technologies have identified the historical remains of George Washington's grandnephews, Samuel Walter Washington and George Steptoe Washington Jr., and their mother, Lucy Payne Washington, from unmarked, fragmentary bones left at the Harewood family cemetery in Charles Town, West Virginia, in the mid-1800s.

In addition to enabling the remains in question to be reunited and reburied if desired, the researchers plan to apply the validated DNA analysis techniques to their ongoing efforts to identify the remains of service members lost around the world in past conflicts going back to World War II. The findings appear March 28 in the journal iScience.

"The ability to test historical samples such as the Harewood Cemetery remains allows us to evaluate and improve the methodologies applied to our casework samples that are of similar quality to historical remains, and often times even more degraded," says first author Courtney Cavagnino of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System's Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFMES-AFDIL) at the Dover Air Force Base.

"This particular case gave us an opportunity to test methods for extended kinship prediction that we developed using a set of known, degraded DNA samples needing identity confirmation," says senior author Charla Marshall, Deputy Director of DoD DNA Operations.

"Our laboratory is currently validating these novel methods to be used in routine casework."

AFMES-AFDIL is the Department of Defense's only human remains DNA laboratory, supporting current-day operations as well as the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency's (DPAA) mission to identify service members from past conflicts extending back to World War II. In the new study, the AFMES-AFDIL team set out to identify remains from unmarked grave sites at Harewood Cemetery.

To confirm the suspected identities of the recovered remains, they performed a range of DNA tests of the remains together with analyses of the DNA from a living descendant, S.W. Washington.

The methods included Y chromosome DNA analysis to assess paternal relationships, mitochondrial DNA sequencing to assess maternal relationships, and a newly developed method to analyze next generation sequencing (NGS) data including about 95,000 nuclear single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (places in the genome where there is a single-letter typo) to predict more distant ancestry.

Their pairwise kinship comparisons between the living descendant, S.W. Washington, and the three buried individuals predicted relationships one degree closer than anticipated, they note.

While that was a surprise, they were able to figure out that was due to cross-cousin marriages in the Washington family tree.

"Our data confirmed the identities of the three sets of remains, and we furthermore resolved which male was the direct ancestor of S.W. Washington, the living descendant," Marshall said.

The most common method used for DNA profiling in forensics is known as short tandem repeat (STR) analysis.

But STR typing is often impossible to use with degraded remains, especially those preserved with post-war embalming techniques involving formaldehyde, Marshall says.

Their newly developed methods now open the door to new ways of making a positive ID in these more difficult cases, including those involving service members lost in past conflicts whose remains contain only heavily degraded DNA.

"These SNP methods will provide us with a method of positive identification from nuclear DNA," Marshall says. "Very importantly, these methods will allow us to expand our pool of viable family reference sample donors to 3rd and 4th degree relatives in an effort to increase the number of DNA-assisted identifications, particularly those of past conflicts such as World War II, Korea, Cold War, and Southeast Asia/Vietnam."

Journal Reference:

1. Courtney Cavagnino, Göran Runfeldt, Michael Sager, Roberta Estes, Andreas Tillmar, Ellen M. Greytak, Jacqueline Tyler Thomas, Elise Anderson, Jennifer Daniels-Higginbotham, Katelyn Kjelland, Kimberly Sturk-Andreaggi, Thomas J. Parsons, Timothy P. McMahon, Charla Marshall. Unearthing who and Y at Harewood Cemetery and inference of George Washington’s Y-chromosomal haplotype. iScience, 2024; 109353 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109353

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240328111048.htm

Who Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is going to meet in China

 

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was scheduled to arrive in China on Thursday ahead of four full days of meetings with Chinese officials.
• Her itinerary includes meetings with senior officials in the southern city of Guangzhou as well as China’s capital of Beijing.
• Yellen plans to discuss China’s industrial overcapacity, among other topics, according to the Treasury.

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was scheduled to arrive in China on Thursday ahead of four full days of meetings with Chinese officials.

  It’s her second trip to the country since the summer, as the U.S. and China seek to increase high-level communication in an otherwise tense relationship. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also due to visit China again later this year.

  “I think our expectation is that we will at senior levels, and increasingly at all levels, continue to have ongoing and deepening dialogue. We went for too long with too little communication, and misunderstandings developed,” Yellen told reporters ahead of her arrival in China.

  Her trip will cover the southern city of Guangzhou — the capital of China’s export-heavy province of Guangdong — and the national capital of Beijing, according to a press release.

  Here’s her full itinerary of meetings:

  • Friday, April 5 — meet with Vice Premier He Lifeng, Guangdong Governor Wang Weizhong, economic experts and AmCham China business representatives
  • Saturday, April 6 — continue meetings with Vice Premier He Lifeng
  • Sunday, April 7 — meet with Premier Li Qiang, Finance Minister Lan Fo’an, Beijing mayor Yin Yong, leading Chinese economists and Peking University students and professors
  • Monday, April 8 — meet with former Vice Premier Liu He, People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng

  What will they talk about?

  According to the Treasury, Yellen will discuss “unfair trade practices and underscoring the global economic consequences of Chinese industrial overcapacity.”

  China has faced growing global scrutiny over how the country’s emphasis on building up its manufacturing capabilities, including the use of subsidies and policy support to do so, has helped Chinese companies to sell products such as solar panels at far lower prices than manufacturers in other countries.

  In March, European Union Chamber of Commerce President Jens Eskelund said trade tensions between the EU and China will likely escalate as a result.

  The province exported nearly 5.4 trillion yuan ($750 billion) in manufactured products last year, with equipment accounting for two thirds, according to Tu Gaokun, director of Guangdong’s industry and information technology department.

  He told reporters last week the province was “committed” to improving productivity, and noted how it aimed to build up sectors such as new energy storage, biomanufacturing and commercial aviation.

  Tackling ‘illicit finance’

  During her meetings in China, Yellen will also “work to expand bilateral cooperation on countering illicit finance, which can drive important progress on shared efforts against criminal activity such as drug trafficking and fraud,” the Treasury said.

  It added that Yellen would discuss work on bolstering financial stability, addressing climate change and resolving debt distress in developing nations.

  The trip will mark Yellen’s third meeting with Vice Premier He Lifeng, whom the Treasury secretary is also set to meet later this month at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group spring meetings in Washington, D.C.

  He Lifeng is also director of the office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs, a role formerly held by Liu.

• Guangdong is by far the top province in China by value of exports, according to Wind Information.

• https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/04/heres-who-treasury-secretary-janet-yellen-is-going-to-meet-in-china.html

Is justice coming for victims of COVID wrongful deaths?

 Tens of thousands of American families continue to demand justice for what they believe are the wrongful deaths (murders) of loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Such justice soon may be coming due in large part to the dedicated efforts of two attorneys in Florida (working pro bono) to thoroughly research the criminal codes of 25 states to identify crimes committed by various high-level officials and organizations prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the attorneys, a former prosecutor, prepared extensive legal briefs (documenting strong evidence of crimes) that have been submitted to the attorneys general of Texas and Florida.  The brief was subsequently filed with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.  In Texas, a total of 22 county district attorneys have received the 27-page brief, plus exhibits for review and action.  Similar filings soon will be made with the Louisiana and South Carolina attorneys general and perhaps several other state attorneys general.  Further information about the Texas brief is here, and information about the Florida brief is here.

In the briefs, the alleged crimes are according to each state’s criminal code.  The legal briefs/filings request that each attorney general thoroughly investigate the evidence of alleged crimes and, if found probable, convene a grand jury, present the evidence, issue criminal indictments, and prosecute the accused to the full extent of the law. 

The Texas legal brief, for example, filed at the request of 46 next-of-kin Texas families, lists the following accused persons as subjects of a criminal  investigation: 

• Anthony Fauci, ex-director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
• Cliff Lane, deputy director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
• Francis Collins, ex-director, National Institutes of Health
• Deborah Birx, ex-White House COVID response coordinator & former director of DOD
• HIV Research at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
• Rochelle Walensky, ex-director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Stephen Hahn, ex-commissioner, Federal Drug Administration
• Robert Redfield, ex-director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Peter Daszak, president, Eco-Health Alliance
• Rick Bright, director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority
• The administrators and health care providers of hospital systems and facilities providing care to patients in Texas, including but not limited to Baylor, Scott, & White Hospital System (BSW)

Alleged crimes per Texas penal code include: 

• Capital Murder – Tex. Penal Code §19.03(a)(7)
• Murder – Tex. Penal Code §19.02(b)
• Manslaughter – Tex. Penal Code §19.04
• Trafficking of Persons – Tex. Penal Code §20A.02
• Participation in enterprise through racketeering or unlawful debt collection – Tex. Penal Code §72.04 by Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity – Tex. Penal Code §71.02
• Injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual – Tex. Penal Code §22.04
• Abandoning or endangering a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual – Tex. Penal Code §22.041(c)
• Unlawful Restraint – Tex. Penal Code §20.02.

This effort to investigate Anthony Fauci and other accused persons is supported by donations from individuals and organizations such as the Fight Like a Flynn PAC, run by former national security adviser and retired lieutenant general Mike Flynn.

Based on the strong evidence of crimes presented in the legal briefs prepared by the Florida attorneys, it is indeed time for state attorneys general to conduct their own investigations.  If the evidence supports criminal charges and indictments, the victims of COVID wrongful deaths and their suffering families may finally receive accountability and justice for the egregious crimes committed against them.  Further information about this justice-seeking effort can be obtained by contacting the Vires Law Group at https://vireslaw.group.

Paul S. Gardiner is a retired U.S. Army officer, a Vietnam veteran, and an avid lover of America.  He has assisted in locating and communicating with next-of-kin family members in different states  who desire accountability and justice for their lost loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/04/is_justice_coming_for_victims_of_covid_wrongful_deaths.html

'Get over yourselves': Hillary Clinton hurls insults at her own party's voters

 By Monica Showalter

Pretend you're a Democrat. You're hesitating to vote for Joe Biden because the economy is bad and the president is a dotard. You aren't happy about U.S. support for Israel in its war on Hamas. You may still be upset that Democrats rigged your favorite, Bernie Sanders, out of the presidential race, twice.

In comes Hillary Clinton to buck you up to get out there and vote.

According to Breitbart News:

“Get over yourselves.” That is the intemperate advice from two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton who has scolded voters complaining about the likely prospect of a Donald Trump versus Joe Biden rematch in the 2024 presidential election campaign.

She delivered her blast Monday night during an interview on The Tonight Show with host Jimmy Fallon, saying:

Get over yourselves, those are the two choices … And, you know, it’s one of, like, one is old & effective & compassionate, has a heart & really cares about people, & one is old & has been charged with 91 felonies.

I don’t understand why this is a hard choice, really.

Feel motivated?

It's come to this:

Which pretty well signals that it's not just "deplorables" inclined to vote for President Trump whom she despises, it's also her own Democrats.

'Get over yourselves' is about the most insulting thing one can say to someone who's upset about some matter, suggesting that he or she is nothing more than a touchy egomaniac whose feelings are entirely imaginary as well as not worth considering. Can you imagine President Trump saying such things to his potential voters, particularly those who hesitating to vote for him? In the past, he's told black voters with such inclinations: "What do you have to lose?' which sounds a lot better than 'get over yourselves.'

What this indicates is Hillary's cold contempt for voters, even Democrat voters, who are already feeling pretty unenthusiastic about Biden. Instead of addressing their concerns, she insults them as big babies, telling them to do what she wants, or else. Persuasion, or winning them over, is not a job she plans to embrace.

If anything, an exhortation like that is likely to drive these voters to Trump, which probably wasn't her plan.

What it shows is that, unlike her "I feel your pain" husband Bill, she doesn't even pretend that she has empathy for others. She only has scorn and contempt, along with zero self-awareness to recognize what a poison pill that is to voters. Despite having a tin ear, she's hailed, by Fallon at least, as a popular standard-bearing Democrat, called in like Obama and Clinton, to help win over voters for Joe.

If I were whoever it is who runs Joe Biden's campaign team, I'd get this mean old hag off the stage as soon as possible, never to be seen shilling for him the campaign trail again. It's one thing to try and fail to attract voters. It's quite another to make voters want to run the other way based on a performance as bad as this one.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/04/get_over_yourselves_hillary_clinton_hurls_insults_at_her_own_party_s_voters.html