Zohran Mamdani Took a Swing at Margaret Thatcher. Now It's Coming Back to Haunt Him

Todd Blanche haunted by former clients accusing him of 'malpractice and forgery': report

At the same time that he is serving as Donald Trump’s acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche is living under a cloud due to a lawsuit filed by two highly litigious clients dating back to his private practice days.According to a report from Vanity Fair’s Noah Shachtman, when Blanche worked at the prestigious law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham, & Taft, he agreed to represent Adam and Daniel Kapaln, twins in their 30’s, who were worried that they were being targeted by the Manhattan district attorney’s office for financial fraud, so they were looking for “a good lawyer, preferably one for a good price.”They came to Blanche who, reportedly, offered to take on their case at a rate lower than the firm he worked at normally would charge.From there, things went south, Shachtman is reporting.The Kaplans initially came to Blanche seeking legal representation for financial fraud investigations and now claim the attorney assured them they "would not be paying Cadwalader prices" and that he "did not want to make money on the representation," implying steep discounts.The firm's first bill arrived in June 2022 for $677,925.32. By November 2022, the Kaplans had paid Blanche's firm $1.65 million and were told they owed even more. On November 19, 2022, at 5:27 a.m., Blanche emailed the brothers: "I am forced to instruct my team to stop work on this matter," until the bill was brought current.Instead the Kaplans' fired back with a malpractice lawsuit, filed in June 2023, that makes specific allegations: Blanche forged their signatures on an engagement letter. To support their claim, they enlisted a handwriting expert who confirmed the signatures were forgeries, Vanity Fair is reporting, before adding that the twins also alleged Blanche withheld evidence that could have aided their defense against federal charges. The malpractice suit contends Blanche billed them approximately 2,475 hours at roughly $1,000 per hour — far higher than the discounted rate he promised.Their former attorney Daniel Abrams, a malpractice specialist, told Vanity Fair, "If those allegations are proven, and we have a good faith belief that they will be, you know, he's not an ethical guy."Blanche and Cadwalader denied all allegations and later countersued the Kaplans for $1,208,403.76 in allegedly unpaid bills.The malpractice case became more complicated when a federal grand jury indicted Adam and Daniel on 16 counts of money laundering and wire fraud in July 2023. They were forced to post $2.5 million bonds, according to the report.One twin, Adam, was convicted on all charges and is held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn — where Nicolas Maduro and Luigi Mangione currently reside. Daniel was convicted on all but two money laundering counts and remains free pending sentencing expected later this year.Even as federal prosecutors pursued the Kaplans as alleged financial criminals, they presented themselves in state court as victims — of the law firm and of Blanche, who by April 2023 had started his own practice and took on Trump as a key client, which then led to his hiring at the Department of Justice.According to Vanity Fair, the malpractice case will continue through the twins' sentencing as Blanche goes about his business at the DOJ with an eye of being confirmed to fired Pam Bondi's position should Trump formally nominate him.

Cuomo criticizes fellow Democrats for backing an incapable Joe Biden in 2024

Former New York Mayor Andrew Cuomo is trashing his own party over how the 2024 presidential race went down. The re-election of President Donald Trump, who trounced […]

Trump-backed redistricting plan is rejected in the South Carolina Legislature

Republican state senators don't face election this year. Trump's urging for them to redistrict to help flip the House seat held by prominent Democrat Jim Clyburn was met with opposition.

Zohran Mamdani Just Announced Plans to Begin Seizing and Redistributing Private Property

Thomas Massie Warns More Epstein Retribution Is Coming

Republican Representative Thomas Massie has vowed to go scorched earth on the Trump administration—by unveiling previously unmentioned names related to the Epstein files.The rogue Kentucky lawmaker pointed fingers at Donald and Melania Trump during an interview with NBC News’s Meet the Press Sunday, claiming that the first lady is well aware that the Justice Department’s public rollout of its investigation into the pedophilic web is incomplete. Acting Attorney General “Todd Blanche is violating the law; there’s still millions of files they haven’t released,” Massies said. “We know from talking to the victims’ lawyers that their own 302 forms haven’t been released. We know the files have been over-redacted.“I have released at least three names of billionaires who are implicated in this. I don’t think it’s possible to get to convictions with Todd Blanche at the top, and with the FBI Director Kash Patel at the top, because they’ve effectively both perjured themselves by saying that there’s nobody else in the files.“Even Melania doesn’t believe that: The first lady knows that Jeffrey Epstein didn’t act alone,” Massie said.Last month, Melania delivered an oddly timed public address that surprised even the president. In a short speech, she denied having any sort of relationship with Epstein or his longtime girlfriend and criminal associate, Ghislaine Maxwell. She also criticized media coverage that tied the three of them together (despite their having been photographed together), and called on Congress to allow Epstein’s victims to testify. Trump was reportedly not informed of what his wife would tell the public ahead of time, but said afterward that the content of Melania’s speech didn’t “bother” him and that she “had a right to talk about it.”Massie underscored that the Epstein Files Transparency Act “is a law” that will force the files’ release “for years.”“So, if we can’t get this attorney general and this FBI director to do the right thing, the next ones who take those seats are obligated by law to release the files that these individuals are not releasing now,” Massie concluded.Massie—a longtime critic of the president—lost his primary race last week to a Trump-backed candidate. But even before the primary vote, Massie had become increasingly unbeholden to MAGA loyalties, voting (and speaking) his mind, much to the president’s chagrin.

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani takes jab at Cavaliers after Knicks’ sweep

Just like the Knicks, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani can dunk when needed.

Trump election denier could become governor of a crucial swing state

When Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in Georgia in the United States' 2020 presidential election, there were two very different reactions among Republicans in the Peach State. Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, much to Trump's chagrin, acknowledged Biden as the legitimate winner — while then- State Sen. Burt Jones (now lieutenant governor) promoted Trump's repeatedly debunked claim that Georgia was stolen from him. And according to New York Times reporters Danny Hakim and Richard Fausset, Georgia will have a major election denier in the governor's office if Jones replaces Kemp in January 2027.With Kemp term-limited, Georgia Republicans are having a gubernatorial primary race that finds Jones competing with Rick Jackson (described by Hakim and Fausset as a "brash, pro-Trump billionaire") for the nomination. A runoff primary election is scheduled for June 16."Burt Jones, the Republican frontrunner in the Georgia governor's race, presents his considerable efforts to overturn Donald J. Trump's election loss in 2020 as a badge of honor," Hakim and Fausset report in the Times. "On the stump, he even boasts about it…. Last week, Mr. Jones, with the help of an endorsement from President Trump, was the top vote-getter in the first round of Georgia's Republican primary for governor. "Jones, according to Hakim and Fausset, "still carries the baggage — or as some would have it, bragging rights" — from the 2020 election and played a major role in "efforts to keep Mr. Trump in power" even though he lost Georgia to Biden."Mr. Jones tried to organize a special state legislative session to overturn Mr. Trump's electoral loss," the New York Times reporters recall. "He helped arrange public hearings in the State Senate, where Rudolph W. Giuliani demonized Atlanta election workers and advanced false claims that the election had been stolen. He joined a fake Electoral College contingent from Georgia that sent its false votes to Washington as part of a multi-state effort to try to derail the certification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory."Hakim and Fausset continue, "He backed Texas litigation challenging his own state's election results…. If elected governor, Mr. Jones would join several Republican governors who are 2020 election deniers just as the Trump Administration is using the Justice Department to seize 2020 ballots and revive old conspiracies."When Trump "amped up his unsubstantiated claim of a stolen election" in 2020, there was "vigorous pushback from some state Republicans, including Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and Mr. Raffensperger." But Jones "attacked the state's Republican leaders, including Mr. Duncan, for asserting — accurately — that there was no credible evidence of widespread voter fraud."

'People are fed up': Swing state Dems outpoll GOP by biggest margin in 27 years

Last week’s primary election didn’t feature any races with both a Democrat and a Republican on the ballot, but Georgia Democrats still feel like they won.If you are one of the more than 2 million Georgians who cast a ballot, you will likely recall the poll worker asking you to choose a Democratic, Republican or nonpartisan ballot.In all, Democrats pulled more than 1 million ballots to Republicans’ nearly 940,000, or about 52.6% to 45.4%.Charlie Bailey, celebrates May 3, 2025, after being elected as chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia, replacing Atlanta U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams. Stanley Dunlap/Georgia RecorderDemocratic Party of Georgia Chairman Charlie Bailey said that margin is the biggest for Democrats since 1998 and shows that voters are ready to line up in November behind candidates like U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democratic nominees for U.S. Senate and Georgia governor.“It’s just another piece of evidence of growing Democratic momentum, the work of the party, the strength of Jon Ossoff, the strength of Keisha Lance Bottoms coming into this governor’s race,” he said. “People are fed up with (Republicans), and what those numbers in the primary tell you is that that momentum is building towards November, when they’re going to vote these Republicans out.”In 2018, a midterm year with President Donald Trump in the White House and an open race for Georgia governor at the top of the ticket, Republicans pulled more ballots than Democrats by about 52% to 48%.Comparing the number of ballots drawn is not a perfect measure. Some people choose the other party’s ballot because they live in an area dominated by that party and they want to have a say in local races, or because they want to promote a weaker opponent for their candidate in the general election.Sen. Jon Ossoff. Ross Williams/Georgia RecorderStill, the discrepancy spells good news for Democrats looking ahead to the Nov. 3 election, says Emory University political science professor Andra Gillespie.“What it connotes or implies is that Democratic candidates are capturing the imagination of voters in ways that, if this energy can be sustained, could be helpful for them in terms of flipping seats nationally, and in Republican states like Georgia, narrowing those margins between Democrats and Republicans, even in contests where Republicans are the odds-on favorite,” she said.Congressman Mike Collins and former coach Derek Dooley at their election night parties. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder and Alander Rocha/Georgia RecorderThe difference in ballots is even more notable because Republicans had more high-profile races, said University of Georgia political science professor Trey Hood. No Democrat challenged incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, while Republicans had competitive races for U.S. Senate and Georgia governor at the top of the ticket.Hood said it’s also notable that Republicans who voted on Election Day did not outnumber Democrats by a large margin. Republicans only had about 4,000 more voters on Election Day than Democrats, about 508,000 to 504,000. Hood said that might signal a shift in GOP voter behavior, with more conservatives preferring to cast a ballot during Georgia’s three weeks of early voting.“I don’t know that we can expect to necessarily see a huge surge in Republican turnout on Election Day anymore,” he said.Voter demographics strong for DemocratsFormer Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms gives a speech after winning the Democratic primary for governor outright. Jeff Amy/Georgia RecorderResults also show demographics that tend to favor Democratic candidates in Georgia had a strong showing.Statistically, Black voters in Georgia largely favor Democrats, and they made up nearly 32% of the vote.“If Black turnout was 31% in a general election, yeah, that would be probably a good Democratic year,” Hood said. “I mean, before now, the highest it’s ever been is about 29%. And the more Black turnout as a percentage of the total electorate, the less of the white share of the vote you have to draw off as a Democrat. So if that pattern held and Black turnout was 31% in the general, it would be big.”Rick Jackson and Burt Jones will face each other head to head in a June runoff. Photo credit: Ross Williams and Alander Rocha for the Georgia RecorderData from the secretary of state’s office also shows that the electorate was nearly 57% female and 43% male. That number is likely boosted by high turnout among Black women, who are registered to vote at a higher rate than Black men.Reality check?Still, the high Democratic turnout was not enough to land a pair of Democratic-aligned candidates on the state Supreme Court, and not everyone thinks the numbers show the wind is at Democrats’ back.Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon said turnout in primary elections does not correlate with general election turnout.McKoon said he chalks up the ballot discrepancy to the typical midterm backlash to the party in...