NEW YORK (AP) — The family that owns OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma used Swiss bank accounts to conceal the transfer of millions of dollars from the company to themselves, New York state’s attorney general contends in court papers filed Friday.

New York — asking a judge to enforce subpoenas of companies, banks and advisers to Purdue and its owners, the Sackler family — said it has already documented $1 billion in transfers between those parties.

Those transactions include millions shifted from a Purdue parent company to former board member Mortimer D.A. Sackler, prosecutors said in the papers. Sackler then redirected substantial amounts to shell companies that own family homes in Manhattan and the Hamptons, prosecutors say.


Representatives for the branch of the family that includes Mortimer D.A. Sackler did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

An appeals court on Friday reinstated a lawsuit from the parents of slain Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich against Fox News, who exploited Rich’s 2016 murder and promulgated right-wing conspiracy theories about it.

...

A lower-court judge threw out the lawsuit last year, saying that the suit’s claims were not “sufficiently outrageous” and “fail to adequately allege essential elements of the causes of action asserted.”

But on Friday, a panel of federal appeals court judges in New York said the judge erred in dismissing the suit.

“The Riches’ complaint plausibly alleges enough facts to state a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress — for extreme and outrageous conduct by [Fox News],” the judges wrote in their ruling. “We have no trouble concluding that — taking their allegations as true — the Riches plausibly alleged what amounted to a campaign of emotional torture.”

Andrew Desiderio
✔
@AndrewDesiderio
BREAKING: House Judiciary Committee approves resolution spelling out the parameters for its impeachment investigation into President Trump.

All Democrats voted aye; all Republicans voted no.

In fact, Parscale’s accounts of his life and his work for the president comprise a classic Trumpian tale: They’re a combination of hyperbole, half-truths and the occasional fiction. Indeed, Parscale shares more than one trait with his most important client. He has embraced political beliefs not in evidence before the 2016 campaign. Like Trump, he has adapted to opportunities as they arose. And like Trump, Parscale is largely unencumbered by the concerns for consistency and accuracy that are the hobgoblins of smaller minds. “When I give a speech, I tell it like a story,” Parscale says when asked about his biographical embellishments and errors. “My story is my story.”

Consider what Parscale has said about his own compensation this campaign season. He has repeatedly emphasized that he is refusing to take the customary cut of the campaign’s digital ad spending. “I felt like as campaign manager it would seem not very ethical and very good of myself to pay myself a percentage of my decisions,” Parscale told CNN earlier this year. Instead, he said, he is accepting a relative pittance for his efforts: an annual “retainer” of $300,000, plus unspecified bonuses. “I wanted to set a high mark,” he told Breitbart News. As he put it: “I don’t do this for a percentage. I do this for my country and for President Trump.”

But that wasn’t the full story. Parscale’s no-commissions policy did not apply when the client was the Republican National Committee, whose main mission, at least when it comes to employing Parscale’s firm, is reelecting Trump. That work represented $18 million in billings for Parscale Strategy since he was named 2020 campaign manager, dwarfing the $4.8 million his companies have received directly from Trump committees.

In an interview for this article, Parscale confirmed he was taking commissions on the portions of the $18 million that was used to buy advertising, but he declined to discuss specifics. Parscale said he saw no conflict of interest because the party was making the decisions. “That’s the RNC’s money,” he said. “If they call me tomorrow and say, ‘We’re not spending any more money on this,’ there’s nothing I can do.”

A Message from Craig McLean: Hurricane Dorian and Exceptional Service

Dear Colleagues,

The fierce storm we know as Hurricane Dorian has concluded its ferocious path through the Bahamas and along the U.S. East Coast. Many of you have contributed to the excellent science that has underpinned the forecasts and current understanding of storms such as this one, which accelerated quite rapidly in intensity. The storm also presented challenges in track which improved with enhanced observations. We know that our collective work, from the scientists in the aircraft penetrating the storm, to the scientists deploying the glider picket line, to the modelers and folks working the physics of the storms, across OAR and in our CI'S, and across all NOAA Lines, we are working the problem in order to give the NWS forecasters the best tools we possibly can to keep America and our neighbors safe. Thank you.

During the course of the storm, as I am sure you are aware, there were routine and exceptional expert forecasts, the best possible, issued by the NWS Forecasters. These are remarkable colleagues of ours, who receive our products, use them well, and provide the benefit of their own experience in announcing accurate forecasts accompanied by the distinction of all credible scientists—they sign their work. As I'm sure you also know, there was a complex issue involving the President commenting on the path of the hurricane. The NWS Forecaster(s) corrected any public misunderstanding in an expert and timely way, as they should. There followed, last Friday, an unsigned press release from "NOAA" that inappropriately and incorrectly contradicted the NWS forecaster. My understanding is that this intervention to contradict the forecaster was not based on science but on external factors including reputation and appearance, or simply put, political. Our NOAA Scientific Integrity Policy and Code of Scientific Conduct make clear that all NOAA employees shall approach all scientific activities with honesty, objectively, and completely, without allegiance to individuals, organizations, or ideology. The content of this press release is very concerning as it compromises the ability of NOAA to convey life-saving information necessary to avoid substantial and specific danger to public health and safety. If the public cannot trust our information, or we debase our forecaster's warnings and products, that specific danger arises.

You know that the value of our science is in the complexity of our understanding, our ability to convey that understanding to a wide audience of users of this information, and to establish and sustain the public trust in the truth and legitimacy of that information. Unfortunately, the press release of last Friday violated this trust and violated NOAA's policies of scientific integrity. In my role as Assistant Administrator for Research, and as I continue to administratively serve as Acting Chief Scientist, I am pursuing the potential violations of our NOAA Administrative Order on Scientific Integrity. Thankfully, we have such policies that are independently cited as among the best in the federal community, if not the best. Your NOAA and OAR management and leadership team believes in these policies and principles. I have a responsibility to pursue these truths. I will.

Thank you for your continued excellent work, and your trust. Carry on.

Seth Abramson
@SethAbramson
·
33m
Jared Kushner's COFFEE BOY now runs America's Middle East policy

If that isn't enough to make you want to read a book like Proof of Conspiracy about how the Trump family corrupted America's Middle East policy by turning it into a for-profit family business, I got nothing left
Quote Tweet

Ryan Goodman
@rgoodlaw
· Sep 7
"Hope Hicks, a White House spokeswoman, told Business Insider that Berkowitz's role was primarily administrative and involved assisting Kushner with daily logistics LIKE GETTING COFFEE or coordinating meetings."

via @eliza_relman April 2017 report: https://businessinsider.com/jared-kushner-avi-berkowitz-trump-2017-3… https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1169665471525920773…


Seth Abramson
@SethAbramson
1/ Here's what many don't realize: Berkowitz was chosen because he knows about ongoing secret negotiations between Kushner and foreign nationals in the Middle East; Trump had virtually no one else he could pick, as those secrets can't be allowed to reach ears "outside the family"

Kyle Griffin
✔
@kylegriffin1
The Trump admin has proposed a tariff of up to 100% on $25 billion in European items. Romano, Parmesan and Gouda are all on the list. But it's not just cheese. The tariff is proposed to hit a variety of items like wines, meats, olive oil, olives and pasta. https://cnn.it/2LDlUH4