Friday Morning Breakfast For The Brain

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Surveillance video of Jeffrey Epstein’s cell during suicide attempt was destroyed, prosecutors say

Via The New York Daily News

Surveillance footage from outside Jeffrey Epstein’s cell during his suicide attempt was destroyed, prosecutors revealed Thursday.

The revelation in a letter filed by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maurene Comey and Jason Swergold is the latest disclosure from the feds about the footage from the Metropolitan Correctional Center on July 22 and 23. Epstein attempted to hang himself that night while sharing a cell with accused quadruple murderer Nick Tartaglione, officials have said.

Swergold initially said last month in White Plains Federal Court that the video had not been preserved. He reversed himself less than 24 hours later, saying it had been archived.

Now, the feds say that due to a record-keeping error, MCC staff preserved footage from outside the wrong cell.

“The footage contained on the preserved video was for the correct date and time, but captured a different tier than the one where Cell-1 was located because the preserved video did not show corrections officers responding to any of the cells seen on the video. After speaking with MCC legal counsel, the Government was informed that the MCC computer system listed a different, incorrect cell for Tartaglione,” prosecutors wrote in a letter filed in federal court in Manhattan.

There was a backup system for the video footage, but that wasn’t working either.

Read the entire article HERE.

Pelosi’s Impeachment Blunder

Via The National Review

Her leverage play turns out to have been an embarrassing mistake.

We are in the midst of an imaginary impeachment standoff between House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell. “Both have drawn firm lines in the sand. Someone’s got to give,” one reporter recently declared.

There is, of course, nothing to “give.” Pelosi has no standing to dictate the terms of a Senate trial; no constitutional right or political leverage. Why she has put herself in a position that will ultimately end, one way or another, with her surrendering to McConnell is perplexing.

A new piece in Time magazine does shed some light on the thought process behind Pelosi’s decision to refuse to hand over articles of impeachment to a Senate whose majority doesn’t want them. One of the most interesting nuggets in the piece isn’t that Pelosi — portrayed as courageous risk-taker — had gotten the bright idea from CNN; it’s that she specifically got it from noted felon John Dean, Nixon’s former White House lawyer. Now, Dean is often portrayed as a patriotic, whistleblowing impeachment expert — which is true insofar as he planned the Watergate coverup, and then informed on everyone whom he conspired with after they were caught. His real expertise is cashing in on criminality for the past 50 years (I wrote about Dean’s slimy past here).

Surely Pelosi, blessed with preternatural political instincts, wouldn’t rely on Dean’s advice? Surely Pelosi wasn’t browbeaten into doing this by podcast bros and talking heads on America’s least popular major cable-news network?

Because whatever you make of the case against Donald Trump, it’s getting increasingly difficult to argue that this amateurish, constantly shifting effort by the House has been effective. After two dramatic emergency impeachment hearings, a pretend standoff, and massive cooperative coverage from the media, poll numbers haven’t budged. They may even have ticked back toward Donald Trump.

Read the entire article HERE.

Mo Brooks: Officials Appeared To Withhold Soleimani Intel Due To Concern Some Might Leak To Enemies

Via The Daily Wire

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) said on Thursday that U.S. intelligence community officials appeared to withhold sensitive information that they possessed involving the information that President Donald Trump was given when he decided to take out top Iranian terrorist Qassem Soleimani.

In a tweet, Brooks wrote: “USA kills Sulaimani. Kudos! After 40 years, about time USA fights back against Iran terrorists. In classified briefing, it appeared defense & intelligence reps held back info out of concern too many Congressmen can’t be trusted to keep classified info from USA enemies. Sad! Mo.”

In an interview with The Daily Wire, Brooks described the meeting that Congress had with U.S. officials where Congress was briefed on the strike.

Brooks said, “There were questions asked for specific information and the people on the dais simply did everything they could to get around providing the specific information, which allowed the inference that they had reservations about sharing that classified information with Congress in that kind of setting — which in turn leads to the inference that they had a reasonable amount of distrust as to whether shared classified information would in turn be shared by members of Congress with the news media or our enemies.”

Read the entire article HERE.

Buttigieg Blames Trump For Iran Shooting Down Ukrainian Airplane

Via The Federalist

Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg blamed President Donald Trump for the downed Ukrainian passenger jet over Iran on Wednesday night.

“Innocent civilians are now dead because they were caught in the middle of an unnecessary and unwanted military tit for tat,” Buttigieg tweeted. “My thoughts are with the families and loved ones of all 176 souls lost aboard this flight.”

The Democratic presidential candidate’s thoughts are also on the White House, apparently. U.S. intelligence officials confirmed Thursday that Iran blew Ukraine International Flight 752 out of the sky Wednesday night killing 176 passengers.

The jet was shot down just three hours after Iran’s missile attack on two major Iraqi bases housing American troops in retaliation for the U.S. execution of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, the leader of Iranian Revolution Guard’s elite Quds Force and the world’s most dangerous terrorist responsible for hundreds of American deaths.

Read the entire article HERE.

Professor fired for Facebook post suggesting Iran should tweet out list of American cultural sites to threaten

Via The Hill

A professor at Babson College was fired Thursday after sharing a Facebook post that suggested that Iran should make a list of American cultural sites to bomb.

The Massachusetts college announced the termination of adjunct professor Asheen Phansey Thursday. He shared a post allegedly mocking President Trump’s tweets that threatened to target 52 unnamed Iranian sites, including some that are culturally significant.

Trump tweets came after Tehran threatened to retaliate for the killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week.

Phansey joked on Facebook that, “In retaliation, Ayatollah Khomenei [sic] should tweet a list of 52 sites of beloved American cultural heritage that he would bomb,” Phansey wrote in the since-deleted post. “Um… Mall of America? Kardashian residence?” USA Today reported.

A slew of critics lashed out at Trump over his tweets, accusing him of threatening war crimes, including Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and several 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.

Trump later backed off of the threat, saying that he wants to “obey the law” when asked whether or not he would target the sites.

Trump added, “But think of it. They kill our people. They blow up our people and then we have to be very gentle with their cultural institutions. But I’m OK with it. It’s OK with me” during a meeting Tuesday with the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Babson College said they were suspending Phansey with pay Wednesday, pending the completion of an internal investigation.

In a Thursday statement, the school confirmed that the professor was no longer an employee, sharing “Babson College conducted a prompt and thorough investigation related to a post shared on a staff member’s personal Facebook page that does not represent the values and culture of the College. Based on the results of the investigation, the staff member is no longer a Babson College employee. As we have previously stated, Babson College condemns any type of threatening words and/or actions condoning violence and/or hate.”

Read the entire article HERE.

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