January 1, Roger Stone Avoids Prison with Trump’s Commutation

This Day in History  | 1804

Aaron Burr shoots and kills Alexander Hamilton during a duel in Weehawken, New Jersey. 

Hamilton and Burr were long-time political rivals, and the duel was the culmination of their conflict. The event became memorialized in the broadway hit named after our nation’s first secretary of the treasury. 

Good morning Middle Americans, 

Roger Stone will avoid prison time, thanks to his long-time friend who just so happens to be the president of the United States. Stone was set to spend more than three years behind bars, after being found guilty of lying to Congress witness tampering and obstruction of justice. Many, including the president felt like the entire prosecution, tied to Robert Mueller’s investigation, was a “HOAX”. 

How about those Trump tax returns? Following the Supreme Court’s decision to allow a Manhattan prosecutor to gain access to the president’s financial document, a judge has set a hearing date to see where the case goes next. The specific focus of the NY investigation is Trump’s hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. The goal of Democrats has always been to embarrass the president. This might be there best chance. 

Something we’ll continue to try and dissect here on this platform – the collateral damage and aftershocks caused by the death of George Floyd. Today we have a story about the Minneapolis police department and 150 police officers who are now claiming PTSD after the riots and destruction in that city in the wake of Floyd’s death. 

We also have a story today about a hate crime, that breaks the mold of what you normally think would constitute a hate crime. Local sheriffs in Wisconsin say a man admitted to swerving his truck into a biker because he believed all Harley riders are “white racists”. 

Lastly, our hearts are heavy today after learning about the death of ‘Captain America’ – Master Sgt. Andrew Christian Marckesano died by suicide after a long career in the military which included a dozen combat deployments. His death has caused great sadness in the military community, and it’s another reminder of that – just because someone survives combat – the battle with mental illness often continues. 

Read all about it. 

-Fraser Dixon

Trump Commutes Longtime Friend Roger Stone’s Prison Sentence

(AP) – President Donald Trump on Friday commuted the sentence of his longtime political confidant Roger Stone, intervening in extraordinary fashion in a criminal case that was central to the Russia investigation and that concerned the president’s own conduct.

The move came just days before Stone was to begin serving a 40-month prison sentence for lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing the House investigation into whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.

The action, which Trump had foreshadowed in recent days, underscores the president’s lingering rage over special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and is part of a continuing effort by the president and his administration to rewrite the narrative of a probe that has shadowed the White House from the outset. Democrats, already alarmed by the Justice Department’s earlier dismissal of the case against Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, denounced the president as further undermining the rule of law.

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July 16 Hearing Set in N.Y. Trump Tax Case After Supreme Court Ruling

(Bloomberg) – Donald Trump will get a chance next week to try new arguments against Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance’s subpoena of his tax returns and other financial records after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the president’s claim of immunity in the matter.

The high court on Thursday said presidents do not have broad protections against state criminal investigations. The case was sent back to U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan, who set a July 16 hearing date.

Vance is seeking the records from Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars LLP, as part of a grand jury investigation into hush-money payments made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, who says she had a sexual relationship with Trump about a decade before he became president. Trump has denied the affair and called the probe politically-motivated harassment.

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150 Minneapolis Police Officers Seeking Disability for PTSD Following Riots

(FOX 9 Minneapolis) – At least 150 Minneapolis Police Officers have begun the process of seeking ‘duty disability’ for post-traumatic stress under the Minnesota Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA), said an attorney representing the officers.  

The attorney, Ron Meuser, who handles most disability claims for the Minneapolis Police Federation, told the FOX 9 Investigators 75 of those officers are under doctors’ orders not to return to work as they undergo treatment for symptoms consistent with PTSD.

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Hate Crime: Suspect Admits to Killing Biker for Being White

(WBAY) – A Fond du Lac man charged in a homicide hate crime says he intentionally swerved his truck into a motorcyclist because he believed Harley riders to be “white racists,” according to information released by the county sheriff Thursday.

Daniel Navarro, 27, is being held on a $1 million bond on charges of 1st Degree Intentional Homicide – Hate Crime – Use of a Dangerous Weapon and 1st Degree Recklessly Endangering Safety – Hate Crime. He made his initial court appearance in Fond du Lac County Thursday.

The victim was identified as Phillip A. Thiessen, 55. Thiessen, a 1983 graduate of L.P. Goodrich High School, was a Marine and later a police officer in Fairfax, Va. Later, Thiessen worked for the Wisconsin Department of Justice Internet Crimes Against Children unit. He had retired and was living in Fond du Lac. CLICK HERE to read Thiessen’s obituary.“Phillip was a generous, caring, loyal man that made friends easily anywhere he went, and maintained long distance friendships for many years. He believed in giving back to his community and was a volunteer at the Fondy Food Pantry,” reads the obituary.

‘Captain America’ Dies by Suicide After Nearly a Dozen Combat Tours

(Fox News) – Master Sgt. Andrew Christian Marckesano served six full tours in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne and the Ranger regiment and a half dozen more combat tours overseas. He rose to become a decorated Green Beret and a Silver Star recipient. He had just moved to Washington, D.C., to start a coveted job at the Pentagon. Two days after the Fourth of July on Monday night, after having dinner with his former battalion leader, Marckesano returned home from dinner in Old Town, Alexandria, and died by suicide in front of his wife. He had three small children and was still on active duty.

Marckesano’s suicide was the 30th from this battalion. He is one of the 20 combat veterans taking their lives each day — an epidemic the military and White House are trying to stop. Last month, President Trump launched the PREVENTS Task Force with a White House ceremony.

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