#1 – Federal prosecutors are now in New Jersey conducting a preliminary inquiry into accusations that aides to Gov. Chris Christie shut down access lanes to the George Washington Bridge as political retribution. And have issued grand jury subpoenas to Mr. Christie’s re-election campaign and to the state Republican Party, the lawyer for the campaign and the party said Thursday. (link)
#2 – Dinesh D’Souza, a conservative commentator, best-selling author and the director of the anti-Obama film “2016: Obama’s America” was indicted by a federal court today. The movie, the second highest domestic grossing political documentary in the United States since 1982, was a huge success before the 2012 elections. Indicted by a federal grand jury for arranging excessive campaign contributions to a candidate for the U.S. Senate. According to an indictment made public on Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, D’Souza around August 2012 reimbursed people who he had directed to contribute $20,000 to the candidate’s campaign. The candidate was not named in the indictment. (link)
#3 – Conservative activist James O’Keefe is accusing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration of targeting his group with document requests and a subpoena, claiming the Democratic governor’s recent comments critical of conservatives “aren’t simply words.” O’Keefe, whose Project Veritas is behind a series of hidden-camera investigations against left-leaning groups and causes, made the claims on the heels of the controversy over a recent Cuomo interview. In it, Cuomo blasted “extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay” and said they “have no place” in New York. He later walked back his remarks, and said they were being taken out of context in the media. (link)
#4 – In a famously left-leaning Hollywood, where Democratic fund-raisers fill the
social calendar, Friends of Abe stands out as a conservative group that bucks
the prevailing political winds. […] Last week, federal tax authorities presented the group with a 10-point request for detailed information about its meetings with politicians like Paul D. Ryan, Thaddeus McCotter and Herman Cain, among other matters, according to people briefed on the inquiry. (link)
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Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) openly proposed using the Internal Revenue Service to curtail Tea Party group funding during a speech on how to “exploit” and “weaken” the movement at the Center for American Progress on Thursday. (read more)
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