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Michael Avenatti

Michael Avenattis latest bid for a new trial puts a new spin on the fallen lawyers former slogan Fight Club.

Slated to be sentenced on Friday for extorting Nike, Avenatti now claims that he deserves a new trial because prosecutors did not disclose the fact that one of the key witnesses against him at his original trial feared for her life. Thats because according to Avenatti she read a decades-old conspiracy theory about Bill and Hillary Clinton. The witness, Judy Regnier, was a former office manager at Avenattis law firm, and prosecutors called her to establish a financial motive to shake down the sportswear giant.

Just two weeks before Avenattis trial, Regnier told an FBI agent that she felt threatened by a tweet speculating that the celebrity lawyer might harm her, according to a defense filing made public late on Monday night.

Ms. Regnier felt threatened after reading, She better be careful, she might end like a Clinton witness, desperate man desperate measures,' Avenattis lawyer Benjamin Silverman wrote in a footnote of a three-page letter which recapped the witnesss alleged fears. The term Clinton witness references a decades-old conspiracy theory, also known as the Clinton Body Count, promoted by President Trump and others, that President Clinton and Secretary Clinton arranged to kill individuals with damaging or incriminating information against them.

Avenatti claims federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York never disclosed Regniers statement to him before his trial, which he now argues he would have used to have undermine her credibility.

It establishes a clear bias and also evidences a motive to have Mr. Avenatti convicted and incarcerated, the defense letter states. It also raises significant credibility issues. Evidence that impeaches a government witness . . . is generally called Brady material.'

The watershed Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland established in 1963 that prosecutors must disclose information that might be helpful to a criminal defense. Avenatti claims federal prosecutors in New York failed to do so and that California prosecutors provided Regniers statements to him for the first time in advance of a separate trial there accusing him of defrauding former clients of millions of dollars.

The government also concedes that it deliberately withheld, and continues to withhold, handwritten notes from meetings with Regnier during at least one of which she was asked about Nike and during at least two of which she was asked about Mr. Avenattis financial condition, the defense letter states. Ms. Regnier was one of only a handful of witnesses to testify for the government at trial and the government elicited testimony from her about both issues.

On Feb. 6, 2020, Regnier testified that Avenatti saw the plan to pressure Nike to pay millions to cover up their correction scandal as a light at the end of tunnel for his financial woes. Prosecutors claimed that he was $15 million in debt at the time and that he demanded at least that much money from Nike.

If Judge Gardephe denies his motion for a new trial in the Nike case, Avenatti wants him to order a hearing as to why certain witness statements were not produced.

In a recent sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe to deal Avenatti a very substantial sentence. Though the government did not define that phrase, the probation office proposed an eight-year sentence, which dips below the 11.25-to-14-year guideline range. Prosecutors signaled their agreement with the probation office.

Seeking a maximum six-month sentence, Avenattis lawyers claim that their clients spectacular fall from star of the cable news networks to thrice-prosecuted federal criminal defendant is punishment enough.

Avenattis epic fall and public shaming has played out in front of the entire world, defense attorneys Scott A. Srebnick and E. Danya Perry argued in a sentencing memorandum in early June.

Whatever the outcome of his sentencing on Friday, Avenatti will continue to face criminal exposure in two separate jurisdictions. In addition to his pending case in California, Avenatti also faces a third prosecution in the Southern District of New York. Hes accused there of defrauding his most famous client: adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

Read Avenattis latest defense filing below:

[image via Drew Angerer/Getty Images]

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Michael Avenatti Wants a New Trial Because Ex-Employee Who Testified Against Him Feared Winding Up Like a Clinton Witness - Law & Crime

Ask Val Arkoosh about the possibility that she could become the first Pennsylvania woman elected to the U.S. Senate, and shell probably counter with a different historical factoid.

I would also be the first woman physician ever, from either party, she said Thursday, cradling a cup of chai tea as rain poured down outside a Bucks County caf.

Arkoosh had just toured a therapeutic horse-riding center in Pipersville, where military veterans struggling with PTSD ride horses and synchronize their breathing with the animals for calm.

Its a known medical fact that when youre focused on breathing you cant focus on anything else, Janet Brennan, the founder of Shamrock Reins and a former nurse, told Arkoosh.

Thats absolutely right, said Arkoosh, who spent years as an anesthesiologist.

The early campaign stop at a female-owned nonprofit, supported by an all-female therapy staff took place as the Democratic field in one of the countrys most competitive Senate races is coming into focus. Arkoosh, chair of the Montgomery County Commissioners, is the lone woman with an established political profile running in the Democratic primary.

Thats not something shes shying away from but its not something shes particularly highlighting, either. Theres a long, seemingly no-win history of women grappling with how much to emphasize their gender in a political system where they are the minority and a political culture where they face different expectations than men. Hillary Clinton was criticized for not focusing enough on the historic nature of her presidential candidacy in 2008. She did that more in 2016 but still lost.

Although Arkoosh says its about time the commonwealth elected a woman, shes quick to add that the race is about a lot more than that: the economy, climate, health care, and more.

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman of Braddock and State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta of Philadelphia are also seeking the Democratic nomination, and U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb of Allegheny County is widely expected to join them. Incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Toomey isnt seeking reelection.

READ MORE: Democrats are waiting for Conor Lamb as Pennsylvanias 2022 Senate race takes shape

Being one of the only women in male-dominated spaces isnt new for Arkoosh, who is 60. It was like that in medical school, when she was the chair of Drexels anesthesiology department, and now, as the first woman to lead Montgomery County since it was founded in 1784.

I think of it some days as my preexisting condition, Arkoosh said with a smile. Its just been something Ive been dealing with for as long as I can remember. Its not annoyance or anything, its just like, Yes, Im a woman, but theres all these other things, too.

Pennsylvania ranks in the bottom half of states for gender representation in politics. The state has never elected a female U.S. senator or governor. There are four women, all Democrats, in a congressional delegation of 18 up from zero women just three years ago. The state legislature is about 26% female.

So far, no woman from either party is running for governor next year. Kathy Barnette, a Montgomery County Republican who ran unsuccessfully for Congress last year, is seeking the GOP Senate nomination.

Arkoosh got a major boost in June from Emilys List, a group that backs Democratic women and plays an influential role in Democratic politics. It endorsed her after U.S. Reps. Madeleine Dean and Chrissy Houlahan said they wouldnt run, leaving Arkoosh as the only prominent woman.

Her supporters see a critical moment to break the glass ceiling.

If we dont do it now, itll be at least another decade, said Christine Jacobs, Arkooshs campaign treasurer and the executive director of Represent PA, which works to elect Democratic women. Because whoevers elected governor, chances are they get reelected, and Senates up every six years.

Arkoosh says she transitioned from a career in medicine to politics because her patients needed more help than she could provide in an exam room. She saw kids with asthma aggravated by air pollution, pregnant moms who had to take two buses for a grocery trip, and countless insurance claims denied.

I couldnt fix those things as a doctor, she said.

READ MORE: The 2020 election established Montgomery County as a powerful Democratic stronghold

Arkoosh got a masters degree in public health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which she completed while practicing medicine part time and caring for three young children. That led to a job with the National Physicians Alliance, where she advocated for passage of the Affordable Care Act.

She lost her first congressional campaign in 2014 before being appointed to the Montgomery County Commissioners that year. She won reelection to a full term, and has been chair since 2016.

Montgomery is the third most populous and second-wealthiest county in Pennsylvania. Its also increasingly emerged as a Democratic powerhouse in recent years, which could be an advantage for Arkoosh though what kind of following the county-level job gives her remains to be seen.

Being the only woman whos a major Democratic candidate could also help.

Its no guarantee that youll win, but it gives you a base of support with a slice of the electorate, said Mike Mikus, a Democratic strategist who ran the early part of Katie McGintys 2016 Senate campaign. McGinty won the primary but lost to Toomey in the general election.

In the end, these primaries are not going to be determined by gender or race, Mikus said. Its going to be the message, who raises the money, who runs a well-organized campaign.

Arkoosh has already faced questions about McGintys loss and what it might portend for her prospects. She largely waves those off.

As I talk to voters, this is not whats on their mind, she said

Mikus put it more bluntly. Its so misogynistic to assume that because one woman ran five years ago that a woman running today is the exact same person. They have vastly different backgrounds.

Allyson Schwartz, who represented Montgomery County for 10 years in Congress and lost in the 2014 primary for governor, also rejected any comparison.

Men have run and lost over and over and over again and very few men get asked ... Can a man still win? Schwartz said. We have elected women to attorney general, treasurer. Women can absolutely win statewide.

Arkoosh is also quick to note that history could be made in several ways in the race. Kenyatta would be the states first Black senator and its first openly gay one. He has highlighted the slate of all white men who have held the seat.

Research shows that women are far more likely to vote based on a candidates party than gender. But several supporters said the combination of her qualifications and the lack of women among top state officials could help Arkoosh. She has early support from several women whom she helped get into politics.

It was all new to me, said Nicole Phillips, whos running for judge in Montgomery County. Youre being vetted, and you realize youre being asked what are my qualifications, sometimes overtly in ways the men are not. She was helpful to me making sure my message was clear.

Delaware County Councilwoman Christine Reuther, one of three women who led Democrats to control of the governing body in 2019, credited Arkoosh for helping her as a candidate. She said Arkoosh become a leader in the wider Philadelphia region during the pandemic.

I didnt necessarily agree with every decision she made, but you can see shes doing the work, taking the hits, and owning her decisions, Reuther said. Thats what I want in an elected official.

READ MORE: No endorsement is too small for Malcolm Kenyatta

At the coffee shop, Arkoosh called governing during COVID-19 the hardest thing shes ever done. She proudly shared, as perhaps only a woman would feel the need to, that she had only one emotional breaking point last year.

She was in a Zoom meeting after shed learned her twins high school graduation would be virtual, she recalled. Someone asked her about the status of local graduations. Thats when the gravity of what the pandemic had stolen from her own kids no prom, no senior skip day hit her, as she tried to answer through tears.

A flurry of supportive messages followed, with people thanking her for showing emotion, and sharing their own struggles. Arkoosh said the moment demonstrates the importance of having different perspectives in the Senate.

We will get better legislation and better impact for our communities if the laws that are passed reflect everyone, she said. And we do have very few women there, so we do need to do better.

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Val Arkoosh would be the first Pa. woman elected to the Senate. But shes running as Dr. Arkoosh. - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Some years ago, Mary Ann Sieghart found herself at a dinner seated next to a banker, who asked what she did. She listed her impressive portfolio career political columnist, former associate editor of the Times, broadcaster, chair of a thinktank. Wow, youre a busy little girl! he responded. She was 50.

This is one of numerous depressing examples related by successful women of what Seighart calls the authority gap the way women are belittled, undermined, questioned, mocked, talked over and generally not taken seriously in public and professional life. The gender pay gap, obviously a related issue, is by now a well-documented and measurable phenomenon, so much so that it is marked by equal pay day, symbolising the point in the year when women effectively stop earning relative to men. The authority gap is more insidious and harder to calculate because, as Sieghart shows, so much of it is down to unconscious bias. Even more depressingly, women can be just as guilty of this bias in favour of male authority, because it is ingrained from what we see modelled to us in our own families and the prevailing culture from childhood.

In The Authority Gap: Why Women Are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men, and What We Can Do About It, Sieghart draws together a remarkable wealth of research (the bibliography alone is 31 pages long) from academic studies and polling data to analyse and deconstruct this pervasive underestimation of womens competence. She has also interviewed dozens of eminent women, including Hillary Clinton, Julia Gillard, Elaine Chao, Major General Sharon Nesmith and Lady Hale, for first-hand accounts of the authority gap and advice on how to combat it.

First, Sieghart considers whether there could be any merit in the idea that women are naturally less well suited to leadership or to certain traditionally male careers economics or Stem, for example and briskly debunks this: girls outperform boys in education all the way up to graduate degree level, and statistically there is no difference between the sexes in average IQs. Where girls report feeling deterred from pursuing a subject or career, it comes down to perceptions of discrimination resulting from social conditioning.

As she begins to unpick this social conditioning, it becomes clear how deep-rooted and self-perpetuating the problem is. Perhaps most shocking is the research showing how early this unconscious bias plays out in the classroom. One US study found that elementary and middle-school boys were given eight times as much attention by teachers. Boys are rewarded for pushing themselves forward and calling out, girls for being neat and quiet. Little wonder that so many girls lose their voice, confidence and ambition, the studys authors concluded.

Siegharts field of inquiry is broad: she examines the rise of online abuse as a means of silencing women; the medias double standards in beauty and ageing that mean older women are quietly shunted out of the public eye as their expertise increases; the many ways in which bias against women intersects with prejudices of class, race and disability.

Anticipating the anguish women readers will feel, Siegharts final chapter is titled No Need to Despair. Here, she sets out the changes needed at individual, organisational and legislative levels to close the gap a goal she believes is achievable in one generation if the will is there. Many of these suggestions are things feminists have long campaigned for better representation; more transparency in the workplace but some are corrections we can all begin to make. Sieghart urges us to check the language we use to our daughters and our sons, and to notice if a woman is being interrupted or ignored in meetings. She also stresses the importance of men reading more books and watching films by and about women. All these men have to do is actively decide to expose themselves to womens voices, she writes, but doesnt explain how they might be persuaded.

The sweetener for men is that closing the authority gap is not the great sacrifice they may fear; research shows that men in more gender-equal societies report higher levels of happiness and satisfaction in work and home life, while gender-diverse companies are more profitable. Sieghart points out that female-led countries have had far lower death rates over the past year of the pandemic.

The Authority Gap is an impassioned, meticulously argued and optimistic call to arms for anyone who cares about creating a fairer society. Now we just have to get men to read it.

The Authority Gap by Mary Ann Sieghart is published by Doubleday (16.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

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The Authority Gap by Mary Ann Sieghart review mocked, patronised and still paid less than men - The Guardian

We have destroyed the myth that Fidesz is unbeatable, Gergely Karcsony said after defeating Viktor Orbns party in Budapests mayoral race in 2019. Now, he hopes to prove it at the national level too.

After 12 years, Orbn claims near-complete control over Hungarys public funds, its institutions, and its media ecosystem. Hungarian elections are free in the sense that no one stuffs the ballot box, Pter Krek, the director of the Budapest-based Political Capital Institute, told me. I think we are heading towards a point of no return where it will be practically impossible to replace the government through elections.

Karcsony, the main challenger to Orbns dominance, is undeterred. Speaking from his office in the Hungarian capital, he told me the countrys bestperhaps its onlychance at defeating Orbn lies in opposition parties banding together, as they have since the beginning of the year. While the individual parties in this united coalition each claim only a fraction of the total vote, together they are projected to be neck and neck with Fidesz when the country heads to the polls next spring. For the first time in more than a decade, no one knows what the outcome of the Hungarian elections will be. It might be the last chance, Karcsony said. If we lose now, that would have major consequences.

Winning the election is only half the battle, though. Even if the united opposition manages to form a government, it faces the arduous task of reversing Hungarys democratic declinea process that has seen its institutions undermined, its media curtailed, and its resources exploited by Orbn and his allies. Taking power will be hard, but the de-Orbnization of Hungary will almost certainly be harder.

The oppositions goal isnt simply to unseat Orbn or even to return Hungarian democracy to its pre-2010 status. That system did not provide enough democratic safeguards, Karcsony told me, noting that though the period between 1990 and 2010 was when Hungary was perhaps at its freest, that freedom still couldnt prevent the countrys authoritarian turn. We do not want to go back to the pre-2010 system. We want to go forward and create a new system.

This challenge isnt unique to Hungary. In the United States and Israel, opposition factions have proved that temporarily setting aside differences and joining forces can overcome entrenched and autocratically inclined leaders. But those countries examples have also demonstrated the fragility of such coalitions, and the challenges that come with undoing damage already wrought.

Orbns influence on Hungary will not end when his tenure does, much in the same way that Donald Trumps and Benjamin Netanyahus legacies loom over the United States and Israel, respectively. Like the former American president, Orbn can be comforted by the fact that many of his actions, particularly his packing of the countrys courts with loyalists, will endure long after he exits politics. And like the former Israeli prime minister, Orbn is no stranger to being in the party out of power, where he will no doubt be willing to waitor more likely pushfor the governing coalition to collapse.

If the Hungarian opposition succeedsnot simply in winning, but in undoing Orbns damaging legacyits strategy could prove instructive for opposition movements in other budding autocracies. If it fails, Hungarys next election may be, in the deeper democratic sense, its last.

The Hungarian opposition banded together in December, but the idea to do so came nearly a decade earlier. In 2011, Karcsony, then a member of Parliament for a green-liberal party, told a Hungarian newspaper that only by joining forces would the opposition stand a chance at beating Orbn, who since returning to power the year prior (his first stint as prime minister was from 1998 to 2002) was already redrawing the electoral map in Fideszs favor. Karcsony was better positioned than most to understand the political calculus: Before entering politics, he had made his name as a pollster and political scientist who specialized in electoral behavior, public opinion, and election campaigns. Understanding the shifting dynamics in Hungarys political landscape was literally his job.

Karcsony told me (via an interpreter) that, for a long time, opposition parties simply couldnt overcome their deep-seated political differences. It wasnt until after Orbns third consecutive victory in 2018, by which point his consolidation of power was well under way, that they began to take the idea more seriously. The 2019 municipal elections, during which opposition parties tested their united front, was a very good laboratory for the coalition to experiment, Karcsony said. It was a good springboard for him, too. The Budapest mayor is widely seen as the front-runner in the race to be the oppositions unity candidate for prime minister.

Several people I spoke with for this story, including friends and allies of Karcsony in Budapest, told me that he is, in many ways, the exact opposite of Orbn: While the Hungarian prime minister fits comfortably within the global far right, Karcsony hails from the green left. While Orbn is largely associated with the Hungarian countryside, where his core base resides, Karcsony is seen as part of the countrys cosmopolitan intelligentsia. Orbn is an illiberal strongman whose politics is defined by a rotating cast of enemies (among them Muslim migrants, LGBTQ people, the Hungarian-born financier George Soros, and Brussels); Karcsony is an environmentally friendly progressive who preaches consensus-building and compromise. Orbn is old and familiar; Karcsony, 12 years the prime ministers junior, is a fresh face. He is short and fat, and I am tall and slim, Karcsony recently told The Economista gag for which he later apologized. (Orbn probably wouldnt have.)

Being anti-Orbn isnt enough to win elections, thoughat least not for any single party or politician. A united opposition would give Hungarian voters a viable alternative. That didnt exist in 2018, Gbor Tka, a senior research fellow at the Central European University and the editor of a blog about the Hungarian elections called Vox Populi, told me. If you voted against Fidesz, you voted for complete uncertainty.

A vote for the united opposition would be more than just a vote against Orbn. If elected, Karcsony said one of his main priorities would be to help Hungarians overcome the economic hardship caused by the pandemic (Of all the countries in the EU, the Hungarian government spent the least, he noted). Correcting the social injustices done in the past 12 years would be another.

But there are some things that a united opposition might not be able to overcome. For starters, theres Fideszs control over the countrys airwaves and state coffers, as well as Orbns reengineering of the Hungarian electoral system, including gerrymandering the map to benefit Fidesz and extending voting rights to hundreds of thousands of ethnic Hungarians in neighboring countries, the majority of whom are Fidesz voters.

Ben Rhodes: The path to autocracy

None of this suggests that next years election will be fair or, arguably, even all that free. Orbn doesnt follow the classic authoritarian playbook of jailing opposition politicians, arresting journalists, or violently cracking down on protesters, as is so often the case in places such as Russia or Belarus. But Hungary hardly meets the threshold of a democracy eithersome scholars opt for alternative labels such as soft autocracy or competitive authoritarianism. In Hungarys case, this means holding elections while simultaneously undermining the oppositions ability to compete in them.

If step one for the opposition is winning, then step two is maintaining the broad coalition long enough to form a new government.

Its a behemoth of a task, not least because reversing Orbns antidemocratic abuses and creating future safeguards would likely require a two-thirds majority in Parliament. It was this supermajority that enabled Orbn to enact sweeping changes, including rewriting the constitution, packing the countrys constitutional court with loyalists, and installing allies at key posts such as the central bank, the prosecutors office, and the media-watchdog agency. Without a supermajority of their own, the opposition will have no chance to replace Fidesz nominees in these public bodies, Krek said. This kind of quite efficient shadow state can block many initiatives of the next government. (It is perhaps a symbol of Orbns success that he is now the one charged with being at the head of a deep state, language populists of his ilk have often used to rail against a faceless establishment.)

Although Karcsony acknowledged the challenges that the opposition would face were it to enter government, he disagreed with the notion that they are insurmountable. There was, he said, no real social legitimacy underlying Orbns supermajority, arguing that once the supermajority ends, Orbns structure of influence will fall like dominoes.

Read: Viktor Orbns war on intellect

Orbn has already set his sights on the opposition, dismissing the united coalition as the brainchild of the real enemy, Ferenc Gyurcsny, Hungarys deeply unpopular former prime minister. He has also, tellingly, transferred the control of nearly a dozen state universities, as well as billions of euros in public funds, to private foundations run by his allies, in an apparent bid to solidify his influence should his party lose power.

Those are the signs not of a regime that is certain of victory, Michael Ignatieff, the president of the Central European University, which Orbn successfully drove out of Hungary in 2018, told me, but of one trying to protect itself against reversal.

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The Last Chance to Stop Autocracy in Hungary - The Atlantic

DUMAS A project to fully rehabilitate US 87/US 287 from south of the Dumas city limits to about a half mile north of County Road I is set to begin Tuesday, July 6. The project will include concrete paving, storm sewer, curb and gutter, traffic signals, signing, and striping. Sidewalks will also be included on both sides for pedestrians and the existing on-street parking in town will remain.

This ultimate goal of this project is to provide long-lasting, durable, and low-maintenance pavement while improving safety along this corridor, says Dumas Area Engineer Bernardo Ferrel. During construction, we will work closely with our customers to ensure business and street access is maintained.

Work will be constructed in phases with staging and traffic control set up starting next week. When construction begins, traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction. Motorists are reminded to drive with caution through the construction zone and obey all traffic control signs.

This $36.8 million project was awarded to SEMA Construction and construction is expected to last through May 2024. Additional updates will be provided throughout the project.

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US 87/US 287 Rehabilitation Project Set to Begin Next Week - Texas Department of Transportation