Author: Michael

President Donald Trump on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review whether statements he made to reporters from the White House denying E. Jean Carroll’s sexual assault allegations are protected presidential acts, seeking to overturn the $83.3 million defamation judgment against him. The petition frames the dispute as a constitutional question extending beyond Trump’s legal battle with Carroll, arguing that a president’s public responses to questions from the press about matters bearing on his fitness for office are official communications protected by presidential immunity. A separate petition filed by the Justice Department asks the justices to revive the government’s…

Read More

Film financier Jason Cloth, whose executive producer credits include top Hollywood films like “Joker” and “Babylon,” was arrested and indicted in Los Angeles on Tuesday on seven counts of wire fraud. According to the federal indictment, Cloth took more than $100 million from investors intended for a gaming entertainment platform and to produce an unnamed film project and used it instead on an unrelated Canadian real estate project. The indictment accuses Cloth of, “in order to lull victims into believing their investment funds would be returned to them, misrepresented to victims his ability to repay their investment funds by, among…

Read More

“60 Minutes” fans have thoughts about the program’s latest hires ahead of the Season 59 premiere this September — and they’re not all positive. On Tuesday, CBS News announced several new members to its “60 Minutes” team, including conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, author and filmmaker Sebastian Junger, journalist and filmmaker Gianna Toboni and recent CBS News hire Trevor Phillips. Douthat will join as a correspondent alongside veteran Norah O’Donnell, while Junger, Toboni and Phillips will be considered contributors. Viewers were rankled by the hiring news almost immediately. A lot of that anger was directed at Douthat’s casting, which…

Read More