If James Warner gets 25 years for what he did, then, I believe this may be another legal ground, along with the Brady Rule violation, to let Kwame tell his tale and I am pretty darn sure his tale will not fit on a napkin.
James Warner "I swallowed the napkin but I never thought they would find my crap"
A former Detroit Metropolitan Airport supervisor convicted of receiving more than $6 million in bribes — and eating the evidence — should spend 25 years in federal prison, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The requested sentence for James Warner falls three years short of the longest public corruption sentence in U.S. history, one imposed on former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick seven years ago.
Warner deserves a near-record long sentence because he violated the public’s trust and lied at every step of the investigation, prosecution and trial, according to the government.
The 53-year-old Commerce Township resident was convicted of 10 crimes in June, including bribery, theft and money laundering conspiracies, and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors say he steered $43.7 million worth of airport contracts to three co-conspirators in return for more than $6 million in kickbacks — the highest total in the history of public corruption cases in Metro Detroit.
By comparison, Kilpatrick was convicted of 24 crimes, including racketeering conspiracy, though the amount of illegal benefits he received was approximately $1 million.
Warner’s crimes belied his reputation as a hardworking airport supervisor, prosecutors said.
“But behind this hardworking façade lay a deceitful and dishonest man,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Eaton Brown wrote in a sentencing memorandum Wednesday. “One who abused not just the trust that the airport placed in him to maintain the water system and much of the airport’s infrastructure, but the public’s trust. Rather than serve the public, Warner corruptly served himself by lining his pockets with money that was not his to take.”
Warner will be sentenced Feb. 5 by U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts.
Warner is among more than 108 public officials, bureaucrats and union leaders charged with public corruption in Metro Detroit in the past decade.
“Specific deterrence is an important consideration in this case, given Warner’s refusal to acknowledge any wrongdoing, let alone show remorse for his long-running crimes,” Brown wrote. “Consequently, a significant custodial sentence would hopefully deter others who, like Warner, are tempted to fraudulently enrich themselves at the expense of the public’s right to honest public services.”
Jurors deliberated for about four hours last summer before reaching the verdict following a trial that lasted parts of three weeks. In a rare move, Warner testified in his own defense.
Warner, an airport manager and field inspector who also worked for West Bloomfield Township, is the rare indicted public official to stand trial on corruption charges and risk a decades-long federal prison sentence.
Two of the most recent politicians to stand trial in federal court —Kilpatrick and Clinton Township Trustee Dean Reynolds — were convicted and sentenced to double-digit prison sentences.
The bribery conspiracy outlined by prosecutors started in May 2010 when Warner was working as a field inspector at the airport approving maintenance and repair contracts. He headed several related schemes involving Metro Detroit contractors, including Romulus businessman William Pritula, whose company William Pritula & Sons held facilities and maintenance contracts at the airport, prosecutors said.
Warner drafted and submitted inflated invoices for work Pritula was hired to perform at the airport, according to the government. The payments totaled more than $18 million.
In return, Warner received approximately half of the profits from the contracts, or more than $5 million, according to the indictment.
Pritula pleaded guilty to bribery and was sentenced to probation. He agreed to forfeit $5.4 million to the government.
Driven by greed: A database of corruption in Detroit
Federal court records describe Warner as a greedy, potty-mouthed felon.
"If it weren't for me, your ass would be out," Warner told one airport contractor, according to the indictment.
That contractor, authorities allege, was Gary Tenaglia of Rochester, who was accused of defrauding the Wayne County Airport Authority of $1.5 million. He was sentenced to 14 months in prison.
Warner allegedly gave Tenaglia inside information so the contractor's company, Envision Electric, could win contracts. In return, Warner received 10% of each invoice, prosecutors said.
During one dinner, Warner and Tenaglia discussed contracts and kickbacks, prosecutors said.
"During the meal, James Warner wrote '5k,' a proposed kickback amount, on a napkin," prosecutors wrote in the indictment. "He folded it and slid it across the table to Gary Tenaglia. After Gary Tenaglia acknowledged the meaning of the writing on the napkin, James Warner retrieved the napkin and ate it."
Detroit — A former Detroit Metropolitan Airport official faces the longest corruption crime sentence in U.S. history after being convicted Wednesday of receiving more than $5 million worth of bribes.
James Warner, 52, of Commerce Township, gasped and arched his eyebrows as the jury forewoman said "guilty" 10 times for charges that included bribery, theft and money laundering conspiracies, and obstruction of justice, a charge that carries a possible 20-year prison sentence.
Warner could be sentenced to more than 30 years in federal prison. The sentence would eclipse the current record, a 28-year federal prison sentence being served by former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Warner will be sentenced Oct. 8 by U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts.
"The government is going to come at him guns blazing and seek the maximum sentence," said Peter Henning, a Wayne State University law professor and former federal prosecutor. "Whether Judge Roberts gives that to him is an open question."
Advisory sentencing guidelines call for 24-30 years in federal prison.
U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider, who was in the courtroom Wednesday, said his office will pursue a sentence within the guideline range, "at least."
U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said, "at least".
Roberts has broad discretion and can ignore the guideline range.
Henning does not expect a record-setting sentence even though Warner was accused of receiving five times as much money as Kilpatrick.
"Being an elected mayor versus an airport official, I’m not sure they’re exactly comparable even though (Warner) took much more money," Henning said.
Prosecutors wanted Warner taken into custody Wednesday, calling him a flight risk and a danger to himself, citing what they believe was a suicide attempt in 2017.
More than $1 million remains unaccounted for and the money could bankroll a flight from justice, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eaton Brown told the judge.
Warner’s lawyer Robert Harrison disagreed. All of Warner’s assets have been frozen or seized, Harrison said, adding that Warner is not suicidal.
The judge read letters from Warner’s doctor before deciding to let Warner remain free until October. The letters convinced the judge Warner was not suicidal and she was satisfied he does not have money to fund an escape.
Warner and his lawyer declined comment.
Jurors deliberated for about four hours before reaching the verdict following a trial that lasted parts of three weeks. In a rare move, Warner testified in his own defense.
Warner, an airport manager and field inspector who also worked for West Bloomfield Township, is the rare indicted public official to stand trial on corruption charges and risk a decades-long federal prison sentence.
Kwame Kilpatrick and Dean Reynolds
Two of the most recent politicians to stand trial in federal court —Kilpatrick and Clinton Township Trustee Dean Reynolds — were convicted and sentenced to double-digit prison sentences.
Kwame Kilpatrick, left, and Dean Reynolds.
Warner's alleged appetites distinguish him from the dozens of public officials who have been accused or convicted of corruption-related crimes in the last decade in Metro Detroit. He fabricated invoices, overcharged the airport for work performed by contractors and received more than $5 million worth of kickbacks during a four-year period, prosecutors said.
The alleged bribery conspiracy outlined by prosecutors started in May 2010 when Warner was working as a field inspector at the airport approving maintenance and repair contracts. He headed three related schemes involving Metro Detroit contractors, including Romulus businessman William Pritula, 70, whose company William Pritula & Sons held facilities and maintenance contracts at the airport, prosecutors said.
Warner drafted and submitted inflated invoices for work Pritula was hired to perform at the airport, according to the government. The payments totaled more than $18 million.
In return, Warner received approximately half of the profits from the contracts, or more than $5 million, according to the indictment.
Pritula pleaded guilty to bribery last year and could be sentenced up to 10 years in prison in September. He agreed to forfeit $5.4 million to the government.
Federal court records describe Warner as a greedy, potty-mouthed felon.
"If it weren't for me, your ass would be out," Warner told one airport contractor, according to the indictment.
That contractor, authorities allege, was Gary Tenaglia, 65, of Rochester, who was charged last year and accused of defrauding the Wayne County Airport Authority of $1.5 million.
Warner allegedly gave Tenaglia inside information so the contractor's company, Envision Electric, could win contracts. In return, Warner received 10 percent of each invoice, prosecutors said.
During one dinner, Warner and Tenaglia discussed contracts and kickbacks, prosecutors said.
"During the meal, James Warner wrote '5k,' a proposed kickback amount, on a napkin," prosecutors wrote in the indictment. "He folded it and slid it across the table to Gary Tenaglia. After Gary Tenaglia acknowledged the meaning of the writing on the napkin, James Warner retrieved the napkin and ate it."
Detroit — James Warner, a former Detroit Metropolitan Airport supervisor convicted of receiving more than $6 million in bribes — the third-largest amount in U.S. history — was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Wednesday.
The sentence from U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts fell far short of the 25 years sought by prosecutors, and below the national record 28-year sentence for corruption. Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick received that record sentence seven years ago, tying the corruption sentence issued to Ohio county politician Jimmy Dimora.
Warner, 53, of Commerce Township was convicted of 10 crimes in June, including bribery, theft and money laundering conspiracies, and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors say he steered $43.7 million worth of airport contracts to three co-conspirators in return for more than $6 million in kickbacks — the highest total in the history of public corruption cases in Metro Detroit.
The judge said Warner has redeeming qualities — family and friends called him a good, supportive man — and said his crimes did not cause as much damage as those committed by Kilpatrick, whose racketeering activity included pocketing approximately $1 million in illegal benefits.
"Kwame Kilpatrick mightily contributed to the slide of Detroit both locally and nationally, contributed to (Detroit's) slide into bankruptcy and the city's tarnished image," the judge said.
"Mr. Warner, while a significantly corrupt public official, is not in the same position," Roberts added.
Warner, who hung his head at hearing the sentence, apologized to his friends, family and airport colleagues. He also apologized to the judge.
"I respect the system and the role everyone plays in it and I am hopeful the sentence allows me to find work in the future and to be there for my friends and family," he said.
The government has seized $11 million from Warner and co-conspirators during the years-long criminal investigation.
Warner's lawyer pushed for no more than a four-year sentence.
The money Warner received from airport contractors is the largest bribe total prosecuted in the history of the eastern district of Michigan.
Warner is among more than 109 public officials, bureaucrats and union leaders charged with public corruption in Metro Detroit in the past decade.
Jurors deliberated for about four hours last summer before reaching the verdict following a trial that lasted parts of three weeks. In a rare move, Warner testified in his own defense.
Warner is a dishonest and deceitful man whose time on the witness stand featured "perjury-laced testimony," Assistant U.S. Attorney Eaton Brown said.
"At the end of the day, Mr. Warner robbed citizens and taxpayers blind," Brown told the judge, "and he had no qualms doing it."
Warner, an airport manager and field inspector who also worked for West Bloomfield Township, is the rare indicted public official to stand trial on corruption charges and risk a decades-long federal prison sentence.
A video primer on corruption: Count the kickbacks, cash and bribes pocketed by Metro Detroit's most corrupt UAW bosses, auto execs and politicians. The Detroit News
Two of the most recent politicians to stand trial in federal court —Kilpatrick and Clinton Township Trustee Dean Reynolds — were convicted and sentenced to double-digit prison sentences.
The bribery conspiracy outlined by prosecutors started in May 2010 when Warner was working as a field inspector at the airport approving maintenance and repair contracts. He headed several related schemes involving Metro Detroit contractors, including Romulus businessman William Pritula, whose company William Pritula & Sons held facilities and maintenance contracts at the airport, prosecutors said.
Warner drafted and submitted inflated invoices for work Pritula was hired to perform at the airport, according to the government. The payments totaled more than $18 million.
In return, Warner received approximately half of the profits from the contracts, or more than $5 million, according to the indictment.
Pritula pleaded guilty to bribery and was sentenced to probation. He agreed to forfeit $5.4 million to the government.
Federal court records describe Warner as a greedy, potty-mouthed felon.
"If it weren't for me, your ass would be out," Warner told one airport contractor, according to the indictment.
That contractor, authorities allege, was Gary Tenaglia of Rochester, who was accused of defrauding the Wayne County Airport Authority of $1.5 million. He was sentenced to 14 months in prison.
Warner allegedly gave Tenaglia inside information so the contractor's company, Envision Electric, could win contracts. In return, Warner received 10% of each invoice, prosecutors said.
At one dinner, Warner and Tenaglia discussed contracts and kickbacks, prosecutors said.
"During the meal, James Warner wrote '5k,' a proposed kickback amount, on a napkin," prosecutors wrote in the indictment. "He folded it and slid it across the table to Gary Tenaglia. After Gary Tenaglia acknowledged the meaning of the writing on the napkin, James Warner retrieved the napkin and ate it."
Well. If Matt Schneider is going to go after public corruption in Wayne County, I truly hope he applies the same methodology to the other side of the Wayne County Airport Authority, which just so happens to be Child Welfare, which just so happens to be much worse.
Detroit — A former Detroit Metropolitan Airport official was indicted in federal court Wednesday on charges he pocketed more than $5 million in bribes and tried to cover up the crime by eating evidence.
Former airport utilities and infrastructure manager James Warner, 51, of Commerce Township, is the third person charged in a widening bribery investigation involving an airport that has been a recurring setting for corruption scandals in recent years. The money Warner received amounts to one of the largest bribery cases prosecuted by the local U.S. Attorney's Office, which has sent ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and dozens of others to prison for corruption in recent years.
Federal agents have seized $11.4 million during the investigation, including $7.5 million from one contractor and $3.9 million from Warner, who was suspended Wednesday from his job in the West Bloomfield Township water and sewer department.
"Our citizens are entitled to decisions based on the best interests of the public, not the best interests of corrupt public officials and bribe-paying contractors," U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said in a statement Wednesday.
Warner was charged with conspiracy, theft, bribery, money laundering and obstruction of justice during a seven-year stretch of corruption that spanned work at the airport and as a water and sewer official for West Bloomfield Township. If convicted, Warner could spend more than 20 years in federal prison.
He was arraigned late Wednesday in federal court and released on $10,000 unsecured bond.His lawyer did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment.
Warner had the power to approve and extend maintenance projects funded through the Wayne County Airport Authority from 2010 to 2014.
He ruled with a salty tongue and his hand out, according to federal prosecutors.
"If it weren't for me, your ass would be out," Warner told one contractor, according to the indictment.
That contractor, authorities allege, was Gary Tenaglia, 64, of Rochester, who was charged last month and accused of defrauding the Wayne County Airport Authority of $1.5 million.
During one dinner, Warner and Tenaglia discussed contracts and kickbacks, prosecutors said.
"During the meal, James Warner wrote '5k,' a proposed kickback amount, on a napkin," prosecutors wrote in the indictment. "He folded it and slid it across the table to Gary Tenaglia. After Gary Tenaglia acknowledged the meaning of the writing on the napkin, James Warner retrieved the napkin and ate it."
The indictment was filed one day after prosecutors charged airport contractor William Pritula, 69, of Romulus with federal program bribery, a 10-year felony.
In exchange for offering bribes, Pritula received contracts worth more than $18 million during a four-year period, according to the indictment.
Tenaglia and Pritula are expected to plead guilty.
Pritula owned and operated Pritula and Sons, a firm that won contracts to repair and replace pavement at the airport and contracts to repair water mains and install fire hydrants from 2003 to 2014.
Starting in May 2010, Pritula conspired with Warner and others to steal money from federally funded programs and commit bribery, prosecutors said.
Warner provided confidential and proprietary information that helped Pritula win airport contracts, according to the indictment.
Warner created phony invoices on behalf of the contractor’s company that “grossly inflated the cost and scope” of Pritula’s work, the government alleged.
In return, Pritula paid kickbacks to the airport official, prosecutors said.
In September 2013, for example, Warner submitted a $938,000 invoice to the airport authority for work that cost $275,000, according to the indictment.
Days later, Pritula’s firm paid Warner $397,372 and the airport official deposited the money in his bank account.
In less than a year, Warner received more than $573,000 from Pritula’s company, prosecutors allege.
Warner also supervised work by Tenaglia’s firm, Envision Electric, which had contracts to maintain airport parking structures from May 2011 to June 2014.
Warner fabricated reviews of Envision’s work and concealed mistakes made by the company, according to the indictment.
In exchange, Warner demanded kickbacks, prosecutors said.
Warner told Tenaglia he needed to pay kickbacks “to be a part of the ‘brotherhood’ at the airport,” prosecutors allege.
"The allegations against James Warner cheating the citizens of Wayne County are distressing to the many men and women working hard every day with integrity and commitment to protect those public funds provided for infrastructure development,” Timothy Slater, special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit field division, said in a statement.
Warner left the airport authority in August 2014. In January 2017, he started working for the West Bloomfield Township water and sewer department as a project manager with a $74,027 salary.
"Within months, Warner proposed to Tenaglia a continuation of the same scheme the two had at the airport— a demand for 10 percent of each invoice West Bloomfield Township paid Tenaglia," prosecutors alleged.
The township suspended Warner with pay Wednesday, Supervisor Steven Kaplan told The News.
Kaplan said he is unaware whether the township was defrauded and that Warner did not have access to money or township checks.
“I think it’s doubtful,” Kaplan said. “He was low in the chain of employees. We had no reason to know or suspect that he might have been involved in skulduggery during his Wayne County employment. Although we recognize he’s presumed to be innocent, the allegation involving West Bloomfield is very disturbing."
Warner also was charged with obstructing justice because prosecutors said he altered a document provided to the FBI during the investigation.
The airport has periodically been embroiled in corruption investigations.
Airport authority CEO Turkia Mullin, a former Wayne County economic development chief, was fired in 2011 after the FBI served subpoenas demanding information about a nonprofit she ran and deals she engineered for the county.
Mullin was never charged with a crime.
The investigation coincided with a probe of then-Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, who lost re-election in August 2014.
Ficano was never charged with a crime and said federal investigators wrote him a letter after the three-year investigation declaring that he was "never a target" of the probe.
In 2004, former top airport official Wilbourne Kelley III and his wife, Barbara, were convicted of accepting cash, home improvements and other gifts from former airport contractor Frank Vallecorsa. They were sentenced to 44 months and 41 months in prison, respectively.
Kelley was the only official sent to prison as a result of an FBI investigation of Wayne County government under Edward H. McNamara, the late political boss.
Former top officials were aghast at the move by John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence.
The assessment claims that Hillary Clinton personally approved an effort during the 2016 election “to stir up a scandal against U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump by tying him to Putin and the Russians' hacking of the Democratic National Committee.” | Jeenah Moon/Getty Images
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Tuesday declassified a Russian intelligence assessment that was previously rejected by Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee as having no factual basis, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The extraordinary disclosure, released to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) earlier Tuesday, rankled Democrats, who said the move effectively put Russian disinformation into the public sphere in order to boost President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims about the government’s efforts to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“It’s very disturbing to me that, 35 days before an election, the director of national intelligence would release unverified Russian rumint,” or rumor intelligence, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) told reporters.
And several former senior intelligence officials described Ratcliffe’s move as incendiary and irresponsible, given the manner in which he was publicly releasing unverified information that originated from a foreign adversary.
The assessment claims that Hillary Clinton, then a Democratic candidate for president, personally approved an effort “to stir up a scandal against U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump by tying him to Putin and the Russians' hacking of the Democratic National Committee.” But in his letter to Graham, Ratcliffe noted that the U.S. intelligence community “does not know the accuracy of this allegation or the extent to which the Russian intelligence analysis may reflect exaggeration or fabrication.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee issued five reports on Russia’s sweeping effort to meddle in the 2016 election to boost Trump, ranging across thousands of pages. The panel was made aware of that allegation early on in its investigation, and quickly dismissed it, the sources said.
“I’m very, very proud of the bipartisan work of the Intelligence Committee — three and a half years, five volumes — and that work speaks for itself,” Warner said.
According to Ratcliffe, former CIA Director John Brennan briefed former President Barack Obama on the Russian assessment, which included the allegation that Clinton approved the plan to tie Trump to the hack of the DNC after it was proposed by one of her foreign policy advisers.
Asked about Ratcliffe’s claims, Nick Merrill, a spokesperson for Clinton, said in a text message that the allegations were “baseless bullshit.“
Nick Shapiro, Brennan’s former deputy chief of staff at the CIA, said Ratcliffe “should be ashamed of his blatant politicization of his position.”
After receiving pushback against the declassified material, Ratcliffe said in a statement: “To be clear, this is not Russian disinformation and has not been assessed as such by the Intelligence Community. I’ll be briefing Congress on the sensitive sources and methods by which it was obtained in the coming days.”
Graham responded to his critics later Tuesday, saying that the veracity of the Russian intelligence assessment was irrelevant.
“I’m not saying whether it’s true or not,” Graham told reporters. “I’m asking Democrats, do you give a damn whether the FBI investigated it, or do you just care only about investigating Trump?”
When pressed on why he released the information even though it was unverified, Graham called it “the ultimate double standard.”
“They took the whole damn country through hell for two and a half years — and is it far-fetched to believe that the Clinton campaign would do something like this after Christopher Steele?” Graham said referring to the author of an unverified dossier of claims about Trump’s connections to Russia.
A former senior intelligence official said it was “a surprising choice to release this information — that is not new and that seems unconfirmed — now and in an unclassified letter,” adding: “I don’t know what good purpose is served.”
It has long been known that the Russians were trying to stir up false narratives about Clinton through similar avenues.
Another former senior intelligence official said Brennan would frequently brief Obama on Russia’s actions regardless of whether it was about Trump or Clinton, adding that Brennan also wanted to “demonstrate the extent of the U.S. intelligence community’s ability to collect against Russia.”
In recent days, Trump’s allies have been dripping out several disclosures related to the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and other information aimed at denigrating Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Graham’s committee will hear from former FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday as part of that sweeping GOP-led probe. Graham also announced on Tuesday that former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe will testify before the panel next week. McCabe agreed to appear voluntarily, according to an aide. McCabe’s lawyer said earlier Tuesday that he was being denied access to his old files that he says are necessary for him to prepare for his testimony.
The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was among those on the right who spotlighted Tuesday’s disclosure, writing on Twitter: “The Russia hoax was Hillary’s plan, and the Obama-Biden White House was briefed on it.”
The origin of the packages was U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz's Office, which reminded me of a similar incident with her office when it came to using law enforcement for the purposes of personal benefit of interfering in a criminal investigation.
I know I am highly impressed with the FBI, USPIS, DHS, SS and any other law enforcement entities who have been involved in this conjugal collaboration for quite some time, to have executed successfully executed this investigation so swiftly.
If you have info that could assist the #FBI's investigation of suspicious packages, call 1-800-CALLFBI (225-5324) or use https://t.co/iL7sD5efWD. If you observe suspicious activity that requires an immediate response, call 911 or contact local law enforcement immediately. pic.twitter.com/ZsFLKvXrKy
The safety of the American People is my highest priority. I have just concluded a briefing with the FBI, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Secret Service... pic.twitter.com/nEUBcq4NOh
A suspect was arrested in the investigation of bombs sent to prominent Democrats and critics of President Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced. FBI Director Chris Wray identified the suspect as Cesar Sayoc.
Sayoc was charged with five federal crimes, Sessions said. He faces up to 58 years in prison.
Several law enforcement sources told CBS News that Sayoc was born in 1962. He appears to have a criminal history in Broward County, Florida.
A fingerprint was uncovered from a package bomb sent to Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, Wray said. The print was then connected to Sayoc.
Wray also said there was a possible DNA connection relating to one of Sayoc's past arrests. A law enforcement source had said that DNA evidence on one of the devices played a part in leading investigators to the suspect, CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton reported.
There are onlinw discussions debating which racial category they are going to lump him into. Some have said he is Native American, Some have said he is black. Some are just lost on the entire concept of having to question an individual on their race, which makes this entire event, including its, ongoing investigations, in continuation, an excellent teaching model for Quantico on how to spot "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending).
Cesar Altieri Sayoc is seen in a police booking photo from August 2015.
BROWARD COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
The package sent to Booker was found in Florida, the FBI said on Twitter on Friday morning. Sources told CBS News that the package sent to Clapper was found at a postal facility in New York City.
The New York package was addressed to "James Robert Clapper Time Warner (CNN)," according to a photo of the package obtained by CBS New York station WCBS-TV. On Wednesday, a bomb sent to CNN's offices in New York's Time Warner Center prompted an evacuation of the building.
Earlier, authorities recovered suspicious packages sent to Democratic Sen. Cory Booker and James Clapper, the director of national intelligence under President Obama. The packages appeared to be similar to 10 others sent this week.
Suspicious package sent to Tom Steyer
A U.S. official told CBS News that federal officials and police were investigating a suspicious package addressed to Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer. The package was found at a postal facility in Burlingame, California, which is in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The package was similar to bombs discovered this week.
Attorney general, officials giving latest details
Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other law enforcement officials are giving new details on the package bomb investigation. Viewers can watch the announcement in the player above.
Purported photo of van shows target on Clinton
A picture shows what is believed to be a van seized in the package bomb investigation before the van was seized.
A picture believed to be of a van seized by authorities in the package bomb investigation shows a sticker with a target around former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's face. The picture was taken on an earlier date before authorities seized the van late Friday morning.
Other stickers show President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence giving the thumbs-up sign. Another sticker read "CNN sucks" in all capital letters.
The van was taken to the FBI's field office in Miramar, Florida.
Suspect seen on video at Trump rally
Video has emerged of Cesar Altieri Sayoc, the package bomb suspect, at a rally for President Trump. The video was recorded in Cincinnati in October 2016.
Trump says "terrorizing acts" were "despicable"
President Trump congratulated multiple law enforcement agencies for arresting a suspect in the package bomb investigation. "We have the best in the world, and we just showed it," the president said while addressing a group of young black leaders in the East Room of the White House.
The president didn't identify the suspect, which several law enforcement sources told CBS News is Cesar Altieri Sayoc, but he said the suspect would be prosecuted "to the fullest extent of the law." He said that the "terrorizing acts" were "despicable and have no place in our country."
"We must never allow political violence to take root in America," Mr. Trump said.
White van seized after arrest in Florida
Investigators secure a van believed to be linked to the mail bomb suspect in Plantation, Florida.
CBS NEWS
Federal authorities covered and seized a white van in Florida after the Department of Justice confirmed an arrest had been made in the bomb investigation. The suspect was arrested at an auto repair shop in Plantation, Florida.
Aerial footage captured images of the van before it was taken away. Some of the van's windows were covered with stickers.
Clapper package contained apparent pipe bomb
New York police credited an alert postal worker with finding an apparent pipe bomb at a post office Friday morning. John Miller, the police department's deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said at a press conference that the bomb was in a package consistent with others seen this week.
Sources have confirmed to CBS News that the package was addressed to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
Wasserman Schultz addresses bomb scares
Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose name has appeared on the phony return addresses of bombs sent through the mail, is speaking about the bomb scares. Wasserman Schultz is a former head of the Democratic National Committee.
Trump ties "'Bomb' stuff" to GOP "momentum"
President Trump implied that press coverage of the mail bombs was slowing Republican momentum ahead of the midterm elections. "News not talking politics," the president said.
Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this “Bomb” stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows - news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!
Earlier Friday morning, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Mr. Trump was " receiving constant information as it is available" about the new packages.
Basically, you could look at it and figure out what was going on.
It was incorporated right after the Highway Act, where I like to color as literally paving the roads to the draining of resources of the inner city of Detroit.
You can also see that cities are incorporated under state law, which means they can also be dissolved, or rather, in this instance on the lower lever of extreme, held accountable as administrators of the public trust.
Very few realize the entire process of becoming an official candidate of office is through the official record of your arms, rather how ethics is measured in society through multiple attestation of the public record.
If you breach the public trust, well, that is just child abuse, because the public trust contains our most precious treasures, children, the posterity of a society.
The inscription “City of Warren, Michigan -Seal-” encompasses the circular seal. The hand holding a sheaf of
wheat at the bottom represents the agricultural heritage of the community. The residential dwelling on the
lower left hand side represents the residential character of the community. A factory on the right side
represents commerce and industry. A hand holding a rocket on the upper left side represents national
defense technology. The heads of a young man and young woman in center at the top represent the youth of
the City.
On that note, I would like to know what is going on with the Detroit Election Commission.
This is a nice transposable model for election integrity - argue it out under the tolling of election deadlines.
I can see a VR game.
Jim Maceroni
I was not allowed this luxury, provided below.
Just as people have died to vote, so have they died to run for office, so let us remain uplifted for a swift, final judicial determination.
Economy of time is important in elections, you know.
Mount Clemens — A Macomb County judge ruled Friday that four Warren City Council members must be removed from the August primary election ballot because they have exceeded the city’s term limits and are ineligible to run again.
Warren council candidate Connor Berdy had filed a complaint May 10 against Warren’s city clerk Sonya Buffa; the Warren City Election Commission and County Clerk Fred Miller, arguing that incumbents who exceeded 12 years of service in city office should not be permitted to run for another term.
Berdy requested that council members Scott Stevens, Steven Warner, Robert Boccomino and Council President Cecil St. Pierre all be removed from the ballot. Judge James Maceroni of Macomb Circuit Court agreed Berdy had “no other adequate legal remedy.”
Berdy celebrated in a news release, saying, “this was a thorough 11-page opinion that the Judge spent several days working on. We fully expect it will be upheld if the City appeals.
“It’s a new chapter for Warren city government.”
Not so fast, said Boccomino, the Warren City Council secretary, when reached for comment Friday.
“There’s no need for panic,” Boccomino said. “Regardless of which way the judge ruled on this, an appeal was expected — either by Berdy, if it was not in his favor, or by the city.”
“We have a right of appeal to the state’s higher court and I expect we will fast-track this and have something filed on Monday and hopefully a decision back by the end of the week,” he said.
Boccomino noted: “The final ballots don’t have to printed up before the beginning of July.”
“None of us want to be removed by a judge,” he stressed. “If the voters don’t think we are doing a good job, let them decide by electing someone else in to office.”
Boccomino said the issue stems from Warren City Council amending the city charter in 1998 to provide for term limits of three terms or 12 years on the council. In 2010, voters approved an amendment to change the council from nine members to seven, with five elected by districts and two at-large.
A city attorney opined that the district and at-large seats were distinct offices, and a council member could serve three terms in each.
It’s Boccomino’s view — and, he believes, of his colleagues — that the term limits began in 2010, not when council members were elected under different rules. Boccomino, who seeks a district seat, has served one term as an at-large councilman and two terms as a district councilman.
St. Pierre has been on council for six terms, four before the amendments and two after the amendments, and has filed to be an at-large councilman. Stevens, an at-large councilman, has served three consecutive terms as at at-large councilman and seeks a district seat in 2019.
Warner, the council’s vice president, seeks a district seat and has served two terms as a district councilman and one term as an at-large councilman.
“I think we will work this out in an appeal,” Boccomino said. “If not, perhaps there are other options.
Someone might even run as a write-in candidate and set up another legal question of whether they were being denied a right to run for office and denying voters their right to vote.”
