William Barr
US election crimes director resigns after Donald Trump’s attorney general authorises probes
The top federal investigator of election crimes in the US has resigned just hours after Donald Trump’s attorney general William Barr authorised probes into claims of voter fraud. Richard Pilger, director of the election crimes branch of the Department of Justice, stepped down from the post he has held since 2010 on Monday. The branch director, Richard Pilger, handed in his resignation within hours of Barr’s authorization. In an email to colleagues about Barr’s order, Pilger said, “Having familiarized myself with the new policy and its ramifications… I must regretfully resign from my role,” The New York Times reported. US Attorney General William Barr gave federal prosecutors blanket authorization Monday to open investigations into voting irregularities, as President Donald Trump repeated u...
Nigerian doctor named one of TIME’s Most Influential People in the world
TIME named Nigerian physician Tunji Funsho to the 2020 TIME100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The full list and related tributes are available now at time.com/time100, and Mr Funsho’s TIME100 profile is available here. The list, now in its seventeenth year, recognizes the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals. Mr Funsho, a cardiologist based in Lagos, Nigeria, is the first Rotary member to receive this honour for the organisation’s work to eradicate polio, having played an essential role in ensuring Africa’s certification as wild polio-free in August of 2020. “I’m honored to be recognized by TIME for my part in ensuring that no child in Africa will ever again be paralyzed by wild polio, a disease that once disabl...
US judge orders release of Donald Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen from prison
Agence France-Presse A United States (US) judge ordered the release from prison of President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, on Thursday, saying he believes the government retaliated against him for planning to release a book about Trump before November’s election. Michael Cohen’s First Amendment rights were violated when he was ordered back to prison on July 9 after probation authorities said he refused to sign a form banning him from publishing the book or communicating publicly in other manners, U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said during a telephone conference. Hellerstein ordered Michael Cohen released from prison by 2 p.m. on Friday. “How can I take any other inference than that it’s retaliatory?” Hellerstein asked prosecutors, who insisted in court pap...
US judge orders delay of first federal executions in 17 years
Associated Press A U.S. judge on Monday ordered a delay in federal executions, hours before one was to be carried out for the first time in 17 years, hampering the Trump administration’s plan to revive capital punishment by the federal government. Washington district Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a preliminary injunction to allow the continuation of legal challenges of four death row inmates against the government’s new lethal injection protocol announced last year. “The public is not served by short-circuiting legitimate judicial processes,” she wrote in an order. The Department of Justice immediately appealed the ruling. The department planned to carry out the first executions at a federal level since 2003 over the next few weeks, starting with Daniel Lewis Lee, who is convicted of murder, ...
