For The Intelligencer
FILE - In this Feb. 25, 2021, file photo, reporters question Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., as he arrives for votes on President Joe Biden s cabinet nominees, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
CHARLESTON U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said Wednesday he is working with fellow Democratic senators to make changes to a key voting rights bill that has some lawmakers conflicted.
Speaking Wednesday after the unveiling of signage for the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, Manchin said he is working with Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., the point men on H.R. 1 and S. 1, also called the For the People Act.
Steven Allen Adams
MANCHIN U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin leaves the Senate chamber after a vote.
CHARLESTON U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said Wednesday he is working with fellow Democratic senators to make changes to a key voting rights bill that has some lawmakers conflicted.
Speaking Wednesday after the unveiling of signage for the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve, Manchin, D-W.Va., said he is working with Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., the point men on H.R. 1 and S. 1, also called the For the People Act.
The For the People Act passed the House of Representatives along party lines in March, but the Senate Rules and Administration Committee is expected to vote next Tuesday to allow the bill to advance to the full Senate for a vote.
FEC Drops Investigation Into Stormy Daniels Hush Money Payments
The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) has closed its investigation into whether former President Donald Trump broke campaign finance rules when his then-attorney Michael Cohen paid $130,000 in alleged “hush money” to adult film actress Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election.
The bipartisan election commission, which is evenly split between three Republicans and three Democrat-aligned commissioners, dropped the inquiry and “closed the file” in the case known as Matter Under Review (MUR) #7313, according to the case docket summary and other documents.
The FEC voted on the inquiry in a closed-door meeting in February, according to the New York Times while the commission’s case file docket was updated with related information more recently.
The FEC panel said it failed to find that Mr. Trump or his campaign “knowingly and willfully” violated campaign-finance law when Mr. Cohen paid $130,000 in October 2016 to the adult actress whose real name is Stephanie Clifford and who says she had had an affair with the real estate tycoon earlier that decade.
Two Republican members on the six-member panel said the probe wasn’t a good use of resources, though a pair of Democratic members disagreed and said they wanted to move forward.
“To conclude that a payment, made 13 days before Election Day to hush up a suddenly newsworthy 10-year-old story, was not campaign-related, without so much as conducting an investigation, defies reality,” Chair Shana Broussard and Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub said in a statement.
During his Court appearance on May 4, 2021, for a Rule to Show Cause as to why he was not at a previous Hearing, John Norton attempted to file for an Emergency Hearing on an Emergency Motion For Discovery.
The Judge admonished him during the hearing appearing and in clear language instructed him to appear at the next scheduled Hearing on the Rule to Show Cause as to why he should not be held in Contempt of Court. He was reminded that she was instructing him of this in open court, and that any excuse he didn t receive notice in the mail, etc., would not hold water.