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Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel \u201cPras\u201d Michel, a member of the Fugees, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in illegally directing millions of dollars in foreign funds into Barack Obama\u2019s 2012 re-election campaign.\u00a0Michel, 52, declined to make a statement before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly announced the sentence on Thursday.<\/p>\n
He was convicted in April 2023 after a federal jury found him guilty on 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government. The trial, held in Washington, D.C., included testimony from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions,\u00a0the Independent reported.<\/p>\n
Justice Department prosecutors said federal sentencing guidelines recommended a life sentence, asserting that Michel \u201cbetrayed his country for money\u201d and \u201clied unapologetically and unrelentingly to carry out his schemes.\u201d\u201cHis sentence should reflect the breadth and depth of his crimes, his indifference to the risks to his country, and the magnitude of his greed,\u201d they wrote in court filings.<\/p>\n
Defense attorney Peter Zeidenberg said the 14-year sentence imposed on his client was \u201ccompletely disproportionate to the offense,\u201d and confirmed that Michel plans to appeal both his conviction and sentence.<\/p>\n
Zeidenberg had urged the court to impose a three-year prison term. In a prior filing, Michel\u2019s legal team argued that a life sentence \u2014 which prosecutors had indicated was possible \u2014 would be an \u201cabsurdly high\u201d penalty, noting that such terms are typically reserved for individuals convicted of deadly terrorism or major drug cartel activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government\u2019s position is one that would cause Inspector Javert to recoil and, if anything, simply illustrates just how easily the Guidelines can be manipulated to produce absurd results, and how poorly equipped they are, at least on this occasion, to determine a fair and just sentence,\u201d the defense team wrote.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the former president\u00a0said earlier this month\u00a0that Democrats should embrace socialists as an important part of their political coalition.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the \u201cPod Save America\u201d podcast, Obama urged party leaders not to impose \u201clitmus tests\u201d on members with differing views and described newly elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, as \u201cpart of a vision for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTuesday was nice, but we\u2019ve got a lot of work to do. And your task is going to be not to impose litmus tests,\u201d Obama said. \u201cWe had [Democratic Virginia Gov.-elect] Abigail Spanberger win and we had Zohran Mandani win and they are all part of a vision for the future. Our job is to say that we want everybody engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cAnd we want to have a conversation about how to make sure that every person in this country is treated with dignity and respect, and there are ladders of opportunity, and that there\u2019s the possibility of community, and that we\u2019re getting along not in some clich\u00e9, phonied way, but in a genuine, deep way where we recognize, yeah, we have differences, and yes, there are fights that are going to have to be fought, but that deep down there is something core in us that we have in common that is extraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mamdani won the mayoral race on a left-wing socialist platform that included raising taxes on corporations and wealthy residents, implementing a citywide rent freeze, providing free bus service and childcare, and establishing city-owned grocery stores.<\/p>\n
A recent Gallup poll released Sept. 8 found that only 42% of Democrats viewed capitalism positively, while 66% expressed a favorable opinion of socialism. The following day, NewsNation political contributor Chris Cillizza cautioned on his YouTube channel that the Democratic Party\u2019s growing embrace of socialism could jeopardize its chances in the 2028 election.\u201cI guess it\u2019s not terribly surprising, but I do think if I am a Democrat who wants to win the 2028 election \u2026 That would worry me candidly because socialism broadly will not sell,\u201d Cillizza said. \u201cYou can call it democratic socialism. You can call it whatever you want. But the idea of socialism will not sell in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senator John Kennedy is once again cutting through Washington\u2019s theatrics with brutal honesty.<\/p>\n
The Louisiana Republican accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of staging political drama instead of doing his job to reopen the government.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, Kennedy described the shutdown as a \u201cpolitical performance,\u201d not a genuine policy disagreement.<\/p>\n
He said Schumer is more concerned with keeping up appearances for his party\u2019s radical wing than with serving the American people.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will end eventually,\u201d Kennedy said, \u201cwhen Senator Schumer goes to six or eight of his members and Democrats and says, \u2018Do me a favor. Vote to open it back up. I may have to criticize you. I\u2019m not going to vote with you, but I need a way out of this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy made clear that Schumer\u2019s priority isn\u2019t compromise \u2014 it\u2019s saving face.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s gonna tell \u2018em, \u2018Now, look, I gotta vote no. And I gotta dogcuss you a little bit. We gotta have some play acting and make this look good. And then we come out of the shutdown,\u2019\u201d Kennedy said, describing how Schumer will secretly orchestrate the outcome he publicly opposes.<\/p>\n
According to Kennedy, the government shutdown is less about real disagreements and more about political optics. Schumer, he said, is acting out a script to appease the far-left members of his caucus \u2014 what Kennedy calls the \u201cmoon wing\u201d of the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know him. Well, this shutdown is not about policy. It\u2019s about politics,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Senator Schumer, this is what\u2019s going on. He is trying to get the moon wing, the socialist wing of the Democratic Party, which is in control, to love him. And they will never love him.\u201d<\/p>\n
That blunt assessment paints a damning picture of the Democratic leadership. Schumer, Kennedy argues, is beholden to extremists who refuse to compromise, even at the expense of the country.<\/p>\n
The Louisiana senator said Schumer\u2019s strategy is simple: keep the government closed until Republicans and President Trump agree to hand over billions in new spending \u2014 spending that Democrats will control. \u201cWhat he\u2019s saying,\u201d Kennedy explained, \u201cis we\u2019re going to keep government shut down until you Republicans and President Trump give the Democrats $1.5 trillion, and they\u2019re going to tell us how to spend it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kennedy ridiculed the idea that Schumer is fighting for \u201cthe people.\u201d In his view, Schumer is fighting for power, money, and media attention \u2014 and the shutdown is just another stage for him to perform on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel \u201cPras\u201d Michel, a member of the Fugees, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in illegally directing millions of dollars in foreign funds into Barack Obama\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t