Jeff Mordock

Holiday retail sales expected to top 2019 despite surging pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic will hurt Black Friday sales, retail analysts say, but the unofficial holiday kickoff will remain one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

November 26, 2020

Cy Vance to appeal dismissal of Paul Manafort’s state charges

The Manhattan District Attorney said Wednesday he will appeal last month's court decision dismissing state fraud charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

November 25, 2020

Michael Flynn granted full pardon by Donald Trump

President Trump on Wednesday pardoned his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in a case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller.

November 25, 2020

New Jersey woman charged with financing Syrian terrorist organization

A New Jersey woman was charged Wednesday with concealing financial support to the al-Nusra Front, a terrorist organization described as al Qaeda in Syria.

November 25, 2020

Brandon Bernard death row case: Lawyers for Texas man seek stay of execution based on new evidence

Lawyers for a Texas man scheduled to be executed next month asked a federal judge Wednesday to postpone the execution, claiming that prosecutors suppressed critical evidence during his trial 20 years ago.

November 25, 2020

Adam Schiff: Donald Trump acting like ‘organized crime figure’ with possible Michael Flynn pardon

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff said Wednesday that President Trump is "acting like an organized crime figure," if he pardons former National Security Adviser Micheal Flynn.

November 25, 2020

Lisa Montgomery has new execution date scheduled by Justice Department

The Justice Department on Monday night rescheduled the execution date for the only female on federal death row after a judge postponed her death because her lawyers contracted COVID-19.

November 23, 2020

W. Sam Patten, witness in Mueller probe, attacked by knife-wielding suspect in D.C.

W. Samuel Patten, a key witness in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia-collusion probe, was assaulted by a knife-wielding attacker in Washington last week.

November 23, 2020

‘Anonymous’ Trump critic Miles Taylor identified as witness in Flynn probe

Former Department of Homeland Security official Miles Taylor, who authored an op-ed vowing resistance to President Trump, appears to have been a key witness in the FBI's investigation into Michael Flynn, two Republican Senate chairmen said Monday.

November 23, 2020

Justice Department schedules three more federal executions

The Justice Department has scheduled three more federal executions, including two inmates set to die just days before presumptive President-elect Joseph R. Biden takes over in January.

November 20, 2020

Supreme Court yanks oral arguments into secret Mueller documents from its calendar

The Supreme Court on Friday removed from its calendar oral arguments in a closely watched dispute over access to secret grand jury materials from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russian-collusion probe.

November 20, 2020

New York postal worker charged with dumping 1,300 pieces of mail in the woods

A suburban Buffalo postal worker was arrested Friday and charged with dumping more than 1,300 pieces of mail, including a blank election ballot, in the woods, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday.

November 20, 2020

NRA to pay $2.5M fine, halt insurance sales to settle New York case

The National Rifle Association on Wednesday agreed to pay a $2.5 million fine and halt its insurance business in New York to settle allegations it violated the state's insurance laws.

November 18, 2020

Federal judge hints he may delay execution over inmate’s lawyers’ COVID-19 infection

A federal judge hinted Wednesday that he may delay the execution of the only woman on federal death row because her lawyers contracted COVID-19 during prison visits.

November 18, 2020

Peter Debbins, former Green Beret, pleads guilty to giving U.S. military secrets to Russia

A former Army Green Beret pled guilty Wednesday to conspiring to provide Russian intelligence operatives with U.S. military secrets about his unit's activities in former Soviet republics.

November 18, 2020

Carlos Antonio De Bourbon Montenegro falsified 8,000 voter registrations, Los Angeles DA says

A California man was charged Tuesday with submitting more than 8,000 fraudulent voter registration applications on behalf of homeless people in an alleged bizarre scheme to be elected mayor of Hawthorne, California, the Los Angeles District Attorney said.

November 17, 2020

House Democrats ask Supreme Court to delay arguments over Mueller grand jury testimony

The Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to delay upcoming oral arguments in a case that could give them access to secret grand jury material redacted from special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

November 17, 2020

DOJ watchdog finds ‘numerous failures’ in COVID-19 response at Louisiana prison

A federal prison in Louisiana failed to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus because officials waited too long to screen inmates and ignored federal guidelines requiring asymptomatic inmates to be quarantined, the Justice Department watchdog said in a scathing report Tuesday.

November 17, 2020

House Democrats file brief asking Supreme Court to deny Trump admin’s argument in census dispute

House Democrats on Monday asked the Supreme Court to reject President Trump's bid to exclude illegal immigrants from the U.S. census count, which determines each state's share of seats in Congress.

November 16, 2020

Peter Brand, Harvard fencing coach, accused of taking bribes to get businessman’s sons into school

The former fencing coach at Harvard University was charged Monday with accepting more than $1.5 million in bribes from a Maryland businessman in exchange for getting the businessman's two sons into the Ivy League school as fencing recruits.

November 16, 2020