Paul Manafort declines to testify, and his defense rests after calling no witnesses on day 11 of his trial. Closing arguments in the case begin tomorrow. Manafort faces over 300 years in prison on tax fraud charges; nine charges of bank fraud and bank fraud conspiracy, which each carry a maximum sentence of 30 years; and 15 to 20 years if convicted of conspiracy charges and foreign lobbying violations.
Michael Drejka, 47, has been charged in the July 19 death of Markeis McGlockton outside a Clearwater convenience store in Pinellas County, Florida. Drejka shot and killed McGlockton, but Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri declined to charge Drejka, saying one day after the shooting that Drejka was protected by Florida's stand-your-ground law. The sheriff passed the case to prosecutors for a final decision. Now Pinellas County State Attorney Bernie McCabe has charged Drejka with manslaughter. In court documents, McCabe and Pinellas sheriff's Detective George Moffett cited three other drivers who said Drejka threatened them during confrontations that preceded his run-in with McGlockton. Two of them said he displayed a gun.
Over the past few weeks, US President Donald Trump and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey have been embroiled in a pretty fierce back-and-forth. Over the weekend, the US imposed sanctions against Turkey for continuing to hold the American pastor Andrew Brunson on espionage charges in Turkey. Trump doubled sanctions on Turkish steel and aluminum as officials complained that Turkey's move to shift Brunson from prison to house arrest had failed to meet Washington's demand for his full release and return to the US. So, what's really at the core of this conflict?
When Facebook decides to censor, there is absolutely nothing to stop them. For the second time since January, Latin American news network TeleSur has had one of its Facebook pages removed, with no explanation given. According to Sputnik News, Facebook removed the page of TeleSur English, the English language media outlet primarily funded by Venezuela, on August 13. The move follows a coordinated ban between Apple, Facebook and YouTube against far-right fringe media outlet InfoWars and Facebook's temporary unpublishing of independent, pro-Bolivarian outlet Venezuela Analysis.
GUESTS:
Colin Kalmbacher — Law & Times editor and contributor to Mediate.
John Burris — Lead Attorney and Founder of Law Office of John L. Burris. He is primarily known for his work in the areas of Civil Rights with an emphasis on police misconduct and excessive force cases
James Carey — Journalist and editor at Geopolitics Alert. He specializes in Middle East and Asian affairs.
Alex Rubinstein — Journalist and writer at Sputnik News.
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