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Breaking: Rep. Jared Polis Files To Force Boehner To Bring ENDA To A Vote

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Congressman Jared Polis filed today to force a vote in the House on a newly revised ENDA.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) today filed a discharge petition with the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives to force Speaker of the House John Boehner and Republican leadership to bring the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to a vote.

Polis, the chief sponsor of the bill and co-chair of the LGBT Equality Caucus, has crafted a revised ENDA with “narrowed religious exemption,” the Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson reports this morning. Polis’ discharge petition would go into effect, forcing a vote, “if a majority of House members, or 218, sign the petition.”

Johnson notes that Rep. Polis filed the petition today, “just two months before a mid-term election in which Democrats are fighting to maintain control of the Senate. The lack of Republican signers on the ENDA discharge petition could serve to highlight to difference between the Democratic and Republican parties just before Election Day.”

Indeed, supporters face an “uphill battle in attempting to pass ENDA by initiating a discharge petition. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), an original co-sponsor of ENDA, has already told the Blade she wouldn’t sign the petition, saying through a spokesperson it’s a ‘partisan political tool.’ No Republican co-sponsor has agreed to signing a discharge petition for ENDA.”

LGBT organizations, after the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision, pulled their support from ENDA because of its extensive religious exemptions. It is believed those exemptions could effectively write anti-gay religious discrimination into law, rather than protecting LGBT people from discrimination.

 

 

Related at The New Civil Rights Movement:

After Hobby Lobby, Seven Top LGBT And Civil Rights Orgs Drop Support For ENDA

Distancing Itself From ENDA’s Religious Exemptions, HRC Calls For LGBT Civil Rights Bill

Former Bush Aide: There Were 70 Closeted Gay White House Staffers Working For W

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News

Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Says It Is Coordinating With Trump to ‘Surrender’

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15 mins ago

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March 30, 2023

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Donald Trump’s attorneys were notified Thursday afternoon a Manhattan grand jury had voted to indict him on felony charges related to his alleged hush money payoff of a porn star he reported slept with.

The ex-president’ attorney recently said if indicted Trump would travel to New York to turn himself in.

The Office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has just issued a strongly-worded statement saying it is “coordinating” with Trump’s attorneys for his “surrender.”

“This evening we contacted Mr. Trump’s attorney to coordinate his surrender to the Manhattan D.A.’s Office for arraignment on a Supreme Court indictment, which remains under seal. Guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected,” the statement reads.

READ MORE: ‘You Can’t Stand on Fifth Avenue and Just Shoot Somebody’: Donald Trump Indicted – Legal Experts Respond

The Daily Beast’s Jose Pagliery posted the statement to Twitter.

NBC News explains the process, noting he is expected to be arraigned next week.

“After the indictment, Trump will be arrested and taken into custody. He will likely have a mug shot and fingerprints taken,” NBC reports. “Trump will then appear in court to be arraigned, where he will hear charges and enter a plea. Two sources familiar with the situation told NBC News that the former president is likely to be arraigned next week. Trump will either be jailed or released while pre-trial hearings take place.”

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'INDICTED FOR HIS BEHAVIOR'

‘You Can’t Stand on Fifth Avenue and Just Shoot Somebody’: Donald Trump Indicted – Legal Experts Respond

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38 mins ago

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March 30, 2023

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Just past 5:00 PM ET The New York Times broke the news that Donald Trump, the ex-president, had been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on felony charges.

It is a historic moment.

Legal experts are weighing in to help guide Americans through an event that has never before happened in this country.

Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Ackerman says the fact that this is the first time in U.S. history a president is facing criminal charges is itself a problem.

“I think it would have not been a novel event,” Ackerman said on MSNBC, “if we had done this 49 years ago with Richard Nixon, and he had not been pardoned, this will not be a big event [that] it is today.”

READ MORE: New Poll Sends Trump Damning Message About 2024 if He’s Criminally Indicted

“Everybody should be held accountable,” Ackerman added, citing former Trump attorney Michael Cohen’s earlier remarks. Cohen testified repeatedly before the Manhattan grand jury that indicted Trump late Thursday afternoon after a three-hour session.

Ackerman lamented that despite over 30 people being indicted during Watergate, “Richard Nixon was pardoned, he wasn’t held accountable.”

“I think this is very important,” Ackerman continued, “establishing a principle, a line in the sand, that even if you’re the President of the United States, and you commit a crime, you can’t stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and just shoot somebody.”

Ackerman was referring to Trump’s infamous comments during the 2016 election, when he bragged he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”

Attorney and civil rights activist Maya Wiley, also on MSNBC, said, “It’s important and sobering that we had somebody who had the highest office of this country who has now ben indicted for his behavior, his acts, in order to win that office, but also faces what are more shoes that will drop, I believe.”

“It is a sobering moment for this country, that we are witnessing this happened to somebody who was entrusted with such power who has now had a jury of his peers, because that is what a grand jury also is, say we believe he had to face the music.”

READ MORE: Here’s How Five Republicans in Congress Are Responding to the Mass Shooting of 3 Children and 3 Adults in Nashville (Video)

Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, now a professor of law, called this a “moment where we would do well to seriously assess who we are as Americans and who we are not as Americans, because we re all so familiar with Donald Trump’s tactics.”

Watch the video above or at this link.

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News

Donald Trump Indicted by Manhattan Grand Jury on Felony Charges: NYT

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2 hours ago

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March 30, 2023

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Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury investigating his role in a hush money payoff scheme that allegedly was designed to aid his election chances in 2016, according to multiple news reports.

“Mr. Trump will be the first former president to face criminal charges. The precise charges are not yet known, but the case is focused on a hush-money payment to a porn star during his 2016 campaign,” The New York Times was first to report. “The unprecedented case against Trump will have wide-ranging implications.”

CNN, citing sources, also reports Trump has been indicted.

Trump’s attorney, Susan Necheles, confirms to CBS News’ Graham Kates that the ex-president has been indicted.

This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated.

Image via Shutterstock

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