By: Donald V. Watkins August 3, 2023 An Editorial Opinion Donald J. Trump is in a “do or die” fight for his life. At 77-years-old, Trump is facing three state and federal indictments that allege a total of 78 felony counts of criminal offenses against him. This month, a fourth indictment is expected in Atlanta, Georgia. When it comes, Trump can expect 30 or more felony counts to be added to his legal woes. After he is arrested in Georgia, Trump will have his mugshot taken for the first time. Presently, Special Counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani T. Willis have Donald Trump tagged and bogged down in triangulated takedown scenario. By the end of August, Donald Trump will be facing more than 100 criminal counts, with hundreds of years of possible imprisonment upon conviction. At Trump's age, this outcome is equivalent to a death sentence, assuming Trump dies of natural causes while imprisoned. If Trump is imprisoned, he could also die from a “shanking” (stabbing), beating, or poisoning administered by fellow inmates. Trump’s Secret Service protection detail and his expected isolation from the general inmate population would not be enough to prevent this possible outcome. As such, Donald Trump must win the 2024 presidential election in order to save his own life. A Trump Courtroom Victory is Not Attainable No attorney has ever won more than 85 felony counts for a single defendant. I currently hold the record in American jurisprudence for defeating federal prosecutors on 85 felony counts in the case of U.S. v. Richard Scrushy. In 2003, Richard Scrushy, the former CEO of HealthSouth, was indicted on 85 felony counts of Sarbanes Oxley offenses and related charges. If convicted on all charges, Scrushy faced 650 years in prison. On June 28, 2005, Scrushy walked out of the federal courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama as a free man. Over a two-year period, my legal team defeated federal prosecutors on all charges in Scrushy’s case. Richard Scrushy’s case is featured in the May 11, 2020, "King Richard" episode of the Netflix "Trial by Media" documentary series. Presently, Donald Trump does not have any attorney on his criminal defense teams who is capable of winning acquittals on 100 or more felony counts. I am not sure if this feat is even possible today. Additionally, prosecutors have used every technique at their disposal to maximize their chances of winning a conviction and imprisoning Donald Trump. In the process, they have overwhelmed Trump's mediocre criminal defense teams. Here's how they did it: First, three different prosecutors have Trump trapped in a scenario where he is fighting for his life in criminal cases in judicial venues that are located in four states at the same time. As such, Trump is at war on four fronts with highly skilled and well-financed prosecutors at the same time. Second, these prosecutors have worked the grand jury process in a way that allowed them to shop for pro-prosecution judges in at least two of the four cases against Trump. Only the federal judge assigned to Trump's case in Miami has shown a willingness to provide Trump a fair trial. Third, prosecutors only need a single guilty verdict on one of the multiple felony counts in each of the four cases, while Trump must win a “not guilty” verdict or a mistrial on every count in each of the four cases. This result is virtually impossible for Trump's underperforming legal team to accomplish. Fourth, Special Counsel Jack Smith has "flipped" multiple members of Trump’s circle of legal advisors. These attorneys are now witnesses against Trump in his federal cases in Miami and Washington. Winning the Presidential Election is Trump’s Only Ticket Out of a Death Sentence Donald Trump has only one option available to him for saving his life – he must win the 2024 presidential election. Thus far, Trump’s criminal cases have not posed a credible threat to his re-election chances or his return to the presidency. Trump has found a creative pathway to neutralize these impediments without using highly skilled defense lawyers in the pending criminal cases. Federal prosecutors in the Hunter Biden case gave Donald Trump the political ammunition he needed in the court of public opinion to graphically demonstrate the unequal and unfair administration of criminal laws within the federal criminal justice system. In a highly public and partisan way, federal prosecutors in Hunter Biden’s criminal case have performed unprecedented legal maneuvers and backflips to prevent an admitted crack and powder cocaine user, tax cheat, unlawful possessor of a firearm, and obstructor of justice from going to federal prison -- solely because Hunter Biden is the son of President Joe Biden. At the same time, federal prosecutors have used every tool at their disposal to charge, try, convict, and imprison Donald Trump for life. The U.S. Department of Justice's two-tiered standard of criminal justice is very public, easy to understand, legally and politically indefensible, and is hurting Joe Biden’s chances for re-election. Today, Donald Trump and Joe Biden are tied in the latest New York Times/Siena College poll. Independent voters will determine the outcome of the race for the White House in 2024. If Trump wins the presidency, which is highly probable, he will surely pardon himself on all federal charges/convictions. Trump will also use the awesome powers of the presidency to pressure the governors of New York and Georgia to grant him a full and unconditional pardon, which they will do. At this point, Donald Trump is fighting for his life. He must win the presidency to save his own life. Losing is not an acceptable option.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on August 1, 2023 President Joe Biden and former President Donald J. Trump are tied in a hypothetical 2024 rematch, but each man remains unpopular with voters, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll released earlier today. If the 2024 presidential election were held today, both Biden and Trump would receive 43% support overall from registered voters surveyed. However, both men continue to have high disapproval numbers, with 54% of voters disapproving of Biden and 55% of Trump, according to the survey. The poll of 1,329 registered voters nationwide, including an over-sample of 818 registered Republican voters, was conducted in English and Spanish on cellular and landline phones from July 23-27, 2023. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.67 percentage points for all registered voters and plus or minus 3.96 percentage points for the likely Republican primary electorate. The national poll was published roughly 15 months before the election on Nov. 5, 2024, and less than six months before the first primary contest. Despite those high unfavorable ratings, Biden and Trump continue to be the commanding leaders for their respective party's presidential nomination. Independent voters will decide the outcome of the likely Biden-Trump rematch. As a passionate Independent voter in California, I am part of a nationwide group of Independent voters that is organizing a block of at least 2 million likely Independent voters in six swing states for the 2024 presidential election. Next year, a Super-PAC affiliated with our group of Independent voters will incorporate in California and raise and spend up to $75 million on voter registration, public relations initiatives, political advertising, and GTOV activities in the targeted swing states for the 2024 presidential election. The recent spate of criminal indictments against Donald Trump, including today's federal indictment in Washington, is not expected to derail his political support within the Republican Party or negatively impact his chances of winning the presidency. Likewise, Joe Biden's political support has been stagnant for nearly three years. In fact, about half of all registered Democratic voters would like their Party to select another nominee for president.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 28, 2023 Joseph T. Watkins was my father’s youngest brother. He was smart, strong, and brave. We called him “Uncle J.T.” Uncle J.T. was a World War II veteran who served as a corporal in an all-black Army unit that fought in the campaign to liberate France from Nazi occupation. He was proud of his military service for America, and the Watkins family was proud of him. Uncle J.T. would later become an effective fighter in another kind of war -- the never-ending battle for the protection and advancement of civil and constitutional rights in America. After the War, Uncle J.T. moved to Washington and became a housing inspector for the District of Columbia government. He also rose through the ranks to become president of his local federal employees’ union. The racial discrimination Uncle J.T. faced in Washington during the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s was heartbreaking. Uncle J.T. had put his life on the line in France for a nation that despised him at home. In 1966, Uncle J.T. initiated an Equal Employment Opportunity Act administrative complaint on behalf of himself and others similarly situated that challenged the District of Columbia's widespread employment discrimination against blacks in hiring and promotional practices. Taking this bold action unleashed pure hell against him as a black employee. In 1969, Uncle J.T., having exhausted his EEOC administrative remedies, filed a class action lawsuit alleging that the District of Columbia's unlawful employment and promotional practices violated his civil and constitutional rights, as well as those of the class of blacks he represented. In 1971, Uncle J.T. won his lawsuit after proving a pervasive pattern of racial discrimination against African-Americans in the District’s employment practices. However, the trial court declined to grant certain relief requested by Uncle J.T., including (a) an immediate promotion for himself and another nonwhite employee named Somera, the only two employees who had been denied promotions because of race and were still employees; (b) rescission of a specific promotion of a white employee; (c) disciplinary action against persons still employees who were found to have perpetrated the system of racial discrimination; and (d) an injunction against further acts of discrimination and retention of jurisdiction. Uncle J.T. appealed the trial court’s denial of the promotional relief for himself and Somera and denial of the requested injunctive relief. On December 29, 1972, Uncle J.T. won the requested equitable relief that had been denied to him and Somera by the trial court. Black federal employees in the District of Columbia were ecstatic. It was the first major employment discrimination victory for the plaintiffs' class in the District in the early 1970s. In making its ruling, the Court of Appeals stated: “Appellant Watkins, who has for six years waged an almost single-handed battle against racial discrimination in the Housing Division, deserves a clear response from the courts……Accordingly, …… [t]he District Court is directed to remand the question of the promotional status of employees Watkins and Somera to the Hearing Committee or other appropriate administrative forum. The court is also directed to issue an appropriate order enjoining the Housing Division from further acts of racial discrimination and ordering the Division to take steps necessary to ensure that the effects of past discrimination will be eliminated and that there will be no discrimination in the future, the order to provide that the court will retain jurisdiction to enforce its order.” After I graduated from the University of Alabama's law school in 1973 and passed the Alabama Bar exams several months later, I joined Uncle J.T. on the frontlines of the fight against racial discrimination in employment practices in the District of Columbia and other federal agencies in Washington. With Uncle J.T.’s help, I secured a nice office in a building at the corner of Albemarle St. and Wisconsin Avenue in the Georgetown area of Washington. I represented unionized federal government employees in Washington from 1974 until I was elected to the Montgomery, Alabama city council in 1979. Uncle J.T. continued to wage a passionate fight against racial discrimination within a number of federal agencies in the District of Columbia. His passion for the fight was exceeded only by his commitment to the cause of freedom and equality for all. On June 8, 1973, Uncle J.T. won another round of sweeping injunctive relief for the plaintiffs' class of black District of Columbia employees after the trial court described the government's massive resistance to its anti-discrimination orders as "unreasonable, obdurate obstinacy." By 1974, Uncle J.T. had achieved as much judicial relief as the courts would grant him and the class he represented. During the pendency of his last motion to enforce the prior court orders regarding the denial of a personal promotion to a GS-12 position, Uncle J.T. received a promotion to a GS-11 position, and later to a GS-12 job, before the Court of Appeals could issue a final ruling on his motion. With this favorable personnel action and years of accumulated backpay, Uncle J.T. shifted his focus to securing upward mobility for a host of other black employees by establishing an aggressive and well-funded litigation support network. Uncle J.T. died on November 3, 2005. He fought for equal opportunity until the last breath of life left his body. Uncle J.T. died on his feet fighting like a real soldier. He never got on his knees and surrendered his manhood to anybody. Uncle J.T.'s lovely wife Johnnie S. Watkins, who died on July 13, 2020, always had his back. As a federal employee herself, Aunt Johnnie championed every battle in Uncle J.T.'s fight for freedom, dignity, and equality for black Americans. Uncle J.T.’s two children, John Adam Watkins, II, and Monte Jean Watkins Boone, are my first cousins. Today, they carry on Uncle J.T.'s legacy of freedom and equality every day, in their own way. As for me, I am so blessed that every man I have known in the Watkins family has been a committed warrior for civil, constitutional, and human rights. They never made excuses for why they could not or would not fight for the right of African-Americans to participate as full citizens in American society. Every one of these men was prepared to sacrifice his life for the modern-day civil rights movement. Uncle J.T., my father, both of my grandfathers, all of my uncles, and my brothers never left the civil rights battlefield. Likewise, they never shirked from their duty to protect and advance civil and constitutional rights for African-Americans, and neither will I. One of the greatest blessings I have experienced in life was the opportunity to fight on the frontlines of the battles for the fair administration of justice and equal employment opportunity in Washington, D.C. with Uncle J.T., from 1974 to 1978. This is why I am, today, saluting Uncle J.T. in death, as I did in life.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 27, 2023 An Editorial Opinion Thanks to outstanding reporting yesterday from Politico, we now know what was in Hunter Biden’s Plea Agreement and Pretrial Diversion Agreement. During my 46-year legal career, I have seen hundreds of plea agreements and quite a few pretrial diversion agreements in federal criminal cases. However, Hunter Biden’s plea deal documents truly shocked me. They exemplified a level of favoritism and preferential treatment that I have never seen before. I am explaining these agreements in this article because no ordinary American citizen in a similarly situated circumstance will ever get Hunter Biden's plea deal. Getting High Every 15 Minutes An exhibit to the Pretrial Diversion Agreement described Hunter Biden’s crack and powder cocaine drug addiction since 2016. At times, this addiction caused Hunter Biden to get high as often as every 15 minutes. Hunter Biden was hooked on crack and powder cocaine. He has been in and out of outpatient drug treatment facilities for years. Hunter Biden now claims that he got sober in May of 2019, and he has been sober since. However, there is no mention in the Statement of Facts accompanying the Plea Agreement that Hunter Biden has been regularly tested for cocaine use since 2019. Appropriate drug testing would have confirmed whether Biden is sober, or not (as of yesterday). Furthermore, there is no mention whatsoever of whether Hunter Biden was tested for and cleared of any drug abuse after powder cocaine was found in the White House during the 4th of July weekend. Hunter Biden was staying at the White House during this period of time. Finally, the Plea Agreement is completely silent on how the government corroborated Hunter Biden's self-asserted claim that he has been sober since 2019. Purchasing and Possessing a Firearm While Using Crack Cocaine On October 12, 2018, Hunter Biden purchased a firearm and ammunition that federal law prohibited him from possessing. Biden lied about his drug use on the ATF form that was required for his purchase of the firearm from a licensed gun dealer. During the time Hunter Biden purchased and possessed the firearm, he also purchased and smoked crack cocaine on regular basis. Hunter Biden also brandished the firearm in the presence of those who engaged in his orgy of illegal drug use, prostitution, and sexual debauchery. On October 23, 2018, Hunter Biden's firearm was located in his car, along with drug remnants and paraphernalia. The firearm was subsequently discarded in a trashcan outside a supermarket in Greenville, Delaware. It was later recovered by law enforcement. The Government Made End-Runs Around Various Felony Offenses Nowhere in his Plea Agreement was Hunter Biden required to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in an effort to identify, arrest, and prosecute the drug dealers and sex traffickers who facilitated Biden's violations of federal criminal laws. Furthermore, there is no mention of any contemplated obstruction of justice charge against Hunter Biden in connection with his act of discarding the firearm in a trashcan. In Section 15 of the Pretrial Diversion Agreement, the government agreed that it would NOT prosecute Hunter Biden for any of the uncharged criminal offenses encompassed within the broad scope of the Statement of Facts accompanying each agreement. As expected, the Statement of Facts attached to each agreement supports a host of potential criminal offenses against Hunter Biden, including many offenses that arise from his work for Ukrainian and Chinese foreign nationals. None of these potential offenses can be prosecuted, unless they are based upon Hunter Biden's future conduct. As such, Section 15 is the government’s gift to Hunter Biden of a platinum “get out of jail free card" for some pretty serious felonies against him based upon his past conduct (i.e., criminal conspiracy; working as an unregistered agent for foreign nationals who sought to influence U.S. government policies; additional income tax-related charges arising from Hunter Biden's previously undisclosed foreign sources of income; obstruction of justice for discarding the gun in the trashcan; etc.). Finally, despite Hunter Biden's wide range of felony offenses, the government agreed to recommend that the judge sentenced him to "probation." Epilogue Hunter Biden did not need a lawyer to negotiate his plea deal. The Department of Justice effectively served as Biden's lawyer with its end-runs around the litany of felony statutes that would have landed Hunter Biden in federal prison for 10 or more years. Hunter Biden's plea deal was the most egregious and aggressive “fix” of a federal criminal case I have seen in my entire legal career. This plea deal was an insult to the intelligence of the American people. It also dishonored the honest members of the federal law enforcement community. Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika stopped the “fix" in Hunter Biden's criminal case. Going forward, Judge Noreika must do everything within her power to protect and promote the fair administration of our federal criminal laws in Delaware because the Department of Justice has abandoned this important function for the sole privilege of kissing Hunter Biden’s ass.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 26, 2023 Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) tried to “fix” Hunter Biden criminal case with a crooked plea deal. Today, this plea deal blew up in a Delaware federal court. U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, the judge assigned to hear the plea deal in Hunter Biden’s case, rejected an approval of this stinking and highly suspect plea deal. In disapproving the plea deal, Judge Noreika directed her focus on two aspects of the deal: (a) the DOJ’s grant of blanket immunity to Hunter Biden on future tax charges and (b) the DOJ's admission of Hunter Biden into the federal pretrial diversion program, even though he faced a gun possession charge. In June, Hunter Biden was charged with two misdemeanor tax charges and a “firearms offense – namely, one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(3) and 924 (a)(2) (2018).” Section 922 is a felony “weapons” offense, as defined in the annual DOJ statistical reports. The mandatory minimum sentence for this offense is 5 years. Prosecutors attempted to help Hunter Biden avoid the 5-year minimum sentence by allowing him to enter into a pretrial diversion program. According to the DOJ reports from 2001 to 2021, none of the 185,082 “weapons” cases prosecuted during this 20-year period was referred by DOJ to a pretrial diversion program. Hunter Biden is the first and only federal offender has enjoyed this kind of preferential treatment in a firearms case. Hunter Biden also failed to declare his millions of dollars in income from Ukrainian and Chinese businesses on his federal tax return. His conduct in this regard constitutes one or more felony offenses of income tax evasion. The DOJ tried to “fix” Hunter Biden’s tax evasion crime by dragging out its criminal investigation into Biden's undeclared millions of dollars in income until the statute of limitations runs out on this offense. Judge Noreika did not buy any aspect of the DOJ's crooked scheme to save Hunter Biden from going to prison. The plea deal is now dead. Claims by the White House, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland that Hunter Biden has treated like all drug-using, federal firearms possessing, and tax evading federal offenders are complete and utter "bullshit." Hunter Biden’s criminal case was “fixed” because he is President Joe Biden’s son. America's crack cocaine-smoking, "dope-head" First Son is a beneficiary of the most corrupt Department of Justice in modern history. We thank God that Judge Maryellen Noreika is not a crook like Merrick Garland and the other Department of Justice officials who approved the Hunter Biden “sweetheart” deal.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on July 25, 2023 Scourged back of Union Army Sgt. Peter Gordon, a runaway American slave of African descent. Today’s Republican politicians want to re-image the history of slavery in America to make it a benign chapter in our history as a nation. Led by Florida governor Ron DeSantis, many Republican-controlled state legislatures, governors, and state boards of education are now proclaiming that slavery, which was legal in America from 1612 to 1865, was beneficial for the enslaved people of African descent. A review of my old Property and Constitutional Law books as a student at the University of Alabama’s law school (1970 to 1973) provides a different, accurate, and documented legal history and description of American slavery. Here are the unvarnished legal tenants of America’s enslavement of Africans, as presented in my law books: Slaves were brought to America packed in the hell holes of slave ships. Those who survived the voyage were forced into the most brutal living and working conditions imaginable. Slaves were deemed to be “chattel property,” not human beings. Slaves were bought, sold, traded, willed to relatives and third-party, mortgaged, and insured, all for the benefit of their owners. Slaves had no rights that white men were bound to respect. Dred Scott v. Sandford (U.S. Supreme Court, 1857). Slaves worked six days per week from sun-up to sun-down, with bullwhips used to enforce the work ethic imposed by their owners. Slave women were raped by the masters, with impunity. A child born from the rape of an enslaved woman by her master, or an overseer, was a slave for life. All slaves were subject to slave codes enacted by various colonial authorities and state legislatures in the North and South. The slave codes eliminated the legal rights of enslaved people. Nearly all of these codes provided that: a. Slaves could not be away from their owner's premises without permission. b. Slaves could not assemble unless a white person was present. c. Slaves could not own firearms. d. Slaves could not be taught to read or write. e. Slaves could not transmit or possess “inflammatory” literature. f. A slave could be killed by his/her master, who would face no criminal charge. The 1852 Alabama Slave Code made the voluntary manslaughter of a white person by a slave a capital offense. Slaveowners used a variety of punishments to discipline and dominate slaves. Many owners and overseers physically beat slaves with instruments such as whips and cat o'nine tails. In 1723, the Virginia colony enacted laws to limit the increase of free negroes to those who were born into that class or manumitted by special acts of the legislature. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850. The Act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The Act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves. The Massachusetts legislature passed the 1855 law with the defiant title, "An Act to Protect the Rights and Liberties of the People of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." A key provision was the section calling for the removal of any state official who aided in the return of runaway slaves. In the 1664 Maryland Code, the third section of enacted law focused on marriage and penalized a free-born European woman who married a slave, declaring she would forfeit her freedom and become indentured to her husband's owner for the period of time the husband lived and that any children born of that marriage would be enslaved. Nothing about American slavery was desirable or beneficial from the standpoint of the enslaved people. Ron DeSantis and his political cohorts who peddle this new, unfounded, benign version of slavery are nothing more than disgusting racists.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on August 31, 2022 An Editorial Opinion In my August 9, 2022 article titled, "Donald Trump's Hold on GOP Politics," I predicted that Donald Trump will become the Republican nominee for president in 2024. I also reprinted my August 2, 2015 article titled, "Donald Trump's Newest Art of the Deal -- Winning the American Presidency," in which I became the first American journalist to openly predict Trump's 2016 election success. My prediction was made a mere three weeks after Trump announced his candidacy. I was also the first journalist to predict Trump's defeat in 2020. Trump's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic caused his defeat. The election was not stolen from Trump. He lost by more than 7 million legally cast votes. Trump's GOP Wyoming Congressional Representative Lez Cheney's defeat earlier this month ended the era of conservative Republican politics and ushered in the era of Donald Trump's authoritarian rule of the GOP. Trump has ascended to "deity" status within the Republican Party. The GOP is no longer a political party; it is a personality cult that worships Trump. As evidenced by the annual CPAC convention in July in Dallas, the GOP has taken an extreme turn to the far-right. The Party has even aligned itself with Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban, who rails against legal abortion, illegal immigration, the free press, and race-mixing societies. Orban, Trump, FOX talk show hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and their sycophants turned the CPAC convention into a political orgy of right-wing ideology. In June, five Trump cult worshippers on the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, thereby ending a woman's recognized constitutional right to reproductive freedom in the United States. Decades before, right-wing extremists in the Republican Party defeated the ratification of Equal Rights Amendment for women in state legislatures. This defeat effectively denied women equal rights under the U.S. Constitution. In January, GOP members of the U.S. Senate succeeded in killing legislation that would have restored vitality to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Trump and his cult members perpetually rail against non-white migrants seeking to enter the United States at the U.S.-Mexican border, while enthusiastically welcoming immigrants from European countries. During his presidency, Trump resurrected the Dwight Eisenhower's 1954 "Operation Wetback" program at the southern border. Abroad, Donald Trump has strengthened his ties with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, whose record on human rights is abysmal. This is the same regime that murdered and dismembered Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Before leaving office in January 2021, Trump's son-in-law, Jarret Kushner, was dispatched to Saudi Arabia to snag $2 billion for the Trump family businesses from a Saudi investment fund controlled by the Royal Family. In 2022, Trump partnered with the Royal Family to host the Royal Family's LIV professional golf tournaments at his golf resorts in New Jersey and Florida. As a measure of his respect and admiration for leaders with authoritarian tendencies, Donald Trump avoided condemning his friend Vladimir Putin for Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Likewise, Trump never chastised President Xi Pinping for China's harassment of Taiwan in the aftermath of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the island nation last month. The Department of Justice's Criminal Investigation Poses No Threat to Trump On August 8, 2022, FBI agents in Florida raided Trump's home at Mar-a-Lago and seized 11 sets of highly-classified national security and defense documents from the home. The raid signaled that Trump is the "subject" or "target" of a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) criminal investigation. After the raid, federal law enforcement officials around the nation were subjected to increasing threats of bodily harm and/or death. Those who were threatened included: (a) the FBI agents and the magistrate judge involved in the issuance of the search warrant for Donald Trump's home at Mar-a-Lago, (b) Attorney General Merrick Garland, who personally approved the search warrant, (c) FBI Director Christopher Wray, and (d) FBI field offices across America. The only national GOP leader who publicly condemned these threats of violence in clear and unequivocal language is former Vice President Mike Pence. Of course, Pence is the man Trump's "patriots" wanted to hang at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Republican members of Congress and aspiring GOP candidates across the country continue to fan the flames of extreme hostility towards the federal law enforcement establishment with their non-stop incendiary rhetoric. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has promised "riots in the streets" if Trump is charged with any crime. Trump is Implementing the Strategy of "Trial by Media" To defeat Merrick Garland and any criminal charges contemplated by him, Donald Trump has borrowed my playbook from the indictment and trial of former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy in his $2.7 billion Sarbanes-Oxley accounting fraud case. This playbook, which was deployed from 2003 to 2005, outlines a practical guide to what is now called, "Trial by Media." Flawless implementation of this strategy allowed my defense team to defeat all 85 federal felony charges against Scrushy, who was facing up to 650 years in prison. Defeating 85 felony charges in a single-defendant case is a record in American jurisprudence that stands today. This innovative strategy is featured in a May 2020 Netflix documentary titled, "Trial by Media:" Episode 4, "King Richard." Trump should fair well with this playbook because he has a hundred times the media firepower that was available to me in winning the Scrushy case. Trump also enjoys the solid backing of global media icon Keith Rupert Murdock, FOX News, every major FOX channel talk show host, the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, and thousands of Republican-oriented podcasts and social media sites. Trump's media surrogates are bashing the FBI and DOJ all day, every day. Trump and his media allies are effectively "poisoning the well" from which potential trial jurors may be drawn. DOJ prosecutors will need 12 trial jurors to unanimously agree to convict Trump on any charge. Trump only needs one juror to stop a conviction. Without a felony conviction, Trump is qualified to run for president in 2024. If Donald Trump is indicted on any federal charges in Florida, I predict a "jury nullification" of the charges because there is absolutely nothing federal prosecutors can do to counter the massive credibility damage that Trump, his political friends, and media allies have inflicted upon the FBI, DOJ, and Merrick Garland in this "Red"state. Whoever is assigned to preside over the trial of Trump's case will likely experience non-stop death threats from violent extremists who are loyal to Trump. The threats will likely be directed to courthouse staff members and family members, as well. In the event Trump is indicted by DOJ, the federal judge assigned his case will likely fold like cheap tent in a windstorm. The folding began this month when the judge who signed the search warrant broke with longstanding caselaw in criminal cases and ordered the DOJ to produce a redacted version of the search warrant to Trump. This folding continued when Florida federal judge Aileen Cannon (a Trump appointee) informed the DOJ that she was inclined to appoint a special master to review the documents seized by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022. Judge Cannon never explained why she had jurisdiction to inject herself into the search warrant dispute, rather than referring Trump's request for a special master to the magistrate who authorized the FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago. The last judge to preside over a criminal trial that implicated criminal conduct on the part of the president of the United States was Judge John Sirica in Washington, D.C. Sirica's bravery and firmness during the trial of the Watergate defendants forced a corrupt Richard Nixon to resign the presidency in 1973. There are no more judges like John Sirica on the federal bench today. I cannot think of a single federal judge today who is willing to subject his/her life and the lives of his/her family members to a "Fatwa" issued by Trump's right-wing extremists for presiding over a trial in what Donald Trump claims is a "rigged" criminal justice system. The trial, if it occurs, would be the biggest spectacle since the trial of Jesus Christ. Trump's "patriots" are overwhelmingly white, male, frustrated, angry, radicalized, and well-armed. They have posted on social media that it is time to take matters into their own hands. The January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington showed us that Trump's "patriots" are capable of engaging in violence when they are incited by the former president and other Republican demagogues. From what we have seen to date, Trump's base of voters did not care about the violence on January 6th. Their only regret is that the insurrection did not succeed in keeping Trump in the presidency. Trump Benefits from a Wave of GOP Voter Suppression Mechanisms for the 2024 Elections Since his defeat in 2020, Donald Trump has been able to remake the Republican Party in his own image. He has succeeded in getting Republican-controlled states to install the mechanisms necessary to ensure GOP rule in 2024. Today, a majority of the 50 states have enacted voter suppression laws. Furthermore, voter suppression laws are protected by Trump's Supreme Court. Additionally, in a majority of the 6-8 swing states that decided the 2020 election, Trump-backed candidates are poised to become their state's next secretary of state and/or governor. These loyalists are empowered to establish state election rules, purge voter rolls, decide election contests, reject legally cast votes, and decertify election results they do not like. The GOP has also successfully placed activist election deniers in thousands of poll worker positions across American. All of the GOP's voter suppression mechanisms are tried and tested tools for imposing minority rule in America. They are modern-day adaptations of the proven voter suppression mechanisms that flourished in Confederate states from 1870 to 1965. Epilogue I am a longtime political Independent and student of history and political science. I do not support Donald Trump or Joe Biden for president. Both men are deeply flawed. However, I am a realist who always measures the winds of political change in America. My predictions are based upon my objective measurement of these changes. Barring divine intervention from God, Donald Trump will become the next president of the United States. Trump will go down in history as the 45th and 47th President of the United States. When he assumes office in January of 2025, Trump is going to mete out severe political and criminal justice to those who participated in the January 6th Congressional Committee hearings, the current DOJ criminal probe, the New York state attorney general's civil probe, and the Georgia criminal probe. Trump's ruthlessness will match that of his wannabe peers and chosen presidential role models, Vladimir Putin and Xi Pinping. Trump will also pardon all of the individuals who were convicted of crimes arising from their organization of and participation in the January 6th insurrection. Today, neither Joe Biden, nor Kamala Harris, can defeat Donald Trump in 2024. However, if I were advising the Democratic Party on its presidential nominee in 2024, I strongly would encourage the Party to get rid of Biden and choose someone else. The American public has lost confidence in Biden and Harris. If the 2024 election is a rematch between Trump and Biden or a match between Trump and Harris, Trump will win by a landslide. PHOTO: Former President Donald Trump will run for president again in 2024. Barring divine intervention, Trump will win the presidency again. PHOTO: President Joe Biden. The American public has lost confidence in Biden's leadership abilities. Nearly 80% of the country thinks America is headed in the wrong direction on the economy and on international affairs. Biden is weak, tired, and lost in the presidency. All articles are shared on Facebook and Twitter. If you enjoyed this article, please click on these links to follow Donald Watkins: https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins https://twitter.com/donaldvwatkins

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 22, 2023 Dake Rechsand CEO Chandra Dake is featured in the June 2023 edition of the prestigious Middle East Construction News (www.MEConstructionNews.com). Chandra Dake is one of the leading global authorities on water security and desert farming. His article is titled, “Advocating for Nature-Based Solutions to Water Securities" (at pages 20-25). The article is fascinating, inspirational, and very enlightening. Chandra Dake is also the Executive Chairperson and Group CEO of the Dake Group - a community empowerment driven, environmentally friendly, technology focused organization. The Dake Group’s key focus areas include Agriculture, Energy, Commodity Trading, Informational Technologies (IT), and Sustainable Technologies. Based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the Dake Group is an official member of Forbes’ Business Council. Dake Rechsand is the global leader in developing and deploying products on a commercial scale that address many of the devastating problems associated with desertification in the United States, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, India, and China. As reported in a January 3, 2023, article, Ralph D. Malone (the owner and manager of Horizons, LLC), John F. Carter (the founder and CEO of CarterBrothers), and I (as CEO of Masada Resource Group, LLC) teamed with the Dake Group to market and promote Dake Rechsand’s desert framing technology and products in the four desert regions of the U.S. Desert farming is an economical option for entrepreneurs and Native American Tribes located in the Southwestern United States. Desert farming also bolsters food security at affordable prices and restores degraded lands. Additional information about desert farming is located on Dake Rechsand’s Facebook page. We are proud to be associated with Chandra Dake, the Dake Group, and Dake Rechsand in the exciting world of paradigm-shifting international businesses. Congratulations, Chandra Dake!

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on June 23, 2022 SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORT --- When U.S. District Court Judge Abdul K. Kallon announced his unexpected resignation from his lifetime appointment as a federal judge in Birmingham, Alabama (USA) on April 6, 2022, the public was shocked. Kallon's announcement came as federal investigators are reportedly closing in on obstruction of justice charges arising from the government's handling of the North Birmingham Bribery Case. Kallon, who was born in the West African country of Sierra Leone, said he resigned because his wife took a position with an organization in another state. The truth regarding Kallon's surprise departure from the federal bench is much deeper and far more complicated than this explanation. It All Started With the Railroading of Birmingham Businessman Jonathan W. Dunning Abdul Kallon was an attorney with the prestigious Birmingham-based law firm of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, LLP (Bradley Arant) from 1994 until President Barack Obama nominated him to the federal bench on July 31, 2009. Kallon and his law firm provided legal services to a Birmingham-based non-profit healthcare organization headed by Birmingham businessman Jonathan W. Dunning that became the focus of a federal criminal investigation in 2013. Judge Kallon and Jonathan Dunning were also very close personal friends. Kallon was a bachelor when he and Dunning met and developed a professional and personal relationship. Dunning was married with children, but he also had a longtime relationship (and two children) with a woman outside of his marriage. Kallon and Dunning engaged in social activities, some of which could have been extremely embarrassing and compromising for a sitting federal judge if they had been disclosed publicly or discovered by local political operatives who trafficked in exploiting the "dirty secrets" of public officials. In 2013, Judge Kallon became entangled in a federal criminal investigation of Jonathan Dunning and his companies. Dunning was the former CEO of Birmingham Health Care (BHC) and Central Alabama Comprehensive Health (CACH), both of which are non-profit organizations. Dunning also owned and operated several "for-profit" companies, including Synergy Real Estate Holdings (SREH), Synergy Medical Solutions, Legacy Consulting Group, Drake Hogan Pharmacy, and Dunning Partners. Dunning Partners operated La Dolce Vita and Villagio Italian restaurants in Hoover. In 2014, a federal grand jury in Birmingham indicted Dunning on 112 counts of conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. Federal prosecutors claimed that Dunning diverted $14 million in federal grant money from BHC and CACH over a period of seven years and used this money to support his private businesses and personal lifestyle. Dunning's Synergy Medical Solutions provided a wide range of professional services and products to BHC and CACH (e.g., patient billing, healthcare management services, medical supplies, etc.), all with the knowledge and approval of the board of directors of BHC and CACH, Kallon, and Bradley Arant. In 2006, BHC purchased the Medical Plaza building in Birmingham for $2.6 million and used it for BHC's headquarters. In 2007, Dunning formed SREH, which purchased the building from BHC on February 28, 2008 for $2.8 million. Upon the closing of the purchase, BHC leased-back space in the building as a tenant. In support of their fraud charges, prosecutors claimed that Dunning secured an internal appraisal that was prepared for SREH at this time that valued the building at $6 million. On February 25, 2008, Kallon and Bradley Arant presented SREH's initial proposal to purchase the building for $2.5 million in a meeting of BHC's board of directors. BHC rejected the $2.5 million offer and counter-offered to sell the building for $3.2 million, which was the value reflected in BHC's internal appraisal of the property. On February 28, 2008, board members voted unanimously to accept Dunning's final offer of $2.8 million. Prior to the vote, BHC board treasurer Terry Burney noted that Dunning's offer was "90% of the appraised [$3.2 million] value for the building and represented a fair and reasonable offer." The Board's action was based upon "the current softening of the real estate market, the decreasing values of real estate, and the fact that the building sat on the market for more than five years prior to BHC's purchase of the building ... the Agency's debt would be greatly reduced making it more viable ... cash flow would be increased due to lower facility and utility cost." After the sale closed, commercial real estate values across America tanked due to the Great Recession of 2008. Throughout it all, Kallon and Bradley Arant advised BHC that Dunning's purchase of the building and lease-back arrangement were legal. On August 1, 2008, Kallon invested $56,000 in SREH for a 2% equity interest in Dunning's office building. The purchase price reflected the $2.8 million valuation for the building. After Kallon became an equity partner in SREH, he and Bradley Arant continued to represent BHC in its dealings with Dunning's private companies. It is unclear whether Kallon disclosed his equity interest in the building to BHC in 2008. However, Kallon did list the money he received from SREH on his annual judicial disclosure forms. Dunning had no legal duty to make this disclosure to BHC. Judge Kallon shared in the $25,000 per month rental payments Dunning collected from BHC, as evidenced by IRS Form 1099s and K-1s that SREH issued to him from 2008 to 2011. In November 2008, Dunning resigned from BHC to operate his private companies on a full-time basis. Dunning also assumed control of the Birmingham Financial Federal Credit Union (BFFCU), which he ran from August 2008 to October 2011. On October 18, 2012, in response to a media inquiry regarding Dunning's purchase of BHC's office building, Kallon affirmed that Dunning's acquisition of the property was perfectly legal. By this time, Kallon was a sitting federal judge and Dunning's business partner in the building. Even though Abdul Kallon and Bradley Arant represented BHC's legal interests in the purchase transaction and other business relationships involving Dunning, neither Kallon, nor Bradley Arant, were charged as co-conspirators in Dunning's case. After Judge Kallon and Bradley Arant became aware of the "secret" grand jury probe of the BHC-Synergy business deals in 2013, Kallon sold his interest in the office building back to Dunning at a "significant loss." After his 2014 Indictment, Dunning's case was set for trial in May 2016, with visiting U.S. District judge Barbara Rothstein presiding over the trial. On February 11, 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Kallon to a vacant judgeship on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. While Dunning was awaiting trial, Judge Kallon was able to use his status as (a) a sitting federal judge, (b) a popular courthouse "insider," and (c) presidential nominee to a Court of Appeals judgeship to finagle a favorable court ruling from Judge Rothstein that severely limited the Dunning defense team's trial evidence of Kallon's direct involvement in the business conduct and transactions that prosecutors identified as fraudulent. Judge Kallon was represented in the evidence limitation hearing by retired U.S. District Court Judge U. W. Clemon, the man whom Kallon replaced on the bench. Following a trial in May and June 2016, Dunning was found guilty on 98 of these 112 counts. In October 2016, Judge Rothstein sentenced Dunning to 18 years in prison and ordered him to pay restitution of $13.5 million. The North Birmingham Bribery Investigation and Trial In 2018, Judge Kallon presided over the North Birmingham Bribery Trial involving charges that Balch & Bingham law partner Joel I. Gilbert and Drummond Company executive David Roberson bribed state Rep. Oliver Robinson. A fourth defendant was indicted in the case, but charges against him were dismissed during the trial. Oliver Robinson pled guilty early in the case and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors to develop evidence against other co-conspirators. The purpose of the bribery scheme was to defeat an initiative by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to designate a predominantly black neighborhood in North Birmingham as a Superfund clean-up site. This designation would have forced the industrial polluters who poisoned the air, ground, and water in this neighborhood to clean it up at their corporate expense. The polluters are longtime business and political allies of Alabama Power Company. The criminal investigation that led to charges in this case was supervised by Jay Town, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, and Town's handpicked First Assistant U.S. Attorney, Lloyd Peeples. Both men have checkered backgrounds. During the trial, Judge Kallon reportedly instructed defense counsel to avoid any mention of Alabama Power and its role in the bribery scheme without first clearing it with Alabama Power's criminal attorney. This instruction was bizarre, in light of the fact that Alabama Power provided $30,000 of the $360,000 that was used to bribe Oliver Robinson. Jay Town refused to charge Alabama Power and/or any of its top executives as co-conspirators in the case, despite evidence of their willing participation in the bribery and money laundering scheme. Drummond's general counsel, Blake Andrews, and at least 21 of Balch and Bingham's attorneys also played a key role in the bribery scheme. Yet, Town refused to charge these individuals as co-conspirators in the case. Balch & Bingham is Alabama Power's main law firm. Alabama Power's CEO, Mark Crosswhite, is an ex-partner in Balch & Bingham. Jay Town actively steered the investigation clear of Alabama Power and Crosswhite. Drummond is Alabama Power's longtime coal supplier. Evidence in the case showed that Drummond CEO Mike Tracy personally approved payments to two ethically-conflicted consultants who lobbied the Alabama Department of Environmental Management to officially oppose the EPA cleanup initiative in North Birmingham. Yet, Jay Town refused to charge Drummond Company and/or Mike Tracy as co-conspirators in the case. In 2018, Jay Town met with Mark Crosswhite at an obscure lounge where the two men chugged down cocktails amid mounting evidence that Alabama Power, Drummond, and Balch & Bingham, as well as their top executives, may have knowingly and willingly participated in the scheme to bribe Oliver Robinson. After his meeting with Crosswhite, Jay Town decided to (a) portray Roberson and Gilbert as "lone wolves" in the bribery scheme and (b) close the investigation, over the objections of career law enforcement officials. Abrupt Resignations, an Early Retirement, and a Suicide After a surprise photograph surfaced in 2020 of Jay Town having cocktails with Mark Crosswhite in a festive celebration of Town's agreement to shield Alabama Power, Crosswhite, Drummond, Mike Tracy, Balch & Bingham, Blake Andrews, and 21 of Balch & Bingham lawyers from criminal charges in the case, Town abruptly resigned as U.S. Attorney. U.S. Senator Richard Shelby arranged a high paying general counsel's job for Town with Huntsville-based defense contractor Gray Analytics. Shelby has been the longtime beneficiary of major campaign contributions from Alabama Power, Drummond, Balch & Bingham, and their network of corporate executives, partners, and political friends. Mike Tracy took a sudden and unexpected early "retirement" from the Drummond Company, effective on October 31, 2019. In April 2022, Balch & Bingham attorney William Dice Lineberry sadly committed suicide. Mr. Lineberry helped set up the money laundering entity that was used to: (a) receive corporate donations from Alabama Power and other willing participants in the bribery scheme and (b) funnel over $360,000 in bribery money to Rep. Oliver Robinson. On April 7, 2022, two assistant U.S. Attorneys with reported connections to the Office's investigation of the North Birmingham Bribery Scheme reportedly resigned. Judge Kallon's resignation becomes effective on August 31, 2022. In response to written complaints by Mr. Kevin Forbes and Consejo de Latinos Unidos in 2019 and 2020 that detailed credible allegations of public corruption and obstruction of justice by Jay Town, the U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into Town's highly-suspect handling of the North Birmingham Bribery Case. The stench from the railroading of Jonathan Dunning and Jay Town's prosecutorial pardons for Alabama Power, Mark Crosswhite, Drummond, Mike Tracy, Blake Andrews, Balch and Bingham and 21 of the Balch and Bingham lawyers in the North Birmingham Bribery Case is unbearable. All articles are shared on Facebook and Twitter. If you enjoyed this article, please click on these links to follow Donald Watkins: https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins https://twitter.com/donaldvwatkins

A Special Investigative Report By: Donald Watkins Copyrighted and Published on 1/15/21 Overzealous prosecutors from the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Organized Crime and Gang Section in Washington, D.C. together with a prosecution team from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta, may have created a legal blunder in their 20-count racketeering case against a group of alleged Georgia-based members of “The Bloods” – a notorious street gang formed in the 1970s – that may end up freeing two of the top defendants in this Atlanta RICO case. This faux pas has surfaced in the pending criminal case of USA v. Mitchell, et al., U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta), Case No. 1:16-cr-00427-AT-JKL. The case began on December 14, 2016 as a low-key, 3-count indictment against Khajavius Mitchell. By October 12, 2017, the case had morphed into a first Superseding Indictment that alleged a 22-count, 61-page RICO conspiracy against Mitchell and 29 additional defendants who are alleged to be members of the Georgia-based “Nine Trey Gangster” (NTG) set of “The Bloods”. The 2017 Indictment accused the 30 defendants of operating an ongoing criminal enterprise that engaged in murder, robbery, extortion, drug trafficking, interstate travel in aid of racketeering, witness tampering and retaliation against witnesses. “Trial Attorney” Rebecca A Staton oversaw the RICO case from DOJ headquarters in Washington. Twenty-six of the 30 defendants were represented by public defenders and/or court appointed counsel. Four had retained counsel. Six days after the First Superseding Indictment was filed, prosecutors requested court authorization to provide discovery information and Brady/Jencks Act materials to the 30 defendants. Jencks Act materials are documents that are exculpatory in nature. The requested authorization was granted on the same day. This was followed by a Government data dump of discovery information gathered by the Atlanta prosecution team. Fourteen days after the October 12, 2017 Indictment, prosecutors filed a “Motion to Declare the Case Complex”. No defense attorneys opposed the motion. It was granted on December 5, 2017. “Complex Cases” are time-consuming, labor intensive, and require highly skilled legal representation. They also take years to adjudicate to completion. It is unclear from the record as to how many of the 30 defense counsel had prior experience in successfully defending RICO conspiracy defendants in judicially declared “Complex Cases” that involved an alleged nationwide racketeering enterprise like “The Bloods”. This is especially true for the 26 court-appointed defense counsel. It is well-known in legal circles that public defenders and court-appointed counsel rarely prepare for and/or participate in the trials of “Complex Cases”. Instead of preparing litigation defense plans and engaging in trial preparation, in these cases, public defenders and court-appointed counsel generally head down the road of guilty plea negotiations from the outset. This is exactly what happened in this case. The guilty pleas started with Tremaine Garrison on March 9, 2018 and continued until 15 of the 30 defendants had pleaded “guilty” by the time the Second Superseding Indictment (Doc 1158) was filed on February 19, 2020. As will be discussed in detail below, the “guilty” pleas occurred before the defendants received the full body of discovery information and Brady/Jencks Act materials to which they were entitled. Like the Jencks Act, a U.S. Supreme Court case commonly referred to as Brady, mandates that prosecutors provide the defendants all information and documents within their possession or control that are exculpatory in nature. State Prosecutors Pursued a Spinoff Case Against Defendant Gordan Evans While the First Superseding Indictment was pending, the Gwinnett County, Georgia District Attorney’s Office charged Gordon Evans, one of the 30 defendants in the 2017 Federal RICO case, with malice murder for the 2015 killing of NTG gang member Jeffrey Anderson, three counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, aggravated battery, and two counts of criminal street gang activities. Anderson was killed by Dossie Mann, who pleaded guilty to the murder in 2017, and Durell Lewis, who pleaded “not guilty” in 2017 and was awaiting trial. Lewis eventually pleaded guilty to the murder charge, as well. The October 12, 2017 federal indictment listed Jeffrey Anderson’s murder as a racketeering activity and alleged that Evans ordered Anderson killed from prison, where Evans was serving a 20-year sentence for armed robbery. The indictment also charged Evans with witness tampering and two counts of VICAR murder conspiracy. Following a two-week trial in August 2018, Evans was convicted on August 17th on the state court charges. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 20 additional years in prison to run consecutively to the life sentence. Did State Prosecutors Withhold Exculpatory Evidence Gathered by Federal Taskforce Agencies from Evans’ Defense Counsel? In the 2017 federal indictment and in his subsequent state court criminal trial, federal and state prosecutors portrayed Evans, a/k/a “QB” as the leader of the NTG set of “The Bloods” in Georgia. Evans had denied this charge in court pleadings. Gwinnett County’s D.A.’s office worked jointly with an FBI, DOJ, ATF, Atlanta U.S. Attorney’s Office, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security task force in developing and prosecuting its state case against Evans. It appears that Gwinnett County prosecutors may have withheld exculpatory evidence that was gathered and available to them from their federal taskforce partners from Evans’ defense counsel. This evidence was relevant to the criminal charges Evans faced, was material to his defense, and would likely have impacted the outcome of Evans’ state court trial in his favor. It further appears that federal prosecutors in Evans’ RICO case cherry-picked and limited the Brady/Jencks Act exculpatory material they would allow Gwinnett County prosecutors to provide Evans’ defense counsel. If this occurred, it was impermissible prosecutorial misconduct. The Second Superseding Federal Indictment On February 19, 2020 federal prosecutors in the USA v. Mitchell case filed a Second Superseding Indictment (Doc. 1158). This indictment listed Evans as the Number One defendant in the case. Patrick Caple, a/k/a “Zoe”, was listed as the Number Two defendant. Thirteen of the 30 defendants from the 2017 Indictment were also listed. The other 15 defendants had pleaded guilty by this time and were cooperating with prosecutors. The 2020 Indictment was couched in language that reads like a press release. It presents a DOJ narrative of nationwide gang activity by “The Bloods” and NTG. Prosecutors say this narrative is supported by witness testimony, text messages, receipts from money transfers, and audiotapes derived from wiretaps. Furthermore, the number of counts was reduced from 22 to 20. “Trial Attorney” Kristen S. Taylor replaced Rebecca Stanton in the DOJ oversight role. The alleged Bloods and NTG criminal enterprise, racketeering conspiracies, manner and means of the conspiracies, overt acts and other substantive allegations in the 2020 Indictment are essentially the same as those presented in the 2017 federal Indictment. Prosecutors alleged that “The Bloods” and NTG members operated and participated in an ongoing, organized, gang related enterprise that was nationwide in scope, from 2012 through February 19, 2020. Specifically, the 2020 Indictment establishes that the DOJ is actively pursuing a criminal case against “The Bloods”, the “United Blood Nation (UBN)”, NTG’s “Godfather”, and UBN’s national council in multiple federal jurisdictions. NTG’s “Godfather” has national leadership over all NTG lines and branches and authority over UBN lines as a member of the UBN national council, according to the Indictment. “Ultimate authority for gang decisions is still maintained in New York and the New York prison system…” states the Indictment. Did Federal Prosecutors Hoodwink the RICO Defendants on Discovery Information and Brady/Jencks Act Materials Based upon the language in the Indictment, DOJ has multiple criminal investigations ongoing into UBN and NTG gang-related activities. These investigations are developed by prosecution teams in several of the 94 federal judicial districts. These investigations are supervised by the DOJ in Washington. Federal prosecutors in the Atlanta RICO case provided the defendants with the normal discovery information and Brady/Jencks Act materials – FBI 302 forms, witness statements, grand jury testimony of likely witnesses, audiotapes, text messages, photos of weapons, and other tangible items of evidence that were within the possession of the Atlanta-based prosecution team. It appears that federal prosecutors have not provided the Atlanta RICO defendants the full body of evidence gathered by all federal prosecution teams investigating “The Bloods”, UBN, NTG, its “Godfather”, and members of the UBN national council regarding the nationwide criminal enterprise referenced in the Indictment. Pages 2-10 of the 2020 Indictment allege sweeping allegations with respect to “The Bloods” organizational structure, operational rules, membership induction and training, and nationwide gang activities. Paragraph 1 of the “Overt Acts” alleges that Alan Hall, a/k/a “Krook” or “Strong”, was a “High 020” in the NTG. A “High 020” is a “regional/state level leader with national authority over a specific (NTG) line” like the Atlanta RICO defendants. The Indictment places the Atlanta defendants in the middle of an ongoing national criminal enterprise purportedly controlled and operated by NTG’s “Godfather” and UBN’s national council. Yet, federal prosecutors reportedly limited the discovery documents and Brady/Jencks Act materials to the Georgia-based “Overt Acts”, as specified in the 2017 and 2020 Indictments. Without access to all of the discovery information and Brady/Jencks Act materials in the possession and control of each and every DOJ prosecution team investigating “The Bloods”, UBN, NTG, its “Godfather”, and members of UBN’s national council, it is not possible for the Atlanta RICO defendants to know what information in those investigatory files is exculpatory in nature and actually benefits these defendants. Likewise, it is not possible for the defendants to know whether exculpatory material from all DOJ prosecution teams investigating “The Bloods” and its affiliate gangs was presented to the federal grand juries that approved the 2017 and 2020 Indictments, as mandated by the U.S. Attorneys Manual. It further appears that the defendants who pleaded guilty in this RICO case did so without ever obtaining and/or reviewing the full body of discovery information and Brady/Jencks Act materials to which they were entitled. The RICO Case Against Patrick Caple May Be Compromised by Brady/Jencks Act Materials The Government’s case against Patrick Caple demonstrates why a defendant’s access to the full body of discovery information and Brady/Jencks Act material is critical. Prosecutors have portrayed Caple as a high-level NTG leader in the 2012 to 2020 racketeering enterprise. Caple has been in prison for the last 27 years. He has been in federal custody at the USP in Atlanta since his 2017 Indictment. Caple is accused of participating in a RICO conspiracy while he has been imprisoned. He has denied the RICO charges against him. Prosecutors say the case against Caple is based upon a) witness testimony from defendants who pled guilty and several unindicted “co-conspirators”, b) PayPal records made by Asia Ballard on behalf of Caple, c) certain Western Union records, and d) audiotapes and text messages between Caple and Joseph Riley on November 4 and 5, 2016. In essence, the Government’s case is a reconstruction of past events by tainted witnesses who have a “dog in this fight”. The audiotapes and money transfer records are susceptible to multiple interpretations when additional contextual information is provided. Finally, the principal government witness –Jermaine Dane Lawrence – is dripping with self-professed crimes for which he has never been charged. In contrast, internal law enforcement records compiled from 2012 to 2020 by the DOJ’s Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the Georgia Department of Corrections, directly and credibly refute the Indictment’s portrayal of Caple. Based upon GDC’s objectively determined risk assessment scores and its inmate custody level scores, Patrick Caple is and has been a model inmate from 2012 to 2020. The records were compiled by GDC employees who had no “dog in the fight”. As opposed to the gangster portrayed in the Indictment, BOP’s records state that “Mr. Caple has been a major asset to the daily institutional operations at [the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta]”, where he has been since 2017. The DOJ records also state that “Mr. Caple wasted no time to stand out from the other inmates in a positive manner… Mr. Caple assists with maintaining a safe environment… Mr Caple is very respectful… and is a great example for other inmates to follow…”. Again, BOP personnel observed Caple’s conduct for three years of the alleged racketeering period. These DOJ and GDC records would be deemed Brady/Jencks Act materials. Is Patrick Caple a high-ranking racketeer, or is he the model inmate who is a “major asset” to USP Atlanta’s operations, who “assists the prison with maintaining a safe environment”, and who is “very respectful"? BOP records say Caple is the model inmate. Were these GDC and BOP exculpatory records presented to the grand jury that returned the 2020 Indictment? Probably not. Are the GDC and BOP records the best and most credible evidence of Caple’s conduct during the 2012 to 2020 time period specified for the alleged RICO conspiracy? Yes. Epilogue It is probably too late for Gwinnett County prosecutors to correct their apparent blunder in Gordon Evans’ 2018 state court criminal case. Upon the filing of a timely motion to vacate his conviction based upon apparent prosecutorial misconduct, Evans would be entitled to a new trial in his case. In the pending Atlanta RICO case, those defendants who have already pleaded guilty have waived their right to challenge the impermissibly limited production of discovery information and Brady/Jencks Act materials. Their only recourse would be a civil malpractice case against their defense counsel. This may be particularly true with respect to defense attorneys who advised their clients to plead guilty and who had no prior experience in judicially declared “Complex Criminal Cases”. For defendants like Patrick Caple, who are proceeding to trial on the 2020 Indictment, their defense counsel are expected to aggressively pursue the acquisition of discovery information and Brady/Jencks Act materials from each and every DOJ prosecution team that has or is investigating “The Bloods”, UBN, NTG, its “Godfather”, and UBN’s national council, from 2012 to 2020, regardless as to which of the 94 U.S. Attorney’s Offices are involved. They believe this is a fundamental due process right that should never be denied by prosecutors or fumbled by defense counsel. The trial of the Atlanta RICO case is scheduled for March 2021. We will keep the public informed on major developments in the case. [Editor’s Note: Mr. Watkins is a well-recognized investigative journalist who has decades of experience in trying complex civil and criminal cases. He was the “lead defense attorney” in the 2005 landmark $2.7 billion Sarbanes-Oxley accounting fraud case against former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy. In 2003, Scrushy was indicted on 85 felony counts and faced 650 years in prison. By virtue of extensive pretrial motions and a six-month trial in 2005, Scrushy defeated all 85 counts. In July 2005, Fortune magazine featured Watkins in an article titled, “Donald Watkins: The Man Who Saved Richard Scrushy”. In May 2020, Netflix featured Watkins’ work in the Scrushy case in the documentary series, “Trial by Media; Episode #4, “King Richard”. ] All articles are shared on Facebook and Twitter. If you would like to follow Donald Watkins, please click on these links and hit the follow button: https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins https://twitter.com/donaldvwatkins

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on January 27, 2023 An Editorial Opinion During my long legal career, I have defended police officers against charges of using excessive force, and I have prosecuted a popular police lieutenant for murder. Tonight, I watched in horror as five Memphis police officers beat Tyre Nichols to death, as captured on three police body-cam videos and one video from a pole-mounted neighborhood security camera. These officers have been fired and are now charged with the kidnapping and murder of Mr. Nichols. These are my candid observations and opinions about this tragic and senseless murder case: The police officers in the video who subdued, beat, and tortured Nichols clearly used excessive force, with no justification in fact or law for their actions. Tyre Nichols died as a result of their senseless actions. The officers who killed Nichols, all of whom are black, did not give a damn about his human rights or constitutional rights. These officers acted and talked like street thugs in a police uniforms, with badges and guns. Throughout the four videos that were aired tonight, no officer on the scene exhibited the professional training that is standard for all sworn police officers in America. On a personal level, I am so disappointed in the five officers who killed Tyre Nichols. In 1978, I represented Sidney Williams, the Montgomery Police officer whose lawsuit opened the doors for black officers to desegregate the ranks of the city's police department. The success we experienced in Sidney's lawsuit was quickly replicated in Tennessee and other cities across the South. Sidney and the black police officers who came behind him showed their fellow officers how to treat Montgomery's residents with dignity and respect while policing neighborhoods all over the city. Sidney and the hundred or so black officers he personally recruited to the police force during his 25 years tenure as an officer checked misconduct by white police officers on the spot. The black officers who administered the beatdown of Tyre Nichols are a disgrace to law enforcement, in general, and the legacy of Sidney Williams and all of the brave men and women who fought in federal courts throughout the nation to get black officers on police forces across the country. They have betrayed us. These five Memphis police officers deserved to be tried for murder, convicted, and sentenced to long prison terms. I have no sympathy for them. For all practical purposes, their lives are over. There is no prison in the United States where these men can serve their sentences in safety. They would have to be sent to a Swedish prison under a special arrangement with the state of Tennessee and the United States. If they are placed in any state or federal prison in America to serve their sentences, their life expectancy will be reduced to a matter of days. The city of Memphis must be congratulated for the way it handled this matter. The five officers were promptly fired and charged with murder. City officials did not try to gaslight the public, as we have witnessed all too often in excessive force cases in America. Senseless police murders must end. We are so much better than this. May this kind of incident never happen again.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on January 27, 2023 An Editorial Opinion On January 25, 2023, NextEra Energy (NEE) and Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) filed a Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announcing that “Allegations of violations of law by FPL or NEE have the potential to result in fines, penalties, or other sanctions or effects, as well as cause reputational damage for FPL and NEE, and could hamper FPL’s and NEE’s effectiveness in interacting with governmental authorities.” The Form 8-K stated that “FPL’s and NEE’s business and reputation could be adversely affected by allegations that FPL or NEE has violated laws, by any investigations or proceedings that arise from such allegations, or by ultimate determinations of legal violations.” The violations of law referenced in the 8-K stem from the clandestine “dirty tricks” work Joe Perkins' Matrix, LLC, performed for these companies. Some of this work is described in a December 22, 2022 article I published titled, “Joe Perkins and Matrix in Deep Trouble” and a December 19, 2022 article Nation Public Radio published titled, “In the Southeast, power company money flows to news sites that attack their critics.” In “Dirty Secrets: The Joe Perkins Files,” I detailed additional "dirty tricks" Joe Perkins and Matrix performed for Alabama Power Company and the Southern Company. On December 26, 2021, I revealed that Alabama Power had paid Perkins $2.5 million, without invoicing. I also published two of Perkins' secret contracts with Alabama Power. On January 18, 2022, I published an article that identified all of the red flags with the Perkins-Alabama Power contracts. Perkins/Matrix Scandal in Alabama is Much Bigger Than the One in Florida The “dirty tricks” scandal that has engulfed NEE, FPL, Perkins, and Matrix in Florida pales in comparison to the scope and depth of “dirty tricks” Perkins and Matrix have performed for Alabama Power and the Southern Company in Alabama and Georgia. The array of people implicated in the Alabama scandal has been mind-blowing for investigators. I have also confirmed that the Wall Street Journal has been working since December on an in-depth investigative article on the Southern Company, Alabama Power, and their longtime business relationship with Perkins and Matrix. This article is expected to be published soon. Based upon my experience in successfully representing former CEO Richard Scrushy during the highly-publicized HeathSouth accounting fraud scandal and criminal proceedings from 2003 to 2005, the issuance of NEE’s Form 8-K signals that federal criminal indictments of top executives at NEE and FPL are coming soon. While a jury found Scrushy “Not Guilty” of the criminal charges against him, 18 other HealthSouth executives were not so lucky. These 18 defendants lost their jobs and went to jail. A nineteenth HealthSouth defendant had all charges against him dismissed after the Scrushy verdict. Power Company CEOs Ousted NEE owns FPL, the same way the Southern Company owns Alabama Power Company. On the same day of NEE’s Form 8-K filing, chief executive officer Eric Silagy was ousted as CEO of FPL. In November 2022, the Southern Company ousted Mark Crosswhite as Alabama Power’s chief executive officer, effective on December 31, 2022. The Southern Company has not issued a Form 8-K filing yet, but may do so after an internal investigation by the Atlanta-based King & Spalding, LLP, law firm centering on Matrix’s “dirty tricks” work for the Southern Company and Alabama Power is completed. As is the case with NEE and FPL, I expect to see several top Alabama Power and Southern Company executives indicted, as well. I do not expect that Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning will be indicted. Fanning was a victim of one of Matrix “dirty tricks” schemes that was designed to pressure him into resigning so that Mark Crosswhite could take his place as CEO of the SouthernCompany.. Fortunately, this ill-conceived scheme failed. Criminal lawyers in Birmingham are already getting calls from Alabama Power executives who believe they have criminal exposure in this RICO case. Southern Company and Alabama Power Seek Deferred Prosecution Agreements It appears that the Southern Company and Alabama Power are seeking what is called a “deferred or non-prosecution agreement” from the U.S. Department of Justice. If granted, these entities will not be prosecuted, but their former executives may well be charged. Under Title 9-28.000 of the Department’s Justice Manual, this relief may be available to the Southern Company and Alabama Power if they take certain actions that aid the Department’s investigation. Generally, these actions include: (a) ousting all persons responsible for the violations of law from the company, (b) conducting an internal investigation, (c) refraining from impeding the Department’s investigation by hiring or paying for lawyers for the wrongdoers, (d) voluntarily disclosing the results of the internal investigation to prosecutors, and (e) making restitution to the crime victims adversely impacted by the criminal conduct disclosed by the federal probe. Matrix is not expected to be offered a deferred or non-prosecution agreement under any circumstance. The company’s “dirty tricks” work has: (a) soiled the reputations of two New York Stock Exchange companies, as well as their wholly-owned affiliates, (b) placed these publicly-traded companies under a multi-state federal investigation at the same time, and (c) may expose these companies to billions of dollars in lost value on the Stock Exchange as the scandal unfolds in the national and international media in the coming weeks. Investigators Have a Treasure Trove of Incriminating Evidence Against Perkins/Matrix We have confirmed that federal investigators possess a treasure trove of incriminating evidence against Joe Perkins and Matrix. A lot of this evidence is contained in handwritten notes authored by Perkins himself. An example of Perkins' handwritten notes is found in the notes he penned regarding his plan to destroy me. Click here to read Perkins’ notes. The scope of the incriminating evidence and the number of parties involved in the “dirty tricks” Perkins/Matrix performed for Alabama Power and the Southern Company are breathtaking. The question is not whether individuals will be indicted in the multi-state Matrix scandal, but how many and who will they be.