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Donald Trump Aide Accuses Scottish Councillor Of Racism An aide to tycoon Donald Trump has accused Scottish councillor Sam Coull of making a racist remark after he was sent a letter mocking his New Jersey accent. Ian Johnston 03 Oct 2009 Mr Trump’s development director, George Sorial, said Mr Coull, a Peterhead councillor, had sent a letter on council-headed paper in which had written “Noo Joysee” instead of “New Jersey”. Mr Sorial, who was born in the UK, said he was “insulted personally” and claimed it was racist. The councillor also made the same jibe in an email sent to...

Iranian opposition figures living abroad have long insisted that the majority of those living in the country were opposed to the Islamic Republic. They’ve found an unlikely ally in a top aide to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, who made some curious statements to supporters. According to the hard-line Panjereh weekly, published by the former head of the hard-line Basiji Students Organization, Mashaei said Ahmadinejad received only 4 million votes from his supporters in the June 12 presidential election. In total, Ahmadinejad received about 24 million of the 40 million votes cast in the heavily disputed election.

ALEXANDRIA, VA. -- A former aide to Sen. Barbara Boxer was sentenced today to five years in federal prison for receiving child pornography. Jeff Rosato, 32, of Arlington, Va., who was remanded into custody after pleading guilty in January, must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III said at a hearing in Alexandria, Va. "He lost everything he worked so hard to achieve up to this point in his life. Rosato is keenly aware of the consequences of his actions and the new choices he must make for himself and...

On Thursday, Rosato, the collar of his red shirt peeking out above his blue sweater, admitted calmly to the crime. "Yes, your honor. I, simply put, received and possessed images of minors depicted in child pornography."

The University of California's governing Board of Regents, struggling last week to avert drastic state budget cuts and forestall tuition increases, approved a $100,202 severance package for Linda Williams, a close aide to former UC President Robert Dynes and a figure in the university's 2005 salary scandal. The severance is being paid to Williams several months after she left her job in the UC Office of the President in Oakland and took a higher-paying position on May 1 a few miles away at the UC Berkeley campus. Her payout was granted last Thursday - one day after the regents spent...

CHICAGO (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama's White House chief of staff apologized to the Arab-American community on Thursday for remarks his father made to an Israeli newspaper. Last week, Benjamin Emanuel talked about his son Rahm Emanuel's new job and told the Israeli daily Ma'ariv that "obviously he'll influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to be mopping floors at the White House

Authorities in Botetourt County this morning discovered the body of a well-known Democratic operative and U.S. Senate aide along U.S. 220, dead from an apparent gunshot wound. The body of Frederick W. Hutchins Jr., 26, of Roanoke was found shortly after 7 a.m. along southbound U.S. 220 by a Botetourt County deputy who had stopped to check on a vehicle parked on the highway's shoulder, according to the sheriff's office. Hutchins was an aide to U.S. Senator Jim Webb, D-Va. Hutchins had been shot in the head, and a gun was found beneath his body, Sheriff Ronnie Sprinkle said. The...

John Hawkins: I agree that there is too much emphasis on it, but eventually it will be something counter-intuitive like that gets conservatives back on board. Random Anon Aide: I am more into sunset provisions, balanced budget and transparency. Conservatives have to figure out what is important. If they want a smaller government, taking out earmarks is not going to do it. We have to do much more. John Hawkins: Immigration is a key to it too. The GOP isn't getting conservatives back on board until they get right on illegal immigration. Random Anon Aide: Members are talking about immigration...

WASHINGTON - An aide to President Bush has resigned because of an alleged misuse of grant money from U.S. Agency for International Development and his former employer, a Cuban democracy organization. Felipe Sixto was promoted on March 1 as a special assistant to the president for intergovernmental affair and stepped forward on March 20 to reveal his alleged wrongdoing and to resign, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said on Friday. The matter has been turned over to the Justice Department for investigation, Stanzel said. He said Bush was briefed on the case and felt that the approriate action was being...

A top political adviser in Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign helped arrange an introduction in 2006 between McCain and a Russian billionaire whose suspected links to anti-democratic and organized-crime figures are so controversial that the U.S. government revoked his visa. Rick Davis, who is now McCain's campaign manager, helped set up the encounter between McCain and Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska in Switzerland during an international economic conference. At the time, Davis was working for a lobbying firm and seeking to do business with the billionaire. There is no evidence that McCain did anything for Deripaska after they met at...

Maj. Catherine Haverty, 3rd Civil Affairs Battalion, Detachment 1, a registered nurse, checks out a baby boy. The mother was concerned about a lump on the child's chest. Photo by Sgt. Kevin Stabinsky, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. MADHARIYAH — Coalition troops took a break from combat operations recently to asses the medical needs of local residents near Patrol Base Whiskey 1. Artillerymen of 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, and Paratroopers from 1st Battalion, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, provided medical care from an abandoned veterinary clinic in...

BAGHDAD, July 21 -- A top aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani was stabbed to death in what Sistani's supporters believe was a warning to Iraq's senior Shiite cleric, authorities said Saturday. Abdullah Falaq was killed Friday in his office, which is adjacent to Sistani's home in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, about 100 miles south of Baghdad, according to an aide to the cleric. Sistani is considered one of the most influential Shiite leaders in Iraq, and Falaq was his chief adviser on matters of Islamic law. Police said they had taken four suspects into custody. An...

The other day on Fox News Sunday, Rudolph W. Giuliani blamed a former aide for the decision to put the city’s emergency command center at 7 World Trade Center, where it was destroyed on 9/11. Now the aide, Jerome M. Hauer, the former director of emergency management, has fired back, giving Lloyd Grove of New York magazine a February 1996 memo that shows he argued for a Brooklyn location. He says the mayor overruled him. Here is what Mr. Giuliani said on Fox: Jerry Hauer recommended that as the prime site and the site that would make the most sense....

WASHINGTON - A senior Justice Department aide refused Wednesday to submit to a private interview with a House committee investigating the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. Her lawyers accused Democrats of behaving like the notorious Sen. Joseph McCarthy to intimidate her. Lawyers for Monica Goodling, who has said she would assert her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid appearing at congressional hearings, told the House Judiciary Committee she would neither testify publicly nor submit to private questioning about the firings. Goodling was senior counsel to embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and was the department's White House liaison before she...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iraqi court on Monday raised the sentence against Saddam Hussein's vice president to death by hanging for the killings of Shiites in the town of Dujail. The decision had been expected after an appeals court ruled that Taha Yassin Ramadan's previous sentence of life in prison was too lenient. Ramadan is the fourth member of the ousted regime to face capital punishment for the killings of 148 Shiites after a 1982 attempt on Saddam's life in the mainly Shiite town of Dujail, north of Baghdad. Saddam, his half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, and...

US and Iraqi troops seized an aide to Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr today, confronting a movement that is a key element in the ruling coalition. The raid near Baghdad's Sadr City district came as US Defence Secretary Robert Gates flew in to the southern city of Basra to meet the US commander in Iraq, General George Casey. Dealing with Sadr and his Mehdi Army militia is a burning issue for the Americans and Sh'ite Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki as they prepare what many see as a last-ditch effort to rein in sectarian violence that is pushing Iraq into civil...

A former top budget official in the Reagan White House is a target of a criminal investigation into possible financial fraud at an auto parts company he headed before it collapsed into bankruptcy, a federal official told The Associated Press. David Stockman, who rose to prominence as budget director under President Reagan, is the former chairman and CEO of Michigan-based Collins & Aikman Corp. Federal investigators and prosecutors are preparing a case against Stockman and other corporate officers from Collins & Aikman and expect to soon present the findings to a grand jury in New York City, the official said....

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Wednesday that she will not remove one of her top aides from his job or ask him to abandon his post as head of Southern University's governing board while he is being investigated for sexual harassment complaints. The Governor's Office hired an independent attorney, Mark Falcon, to look into the complaints from unidentified Southern University System employees against Johnny Anderson. But Blanco said her office has received "a verbal accusation with no evidence that I'm aware of" and she wouldn't make changes in Anderson's role until further investigation. "This is very treacherous,...

BAGHDAD — Coalition forces captured and detained the driver of Abu al-Masri, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, during a raid Sept. 28 in here. In other developments, the Ministry of Interior issued a no-notice recall of an Iraqi police brigade, which will be pulled out of service and given corrective retraining. “Based on information from a recently detained al-Qaida in Iraq member, coalition forces on September 28th detained a former driver and personal assistant of Abu al-Masri along with 31 others during a series of raids that were conducted in the Baghdad area specifically targeting al-Qaida in Iraq targets,”...

WASHINGTON The House ethics committee has approved a $2 million payout from a lobbying firm to a top Appropriations Committee staffer. The lobbying firm's ties to Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., are under federal investigation. Jeff Shockey got $1.96 million in severance payments when he left Washington-based Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton, & White early last year to become deputy staff director of the Appropriations Committee. The payments have been criticized by government watchdog groups because Copeland, Lowery, which specializes in helping clients that want federal funding for projects, frequently lobbies the Appropriations Committee. "It appears that the terms of your...

The pay of a former staffer of Inland Rep. Jerry Lewis was cut less than a year before she took a job with a Washington lobbying firm, enabling her to avoid a rule prohibiting high-ranking congressional staff members from lobbying their old bosses or committees for one year, House records show. Letitia White worked as an assistant to Lewis, R-Redlands, on the House Appropriations Committee before leaving to take a job as lobbyist in 2003 with the firm then known as Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton & Shockey. Congressional staff members who earn 75 percent of a House member's salary are...

Jefferson hires crisis-seasoned PR aideCongressman target in corruption probe Friday, July 07, 2006 By Bruce Alpert Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-La., points to a map as he talks with Congressman William Jefferson at a presentation during a briefing on the levee system in Southern Louisiana in New Orleans, Thursday, July 6, 2006. The briefing covered the state of current levee reconstruction and what actions need to be implemented in the future to ensure South Louisiana residents are safe from the flooding associated with hurricanes. (AP Photo/Bill Haber) WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, the target of a high-profile public corruption probe,...

A Bush aide's blunt words New adviser pulled no punches in his magazine pieces By Peter Baker Updated: 5:39 a.m. ET June 13, 2006 WASHINGTON - Bill Clinton is a "virtuoso deceiver" and Hillary Rodham Clinton a "true chameleon" guilty of "self-serving behavior, comparative radicalism, and dubious personal morality." Al Gore is a "mad dog" known to "foam at the mouth." John McCain is given to "showboating." And Jacques Chirac, Nelson Mandela, Gerhard Schroeder and Kofi Annan are all "feckless fools." Says who? President Bush's new chief domestic policy adviser. While most White House aides carefully trim their public commentary,...

NAPLES, Fla. -- A 6-year-old special education student who kicked a Naples teacher's aide and spent several hous in juvenile jail is facing felony battery charges. Her mother, however, wants to know why the case has gone so far. Takovia Allen suffers from behavioral problems and attends a special class at Lely Elementary in Naples. According to an arrest report, on May 2, a teacher was trying to line up students to go to music class. Takovia refused to go and kicked the teacher's aide in the ankle. After a discussion among school officials and two law enforcement officials called...

Aide says Jefferson cooked up schemeAssistant sentenced to 8 years in prison Saturday, May 27, 2006 By Bill Walsh Washington bureau ALEXANDRIA, VA. -- A former aide to U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, said Friday that it was the congressman's idea to solicit bribes to promote a telecommunications deal in West Africa that began as a legitimate business venture. "I've gone over it 10 million times in my head," Brett Pfeffer, 37, said at his sentencing in U.S. District Court. "I don't know why I didn't look him in the eye and say 'No.' " **SNIP** According to court...

WASHINGTON - A batch of 278 e-mails between lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a Bush administration official show a highly inappropriate relationship where gifts and business interests mixed freely and frequently, federal prosecutors said Friday. The prosecutors hope to use the e-mails in the criminal case against David Safavian, who is accused of lying and obstruction of justice in connection with investigations of an Abramoff-sponsored golf outing to Scotland in August 2002. The e-mails show that Abramoff and Safavian, then chief of staff at the General Services Administration, were in frequent contact, played golf often and traded workplace gossip. Abramoff showered...

Auditors found questionable spending by state Education Secretary Alan Bersin when he was superintendent of schools in San Diego. The audit, conducted for the San Diego Unified School District by a law firm, Loeb & Loeb, looked at Bersin's handling of more than $630,000 in tax-deductible donations made by individuals and corporations to an education innovation fund. The audit said Bersin spent the money as he wanted, often reimbursing himself for personal and business expenses. There were also undocumented reimbursements and possible double-billings, auditors said. School district officials have forwarded the audit to the state attorney general, Fair Political Practices...

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro - A Socialist Party aide of Slobodan Milosevic said Saturday that the ex-president was defiant just before his death. "He told me, 'Don't you worry: They will not destroy me or break me; I shall defeat them all,'" said Milorad Vucelic of the Socialist Party, recounting a phone conversation with Milosevic late Friday. "But it was obvious he was very ill." Milosevic, who was found dead Saturday in his cell at the Netherlands-based war crimes court near The Hague, was daily in contact with Socialist party officials in Belgrade as he carried out his own defense before the...

Jefferson 'perplexed' by aide's guilty plea; says he did no wrong By: CHEVEL JOHNSON - Associated Press Last modified Friday, January 13, 2006 10:32 PM PST Louisiana Congressman, William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, left, and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, appear before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Development meeting in New Orleans Friday afternoon Jan. 13, 2006. The subcommittee came to New Orleans to discussing the housing problems caused by Hurricane Katrina. (AP Photo/Bill Haber) NEW ORLEANS -- Two days after his former aide's guilty plea implicated him in a bribery case, Rep. William Jefferson said Friday he...

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) - Louisiana Democratic Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record) sought a cut of a Nigerian telecommunications venture in return for his help setting it up, a former aide said on Wednesday as he pleaded guilty to bribery charges. In return for lobbying Nigerian officials and arranging a loan through the U.S. Import-Export Bank, Jefferson demanded an ownership stake in a venture by two U.S. companies to provide high-speed Internet and cable television to Nigeria, former aide Brett Pfeffer said. "The congressman told me he would require 5 to 7 percent of ownership of the company," Pfeffer...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A former aide to Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record), D-La., pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges he helped the congressman solicit bribes to arrange two telecommunications deals. A spokeswoman for Jefferson declined to comment. Brett Pfeffer, 37, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting bribery of a public official and conspiracy. He could get 20 years in prison when sentenced March 31. Specifically, Pfeffer said in federal court that a congressman demanded bribes in exchange for his assistance in brokering two African telecom deals. Court documents did not identify the congressman by name, referring to him only...

DETROIT (AP) - A former aide to U.S. Rep. John Conyers has been arrested in Africa after skipping his sentencing on a federal fraud conviction, federal authorities said. DeWayne Boyd, 49, formerly of Detroit, was arrested Friday in Accra, Ghana, said Daniel D. Roberts, special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit Field Office. Boyd is a former aide to Willie Brown when he was the speaker of the California Assembly. Boyd was arrested on a warrant for failing to appear at the April sentencing hearing on convictions of mail fraud, making false declarations under oath, making false statements to...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's top education advisor said the administration is prepared to consider raising taxes as part of a long-term solution to the problems plaguing California schools. The statement by California Education Secretary Alan Bersin came in a Dec. 1 speech to the California School Boards Assn. It was posted on the group's website Friday. His comments mark the first time any top administration official has acknowledged that new taxes could be needed to restore the quality of state services. "No one can look at the history of California education over the last generation and not notice we...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's effort to reposition his administration after his special election defeat — culminating with this week's appointment of a Democratic activist as his chief of staff — has disheartened some prominent California Republicans and reinvigorated talk of finding a conservative primary challenger next year. "I'm getting more e-mails off of this than I do for Viagra," said Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, a grass-roots group, referring to Schwarzenegger's appointment of Susan Kennedy. "Since the special election, where we were very loyal, all we've heard about was a $50-billion bond and looking at clemency...

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - A congressional panel on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to submit former presidential aide Jose Dirceu to impeachment proceedings over his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal. The Ethics Committee action means an impeachment vote will be held in the lower house of Congress next month, when Dirceu could be expelled for "lack of decorum" and barred from holding public office for eight years. Dirceu resigned his chief of staff post in President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's Cabinet in June amid charges he orchestrated illegal campaign funding and a scheme to bribe legislators for their support in...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A state contractor and a top aide to imprisoned former Gov. John G. Rowland each pleaded guilty to two felonies Tuesday, ending a public corruption case that led to the one-time political star's downfall. Contractor William Tomasso and Peter Ellef, who was Rowland's co-chief of staff, pleaded guilty under a plea deal to conspiracy to commit tax fraud and bribery. Prosecutors said the men ran a criminal enterprise out of the governor's office, with Ellef steering multimillion dollar contracts to Tomasso in exchange for gold, cash, travel and gifts. Each faces a maximum of 10 years...

CHICAGO - The onetime top aide to ex-Gov. George Ryan testified Monday that a lobbyist helped computer companies land millions of dollars in state contracts while raising political funds for Ryan. The lobbyist, Larry Warner, was careful to keep his name off campaign finance reports, Scott Fawell said in his second day on the witness stand at Ryan's racketeering trial. Ryan, 71, and Warner, 67, are charged in the 22-count indictment with racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud and other offenses. Both men say that nothing they did was illegal. Fawell said Warner raised $100,000 at a dinner for Ryan while helping...

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A city councilwoman's chief of staff has surrendered to authorities after police issued a warrant for her arrest for the disappearance of a briefcase at City Hall. Christine Silva Burnett, 54, turned herself in to San Jose police on Friday. Prosecutors charged her with a misdemeanor, misappropriation of found property. The case stems from an incident Sept. 19 when a community activist visited a floor in the City Hall where council members and staffers have offices. The activist said his black briefcase containing a wallet and personal digital assistant was stolen. Burnett worked for Councilwoman Nora...

Nagin tired of traveling to BR for N.O. briefingsNew Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is tired of traveling to Baton Rouge to talk to his constituents. Nagin ended his latest weekly briefing on the status of his city Wednesday by saying he no longer wants to meet at the State Capitol. "If we're going to talk about New Orleans, let's do it in New Orleans," he said. State Sen. Ed Murray, D-New Orleans, who has been arranging the meetings, said he picked Baton Rouge because so many evacuees from New Orleans are staying here. Murray said he doesn't plan to move...

CHICAGO - The political strategist who helped engineer former Gov. George Ryan's rise to power took the witness stand Thursday and in testimony laced with wisecracks began telling a jury how Ryan doled out state contracts, leases and favors to the well-connected. Scott Fawell waved to spectators and grinned broadly as he took his seat. He nodded to Ryan, saluted a newspaper reporter and made no effort to disguise his disdain for the prosecutors who put him in federal prison for graft. Asked by prosecutor Patrick M. Collins why he agreed to testify against his former boss, the 48-year-old Fawell...

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Arnold Schwarzenegger will run for re-election next year, a top aide said Friday, an early announcement the governor hopes will jolt his sagging political momentum with the vitality that swept him into office two years ago. Schwarzenegger "felt it was very important to let the people of California know this governor plans to be around for the long haul," campaign spokesman Todd Harris said. "It's not a 24-month job, it's a five-year job and he intends to see it through to the end." Schwarzenegger has hinted as much for weeks, saying as recently as Wednesday that...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's chief spokesman on Wednesday said he unintentionally mischaracterized a payment an insurance company made to one of the governor's companies in 2004. Communications Director Rob Stutzman had said the payment from Zurich American to Schwarzenegger's Oak Productions represented a settlement of a dispute with electronics retailer Best Buy involving the unauthorized use of Schwarzenegger's image. But Stutzman on Wednesday said the payment - characterized on the governor's disclosure forms only as more than $10,000 - did not involve Best Buy. And he said a nondisclosure clause in the settlement prevents him from revealing the identity of the...

Baghdad, 8 July (AKI) - An aide of the Shiite spiritual leader in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, was killed on Thursday night in Baghdad. Religious leader Hashim Attiya al-Fadili was attacked as he travelled along a road in the capital, and another person with him was injured in the ambush. Al-Fadili is the latest in a series of al-Sistani's aides to be killed. In the most recent attack, prominent Shiite cleric Kamal Ezz al-Deen al-Ghuraifi was killed by gunmen earlier this month. Another two aides were murdered in the run-up to the Iraqi elections on January 30 - one along...

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - The coordinator for Ralph Nader's 2004 presidential campaign in Virginia pleaded guilty Tuesday to election fraud. James P. Polk, 47, will serve 30 days of home detention and was fined $2,500. Polk was accused of illegally certifying petitions to get Nader, an independent candidate, on the ballot. He was indicted on 10 counts of election fraud in October, but prosecutors withdrew nine of those counts. Nader's name was not placed on the ballot in Virginia. His campaign needed to collect 10,000 signatures of registered voters, but fell well short.

A U.S. commitment to providing $674 million for famine relief in Africa may take some bite out of the Left's constant attacks on the Bush Administration. It is always a cry of what have you done for the poor in the world (although they don't count the poor that have been liberated). Now this massive out pouring of famine relief will answer their cries. President Bush joins Britain's Tony Blair, chairman of the G8, in this commitment. The joint initiative for famine relief comes in response to a Blair proposal for doubling aid to Africa. The amount of Britain's contribution...

Hillary Clinton's ex-aide no criminal, attorney says By Laura Wides, Associated Press The former national finance director for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton may have made a mistake underreporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses for a Hollywood fundraiser, but he committed no crime, his attorneys told jurors in closing remarks Wednesday. But prosecutors said David Rosen "was no babe in the woods" and willfully deflated the cost of the fundraiser for Clinton's 2000 New York Senate campaign to skirt federal election laws so the campaign would have more money to spend. Prosecutors have said Clinton was unaware of any...

Ex-Clinton aide's fate in jury's hands Rosen denies wrongdoing in reporting cost of gala to FEC Wednesday, May 25, 2005 Posted: 11:53 PM EDT (0353 GMT) LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Jurors in the federal trial of David Rosen, former finance director of Hillary Clinton's U.S. Senate campaign, will begin deliberating his fate Thursday. **SNIP** Defense and prosecuting attorneys finished their closing arguments Wednesday. The jury was to convene Thursday at 8:30 a.m. (11:30 a.m. ET). Rosen's attorney, Paul Sandler, described his client as "courageous and truthful," adding that Rosen "has suffered for years with this sword of Damocles over...

Planner says ex-Hillary Clinton aide hid costs of fundraiser LOS ANGELES The trial of Hillary Clinton's former national finance director continued today in Los Angeles with an event planner testifying she was ordered by David Rosen to obtain a fake invoice connected to a Hollywood fundraising gala. Bretta Nock told jurors that Rosen told her to get a 200-thousand dollar invoice for the concert portion of the celebrity bash, when the actual costs were much higher. Rosen has pleaded not guilty to three charges of filing false financial statements connected with Clinton's 2000 Senate run. He's accused of under-reporting donations...

HILL AIDE'S FUND TRIAL DEBUGGED By KENNETH LOVETT May 18, 2005 -- LOS ANGELES — In a courthouse shocker, Sen. Ted Kennedy's brother-in-law won't be asked about a conversation he secretly recorded for the FBI when he testifies today against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's former chief fund-raiser, a prosecutor revealed yesterday. "The government does not intend to introduce the tape or elicit any testimony about that conversation," federal prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg told a judge before the trial of ex-Clinton fund-raiser David Rosen resumed yesterday after a four-day break. While Zeidenberg did not mention Kennedy's brother-in-law, Ray Reggie, by name, he...

Sen. Clinton's former aide could be used against her By Kenneth R. Bazinet New York Daily News WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton isn't on trial in Los Angeles on Tuesday - but as far as her political adversaries are concerned, she may as well be. Her former finance director David Rosen has been charged with concealing the real cost of a star-studded Hollywood fund-raiser for Clinton in August 2000 - and if he's convicted, her enemies plan to exploit it to the maximum. ''If it was any other senator, it might not be an issue, but with her past it will...