Indonesia
Biden: Still not enough votes to codify abortion rights
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AP) — President Joe Biden said Monday that Democrats still lack the power to codify abortion rights into law despite his party’s stronger-than-expected performance in the midterm elections.
“I don’t think there’s enough votes,” he said at a press conference during the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia.
Biden’s blunt comments reflected how Democrats’ euphoria over their strength in the midterms will soon collide with the likely reality of divided government in Washington.
During the campaign, Biden said that if Democrats picked up seats, the first piece of legislation that he would send to Congress would be to enact a nationwide right to abortion.
The right was previously guaranteed only by the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, and the court’s conservative majority overturned that ruling earlier this year.
Although Democrats defied historical odds by avoiding a midterm wipeout, they did not gain enough ground to ensure abortion access nationwide.
Asked what voters might expect on the issue, Biden replied, “I don’t think they can expect much of anything.”
Although ballots are still being counted, Republicans are on track to take control of the House of Representatives by a narrow margin, putting them in position to block any abortion legislation.
“I think it’s gonna be very close, but I don’t think we’re gonna make it,” Biden said.
Democrats will maintain control of the Senate, and may even expand their majority after next month’s runoff in Georgia. But some members of the party have been unwilling to sidestep filibuster rules to pass an abortion law.
Biden previously said “we need two more senators” to codify abortion rights, a reference to Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who want to preserve the filibuster.
If Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia wins a second term next month, Democrats will have only gained one seat.
California
Prosecutors push 15-year sentence for Theranos’ CEO Holmes
Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to sentence disgraced Theranos CE0 Elizabeth Holmes to 15 years in prison, arguing she deserves a lengthy prison term because her massive scheme duped investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars by falsely convincing them her company had developed a revolutionary blood testing device.
Calling the case “one of the most substantial white collar offenses Silicon Valley or any other District has seen,” prosecutors vehemently rejected defense attorneys’ characterization that Holmes had been unfairly victimized, in part by media coverage.
Holmes is set to appear for sentencing on Nov. 18 in federal court in San Jose, California, nearly a year after she was convicted of three felony counts of wire fraud and one felony count of conspiracy to commit fraud. She faces up to 20 years in prison for each count.
“She repeatedly chose lies, hype and the prospect of billions of dollars over patient safety and fair dealing with investors,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert S. Leach wrote in a 46-page brief filed Friday. “Elizabeth Holmes’ crimes were not failing, they were lying — lying in the most serious context, where everyone needed her to tell the truth.”
Holmes’ attorneys filed an 82-page document late Thursday calling for a lenient sentence of no more than 18 months, saying her reputation was permanently destroyed, turning her into a “caricature to be mocked and vilified.”
Besides asking that Holmes receive a lengthy prison sentence, prosecutors called for the 38-year-old pay $803,840,309 in restitution for her role in the yearslong scheme that turned her into one of the most widely respected and immensely wealthy entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley and the United States.
“She preyed on hopes of her investors that a young, dynamic entrepreneur had changed healthcare. She leveraged the credibility of her illustrious board,” Leach wrote. “And, through her deceit, she attained spectacular fame, adoration, and billions of dollars of wealth.”
Leach also pointed to how, after Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou exposed the scheme, Holmes “attacked him, along with his sources” and desperately tried to pin the blame on others.
“At trial, she blamed her COO (and longtime boyfriend), her board, her scientists, her business partners, her investors, her marketing firm, her attorneys, the media — everyone, that is, but herself,” Leach wrote.
The company’s former chief operating officer, 57-year-old Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, was convicted on 12 felony counts of investor and patient fraud in July during separate trial. He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 7.
And Leach wrote that the health of actual patients was put into jeopardy by what Holmes had done.
“As money was drying up, she went to market with an unproven and unreliable medical device,” he wrote. “When her lead assay developer quit as Theranos launched, she chillingly told the scientist: ‘she has a promise to deliver to the customer, she doesn’t have much of a choice but to go ahead with the launch.’”
Holmes’ attorneys have argued that if U.S. District Judge Edward Davila does decide to send her to prison, she deserves a lenient sentence because she poses no danger to the public and has no prior criminal history.
Illinois
Jesse Jackson’s half brother freed from life prison sentence
CHICAGO (AP) — An 80-year-old half-brother of the Rev. Jesse Jackson who was sentenced to life in prison more than 30 years ago after being convicted of hiring hit men has been released from prison, officials said.
Noah Robinson Jr. was ordered set free last month over the objections of prosecutors by a federal judge who cited Robinson’s age, risks posed in prison by COVID-19 and his deteriorating health, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
“Robinson was convicted of brutal crimes, but he is 80 years old and has now been in custody for almost 33 years,” U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer wrote. “That is a significant period for the purposes of punishment and general deterrence.”
Robinson was set free under the First Step Act, a bipartisan bill signed into law in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump intended to encourage inmates to participate in programs aimed at reducing recidivism, eases mandatory minimum sentence, and gives judges more discretion in sentencing.
Robinson, an Ivy League-educated, wealthy businessman, had been locked up since his arrest in 1989 on charges that he hired hit men from Chicago’s El Rukn street gang to kill a boyhood friend of his, Leroy “Hambone” Barber, after the two got into a fistfight in South Carolina, where they both grew up.
A woman who witnessed the killing was wounded in a later hit that Robinson ordered, and he ordered another hit that wasn’t carried out, prosecutors said. Robinson also was accused of helping El Rukn members connect with East Coast cocaine and heroin suppliers.
According to the order releasing Robinson, he plans to live in Chicago with his daughters, who have promised to take care of his medical and other needs.
