M.L. Nestel joined Raw Story in 2023. An award-winning writer and editor, his work has been published in New York Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine and The Guardian, among other titles. He also produces and writes for true-crime genre TV shows. Prior to that, he served on the Newsweek masthead as a senior writer, wrote as a correspondent at ABC News and held the titles of West Coast bureau chief and senior writer at The Daily Beast. Priors also include working as senior national correspondent at The Daily Mail and investigative reporter at all three NYC tabloids: The New York Post, The New York Daily News and Newsday. He traveled around the country as a national correspondent at The Daily. M.L. published hundreds of stories about underground music and cinema — most notably as a critic for Box Office Magazine and the New York editor at Soma Magazine. He also headed development at Fountainhead Films. M.L. splits his time between Los Angeles and New York.
Donald Trump on Friday was ridiculed online following a Minnesota speech during which the former president is said to have confused his own criminal cases.
Trump began his GOP dinner keynote address with complaints about the teleprompters, which he said were "falling down," and continued by whining that the podium itself needed work, as well. During the speech, the ex-president also said that Special Counsel Jack Smith was prosecuting him in New York. In reality, Smith's cases are in D.C. and Florida.
"We have deranged Jack Smith in New York. He's a deranged individual, Washington," Trump said Friday.
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Popular X account Spiro's Ghost responded to that Trump quote, saying, "Deranged Dementia Donald has confused his criminal cases."
@CriticalBill76 wrote, "Jack L. Smith is not adjudicating Donald Trump in SDNY. I feel this needs stating."
Trump also touted his plans for the economy if he wins a second term.
"We're gonna have MAGAnomics. We're going to make it the most [garbled]... we will be again the most successful country in the world!"
@Acyn quoted Trump's slurred word, suggesting the ex-president claimed he will make the U.S. "succential."
@ArtCandee wrote, "Trump can't even put together a rally without almost falling over, or being able to speak properly and blaming the teleprompter, hard pass on him running the country."
@AreMond2 also chimed in on Trump's slip up.
"We’re going to be the most succential people in the world?" he asked on social media Friday. "As far as the largest economy in the world. The largest Military. The most diverse. Sorry Donnie we’re already the most successful. Yes you botched it up but Biden fixed it. The DOW hit 40,000 today based solely on Biden."
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and others played hooky from Congress to pledge fealty to defendant Donald Trump on a pivotal day in his criminal hush money trial.
But a savvy body language expert believes he found the Florida lawmaker's gestures to be hollow compared to the pounding words he used to defend the 45th president's innocence.
Dr. Jack Brown, an emotional intelligence expert whose skills have been spotlighted on CNN and ABC News, published a thread on Twitter/X to break down the congressman's seemingly tepid support.
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"...of all six times Gaetz gestures only with [sic] his left hand/arm in this crucial video clip, when Gaetz says, 'We're here of our own volition' – he lifts his hand the least."
"This relativity/nuance is further indication of Gaetz's lack of belief in his own statement."
Gaetz headed up to Lower Manhattan as part of a conservative procession breaking from their day jobs in the Capitol to show solidarity with the presumptive Republican nominee for president.
Gaetz tore after Trump's former fixer turned foe Michael Cohen, who was testifying under oath and being grilled by the defense.
The pol labeled Cohen a "liar."
"There's literally no branch of government that Michael Cohen has not lied to," he said. "And he committed these lies for his own benefit."
Gaetz called Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan "corrupt" and called out his family earning "six figures" profiting off of the trial.
He added: "It's like the Mr. Potato Head doll of crimes — where they had to stick together a bunch of things that did not belong together."
He was joined by fellow Freedom Caucus members including: Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Mike Waltz (R-FL), Eli Crane (R-AZ), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Bob Good (R-VA), and Lauren Boebert (R-CO).
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of covering up six-figure sum to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.
“Standing back, and standing by, Mr. President,” Gaetz captioned a photo posted on Twitter/X featuring him and fellow Republicans standing behind Trump in a courtroom hallway.
"Did you also notice how many of Gaetz's fellow congressional members (AWAL from their jobs) were standing with their hands in the fig-leaf position," asked Brown. "Fig Leaf (aka genital guarding) is also displayed during times of: Low-Confidence, Emotional Discomfort, Need for Emotional Protection."
The expert noted that the contingent collectively didn't show the kind of show of force that they intended.
"Despite their attempts at bravado and hubris, Gaetz and his Republican cohort have low confidence, emotional discomfort, and a need for protection," he wrote. "They felt vulnerable."
A judge's process goof during the sentencing of the man convicted of kidnapping and assaulting then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband could force a do-over.
"Today in Court at sentencing, the defendant did not allocute," reads a document filed shortly after 44-year-old David DePape was sentenced to 30 years in prison by Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley during the formal proceedings on Friday. " Of course, he is not required to do so. However, the record does not state that he had the opportunity to do so."
Allocution is defined as a direct address between the judge and the convicted defendant prior to sentencing.
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The process has the judge talk to the convicted person to ask if they want to speak before the sentencing is imposed.
"For the reasons stated above, the United States requests that the Court re-open sentencing for the limited purpose of personally addressing the defendant to permit him to allocute, and then pronounce the sentence and thereafter, issue the judgment in this case," prosecutors wrote in their conclusion. "This should be done within 14 days."
The process would properly give DePape a chance to speak on his own behalf.
DePape was described in court as standing silently and casting his eyes downward at times as Judge Corley handed the sentence.
The snafu was first reported by Politico's Josh Gerstein who tweeted, "Prosecutors say judge botched sentencing of man convicted of attacking Paul Pelosi. Judge Corley failed to ask defendant whether he wished to address her before she imposed 30-year sentence. May require re-do."
Jurors found DePape guilty last November of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official when he wailed on Paul Pelosi with a hammer.
The prosecutors initially sought a lengthier 40-year prison term. DePape's defense attorneys sought a softer 14 years, highlighting his clean criminal past and difficult time in his life.
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