Latest news with #retribution
LBCI
21 hours ago
- Politics
- LBCI
Khamenei: Israel is now paying the price
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared in a statement on X that "the Zionist enemy is receiving its punishment; it is now facing retribution." The message comes amid ongoing military escalation between Israel and Iran.
Daily Mail
14-06-2025
- Daily Mail
The killers got the wrong man - innocent plumber John Versace. Now homicide cop reveals the twisted truth of what's going on inside murderers' heads as they remain on the run
They thought they had pleased their masters by ruthlessly gunning down a young man outside his western Sydney home... but the killer, or killers, actually got it very, very wrong. Innocent plumber John Versace, 23, was shot dead as he got out of his ute at his family's home in Dalton Avenue in Condell Park, in Sydney 's south-west, about 10.30pm on May 19. The shooter unloaded about 10 rounds of bullets, with Mr Versace suffering four gunshot wounds to his chest and stomach. He died at the scene. All evidence shows Mr Versace had done never done anything to spark such a ruthless act of retribution from the underworld. And those responsible - no doubt now aware they have made a big mistake - are still on the run almost a month later. Now a retired homicide detective with decades of experience investigating cases such as Mr Versace's sheds light on the possible motivations of the hitmen responsible and the fallout the killing would have caused in the underworld. Former Victoria Police officer Charlie Bezzina believes the 'hit' on Mr Versace was likely carried out by people on the 'lower end of the criminal sphere'. He said instead of feeling guilt over gunning down an innocent man, they would instead be playing the 'blame game' and claim that they were given flawed information. 'You're not dealing with professional people. You're dealing with low educated people and they accept what they've been told,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'These shooters would be highly strung and their angst will be so high that they shoot and ask questions later. 'They want to do the deeds for their masters and then, bang, bang. Let's go. That was him.... and then they find out later it wasn't him.' He said the shooters were unlikely to face any major repercussions for killing the wrong person, with the shooting only putting the actual target on higher alert - giving them time to flee the country and go into hiding. Mr Bezzina said those responsible for Mr Versace's death were unlikely to have done their due diligence to confirm the identity of their intended target. 'An undercover operative or a private investigator would have parameters of the law where they've got to prove the identity [of the target] but these guys don't, they're just flying by the seat of their pants,' he said. 'Have they got a photograph of them? Have they got a car number? Have they got a car? Have they got a specific address he's been put to? 'They're relying on other people to give them the right information. 'They'll say, "you gave us that information, and that's what we acted upon. So it's your fault. It's not our fault". 'So someone comes out of a particular location nearby that might look a little bit similar to the target... they thought that might be the guy coming out and that'll do.' Mr Bezzina said cases of mistaken identity were some 'of the most difficult' to solve as police rely on people to come forward with information. However, this can prove difficult when organised crime figures are subject to a code of silence and witnesses are too fearful for their own safety to talk. 'You've got to go in with your best case before you arrest people of this type. You don't want to go in half-heartedly, charge someone and then lose at trial,' he said. 'That's the thoroughness of these type of investigations, they would be doing everything within their legal power, to get the evidence, to identify these people. 'The frequencies of these incompetent criminals is a cause of concern for the police, and that's why if they've got the evidence, I can assure you, they'd be very keen to lay charges sooner than later.' Police told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday the investigation was ongoing but no further details could be provided at this time. Harrowing footage from a neighbour's CCTV camera captured Mr Versace's final moments on his parents' doorstep where he lived with his sisters. Security footage showed Mr Versace reversing his ute up the driveway and parking it very close to the garage door. As he exited the ute, a small silver hatchback, believed to be a Toyota Corolla, parked across the driveway of the home. The male gunman, dressed in black and wearing a face covering, got out of the backseat and approached the front of the house. 'Hey, hey, hey, hey, stop, stop,' a man is heard yelling before the gunman raised his right hand and opened fire with a Glock-style weapon. Police later received reports of a car, which police believe was stolen in December, about 12km away in Fairfield Heights. A handgun similar to a Glock-style pistol was found inside the vehicle after firefighters extinguished the flames. 'We believe that this has the hallmarks of a targeted execution. (It is) very brutal, very distressing,' Superintendent Rodney Hart told reporters at the time. Mr Versace's sister Deanne recently paid a heartbreaking tribute to her 'beautiful baby brother' - sharing powerful images and video of highlights of his life on social media.
Washington Post
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Rand Paul says White House excluded his family from picnic as punishment
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) said the Trump administration has excluded him and his family from a picnic at the White House in what he believes to be an act of retribution, politicizing an annual celebration of bipartisanship over Paul's refusal to support the president's signature legislation. 'We just tried to get our tickets today, and they said, 'You were not invited,' ' Paul told reporters outside the Capitol on Wednesday. While he said he did now know exactly who left him out, he added, 'I think that it's somebody acting in a very petty way.'
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Michael Cohen Warns Musk: Trump ‘Hammer' Is Going to ‘Drop'
President Donald Trump's former 'fixer' put Elon Musk on alert about incoming retribution from the president after their bitter break-up. 'They are going to drop the hammer on him out of nowhere, when he least expects it,' lawyer Michael Cohen told MSNBC. 'That's the playbook. And, again, this is political guerilla warfare at the highest level.' Cohen, who experienced his own fall from Trump's good graces, predicted that the retaliation would take the form of personal smears, the 'weaponization' of the Justice Department, and targeting of Musk's companies. Trump has yet to launch a full-faced war on Musk, his former bankroller and adviser, who on Thursday went nuclear on the president. Musk, infuriated by Trump's 'big, beautiful bill', alleged that he was in 'the Epstein files' and called for his impeachment. However, Cohen said that because of the size of the two men's egos, a dramatic escalation of the clash was inevitable. 'Elon Musk has massive power, and here's the problem with that,' he said. 'Trump craves relevance, Elon Musk craves dominance. Very big difference. You're talking about an immovable force trying to smash into something that's indestructible. this is going to be a war like nobody has seen maybe in all of history.' Cohen suggested that Musk was the latest in a long list of men who wanted to influence Trump by 'whispering in the ear,' pointing to former advisers Rudy Giuliani and Jared Kushner. 'It doesn't end well for anybody,' he said. 'And it's not going to end well for Elon Musk.' Cohen directed a message to Musk directly: 'You're never— Elon, you're never more powerful than the president of the Unites States. And you're never richer than the country.' So far, Trump has limited himself to insinuating that Musk's drug use could be responsible for the blow-up. 'I'm not even thinking about Elon. He's got a problem. The poor guy's got a problem,' Trump said Friday. Musk, meanwhile, has quieted down—and deleted several of his most inflammatory posts, such as the bombshell allegation that Trump's ties to Jeffrey Epstein are the reason files on the sex offender haven't been released. Cohen was an attorney for Trump from 2006 to 2018. He eventually turned on Trump after he became caught up in an FBI investigation into the 2016 campaign's links to Russia. Cohen wound up serving three years in prison for campaign finance infractions, tax fraud, and bank fraud.
New York Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Trump Administration Live Updates: U.S. Suspends Visa Interviews for Foreign Students
President Trump's order targeting the law firm WilmerHale was pointed, given the firm's longtime association with Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel in the first Trump administration. President Trump's campaign of retribution against elite law firms that have resisted his efforts to subjugate them is, so far, not going well. On Tuesday, a judge struck down his executive order seeking to crush WilmerHale, one of several firms the president says have wronged him or have done work for his political opponents. The decision was the latest in an unbroken string of victories for the handful of firms that have sued to stop him. Judge Richard J. Leon of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the order was unconstitutional and 'must be struck down in its entirety,' adding that Mr. Trump appeared intent on driving the firm to the bargaining table by imposing 'a kitchen sink of severe sanctions.' The ruling seemed to validate the strategy, embraced by a minority of firms, of fighting the administration instead of caving to a pressure campaign and making deals with Mr. Trump to avoid persecution. Judges have already rejected similarly punitive executive orders aimed at the firms Perkins Coie and Jenner & Block, and lawyers representing Susman Godfrey asked a fourth judge earlier this month to issue a final decision in their case. Judge Leon said that despite his decisive ruling, the firm had already suffered because of Mr. Trump's actions. Even though he had temporarily blocked the order one day after the president signed it, he noted that existing clients had already started 'curtailing their relationships with WilmerHale, and new clients are taking their business elsewhere.' 'The cornerstone of the American system of justice is an independent judiciary and an independent bar willing to tackle unpopular cases, however daunting. The founding fathers knew this!' Judge Leon wrote in a 73-page opinion laced with more than two dozen exclamation points. 'Accordingly, they took pains to enshrine in the Constitution certain rights that would serve as the foundation for that independence,' he wrote. 'Little wonder that in the nearly 250 years since the Constitution was adopted no executive order has been issued challenging these fundamental rights.' So far, federal judges have steadfastly rejected what they have described as an effort by the White House to subjugate the nation's top law firms. All through March, Mr. Trump issued half a dozen orders individually demonizing firms that had worked for prominent Democrats or aided in efforts to investigate his ties to Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. In each case, the orders leveraged the force of the federal government to give the threats teeth, including by having those firms' lawyers barred from federal buildings and stripped of their security clearances. The order targeting WilmerHale was especially pointed, given the firm's longtime association with Robert S. Mueller III. He returned there upon retiring from his role as the special counsel overseeing the investigation into Moscow's election interference that boosted Mr. Trump against his rival in the 2016 race, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Mr. Mueller left the firm in 2021. Along with other firms such as Jenner & Block and Susman Godfrey, WilmerHale sued to stop the executive orders from taking effect, asking Judge Leon to proceed directly to a decision with no trial, as the only question at issue was whether or not a president could take such an extraordinary action. At the same time, other white shoe firms such as Paul Weiss, Skadden and Latham & Watkins agreed to take on hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of pro bono legal work on behalf of causes Mr. Trump favors, avoiding similarly calibrated executive orders. In his opinion, Judge Leon colorfully dismissed assertions by the government that its targeting of WilmerHale was something routine and apolitical, brushing off the notion with a brusque 'please — that dog won't hunt!' 'Taken together, the provisions constitute a staggering punishment for the firm's protected speech,' he wrote. 'The order is intended to, and does in fact, impede the firm's ability to effectively represent its clients!' Earlier this month, while Judge Leon was deliberating on his decision, the firm wrote to inform the court that the government had proceeded to suspend two of its attorneys' security clearances. During a hearing in April, Richard Lawson, a lawyer for the government, told Judge Leon that the lawsuit was an effort to improperly constrain Mr. Trump's ability to 'investigate an area of concern,' despite the appearance that it infringed on the law firm's freedom of speech. Mr. Lawson had argued in several cases related to law firms that the president enjoys considerable authority to control how the government contracts with and affords access to private companies. Representing WilmerHale, Paul Clement, the U.S. solicitor general under former President George W. Bush, said the case boiled down to resentment and retaliation by Mr. Trump, who he said had blatantly singled the firm out over its client list and staff. Mr. Clement said the White House had flexed its power to hurt the firm in ways that were already jeopardizing its business, even just by raising doubt among prospective clients that the firm's lawyers would have the proper clearances and access to take on basic legal work. 'With all respect, there are some subjects where the executive's hands should be tied,' Mr. Clement said. 'If the executive is inclined to interfere with the traditions that are essentially necessary to have the rule of law in the adversarial system of justice, the president's hands should be tied,' he added. While the firms that rejected a deal and fought back have now notched a string of decisive wins in court, others that sought to appease Mr. Trump have seen high-profile resignations and internal discord. Last week, four of Paul Weiss's best-known partners resigned to start their own venture, after others, including the firm's top pro bono leader, left shortly after the order. In the meantime, Mr. Trump has recently mused about stretching the limits of the pro bono agreements he reached with other firms and weighed demanding that they do personal or political work. Finding that the order was essentially designed to harm WilmerHale's business, Judge Leon joined several of his colleagues in concluding that its larger intent was to intimidate other firms in a way that could damage the legal profession as a whole. 'The order shouts through a bullhorn: If you take on causes disfavored by President Trump, you will be punished!'
