Protesters gather outside of Columbia University's Butler Library (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Kicking the can down the road: A group of keffiyeh-clad students "descended on Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday to face formal arraignment for their roles in a violent takeover of Columbia University’s Butler Library," our Jon Levine reports from the scene. Though their lawyer asked the court to consider dismissal (and accused Israel of genocide), they aren't off the hook yet and are due back in court in July.
"A total of 56 defendants were arraigned at the courthouse, with a few joined by their nervous parents," writes Levine. "Among the defendants present were Ramona Sarsgaard, the nepobaby daughter of Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard. Dima Aboukasm—whom Mayor Eric Adams once hailed as a peace activist—also had her day in court. They were represented by Matthew W. Daloisio, the same attorney who represented those arrested for storming Columbia's Hamilton Hall in 2024."
"Daloisio defended his clients' conduct, saying they 'set up a teach-in in a library.' He asked the court 'to consider dismissal in the interest of justice' before requesting and receiving an 'adjournment for supporting depositions' from Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg's office, which requires law enforcement to produce documents 'signing off on the criminal allegations [and] saying the charges are true,' local defense attorney Jason Goldman told the Washington Free Beacon. Goldman speculated that Daloisio 'wants this adjournment to see in fact whether Bragg's office upholds the arrests and moves the case forward in a criminal prosecution.'"
If last summer is anything to go off of, Bragg will do the opposite. Stay tuned for more.
READ MORE: Dismiss Our Cases, Keffiyeh-Clad Columbia Radicals Tell NYC Court
Mugged by reality: Jake Tapper, the CNN host best known for ignoring the Biden cover-up before writing a best-selling book about it, is starting to learn a thing or two about the Democratic Party—mainly that it's full of "a bunch of woke scolds who are obsessed with racism and routinely denigrate normal men," writes our Andrew Stiles.
Tapper "discussed his belated epiphany—many years after the Democratic Party started hating men and denouncing everything as racist—on a podcast with tech baron Scott Galloway." He recounted an appearance on a different, "left-leaning" podcast in which the cohost—since identified as Jason Stewart of How Long Gone—suggested Tapper's football-playing teenage son could be racist because he wants to be a police officer.
"That was the big laugh, and then I got dragged in the comments and all that stuff, and I thought to myself, 'This is why you fuckers are losing elections,'" Tapper said.
"Alas, Tapper is unlikely to reflect on the media's role in perpetuating the Democratic Party's radically antagonistic attitudes toward police officers and young men who enjoy football and war," Stiles writes. "CNN in particular has been one of the party's most reliable allies in promoting the woke views that Tapper finally claims to realize are obnoxious and condescending. Cool epiphany, bro. Thanks for noticing."
Rotten apple: Donald Trump and his allies have long accused New York AG Letitia James of abusing her office. Now, a former high-ranking official in her office is saying the same.
Former assistant New York solicitor general Brian Ginsberg, our Andrew Kerr reports, "warned the Supreme Court in a May 12 filing that James is abusing her prosecutorial powers in an ongoing Title IX case against a western New York school district over four disparate sexual misconduct allegations between its students." He took issue with legal maneuverings James used to interfere in the case, given that a state attorney general like James is typically "barred from intervening in legal disagreements between individuals or small groups of people."
"The same New York State Attorney General who initiated this action against the School District has been judicially chastised for abusing her power to initiate representative actions to launch 'predatory lawsuits that seek to impose punishment while searching for a crime,'" Ginsberg wrote in his filing. Sounds familiar.
READ MORE: Letitia James’s Former Colleague Says ‘Opportunistic’ NY AG Abused Her Power
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