Several news organizations have jumped on last night's Wall Street Journal report that Michael Cohen, the former attorney for President Donald Trump, was in line for a $10 million finders fee if he delivered for a Tennessee financier looking to go nuclear. From Al.com:
The Chattanooga developer seeking to purchase Bellefonte Nuclear Plant and bring the dormant Alabama facility online sought help from President Trump's embattled former personal attorney to land a $5 billion federal loan.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Franklin Haney - the leader of Nuclear Development LLC - agreed to pay Michael Cohen $10 million if he helped secure funding for the plant.
Haney is seeking $5 billion in loans from the U.S. Department of Energy for the Bellefonte project in Jackson County, according to a May 23 announcement by U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, whose district includes the plant.
In 2016, the Tennessee Valley Authority's Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant in Hollywood, Ala., was auctioned to Nuclear Development for $111 million.
Last night, an old Atlanta Journal hand reminded us that Haney has long haunted the fringes of Southern politics, especially where influence mixes with money.
Haney had close ties to former Vice President Al Gore, and in 1999, was acquitted on federal charges of illegally contributing more than $100,000 to the political campaigns of President Bill Clinton and other Democrats.
Locals might remember Haney as the developer who, in 1986, defaulted on interest payments of more than $1.3 million on industrial revenue bonds used to finance the $35 million Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza hotel off Sullivan Road in College Park.
Haney ran for governor of Tennessee in 1974, as a Democrat. Funny story here: He joined then-Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson to walk onto a stage in Memphis, interrupting a Stevie Wonder concert.
The purpose was to allow Jackson to endorse Haney, but both men were booed off the stage.
Around that same time, the developer purchased the 36-floor, 101 Marietta Tower in downtown Atlanta for $26 million. Haney turned around and negotiated a five-year, $25 million lease on the building with the federal government.
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Another early GOP favorite with a congressional resume has gone down in a Southern statewide race.
That was the storyline from Bill Lee’s dominating victory Thursday over U.S. Rep. Diane Black to win the Republican nomination for governor in Tennessee. Lee will face former Nashville mayor Karl Dean in November.
But in the Tennessee race to replace U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, another Trump acolyte in Congress had better luck. U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn claimed the Republican nomination, setting up what’s likely to be a bruising contest with Democrat Phil Bredesen, the popular former governor. The race is crucial to Democratic ambitions to take control of the chamber.
In the governor’s race, Black had Vice President Mike Pence’s endorsement and ran as a Donald Trump acolyte -- albeit without his formal support, but she couldn’t overcome attacks that she was a creature of Washington.
Lee’s win extends an interesting streak in Tennessee, where Republicans have a history of electing business-centric officials like term-limited Gov. Bill Haslam and U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander, a proud pragmatist, and the exiting Bob Corker - a vocal Trump critic.
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The New York Times reports that 12 people in a single North Carolina county – all convicted felons -- have been charged with voting illegally in the 2016 presidential contest:
The case against the 12 voters in Alamance County — a patchwork of small towns about an hour west of the state's booming Research Triangle — is unusual for the sheer number of people charged at once. And because nine of the defendants are black, the case has touched a nerve in a state with a history of suppressing African-American votes.
Those charged face two years in prison if convicted.
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U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson is raising questions about whether "Quiet Skies," the Transportation Security Administration's recently disclosed undercover program, racially profiled airline passengers.
In a letter yesterday to TSA Administrator David Pekoske, the Lithonia Democrat also raised questions about the usefulness and cost-effectiveness of the program, which assigns federal air marshals to shadow and track the behavior of travelers deemed questionable.
“I have grave concerns that this secret domestic surveillance program is infringing upon the privacy of everyday travelers who pose no threat to national security,” wrote Johnson, a member of the House Judiciary and Transportation committees.
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Gosh, that Jamie Dupree sure knows how to sell a story. Here's the tease that WSB Radio's man in Washington sent out for an update on his efforts to recover his disappeared voice:
While it is great to have the Jamie Dupree 2.0 voice as a way to get my reports on the radio, I would much rather that my regular voice worked normally.
An example of that was on Wednesday night when I checked into my hotel in Atlanta, and I think the woman at the front desk felt like I didn't speak English. Sometimes people think I'm deaf.
So, on Thursday, I was back at the Emory University Brain Health Center for treatment, as my neurological expert gave me two Botox shots to my tongue. One note: They don't open your mouth and do it. They stick the needle in from underneath your chin.
Dupree helpfully provides a photo to show how it’s done.
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