Editor's Picks: J6 Pervert, Congressional swamp monsters, renewed efforts to drill off Florida coast and more!

It was another week of non-stop news that was nearly impossible to keep up with. Stories I was unable to get to include a pardoned J6 rioter who went on to sexually abuse a child in Florida, a south Florida Congresswoman accused of stealing $5 million from FEMA, more Epstein files fallout, a renewed push to drill in Florida Gulf waters, and more. 

Florida child molester pardoned by Trump tried to convince victim he was getting J6 payout

Andrew Paul Johnson, 44, was pardoned by President Trump after he breached the Capitol through a broken window and engaged in disorderly conduct for over four hours, and encouraged others to continue the assault.  He went on to molest a young child. According to an arrest affidavit, Johnson molested an 11-year-old Florida boy multiple times last year, then attempted to silence the victim by mailing him an iPhone and promising future money from an alleged $10 million payout he claimed was being given to J6 rioters who were arrested. Read the full story at The Intercept.

Stealing from FEMA?

The Justice Department has accused Democratic Florida Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of stealing $5 million in COVID-19 disaster funds to support her 2021 congressional campaign. She is alleged to have been overpaid by FEMA through a company she owned with her brother for a COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract. Cherfilus-McCormick was elected in a January 2022 special election, following the death of Alcee Hastings. The Florida Democrat disputes the accusations and says she's "confident that the truth will prevail," but it does not look good. 

Clinton Treasury Secretary Larry Summers is even sleazier than we thought

The most humiliating thing revealed from the Epstein files this week is what a complete loser former Treasury Secretary and Harvard University President Larry Summers is. Summers texted the convicted sex offender for advice about trying to sleep with the much younger daughter of a former high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official whom he was mentoring.

Summers, who may have failed upward more spectacularly than anyone in history, given that he was wrong on practically everything he ever said about economics, wanted to leverage macroeconomist Keyu Jin's deeply misplaced desire to learn from him to trap her into a sexual relationship. In doing so, he referred to Epstein as his "wing man." Again, this was 2018, long after Epstein had been exposed and just ahead of his second arrest for sex trafficking. Read more from the Harvard Crimson here. 

Congressional Drama

Republicans attempted to censure Stacey Plaskett, delegate to the United States House of Representatives from the United States Virgin Islands' at-large congressional district, after it was revealed that she was texting in real-time with Jeffrey Epstein during a 2019 House Oversight Committee hearing. Epstein was apparently coaching her on questions to ask former Donald Trump Attorney Michael Cohen.

The measure failed, however, in what appeared to be a bipartisan deal that saw Democrats threaten to renew a censure measure against Florida Congressman Cory Mills (R-Sanford) that would have removed him from the Armed Services Committee. Mills is the scumbag who threatened revenge porn against his beauty queen girlfriend, who dumped him after he was accused of domestic assault against another girlfriend he was keeping in D.C. that the first one did not know about.  Mills is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for numerous allegations, including violations of campaign finance laws.

A fellow member of the Florida delegation, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Pinellas), called out both sides from the House floor (video below).

Lindsey Halligan is even less qualified to be a federal prosecutor than we thought

Donald Trump fired a career federal prosecutor who didn't think there was a case to bring against former FBI director James Comey, so he fired him and installed one of his personal corporate attorneys with zero experience as a prosecutor. What could go wrong? A lot, apparently. A federal judge ruled that the Justice Department engaged in a "disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps" and "fundamental misstatements of the law" in securing the indictment.

Drilling for oil off Florida's coast?

The Interior Department has proposed a plan to open new drilling in federal waters off the coasts of California and Florida for the first time in decades. Last week, Florida Senators Rick Scott and Ashley Moody co-sponsored a bill to maintain a moratorium on offshore drilling in the state that Trump signed in his first term, after Scott, then Florida's governor, convinced him to drop the plan.

Dennis "Mitch" Maley is an editor and columnist for The Bradenton Times and the host of our weekly podcast. With over two decades of experience as a journalist, he has covered Manatee County government since 2010. He is a graduate of Shippensburg University and later served as a Captain in the U.S. Army. Click here for his bio. Mitch is also the author of three novels and a short story collection available here. He can be reached at editor@thebradentontimes.com.