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Global Statistics

All countries
695,781,740
Confirmed
Updated on September 26, 2023 9:06 pm
All countries
627,110,498
Recovered
Updated on September 26, 2023 9:06 pm
All countries
6,919,573
Deaths
Updated on September 26, 2023 9:06 pm

Global Statistics

All countries
695,781,740
Confirmed
Updated on September 26, 2023 9:06 pm
All countries
627,110,498
Recovered
Updated on September 26, 2023 9:06 pm
All countries
6,919,573
Deaths
Updated on September 26, 2023 9:06 pm
Home Blog Page 26

Hunter Biden’s network of wealthy, corrupt foreigners stretched from Moscow to Beijing

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Hunter Biden’s network of wealthy, corrupt foreigners stretched from Moscow to Beijing

The Senate Republican report this week on Hunter Biden shows he amassed a network of shady foreign clients who pumped millions of dollars into his bank accounts — all while his dad, Joseph R. Biden, served as vice president.

The report traced the bank transfers based on U.S. government reports that “show potential criminal activity” by Mr. Biden, other family members, and business partners. The report’s phrasing is a sure indicator that Hunter Biden and his associates showed up by name in confidential Suspicious Activity Reports (SARS) issued by the Treasury Department.

In one instance, after Hunter Biden transferred nearly $2 million to his uncle––the money ultimately connected to Chinese businessmen––the bank inquired about the large amount. It then closed the account when the Bidens were not forthcoming, the Senate report said.

Hunter Biden’s financial sources: a Russian oligarch; a Ukraine oligarch; a Kazakhstan holding company and Chinese businessmen tied to the Communist Party and People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Meanwhile, Hunter Biden, who has fought drug addiction, sent thousands of dollars to Russian and Ukraine women tied to human trafficking and prostitution, the report said.

The findings prompted the report’s authors, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, Iowa Republican, and Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, to state,

“In particular, these documents show that Hunter Biden received millions of dollars from foreign sources as a result of business relationships that he built during the period when his father was vice president of the United States and after. These foreign nationals have questionable backgrounds that have been identified as being consistent with a range of criminal activities, including but not limited to organized prostitution and/or human trafficking, money laundering, fraud, and embezzlement.”

The two senators bluntly stated that Biden the son “cashed in on Joe Biden’s vice presidency.” The vice president is the Democratic presidential nominee challenging President Trump.

Here are Mr. Biden’s major sources of big money, according to the senate report.

The Ukraine energy firm Burisma Holdings and its oligarch boss, Mykola Zlochevsky.

The State Department views Mr. Zlochevsky as one of the most corrupt men in Ukraine. He paid a $25 million bribe to the public prosecutor investigating his alleged money laundering, the Senate report said.

In April 2014, Vice President Biden became the Obama administration’s point man on Ukraine. His mission: convince the former Soviet state to tamp down rampant corruption.

The next month, Hunter Biden showed up on Burisma’s board of directors. He joined his business partner Devon Archer.

In the ensuing years, Burisma paid the two over $4 million. From May 2014, to February 2016, 48 wire transfers totalling $3.4 million went to Rosemont Seneca Bohai, a shell company run by Mr. Archer in partnership with a Chinese investment fund.

In 2014-15, Rosemont sent $700,000 to Hunter Biden. After Mr. Archer was arrested for alleged financial fraud in 2016, Burisma directly sent $752,000 to Mr. Biden’s law firm.

Russia’s only women billionaire, Elena Baturina, wired Mr. Biden $3.5 million for consulting services in February 2014, the same month Russian troops invaded Ukraine’s Crimea. She sent another $241,000 in 2015.

Ms. Baturina is the widow of a corrupt Moscow mayor, Yuri Luzhkov. She became an oligarch thanks to her husband’s administration funneling huge contracts to her plastics company, Intake.

As an oligarch, Ms. Baturina would have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. She wired the money to Rosemont Seneca Thornton LLC, co-founded by Hunter Biden.

Another Biden firm was Rosemont Seneca Partners, which included Mr. Archer and Christopher Heinz, stepson to former Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat.

Treasury reported these bank transfers, the Senate report said, “because of Baturina’s reported criminal activity.”

On the day in 2014 that Vice President Biden addressed the Ukraine parliament as the new Obama administration point man, Novatus Holding, a private company in Singapore, used a Latvian bank to wire $142,300 to Rosemont Seneca Bohai. The transaction report said “for Rosemont Seneca Bohai LLC for a car.”

The sole shareholder of Novatus is Kenges Rakishev who has ties to Kazakhstan’s power elite. He sent the money to Hunter Biden’s partner at a time when the country was debating whether to approve of Russian’s invasion of Crimea that February.

Mr. Biden gleaned millions of dollars from China.

“Hunter Biden has extensive connections to Chinese businesses and Chinese foreign nationals that are linked to the Communist government,” the Senate report said. “Those contacts bore financial fruit when his father was vice president and after he left office.”

“During 2010-2011, as a representative of Rosemont Seneca, Hunter Biden networked with representatives from Chinese state-owned enterprises and representatives of the Boston-based Thornton Group,” the report said

Constant figures in Mr. Biden financial forays in China are Ye Jianming, who ran an energy fund worth $33 billion, and an associate, Gongwen Dong. Both men were close to the ruling Communist Party, which planted layers of party members throughout the fund’s holdings.

Mr. Biden and Mr. Archer in 2012 formed Bohai Harvest Shanghai Equity Investment Fund Management Co. (Called BHR). The company is today mostly owned by Chinese entities.

In December 2013, Biden the son flew with his dad on Air Force Two to Beijing. After the trip, China approved BHR’s business license.

In 2016, Mr. Biden and Mr. Gongwen, who executes transactions for companies controlled by Mr. Ye, opened a line of credit for their New York business Hudson West III LLC. Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s brother, James, and wife, Sara used credit cards from that bank.

“The Bidens subsequently used the credit cards to purchase $101,291.46 worth of extravagant items, including airline tickets and multiple items at Apple Inc. stores pharmacies, hotels and restaurants,” the Senate report says. “The cards were collateralized by transferring $99,000 from a Hudson West III account to a separate account, where the funds were held until the cards were closed.”

The Treasury Department tagged the transactions as “potential criminal active.”

In 2017, Mr. Ye’s China Energy Co. sent $100,000 to Hunter Biden’s law firm. This too was flagged by Treasury as potentially criminal. Another Ye firm, CEFC Infrastructure Investment, wired $5 million to Hudson West III. Hudson then sent $4.7 million to Mr. Biden’s law firm as consulting fees.

The next year, another $1 million came from Hudson to Mr. Biden

Mr. Biden was also sending money to uncle James and his Lion Hall Group. Hunter’s law firm, Owasco, sent 20 wires totaling $1.3 million. This too was flagged by Treasury as criminal.

When the bank inquired with Sara Biden about the large transfers, she said the payments were for consulting. She refused to supply backup information. The bank then closed the account.

Mr. Gongwen owned other Hudson West entities that handled huge transfers, some as high as $113 million

In November 2017, Mr. Ye’s associate, Patrick Ho, was arrested by U.S. authorities for money laundering and conspiracy. Mr. Ye was detained the next year in China.

Human trafficking

The Senate report says Hunter Biden “sent thousands of dollars to individuals who have either: 1) been involved in transactions consistent with possible human trafficking; 2) an association with the adult entertainment industry; or 3) potential association with prostitution.”

The report continues: “Some recipients of those funds are Ukrainian and Russian citizens. The records note that it is a documented fact that Hunter Biden has sent funds to nonresident alien women in the United States who are citizens of Russia and Ukraine and who have subsequently wired funds they have received from Hunter Biden to individuals located in Russia and Ukraine. The [Treasury] records also note that some of these transactions are linked to what ‘appears to be an Eastern European prostitution or human trafficking ring.’”

Andrew Bates, former vice president Joe Biden’s spokesman, responded to the report:

“As the coronavirus death toll climbs and Wisconsinites struggle with joblessness, Ron Johnson has wasted months diverting the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee away from any oversight of the catastrophically botched federal response to the pandemic, a threat Sen. Johnson has dismissed by saying that ‘death is an unavoidable part of life.’ Why?

“To subsidize a foreign attack against the sovereignty of our elections with taxpayer dollars — an attack founded on a long-disproven, hardcore rightwing conspiracy theory that hinges on Sen. Johnson himself being corrupt and that the Senator has now explicitly stated he is attempting to exploit to bail out Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.”

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Mary Trump sues President and his siblings for fraud, calling it the family ‘way of life’

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Mary Trump sues President and his siblings for fraud, calling it the family ‘way of life’

New York (CNN)Mary Trump, President Donald Trump’s niece, filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing the President and his siblings of committing fraud in order to deprive her of her interests in the family r…
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Durham assumed parts of John Huber’s Clinton Foundation review: source

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Durham assumed parts of John Huber’s Clinton Foundation review: source

Aspects of U.S. Attorney John Huber’s investigation into the Clinton Foundation have been assumed by U.S. Attorney John Durham as part of his review into the origins of the Russia probe, Fox News has learned.

A source familiar with Durham’s investigation told Fox News on Thursday that parts of what Huber was investigating in 2017 — involving the Clinton Foundation — have been incorporated in Durham’s investigation.

FLASHBACK: SESSIONS DIRECTS JOHN HUBER TO ‘EVALUATE CERTAIN ISSUES’ INVOLVING URANIUM ONE, CLINTON FOUNDATION

In November 2017, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed Huber, the U.S. attorney for Utah, and other senior prosecutors to evaluate “certain issues” involving the sale of Uranium One, and other dealings related to the Clinton Foundation. Sessions tapped Huber after requests by congressional Republicans, who had been calling for the appointment of a special counsel to review the matters.

Sessions revealed that he asked U.S. Attorney John Huber, seen here, to look into the accusations.

Sessions revealed that he asked U.S. Attorney John Huber, seen here, to look into the accusations.

Huber was also tasked with reviewing the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email probe, including allegations that the Justice Department and FBI “policies or procedures” were not followed.

It has been unclear, for years, the status of Huber’s investigation, but another source told Fox News Thursday that Huber has faced mounting criticism from the Justice Department and White House over his progress.

“There are folks that are aware of the fact that Huber has not done much, and there has been criticism at the Justice Department and the White House,” the source said. “Folks that have been concerned about what he did or didn’t do, and many of them feel that Huber did not dig deep enough or work hard enough.”

The source added that many are “very concerned about why there hadn’t been more done.”

The New York Times on Thursday first reported that Durham has focused attention on the Clintons, and said that Durham has sought documents and interviews about how federal law enforcement officials handled an investigation into allegations of political corruption at the Clinton Foundation.

DOJ INVESTIGATES THE INVESTIGATORS: 5 INTERNAL PROBES UNDERWAY ON RUSSIA AND MORE

Durham was appointed by Attorney General Barr last year to investigate the origins of the FBI’s Russia probe shortly after Mueller completed his yearslong investigation into whether the campaign colluded with the Russians to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Durham’s timeline has been focused on July 2016, when the FBI’s original Russia probe began, through the appointment of Mueller in May 2017.

Durham’s investigation has been slowed by the coronavirus pandemic, but that has not blunted the level of anticipation from President Trump, his Republican allies on Capitol Hill and his supporters, some of whom have called for findings to be released before November’s presidential election.

Speculation over the status of Durham’s review into the origins of the Russia probe has only intensified amid the resignation of a top aide earlier this month, Norah Dannehy, and comments from congressional Republicans suggesting developments could soon be announced.

Dannehy, a top aide to Durham, resigned Friday, after working closely with the U.S. attorney for Connecticut for years. Durham’s office confirmed her departure but did not elaborate on the backstory.

DURHAM SPECULATION REACHING FEVER PITCH 

Earlier this month, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., hinted that developments in Durham’s investigation were on the horizon. This was after newly released Justice Department records showed numerous phones belonging to members of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team were wiped of information because of forgotten passcodes, irreparable screen damage, loss of the device, intentional deletion or other reasons—all before the Justice Department inspector general’s office could review the devices.

“You think you are mad about the phones being wiped?” Graham said on Fox News’ “Hannity” last week. “Stay tuned.”

He added: “We’ll talk in about 10 or 12 days and we’ll see if there is something else you can get mad about.”

The investigation has produced one criminal charge so far, against former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who was accused of altering an email related to the surveillance of a former Trump campaign aide. But that prosecution did not allege a broader conspiracy within the FBI, and the conduct it involved had largely been laid out in a Justice Department inspector general report from last December.

It is not clear if Durham will be able to conclude his work before the election, though Barr has not ruled out the possibility of additional criminal charges.

Barr, during an interview with NBC News last week, said that there “could be” more charges stemming from Durham’s review.

“Yeah, there could be,” Barr said while declining to say whether any such charges would be announced prior to Election Day.

In July, though, Fox News reported that Durham could wait to reveal his findings or initiate further prosecutions until after the 2020 presidential election.

Two sources familiar with Durham’s investigation told Fox News at the time that Durham was working expeditiously to try to finish the probe before Labor Day — which he did not — but that several lines of the investigation had not yet been completed.

“He believes it’s critical to do them,” one source said at the time. “He is feeling more pressure to get this done and wrapped up.”

The source also told Fox News that Durham “does not want this to be viewed political,” and the closer it gets to November, Durham could “punt it to after the election.”

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Feds investigating discarded mail-in ballots cast for Trump in Pennsylvania

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Feds investigating discarded mail-in ballots cast for Trump in Pennsylvania

The Justice Department and FBI are investigating potential mail-in ballot irregularities in Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state for the 2020 presidential election.

On Thursday, the Justice Department said it discovered ballots cast for President Trump in Luzerne County were discarded.

Mr. Trump won the northern Pennsylvania county in 2016, despite it being a Democratic stronghold that voted for Democratic presidential candidates for several decades.

“At this point we can confirm that a small number of military ballots were discarded,” said David Freed, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, in a statement. “Investigators have recovered nine ballots at this time. Some of those ballots can be attributed to specific voters and some cannot. All nine ballots were cast for presidential candidate Donald Trump.”

The Justice Department said Thursday it began investigating mail-in ballots at the Luzerne County Board of Elections after receiving a request from Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis.

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National Guard being brought in to Westmoreland Manor amid rise in COVID-19 cases

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National Guard being brought in to Westmoreland Manor amid rise in COVID-19 cases

UPDATE: Westmoreland County commissioners have decided to bring in the National Guard to assist at Westmoreland Manor.The role of the Guard will be to take over testing at the county-operated nursing facility, allowing management to return to normal duties.Commissioners met with Excela Health and the Regional Response Health Collaboration Program about the issue on Thursday.Of the 59 total cases at Westmoreland Manor, commissioners say most patients are currently asymptomatic.This is a developing story. Follow @JimWTAE for updates and watch his report on Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 tonight at 5 p.m. Download the WTAE mobile app to stay connected with breaking news.PREVIOUS STORY: The office of the Westmoreland County commissioners released new information on Thursday morning, saying there are now 47 positive COVID-19 tests among the 336 residents at Westmoreland Manor. That is 15 more residents with positive cases than what was reported Tuesday afternoon.The news release also said four additional employees have now tested positive for COVID-19.Westmoreland Manor will continue to test all staff and residents that tested negative every three to seven days until 14 days after the most recent positive test result.The release also said Westmoreland Manor will continue to be vigilant in monitorial for symptoms and performing serial surveillance testing.They also said they are following all current guidelines.

GREENSBURG, Pa. —

UPDATE: Westmoreland County commissioners have decided to bring in the National Guard to assist at Westmoreland Manor.

The role of the Guard will be to take over testing at the county-operated nursing facility, allowing management to return to normal duties.

Commissioners met with Excela Health and the Regional Response Health Collaboration Program about the issue on Thursday.

Of the 59 total cases at Westmoreland Manor, commissioners say most patients are currently asymptomatic.

This is a developing story. Follow @JimWTAE for updates and watch his report on Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 tonight at 5 p.m. Download the WTAE mobile app to stay connected with breaking news.

This content is imported from Twitter.
You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

#BREAKING: Westmoreland County Commissioners are bringing in the National Guard to assist with the COVID-19 outbreak at Westmoreland Manor. As of right now, 47 residents and 12 employees have tested positive according to commissioners. https://t.co/zNcPGx5GKv

— Jim Madalinsky (@JimWTAE) September 24, 2020


PREVIOUS STORY: The office of the Westmoreland County commissioners released new information on Thursday morning, saying there are now 47 positive COVID-19 tests among the 336 residents at Westmoreland Manor. That is 15 more residents with positive cases than what was reported Tuesday afternoon.

The news release also said four additional employees have now tested positive for COVID-19.

Westmoreland Manor will continue to test all staff and residents that tested negative every three to seven days until 14 days after the most recent positive test result.

The release also said Westmoreland Manor will continue to be vigilant in monitorial for symptoms and performing serial surveillance testing.

They also said they are following all current guidelines.

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The social issues behind Breonna Taylor protests

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The social issues behind Breonna Taylor protests

©2020 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. All market data delayed 20 minutes. New Privacy PolicyNew Terms of Use (What’s New)FAQ

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Food insecurity in the US increasingly linked to obesity

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Food insecurity in the US increasingly linked to obesity

Nearly 23% of people with obesity in the United States have reported food insecurity, compared with 15% of people with moderate weight. This association with obesity has doubled since 1999–2000, according to a recent analysis of trends in food insecurity.

“Food insecurity” refers to a lack of access to enough food for an active, healthy life. In the West, this issue is most often due to limited financial resources.

People with low food security report concerns that food will run out before they can afford to buy more and being unable to afford balanced meals.

Internationally, food insecurity more often relates to the frequency of conflict and to climate-related failure of harvests. Very low food security is more likely to lead to reduced food intake and undernourishment.

While there are varying degrees, low food security can reduce the “quality, variety, and desirability” of a person’s diet, even in wealthy nations like the U.S. Very low food security in the U.S., for example, leads to skipping meals and the disruption of regular eating patterns.

In 2019, 10.5% of U.S. households had some level of food insecurity — 6.4% had low food security, and 4.1% had very low food security. Now, there are concerns that COVID-19 may be exacerbating this problem.

Recent Census Bureau data show that before the pandemic, 1 in 10 respondents said that they “sometimes or often did not have enough to eat.” In early March, this figure rose to 25%.

The survey respondents mentioned not having enough money to buy food or being unable to get out to buy food as reasons for the insecurity.

Food insecurity is associated with a range of negative health outcomes. For children, these include anemia, asthma, poor cognitive performance, and behavior problems. In adults, there is a higher risk of depression, asthma, diabetes, and hypertension.

Meanwhile, the link between obesity and food insecurity has been a topic of debate. In 2011, a review of 42 articles concluded that while women with food insecurity were more likely to have overweight or obesity, there was no evidence that food insecurity caused weight gain over the long term.

More recently, researchers have proposed a resource scarcity hypothesis to explain the ongoing associations between food insecurity and increased weight.

According to the theory, an increased intake of inexpensive, high-calorie foods forms a cycle with skipping meals and intermittent hunger. This, in turn, leads to physiological changes that encourage the deposition of fat and decreased energy and exercise.

The new analysis was based on data from over 46,000 adults in the U.S. collected through the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The goal of NHANES is to assess the health and nutritional status of people in the U.S. through regular surveys.

To better understand trends in obesity and food insecurity in the U.S., the analysis, from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, in Baton Rouge, LA, analyzed data collected between 1999 and 2016. The researchers focused on measures relating to food security and body fat — body mass index, or BMI, and waist circumference.

Their findings, which feature in the journal JAMA Network, point to a significant increase in food insecurity rates during this time, reaching 18.2% in 2015–2016. This is in contrast to declines in food insecurity before the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the beginning of the study, in 1999–2000, 12% of women with obesity were food insecure, compared with 7% who were not. By 2015–2016, the number of women with obesity and food insecurity had risen to 25%, compared with 16% of women with moderate weight, what the researchers referred to as “normal” weight.

In men, there was a similar trend. At the beginning of the study, in 1999–2000, food insecurity was more prevalent in men with normal weight (10%), compared with 9% of those with obesity. By 2015–2016, food insecurity was more prevalent in men with obesity (20%), compared with those who had normal weight (16%).

“Food insecurity and obesity are not mutually exclusive […] Rather, these health issues are linked in such a way that a solution will require public policy that addresses both at the same time.”

– Dr. Candice Myers, an assistant professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and the study’s lead author

The prevalence of food insecurity was highest among people with obesity. This may be partly because the cheapest and most accessible foods are often the least healthful.

The fact that food insecurity can coexist with obesity — and in fact correlate with it — highlights the importance of making healthy and nutritious food affordable for all.

The researchers also identified differences that aligned with race and ethnicity, with food insecurity in 2015–2016 being greater among Black participants (29.1%) and Hispanic participants (35%), compared with their white counterparts (13%).

The researchers observe that rising rates of food insecurity following the start of the ongoing pandemic in the U.S. are a critical public health concern.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly worsened the situation. The country may face long-term economic and health consequences unless we solve this public health crisis,” says Dr. Myers.

The researchers recommend various ways that public health professionals can combat rising levels of food insecurity — including using screening tools to identify people at risk of this issue, who can then be referred to support services, such as food banks.

They also recommend further research to better understand the link between food insecurity and obesity, as well as the racial and ethnic disparities in food security.

Dr. John Kirwan, executive director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, concluded, “Our research has set the stage to not only continue our current efforts to explore these issues, but also develop new and innovative projects that delve into understanding their impact on the health of the citizens of our community, state, and the entire country.”

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Live Breonna Taylor News Tracker: Suspect Charged in Shooting of 2 Officers

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Live Breonna Taylor News Tracker: Suspect Charged in Shooting of 2 Officers

Angry protesters took to the streets across the country after a Kentucky grand jury did not charge any officers with killing Ms. Taylor in her apartment.

Right Now

The Louisville mayor said one of the shot officers had been released from the hospital after being treated for a leg wound, and the other was recovering from abdominal surgery.

Video

transcript

transcript

2 Officers Shot in Louisville Protests

Two Louisville, Ky., police officers were shot during protests Wednesday night after a grand jury did not charge officers with killing Breonna Taylor.

Crowd: “Whose streets? Our streets!” [series of shots] [sirens] “Right there, right there, officer down, right there.” “Officer down — yes, yes, OK.” [shots] [shouting] “We’ve got an officer down. “Officer down, officer down —” [shouting] [sirens] “They’re going to double back, right here down this alley.” “We’ve got one down. We’ve got one down.” [series of shots] “Oh, they shot guns — they’re shooting guns, real guns. They’re blasting at the police.” [sirens] “They shot at the police.” “Our officers were called to the area of Brook and College, in a large crowd and shots fired in the area. As they were deploying to investigate what was going on at First and Broadway, shots rang out, and two of our officers were shot. Both officers are currently undergoing treatment at University Hospital. One is alert and stable. The other officer is currently undergoing surgery and stable. We do have one suspect in custody.”

Video player loading

Two Louisville, Ky., police officers were shot during protests Wednesday night after a grand jury did not charge officers with killing Breonna Taylor.CreditCredit…Whitney Curtis for The New York Times

Louisville police charge a suspect in the shooting of two officers during a night of protests.

The authorities in Louisville, Ky., have charged Larynzo Johnson, 26, with 14 counts of wanton endangerment and two counts of assault on a police officer after two officers were shot during protests in the city, according to the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections.

Mr. Johnson was arrested on Wednesday, booked Thursday morning, and is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, the department said.

The city erupted in angry demonstrations Wednesday after a grand jury decided not to bring charges against the police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor during a botched nighttime raid on her apartment in March. The grand jury instead indicted another officer involved in the raid for recklessly firing shots that entered a neighboring apartment.

The decision in a case that has drawn widespread condemnation and outrage sparked other demonstrations across the country as well. Ms. Taylor’s name has become a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement, along with those of George Floyd and other Black people across the country who have been killed by the police.

Neither of the officers who were shot during the protests in Louisville sustained life-threatening injuries, Mayor Greg Fischer said at a news conference Thursday morning. He said that one of the officers, Maj. Aubrey Gregory, a commander, had been released from the hospital after treatment for a leg wound. The other officer, Robinson Desroches, was recovering from abdomen surgery, the mayor said.

Mr. Fischer said that while he knew the community was hurting over the grand jury’s action, the shooting of the officers was “completely unacceptable.”

“Many see Breonna Taylor’s case as both the tragic death of a young woman, and the continuation of a long pattern of devaluation and violence that Black women and men face in our country, as they have historically,” the mayor said. The question, he said, is: “What do we do with this pain?”

He added: “When any of us gives into the temptation to channel anger into violence, we slow our progress.”

Early Thursday morning, the F.B.I. and the Louisville Metro Police Department asked for the public’s help in obtaining photos and videos related to the shooting of the officers. They posted on Twitter a link where the public could upload files and send tips.

The morning after the protests, downtown Louisville appeared quiet, other than the beeping sounds from garbage trucks. In photos posted online, Black Lives Matter and Breonna Taylor banners reading “Say Her Name” could be seen near police barricades that still blocked some city streets.

Video images from Jefferson Square Park showed cleanup crews in fluorescent yellow jackets raking up litter and debris and shoveling it into orange trucks. Metal trash cans on sidewalks appeared charred in places by small fires ignited in them during the protests Wednesday night. Cardboard signs supporting Breonna Taylor surrounded a statue in the square, and a painted portrait of Ms. Taylor was encircled by pink, yellow and purple flowers

Chief Robert J. Schroeder of the Louisville police said he was grateful that the two officers who were shot survived. “Last night’s situation could have been so much worse,” he said.

There were additional reports of injuries to police officers, including a sergeant who was struck by a protester’s baton, and another who suffered a knee injury “while arresting a resisting individual,” the chief said. Another officer was spit on, he said.

Chief Schroeder said there were 16 instances of looting in Louisville on Wednesday night, and that 127 people were arrested during the protests. “There were several instances of unlawful behavior where police needed to intervene,” he said.

A curfew will remain in effect in the city from 9 p.m. Thursday to 6:30 a.m. on Friday, and again on Friday night into Saturday morning, the chief said.

The shooting of the two officers Wednesday was captured on a video livestreamed by the Police Department, in which officers could be seen marching south down South Brook Street from East Broadway. In the video, several projectiles were launched from the area of the police line and made loud bangs as they burst in the air.

Moments later, several other bangs were heard, and the officers scattered. A spokesman said the officers were shot several blocks away, near the corner of South Brook and East College Streets.

“Shots fired, shots fired,” the woman recording the livestream said as she ran for cover. At least a dozen officers took cover behind a police truck, and officers began shouting “Officer down!”

“Get to cover!” another yelled, as the officers retreated toward a nearby Walgreens. “We got one down!”

A group of about 350 protesters split up at the sound of gunshots, many running through parking lots and nearby yards. The police shot at least one protester in the neck with a projectile.

‘There are Breonnas everywhere’: Protesters nationwide demand justice.

Image

Credit…Gabriela Bhaskar for The New York Times

And in Norfolk, Va., one man held a sign that said, “There are Breonnas everywhere.”

Anger over Ms. Taylor’s killing and the prosecutors’ handling of the case has spread far from Louisville, with protests on Wednesday night drawing crowds in New York, Chicago and Seattle. Some rallies, like those in Portland, Maine, and Memphis, were small but vocal.

  • Thousands of protesters marched through the streets of New York, including a group in Brooklyn that met outside the Barclays Center and swelled to around 2,000 people as it marched across the Manhattan Bridge and shut down traffic. Huey Freeman said that she had been protesting since demonstrations began this summer, and that seeing so many people gather again felt like a resurgent movement. “It means that the people want justice even if the system doesn’t,” she said.

  • In Portland, Ore., a person in a crowd of protesters threw a Molotov cocktail at a line of police officers, sending the officers running for safety as flames erupted on the street. Others in the crowd of several hundred lit small fires on the facade of a Portland Police Bureau building, and the authorities declared the gathering a riot.

  • In St. Paul, Minn., Diamond Reynolds, the girlfriend of Philando Castile, who was fatally shot by a police officer in 2016, spoke at a rally outside the Capitol. “I don’t want this incident to get swept under the rug and everybody forgets about all the innocent lives that have been taken,” Ms. Reynolds said. “We can never forget about any of these lives.”

  • The police in Denver arrested a man who they said drove a car into a protest near the State Capitol building Wednesday night. No injuries were reported. Video taken by a reporter for The Denver Post showed a crowd surrounding the vehicle before the driver accelerated through them, throwing one person to the ground.

  • About 100 people joined the Rev. Michael Pfleger in a march on Chicago’s South Side, stopping to shut down traffic in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood for about an hour. The protesters using a gallon of fake blood to spell out “Breonna” in the middle of the intersection, and then sat in the street and chanted, “We want justice, we want it now.”

  • In Seattle, about 200 protesters in raincoats and ponchos marched through downtown. Video posted on social media showed police officers on bikes riding over a person who attempted to block their way. Another clip showed an officer being hit in the head with a baseball bat. Shortly after midnight, the police declared the protest unlawful. At least 13 people were arrested, according to the police, and multiple officers were injured, including the one hit in the head with the bat.

  • The Georgia Department of Public Safety’s SWAT team used “less lethal gas” after “unruly protesters” in Atlanta ignored orders not to climb on a SWAT vehicle, said Franka Young, a department spokeswoman. One video posted on Twitter shows a SWAT team member pushing, then kicking a canister that is releasing a white gas toward protesters.

  • In Buffalo, a pickup truck drove through a group of protesters in Niagara Square about 8:45 p.m. and struck a protester who was on a bicycle, the Police Department said. The person who was hit was taken to Erie County Medical Center with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries.

  • About 50 people gathered on a Milwaukee street corner for a candlelight vigil, by turns silent and spirited, in front of a large mural of Ms. Taylor on a brick wall. “This is not going to end until we challenge the systems,” said Pilar Olvera, stressing that Black women could not fight the battle alone. Shortly after, a woman led the crowd in a call and response: “Say her name! Breonna Taylor!”

Professional athletes, who championed Taylor’s cause, voice their anger.

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Credit…Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

Professional athletes across the country took to social media to vent their frustrations over the grand jury’s decision, again highlighting their role in focusing public attention on race and policing.

“The white supremacist institution of policing that stole Breonna Taylor’s life from us must be abolished for the safety and well being of our people,” Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, posted on Twitter. Mr. Kaepernick became a political lightning rod and lost his job in the N.F.L. after taking a knee during the national anthem in 2016.

Ms. Taylor’s death was among the few high-profile police shootings in which a woman was killed since the start of the Black Lives Matter movement, and female athletes have been instrumental in directing attention to the investigation.

The W.N.B.A. dedicated its season to Ms. Taylor. Players wore her name on their jerseys, held moments of silence and supported the #SayHerName campaign meant to keep her case in the public eye.

“We time and time again hope for a sliver of justice but why would we get that when the system is designed to protect the very folks that are murdering and terrorizing us,” Layshia Clarendon of the New York Liberty, who is a member of the W.N.B.A.’s Social Justice Council, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “This isn’t a bad apple, it’s a rotten tree.”

“My heart is with the family of Breonna Taylor right now,” wrote Megan Rapinoe, captain of the U.S. women’s national soccer team. “My god. This is devastating and unfortunately not surprising. Black and brown fold in this country deserve so much more.”

Members of the N.B.A., who are often ahead of the curve in calling for social justice, were especially vocal about their disappointment in the grand jury’s decision. There were no on-court displays for Ms. Taylor in a game between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat after Wednesday’s announcement, but N.B.A. players spoke out elsewhere, as did the head of their union.

“Sadly, there was no justice today for Breonna Taylor,” Michele Roberts, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, wrote in a statement, saying that Ms. Taylor’s death was the result of “callous and careless decisions made with a lack of regard for humanity.”

“Our players and I once again extend our deepest sympathies to her family and we vow to continue working in her honor and to always say her name,” she added.

On Instagram, LeBron James simply said, “So so sorry!!!!

It is rare for any police officer who causes a death to be prosecuted.

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Credit…Xavier Burrell for The New York Times

The lack of a murder or manslaughter indictment against any of the officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor was an outrage to many — but not a surprise. Even as protests erupt in cities across American in response to incidents of police brutality, a gulf remains between the public perception of that violence and how it is treated in court.

Few police officers who cause a death in the line of duty are ever charged with murder or manslaughter — and only about one-third of the few who are charged are ever convicted.

Law enforcement officers kill about 1,000 people a year across the United States. Since the beginning of 2005, 121 officers have been arrested on charges of murder or manslaughter in on-duty killings, according to data compiled by Philip M. Stinson, a criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Of the 95 officers whose cases have concluded, 44 were convicted, but often on a lesser charge, he said.

In the case against the Minneapolis officers charged with killing George Floyd, whose videotaped death in May shocked the nation and was almost universally denounced, the prosecutor, Attorney General Keith Ellison, has warned of the difficulty of prosecuting officers.

“Trying this case will not be an easy thing,” Mr. Ellison said in June, even as he announced that he was raising the charge against one of the officers, Derek Chauvin, to second-degree murder. “Winning a conviction will be hard. History does show that there are clear challenges here.”

The grand jury did not charge the two officers who shot Ms. Taylor.

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Protests Erupt in Louisville After Breonna Taylor Decision

Protesters took to the streets in Louisville, Ky., after the state’s attorney general announced that only one of three officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor would be charged.

“On or about March 13, 2020, in Jefferson County, Ky., the above-named defendant, Brett Hankison, committed the offense of wanton endangerment in the first degree. That concludes the business of the grand jury sitting for Jefferson County in September 2020. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, you may be excused.” “That’s it?” “Is that the only charge?” “The cannot do their jobs! This is why we are angry! This is why we are upset!” “Say her name!” “Breonna Taylor!” “What do we want?” “Justice!” “If we don’t get it.” “Shut it down!” “If we don‘t get it!” “Burn it down!” “If we don‘t get it!” “Burn it down!” “Coming through. Coming through.” “Move. Move.”

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Protesters took to the streets in Louisville, Ky., after the state’s attorney general announced that only one of three officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor would be charged.CreditCredit…Xavier Burrell for The New York Times

A grand jury indicted a former Louisville police detective on Wednesday for endangering Breonna Taylor’s neighbors with reckless gunfire during a raid on her apartment in March, but the two officers who shot Ms. Taylor were not charged in her death.

The decision came after more than 100 days of protests and a monthslong investigation into the death of Ms. Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician who was shot six times in the hallway of her apartment by officers executing a search warrant.

Grand jurors indicted the detective, Brett Hankison, who was fired in June, on three counts of wanton endangerment, saying he had threatened the lives of three people who lived next to Ms. Taylor by firing bullets blindly into her apartment that landed in theirs.

In a news conference following the announcement of the grand jury’s decision, Kentucky’s attorney general, Daniel Cameron, said he knew that some people would not be satisfied.

“The decision before my office is not to decide if the loss of Breonna Taylor’s life was a tragedy — the answer to that question is unequivocally yes,” Mr. Cameron said.

He later added: “If we simply act on outrage, there is no justice — mob justice is not justice. Justice sought by violence is not justice. It just becomes revenge.”

Tamika Palmer, Ms. Taylor’s mother, drove to Frankfort, Ky., on Wednesday afternoon to be briefed on the charges by the attorney general, said her lawyer, Sam Aguiar. Advocates for the family had requested that she be briefed at least two hours before the public announcement, but they said Mr. Cameron told her the news 13 minutes before a planned news conference.

She wept, said Mr. Aguiar, who was also present.

Because the officers did not shoot first — it was the young woman’s boyfriend who opened fire, striking one officer in the leg; he has said he mistook the police for intruders — many legal experts had thought it unlikely the officers would be indicted in her death.

Three officers fired a total of 32 shots, Mr. Cameron said. Rounds fired by Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove struck Ms. Taylor, he said, while Mr. Hankison fired 10 rounds, none of which struck Ms. Taylor.

Mr. Hankison fired into the sliding glass patio door and window of Ms. Taylor’s apartment building, both of which were covered with blinds, in violation of a department policy that requires officers to have a line of sight. Some of the bullets entered a nearby apartment where a pregnant woman, her husband and their 5-year-old child were asleep. Mr. Hankison was dismissed from the force, with a termination letter stating that he showed “an extreme indifference to the value of human life.”

Ms. Taylor’s name and image have become part of the national movement over racial injustice since May, with celebrities writing open letters and erecting billboards that demanded the white officers be criminally charged. Ms. Palmer sued the city of Louisville for wrongful death and received a $12 million settlement last week. But she and her lawyers insisted that nothing short of murder charges would be enough, a demand taken up by protesters nationwide.

Ben Crump, a lawyer for the family, wrote on Twitter that the failure to charge any officer for killing Ms. Taylor was “outrageous and offensive.” Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Mayor Greg Fischer of Louisville, both Democrats, called on the attorney general, a Republican, to publish as much of the evidence as possible online so that the public could review it.

Many legal experts said before the charges were announced that indictments for killing Ms. Taylor would be unlikely, given the state’s statute allowing citizens to use lethal force in self-defense. John W. Stewart, a former assistant attorney general in Kentucky, said he believed that at least Sergeant Mattingly and Detective Cosgrove were protected by that law.

“As an African-American, as someone who has been victim of police misconduct myself, getting pulled over and profiled, I know how people feel,” Mr. Stewart said. “I have been there, but I have also been a prosecutor, and emotions cannot play a part here.”

Swearing and sobbing in Louisville after the grand jury’s decision.

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Credit…Xavier Burrell for The New York Times

Protesters gathered in downtown Louisville shrieked in disgust after the charges in the Breonna Taylor case were announced. They were particularly upset that the only officer charged was required to post a bond of just $15,000.

After the announcement, which the protesters listened to live, people yelled “That’s it?”

Some people swore, and several people sobbed. One person called for the crowd to burn the city down. A woman sitting on a chair with a T-shirt printed with Ms. Taylor’s image had to be consoled by several people.

“It tells people, cops can kill you in the sanctity of your own home,” Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American activist, said as she wiped tears from her face.

Desaray Yarbrough, who lives in Louisville and came out of her house when the march came by, said the attorney general’s announcement would do nothing to quell angry demonstrators.

“It’s unjustifiable,” Ms. Yarbrough said. “The lack of charges is getting ready to bring the city down.”

Protesters started marching through the streets shortly after the decision was announced, as a helicopter buzzed overhead. For about 10 minutes, a group of about 150 protesters blocked an intersection just outside a barricade. Protesters argued with angry drivers, and most cars turned around.

Within minutes, more than a dozen police officers arrived, and the protesters continued down Broadway. Block by block, the police caravan followed. Some, armed with assault rifles, stood by their vehicles.

After protesters marched loudly but peacefully through the streets for more than two hours, they were stopped by a line of officers in riot gear in the Highlands section of town.

After a standoff of a few minutes, officers, seemingly without any physical provocation, began charging into protesters and forcing them back. Some used batons to push protesters. A chemical agent released by the police left a burning, peppery scent in the air.

Officers began grabbing some demonstrators and forcing them to the ground to arrest them. An officer said on a loudspeaker that the assembly had been declared unlawful and told people to disperse.

Near Jefferson Square Park, after a march around the city had returned, police arrested a handful of demonstrators. Officers used their batons to push about 30 protesters closer and closer together, until people were shoulder to shoulder. After about a minute, the police opened a hole in their barricade and allowed the crowd to escape.

A local entrepreneur who goes by the name Scoota Truth, 35, joined the march through the city on Wednesday and said it was time to see real change.

‪“If anyone can get killed how Breonna got killed by the police, there’s no way we should live in a society where that’s possible,” he said.

Reporting was contributed by Mike Baker, Malachy Browne, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Rukmini Callimachi, Robert Chiarito, Shaila Dewan, Johnny Diaz, John Eligon, Concepción de León, Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio, Richard A. Oppel Jr., Azi Paybarah, Dan Simmons, Derrick Bryson Taylor, Russell Goldman, Megan Specia, Mike Baker, Katie Gillespie, Deena Winter, Gillian R. Brassil, Sean Piccoli and Will Wright. Kitty Bennett contributed research.

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China still spying on U.S. coronavirus vaccine efforts, Wray tells Congress

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China still spying on U.S. coronavirus vaccine efforts, Wray tells Congress

Chinese hackers are still trying to snoop on American coronavirus vaccine efforts, FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress on Thursday, saying they can actually track the attempts.

Mr. Wray said they’ll see a public announcement from a company on its vaccine progress, then within days they’ll see cyber penetration efforts against that company “that ties back to Chinese actors.”

“They’re trying to essentially jump to the front of the line by stealing information from others,” Mr. Wray said.

He declared China the largest counterterrorism focus of the FBI, and pointed to thousands of open investigations into Chinese attempts to penetrate American institutions.

Mr. Wray first warned in early summer that China was attempting to compromise U.S. coronavirus efforts.

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Mary Trump Sues President Trump and Family, Claiming Fraud

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Mary Trump Sues President Trump and Family, Claiming Fraud

Two months after she claimed in a tell-all book that her family cheated her out of her inheritance, Ms. Trump made similar allegations in a civil suit in Manhattan.

Credit…Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press

In her best-selling memoir, Mary L. Trump, President Trump’s niece, told a family story that detailed the ways in which she claims her relatives — the president among them — tricked, bullied and ultimately cheated her out of an inheritance worth tens of millions of dollars.

On Thursday, more than two months after the book was published and a little more than one month before the election, Ms. Trump told her story again — this time in a lawsuit.

The suit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, accused Mr. Trump, his sister Maryanne Trump Barry and their brother Robert Trump, who died in August, of fraud and civil conspiracy. It seeks to recover the millions of dollars Ms. Trump claims to have lost.

In its first sentence, the lawsuit says that, for the Trumps, “fraud was not just the family business — it was a way of life.” Beginning in the 1980s, the suit contends, the president and his siblings took control of the New York City real estate empire their father, Fred Trump Sr., had built and “exploited it to enrich themselves” to the detriment of everyone around them.

Ms. Trump, 55, claims to be one of her family’s victims. Her suit describes a plot against her, broken cinematically into three separate acts: “The Grift,” “The Devaluing” and “The Squeeze-Out.”

It recounts a narrative that began in 1981, when Ms. Trump’s father, Fred Trump Jr., unexpectedly died, leaving her, at age 16, with a valuable minority stake in the family empire. The story ends nearly 40 years later, when Ms. Trump says she discovered, with the help of journalists from The New York Times, that President Trump and his siblings “used their position of power to con her into signing her interests away.”

The White House has previously cast doubt on Ms. Trump’s book, which contains similar allegations, and has said the memoir was “in Ms. Trump’s own financial interest.”

Lawyers for the president and Robert Trump were not immediately available for comment. Ms. Trump Barry also did not immediately return a telephone call from a reporter.

The family lawsuit was the latest legal action to make claims against the president in his personal capacity. Earlier this month, the Justice Department moved to assume responsibility for defending Mr. Trump against a defamation suit brought against him by the writer E. Jean Carroll, who has alleged he raped her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s.

In August, the New York attorney general’s office revealed in court papers that it had intensified an investigation into whether Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization had committed fraud by overstating assets to get loans and tax benefits.

In a statement issued by her lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, Ms. Trump said her family had betrayed her by “working together in secret to steal from me” and by “conning me into giving everything away for a fraction of its true value.”

“I am bringing this case,” she added, “to hold them accountable and to recover what is rightfully mine.”

When Fred Trump Jr., the president’s older brother, died from an alcohol-induced heart attack in the early 1980s, he left Ms. Trump, his daughter, a profitable portfolio that included a stake in nearly 1.8 million square feet of prime Trump family real estate in Brooklyn and a portion of a group of property partnerships known as the Midland Associates Group.

Because Ms. Trump was a teenager at the time and had only a “cursory knowledge” of the value of her holdings, the portfolio was overseen by Mr. Trump and his siblings, who, the lawsuit says, had a fiduciary responsibility to look after her interests.

Instead, the suit maintains, Ms. Trump’s aunt and uncles embarked on “a complex scheme” to siphon money away from her by, among other things, taking “exorbitant management fees, consulting fees, and salaries” from the companies she had a stake in and by issuing loans to themselves from businesses she controlled that “included no terms of repayment.”

At the same time, the suit contends, Mr. Trump and his siblings worked with a “friendly appraiser” to “grossly understate the value of Mary’s interests,” even as they “fostered the impression that everything was OK.”

In 1999, when Fred Trump Sr. died and his will was to be executed, Mr. Trump and his brother and sister sought to gain control of Ms. Trump’s portion of the empire, according to the suit.

That October, for example, Robert Trump met Ms. Trump in the Drake Hotel in Midtown Manhattan and threatened that he and his siblings would “bankrupt” Midland, the partnership group she had a stake in, if she did not comply with their demands, the lawsuit says. The suit quotes Robert Trump as telling his niece that the move to destroy the company was designed to leave her financially liable for debts she could not afford.

Initially refusing to give in to her family, Ms. Trump and her brother, Fred Trump III, contested Fred Trump Sr.’s will in March 2000, saying it was not fair to them. But according to the lawsuit, her aunt and uncles “ratcheted up the pressure.”

At Ms. Trump Barry’s suggestion, the suit contends, the family cut off health insurance payments to Ms. Trump and her brother — “an act of unfathomable cruelty,” because one of Fred Trump III’s children had cerebral palsy and required round-the-clock nursing care.

Finally, as Ms. Trump’s legal fees began to mount, Mr. Trump and his siblings “exploited the opportunity” and tried to “squeeze Mary out of her interests altogether,” the suit maintains. They told her they would not settle the probate case or reinstate her health care unless she relinquished her stake in Midland and her Brooklyn real estate holdings, according to the suit.

Even then, the suit claims, they provided Ms. Trump with inaccurate financial statements and “valuations riddled with deliberate falsehoods” in an effort to drive down the amount they had to pay her.

The Trump family “not only deliberately defrauded Mary out of what was rightfully hers, they also kept her in the dark about it — until now,” the lawsuit says.

Ms. Trump’s book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” sold more than one million copies in its first week despite a lengthy effort led by Robert Trump to stop its publication. A clinical psychologist, Ms. Trump has since become a fixture on the talk-show circuit, describing her family’s internal dynamics and fiercely criticizing the president.

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