GOP senator latest Republican to throw hat behind Trump for president

Posted on September 18, 2023 by Latest Political News on Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: A Republican senator running for his state's governorship threw his hat behind former President Trump's White House bid.

Republican Senator Mike Braun of Indiana, who is running to be the Hoosier State's next governor, told Fox News Digital that he is endorsing Trump for president in the 2024 race.

"As a Main Street Entrepreneur and political outsider, I’ve seen firsthand how the Washington swamp works against Hoosiers and works overtime to hamper our prosperity," Braun told Fox News Digital.

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"Donald Trump is a businessman and outsider," Braun said. "Together, we took on the Washington swamp with a historic victory in the 2018 Indiana Senate race."

"We installed constitutional conservatives on the Supreme Court who have protected the unborn and our Second Amendment rights, and we disrupted the cozy, self-serving Washington elites who are bankrupting our country," the Indiana senator continued.

Braun said that "Donald Trump is the candidate capable of returning us to the America First policies that delivered unmatched prosperity and security for the American people."

"I give Donald Trump my endorsement for President of the United States," he added.

Braun has been a staunch ally of Trump through his first term and was a loud voice of support behind the former president in his first impeachment trial.

Trump was also a major ally behind Braun's 2018 Senate run when he defeated then-incumbent Democrat Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly for his seat.

Trump brought in thousands of people to his rallies supporting Braum as the now-senator ran amid a tough midterm election year for Republicans.

Braun's comments come as a top Republican predicts Trump will take the GOP White House nomination.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy predicted the former president will win the 2024 Republican presidential primary race on Sunday, bashing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as "not at the same level."

McCarthy made the comments during an appearance on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" with host Maria Bartiromo. McCarthy has previously remained neutral in the GOP primary, declining to endorse Trump in July.

"I think he will be the nominee," McCarthy said about Trump after Bartiromo asked if he thought the former president would be the party's choice for 2024. "The thing is, President Trump is stronger today than he was in 2016 or 2020, and there's a reason why. They saw the policies of what he was able to do with America – putting America first, making our economy stronger."

"We didn't have inflation. We didn't have these battles around the world. We didn't look weak around the world," he added.

"Well it looks like Ron DeSantis is now trying to work with your colleagues who are pushing for a shutdown," Bartiromo said.

"I don't think that would work anywhere. A shutdown would only give strength to the Democrats," McCarthy said. "It would give the power to Biden. It wouldn't pay our troops. It wouldn't pay our border agents."

"I actually want to achieve something, and this is where President Trump is so smart, that he was successful in this." McCarthy continued. "President Trump is beating Biden right now in the polls. He is stronger than he has ever been in this process, and, look, I served with Ron DeSantis – he's not at the same level as President Trump by any shape or form. He would not have gotten elected without President Trump's endorsement."

While McCarthy's comments do not amount to an official endorsement of Trump, they are a clear message of friendship to the former president. McCarthy had previously offended the Trump campaign with another television appearance in June.

Fox News Digital's Anders Hagstrom contributed reporting.

Former Indiana congressman convicted of insider trading seeks to avoid prison ahead of upcoming sentencing

Posted on June 15, 2023 by Latest Political News on Fox News

A former Indiana congressman should spend no time in prison after his insider trading conviction, his lawyers told a judge Wednesday.

Steve Buyer, 64, of Noblesville, Indiana, was convicted by a jury in Manhattan federal court in March of four securities fraud charges after a two-week trial for stock trades he made while working as a consultant and lobbyist after he finished serving in Congress from 1993 to 2011.

He was convicted in connection with insider trading involving the $26.5 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, announced in April 2018, and stock purchases he made at a later time in the management consulting company Navigant when his client Guidehouse was set to acquire it in a deal publicly disclosed weeks later.

Federal sentencing guidelines call for him to serve a prison sentence of about three years, though judges frequently depart downward from the recommendations.

FORMER GOP REP. STEVE BUYER CONVICTED OF INSIDER TRADING

His lawyers wrote in a submission ahead of a July 11 sentencing that the Republican should face only home confinement and community service.

The lawyer and Persian Gulf War veteran once chaired the House Veterans’ Affairs committee and served as a House prosecutor at former President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment trial.

Buyer's attorneys told the judge who will sentence their client that Buyer has suffered substantially as a result of the prosecution and conviction.

The case has "irreparably damaged his reputation, tarnished his achievements and lifetime of service, and continue to bring shame and humiliation to him and his family," the lawyers said.

They said he lost all of his consulting clients after he was indicted and his two businesses "crumbled," erasing average yearly gross income of about $2.2 million that existed from 2018 to 2021. Now, they produce no income, the lawyers said.

GOP REP. STEVE BUYER TO RETIRE AMID ETHICS PROBE

As a result of the conviction, he will lose his Virginia and Indiana bar licenses, and he can never again consult for and advise Fortune 500 companies or any others where he could have access to insider information, they said.

"The cost of litigation has also been substantial, causing Mr. Buyer and his wife to sell most of their assets, including their home, condo, and two cars," the lawyers said. His wife will have to go back to work at age 65, they added.

In addition, four financial institutions have closed or frozen his bank accounts, including his investment accounts, and two credit card companies have closed his accounts, the lawyers said.

The attorneys said a sentence that does not include prison time would not be unusual because more than a third of individuals convicted of insider trading charges who previously had a clean record faced no prison time. And over 70 percent of the sentences were less than two years in length, they said.

At trial, prosecutors said his clients were motivated to share lucrative secrets with him because they wanted his help as a consultant.

Defense lawyers contended that he was a stock market buff who did research that led to legal profitable trades. Buyer testified on his own behalf.

Buyer made over $320,000 illegally for himself, relatives and a woman with whom he had an affair, authorities said.

Former GOP Rep. Steve Buyer convicted of insider trading

Posted on March 11, 2023 by Latest Political News on Fox News

A former Indiana congressman and Persian Gulf War veteran was convicted Friday of insider trading charges after a two-week jury trial.

The verdict against Steve Buyer, a Republican lawyer who served in Congress from 1993 to 2011, was returned after a jury heard evidence about stock purchases he made after he became a consultant and lobbyist.

Buyer once chaired the House Veterans’ Affairs committee and served for a time as a House prosecutor during former President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment trial.

GOP REP. STEVE BUYER TO RETIRE AMID ETHICS PROBE

The jury returned guilty verdicts on four securities fraud charges. Judge Richard M. Berman set sentencing for July 11.

Prosecutors said at trial that Buyer took information from clients and used it to make illegal stock trades.

His lawyers, though, argued that he was a stock market buff who did research that led to legal profitable trades. They said it was a coincidence that his clients purchased two companies that he had invested in.

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Authorities said Buyer made over $320,000 illegally for himself, relatives and a woman with whom he’d had an affair.

Buyer, 64, was an Army reservist with a solo law practice in Monticello, Indiana, when he was called for active duty during the 1990-91 Gulf War. He served as a legal adviser in a prisoner of war camp.

On returning home, he ran for Congress and unseated three-term Democrat Jim Jontz in 1992.

While in Washington, Buyer helped draw attention to Gulf War-related illnesses, and he worked on other issues relating to the military, veterans, prescription drugs and tobacco.