Rudy Giuliani sued by his lawyers for $1.4M

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(NEW YORK) — Rudy Giuliani owes nearly $1.4 million to the law firm that defended him during numerous criminal, civil and Congressional investigations, the firm, Davidoff Butcher & Citron LLP, said in a new lawsuit filed Monday in New York.

Giuliani has paid $214,000 to the firm since November 2019, when he retained Robert Costello, a partner at the firm, the lawsuit said.

Costello represented Giuliani during criminal investigations in New York, Georgia and Washington, the House Jan. 6 investigation, 10 civil lawsuits in various state and federal courts, and disciplinary proceedings involving Giuliani’s law license.

“In breach of the Retainer Agreement, Defendant failed to pay Plaintiffs the balance of $1,360,196.10 of the total amount owed, although duly demanded,” the lawsuit said.

Giuliani made a payment to the firm last month in the amount of $10,000.

The lawsuit marks a stunning turn in the relationship between Giuliani and Costello, which dates back around 40 years when Giuliani was U.S. District Attorney in Manhattan and Costello was one of his deputies.

Costello declined to comment.

A spokesman for Giuliani did not immediately return a request for comment.

Giuliani recently pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in Fulton County, Georgia that accused him of conspiring with former President Donald Trump and 17 others to overturn the results of the state’s 2020 presidential election. He is represented by local counsel.

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Jason Aldean talks returning to the “writer’s chair” for ‘Highway Desperado’

Courtesy of BBR Music Group

While the music industry has changed over the years, one thing hasn’t changed for Jason Aldean — the way he puts together an album. 

“The way we cut albums, our formula for that has been the same since day one. I got the same producer, same bands, everything,” Jason tells ABC Audio. “It’s just so much fun to get in there with those guys and start making music again, you know?”

Jason’s new album, Highway Desperado, marks his return to songwriting.

“I started writing a little bit more for this album. So something that a lot of people don’t know [is] I moved to town as a songwriter. That’s how I got here,” says Jason. “Songwriting was something I liked, but I never loved it. I can do it. I love performing, I didn’t love writing songs. And so when I didn’t have to do it, I just didn’t.”

However, that changed when Jason was brainstorming for his next project.

“I started getting some ideas [of] things I wanted to put out on this album,” he recalls. “So I got back in the writer’s chair and started writing some songs with a couple of guys in my band that have been really hot lately. It was really fun to get in the studio and see those songs come to life and get ready to release this new batch of music that we’ve been working on for so long.”

Jason’s currently #4 on the country charts with his single “Try That In A Small Town.” The track, alongside “Let Your Boys Be Country” and “Tough Crowd,” will be featured on Highway Desperado, arriving November 3.

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Songwriter Desmond Child shares his ‘Big Songs Big Life’ in new memoir

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Desmond Child has helped artists like Bon JoviKISSCher and Aerosmith tell their stories through countless hit songs. Now he’s ready to tell his story with the release of his new memoir, Livin’ On A Prayer: Big Songs Big Life, dropping Tuesday, September 19. 

“It was part of this whole plan that I decided to do, which was to really focus on my legacy,” he tells ABC Audio about his decision to write his memoir. “And, you know, it was just that time.”

In addition to countless stories about songwriting, the book delves into Desmond’s “hardscrabble life,” as he describes it, being the son of a Cuban immigrant and single mother who, unlike her famous son, was a struggling songwriter. In fact, her struggles were part of what motivated Desmond.

“I swore that I’d succeed and take care of her. So that was my impetus,” he says. “I really wanted to be an artist because she was an artist. It wasn’t just about success.”

Desmond found that success writing for a variety of artists, in all different musical genres, though he says he doesn’t really have a favorite. “What I do concentrate on is the story, and I see a human being that wants to tell their story, and I concentrate on that,” he shares.

Desmond says there are a lot of artists he’d still love to work with, including Dua Lipa and Sam Smith, but he’d also be happy to reteam with musicians he’s worked with before, like Steven Tyler or Alice Cooper

“I have a great relationship with the artists I’ve worked with, and I never tire of seeing them anew,” he says. “How do we keep telling their story and transforming it into something fresh and new?” 

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Whoopi Goldberg defends Hasan Minhaj for embellishing standup stories

ABC/Jenny Anderson

Whoopi Goldberg came to comedian Hasan Minhaj‘s defense during the Monday, September 18 episode of ABC’s The View.

“That’s what we do … tell stories and we embellish them,” noted Goldberg, 67. “If you’re gonna hold a comic to the point where you’re gonna check up on stories, you have to understand, a lot of it is not the exact thing that happened because why would we tell exactly what happened? It ain’t that interesting.”

“There’s information that we will give you as comics that will have grains of truth, but don’t take it to the bank,” she added. “That’s our job, a seed of truth. Sometimes truth and sometimes total BS.”

Goldberg’s comments come after, in a New Yorker profile, Minhaj, 37, admitted to making up some of the stories he told in past standup specials.

“Every story in my style is built around a seed of truth. My comedy Arnold Palmer is 70% emotional truth — this happened — and then 30% hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction,” Minhaj said. 

“No, I don’t think I’m manipulating [the audience],” the former Daily Show correspondent added. “I think they are coming for the emotional roller-coaster ride…To the people that are, like, ‘Yo, that is way too crazy to happen,’ I don’t care because yes, f*** yes — that’s the point.”

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UAW president sets Friday deadline for more strike action unless ‘serious progress’ made

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(DETROIT) — United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said the union’s strike will expand if “serious progress” isn’t made in the contract negotiations with automakers by Friday.

Fain said in a Monday evening update posted on social media that the deadline for greater progress in the union’s talks with Ford, GM and Stellantis is Friday, Sept. 22, at noon.

“That will mark more than a week since our first members walked out. And that will mark more than a week of the ‘big three’ failing to make progress in negotiations toward reaching a deal that does right by our members,” he said in his video message.

“Autoworkers have waited long enough to make things right at the ‘big three.’ We’re not waiting around, and we’re not messing around,” he added.

On Monday, the labor strike against the three largest motor vehicle manufacturers in the United States carried into a fourth day amid ongoing negotiations to reach a deal.

The UAW, which represents nearly 150,000 American autoworkers, launched a strike early Friday against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — often called the “big three.” Almost 13,000 workers walked out of three auto plants in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. The union is utilizing a “stand-up” strike method to target specific plants and add to the list if a deal isn’t reached.

The UAW held talks with Ford on Saturday, GM on Sunday and planned to meet with Stellantis on Monday, a union source told ABC News. The conversations with Ford were “reasonably productive,” the source said.

Sticking points in negotiations were wage increases and the length of the workweek. The union is demanding a 46% pay increase combined over the four-year duration of a new contract, as well as a 32-hour workweek at 40-hour pay. So far, all three of the Detroit-based companies have each put forward proposals that offered workers a 20% pay increase over the life of the agreement but preserved a 40-hour workweek.

After the unprecedented strike began on Friday, Ford laid off 600 workers who assemble cars at a plant in Michigan. Workers in the paint department at a nearby plant are out on strike, leaving the assembly workers without adequate parts since the parts require paint before they can be put together into cars, a company spokesperson told ABC News.

President Joe Biden said Friday he is deploying acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and White House senior adviser Gene Sperling to Detroit to offer their support for the parties in reaching an agreement.

Economists previously told ABC News that a strike could result in billions of dollars in losses, disruption to the supply chain and other financial consequences.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Scoreboard roundup — 9/18/23

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(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

INTERLEAGUE
LA Dodgers 8, Detroit 3
Cincinnati 7, Minnesota 3
Chi White Sox 6, Washington 1

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Kansas City 6, Cleveland 4
Boston 4, Texas 2
Baltimore 8, Houston 7
Seattle 5, Oakland 0

NATIONAL LEAGUE
San Diego 11, Colorado 9
NY Mets 2, Miami 1
Philadelphia 7, Atlanta 1
St. Louis 1, Milwaukee 0

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
New Orleans 20, Carolina 17
Pittsburgh 26, Cleveland 22

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Plane carrying five Americans freed from Iran lands in US

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(TEHRAN, Iran) — The plane carrying five American citizens freed as part of a deal between the U.S. and Iran has now landed back home in the United States.

The repatriated Americans include Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz, as well as two others who asked that their identity not be made public. All five have been designated as wrongfully detained by the U.S. government.

Tahbaz’s wife, Vida, and Namazi’s mother, Effie, were also allowed to leave Iran in the arrangement, according to a U.S. official. Unlike the other five, they had not been jailed by the Iranian regime but had previously been barred from leaving the country.

In a statement on Monday, President Joe Biden said, “Today, five innocent Americans who were imprisoned in Iran are finally coming home.”

“Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Sharghi, and two citizens who wish to remain private will soon be reunited with their loved ones — after enduring years of agony, uncertainty, and suffering,” he said. “I am grateful to our partners at home and abroad for their tireless efforts to help us achieve this outcome, including the Governments of Qatar, Oman, Switzerland, and South Korea.

“I give special thanks to the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, and to the Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq, both of whom helped facilitate this agreement over many months of difficult and principled American diplomacy,” he said.

Secretary of State Blinken, speaking in New York, said that he had the “great pleasure” of having an “emotional conversation” with the Americans after they landed in Doha, saying it was a good reminder of the “human element that’s at the heart of everything we do.”

He also noted that American Bob Levinson still remains unaccounted for more than 16 years after what Blinken said was his abduction in Iran.

“We are also thinking of Bob Levinson who … is presumed to be deceased. Bob’s legacy lives on powerfully in the Levinson Act which is giving us new and powerful tools to crack down and deter the practice of taking Americans unlawfully to try to turn them into political pawns, and to abuse the international system in that way,” he said.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry first announced the U.S. nationals would be imminently released early Monday morning, fulfilling a deal struck between Washington and Tehran last month, where the U.S. promised to grant clemency to five Iranians and to facilitate Iran’s access to roughly $6 billion in frozen oil revenue on the condition the money be put toward humanitarian purposes.

The seven will be transported via a Qatari aircraft to Doha. From there, U.S. officials say they plan to depart “as quickly as possible” for the Washington, D.C., area, where they will be reunited with their families and the Department of Defense will be on hand to assist families “that might request help for their recovery and integration to normal life.”

The five Iranians involved in the trade have either been charged with or convicted of nonviolent offenses. Two do not have legal standing to stay in the U.S. and will be transported by U.S. Marshals Service to Doha and then travel on to Iran.

Two more are lawful permanent residents of the U.S., and one is a dual Iranian American citizen. Administration officials did not say whether they would remain the U.S.

The five detained Americans all served time in Iran’s notorious Evin prison but were placed on house arrest when Tehran and Washington reached a deal-in-principle.

Namazi, 51, is an oil executive and an Iranian-American dual nationalist. He was first detained in 2015 and was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison after a conviction on “collaboration with a hostile government” for his ties to the United States.

Shargi, a 58-year-old businessman, was detained without explanation in 2018 and released in 2019 before he was re-arrested in 2020 and handed down a 10-year sentence on an espionage charge.

Tahbaz, 67, is an Iranian-American conservationist who also holds British citizenship. He was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Blinken signed off on a broad sanctions waiver last week, clearing the way for international banks to transfer the roughly $6 billion in Iran oil revenue in exchange for Iran’s release of the five detained American citizens.

The $6 billion is coming from a restricted account in South Korea, where it was effectively frozen when the U.S. reinstated sanctions against Tehran after former President Donald Trump left the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program and will be transferred to Qatar with restrictions on how Iran can spend the funds.

Iran expected to begin receiving its frozen assets on Monday, Nasser Kanaani, a spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said, adding that “active foreign policy” had led to the funds being unblocked.

“Today this asset will be delivered,” Kanaani said. “It will be invested where needed.”

Republicans blasted the planned swap in the days after the initial announcement.

“The Americans held by Iran are innocent hostages who must be released immediately and unconditionally. However, I remain deeply concerned that the administration’s decision to waive sanctions to facilitate the transfer of $6 billion in funds for Iran, the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism, creates a direct incentive for America’s adversaries to conduct future hostage-taking,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul said in a statement.

But National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby insisted during a press briefing Wednesday that “Iran will be getting no sanctions relief.”

“It’s Iranian money that had been established in these accounts to allow some trade from foreign countries on things like Iranian oil. … It’s not a blank check. They don’t get to spend it anyway they want. It’s not $6 billion all at once. They will have to make a request for withdrawals for humanitarian purposes only,” he said, adding that there will be “sufficient oversight to make sure that the request is valid.”

The Iranian people will be the beneficiaries of the funds, not the regime, according to Kirby.

Pressed on why the $6 billion needed to be released in addition to the five Iranian prisoners, Kirby said, “This is the deal we were able to strike to secure the release of five Americans.”

“We’re comfortable in the parameters of this deal. I’ve heard the critics that somehow they’re getting the better end of it. Ask the families of those five Americans who’s getting the better end of it and I think you’d get a different answer,” he said.

When asked about Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s claim that the money is “fungible,” Kirby said, “He’s wrong. He’s just flat-out wrong.”

Kirby said the funds in this agreement are “not a payment of any kind” and “not ransom” to secure the release of the Americans, responding to Republican complaints.

“Expect this money to free up revenues internally for more foreign aggression and domestic suppression. And certainly, at over one billion dollars per hostage and a jailed Iranian national” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Expect Tehran to continue if not step up its hostage taking.”

“As Chairman of the [Republican Study Committee], we will use all legislative options to reverse this agreement and prevent further ransom payments and sanctions relief to Iran,” Rep. Kevin Hern tweeted Tuesday.

Kanaani, the Iranian spokesperson, said only two of the Iranians who were expected to be released from American prisons were willing to return to Iran.

“Two of [Iranian] citizens will willingly return to Iran based, one person joins his family in a third country, and the other two citizens want to stay in America,” Kanaani said.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Trump’s ‘liberal Jews’ comment is denounced, DeSantis calls out McCarthy and more campaign takeaways

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(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump, not for the first time, sparked criticism on Monday after he posted on his Truth Social platform knocking “liberal Jews who voted against America & Israel.”

Elsewhere, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed back on criticism out of Capitol Hill — and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott weighed in on a new deal to help five American detainees leave Iran.

Those and other updates from the campaign trail, below.

Blowback for Trump

Trump’s message about Jewish people came on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. It’s not immediately clear what caused him to post what he did — but the denunciations were swift. (His campaign did not respond to a request for comment.)

The American Jewish Committee wrote on X in response that it was “deeply offensive and divisive. As we approach one year until the next election, we urge political candidates from the top to the bottom of the ballot to avoid incendiary rhetoric.”

“Next time you attack American Jews, think twice before about doing it on one of our holiest days. Your antisemitism is loud & clear,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., added on the platform, formerly known as Twitter.

This is not the first controversial remark Trump has made about Jewish voters. In 2019, he criticized Jewish people who vote for Democrats, claiming it “shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty” — apparently to Israel.

DeSantis returns to his House roots

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is fighting to be the main alternative to Trump in the GOP primary. But the former president isn’t the only one he’s fighting.

DeSantis has come under direct or indirect fire from other pillars of the GOP as his campaign falters in the polls and as Trump solidifies his yawning early primary lead. The governor is defending himself, but surveys of the Republican base suggest he has significant ground to make up in the final months before voting begins.

DeSantis, who served in the House before being elected governor, took on Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Monday.

McCarthy, a Trump ally, had targeted DeSantis in a Sunday interview on Fox News, knocking DeSantis’ chances of earning the GOP’s presidential nomination.

“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,” McCarthy said.

DeSantis returned fire Monday, highlighting McCarthy’s ties to Trump.

“Donald Trump was instrumental in him earning that speaker’s gavel, and they worked hand in glove really throughout his whole presidency. They were on the same team on every major spending bill that came down the pike and they ended up together adding $7.8 trillion to our national debt,” DeSantis said at a press conference.

Less money, more problems?

DeSantis was also hit with a financial setback on Monday when GOP megadonor and former Citadel CEO Ken Griffin said he would not donate to anyone in the party’s presidential primary.

Griffin, who has a net worth of roughly $35 billion, gave millions to DeSantis’ 2022 gubernatorial bid and said as recently as November said that the country “would be well-served by him as president.”

But Griffin told CNBC in an interview that he’s unsure if DeSantis will be able to gin up sufficient support to win nomination. (DeSantis’ campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Griffin.)

“I’m still on the sidelines as to who to support in this election cycle,” Griffin said. “Look, if I had my dream, we’d have a great Republican candidate in the primary who was younger, of a different generation, with a different tone for America. And we’d have a younger person on the Democratic side in the primary, who would have his message for our country.”

“I don’t know his strategy,” Griffin added of DeSantis. “It’s not clear to me what voter base he is intending to appeal to.”

GOP candidates target Iran deal for detainees

Elsewhere, some GOP presidential candidates were taking aim at the White House’s recent deal with Iran to free five Americans from detention in exchange for Washington unfreezing $6 billion in oil revenue.

“It’s no real surprise that weakness arouses evil. Iran thumbed its nose at America by kicking UN nuclear inspectors out of the country, just a few days later,” former Vice President Mike Pence said in a foreign policy speech on Monday.

“That is always a bad decision. It raises the price on American heads,” South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott added during a campaign stop in Iowa. “Six billion dollars of released funds will only make it far more expensive for every single American who’s traveling abroad. It’s a bad decision although we do thank God that those folks are coming home.”

The White House has defended the agreement as not “ransom” or a “blank check.”

ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Libby Cathey, Hannah Demissie, Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.

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Imagine Dragons teases video for ’Starfield’ song “Children of the Sky”

KIDinaKORNER/Interscope Records

Imagine Dragons is teasing the video for “Children of the Sky,” the new song the band recorded for the video game Starfield.

The clip will premiere Tuesday, September 19, at noon ET, on YouTube. You can check out a 15-second preview, showing an astronaut preparing for a rocket launch, now via ID’s Facebook.

The song “Children of the Sky” dropped in August. Upon its release, frontman Dan Reynolds shared, “The song, like [Starfield], asks some of the most difficult questions we face as humans trying to find our place in the universe.”

Imagine Dragons’ collaboration with Starfield, which is out now on Xbox Series X/S and PC, is one of several crossovers the band’s had with the video game world. Their single “Warrior” was the theme song for the 2014 League of Legends World Championship esports tournament, and they recorded the 2021 song “Enemy” for League of Legends-inspired animated series Arcane.

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Joe Walsh launches VetsAid sweepstakes with VIP experience up for grabs

Courtesy of VetsAid

Joe Walsh’s annual VetsAid concert is happening in November, and he’s giving fans a chance to come see it for free and to meet him, as well. 

The Eagles guitarist just launched a new contest where one lucky winner and a guest will get a VIP trip to San Diego for the show, including airfare and hotel. The prize also includes a meet-and-greet with Walsh, plus a signed merch package.

This year’s VetsAid is happening November 12 at North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in San Diego, with a lineup that includes Jeff Lynne’s ELO, Walsh and special guest Stephen Stills, along with The War On DrugsThe Flaming Lips and Lucius.

To enter, fans need to donate $10 in support of VetsAid, which raises money for charities helping veterans. This year’s concert will specifically help organizations based in, or with operations on the ground in, Southern California.

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